Have you been noticing all the Christmas merchandise arriving in area stores? I think I noticed the first of it as early as September—Santas in September! But now that the Halloween stuff is being cleared out, Christmas will reign full force in the stores until early January when they’re trying to clear it all out!

And Christmas is less than seven weeks away now—and Cindy and I have already begun to feel the squeeze! She hit the panic button this week I could tell (husbands know these things!)—as she began to count down the days until this or that and subtracting out days for all the other things we feel we need to do. And I realized too that if we were going to get Christmas letters out to our friends and family that live far away that I was going to have to get rolling on it soon too—so I bought the stationery this week and hope to get it written and printed in the next week or so!

The Christmas season can be so busy, and all too easily we’ll miss the point, won’t we? But let’s not forget that we will celebrate Christmas with great anticipation because we as Christians believe in the Incarnation—that God became man in order to close enough to sinful people to feel the pain of their lost-ness and alienation from Him.

Getting close enough to people to feel the pain of their lost-ness was what Jesus spent His life doing! And this compassion for people took Jesus to the strangest of settings—often in defiance of what had become commonly accepted religious and social “rules” and expectations. And as we’ve noted in recent weeks, He often kept the wrong company.

And He’s at it again in the passage we’re going to look at this morning. We’re going to look at how Jesus embraced the wrong crowd in inviting Matthew to follow Him and in accepting Matthew’s invitation for dinner with all of Matthew’s old friends. For someone considered already by most a great teacher of noble character, Jesus blew them all away with the company that He kept!

Look with me at Luke 5:27-32—
[Read Luke 5:27-32, NIV]

So the succession of people on whom Jesus bestowed His grace and favor just keeps getting longer! As we read through the first few chapters of the Gospel of Luke, we see Jesus’ grace to individuals possessed by evil spirits, to persons with leprosy, and to a man who was paralyzed—bringing healing and wholeness to each one. Jesus liberates people suffering from the personal pain of pervasive evil darkness, physical handicaps and being social outcasts. And, of course, the antagonists—the Pharisees and the teachers of the law—continue to be on the scene.

The man identified by Luke as “Levi” is identified by the name of “Matthew” in Matthew’s Gospel (9:9). He’s the tax collector who became one of the 12 Disciples of Jesus. I’m going to call him “Matthew” this morning, because that’s how most of us have known him. Matthew might have had two names or he might have been given a new name by Jesus—as Simon was called Peter by Jesus. We’re really not sure. But we do know that the Levi spoken of in Luke 5 is the same man as the one called Matthew in other parts of the New Testament.

As I said a moment ago, Matthew was a tax collector—and so he had incurred the scorn of those who looked on such officials as crooked—and there seems to be little doubt that the vast majority of those in such positions enriched themselves through extortion and oppression. We honestly have no reason to believe that Matthew was any different. The Jews particularly despised any of their own people who consented to work for the Roman government who had usurped power over the Jews. And so the tax collectors were also considered traitors to their own people. So, while Matthew may have been a wealthy man, he was clearly ostracized by his own people, the Jews. And yet it was to people like Matthew that Jesus chose to go.

Jesus called Matthew to follow Him—and Matthew did! Matthew walked away from everything and went with Jesus. And we need to think through that Matthew paid a high price for following Jesus—perhaps a higher price than most of the other disciples! He gave up his wealth and privilege and position—and did so gladly to follow Jesus. You couldn’t give up tax collecting for the Roman government on a whim and ever expect to return to it. The fishermen who became disciples of Jesus were more like middle-class businessmen—if this gig of following Jesus ever fell through they could go back to fishing, but for Matthew there was no turning back.

But it didn’t seem to matter to Matthew. He was so elated about this opportunity that he wanted to celebrate. He threw a huge party and invited all his tax-collector friends and their friends. It was evidently quite a feast! He had found something of great price, and he wanted to share it with his old friends and colleagues. And in taking this opportunity to introduce them all to Jesus, he was committing himself publicly and irrevocably to this new way of life. Matthew didn’t try to sneak into being a follower of Christ—and I don’t believe any of us can!

The Pharisee neighbors, watching this party from across their fences, were immediately up in arms! They were upset because, in their times and pretty much still today, table fellowship meant full acceptance—mutual acceptance. To eat with someone is to say, “We are one. I have no qualms about you. You are welcomed in my home!” And the Pharisees were concluding what was exactly true—Jesus considered these sinners His friends!
We might liken Jesus going to eat with Matthew and his friends to someone like us inviting a Nazi collaborator over to our house during World War II.

And we really dare not be too hard on the Pharisees because they were just living out what they had devoted their lives to do—what they thought was the right thing, though it was clearly so twisted. They were fiercely dedicated to upholding the purity of their Jewish faith and life. Implicit in their teaching was strict adherence to both law and tradition, including necessary rites of purification and separation from all whose moral or ritual purity might be in question. The Pharisees refused themselves to eat with tax collectors and other sinners, or even to go into their houses, believing that this would defile them. And, of course, they expected Jesus, as a rabbi or teacher, to do the same. But Jesus’ actions defied their rules and regulations and exposed the reality that the Pharisees had been misled. He shattered their religious and social norms by eating with sinners and rubbing shoulders with them—getting close enough to feel their pain!

The Pharisees were apparently not ready to argue directly with Jesus about this, so they directed their question to Jesus’ disciples—“Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” They were doing what counselors often call “triangulating”—one person that has a problem with a second person but instead of going to that second person goes to a third person with the problem, thinking they are dealing with the problem when, in fact, it is not being dealt with directly at all! Jesus cut through that pitiful approach and answered their questions directly.

He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31) Jesus took the perspective of a doctor—Dr. Jesus—and responded that, like a doctor, His mission was to work with sick people, not those who are already healthy. His mission was to go to those who recognized their spiritual need for God’s grace and healing—rather than to those who were so convinced that they didn’t need God’s grace. His mission was to outsiders, not insiders.

This was not an admission by Jesus that the Pharisees were healthy spiritually, for their lack of spiritual wholeness was the scandal of the day! They had become a self-righteous lot, failing miserably to see their own desperate need for God’s grace and His transformation. They were so good at living by rules, but they had missed the heart of faith in God. Jesus was evidently implying that the Pharisees only thought they were healthy spiritually—and it just makes sense that we have to first acknowledge our sin before we can genuinely respond to the call to repentance.

It was sort of like medical triage—you know, the process of determining the priority of the severity of cases so that medical attention is given first to those that have the most serious risks. If you ever watched MASH on TV, they showed how medical teams in war did triage. And it happens every day in hospital emergency rooms—because it simply wouldn’t be wise to make someone in cardiac arrest wait while someone with a fairly minor cut on their finger is taken care of. By the way, if you ever want to get quick attention in an ER, just tell them you’re feeling pressure in your chest and that you have a history of heart disease. I’ve done that—because it was true—and they quickly wheeled me into a room (against my protests that I was fully capable of walking there!) and within 30 seconds had six or seven people working on me! And, thank the Lord, it ended up being all over nothing…but I was amazed at how effective their triage was!

Jesus was committed to giving Himself to those who needed Him the most and were most receptive to what He had to offer. It was the glory of our Lord Jesus that He came to heal the moral and spiritual sickness consuming people—and the Pharisees themselves were included in this if they had only been able to understand and embrace it!

So it was once again that Jesus’ compassion for people took Him to the most surprising setting! Contrary to the traditional teachings of the religious folk, Jesus knew that His mission was to get to where the spiritually lost people were. Have you ever thought about who Jesus would invite to a party if He was hosting such an event today? Would it just be us church folk? Would it just be the most godly of the batch? Could it be that He’d invite to that party people with names like Hasan and Mohammed? Wouldn’t He also invite people with criminal records—felons, even child-molesters and murderers—and maybe the latest recruits to AA? I wonder, if this party cut across the barriers of time, if He might have included some men like Hitler and Mussolini. I’m confident He’d include the regulars at the local bars and the girls who make their living dancing at places most of us wouldn’t go near.

Why would Jesus invite people like these folk to a party? Why? Because they are why He came! Those who are healthy don’t need to see the doctor—just those who are sick. Jesus was often criticized and misunderstood for deliberately associating with people who were suspect in the eyes of the religious elite. But there was a reason for Jesus’ actions! His mission was to outsiders! His triage reflected His priority and His calling! He wasn’t doing what He did in order to gain a following and He certainly wasn’t doing it to be “weird” or bizarre or even hip! Jesus came to redeem the enslaved, to find the lost, to mend the broken, and reclaim sinners.

Later in Luke’s Gospel we read Jesus’ parable about the prodigal son—it’s in Luke 15. It tells the story of a rebellious son who takes his inheritance early and squanders it all, leaving him desolate and without hope. He humbly returns to his father’s home, glad to take the role of a servant—knowing he doesn’t deserve better than that. But the father welcomes the son with open arms and throws a great party to celebrate the son’s return.

The older brother—who had stayed on the farm and continued working and been good and diligent all of his life—was angry that the father was throwing a party to celebrate the return of the prodigal son and he refused to go into the party. The father came out to him, saying, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:31-32). Jesus was saying that triage was necessary—He had to go seek the lost!

In Luke 19 we read about Jesus reaching out to another tax collector—this one high in the ranks of tax collectors—a “chief tax collector” named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was the short man that perched himself up in a tree in order to see Jesus above the crowds who had flocked around him as Jesus entered into Zacchaeus’ town. The crowd wasn’t happy with Jesus that day either, because Jesus invited Himself over to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house that night—and Jesus made those arrangements in front of the crowd. Again, Jesus was doing triage—going where He was needed most.

And you know, somewhere down the road, a couple of thousand years after Jesus spotted Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree, the Lord saw me—and He recognized how greatly I needed Him. I was just a kid, but it didn’t matter. He saw that I needed what only He could offer. And He invited me to follow Him—and with a young and tender heart I began to follow Jesus. I’m older now—I know, some of you think I’m ancient! But I hope that it’s still with a tender heart that I follow Jesus.

