Homeless

Intro:

I saw a statistic put out this week, that I am unclear if it is a completely accurate one, that there are currently between 200,000 and 500,000 people who are or who have been homeless for a period of time in america, this last year. There are around 350,000 christian churches, so why are there homeless people?

I found myself disagreeing with posed statement, that because their are 350,000 churches that it should negate the statistics about how many homeless are in america. To me it wasn’t that simple. I’m not saying churches shouldn’t or couldn’t work in that arena of ministry, but to suggest it would solve homelessness in america completely, im not sure is the case.

Most dictionaries define home as: “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.”

Home is a place of protection, a place of stable living, and a place to grow a family. You find rest at home. Home is an intimate place. Home is also where your family is. I do feel everyone should have a place to call home.

The more I describe what a home is, it starts to sound what I believe a church is to be. A place of safety, stability, intamacy, family.

I know some of you have been attending this church if not your whole life atleast decades. This place has a homey feel to it, some may feel your church is your other home, maybe you wouldn’t know what to if you didn’t have your church family.

Some though have come to look at church differently. For some church is not safe or stable, maybe it doesn’t feel like a place of family. Many in this world, given the option to be churched or churchless, many would choose to be churchless. change slide

For some, giving up your church, being churchless would be similar to giving up your home and choosing to live homeless. Thats not a perfect analogy, as being without shelter a place to lay your head at night is quite different than not being able to come to church.....but what is true, is many who have left church life and then return often say things like, “I’m back home!”

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America has been and still is one of the most churched nations in the world. In the 90’s, according to Barna Research group, 30% of adults would be classified as churchless, during the 2000’s it was 33%, and over the last decade that figure has risen to 43%. If the church is a home, more and more are currently choosing to be homeless?

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2 in 3 unchurched people say they are still spiritual people.

more than half, say their faith is important to them.

99% are aware of christianity (theyve heard some about it) 69% believe Christianity is important

yet nearly half find that church attendance as of no importance.

But why? Why would someone choose to be churchless over and what about the Seventh-day adventist church, are we lumped in with these same statistics? What can we do to bring them home?

I hope you all know I am not a gloom and doom preacher. I would never share a message that has no hope. Today we are going to look at some solutions in scripture. What is our role as Adventist Christians? What can and should we be doing?

Before I go any further, lets begin with prayer.

Body

When I think of the example of Jesus in scripture, he was constantly bringing new people into his fellowship. Whether they were lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, fisherman, children, demon-possessed, or even good synagogue attending Jews. Often the disciples were ready to send people away, often ones they didn’t have great care or concern for, but there was no one to small or insignificant, or even to sinful Jesus did not care about.

If you are like many church goers, you might have mixed feelings about the unchurched in america. You may often feel sorry for the churchless, knowing they are missing out on the special experiences and relationships accessible only through the community of people devoted to following Jesus Christ. At other times you may envy them, wishing to flee the church and be free, like the unchurched. I know there are those out there, maybe even sitting in here, who might attribute living away from the church as “freedom.” What I sense, is that many may view the church and/or the law of God as something holding you back, or chaining you down. Maybe thats a failure on church leadership, maybe thats a misunderstanding of the purpose of the law. As we talked about the last time I spoke. Living a life dedicated to Jesus is accepting his grace and forgiveness but also we are seeking to be changed. The law exposes sin in our lives and acts in our benefit, giving us more freedom, and safety that we could imagine.

Last time I spoke, I referenced Galatians 5:14-15

14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

Paul also cautions in verse 13:

13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.

Paul was taking the opportunity to counsel the assembled faith communities to hold each other to a higher standard, and understand the freedom that exists by following Christ. He was also cautioning against the great danger of destroying each other with in these faith communities,. I would not take time to ask you all to raise your hand if you have ever been hurt atleast once by another church member, by someone a part of your faith community. I wouldn’t ask you to raise your hand, because I think every one of you would raise your hand, myself included.

