Wake Up and Look Around (2)

We are two weeks away from Easter and I am teaching a few weeks on the importance of reaching out to those around us. Last week, I preached on becoming Salt and Light in a Dark World. Today the message is Look Around.

If you think about how good it feels to know that you have been forgiven of everything you have ever done, it will make us want to see others experience that too. There is a lot of hurt, anger and fear in our culture today. In the coming weeks, I plan to do a message series I think I’ll call, How to Deal with How You Feel.

However, we get anywhere between 70 and 100 years or so to influence those we care about to come to faith in Christ before we go to heaven to be with Jesus forever. We (hopefully) want as many people to come with us as possible.

The reason I am talking about this is that Jesus did. The writers of the bible actually include 5 different Commissions of Jesus where he is telling us to tell everyone about him.

5 Great Commissions of Jesus

Matthew 28:19–20 NLT

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

This is the most common one we know.

The word go actually means “as you go.” We often think that we have to go out to a mission field, but Jesus is saying to us, as you go… to the store… to school… to work… to the park…

Mark 16:15 NLT

15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Everyone… you come in contact with.

Luke 24:47 LBP

47 and that this message of salvation should be taken from Jerusalem to all the nations: There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.

What’s the message of Salvation? That there is FORGIVENESS OF SINS for anyone and everyone who turns to Jesus.

Jerusalem represents those close to us and them moving out to everyone.

John 20:21 NLT

21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

This is powerful. God the Father sent Jesus, and now Jesus is sending us on a seek and rescue mission.

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Being a witness means Two things. One we live it out in our own lives. Jesus said to follow him and that’s the first step in witnessing. Last week, I said we need to live a life that attracts people to us. If we live like we are salt and light, people will want some of what we have.

Then he said to tell people about him everywhere.

I have had people ask me why we do some of the outreaches we do? The answer is simple. Jesus told us to. Church isn’t just for us to come and enjoy each other. That part is good and I love it. But church is where we gather to go reach people.

We know we need to be salt and light. Now we want so see who we need to reach and where are they?

We cannot reach what we do not see.

Sometimes we choose not to see… we don’t look… because when you see someone, you are somewhat responsible.

Traffic - Have you ever tried to merge into a long line of traffic? People won’t even look at you with they? If they do, then they have to deal with you. You aren’t just a car, you are person with a face.

Jesus has given us a mandate to tell people about him. To tell people, we have to see them.

Woman at the Well Story. (John 4)

The disciples are out running errands and they have left Jesus alone at a well. This wasn’t an accident. It was a divine set up. There is a Samaritan woman at the well. Jews do not associate with Samaritans nor do they even talk with them. They pretty much hate each other. On top of that, men in that day did not talk to women out in public. It was a cultural thing and it was not appropriate. Men thought they were superior.

But Jesus walks up to this woman and knocked down all the racial and gender barriers and began a conversation with her. He asked her where her husband was to which she replied that she did not have one. Jesus said, yep… you are right. You have had 5 husbands and the man you are living with right now isn’t your husband. She goes… wow! You must be a prophet. She knew she was in the presence of someone special. Then He reveals who He is. This was the first time he did that. He told a woman who was married and divorced 5 times and living with someone that he was the SOG before he told his disciples.

Then the disciples came back onto the scene…

John 4:27–35 NLT

27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him. 31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” 33 “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other. 34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.

Notice that they didn’t even ask if Jesus needed anything. Maybe they didn’t notice or really care. They wondered why he would be talking to this Samaritan woman. Meanwhile she went back home and was telling everyone about Jesus, but the disciples were too busy telling Jesus, let’s go to Popeyes and get something to eat. Here a crowd is coming out to see Jesus and the disciples missed it.

If they missed it, do you think that we might miss it too? Of course we do. We miss out on opportunities all the time because we are focused on the wrong things. We (all the churches) should have had double the volunteers out there. It was an opportunity where the fields were pretty ripe.

Then Jesus brought some clarity to what was going on. He said wake up and look around, the field are ripe for harvest.

Today, the fields are ripe for harvest. People are looking for something. Everyone has a God shaped hole that they are seeking to fill with something. Too often they are trying the wrong things. (relationships, alcohol, drugs, money, work) But too often, the church if offering the wrong things too. Instead of the Good News of Jesus we offer rules, political rhetoric, etc.

Jesus said to wake up and look around.

We can’t reach what we don’t see. But when we see it, we have to do something about it.

The disciples were too spiritually near sighted to see it. When you are near sighted, you cannot see at a distance. I was nearsighted. That’s how the church has become. We are too nearsighted. We don’t see the need out there.

Here is one way you can tell if you are nearsighted or not.

If God answered all my prayers, would it change the world or just change me?

Most of us pray prayers that would change us or the situation around us, but Jesus wants to give us spiritual Lasik so we can see the big picture.

There is about 8 billion people on the planet. About 3 billion claim to be Christians. That leaves 5 billion people who will not go to heaven if Jesus returned today. It’s just a number. 400,000 people in JP - 248,000 not going to heaven… living miserable lives.

