Seeking the Lost 5 - Welcoming a New Believer

28 ‘‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Intro:

There is no greater honor and no greater responsibility than welcoming a new believer into his or her new life! To do this well, we need to follow Jesus’ example. We want, more than anything, to be used by God to welcome His lost sheep into His fold.

I. Following Jesus’ Lead

   A.   Jesus saw the Weariness of life without God

      1.   Without God we live with burdens both heavy and empty.

          a.    The burden of our guilt.

          b.   The emptiness of sin.

      2.   Sin is a mocker that promises much and delivers only fleeting glimpses.

      3.   Without God we bear the hardships of life alone.

   B.   Jesus invited the weary to Rest

      1.   Note that Jesus doesn’t first invite us to the tasks of discipleship but to the intimacy of rest with Him.

      2.   Coming to Faith is coming into God’s Rest:

7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: ‘‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. Heb. 4:7-11 (NIV)

   C.   Jesus invites us to Join Him in a Gentler life.

      1.   Jesus invites new believer and veteran Christian to rest in his leadership.

      2.   In a world that idolizes ambition and hard-work, Jesus invites us to slow down and receive (not what we have earned) what he gives us in love.

II.   Welcoming the weary

   A.   Seeking those who are Seeking God.

      1.   We will seek those seeking God, because we follow Jesus, whose heart is broken for the lost.

      2.   Sometimes those folks seeking God are looking for him in all the wrong places. We can point them in the right direction.

   B.   Being gentle and humble of Heart

      1.   We will welcome as he welcomes: gently, humbly - taking the attitude of one who serves.

      2.   We will speak to them out of the love in our hearts.

   C.   An honest answer for an honest Question

      1.   People coming to Faith have questions and hesitations. Every honest question deserves an honest answer (no pat, canned “hermetically sealed” answers to questions that arise out of the deep issues of life.

III. Keep the burden Light

   (Not Christianity “Lite”!)

   A.   Removing all Obstacles to the Gospel.

      1.   Obstacles of Language, Culture, Tradition (as long as they really are obstacles and not part of the package!)

   B.   Direct people to Jesus

      1.   Not as obvious as it sounds. It’s too easy to direct folks to us and our ideas.

      2.   Not to “churchianity,” not to “the way we do things.”

      3.   Jesus is the only source of peace and rest.

   C.   Don’t add to the Burden Jesus gives.

      1.   Jesus lays claim on a new believer’s life. We have no counter claim that they must follow some of our rules in addition to what Jesus calls them to.

      2.   We expect people to respond to God in the area in which God is working on them (not every area at once!).

The Bottom Line:

We will Seek as He Seeks. We will Welcome as He Welcomes.