Holy Huddle or Serving Community?

Reading of the Word

Matthew 22:35–40 NASB 2020

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB 2020

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Prayer for Illumination

Holy God, by your Spirit reveal your radical, surprising love; come to us through your Holy Word, and let us hear what you are saying. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Introduction

Think about a time when you visited a strange or unfamiliar place. Maybe you had unclear directions on how to get there, or where to go once you did get there and were embarrassed to ask for directions or didn’t have anyone to ask. Maybe you just stood there and looked around, trying not to look stupid.

Think about the last time you worshiped in an unfamiliar church or tradition. Perhaps you felt lost in the service and were surprised when everyone knelt at the same time or stood up at the same time, or recited a liturgy from memory together.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - Kevin gets on the wrong plane and goes to New York instead of Miami. I have it memorized by heart as my mom wore out copies of this movie.

Charles & Lori: Lost in New York…

Find the front of the airport. LaGuardia doesn’t have great signage.

We first had to find where to catch cab.

Then the cab driver goes right past our hotel by about 45 blocks.

He had the exact address.

To add insult to injury he speaks about 3 words of English.

We eventually get there (quickly exiting the cab) and thankfully we didn’t have to pay that bill.

We were lost and couldn’t find our direction during the whole ordeal.

Being new to an environment can bring much anxiety. You never know what will be required of you or what will happen in that new place. Think about what happens when someone new visits our church. Think about the anxiety that may produce.

If we were to go out into our community and take a survey of what our community members thought about what goes on in our church, what do you think they would say? Would they think we are a group of loving people who come together each week to love anyone and everyone? Would they think we are like a social club listening to a boring lecture? There are probably many misconceptions about what we do here each week. We may know what we do and why we do it (or maybe we don’t?)—but what do outsiders think?

One idea outsiders tend to have of many churches is that we are nothing more than a self- serving “holy huddle”—a bunch of people trying to live ethically and getting together each week for a pep talk, much like when a football team huddles together.

More skeptical folks may think we are all brainwashed dummies, or hypocrites with holier-than-thou attitudes. They may think we get together to judge others and discuss how bad the world is.

What is the purpose of the church?

To spur one another on in faith and going forth.

To be his representatives on earth.

What a privilege this is for us!

To meet people where they are. This might mean we get our hands dirty. It could be meeting someone at the lowest point in their life. It could mean showing love to someone who smells and

Be ready. This could happen in the moment that we least expect it.

This is the commission Jesus gave his disciples before he left them and ascended into heaven.

CO - Mission

We are not doing this on our own

United with Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our sufficiency is found in him alone.

Try to do something on your own without God’s leading. You might complete the task but it is powerless to impact others in their needs, especially for Jesus. You may meet temporary needs but being void of God there will be no fruit produced.

United as the church to go forth from the inside to the outside where our mission field awaits.

There is power in numbers, especially in those united in one accord, with the purpose of blessing our community with Jesus on our mind every second of the way.

In Acts, the number of believers multiplied rapidly. Saul and the religious tried to snuff it out but it was growing faster than they could act. Why did it grow so fast? They met needs!

The multipliers will do anything to see the church have an impact. They go outward to meet needs.

First person that came to my mind was Mother Teresa. The way she met needs in the most humbled of ways: By holding the sick and taking care of their wounds, by feeding someone who couldn’t, by holding a dying person’s hand, by loving those who by worldly standards were unlovable.

“I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.”

“PRAYER IN ACTION IS LOVE, LOVE IN ACTION IS SERVICE.” MOTHER TERESA

Missionary John Anderson, Nazarene. Served in India a majority of his life. He had a working relationship with Mother Teresa and teamed up with her to meet needs by blessing the community.

Basement people stay in the walls of the church, content with the status quo, taking on the role of consumers.

The plan is set by God.

We are called to go where he calls.

Much of the time, it is revealed to us what the next step is through prayer.

The power of God for us to do God’s will is found in prayer! God’s Word guides us and prayer gives us the power to do the impossible in reaching souls for Christ.