And you too have been invited, because we’re all “Humpty Dumpties”—we’ve all had a great fall! Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Some may have looked on you or me and wondered if Jesus hadn’t chosen the wrong company when He chose to call us, but for Jesus there is no wrong company to keep. He went where He was needed most and where people recognized how much they needed Him. It’s such a wonderful aspect of His grace in each of our lives. And Jesus went wherever He needed to in order to reach us, because He was driven by a compassion for people and He knew that His mission was to seek and find those who were spiritually lost.

There’s a corollary to this—and some of you may have already jumped ahead of me to it. Here’s the corollary: We as Christ’s Church must also demonstrate that same determination to reach those who are spiritually lost! We’ve got to do our triage, too.

Jesus took a lot of flack for His willingness to get close enough to sinful people to feel the pain of their lives, but He obviously chose His battles carefully and this was clearly worth taking the heat for! We’ve got to learn from that—and let the Lord challenge us in that. We need to be on our guard lest we ever opt for security in our acquaintances and avoid potentially messy relationship entanglements as we open our eyes to see the spiritually needy around us.

Could it be that we in the church are too often worried about placating those who are already saved and are occasionally fussy about how they want things in their church? And while Jesus’ mission was clearly to the outsiders, could it be that we as a church too easily find ourselves a church for insiders rather than for outsiders? And could it be that in lots of churches a lot of energy is sapped trying to appease religious folk whose “itched isn’t scratched” by their pastor or their church?

May the Lord pour out His Holy Spirit in a special way among us, gripping us with a deep concern about those who need most to experience a God who gets close enough to them to feel their pain—and may others experience that touch and that love through us, Christ’s Church. May the Lord help us to live with the same values—the same priorities of triage—with which Jesus lived and ministered, reaching first and foremost toward those outside of grace rather than catering to those who have already received it.

This morning we have the privilege of receiving together the Lord’s Supper. In doing so, we gather symbolically around the same table—and let’s just acknowledge that it’s about like Jesus having dinner with those tax collectors and sinners long ago. Oh, yes, we’ve been offered God’s grace, and I pray that each of you have received that grace and experienced the cleansing of your sins—but we gather at this table knowing that it’s only because of His love and grace that we could ever come before the Holy God. We come, in some ways, as needy as those who were gathered around Matthew’s table. And if, as we come to this part of the service, you feel yourself unworthy to get this close to Jesus…may I remind you that it’s for people just like you that Jesus came, and that He welcomes you to His table of grace this morning.

[Use video “They’ll Let Anyone in That Church”—4:38]

Well, there’s a great challenge to any church—including ours! But it’s also reflective of the great love of Jesus who loved people unconditionally with a seemingly indiscriminate love. It was so unlike the religious folk of His day—and, sad to say, too often unlike the religious folk of our day!

Most of us live with certain expectations. We expect to eat every day. We expect the sun to shine most days in Idaho. And we expect the preacher to be done by noon!

We probably all have certain expectations as followers of Jesus. But Scripture often blows away our expectations—and certainly there were lots of times when Jesus didn’t do what most people expected Him to do! His response to people was totally different than what they expected! He surrounded Himself with the wrong people! He preached what seemed like the wrong theology! He kept the wrong company! He even healed what sometimes seemed like the wrong people!

We’re continuing in our series of sermons I’ve entitled “Close Enough to Feel the Pain.” We’re looking at scenes from Jesus’ life and ministry in Luke’s Gospel. Today we’re going to look at a scene in which Jesus healed the wrong person! And we’re going to need to climb into the perspective of the New Testament world to fully understand how this was clearly the wrong person for Jesus to heal.

Look with me at Luke 5:12-16—
[Read Luke 5:12-16, NIV]

From the vantage point of the average person of Jesus’ day, and particularly the religious leaders, this man was clearly the wrong person for Jesus to heal! This man with leprosy wasn’t even someone they were to touch at all! In fact, people with leprosy weren’t allowed to come close to other people! I suppose it was first a physical concern because of the concern for contamination that we spoke about last week.

In some ways, leprosy was the AIDS of that era. It was a frightening disease. “Leprosy” was a fairly general term in the New Testament world for certain skin diseases, not all of which are equivalent to what we’d call “leprosy” or “Hansen’s disease” today. Classic leprosy causes disfiguring skin lesions which do not heal, progressive debilitation, and severe nerve damage which often leads to the loss of limbs—and, untreated, it is very much contagious and very much a killer. That’s why people with leprosy were confined in “leper colonies”—forced to live their lives in isolation from family and friends. While it is treatable and curable today, it is still a threatening disease in some world areas where they can’t provide proper treatment. For example, I’m told that there are as many as 1,000 leper colonies in India today—plus many others in places like China, Romania, Egypt and Somalia.

Frankly, leprosy is a hideous disease—an ugly disease! In a time when they did not know how to treat it, people with leprosy became physically repulsive to others, and thus isolated socially and psychologically. They were completely ostracized from others because of the fear of contamination—but also because it was such a hideous thing to see.

But there was also another side to this, at least from the vantage point of the people of Jesus’ day. It was believed by many in His day that if you were ill that you had sinned in some way. And so if you had leprosy, it meant that you had committed some terrible sins!—and if you were a terrible sinner, the religious folk felt they needed to stay clear of you out of the fear of spiritual contamination. You were “unclean”!

Leprosy was considered a filthy disease. Good people just weren’t supposed to be around horrendous sinners—dirty people that they were! And that’s where Jesus made so many of the religious folk angry, because He refused to stay away from such people. And so, from their vantage point, He was healing the wrong person. But from Jesus’ vantage point, He couldn’t heal the “wrong” person—there were no “wrong” people when it came to love and care and compassion!

From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He spoke about “setting the captives free.” The lepers were the captives of their society. They desperately needed “set free”! In addition to coping with horrible and probably terminal illness, they were social outcasts—but Jesus didn’t consider them outcasts. He saw beyond the disease. He saw the person, and He saw the need.

So here was a man with leprosy, shamefully falling face downward at the feet of Jesus. He begged Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean!” The man was desperate for a sense of cleansing from his deplorable condition. And while most everyone else wouldn’t even come near the guy, Jesus did the unthinkable—He reached out His hand and touched the man, declaring, “I am willing! Be healed!”

Again, it’s so incredibly significant that Jesus touched the man! In this scene, Jesus literally touched the untouchable! We talked last Sunday about the significance of human touch. Jesus clearly understood that. That’s why in so many cases when He came across people in great need, He placed His hands upon them. You and I know that there is power in human touch. And, as I said last week, we all understand that it can be abused, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater! There is something powerful in the human touch. We all need contact with other people. Jesus was the Son of God who set aside His power and authority as God to step into our world—and His literal touch upon people’s lives is a powerful demonstration of the love of God! And do you understand why His touch was particularly powerful for the man with leprosy? Chances are, he hadn’t felt human touch in a long, long time!

For Jesus, there were no “wrong” people to love and to care for and to heal! There was no such thing as an “untouchable” person! Every person matters! Every person is a recipient of the unmerited favor of God—His love and His grace. Jesus’ physical touch on the man was such an outward demonstration of His love for him! And, of course, He not only touched the man, Jesus healed this man whose body was ravaged with leprosy!

Now, we need to be careful that we don’t categorically connect Christ’s love with His healing. The Bible tells us of His great love for all people—regardless of whether or not He chooses to heal us. What I don’t want us to try to do is make His healing a test of His love—for God loves us all, but He doesn’t always chose to heal us. I was talking with someone from our congregation this week about these very things—together noting that it’s such a mystery as to why God chooses to heal some times and why He chooses not to heal other times. And if I understood all the mysteries of God, then I suppose I wouldn’t need God. I’m convinced that God doesn’t intend for us to understand all of His ways, and I become suspect of anyone who proclaims to know the mysteries of God.

I believe firmly that God loves each of us, and I also know that scripture urges us to pray for healing, trusting that God has the power to do so when He chooses. I remarked to you last week that God created us and put us in mortal bodies—that we were never meant to live forever. If we dared to think that God always wants to heal us, then we’re forgetting the fact that our bodies are, at best, temporary.

Besides that, how would we ever get to heaven if God always heals us?! If heaven’s as wonderful as Scripture describes, and I have every reason to believe it’s that and more, then why should I try to avoid heaven at all costs? Some day, in God’s perfect timing, I will die—and I have every confidence because of God’s grace that, as His child, I will be with Him forever.

And if we ever dare to think that it’s our faith in God that’s accomplishing the healing, then we’re somehow taking the healing power away from God and putting it simply at our disposal—to use or not to use according to our determination.

But here was a man bowing before Jesus, desperately desiring healing, and none of the religious leaders would have come close to this man. Why? Because He was the wrong guy to love and the wrong guy to heal. He was, they felt, obviously full of sin—filthy inside and out.

But Jesus was always loving the “wrong” people, wasn’t He? It’s what made the religious leaders so mad! It’s what kept getting Him into trouble! But He just kept doing it anyway—not to make them mad, but because He had a love for every person that would not stop and could not be stopped!

Christ’s love is unconditional. Unconditional love means that we love regardless of someone’s actions or even their beliefs. We love them regardless of their situation in life. Unconditional love separates the individual from his or her behaviors.

Let me give you a simple example. Let’s say you get a puppy. The puppy is incredibly cute—and even though I don’t consider myself a huge dog lover, I’ve never seen a puppy that I didn’t think was cute! Our whole family still goes nuts whenever we see a Boston Terrier puppy that reminds us of the dog we had for 13 years! So the puppy is cute and playful, and it’s easy to love this adorable little being. Then the inevitable happens—the puppy has an accident on the floor! But you don’t quit loving the puppy just because of that, do you? No—you work on correcting the puppy and modifying its behavior through training.

Maybe a better example is a child. You love that little baby that comes into your home! You may not always know what to do to make that little one content or for the baby to quit crying, but there’s no doubt that you love this helpless tiny person who eventually calls you “mommy” or “daddy”! But as the child grows, they inevitably will do something like write on your bedroom wall with a crayon. You’re not happy about the crayon markings on your wall!—but you don’t stop loving that child!

How much more so is it true that our perfect, loving Heavenly Father loves us with a love that never ends. In the context of our Christian faith, we understand that God loves each person irrespective of that’s person’s love for God and regardless of the presence of sin in their lives. Sometimes we’ve put it in words like, “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin.” But the wonder of our faith in God is that, despite our sinful condition, He has loved us! He loves us with a love that will not go away! We cannot escape it!

