RETURN TO THE MAIN THINGS

Introduction

-There’s a story about a couple who were going on vacation. Like many people, they overpacked. While they were waiting to check all their bags in at the airline counter, the husband proclaimed in agitation, “Oh, how I wish we had brought our piano!”

The wife said, “We’re already bringing what seems like 16 bags, why in the world would you want to bring the piano?”

The husband sheepishly replied, “Because I left our boarding passes on the piano.”

-I tell that story because it reminds me how easily we forget the main things because we are distracted by trying to carry the 16 other things that aren’t as important. Your focus becomes split between the small stuff that you forget to look toward the main stuff.

-That can happen to a church. There’s a zillion things going on, and it splits the focus of the church, so the church ends up going nowhere fast because it’s too busy maintaining the busyness.

-That’s why we are on this journey toward vision—focusing the church toward that which is of utmost importance.

-In their book, First Things First, Stephen Covey and Roger and Rebecca Merrill ask this penetrating question: “What is the one activity that you know if you did superbly well and consistently would have significant positive results in your personal life?” They repeat the question with regard to your professional or work life and then ask, “If you know these things would make such a significant difference, why are you not doing them now?” They go on to discuss how we often wrongly let the urgent take priority over that which is truly important.

-And if we knew that there were just these few things that would propel the vision of the church, why would we not concentrate in on those things.

~And that’s why we want to keep the main things the main things.

-Two weeks ago, I started this series on being a church on the path toward vision, and I spoke about keeping main things the main things. There was no way to say everything that needed to be said. So, I focused in on:

1) The main thing of real religion which entails living in obedient love and not fake piety. It also focuses in on the inner transformation that brings right actions.

I also spoke on 2) the main thing of real discipleship which (if it’s biblical) we find is costly and calls us to a deep dedication.

-So, today I want to return to talking about some main things, because a church that would find and fulfill God’s vision is one where they focus on what Jesus said was of importance:

I) The main thing of real relationship

-We’ve always used the cliché that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship—but how does this relationship work:

READ LUKE 10:38-42

Luke 10:38–42 ESV

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

-Jesus and His disciples receive hospitality from sisters Martha and Mary, whom we also know as the sisters of Lazarus (the one that Jesus raised from the dead)

-Since the gospels are not necessarily in chronological order it is hard to tell if this is Jesus’ first encounter with them or if they already had a relationship, but one way or another they become dear friends of Jesus.

-Here we see Martha and Mary take different approaches to relating to Jesus. They both know at minimum that He is a great teacher that has gone throughout the land teaching and preaching. But Mary knows that Jesus has something that she needs. Jesus is sitting which was the posture that teachers in that day would take when they were teaching and preaching. Mary sits at His feet which was the posture of a student—a posture of learning.

-They may not have known at that time that this was the Messiah, but they knew that He had wisdom from God—that He had words from God. Mary sat at His feet to soak in everything Jesus had to say.

~Martha, on the other hand, was busy with the busy-work. She wanted to be hostess with the mostest. We can’t necessarily know her motives, but she was so concerned with the earthly that she was missing out on the heavenly.

-So, when she asks Jesus to tell her lazy sister to get up and do something, Jesus ends up correcting her instead because Martha’s concerns took her away from what was most important, something Mary understood. This is real relationship with Jesus.

So, two quick lessons from this passage:

a) Real relationship puts the best before the good

-What Martha was doing was good. Serving people and showing hospitality are good things in themselves, and they have their place. There are times for good things, but this was not one of those times.

-The Messiah had come under their roof and was teaching them about the Kingdom of God and about Himself and untold spiritual mysteries. Now was not the time for serving—now was the time for learning and growing and sitting at the feet of Jesus. That was what was best.

~Learning from Jesus and getting to know Jesus better served the relationship than the busy work that Martha engrossed herself in.

-You notice in v. 40 that Jesus said that Martha was distracted. And then in v. 41 Jesus said that these distractions caused her to be anxious and troubled. Martha was distracted from fellowshipping with the Lord, so she was taken away from the peace of enjoying His presence.

-This happens on a personal level when we are so busy doing good things that we never take time just to be with Jesus.

~This happens at a ministry level when busy-work keeps you from doing your main ministry. That’s why last week was important in that we ordained new deacons. Deacons are helpers and serve the church so that the pastor can concentrate on what is best for his ministry.

-But then this happens to us at a church level when we get so distracted doing this program and that program and we have to do this thing because we’ve always done it, and that thing because we’ve always done it.

~Everyone in the church has an opinion about what the church needs to do, and they are all good things—but they might not be the best things. What we find is that church services and church programs need to serve the vision/mission of the church—if they don’t, they are a distraction.

~If what we are doing no longer fulfills vision / mission / grows the kingdom / matures the believer / reaches the community, then why do it? It may be good, but it is not what is best.

-Imagine this: Every night instead of having dinner for our kids, Trish and I would take them out for ice cream as their main meal. Ice cream is good. Gifting them with a treat is a good thing for a parent to do. But it’s not what is best for them. What is best is that they have a healthy meal, and ice cream is just a once-in-a-while treat. If we went with only the good all the time, it would harm them in the end.

~I guess you could say that a constant concentration on only the good will eventually harm you rather than help you. A real relationship with God through Christ concentrates on the best.

b) Real relationship is open to receive

-Mary sat at the feet of Jesus because that was the good portion—fellowshipping with the Lord in order to know Him better, know God better, know herself better. Mary was open to receive from Jesus whatever He had for her—even if it convicted her, even if it would cause her to bring change in her life, even if she didn’t necessarily like what He had to say. Why? Because in this relationship she knew that Jesus had what was best for her.

