Awkward On Purpose

Exodus 17:1–7 ESV

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

God brings us from places of comfort into new places that are uncomfortable so that we can know Him and make Him known.

I love what Glen said last week about God always leads us out from a place of provision.

We have to start somewhere, as we lead, and that place is a place where God lead us previously.

We see God doing this again with Israel because he is trying to teach them, by experience, who He is.

God started West to bring us to a new place.

For many that came with the original group, it was uncomfortable.

First it was to Aaron’s office and then later to this building.

Out of all the places in Alexandria, God sent us here, to this neighborhood.

I haven’t been bashful over the years on my belief about why God sent us here.

This isn’t just a call for Bethany, Brittany, Kyle, and myself.

Our ministry to this neighborhood is a call for all members of TGP West.

In one of his address to SBC this week, J.D. Greer pointed out that when you accepted Jesus as your savior, you also accepted a call to ministry.

He references The Greatest commandment and The Great Commission.

Matthew 22:36–40 ESV

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Who are our neighbors?

Story of the good Samaritan.

Our neighbors are any that God brings into our lives and then shows us a need in their life.

God brought us here...

Matthew 28:16–20 ESV

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Yesterday we had our Life Group Leader and Host Home training, which was amazing, by the way.

David Miller taught a section on knowing who you are called to BLESS.

We are definitely going to have him teach that here on a Sunday morning.

He made the point that if you will consider what you are passionate about, that is the group that you are best equipped and most likely called to BLESS.

You speak the language, know the culture, etc.

He also mentioned, that there are times that God calls us to be on mission outside of what we know.

This is exactly what we are talking about today.

If you are uncomfortable right now because you think I’m about to make a big ask and you feel ill-equipped, welcome to the party.

Can I get an amen Kyle, Brittany, and Bethany?

We are all going to have varying degrees of involvement in this ministry.

But I’m afraid that many use that as a complete cop-out.

We have a unique opportunity to meet a need in this town that most other churches are unwilling to even consider.

Practical examples of how you can participate:

Help with community kids on Sunday mornings

If you see a child around that you don’t recognize and they seem to be there by themselves, take care of them and treat them like your own.

That is the expectation of this community

Their parents are counting on us to fulfill that role why they are here.

You don’t need our permission to handle issues. You are grown and most have children or are close to someone that does. Handle it.

Teach or co-teach a children’s class one Sunday morning a month

two weeks ago we had to send children home because we didn’t have teachers for them.

We were given an opportunity to share the gospel with them and didn’t have the man power do so.

Participate in Community activities

Show up early and set up

Stay till its done and clean up

Bring too much food.

Pray

Ask us what and who you can pray for.

Pick up trash from the parking lot and yard

Prepare or deliver food for community activities

Help on a Wednesday night

I think most of the life groups have already come and served with us on a Wednesday night.

I cannot say thank you enough for that...

You may feel like what you did was insignificant, but to children who are living with little supervision and often fend for themselves, having an adult in their life that gives them positive attention and feeds them is life changing.

Also, four of us can’t love 30 plus kids the way they deserve.

Simple maths.

This isn’t about us just wanting more people here

This isn’t about guilting you into something.

This is about us loving the community, where God placed us, in such a radical way that God is made known to them.

This community is full of people and all of them are image bearers of God and as such, deserve to be loved.

God put us here for that purpose.

I know it is hard… What Moses was doing was hard.

What Israel was doing was hard.

God calls us to hard things.

It was harder for Israel to follow God into this new place than it was for Moses.

When you read this passage and the ones before and the ones after, it is obvious that Israel was struggling.

You know, from personal experience, that learning to trust God is difficult.

In terms of what we just talked about in loving this community...

It is important for us to remember that it is just as hard for others to join us as it is for us to join them.

As we have mentioned before, there is nothing for the people in this neighborhood to do.

To help with that, following God’s leading, we put up a basketball goal in the parking lot.

It has been up for a year and just now, are the people of this community comfortable enough to come and play when we are here.

Oliver - shooting basketball in the parking lot during our Family night.

I invited him to join us for the meal and he declined.

He was here again the following week on a Wednesday night.

Although he was invited to come play in the gym, he stayed in the parking lot and played basketball out there.

The next week he decided to come on in and played in the gym with the other boys and had a blast!

However, he didn’t stay for the lesson.

The last week he came, before he went back home, he came and stayed for the entire night.

I took Oliver a little over a month of being around us before he was ready to interact with us.

Once he did though, he had an incredible time.

In our passage today, we see Israel quarreling with Moses, because they are uncomfortable.

When we are crossing cultures there is going to be awkward moments.

As Glen pointed out last week, Israel still didn’t have the personal relationship with God that they can blindly trust God to provide them with what they need.

That process takes time.

As people that are joining God to set people free, we have to be willing to go into those uncomfortable places with them.

This Juneteenth event is one such example.

Let me say this too. We aren’t expecting anything huge from this.

Most likely it will be our normal group that is here on Wednesday nights and that is ok.

It will take a long time of us hosting events in this community before people are willing to participate.

Just like Oliver, they are going to just stand on the outside looking in before committing to being a part.

For you and I, Juneteenth has never has been on our radar because being enslaved, persecuted, torn down because of our race isn’t in our heritage and daily lives.

However, God has us involved in this because the church has a history with slavery.

The church enabled it for a long time and it is as important today as it was back then for us to say that slavery wasn’t and never will be okay.

They need to hear God saying, through us, they are image bearers of God and they are valuable to Him.

Why? Because these are our neighbors. They, just like us, need to know how much God loves them.

This church is the way in which God has chosen to communicate that truth.

We must ask God how to accomplish the ministry He has set before us.

We see again in verse 4 what we have seen many times before.

Moses finds himself with no answers and no idea how to fix the problem.

So what does he do?

Exodus 17:4–6 ESV

4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

The ministry that we have in this community isn’t just something that we dreamed up because it is a good thing to do.

We are here week after week and we see so much hurt, distrust, hunger, hopelessness and we are going to God, just like Moses did, and asking God what we need to do.

We are fully aware that we are powerless to just fix peoples lives and frankly to think we could is beyond prideful.

Here’s what we do know...

There are needs here.

God put us here.

God loves them.

God has called us all to love our neighbors and to make them disciples.

Most of you in this room have had the opportunity to come on a Wednesday night and help us to love on this community.

Many have come a lot.

We are so grateful.

Here is what that says to these kids and their parents.

They are worth our time and our resources which equates to they are more valuable to us than the former two things.

The Wednesday night program, Juneteenth Block Party, Easter Egg Hunt, Trunk or Treat, the Christmas Party… We don’t do these things because they are good.

We have asked God how He wants to use us to love and engage this community and these are the ways He has given us.

Our passage today ends with this...

Exodus 17:7 ESV

7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Israel is in great need and God is the only hope they have, but they don’t yet understand how to get to a place of faith.

You’ve heard the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know”

There are people in this community right now that are asking the same question Israel is asking. Is the Lord among us or not?

They would phrase it differently, but the question is the same.

The truth they need is right here, in us.

We have stories to share of God’s goodness, faithfulness, provision… and the list goes on and on.

We are their Moses.

The only way we will ever get to share those stories is by earning the right to be heard.

Tylitha said this over and over again yesterday during her session on holistic ministry.

We have to spend time with the people.

You cannot fulfill your call if you are not spending time with the people that you are called too.

“Our [the church] call today is to live like a true family. We should be so radical in our care for one another, and for people in general, that the world has to stop and take notice.” -Eric Mason, Woke Church: An Urgent Call For Christians In America To Confront Racism And Injustice