His love is unconditional, even seemingly indiscriminate—because He seems to love even those who may not seem worthy of love. Our human tendency is to pick and choose who we’re going to love. That’s why I liked the video so much that we saw earlier—it’s just so much like us, even though we might be more subtle about it. We get repulsed by people’s choices and their behaviors. Sometimes we’re as shocked with people’s appearances as was the boy whose mouth dropped open when the rather radical teenage girl came to the door. We get disgusted with people’s habits—and allow our disgust for their habits to become disgust for them as persons.

But—thank the Lord!—from God’s perspective there are no “wrong” people to love or to heal! You and I might have been left out if it was anything other than this! This scene from Jesus’ life and ministry tells us so much about the powerful love of God that brings cleansing and healing to each of our lives—regardless of our story. We’re all stories of God’s grace—He has loved us even though we did not deserve it. That’s why it’s so amazing!

Have you ever felt that maybe you were that “wrong” person to love?—that you could never be “special” in God’s eyes because you just didn’t measure up?
• Maybe it was because of sin in your life—days and maybe years of which you are so ashamed! And you still carry such shame for your sins that you can’t get past the thought that you must surely be “second class” in God’s eyes.
• Maybe you see yourself as the “wrong” person for Jesus to love because you just keep messing up—you want to do what’s right but you just can’t seem to pull it off.
• Maybe you don’t feel like you have the right pedigree to be a child of God—you hear all the stories of those who grew up in wonderful Christian homes and that isn’t your story at all!
• Or maybe you keep hearing some people around here talk about their Nazarene roots—as if we assume we’re somehow more spiritual because of our Nazarene heritage!
• Or maybe you struggle to see yourself as a child truly loved by God because life’s simply been hard for you—and you wonder why God doesn’t instantly make it all easier.

May I remind you this morning that there are no “wrong” people for Jesus to love. Everyone is as precious in the sight of God as the next person. Despite our human inclination to see people through lenses that place more worth on some than on others, God doesn’t see us that way. God loves you—and He wants to touch your life and bless you and walk beside you.

We’re sure hearing a lot about H1N1 right now, aren’t we? And, with it, we’re hearing lots of warnings about not spreading germs. We’ve given some thought to just hosing everyone down with disinfectant in the courtyard before you can enter the building, but we decided maybe that was going too far! We have, by the way, put antibacterial dispensers throughout our building and we encourage you to use them. I’ve thought that maybe throughout the winter months our greeters might offer you a bulletin and a squirt of antibacterial hand gel!

I suppose there have often been scares relating to people infecting other people with diseases—and practical wisdom says that we’re to keep our distance when someone’s sick with something that’s contagious. I understand that and respect that, but I sometimes wonder if we don’t let this principle carry over into other arenas of life—particularly keeping our distance from people who are really hurting because we don’t want to get infected with their pain. It’s easier to keep a distance—protecting ourselves from letting other people’s problems drag us down. After all, we’ve all got our own problems! Why should I involve myself in the pain in other people’s lives?

One of the men of our church was reflecting this week on a bracelet that he wears—which has on it the simple letters “WWJD.” It poses the question, “What would Jesus do?” and reflects the question of a now classic Christian book by Charles Sheldon entitled “In His Steps.” And when we apply this question—What would Jesus do?—to the matter of getting close to people’s pain, we have to acknowledge that Jesus did not keep His distance from hurting people. He went to them! He broke through cultural barriers and customs in approaching people otherwise ostracized by their diseases. I’m reminded of Jesus healing the man with leprosy and His response to the woman caught in adultery. He placed His hands upon such people. He actually touched them!

For the next several weeks we’re going to be looking at passages from Luke’s Gospel where Jesus came close to people and placed His hands on them and healed them. We’ll call the series, “Close Enough to Feel the Pain”—and I might encourage you to invite to worship with you those you may know who are experiencing some sort of pain in their lives—for we know that the same Jesus who touched people’s lives in New Testament times still brings hope and encouragement and healing in His touch today.

In a contagious world we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected by their pain. It may not be convenient or comfortable. But the reality is that it’s only when you get close enough to catch their hurt that you’ll be close enough to for them to catch your love. The miracle of Christ’s healing hands was initially experienced in His willingness to share another person’s suffering—getting close enough to feel their pain. In some ways, we see in these healing scenes a foreshadowing of what was to come when Jesus took upon Himself our sins. He came from the safety of Heaven to the earth to identify totally with humanity—and ultimately to give His life for us. It is by His suffering that we are healed.

Jesus didn’t call us to live in quarantine. He called us to be a kind of hospital—where hurting people find healing. John Ortberg put it like this—
Imagine a hospital where the doctors say, “This has been a successful day. I wasn’t infected. My patients were loaded with filthy germs, but I kept them all outside. They may be dying, but at least I didn’t touch any of them. I didn’t get infected.”
None of us would want to go to a hospital like that! No! We’re not called to live our lives in quarantine. We’re called to follow the example of Jesus—and Jesus got close enough to people to feel their pain.

Let’s look at just such a scene from Jesus’ life and ministry. It’s found in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 4—but in reality, such scenes were found all throughout Jesus’ ministry. This was early in the days of His public ministry, for He had not yet even chosen His 12 disciples and challenged them to follow Him. It was a Sabbath day—and He had been teaching in the synagogue. The people were amazed at the authority with which He spoke and the authority that He had demonstrated even over the powers of darkness. Then we come to this passage—
[Read Luke 4:38-40, NIV]
The scene began with a crisis of a serious illness in a family—Peter’s mother-in-law was frighteningly sick with a high fever. And those who were getting to know Jesus asked Jesus to help her.

We learn from this scene that Simon Peter was a married man. It paints a very human picture of him, because he was a man with a house, a wife, a business and even a mother-in-law! Mark’s Gospel (chapter 1) tells us that this took place in the home of Simon and Andrew—who were brothers. It seems somewhat safe to assume that Peter’s mother-in-law must have lived in the home as well, so I’m envisioning a not-so-untypical ancient Mideast household of multiple generations and extended family under one roof. So when Jesus soon after this challenged Peter to become one of His disciples, He was not talking to someone who was footloose and fancy-free. This guy had a home and a family to be concerned about—in other words, he wasn’t that much different than most of us.

The mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. And remember that they didn’t have bottles of aspirin or Tylenol on their shelves. They didn’t have thermometers or emergency rooms or medical health plans—private insurance or a universal government plan! She was terribly sick and they needed someone to help—so they asked Jesus to help her. I might also tell you that the one who has recorded these words for us today—the man named Luke—was himself a doctor. And it’s pretty interesting to read his Gospel account of the healing ministry of Jesus.

We might also venture to guess that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law may have already heard about Jesus herself. She may have been a follower, or it may have been that she could have been upset about the way in which Jesus was rocking the world and the priorities of her son-in-law! If that was the case, can’t you just imagine her saying to her daughter, “Good grief! What in the world has gotten into that husband of yours?!”

But whatever was the mother-in-law’s perspective of Jesus, what we do know from both Gospel accounts is that He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. Immediately the fever left her and, evidently in keeping with the woman’s character, she got busy herself from that moment on serving a meal to those who had come into their home—including Jesus.

Luke tells us that Jesus “rebuked the fever and it left her.” Those seem like strange words coming from a healer perhaps. I can’t recall my doctor ever rebuking my high blood pressure or my high cholesterol! (Though I have probably had a doctor rebuke me for being overweight!) Some have concluded from this scene where Jesus rebuked the fever that the presence of illness represents the presence of some sort of evil in the body—and that Jesus was acting just as He did when He called evil spirits out of individuals. But scripture makes a distinction between the accounts of Jesus healing people and Him setting people free from evil spirits, so it seems that they understood the difference quite clearly and that they were not assuming the presence of physical illness to imply the presence of some sort of evil in a person’s life that was causing it. In rebuking the fever, Jesus was in effect personifying the fever as He rebuked it—more in the language that He used than in implying any sort of spirit present in the sickness. It might be like me talking to my car when it’s not working right or someone telling their clock to hurry up when they’re anxiously waiting for something to occur.

When the Lord created us, He put us in human bodies—knowing that our bodies would be imperfect and that we were mortal, in other words, that our bodies were not created to last forever. Sickness is part of life. And while Jesus often chose to heal people and while He still chooses to heal some people today, the reality is that our bodies are designed at best to be temporary.

Unfortunately, pain is also part of life—physical and emotional pain. What Jesus early demonstrated is that He is Lord of sickness and pain—that He has power to free us from it when He chooses. But, perhaps even more important, His love brings Him to where we are, getting close enough to us to feel our pain. We are not alone! Whatever happens in our lives, He walks beside us—and His Presence makes all the difference! In His Presence is healing and power! In His Presence is hope!—which gets us beyond the trap of our own fears. And best of all, in His Presence there is love! He loves us enough to get close enough to feel our pain.

After the healing scene in Simon Peter’s home, Luke tells us of a beautiful scene as people brought to Jesus many who were sick, and laying His hands on each one, Jesus healed them. The crowds had apparently waited until evening, after the Sabbath was over, to carry out their labor of love in carrying those who were sick to Jesus. Can’t you just imagine it—one by one the people would wait their turn, waiting for Jesus to place His hands upon them and heal them. Perhaps there were others with fevers—maybe H1N1, who knows! Perhaps there were some with epilepsy or those who were crippled or blind. I’m guessing there were those who brought sick babies and children for Jesus to touch them and heal them. People who had lost sight of hope themselves were brought by others to the Healer—and He touched them, and made them whole, and restored their sense of hope and peace. He placed His healing hands upon them—and everything changed.

Do you understand the power of physical touch? We’ve heard so much about the misuse of touch and inappropriate touch that I fear we’ve lost sight of the beauty and the power in human touch. I understand that there are boundaries to be maintained, and I respect that and urge people to wisely observe those boundaries. But let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater! There are times when people are hurting and grieving so profoundly that there is nothing in our words that will help, but there’s something powerful in just reaching out to someone in those moments—maybe taking their hand, perhaps putting our hands on their shoulders, or maybe even letting them bury their sobs in our embrace.