-Mary had an open heart and open mind to receive from Jesus whatever He had to offer her, knowing that His words brought life and peace and joy even if it brought conviction.

-And I fear there are so many Christians who do not get into the Word of God because they think that it has nothing new for them or they don’t soak in a message or teaching because they don’t think the teacher or preacher has anything more to share with them than what they already know.

-Somehow, we think that if we know the basics of the historical facts about the Bible and Jesus that it is enough—but that’s not going to spiritually sustain you and that’s not going to allow the relationship with Christ to flourish.

-Imagine that after a year of marriage, I knew all the basic facts about my wife. I knew where she was born. I knew her family. I knew what foods she likes and dislikes. So, since I knew all the basic facts, I no longer needed to listen to her because I got all the facts down. I didn’t think there was anything more to receive. That relationship wouldn’t get very far.

-Unlike what many people think, nobody knows everything there is to know about Jesus and God and the Bible. There is room to grow in our knowledge so as the relationship grows, but we need to be willing to receive it.

-I find it ironic—before every speech that he gives, Joel Osteen has the people repeat this speech about the Bible: This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess: My mind is alert, My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. I am about to receive The incorruptible, indestructible, Ever-living seed of the Word of God.

~And yet they do not receive what it says about sin, the gospel, or holiness. They go on with their merry lives like none of that exists.

-But a relationship with God through Christ means that we will sit at His feet, receive His Word (whether we like it or not), and conform ourselves to what it requires. That’s having a relationship with God.

II) The main thing of real witnessing

-We are all familiar with the Great Commission, and all conservative, evangelical Christian will give a big Amen/Hallelujah saying that evangelism is important, and witnessing is important, without actually doing it and with actually twisting what witnessing is all about.

READ ACTS 1:1-8

Acts 1:1–8 ESV

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 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.”

-Even after having seen the risen Christ, the disciples were still a little confused about what it is Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and now their subsequent ministry was all about. So, Jesus tells them:

a) Real witnessing has a right message

-The disciples got all excited—now Jesus is going to restore the kingdom to Israel. We’re going to drive off some Romans and set the Jewish system of things back in order. That was the message they thought that Jesus was going to have them give—ISRAEL’S BACK AND BADDER THAN EVER.

-But Jesus says, no, that’s not the message. Jesus tells them in v. 8 that they would be HIS witnesses, meaning that they were going to be witnesses unto Him—the message that they would spread throughout the world would be the message about Jesus Himself.

-That is our message—the gospel message that has the power to save all those who believe in Him==Jesus died for sins, rose again, and is now seated in the place of power in the heavenlies where He rules and reigns.

~Mankind is a sinner separated from God, but Jesus died to save sinners, if they would repent and believe.

-There is the right message. That is the only message we have as Christians.

~Our message isn’t about a political party or about how special our nation is.

~Our message isn’t about following your dreams and making all your wishes come true.

~Our message isn’t about our church—how nice and special and friendly we are.

-The right message is that Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Word of God, the Way/Truth/Life, the Good Shepherd, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, the Alpha & Omega, the Author & Perfecter of our faith, the Chief Cornerstone, Our Deliverer, Our Great High Priest, the Head of the Church, the Bridegroom, Immanuel, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World, He is the King of kings, the Lord of Lords—He is Jesus, and He is our message (accept no substitutes)

-If you want a different message, then you need to go to a different place.

~If you want a concert, go to music venue

~If you want a lecture, go to a college class

~If you want a pep talk, go to motivational speaker

~But if you want the eternal message from God, go to a church that preaches Jesus

b) Real witnessing has the right muscle

-This sounds kind of cutesy or that my alliteration has run amuck, but it’s talking about the power—if you are going to have a real witness you need to have the right power

-Jesus says in v. 8 that His disciples would receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them—and only after receiving that power would they then be His witnesses

~Only when you have the right power can you do the right witnessing with the right message

-If you’re like me, you probably have a drawer full of all sorts of different electronic wires and power plugs in it that you’ve collected over the years, because you just never know when you might need it. But they have come in handy.

~Sometimes I’ll find some sort of electronic device that I haven’t used in a while, but I want to use now, the only problem is that the power plug wasn’t with it (wherever I may have found it). So, I go to my handy-dandy wire drawer and start pulling out all these power plugs that have all different ends to them. I try one plug after another, and most of them don’t work. I have to find the right plug with the right tip on it to get the right power to the device.

-If our witness is going to be right, our power has to be right—relying on the Holy Spirit within us

~You may think that your slick speaking ability is enough to bring the gospel of Jesus and someone will get saved—but that’s not the right power.

~You may think that your method of sharing the gospel is the power to bring someone to Christ. While it may be a handy tool, that is not the right power.

~You may think that watering down the message so that the gate isn’t as narrow and the path isn’t as difficult, but that’s definitely not the right power

-The power is me leaning on the Holy Spirit to give me the boldness and confidence to give the right message to the people He puts in my path, and leaving the results to Him—if people’s hearts are going to change it is going to be the Holy Spirit doing it. Not you and not me. All of Him.

Conclusion

-These are main things—right religion leading to right discipleship building a right relationship so we go out and do right witnessing

-Your job might be to make a cog—so then you buckle down and make cogs because that’s the main thing. You don’t let anything distract you.

~You might be on a baseball team and you are the catcher and your main thing is to keep the ball in front of you. So, concentrate on that main thing. Don’t let other things distract you.

-If we are going to be on this road to vision as a church, the main things have got to be the main things without distraction.

-Maybe you are here today, and you have been distracted from considering your eternal destiny. That is a main thing—where you go when you die. Believe in Jesus…

~Maybe as a Christian you have been distracted from using your gift in the local church body…

~Maybe you have missed out on being a part of a church family…