Without prayer, we are trying to do the plan of God with a blindfold on our eyes. Imagine Saul trying to do the work of God with the scales on his eyes. We have no guidance on where to go next, no power to complete what task God has at hand for us, and only our will, our plan at heart.

The Greatest Commandments give us the heart behind all we do in carrying out the Great Commission.

Heart…Soul…Mind.

Heart:

Our love for God begins in the heart. If we looked through our hymnal today, we would notice that there are not that many songs about our mind. But about our heart, there are many.A heart experience with God is necessary to do anything else for God.

The heart is where God resides

The heart is where our intellect is transformed.

The heart is where our whole being takes on the DNA of God and our willingness to serve him.

Soul:

I want God’s DNA to consume my life.

He already placed that in us to begin with. How? We were made in his image.

Sin tarnished and destroyed that image.

Adam and Eve traded God for what felt good.

We have too.

Christ made it possible to give us that untarnished DNA of God through the cross and empty tomb.

He redeemed us so this glory that was stolen from us by sin could be restored in us.

Mind:

The intellect is changed after the heart and soul are impacted. Our minds cannot do for God without our heart being changed and our soul encompassing the whole of God’s being.

When we get saved, the heart is telling the mind that this is what we need to do in order to be saved. Our mind then reacts so that the heart can complete what the heart led us to do.

Our mind can then be consumed and reflect Christ in all that we think and do.

The question we are asking in this sermon series is: How can we be a neighbor who shows love as the Second Great Commandment demands?

Three words that I would like to focus on briefly to give a beginning point to this answer

Seeing

Seeing the needs that God is calling us towards meeting

God instilling in us the mission and vision to meet those needs.

Moving

Moving towards those needs in preparation to meet them.

We have already started doing this late last year and early this year.

We will continue moving forward so that we can be doing.

Doing

Doing what we can to meet the needs in our communities.

Giving people divine hope in a world filled with hopelessness.

Not our hope.

Our hope is temporary and will fade into hopelessness again.

To Sum it Up: Be the ambassador for Christ, who is blessing our community.

Conclusion

As ambassadors for Christ, we are called to go and reconcile the world to God. That’s our mission. However, as we do our mission, we are to love God and love people. When we bless our community, we are fulfilling our call to be ambassadors for Christ, attempting to reconcile the world to God by showing neighbor love as the second Great Commandment God calls us to do.

Next week, we will continue diving into this series and see what Jesus taught about how to show neighborly love. But today, we are asking ourselves the right question, “How are we, as ambassadors for Christ, being a neighbor to our community?” Unchurched people outside these walls will not walk through those doors next week just because we open them. Being an ambassador for Christ means getting outside these walls and engaging the needs we find in our community, like the Good Samaritan engaged in the needs of the robbery victim.

Questions to Ponder This Week: What needs do you personally see around this community and in your world? Who can you be a neighbor to? How are we as a church going to respond to the needs we see in our community?

Prayer After Sermon

Gracious and Loving God,

We come before You with hearts full of gratitude for the message we have received today. Thank You for reminding us of the greatest commandments—to love You with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to embody these principles in all that we do.

As we leave this place, may we carry the light of Your love into the world. May our words and actions reflect Your compassion and grace, drawing others closer to You.

Empower us to be true ambassadors for Christ, spreading His message of hope and redemption to all we encounter. Give us wisdom and courage to stand firm in our faith, yet also extend a hand of friendship and understanding to those who may not yet know You.

Guide us in living lives that honor You, loving our neighbors with sincerity and selflessness. May our community be strengthened, our relationships deepened, and Your kingdom advanced through our efforts.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Benediction

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,

May our hearts be filled with love for God,

And may that love overflow into service for others,

As we become ambassadors of His grace and truth.

Just as Christ served selflessly and sacrificially,

May we too serve with humility and compassion,

Bringing hope and healing to a world in need.

As we go forth from this place,

May the joy of Easter be evident in our lives,

And may we shine as beacons of His resurrection power,

Drawing others to experience His love and salvation.

In the name of the risen Christ, our Savior and King,

Amen.