Finding a New Home
You Belong • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 12 viewsOutliers are welcome in the kingdom of Jesus
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Do you know any “outliers?”
An outlier is something or someone that lies outside the main body or group that it is a part of. It is something that is outside of the norm.
I think superstar athletes, like Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Steph Curry are outliers to the basketball world - they aren’t like other players, even though they are part of the NBA community.
In the fashion world, I think Tom’s shoes was an outlier. Their commitment to give a pair of shoes away for every pair bought was a entrepreneurial revolution - it merged social justice with consumerism, leveraging people’s desire to help others while still helping themselves. No one else was doing anything like that when Tom’s got started. They were distinct because of it.
Like many of you, I’ve experienced being an outlier.
In early 2016, I was applying to be the youth pastor at a bunch of churches. One of the ones that expressed some interest was an English speaking church, that was originally a Filipino church plant. 99% of those who attended were Filipino. In fact, when I attended one of their services, I was only one of two white people there and it was the first time I had experienced that. I was an outlier - a part of something and yet very different.
But that wasn’t the first time I felt like an outlier. Truthfully, I have felt like one all of my life. When I was a kid, I was an outsider. I didn’t have many friends and I was a bit weird. I also was an only child, so I was a kid in an adult world most of my childhood. I was lonely a lot.
Through senior high school and into my early adulthood, I finally felt less like an outlier, but then I gave my life to Jesus and again I felt like an outlier as I was the only one in my family who followed Jesus. And then I became a pastor, which set me apart even more. Now, because my job was on the line, I’ve had to guard my heart a bit even from people in church. Pastoring can be very lonely work because the nature of the job makes you an outlier even in your faith community.
Many people are outliers, but the ultimate outlier was Jesus. Although he was fully human and just like us in every way, he was also radically different. He was sinless, we are sinful. He was selfless, we are selfish. He served the least of these where others wanted to rule over the masses. He was a part of us, yet stood alone.
And because Jesus was an outlier, he welcomes outliers into his kingdom
Earlier, Helen read from Luke 23, which tells us of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Crucifixion was a favoured way of humiliating and executing criminals in the Roman Empire. After carrying your own crosspiece to the crucifixion site, you were stripped naked for all to see, nailed to the cross through your hands or wrists and your ankles and then hoisted vertically, for everyone to see. It was a slow death by torture which held the prisoner in place, unable to move.
Those crucified would have to push up against the nails in order to breathe, which was excruciating and would last for days. It was a reminder to the people of the power of Rome and the rule of law.
So, to appease the Jewish leaders, Jesus was horrifically beaten and then crucified for blasphemy - for declaring himself as equal with God.
But Jesus wasn’t alone. Luke tells us that two other men were crucified with him.
Because Jesus was a known figure - the one people all over Israel considered the Messiah - he gets mocked by one of the criminals who says,
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
Gavin Childress, in his commentary on Luke says, “It is strange to consider that, if he had saved himself, they and all mankind would have been lost.”
Hundreds, if not thousands of people were crucified for crimes against Rome. Jesus is one among many. But Jesus is an outlier and so in this moment, he has a different experience and outlook than all who were crucified before him. For them, it was a moment of weakness and death. But to Christ, it’s a moment of power and life for all who put their faith in him.
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
So, after he’s been mocked by the one criminal, something strange happens. Instead of joining in the ridicule that the would-be messiah is about to die like a common criminal, the other guy defends Jesus. He says,
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
There is a word Jesus says that we need to look at. The word is “remember.” The greek word that is used means “to recall with an implication of reward or punishment.” In essence, the thief is saying, “Do as you see fit.” He has come to the end of himself and has fully surrendered to Jesus. Whether Jesus saves him physically or not, he trusts Jesus and invites Jesus to do what is right.
Something has happened to this criminal. In the process of being crucified and staring at his own upcoming death, his heart has changed and as he looks at this beaten, bloody and bruised man wearing a crown of thorns, he sees his only hope. Even though he sees Jesus in the same state as he is, he knows that this is not the end for Jesus - “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
So Jesus replies to him,
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
And here is another word worth looking at: Paradise. It’s comes from a Persian word that refers to a royal garden. It’s also a word used to describe the garden of Eden, from Genesis 1, which humans lived in until we were expelled because of our sin. So when Jesus tells the thief that he will be with Jesus in “paradise” he is saying to him that he will come home - back into that place of being spiritually right with God.
Being a criminal, he lives as an outlier from his community - he hasn’t fit in for some time. But the good news of Jesus is that Jesus welcomes the outliers into the kingdom of God where they are adopted as the beloved daughters and sons of God Most High, co-heirs with Christ, and royal priests of the new covenant. Those who have been afar spiritually are drawn to the father.
