Extending A Full Gospel

Introduction

I am just old enough to remember the A&W drive-in … where the waitress came to your car, bringing your food on trays that hung on your windows.

For some reason it was a treat to eat in your car.

We went for this because we felt special … that they served us right at our car.

Some people treat church like a drive-in, where they just pull up and get whatever they want.

Why is it we come to church? Do we come to be served or to serve others?

We are here to build one another up, but there is more to it.

We are here to be built up, but even more so we come to build up others.

Are we more about self-service or serving others?

As Nechako Community Church, we describe ourselves as a church family centred in Christ … lived out primarily by serving our community.

We exist to serve one another within the church ...

… and to serve those within our community (to love our neighbours as called to in ).

With now having had Christmas, Advent is over … but this Advent we have been considering the reality of Jesus’ words in - that He came to serve not to be served.

He is available to all, meeting both immediate and eternal needs.

Addressing circumstances but always pointing to the deeper spiritual need.

How do we serve?

How do we extend the full gospel / the gospel that addresses life’s needs but also our eternal reality?

How do we engage with people in ways they cannot help but encounter the Living Christ?

* The gospel and its spread is to be our prime motivator and goal.

Turn with me to John chapter 6; it identifies Jesus as the Bread of Life, and three ways in which, as the Bread of Life, He meets our real needs.

Meeting Immediate Needs (35)

Read .

The setting here is one of crowds pressing in on Jesus … following Him wherever He went, exhausting Him and His disciples.

But Jesus continues to interact with them, serving them in a variety of ways.

Having just fed the 5000, the crowds were still not satisfied … the food they had received drew them to keep pursuing Him.

They sought after Him because of material hope.

They were motivated to receive more because of what they had already received.

We often pursue something in hopes it will give us more than we already have.

Someone told me of a job advertisement for what sounded like a dream job … a large salary and travel included.

It can be tempting to give up what we have for something that sounds better … but too often it was actually too good to be true.

What is it we seek? With what intention do we approach Jesus?

Jesus called the crowds out; He saw their real goal.

It was not even the miracle they sought; they wanted free food / food they did not have to work for.

Why is it we seek Jesus?

The prosperity gospel ties wealth to Jesus; it is easy to see why it attracts people, but if our pursuit is wealth we miss the true Jesus.

I saw a story this week on the “deconverted” … people who have walked away from Christ and Christianity in order to justify an anti-biblical viewpoint.

They still consider themselves Christians, but they define Jesus as they want Him.

They implant their views and preferences into Jesus to try and get the best of both worlds.

* We must be careful of these “deconverted” Christians because they are taking it upon themselves to draw Christians away from the truth.

What is it we seek?

A saviour who serves our human perspective … or the Saviour who serves from His divine perspective?

A “small j” jesus who does our bidding … or the Jesus who is working for us?

Are we submitting ourselves or just seeking re-occurring miracles or blessings?

Jesus offers Himself as Bread.

A Bread to be received; one freely offered to us.

A Bread that is more than food or daily provision; one that is heavenly more so than earthly.

A Bread that fills the hunger and thirst we feel in this life.

People are hungry, and we must do all we can to meet this hunger.

We contribute to NeighbourLink, the Food Bank, and hamper programs.

We offer food or financial aid to those whose paths we cross.

We use both our church benevolent fund and personal resources to meet people’s needs.

Often we only see our immediate needs through a physical lens, and yet Jesus fills our spiritual needs too.

We do not only need food, we also need emotional strengthening and relationship.

So many of Jesus’ interactions met immediate needs.

Such as the woman caught in adultery in ; He saved her life.

Or the bleeding woman in ; He both healed her and affirmed her faith.

To the man on the healing pool in , He asked, “Do you want to be well?” … bringing healing.

Jesus healed many but also enabled them to work.

The man healed beside the pool could no longer beg or be provided for.

He was physically renewed but also given renewed purpose and responsibility.

Jesus meets each one where they are at in life and walks with them in all life holds.

For many of us, there is a vacuum in life.

A vacuum of hope … a lack of purpose and clarity.

We battle in each day, not content with life as it is.

There is a struggle to know our purpose and place in life.

* Here too Jesus meets us!

He may remove or heal what holds us back.

He may also use us in it … serving a purpose we do not see.

He is with us in our limitations and hurts and griefs and battles, strengthening us within them … providing greater purpose in walking through them than in removing them.

In what attitude do we approach Jesus when it comes to our immediate needs?

Are we trying to dictate what He should do?

Is our focus an easy-out or help in enduring?

Do we expect a repeat of past provision or seek God’s hand in a way yet to be revealed?

Will we follow and trust … or do we prefer to be in control?

In what ways do we allow Jesus to serve others’ needs through us?

Do we hold our homes and finances in open hands?

Are we generous?

How is it we help those who ask for food money or need a friend?

Will we hire the unhirable?

Is there a way we can be more available to meeting the needs of others?

Offering Eternal Hope (50-51)

Read .