I also think I would get equal participation here from everyone who has recieved a great blessing at the hands of your faith community, your church family. What I see happening all to frequently is people are weighing the hurt against the blessing, and some do find the hurt is just to heavy. They hear things like, let God take the burden off you, but to some they are saying, how can I do that when the burden is coming from within “the Lord’s house?” Whether that is a fair assessment or not, for some, I stress some, that is the perception.

If you are like me and have been richly blessed by the church, sometimes there is a feeling of helplessness to share that experience with someone who has had a different experience.

I referenced that 43% figure of adult americans are purely unchurched. 33% of all american adults are de-churched and 10% are american adults never were churched. That means that of that 43% of american adults that is unchurched, a whopping 76% were at one point a part of a church and then chose to leave.

That is a problem…this means the overwhelming majority of non christians in a america were at one point a christian and found, eventually that they didn’t want to be anymore. That 10 percent figure will continue to go up as well. As we watch a large percentage of Christians walk away, their children will be raised without ever even having the option to choose or reject Christ or the church because they won’t have ever been introduced.

One substantial reality is the growing sense among North American christians is that the culture is changing faster than we can seem to keep up with or respond to— and we are not always sure how to live faithfully in a world that feels like it’s headed off the rails. Not too many years ago, church attendance and basic Bible literacy were the cultural norm, and maybe being a Christian didn’t feel like you were swimming against the current, atleast not quite as much as today. According to Barna, real data confirms how drastically the moral, social, and spiritual lives of americans have changed and are changing.

As Christians, and more specifically as SDA’s, what can we do? What are we called to do? I say it goes back to the example of Jesus. I will say again and again, we need to embrace the churchless---whether they follow Jesus from home but are disconnected from the church or not following Jesus at all.

Dietrich Bonhoffer, the german pastor and martyr at the hands of the Nazis, observed that the church is the church only when it exists for others,---that is spreading truth and love to the outsiders.

For the sake of the life-changing message of Jesus, and of the great commission to share what message is entrusted to us, we as Adventists especially have an obligation to understand the churchless.

You know it is interesting to me, often when we talk about Jesus spending time with hated tax collectors, we often think of Zachaeus. Its a good example, Jesus did quite the number on him, His life was completely changed almost instantly as he encountered Jesus. He was far from the first whose life was changed so dramatically by encounter with Christ. Matthew the disciple of Christ, and author of the gospel Matthew had a similar encounter with Jesus.

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus rebuke to the pharisees is a quote from which critiqued the self-centered focus of the Israelites: placing ritual over mission.

The question posed to Jesus, in other words, was…If you are who people say you are, then shouldn’t you be above these people who were a mixture of both physically and spiritually sick. Jesus’ answer is one that reflects his desire for all his followers. “Yes I am, these are the ones I came to save! Shouldn’t you be as well? I am hear to heal the sick, not those who are healthy. I don’t think Jesus here is acknowledging the pharisees as spiritually healthy. I think Jesus working to help those who not only needing his help but were willing to accept it.

Desire of Ages gives further commentary:

The teaching of Christ, though it was represented by the new wine, was not a new doctrine, but the revelation of that which had been taught from the beginning. But to the Pharisees the truth of God had lost its original significance and beauty. To them Christ’s teaching was new in almost every respect, and it was unrecognized and unacknowledged.

That is a lesson for each of here today to…Let us not believe we are so clean, that going into the world pursuing the saving of sinners will to dirty up our white robes. Jesus is the cleanser of sin, and he calls us to pursue the lost. He doesn’t all us to become like those who are sinning openly, he calls us to go after those and help anyone who will let us. Jesus shows no force, people saw him and desired to be with Him and be like Him. I believe Jesus saw everyone whether they were religiously faithful or whether they had.