Some of you may have been astute enough to examine the verses just prior to the ones I read and to go ahead to the verse that immediately follows it. In both cases, we read of Jesus commanding demons to leave people. And while I don’t want to get sidetracked this morning into a full discussion on what demon possession may or may not have meant, we can’t ignore the fact that the New Testament tells of many occasions when Jesus delivered those who were possessed by an evil spirit. I do believe that there is such a thing as demon possession—and those who have served in ministry in third-world areas of the world often tell vivid stories of dealing with such, and I can’t imagine that it’s limited to those settings. But for our purposes this morning, let’s clearly note that Jesus brought not only physical healing, but spiritual delivery and healing as well.

The mighty God upon whom we call and upon whom we trust is certainly able to deal with our physical, emotional, psychological, situational and spiritual problems. There is nothing too difficult for Him! He’s the Great Healer—and we don’t need to understand all the dimensions of our need in order to embrace His healing touch, any more than we all need to have medical degrees to accept the council of wise and caring doctors who give us guidance on how to deal with our physical problems. Our Heavenly Father is the expert. He not only loves us deeply, but He has the power to make a difference in our lives today!

So, how are our lives impacted today by the touch of Christ? Was this something only experienced by those touched by Jesus during the years of His earthly ministry? Or are lives still transformed by His touch today?

The power of God that was seen in and through the life and ministry of Jesus is still at work in our world today. The God that came close enough to feel people’s pain in the Gospels still comes close enough to feel our pain today. The Gospel—the Good News that Christ brings—did not end when they crucified Jesus. He rose from the dead and is alive today and at work in our world through the Holy Spirit! And His touch still brings healing and hope even to our little corner of the world!

And we need His touch upon our lives, don’t we? We need to know that our Creator God recognizes us, that He cares enough to come to where we are and embrace us as we are. We need to know that He loves us too much to leave us as we are, but that He’s willing to forgive our sins and make us new and continue His refining work in making us to be more and more like Him in character. And He loves us too much to leave us alone and without hope in life—so He comes beside us, He tells us not to be afraid, He strengthens us by His touch upon our lives, and He sticks right with us throughout all the hurdles of life!

Several years ago I had a young man in my church who was dying of AIDS. I knew what it was and he and his family knew what it was—but we never spoke of it. I visited him many times in the hospital and was in the room when he died. To this day, his parents and I have never spoken of what killed him, but I’m guessing they feared I knew all along—though I’ve always wished they had been able to acknowledge it to me. I was determined to make it clear that it didn’t matter. Whenever I walked into his room, I reached out to shake his hand. His parents and him and I held hands many times as we prayed around his bedside. In all my inadequacies, I somehow knew enough to make it clear that I was willing to come close enough to feel his pain, not fearing contamination by his disease, but rather embracing the opportunity to demonstrate Christlike love to my young friend. As far as I know, my young friend came to peace with Christ before he died, and I have always hoped that my presence and my care and even my touch upon his life spoke to him again of the Christ who comes close enough to feel our pain.

While I can’t pretend to have knowledge or understanding of the kind of personal pain with which you might be living, I’ve become convinced that there’s a lot of hurting people in our world. I’m convinced that our church and every other church are full of just such people week by week. I wish I had the human capacity to step into each of your lives and with my touch bring to you the touch of the Lord, but the marvelous and mysterious ways of the Lord do not require that. God comes to each of through His Holy Spirit. And in a very real way, He puts His hands upon us and speaks peace into the storms of our lives…He brings healing to the physical and emotional wounds we carry…and His touch brings hope into our otherwise overwhelmed and overspent lives. And He wants to come alongside you today.

There’s a marvelous verse found in 1 Peter 5:7 that simply says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). And that’s what I’m going to encourage you to do this morning. No one else may understand the stress with which you’re living. No one else may know the details of your life that spark such foreboding fear and anxiety, but your Heavenly Father knows and He cares. And He’s approaching you this morning—to touch you and help you and heal you. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” That’s our privilege as His children…

One of the funniest movies of all times for me is the movie “Sister Act.” Besides making me laugh, it paints a fascinating tell-tale picture of a church that was inclined to close itself in and isolate itself against the world being challenged to take their faith to the streets as Jesus would do. Let’s listen to a brief scene from the movie—
[View scene from “Sister Act”]

In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus followed the Beatitudes with two symbols of what the disciples were to be:  salt and light. Both carry more meaning than we can possibly unpack here this morning, both designate service beyond self, and both are important in human experience—in other words, they’re important in real life. All in all, the symbols of salt and light present the challenge to the church—including our church in Meridian today—to examine our faith and to seek ways in which we can live out our faith in the world, “takin’ it to the streets.” Look with me at Matthew 5, beginning at verse 13—
[Read Matthew 5:13-16, TNIV]

Before we go any further, let’s talk about these symbols. We’ll start with salt. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Of course, the first thing most of us think about relating to salt is that it adds flavor. Most cooks are going to use salt to bring out the flavor of the food they’re cooking. Some of you will add even more salt at the table! It’s a common item in our kitchens and dining rooms. My wife doesn’t have many vices when it comes to food, but give her a bowl of popcorn or a portion of French fries, and she’ll nearly drown them in salt!

Salt is used to purify. I’m wondering if that’s why we put salt pellets in water softeners.  When I’ve had sore throats, more than one doctor has recommended a treatment that predates all the expensive medications that we might look to today—they’ve told me to gargle with hot salt water! (I’ll spare you all the demonstration this morning!) And my understanding would be that salt somehow possesses a disinfecting power, cleansing away bacteria that would keep my throat sore and infected.

And while we don’t use it as much now in this way, salt was also used heavily as a preservative for food in a day without refrigeration. One current usage you might grasp relates to the process of curing hams today. There is a fair amount of salt used in the process—ham is thus very high in salt content. Those of you who are told to stay away from salt because of health concerns are discouraged from eating much ham for that very reason.

And taking all of these uses of salt into mind, Jesus is saying that Christians are to bring real life to living—adding flavor to the world. We are to bring purity to the world, and we’re to preserve that which is right and true and good.

Then Jesus used the symbol of light—“You are the light of the world.” Light is a symbol of radiance, of openness, and even of joy. There is nothing secretive when the light gets turned on. Light is a universal religious symbol. In the Old Testament as in the New Testament, it most frequently symbolizes purity as opposed to filth, truth as opposed to error or ignorance, and divine revelation and the presence of God as opposed to the presence of evil or abandonment by God. We might better understand what light symbolizes by thinking of what the opposite of light represents—for darkness presents the presence of evil, with that which is sinister lurking in every dark corner. But light is everything darkness isn’t!

In describing the follower of Jesus as “the light of the world,” Jesus is saying that we are to be an influence for openness and honesty and righteousness in the world. We are to reflect the light of Christ—allowing His light to shine upon the lives of others in our world today, and letting the Lord use our very lives in the process.

While a light is to be seen, light is basically to be of service. We turn on a light so that we can see our way through the darkness. Followers of Jesus are lights in the world, not calling attention to themselves, but pointing the way of God. We obtain our light from the One who is the Light of the world. This visibility and service is expressed by Jesus in two ways—the city on the hill and the candle placed on the lamp-stand. The light dispels darkness simply by being present. And the motive is to illuminate the way of God for others—that by seeing our good works they may turn their attention to the Source of all goodness and thus glorify God.

But for this light to be seen, we must live openly in the midst of the world as disciples of Christ. There is nothing secretive about the Christian commitment or the Christian way of life. This is certainly not a call to monasticism or any modern form of what the monastics were trying to accomplish in isolating themselves away from the world. Instead, Jesus calls us to let our light shine in the darkness—and not to hide that light in any way.

And apparently, by what Jesus said, the way in which followers of Jesus let this light shine is by our “good works”—which seems to me to include everything we are and everything we do that reflects the mind and the will and the goodness of God. It’s seen in how we treat people, the attitudes of our hearts which get reflected in the words that come out of our mouths, how we respond to the needs of others—including whether or not we’re willing to go out of our way to help them, getting our hands dirty in the process! And in this way, we need to be the light of the world—reflecting the light of Christ and “takin’ it to the streets” as we let that light shine in and through our lives! Our light needs to shine where there’s darkness—and I don’t need to tell you that there’s a lot of spiritual darkness out there!

The words of Jesus found in these few verses today define our purpose. Here’s our purpose! And it’s presented well to us by the paraphrase of Scripture called The Message begins these verses—
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning…You’re here to be light…(Matthew 5:13-14, The Message)

But within this brief passage, a few questions seem to get raised that I want us to address. First, Jesus warned us against losing our saltiness.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13, TNIV)
So, I got to thinking…how can we lose our saltiness?

We can lose our saltiness by losing sight of our purpose. In other words, we can lose the saltiness of our lives by getting side-tracked—and forgetting why the Lord has us where He does! We can get side-tracked by a lot of things—even seemingly good things—but anything that takes our focus off of our original purpose ends up becoming a distraction.

We can lose our saltiness by disobedience to the Lord. It generally starts with disobedience to the Lord in little things, but once the enemy of our souls gets his foot in the door of our lives, one thing always seems to lead to another. My heart has been aching this week over a dear friend of mine from years past who I suppose embodies what Jesus is saying here—a follower of Christ who lost his saltiness by disobedience to the Lord. One thing led to another, and there doesn’t appear to be much salt in this man’s life now—and it’s so sad to me and to the many others who know him and love him.

You see, if Jesus’ disciples are to act as a preservative in the world by conforming to Christ’s Kingdom norms, if they are “called to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent…they can discharge this function only if they themselves retain their virtue” (R.V.G. Tasker). Here in the words of Jesus to us today is a strong warning against the danger of compromise and conformity to the world.

I think we can lose our saltiness simply by losing heart and getting discouraged. Scripture seems to back up this concern with the many statements made to individuals to “Take heart! Have courage! Don’t be afraid!” I think it’s terribly human of us to be so susceptible to discouragement—and we all probably face it more than we’d like to acknowledge. But if we give in to discouragement, we are allowing the Enemy of our souls to knock the wind out of our sails as we drift away from a sure confidence and trust in the Lord and in what He is able to do in us and through us—even in spite of ourselves!