A great challenge is to offer what we are referring to this morning as a “full gospel”.

A gospel that meets both immediate and eternal needs.

There are some wrong understandings of this ...

… feeding the hungry or visiting the sick but never sharing Christ.

… evangelizing while ignoring basic needs.

… pushing faith without acknowledging mental and physical health and well-being.

Jesus meets us in each aspect of life.

This is a principle dominant in His life.

He consistently met relational needs as well as physical ones.

He met immediate needs along with eternal ones.

How can we do the same?

As we come into this section of our passage (v.41), there is a change in the scenario.

The Jews / the religious leaders had pressed into the crowd and taken over the conversation with Jesus.

They “grumbled” as they only saw Jesus as Joseph’s son.

How could He make the claims He did? They questioned any claims of deity.

They questioned any claims of deity.

This picture of Bread shifts here … it is not only for addressing hunger but now takes on something more; eternal language comes into play here.

Christ, as the Bread of Life, meets our immediate needs - sustaining and strengthening us in this life.

But, as the Bread of Life, Christ also welcomes us into an eternal reality - the promise of Heaven.

At Communion, the bread and juice are not meant as a meal or snack but as a representation of our eternal reality in Christ.

His death made the way for us to be eternally right and close with God.

When we receive His gift of salvation / when we believe Him, we are saved; He is our Bread of Life.

Jesus offers Himself as Bread.

We receive when we believe (according to v.35) and when we are drawn by God (according to v.44).

We are all called and invited, but we each must accept the invitation.

However, to extend the full gospel we must not only meet earthly needs but also proclaim the gospel.

We are to be God’s voice / calling into people’s lives.

Consider these verses ...

- “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ...” (, ESV)

- “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” (, ESV)

- “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (, ESV)

A responsibility has been placed on us; evangelism and discipleship are to be very real parts of who we are and what we do.

It is not about force-sharing the gospel but taking opportunities.

Is the gospel central in our thoughts and works?

In preaching, teaching, small groups, committee work … is the gospel central?

Does the lostness of man grip our hearts?

Do our outreach events include an expression of the gospel?

Jesus meets us in the everyday and in the eternal.

He walks through the nitty-gritties of life with us and gives us an eternal perspective on life.

He is our Great Provider … both materially and spiritually.

He can heal our physical and mental health matters but more importantly He heals us of our sin.

What hope do we bring … to one another and to our neighbours who do not yet know Christ?

Are we motivated by Christ’s service when we serve others?

Do others see the message of Christ through us … or do we just presume they do?

We must be careful in how we present Christ.

Our society reacts very strongly to any of our truth statements.

We do not want to offend and yet the gospel is offensive, so let us find clear and effective opportunities to speak the gospel.

Providing A Way (53-58)

Read .

Have you ever taken something apart and then could not get it back together?

There is only way these things go together ...

… and they need to be put together correctly in order to work.

In , we read, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (, ESV)

One way we as Christians really clash with our society is that Jesus is the only way to be saved.

We are judged harshly on this one.

Our society wants a broad range of ways to be saved; they want the freedom for each of us to determine our own way.

To extend the full and real gospel, we must remain firm and clear on this point - Jesus is the only way!

Without the Bread of Life, we will remain hungry and lost.

If we do not come in faith to Christ, we face the judgment of God.

When our life comes apart (or at least when it feels that way), there is only one Person who can put and hold it together.

We try … but anything we do is very fleeting.

One commentary offered the story of William Somerset Maugham, the most famous author of the 1930’s.

In all his wealth and success, his life ended empty.

He felt a failure; he was miserable and saw no hope.

No matter what we have or do in life, there will be a void / a vacuum of hope.

This hope is only filled by Christ.

We remain confident in this; this is foundational to who we are and all we believe and practice.

Our hearts ache when loved ones step away from Christ and the Church.

We focus on our youth, young adults, and families in order to instill faith in them, in order to make faith in Christ practical to them.

We focus on them so they know they fit / so they know they have a spot to belong; we back off our own preferences so they know they belong / there is a place for them here with us.

To truly serve / to extend the full gospel, we meet immediate needs, we offer an everlasting / a beyond this life hope, and we provide the way of salvation - namely Christ!

Jesus Christ alone is the Bread of Life!

Whenever we look at the gospel of John, we should do so in light of its theme statement; says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (, ESV)

The whole focus of this gospel is that we know Christ and find the life that is in Him alone.

If we are here to serve, this is our only message.

Conclusion

Christ came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for us.

This is the gospel we have received and are called to.

This is the full gospel that He brought.

Have we grasped its fullness?

My desire is that we would be more like Jesus … increasingly aware of those around us who are hurting and struggling.

That we would be known as those with servant hearts; we cannot fix people’s problems, but we can serve them while they are within them.

That we would learn to not judge the person or the problem but rather to come alongside them as they face the heavies of their life.

That we would be actively aware of others’ immediate needs while bringing the eternal hope that does not perish or fade.

May we be here to serve, extending the full gospel of Jesus.