Jesus pointed out the power of false teaching to destroy the appreciation and desire for truth. “No man,” He said, “having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” All the truth that has been given to the world through patriarchs and prophets shone out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and Pharisees had no desire for the precious new wine. Until emptied of the old traditions, customs, and practices, they had no place in mind or heart for the teachings of Christ. They clung to the dead forms, and turned away from the living truth and the power of God.

It was this that proved the ruin of the Jews, and it will prove the ruin of many souls in our own day. Thousands are making the same mistake as did the Pharisees whom Christ reproved at Matthew’s feast. Rather than give up some cherished idea, or discard some idol of opinion, many refuse the truth which comes down from the Father of light. They trust in self, and depend upon their own wisdom, and do not realize their spiritual poverty. They insist on being saved in some way by which they may perform some important work. When they see that there is no way of weaving self into the work, they reject the salvation provided.

That is a lesson for each of here today to…Let us not believe we are so clean, that going into the world pursuing the saving of sinners will to dirty up our white robes. Jesus is the cleanser of sin, and he calls us to pursue the lost. He doesn’t all us to become like those who are sinning openly, he calls us to go after those and help anyone who will let us. Jesus shows no force, people saw him and desired to be with Him and be like Him. I believe Jesus saw everyone whether they were religiously faithful or whether they had.

When we’re only focused on our own church experience and inwardly focused its easy to assume the unchurched world remains largely the same. If that is true, then we probably assume what has worked in the past will work as well as it always will.

A couple years ago, I read a book, “The history of the U.S. Auto industry.” While Henry Ford’s assembly line and his famous vehicle the Model T very much revolutionized industries all over, decades, later he began to be passed up by his own disciples in the auto industry because of his refusal to adapt. When it comes to reaching people outside the confines of our doors, its easy for us to get cynical or skeptical when church leaders are saying we need to adapt. I think the biggest worry, is we would change our message, losing our apocalyptic vision, maybe we would be dumbing down or watering down our message. I don’t want to be making that suggestion at all. We strip the church of its foundational integrity when we attempt to limit the uniquely Adventist messages. That said, Henry Ford’s problem was not so much the quality of his vehicle, it was the fact that he wasn’t willing to acknowledge or address the growing needs the people were needing with automobiles. Cars were needed to be larger to fit whole families inside, cars were needing to be able to go further and faster and on roads less explored. To that end, more strategy of the landscape of their market was needed. Various needs, required various designs and various investments.

Examining the culture of Banner Elk or Boone as compared to Charlotte, or Raleigh, will be quite different. Actually, examining the cultural differences of just simply Boone and Banner Elk are amazingly different in themselves.

I’ll give you a better for instance. Last September I went out to preach a series with a friend of mine Michael in south west colorado. Just driving into the town we would be preaching at I could see so many differences to the landscape than where I was used to preaching. There in Cortez, a town roughly the size of Boone, were only 3 Christian churches, the Adventist church was the 2nd largest with an average attendance of about 70. There were more legal Marijuana shops in that town than there were churches. For the most part this town was a mostly unchurched area. This was as secular as you can get. Michael and I were preaching adventist messages that many of the members had never heard much before. Michael and I just finished last month preaching these same messages in Boone, and suddenly the landscape was totally different. Now we were preaching in the Bible belt where there is a church just about every few blocks it seems. Our audiences were more familiar with concepts we were preaching, and guests that came were mostly no strangers to being in a churched event. In both places the messages stood out as uniquely Adventist, but our conversations after each meeting were vastly different, because their needs were different. Messages aside, things we did in Boone, would not have worked in cortez, and things that worked in cortez would not have worked in Boone. If we want to understand how to make a difference in our time for the sake of the gospel, we must be spirit driven, and have a firm grip as to what is happening.