Some of you are facing discouragement because the reality of the circumstances of your life is not good! I know that more and more of you are facing in your own homes some serious and unsettling ramifications of our economic crisis. It seems like we’re hearing more of it every day! I know that your concerns are real! And yet, on the authority of God’s Word, I challenge you not to give in to your discouragements, your worries or your fears. God has not forgotten you! He has not forgotten your family! He is still faithful God—regardless of what happens on the job market and regardless of what may become of some of the material things that seem important to you. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us—and we’re to depend upon Him rather than on our circumstances!

And I certainly believe we can lose our saltiness by becoming self-centered or self-absorbed. Whenever we’re “full of ourselves,” there’s not much “saltiness” in our spiritual lives! When our lives so center around ourselves and our needs and our wants, we lose sight of our purpose of being salt in the world.

And so, however we might lose our saltiness, Jesus is giving us warning here not to cave in to any of these distractions. We’re to keep our saltiness alive and fresh in the world in which we live—so that there is power and influence in our lives and so that our lives make a difference in our world.

And when Jesus said that we “are the light of the world,” He added strong warning for us not to hide our light. For those of us who have been in the church for many years, this verse may take us to a song we learned as children—
Hide it under a bushel? No!
I’m going to let it shine…
And I got to thinking, “How can we hide our light?”

I think we hide our light when we try to privatize our faith, for the work of God in our lives and in our world is not a secret to be kept. We live in a culture in America today that presses us to keep our faith to ourselves—while Jesus has called us to be light-bearers. We dare not deny His call upon our lives and be squeezed into silence—thus hiding our light under a bucket!

Our family has a young friend who is serving today as a volunteer missionary in China. He’s been there a few years now, and is busy trying to learn the language. The Lord has given him a tremendous passion to see the Chinese people come to know Christ in a real and personal way—and I’d encourage you to pray for David as the Lord brings him to your attention. He’s letting his light shine in a very dark corner of the world, where people are put into prison for inviting others to know Jesus as they do. David has to be incredible careful and wise. Even our email communication with him has to be encrypted—not referring directly to Jesus Christ or speaking of the work of the church there. It would put at risk what he and others are trying to accomplish and what is indeed happening in the lives of many Chinese who are finding Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But make no mistake about it, David’s letting his light shine! He’s put his life at risk for the cause of Christ—and others are being drawn to the Savior whom he serves.

As Christians, we can’t be so withdrawn from our world that others don’t see the light of Christ in our lives! That will not glorify God! And there are those today within the church who would have us all withdraw from the world and so isolate and shelter our families from contact with the world that we lose our voice in it. Jesus is telling us to let our lights shine! And we must! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a tremendous man of God who lost his life to the Nazis because he refused to hide his light under a bushel, said—
“Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

You see, one of the ways in which we can hide our light is if we cower out of fear. Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood the cost of letting our light shine. Others must see this light—regardless of the price we pay for doing so.

We often think that letting others see our good works is just a matter of demonstrating personal pride in our good works—something which Christ clearly spoke against. But in this passage Jesus seems to be telling us to let others see our good works, for it is through these that His light shine through our lives! But when we dig a bit deeper into the New Testament world, we have to realize that the “good works” done by the followers of Jesus was exactly what led to their persecution. Jesus said, “Do good works anyway!”

Many of you would be familiar with the words of Acts 1:8—where Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His followers and said that with the power of Holy Spirit working in our lives we would be His “witnesses” in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. In my devotions the other morning I was intrigued to read that the word “witness” actually means “martyr.” The Lord is not using the word “witness” about someone who gets up and gives a testimony. He is saying that a person filled with the Holy Spirit’s power is willing to let his life be slain in order that the life of Christ may be lived through him. He becomes a witness, a testimony of the power of God. The word “witness” means “martyr”—one who is willing to let his very life go for the sake of the Gospel.

Jesus early on had made it clear to His disciples—we aren’t to hide our light under a bushel. We’re to let it shine!

I also think we might hide our light by a personal “brown out.” Do you know what a “brown out” is? It’s when there’s not enough electricity moving through the line to adequately give power to all who want it. Instead of a blackout—where the lights go out altogether—a brownout happens when the lights just go dim. And we can experience a brownout in our Christian lives when we lose contact with the Source of our power—when we drift away from God, when we drift away from His Church, when we drift away from other believers, when we drift away from our daily walk with Him. We can’t have power if we’re not connected to the Source, friends!

And apparently, we can hide our lights by failing to live out His love in our world—by failing to do the “good deeds” which are a chief way by which the world is going to see the Light of Christ through us. And the fear is that others will never see the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because we as His followers aren’t making enough difference in our corner of the world!

Now clearly, the goal is to bring honor and glory to our Heavenly Father—not to ourselves. We are to bring the Light of Jesus Christ to our world. Anything that we do to bring glory to ourselves is missing the point. And, granted, we’ve got to be constantly asking the question deep within our souls, “Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to bring honor to God or am I doing this to bring glory to myself and make myself look good in the eyes of others?”

I pastored the Bedford, Ohio Church for nearly 11 years. We had some wonderful years there, and the church is alive and well today—it’s actually the church where our daughter Kara and her husband Josh attend and serve. But when I had only been there a year or two, I remember coming to the board with a heartfelt concern. I had sensed it about the Bedford Church when I was pastoring another church on the same district, and, though I had tried to excuse it away, I came to believe that there was a matter of pride that the church as a whole needed to deal with. I felt that the Lord had given me a plan to address that, and what I urged the church to do was to adopt a struggling inner-city ministry in Cleveland which was not far from where we were.

Cleveland Victory Church was both a church and a city mission of sorts. They were located in a rough part of the city, and were involved in feeding the poor and providing a lot of practical helps to people of their community who were in need. In “adopting” Cleveland Victory Church, I urged the Bedford Church to come alongside that church and their pastor to assist in every way we could, but without ever drawing attention to what we were doing. I wanted us to serve, but I wanted us to do it humbly and for the right reasons—so that we were reflecting the light of Christ rather than trying to put a spotlight on ourselves as a church and all the wonderful things we were doing for others.

What was suggested as a one-year commitment to Cleveland Victory Church is still going today—more than 15 years later. It’s been a marvelous partnership! We got involved in helping with their Thursday meal for their community. Our teens went and sorted clothes once a month for their clothing ministry. We remodeled their building and their parsonage. Their pastor and another key family who was committed to their ministry found a refueling fellowship at our church on Wednesday evenings, with opportunities for their kids to be involved in children and teen programming that Cleveland Victory couldn’t offer.

When I left Bedford, their pastor—who had become my dear friend—told me that he probably wouldn’t still be there as pastor if we hadn’t come alongside them and the church as we did. But I also knew that the Bedford Church has been so tremendously blessed as they had together served in such a manner in which they allowed God to be glorified rather than it being an exercise in patting themselves on the back for what they were doing for this little church in the city.

As a church, we believe that God has called us to—
PASSION FOR GOD
COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE
It’s how we’ve defined our mission. And, as we’ve been talking about in recent weeks, that mission gets carried out in WORSHIP, DISCIPLING, EVANGELIZING, AND CARING. Today we’ve endeavored to explore how we carry out our Compassion for Christ in the world—and we do it by SERVING.
Considering the example of Christ, we will, as salt and light, be an influence in our community, serving the needs of people locally and globally.
It’s why we exist, church!

And it’s why we did what we did last evening with Project KIDS…It’s why our church has such a vital role in Meridian Foodbank. It’s why our teens initiated our Backpack Food Ministry to help feed kids on weekends who are sustained throughout the week by school lunches. It’s why our church had a garden for the Food Bank this summer. We’re SERVING.

It’s also why we encourage our people to participate in Work and Witness projects—near and far. It’s why I want to encourage you to participate in our project at Castle Hills Church of the Nazarene on the east side of Boise on October 24th. And it’s why I’m hoping we’ll have a good group of people going to the Tucson, Arizona, near the Mexican Border, to help a congregation that’s trying to minister to people in that context. And it’s why we’re sending a group to Germany next summer to help a church that’s trying to take Christ to the people of their community. By these means we’re SERVING in the name of Christ—and so letting our lights shine.

The possibilities are endless—and go well beyond what we as a church might try to program and organize. And I want to challenge you to let the Lord stretch your heart and mind to seek ways to serve others, and thus let your light shine before them. I got to thinking about those for whose salvation we are praying, and wondering how the Lord might prompt you to serve them, to simply address needs in their life, and, by so doing, shine the light of Jesus in their corner of the world.

Would you do that? Will you commit to being a “servant” of Jesus—who as salt and light is an influence in our community? Will you determine not to lose your saltiness and not to hide your light? Oh, friends, may the love of Jesus shine through our lives as we as individuals and as we as a church give ourselves in service to others!

Getting Beyond A Lone Ranger Faith
1 John 4: 7-12

The Lone Ranger was a Texas Ranger in the American Old West who galloped about righting injustices with the aid of his faithful and clever Indian sidekick named Tonto. He didn’t entrust his true identity to anyone—and never let down his mask. Most of the episodes would end with someone lamenting that they never learned the hero’s name—“Who was that masked man?” And someone would answer, “Why, he’s the Lone Ranger!” as the Lone Ranger and Tonto rode off on their horses.

It made for a great fictional hero, but we’d do well not to let such private individuality impact the realm of our faith. Our culture has embraced the notion that religion is best kept private—even though Christians should understand that this flies in the face of Scripture, ignoring the example of Jesus Christ and the teaching and practice of the New Testament Church. It’s become politically incorrect to talk about our faith in many circles—particularly if the faith expressed is faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

And how we’ve too often carried that out in the church across the years is that we’ve learned to put our masks on, gallop to church, guard ourselves from anyone getting too close, and then gallop off into the sunset at the close of the service, not to be heard or seen again until the next Sunday morning we’re able to fit worship into our busy schedules. But then who would know or care—for they don’t even know our true identity! We didn’t wear masks like the Lone Ranger’s, but we’d put on our Sunday best clothes and put a smile on our faces, even when our hearts were neither clean nor polished and even when we silently ached beneath the load of the cares of life. And I understand the merit in getting all dressed up on Sundays in an effort to offer our best to the Lord out of respect for Him—but I also have to acknowledge the validity of those who have concluded that they don’t need to get all dressed up to come to church because their search for authenticity in faith has helped them to see that God loves them just the way they are—with no pretenses.

