HOME with Jesus

The Surgeon Who Never Studied

[SLIDE #1 - Surgeon]

"You are lying in your hospital bed, having had to face the fact that you’ve got a life-threatening cancer. But it is treatable, via significant but highly successful surgery. You are set to meet your surgeon for one final time before he goes off to prepare, and you are shortly rolled into the surgery room. You talk through the steps ahead, but as you talk, something comes to your mind that has been niggling you off and on. You’re just not sure of this docs qualifications. No one seems to have heard of him from your circle of friends. The hospital seems fine, and all the staff work with him rather professionally. But you’re just about to go under the knife with him at the helm, and so now is the time to sort out anything doubtful. And so you say to him, ‘There’s just one more thing on my mind. Can I ask, where did you study medicine?’ And he shrugs: ‘Oh, I never actually went to medical school, but I’ve watched a lot of surgeries on YouTube.’”

At this moment, your jaw is almost on the floor, no doubt. And then, I am very confident, you immediately halt all further proceedings. This YouTube expert ain’t going anywhere near your body! You’re getting a surgeon you can trust!!!

Now this highly fanciful...BUT...

Link: There is a difference between being a keyboard warrior and being a tried a tested practitioner. There is a difference between someone who has seen what is good to do, and someone who is well practiced in actually doing it.

Just as saying you’re a surgeon doesn’t make you one, calling Jesus “Lord” doesn’t make Him your Lord unless your life is given to Him.

This begs the question - what does a life look like that is truly given to Jesus as Lord?

[SLIDE #2 - Vision]

More People: We are in a series preaching and teaching on our vision as a church to see “more people become more like Jesus together transforming our communities.”

It’s a biblical mandate, a call that requires all of us to grow no matter our age or stage, and it is a future that is both deeply exciting and appropriately challenging.

Our series over this month is particularly magnifying the opening “more people” portion of our vision, calling growth out of all of us.

This is about a sense of movement for all us - we are a church that is moving forward. All of us. We exist as Jesus’ church to see all our lives change, and more lives changed across this city. “More people” calls us all forward. And it is Jesus that is sounding this call.

Our Lord.

This is Beyond Words

[SLIDE #3 - Words]

Jesus calls for us to take seriously who He is in this call to move forward as His people. Jesus calls us to take seriously the fact that we cannot merely say we will do what He says. In the portion of teaching in Matthew’s Gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount, towards it’s end, Jesus is teaching us what He means by really living under Him as our leader, guide, comforter, Saviour, and King [which is, by the way, what the term Lord means, in a series of adjectives]. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says:

[SLIDE #4 - Matthew 7:21-23, NIV]

The New International Version Chapter 7

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Confronting Teaching: This is an address that is meant to catch our attention, and keep it. Keep us reflecting on what it is that Jesus could really mean. It does not, at first blush, seem straightforward. Jesus seems to be saying, come the final day of Judgement of all mankind - the day where Jesus will return to usher in the eternal Kingdom of God for all who are in His book of life - that:

What we say our lives are about is not nearly as important as what we end up doing with our daily hours.

And what good we end up doing, even miraculous good, can end up counting for nothing if we do not make sure of one crucial thing.

What is this one thing?

This one thing...

It comes to light if we consider what the group of people Jesus addresses in this teaching and what they do not say as they cry out to Him. Why did they not cry out:

But Jesus, we have walked together in the cool of the morning, in the cool of the night, for decades.

But Jesus, where else can I go for the hope of eternal life?

But Jesus, I have wept with you, rejoiced with you, talked long into the night with you, woken in the midst of turbulent anxieties and found you...over and over and over again!

But Jesus, you have taught me to pray, to believe, to live righteously, to serve, to share my hope in you with others. All the good I’ve done has come from your lead!

Why was it not the cry of these people, “but Jesus, we know and love you, and have relied upon you ever-more-increasingly since the day you saved us?”

Are you sensing what this one thing is?

[SLIDE #5 - It’s Personal (Arms)]

This one thing that is at the heart of the will of the Father. This one thing that is more important than what we say we will do with our lives. This one thing that is more important than the good we end up doing.

What is it?

Knowing Jesus, Knowing the Father, knowing God, personally. Deeply. Intimately.

JESUS TEACHING HERE: Is shocking perhaps, but it is incredibly good news for all. How?

The Lord wants you BEFORE He wants the good you can do for Him.

The Lord wants a personal and intimate friendship with you far more than He wants a good worker out of you.

The Lord wants, even more than friendship, to make you a glorious Son, a glorious Daughter, BEFORE He calls you to any and all acts of service.

This is good news to all:

It’s good news to the religious among us, who can get caught up in doing good religion, rather than enjoying the one who made us to desire to live whole and moral and righteous lives in the first place.

It’s good news for the performance driven among us, who can make our faith another performance, if not the chiefly important performance of our lives, rather than enjoying the healing power of intimate fellowship with our Maker, who inspires a well of motivation to live lives of incredible contribution out of pure joy, and deep contentment.

It’s good news for the lazy among us, who are troubled by the pestering sense of inadequacy that such a life as ours can inspire, because we can instead find hope for our lives at the foot of a Cross where all is forgiven, and all can be made new in the promise of new creation life, grace, and power.