You have heard it said, live in the world, but not be of the world…I have had a hard time wrapping my head around that quote, mostly with the first part. Of course you live in the world, what other world have we been placed in? People have taken that concept, of not being of the world, as hiding from the world. In the early centuries of christianity, there was a group who, with the desire to not be corrupted by sin or the world, would live in the mud clay rooms with little to no sunlight and would only eat and drink by others bringing them some food rations and passing it to them through a small window. Thats an extreme example: but today, I see people out there trying to live away from others as much as possible for fear of corruption. Listen sin is a plague and it spreads fast, and I in no way down play its hold it can take on us, but Jesus called us to be a light in the world, he has not called us to hide away. His commission was to go make disciples. Jesus, being the only one to live a sinless life, did not hide away for fear of corruption. He maintained a very close connection with his father and demonstrated wisdom and power as he sought to change people’s lives.

Turn with me to

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”

Do you realize how significant an act this was that Jesus asked the woman to do for him? It challenged the accepted cultural practices and definitely stood out. With one question Jesus stood out as irregular to the woman.

Jesus begins talking of the living water he could offer that would leave her never having to thirst again. He of course was not talking about literal water from a well. He was talking about living with him and experiencing eternal life. He was talking about a truth that would not crumble and himself the savior who would never abandon. He spoke marvelous things to this woman, knowing and accepting her past and present, but believing her future trajectory could be altered and changed. He says to her:

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

In this moment, the disciples, nearly undid what Jesus had just done for the woman. “Why are you talking to her?”

But Jesus words had made a change in her. Jesus had offered her what she needed, this turned her into an evangelist of sorts, going and telling everyone who would listen about this man Jesus she had met and sending others (the Jews may have considered unchurched) to the feet of Jesus.

This living water was something the woman, may not have even known she needed, but when she had an encounter with Jesus, it became all that she desired.

This same living water is what we are to offering here. Think of our church as a well, to the homeless, the churchless, the spiritually sick. Know that each of need the living water just the same.

To the unchurched and de-churched…churches often haven’t felt like a well to them.

Ive shared with you troubling statistics in the past:

59% of millennials who have grown up church are walking away. Many who have grown up in a religious churched environment are now choosing to be nones. Nones as in, non-religiously affilliated. Many aren’t outright rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting the church, and also, often rejecting His teachings, as I mentioned last sabbath I spoke.

The fastest growing religion in the U.S. is no religion. Projections for the present and even more so int eh future, is kids wont be growing up to and reject christianity, let alone Adventism, they will have never been introduced it. They will have and already are being born into a post christian era.

Some say it doesn’t matter because those we are losing were never really here or devoted Christians. Some paint a bleak picture, that those who walk out are gone, accept it, just focus on your own children. I REFUSE to accept that. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to convict souls of all generations, races, religious or non religious backgrounds. Our God is strong enough! Our God does not give up on his people. Neither should we, because of whom we serve.

I don’t say that to frighten anyone. I saw

Some say it doesn’t matter because those we are losing were never really here or devoted Christians. Some paint a bleak picture, that those who walk out are gone, accept it, just focus on your own children. I REFUSE to accept that. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to convict souls of all generations, races, religious or non religious backgrounds. Our God is strong enough! Our God does not give up on his people. Neither should we, because of whom we serve.

Church in order for us to stand out in our town, or our nation, or this world, our church must return to its roots and be a Holy Spirit driven movement once again! It starts with you and it starts with me. Desiring to live for Jesus ourselves.

Look at the world today that has changed. The courtesies we complain that don’t seem to exist anymore. Politeness and manners. Being friendly and considerate. Loving to strangers. Praying for those who have wronged us. Hurting when others hurt. Showing compassion is no small feet in todays world. It also even more so opens the door for our important messages of hope to be recieved. If you believe what our church is offering is of benefit to you and could be to others, be courageous and invite people to come! Don’t let fear contribute to the statistics. I do want to also pose the question, Do you feel the Holy Spirit is calling you to do more? If He reveals to you something new or outside of your comfort zone, are you willing to do it? Do you desire the homeless to find a home? Do you desire the unchurched to we welcomed into your church? I do, and my prayer is that each of here do to!