April 27 2011. Tornados ripped through ALA. 239 people died that day…

911 - 2996 people died

Oct 7 - 1200 people were Killed by Hamas terror attack. As we saw their faces and read their stories, they were no longer a number.

So far, 25 police officers have died in the line of duty this year. Those are just numbers unless you read their stories then they are people.

5 Billion is a lot of people. Some of those 5 billion are in our families… at our work… living next door. Those have faces, and when we see them, we are responsible to do something.

How can we wake up and look around?

1. Open our eyes to where they are.

These are people around us… people we run into every day. (work, school, grocery, Walmart, Starbucks, Neighborhood, our families) We have to ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to them.

If we don’t, we will miss it.

Psalm 37:23 NLT

23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

The Lord will give us divine appointments with people. He directs our steps and their steps.

Proverbs 16:9 NLT

9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

God will direct us. We just have to work at being sensitive to and ready for God’s direction because he will open up opportunities for us. Maybe someone shares a hurt … a frustration … a need… an opportunity…

Look for a spot, a spiritual spot where you can connect with them. You do not have to approve of their lifestyle, or agree with them to understand them. But…

We have to connect before we correct.

We need to listen and connect and earn the right to correct. Too often the church is trying to correct without connecting.

2. Open our eyes to who they are.

In our present culture, it’s divided. No two groups like each other or agree at all with each other about anything. Everyone hates some other group.

The left hates the right and the right hates the left. Christians do not like the Muslims and the Muslims are killing Christians. Democrats don’t like Republicans and Republicans don’t like democrats. It’s hard to sit at a table and work on solutions to problems when you call the people you are sitting down with the problem… the devil… etc.

We have to stop seeing people who do not agree with us as the enemy.

We need to see people like Jesus sees them.

Matthew 9:36 NLT

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

We need to see people as confused and helpless people who need Jesus in their lives. it doesn’t matter if they are just like us or not. We have go to get rid of this idea of conformity that has taken hold in our society. Each one of us are different and we will think, look and act different as live out the Word in our lives.

Good Samaritan Story. The thieves saw someone to exploit. The priest saw someone as a problem to avoid. The Samaritan saw him as someone to love and help.

We need to see people like Jesus saw them. He connected with them and understood them.

To reach people with the Gospel, we don’t have to become like them, but we do have to like them.

Jesus loved sinners, but he did not sin… never. We need to love others. We don’t have to agree with them or become like them to love them like Jesus loved them.

3. Open our eyes to what they need; Grace & Truth.

There is a lot of confusion about truth and grace. It’s almost like people think you have to have one or the other. The truth says we are all lost, but grace says that Jesus paid for our sin.

Truth without Grace is mean but Grace without Truth is meaningless.

Put these together, and you have Jesus… you have ministry that works. You have what people need.

John 1:14 NIV84

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Grace always comes before Truth.

Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10) - He was a horrible person. He cheated people and probably had them thrown into jail when they didn’t pay him enough. he was a Jew working for the Romans. But when Jesus encountered him, he didn’t condemn him, he said, Let’s have some lunch. He could have condemned him… he was a bad sinner. Tax collectors had their own category of sin. If he had, Zaccheus never would have been saved. We don’t know what the conversation was in the lunch, but Zaccheus came out of it a different person.

Story of the woman in Adultery (John 8:1-11) This woman was caught in the act adultery and brought to Jesus. Jesus didn’t condemn her. He showed her grace… neither do I condemn you. And then shard the truth… now stop sining.

People need Grace and Truth.

We need to show people the same kind of love God showed us: Unconditional Love.

Show people the kind of love Jesus did, and you will see them coming to faith in him.

John Maxwell speaks to corporations where he does these leadership classes. After the last class, he will say, there is one more sessions I would like to share. It’s extra but it’s about my story. He says that about 90% come back. He then shares his faith. He believes that people who do not want to follow God through Jesus, just don’t see and understand God properly.

Ways people see God

A locked Gate.

God is someone they can never get too.

View: God cannot be reached.

He is to high and mighty and they are excluded. We have to make sure no one ever feels excluded from God’s love.

A garbage can

View: God doesn’t want me.

Many people believe that they have done so many bad things that they cannot be forgiven and that God doesn’t love or want them.

Listen, God loves each and everyone of you, no matter what you have done and he sent Jesus to die in your place for your sins.

An endless ladder

View: God requires a lot from me

Too many times the church has this view. We put all these rules for people to follow. We want them to look, think, speak and act like us. God is a God who has so many rules that they cannot possibly keep them, so they give up.

A free gift: The correct view of God

This is the right view of God. Salvation is a FREE gift. All we have to do is to accept it. When we do, He will change our lives.

Heads Bowed and Eyes Closed.

Maybe you have seen God the wrong way and you now find yourself far from God. Jesus loves you and is standing at the door of your heart knocking and if you will let Him in, He will change your life.

Salvation prayer -

Then pray for us to take the message to those around us…

Invite someone to church with you …