The Apostle Paul says,
13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
And Paul’s perspective is fascinating here. Paul knows what it means to be far away from God, even though he was very religious. He lived as a young man deeply imbedded in the Jewish faith and devoted to destroying the church. Look at what he says here in the book of Acts:
9 “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10 Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. 11 Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.
But God loved Paul, even though Paul persecuted his people.
So Paul left the broad path that leads to destruction and entered the narrow path of following Jesus. He left social acceptance to become an outlier.
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus welcomes the outliers into the kingdom of God.
Ironically, the story of the two criminals is an outlier in itself in two ways: First, it’s an outlier from a literary standpoint - Matthew and Mark talk about the criminals mocking Jesus but only here in Luke does it say that one came to faith in Jesus. That’s because one of Luke’s main themes is Jesus as Saviour of all.
Second, it’s an outlier from a theological standpoint - here, we have someone who doesn’t follow Jesus, who never serves, never prays, never gets baptized, never joins a church or even meets another believer and yet he receives from Jesus a promise of paradise - of salvation. How is this possible?
Because, like the prodigal son we looked at two weeks ago, he came to the end of himself and acknowledged his own sin when he says, “we deserve to die for our crimes,” and he put his hope in Jesus “remember me…”
This man on the cross next to Jesus is an outlier. He doesn’t come to salvation the usual way. But the good news of this story is that outliers are welcome in the kingdom of Jesus.
alpha video (#3 from 18:10-22:10)
Both Shane and the thief on the cross were outliers. They didn’t have much to bring to the kingdom and yet God loved them and saved them. Maybe you feel like an outlier. Like someone who doesn’t fit in anywhere. The story of the thief on the cross reminds us all that you belong in Christ - that no matter what you have done or haven’t done, God loves you and invites you to be with him.
It invites you to put your faith and hope in Jesus. To look upon the saviour, who, though he was innocent, died in your place so that you can become fully alive. The apostle Paul says,
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Sometimes, people are out looking for a sign that God is speaking to them. This is that sign. If you are here in the room or watching online or listening to the podcast of this, then God is inviting you to surrender your heart to him - to come to the end of yourself and put your faith in Jesus.
What does that mean? It means to acknowledge who you are - someone who has sinned against God and is spiritually lost - and acknowledge who Jesus is - that he is your King and your Saviour.
If you are ready to do that for the first time, allow me to lead you in a prayer that helps you do that. The prayer itself is meaningless if you don’t mean what you are saying. But if you pray it truthfully, then God will answer it.
Lord Jesus, for too long I’ve kept you out of my life. I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot save myself. No longer will I close the door when I hear you knocking. By faith I gratefully receive your gift of salvation. I am ready to trust you as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth. I believe you are the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead, . Thank you for bearing my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. I believe your words are true. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and be my Saviour. Amen.
If you authentically prayed that prayer just now, welcome to the family of God. You belong. But this is just the beginning of an amazing spiritual journey for you and we want to help you take the next steps so go to our church’s website (brentwoodchurch.ca/newtojesus) for some tips on how to pray, how to read the Bible, the importance of church and even on baptism.
But this story isn’t just for those who, like the criminal on the cross, have come to the end and are ready to trust in Jesus for the first time. It’s for all of us. So, what can those of us who already put our faith in Jesus take from it?
1) Jesus welcomes outliers into the kingdom of God - so should we. Sometimes we get a bee in our bonnet when someone has a different experience than we do. When it comes to following Jesus, we think that the way we do it, and the way we were taught, is the only way. But we need to remember what God says in…
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Jesus was an outlier and he welcomes outliers into the kingdom. The way someone comes into the faith, the journey they are on, is unique to them but our role is to celebrate with the father that another who was lost has now been found. We need a lot less judgmentalism in the church and a lot more celebrating the kingdom coming on earth as it is in Heaven.
Second, and this doesn’t come from our passage today but is still an important teaching in our scriptures, is that Jesus isn’t concerned with us fitting in. God’s people have always been cultural outliers. We are not SUPPOSED to fit in. We are called to be outliers.
In the early church years, leading up to the time of Emperor Constantine, Christians were cultural outliers. When the Romans had children they didn’t want, they would put them out in the forest or in the garbage dumps to die. Christians would go out to those areas, rescue those children and adopt them. They were unlike the culture they were in.
In the 4th century, during a plague in Capernaum, all the residents left in a hurry - except the Christians. They stayed to help care for the sick and to give proper burials to the dead. They were outliers in their culture.
15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
To be holy is to be set apart for a sacred use. You have been set apart from culture for a holy purpose - to testify of the redeeming love of Jesus our King.
That testimony means that sometimes you will say no to things others say yes to. It means sometimes you’ll say yes to things that others say no to. It means that you live in a way that considers Christ first. And doing that will make you an outlier. But don’t worry. Jesus was an outlier and he welcomes outliers in the kingdom of God.
Pray.