It’s good news for all our broken parts, where we are tempted to feel shame, disappointment, or feel that we are a disappointment to others and even God Himself. Because He wants to know all of us, even in the depths of our brokenness, for it is for the restoration of all that is broken that He came.

It gets even better, you know! I hope you’re getting the picture. This good news is what transforms us, and it’s without us lifting a finger to change ourselves first.

The obsessively religious among us find ourselves growing less anxiously religious, and instead, find the truest source of power for living upright lives - partnership WITH Jesus our King.

The performance driven among us find ourselves growing less driven to perform, and instead, find the truest source of motivation for giving our best - Jesus HAS ALREADY IMPARTED His best to Us by sheer grace.

The lazy among us find our doomed sense of inadequacy peel off us, like a layer of baked on mud and dirt, and underneath, a fresh and healthy, dare I say it, new, complexion - Jesus DELIGHTS in us, and a strange but beautiful inspiration for life grows therein.

And all the broken parts of our lives (and I would argue the three types above are all exhibiting brokenness anyway) are no longer so troubling, or worrying, or simply confusing, but instead, are places where we are finding HEALING - It was always for the BROKEN HEARTED LIKE US, we realize, that Jesus CAME!

This warning Jesus sounds is the BEST GIFT He could give us! It is to shock us out of our man-made, self-saving, Jesus-replacing tendencies, and call us HOME to Him.

[SLIDE #6 - Home WITH Jesus]

Because only from finding our HOME with Him, finding HOME in Him, will we live the kind of life that will endure on into eternity. Will we DO obedience in REALITY!

In eternity:

We will do nothing FOR Jesus, but everything WITH Jesus.

Will have no-one to IMPRESS, because JESUS will forever be MOST IMPRESSIVE.

We will have no need to HIDE, because JESUS will have FOREVER made us WHOLE.

And Jesus came to START all of this NOW

This is what the obedient life always has looked like and always will look like!

SO WHAT ABOUT - the good works. The miracles. The demon-defeating job these people were so confident would change Jesus’ tune in their defense?

Think about it - Whose life records the wealth of miracles, the wealth of good works, the wealth of incredible and incomparable teaching, and in the end, the power over all death and evil itself?

If we find our HOME with Him, and in Him, do you not think the kind of works He started might continue in us, and through us?

It’s the difference between doing good, even of the most impressive nature, to get in, and FIRST being good, in the most profound of ways, because we are ALREADY in. And what’s more, we’re enjoying it. Because we’re enjoying being with HIM!

THE SURGEON AGAIN

[SLIDE #7 - Surgeon again]

You would never entrust yourself to a surgeon who’s credentials were developed via YouTube. Jesus teaches us here, likewise, don’t sell yourself short of my incredible grace when it comes to your salvation. Don’t try to prove you’re in. Accept my invitation instead:

[SLIDE #8 - Matthew 11:28-30, MSG]

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 11

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Instead of trying to impress Jesus, or us, or anybody else for that matter, with your good works, Just start walking with Jesus, and working with Him. Watch how He does life - you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

It will take the rest of your life to realize this deep in your bones. But this is what your life is given you for. To walk with your God, in partnership, in fellowship, in friendship, in Sonship and Daughtership. And discover a life of pure grace, and many miracles, as a result.

SO HOW - TO WALK WITH JESUS?

[SLIDE #8 - REFLECT, PRACTICE, IMITATE]

REFLECT - (more than merely read) On the life of Jesus. Open the bible daily in order to learn how you can walk with Jesus for the day ahead. For your life ahead. The bible:

Is the only book we can read, and study, with the author Himself present to us, and with us.

If you want to hear from Jesus, read the Scriptures aloud. With faith, and you’ll realise the voice of Jesus is that close, that near to you.

2. TRAIN - practice what you see to do. Don’t move beyond time in scripture without having something to put into practice for the day ahead. This is a simple as obedience gets, and as powerful as it will become in your life.

3. IMITATE - Paul has a great a simple saying in 1 Corinthians 11:1:

English Standard Version Chapter 11

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

We can’t exactly imitate Paul like the Corinthian church would have been able to, because he was right there with this early church (we can study his life in scripture, however). But we can do the next best thing, which is in the spirit of this saying.

Find people in THIS CHURCH who you can see imitate Jesus. As you learn about Jesus in scripture, you start to get a picture of what He’s like. As you learn about your fellow believers in church, you start to get a picture of what we’re like. Find someone who looks like the Jesus you’re learning, and keep them in your life. Ask them your curious questions. Spend time with them in life, and conversation, and learning. And do it all to find Jesus in them, find Jesus with them, and become more like Him as a result.

CALL TO CHRIST

[SLIDE #9 - Do you know Jesus?]

Do you know Jesus? Do you want to know Him? He wants to know you - as a friend, not just a religious figure. As your King, not just your little bit of religion on the side. As your guiding coach, chief motivator, life-transformer - not simply as a good moral guide.

Do you know His friendships, His Kingship, His transformative life-coaching?

You can, starting today. In a moment...(call to decision)

CALL TO PRAYER

Let’s pray and respond to Jesus together church. Join with me now...

(Lead us in prayer)