And whether you come to church in coat and tie or in blue jeans and a tee-shirt, high heels or flip-flops, I do believe that there is a biblical model for how we are to relate to one another once we’re here and also throughout the rest of the week. And I don’t believe it gives much room for Lone Rangers and masked identities, because our relationships with one another need to go much deeper than such barriers allow us to go. Scripture tells us we are to love one another.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to a passage found in 1 John, chapter 4, beginning at verse 7. This is from the epistle, or letter, that the Apostle John wrote to the church during the early days of the Christian Church.

To sum it up, we might say that “to know God is to love one another.”

Let’s see if we can better understand the breadth of what our scripture is saying to us this morning. The Christian community—the broad collection of those who are following Jesus as Savior and Lord—are compelled by the great love of God to love others. Because God has loved us, we are to love one another.

This love we live out for one another is evidence of our being “born of God.” In other words, the kind of love we’re called to have for one another comes “from God.” It’s found in Him. He is the author and originator of such love. He is the Giver of such love. We are to love one another just as God has loved us!

It is not a virtue that is innate within us—nor is it something we can simply learn to do by changed behavior. It’s deeper and stronger than that. Whoever truly loves others is not only born of God, but Scripture says such a person truly “knows God.”

The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know Him if you don’t love others! Whoever doesn’t love doesn’t know God at all, for God in His very nature is love. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us. This love is defined in the New Testament by the Greek word “agape.” It’s a totally selfless love. The New Testament teaching on love brought new and deeper meaning to the concept of love, with richer meaning to the word than had been expressed in pre-biblical Greek.

I might clarify here that while Scripture is proclaiming that “God is love,” we can’t switch those words around and proclaim that “love is God.” John is not teaching that our theory about love is divine, nor that our conception of love defines God. Rather, God is the One who gives to us the meaning of love. He is the Source of love. Love does not define Him. God is love.

And to better understand this kind of love, we only need to look at how God demonstrated His love for us—He did so by sending His only Son to die for us. It is God’s love for us that defines what true love requires—which is the commitment to sacrifice one’s most beloved possessions for another’s gain. God shows us the depths of love and the selflessness of love and the sacrificial element in love.

God’s love for us also demonstrates that it is an active love—it is seen in concrete acts. God’s love for us was seen and experienced in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross for us. The kind of love we’re talking about is not just about intangible feelings—as might be reflected in sentimental words which proclaim, “I love you.” Love is lived out in action. In one respect, words are cheap. The sentiments of a gushy Hallmark card still just cost a few dollars—even when you “care enough to send the very best.” The kind of love we are to have for one another goes much deeper—and it will by nature be selfless and sacrificial.

Love in the New Testament is not an ideal; it is a relationship. And relationships are dynamic—and, truth be told, relationships are messy. Anything that involves imperfect human beings is going to be messy! Relationships demand something of us.

We’re working our way through Valley Shepherd’s Long Range Plan, and I’ve been sharing with you the various components of what we believe we’re called to do and to be. We’ve embraced the mission for our church to be:

PASSION FOR GOD

COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE

Our passion for God calls us to keep Christ at the center of all we do—in other words, Worship is central to everything we do, and we are committed to keeping the Lord central and allowing everything else to flow from that center core truth. We’ve talked about our Passion for God lived out within the church family, and we see that in terms of Discipling, as we teach, train and model for growth in Christlikeness. And when we apply our passion for God outside the relationships within the church family, we see ourselves called to Evangelizing—helping others recognize their need for God and what He alone can do for them.

Our Compassion for People lived out within the church family calls us to CARING. And as we consider the biblical model for love and support among followers of Jesus Christ, we are determined to cultivate and nurture that New Testament love for one another and the richness of fellowship defined by the New Testament Greek word “koinonia.”

We’ve got to figure out what it means to truly love and care for one another, friends—and we’ve got to learn to live that out! There are ways we can try to “program” for this and certainly ways in which we can nurture and encourage it—but all those will become nothing more than humanitarian efforts if we fail to get to the heart of the matter. We need people who are willing to assume responsibility for the love and care of others within the church family, but, again, without the heart of God’s love stirring such actions, that kind of love will fall short of the God-kind-of-love to which we are called!

Can I say this about this matter of caring for one another? It will be challenging and it will be messy and it will be the most rewarding thing in all the world! Why would I say that? Because the people we’re called to love aren’t perfect people! We’d really prefer to love perfect people—but that’s not who’s out there! That’s not even who’s sitting on the pew next to you! That’s not even who’s sitting where you are!

Cindy and I have entered a different stage of life in recent years, and it has its unique challenges—even in this matter of learning to love like Jesus loved. By next January our family of 5 will have doubled to 10—by marriages and grandchildren! It’s a wonderful thing—and we love each one of them. But we’ve also discovered that this matter of loving young adult kids has new dimensions to it—because they’re living on their own now and they’re making adult kinds of decisions! Life may have seem complicated back when our kids were babies, but at least we could put them in their cribs and know that they’d remain there!

I’ve had some intense conversations within the past week with other parents our age who are struggling to know how to best live out their love for kids who aren’t always making the best of choices or at least whose actions or decisions aren’t something that we can easily understand or appreciate. It’s hard to love even when our hearts get stepped on, isn’t it?! Even when our feelings get hurt! Even when we can see where some of their choices are going to take them! Even when we’re angry at what they may be doing to others or when our hearts ache so much throughout the long hours of the night!

But I’ve been reminded that the most powerful thing we can do for our family members is to love them—not condemn them or criticize them or scrutinize their every movement…just love them. And that’s costly, isn’t it? Of course it is! We have to learn to put ourselves aside—including our feelings and our opinions—and simply choose to love. Putting ourselves aside sometimes means that we learn to bite our tongues—and keep our mouths shut when we’re just dying to let them know what we’re really thinking!

And the love we endeavor to carry out with one another within the body of believers called the Church is going to be no less messy!—in part because we’re dealing with imperfect people like ourselves! So you put all these imperfect people together and mix us all up and we can either have a lot of confusion and conflict or we can choose to pour on the love and let it be the glue that bonds us with one another. And that’s what Scripture calls us to do!—Love one another!

I remember that the Early Church had such a powerful impact on their world because people noted, “Behold how they love one another!” And I think people today are drawn to genuine love—and they have an uncanny way of sensing when it’s real and when it isn’t.

It will certainly cost each one of us something when we choose to love one another—but then, doesn’t anything of value cost us? Within the church family, we’ll constantly need to learn to step out of our comfort zones—and even go beyond our close circle of friends, opening our hearts and our lives to others. We’ll need to pry open our friendship circles and be willing to welcome others. I know that can be hard—but do you realize how important it is?

I talked with someone just this week who is new to our church who said that he’d stood in the foyer a few times just to see if anyone would come and talk with him—and “we” seldom did. With good spirit, he noted the groups in lively conversations and thought to himself, “They must really love one another”—all the while feeling very much alone and ignored. I think the hardest thing is when people are indifferent to you—like they don’t even notice that you’re there! Please don’t feel beat up when I share such things with you, my dear church family, but be aware and alert and be willing to let the Lord stretch you to establish new relationships of love and care for others. How in the world are we supposed to care for one another if we don’t even know one another?!

Maybe you feel like you’re already giving more than you’ve received in terms of relationships. That may be true—but then I’d suggest that that’s the very essence of Christlike love. On the other hand, you might be honest enough to acknowledge that you’ve gained far more than you’ve given as you have experienced the love and care of others. I think that’s where I am.

It all calls for a lot of love and grace, doesn’t it? But then, haven’t we all received plenty of love and grace ourselves from our Heavenly Father? Of course we have! And day by day He keeps pouring it upon us—and we’re called to in turn pour it out upon others.

I also wanted to note for you that I believe that such love spans the generations. Many of us believe that one of our greatest assets as a congregation at Valley Shepherd is the presence of multiple generations. It’s a matter of personal dismay to me that many churches have so centered their efforts on one generation that they have ignored other generations. And while I can’t pretend that we’ve got this all figured out ourselves, I do believe that the more biblical model of the church is that of all generations coming together to worship the Lord and to learn from one another and to love one another—and to love one another so deeply that we hold loosely to those things which are dear to us but not essentials to our faith…things like traditions and music and other preferences. The reason we do some of the things we do around here is because we value being a multiple-generation church and I believe there’s a tremendous blessing in that! But with that in mind, I want to challenge each of you to look beyond your own age group and look for ways to build loving relationships with those who are significantly younger or older than you.

Most of you know that I was in Ohio last week to speak at the Circleville Church of the Nazarene’s 80^th anniversary as a congregation. It’s a church of 500-600 now, but when my grandfather, Rev. A.E. Pusey, became their first pastor they were just meeting in someone’s home. Not only do I have that connection with that church, but it’s the church I was part of during four of my teen years—when my father went to Viet Nam as a chaplain in the Army and our family moved to be near my grandparents (who returned to Circleville for retirement) and an aunt and uncle who became like second parents to us.

In preparing for my message last Sunday, I was reflecting on not only my own rich and wonderful family heritage but also some of the people of that church who had so impacted my life during my relatively few years there. It was interesting the names and faces that came to me—names and faces that are dear to me now. And it wasn’t so much the specific roles they carried out in terms of ministry—but the fact that how they responded to me week by week revealed a love and care for me that I have never forgotten!

I was a cocky young kid during my years there, and I always talked too much, and surely had to drive some of them nuts now and then! But I thought of ol’ Bill Lutz, who greeted me at the door every Sunday morning. He’d also tease me about something and make me laugh, but I came to believe that the old guy really cared. I remembered Teresa Allen—who was sitting in the crowd last Sunday—who led the opening session of Sunday School for the junior department. She greeted us by name every Sunday as we’d step into that classroom with such a warm and caring smile that we could not ignore the genuine love. Phil Manson became my good buddy and his parents and aunts and uncles and grandmother accepted me like part of their family. I remembered others by name who must have gone out of their way week by week to speak to me and encourage me because in the collage of faces in my memory, they stood out and I’m still drawn to them because I somehow knew that they really loved me.

May I remind you, my dear church family, that someone needs you—they need your love and your care. And, interestingly enough, you need them too. In fact, we all need one another. We’re better together than we are apart—even though relationships get messy because we somehow seem to bring our humanness to the table. The kind of love to which we’re called is not an ideal—it’s a relationship. It’ll be dynamic and it will cost each of us something…but it will be worth it! And God blesses us when we learn to truly love and care for one another—when we see beyond ourselves and recognize the needs of others, when we put Christlike love into action, when we’re somehow stirred by Christ’s unmerited love for us and allow Him to cultivate such love in our hearts for others.

This morning, we have the privilege of being reminded again of God’s great love for us as we share together in the Lord’s Supper. It’s right that we do it together—symbolically gathering around the same table as a family might do for a meal. And as we take the elements that remind us in a very sacred way of the body of Christ broken for our redemption and the blood of Jesus poured out for our forgiveness, may the Lord stir within each of us a fresh determination to pour out such love and grace and care upon one another. I might encourage you to look across “the table” as you prepare to receive these elements, and allow God to open your eyes and your heart to those who need your love and care today…

Special Speaker Deb Weisen - Upward Regional Rep

I grew up in a home with three boys—of which I was the youngest. My parents were big on assigned chores—so on any given week we’d each be given specific tasks that we were to do—like washing the dishes, drying them, taking the trash out or mowing the lawn. Now I’m a pretty nice guy most of the time, but you better believe that I wasn’t about to do the chores that had been assigned to one of my brothers that week. No sirree! That was his job!

I sometimes wonder if that’s our mentality regarding some aspects of the Christian life—and one thing we likely prefer to consider someone-else’s job is the Great Commission—the label often given to the words of Jesus I just read to you. “Evangelism is someone else’s job!” we think—as we go on our merry little way.

Many of you know that I pastored Kansas City First Church of the Nazarene for nearly six years before coming to Meridian. Some of you may be familiar with the name Dr. Chic Shaver—a man known in many circles as “Mr. Evangelism.” Chic is uniquely gifted in being able to lead people to Jesus Christ. He is an “evangelist” in the truest sense of the word. Chic taught evangelism for many years at Nazarene Theological Seminary and, throughout those years, traveled widely holding revival services and training probably thousands of people in how to share their faith. And, as if he didn’t already have enough to do, he also served part-time on the pastoral staff at First Church, leading their personal evangelism efforts and doing so diligently. He’s a marvelous and gifted man—who has been for many the means by which they came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Now, I hadn’t been at Kansas City First Church long before I began to pick up that there were too many who, in the shadow of such a gifted personal evangelist, conceded that evangelism was Chic’s job! They wouldn’t have said it, but it seemed like they had concluded that they didn’t have to be concerned with the Great Commission—because someone else would do it! The problem with that kind of thinking is that the Great Commission—the words of Jesus that we just read from Matthew 20—weren’t given just to a select few. They were given to us all. They become the marching orders of the whole church—and it can never be accomplished by merely a few. In other words, you and I don’t get to opt out of it. It’s our job as followers of Jesus—the task belongs to all of us.

We’re in the middle of a series of sermons that flow out of Valley Shepherd Church’s mission statement:
PASSION FOR GOD
COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE
We’ve already talked about the way in which we are to carry out that mission together as we respond to the needs of people around us. We’re in this together. We’ve talked about the concept of us living out our passion for God within our fellowship, and we’ve labeled that Discipling. Now we’re going to focus on our Passion for God out in the world. The heart of God is broken over spiritually lost people—people who are not in fellowship with their Heavenly Father and, whether they know it or not, are without God and without hope. Our Heavenly Father loved lost people so very much that He sent His Son to die for them. And He loves them so much today that He sends His Church out to where they are, offering them forgiveness of sin, a fresh start, and an everlasting hope. That’s where we come in—Evangelizing.

Interestingly enough, Christ-followers throughout the ages have struggled to know what to make of Jesus’ words at the close of Matthew’s Gospel. There have been those who brushed aside their responsibility in making disciples of all people by concluding that these words were just for the Early Church—the first century Church. But, thank the Lord, there were those who, several hundred years ago, embraced the challenge and took up the mandate with a seriousness that began to spread the Good News of the Gospel across Europe. It was this passage of scripture and the passionate commitment some made to it that initiated the work of missionaries as we know them today. They did so at great risk to themselves and to their families and many of them gave up their lives in their commitment to take the Gospel to the spiritually lost. And it’s for the cause of Christ and the Great Commission He has entrusted to us that many are placing their lives on the line today.

There’s an underlying premise about this Great Commission that I want to make sure we all understand. The underlying premise of the Great Commission is that every person has the opportunity to become a follower of Jesus. Every person can be saved. Every person can experience the forgiveness of their sins by the grace of God. Every person has the capacity to learn to walk in God’s ways.

And if you’re wondering on whose authority I’m making such a statement, go back with me to the first part of the passion we just read—
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18-19)
My statement that every person can become a follower of Jesus Christ is based on the authority of Jesus. What I’m saying to you this morning is wonderfully reliable!

And it’s also amazingly inclusive. The American culture has become consumed with “inclusivity.” We’ve taken it to ridiculous extremes—not all of which are blessed by the Lord, I might add. But one thing I will say is that the invitation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has never been discriminating. All are welcomed into this fellowship—all, that is, who are willing to turn from sin in order to follow Jesus.

Now you can first apply that to yourself. You are included in God’s gift of salvation. There’s nothing in your past and nothing in your background that would disqualify you for salvation. One of the most well-known assurances of this comes from Jesus’ words from John 3:16—
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
That “whoever” part means you! Don’t let yourself and don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise! That brings hope to each of us—regardless of what our situation is life might be!

But the Great Commission also always gets us looking beyond ourselves!—because this Good News is Good News for everybody! Every person can become a child of God, forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. There’s not a person you have ever met or will ever meet that is beyond this invitation. And that truth is a vital premise of Jesus’ words to us today.

I’m not sure where it best fits into my message this morning, but I do want to note a significant part of what Jesus said in the Great Commission. His call for us to make disciples of all nations includes the command to “baptize” them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The making of disciples then is characterized by both baptism and instruction. Baptism is not something the follower of Christ is to take casually. It’s not something to which we can be indifferent.

The New Testament can barely conceive of a disciple who is not baptized. Baptism is a sign of entrance into Christ’s covenant community as well as a pledge of submission to His Lordship over our lives. Baptism is a blessing to which every follower of Jesus is invited. It’s the outward sign of the inner work of God’s redemption—something every follower of Christ finds delight in. And while we don’t believe that we are saved by the act of baptism, it is certainly considered by Jesus to be a significant step for every person who experiences the redemption of their lives by the love and grace of Christ. I guess my question then would be: Why would any genuine follower of Jesus not want to be baptized? Why would we not want to embrace this simple act by which we symbolize the wonderful grace of God we’ve experienced and by which we declare our humble submission to His Lordship? Why?

I’m guessing that if we were to go through this sanctuary this morning and ask who has been baptized, we would discover quite a few who have never taken this step. You may have reasons that seem rational to you, but again I need to ask you, “Why would any genuine follower of Jesus not want to be baptized?” And recognizing that we’re going to have a baptismal service in a just a few weeks, may I suggest to those of you who fall into that category that now would be a marvelous time for you to make that significant step in your spiritual journey! Besides all the other things I’ve just mentioned, it is a wonderful testimony of the breadth of God’s mercy and grace—that every person can become a follower of Jesus.

Based on that premise that every person has the opportunity to become a follower of Jesus, now let me talk with you about the calling we find in the Great Commission—the calling for each of us to “go and make disciples of all nations…” The Great Commission was given to us all. It’s not okay for us to simply assume that someone else is going to do this! It’s not okay to relegate this to the pastor, or to gifted personal evangelists, or those we see as super Christians. God has called you to be part of this Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations! Somehow, we each need to grasp God’s desire and expectation for us to play a part in His effort to save the lost!

I might draw to your attention our church’s long-range plan that commits us to both a Great Commission and a Great Commandment lifestyle, embracing God’s desire for people of all ages to receive Christ as Savior. While the Great Commission comes from the passage we read earlier, the Great Commandment is a passage we focused on a few weeks ago:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and…Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
It’s simply how we’re to live our lives.

I’m guessing there may be those of you who are wondering why I’m not putting this in the context of spiritual gifts—our understanding that God equips each of us in unique ways to be part of His work in our world. And that’s true. I understand that there are those who are particularly gifted by God in reaching people for Jesus Christ—people like Dr. Chic Shaver, who I mentioned a few minutes ago. And I understand that we all must do our part—the part God has uniquely gifted us to do—in order for the Church to function most effectively. And all that’s true. But we all must share in this Great Commission endeavor!

How? We participate in the Great Commission when we’re willing to simply tell others what Jesus Christ has done for us and the difference He continues to make in our lives. We do this kind of sharing in our homes, in our family circles, when we’re going about our work, in our greater circle of friends and with people we get to know in the community.

Some of you have laughed about Cindy and my quickness to tell people that we’re having a grandbaby in January. Why do we tell that? Because it’s exciting! Because it’s good news! And I got to wondering: why, then, wouldn’t we be just as quick to tell others about what Jesus has done for us? Some of you are quick to talk about the Boise State game or your latest project or your most recent bargain or the funny thing your child did this week or the worst thing that happened to you this week. Why would we not be as open to talk about the difference Jesus has makes in our lives?

There are many ways we can participate in the Great Commission effort—
• We participate in the Great Commission when we’re open about our faith—not just our church life.
• We participate in the Great Commission when we’re willing to be involved in ministries to children and teens—and when we do so with an openness and willingness to share with them what Christ has done for us.
• We participate in the Great Commission when we visit those in jails and prisons, offering the hope that Christ offers to each of us.
• We participate in the Great Commission when we share with those struggling beneath the loads of life the encouragement and help our relationship with Christ brings. Some of you are natural listeners and encouragers whom other people gravitate to.
• We participate in the Great Commission when we support missionary endeavors going on near and far away—though I might add that we need to be careful that we don’t excuse away any responsibility beyond just “throwing money” at missionary endeavors. For some of us that might be the easy way out, and God may be wanting more from us than just that!

And let’s not forget the influence upon others of how we live our lives—Great Commandment style! The witness of our lives speaks volumes to others—and it will either add credibility to our Great Commission efforts or it will detract from it, depending upon how we are indeed living our lives…how we respond to others, whether our words and our actions match up, the attitudes that reveal the condition of our hearts.

And when Jesus spoke of “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” He was not talking about mere dogma steeped in abstract theorizing! The “teaching” part sounds pretty simple to me—“teaching them to obey everything” that Jesus has commanded us. In other words, we’re to teach others how we are to live our lives—and may we never forget that the best teaching method is carried out by what we model before others.

And, honestly, can we just admit that this may all seem a bit overwhelming to us! And it’s even more alarming when we realize that our failure to make disciples of others reveals the inadequacy of our own commitment to Christ. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we’re involved in discipling others!

Now, lest we all become so overwhelmed that we just throw in the towel and write it all off as impossible, let’s go to the very last verse that I read earlier—the last verse of Matthew’s Gospel.
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
There’s a powerful promise that becomes the icing on the cake of the Great Commission—that Christ will be with us always as we are about His great work in this world! Matthew’s Gospel ends, not with a command, but with a promise. It’s the promise of Jesus’ comforting presence, which, if not made explicitly conditional on the disciples’ obedience to the Great Commission, is at least closely tied to it.

David Livingstone was a pioneer medical missionary who is credited with opening the heart of Africa to Christianity back in the first half of the 1800’s. He eventually died in carrying out his mission, but not before he had made a huge impact upon the lives of many. When asked what had sustained him in all the perils of his pilgrimage in Africa, he answered by quoting the promise from the end of Matthew’s Gospel. It is said that when his wife died in Africa, he helped prepare her body for burial, helped make the coffin, helped lower it in the grave, and helped cover it with earth. Then he opened his New Testament and read this text, following it with words to his African friends, “Jesus Christ is too much of a Gentleman not to keep His word; let us get on with the task.”

Such commitment seems almost foreign to many of us—too demanding for us to embrace…and yet the commitment can be made because of the promise Christ has given us—“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Let’s just admit that the kind of commitment Christ calls for from each of us is counter-culture in our world—it always has been, if that makes you feel any better! The conflicting message to this Great Commission that is propagated today is that we can all believe whatever we want to believe and that it’s all equally valid. We know that’s not true, for it’s surely not what Christ taught and it’s surely not what Scripture teaches. But if we determine to go counter-culture in embracing the Truth Christ taught, then we’re going to need God’s abiding Presence day by day in order to live it out! And the Good News is that God has promised that very thing—to be with us to the very end of the age!

Matthew’s Gospel ends with the expressed expectation of Jesus that we His people will continue His redemptive work in this world. We are to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ! And in a unique kind of way, the Gospel of Matthew is not a closed book, for the final chapter is being written even now in the “going” and teaching efforts of Jesus’ disciples today. In that sense, we are part of the writing of the 29th chapter of Matthew!

I’ve been trying to think through where this Great Commission work begins in our lives—and how God’s Spirit nurtures it and how we can feed it. And I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Certainly it finds it foundation and motivation in our love for God—our “passion for God,” if you will. But when we look at the big picture, it’s perhaps our compassion for people and the awareness of their lostness that will stir us into action.

And it seemed to me that if I, as your pastor, could get you to begin to pray for the salvation of at least a few specific individuals, that God will then guide you regarding your role in helping them to see their need for Jesus. That’s why we’ve put two cards in your bulletins this morning—one for you to keep as a reminder for you to pray and the other for you to lay upon this altar, signifying your commitment to the Lord to pray for these individuals, and also giving to me and to our staff the names of people for whom we can join you in prayer…

One of the greatest joys that Cindy and I have experienced in life has been the privilege of raising three children. Having gone through a season when we feared we might not be able to have children, we were so thrilled when Cindy became pregnant with our first child and ecstatic when our son Justin was born! And then our blessings seemed to quickly multiply when, 20 months later, our twin daughters, Krista and Kara, were born.

You know, I think we’ve enjoyed every stage of our kids’ lives.
• They didn’t stay babies long—which was a good thing, because we had far too many diapers to change for a while there!
• It wasn’t long before they had their first day at kindergarten, and we enjoyed their elementary years! Our lives were full as our kids carved their way through schoolwork and ballgames and music lessons and church activities and summer camps and family vacations. We had a blast!
• And before we knew it their teen years had arrived and life seemed busier than ever—and they weren’t as anxious to have us at teen camps as they had been to have us at children’s camps, and they went away on mission trips, and they started driving and it seemed that they spent a lot of time with friends on Friday and Saturday evenings. And it seemed like we were watching them grow up before our very eyes—and we shared a lot of laughter and a lot of good times through those years.
• And it wasn’t long before Cindy and I found ourselves saying tearful goodbyes as we turned and walked away, leaving them to begin their college days on campuses far away from home. We’d look forward to holidays and spring breaks and summer-times when they’d be home again—and our house was always more full of joy when they were around!
• We made it through the college days and then have enjoyed watching as they’ve launched into careers and married life partners and now are beginning to have children!
I guess the fun has only begun!

Sure, there are melancholic moments when we long for “the good old days,” but, honestly, it would have been disappointing if our kids had had the capacity to grow up and didn’t! We have cherished memories of their childhood days, but we’ve known all along that it’s God’s design for children to grow up—for children to emerge into adulthood!

In the evangelical church world, we have made much of the point at which people accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—and are, as scripture called it, “born again.” Jesus spoke of the miracle of the new spiritual birth—when we become “new creatures in Christ.” It’s a great moment when, by faith, we accept God’s forgiveness of our sins and when we launch into a great journey of faith. Paul described it in 2 Corinthians 5:17 in this way—
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
And just as we marvel at the newborn baby, we rejoice in the life of the new believer in Christ! The day we make our first steps as a true follower of Jesus Christ is a significant day indeed!

But just as God designed for children to grow up and become adults, so He has designed that we “grow up” in our faith, too—and reach toward maturity as Christians. Scripture speaks of this in many ways. The Apostle Paul often wrote of it, challenging the new believers to grow spiritually.

I particularly want us to look at a passage from the pen of Paul found in the book of Colossians. Paul was in prison far away in Rome. Epaphras had gotten word to Paul about the crisis of faith and practice with which the Colossians were wrestling. This quickened Paul’s mind and his heart ached for them. His letter to them went far beyond the sentiments of, “I’ve been thinking about you.” This is a letter reflecting deep intercession—energy-consuming and emotionally-draining intercession, the kind of praying that is a channel for the mysterious but awesome working of God in people’s lives.

What was Paul praying for? Paul was praying for the Christians in Colosse to grow up spiritually—and allow the Lord to develop mature characteristics of increasing Christlikeness in their lives. What we read in Colossians is Paul’s heart-cry for their spiritual development. Look with me at the beginning of chapter one and let me quickly take you through it—
COL 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints– 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth…
COL 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins…
COL 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation– 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel…
COL 2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Now look with me at Colossians 2, verses 6-8—

Let’s look at another passage from Paul’s writings. It’s in Ephesians 4—
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work… (Ephesians 4:11-16)

And let’s bring one other image to the table, as we consider the words of Peter in 1 Peter 2—
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3)

May I put this all in the context of the long-range plan of our church? We have embraced as our mission—
PASSION FOR GOD
COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE
We have understood that we are to carry out that mission from the blessed vantage point of together being Christ’s Church and, as a united body of believers, we are sent out into the world to share the love and grace of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him. One important dimension of this whole picture is the challenge of—
DISCIPLING
We as a church have accepted the challenge to develop ministries by which we teach, train and model growth in Christlikeness in each of our lives. We understand that “Christlikeness” is the essence of “holiness” and that God has called each of us to live holy lives. We also recognize that, on our own, we’re incapable of living up to that standard—but, by the grace and power of the Lord poured out over the lives of the fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit works in powerful ways within us to mold and shape us to be more and more like Jesus. It’s a journey that won’t be completed until this life is over and we’ve come into the Presence of the Lord where we will be forever—but it’s a journey to which we must commit ourselves throughout the days of our lives. We are “to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in [our] faith.” We are to grow up spiritually!

What does it mean to grow up spiritually? I suppose simply speaking, we’re not to keep acting like children! I will confess that there have been many times as a pastor that I’ve observed some of the conflicts and struggles with which people were engaged and have wished for them to simply “grow up” spiritually—knowing that their lack of spiritual maturity was the source of their problems and the problems they were creating. Growing up spiritually impacts our attitudes and our actions; it shapes our whole perspective on life—just as the eyes of adulthood bring a whole different perspective to things that seemed so important to us when we were children.

I read something in my personal devotions this past week that hit the nail on the head in this matter. I had read from Luke chapter 6 the words of Jesus—
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. (Luke 6:20-22)
Then I read the words of Rick Warren reflecting on this passage—
God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. (Rick Warren)
Warren went on to say that God wants us to grow up spiritually and become like Christ. God wants us to develop the kind of character described in the beatitudes of Jesus, the fruit of Spirit, Paul’s great chapter on love and other New Testament lists of the characteristics of an effective and productive life. Every time we forget that character is one of God’s purposes for our lives, we become frustrated by our circumstances. We get to wondering, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I having such a difficult time?” And what Rick Warren was reminding me—and now us—is that one significant answer to those gut-wrenching questions is that life is supposed to be difficult! It’s what makes us to grow.

It is not nor was it ever God’s plan for us to remain immature in our faith. Our son is now a key figure in managing a fairly large hospital in Palmdale, California. He’s had to grow up in order to handle the responsibilities that he now has. Just as our kids have needed to grow up in order to carry out the challenges in life that are now before them, so it’s vital for the child of God to grow up in matters of faith so that we are not shaken and destroyed by the circumstances and challenges of life—so that we’re able to handle life effectively, reflecting the light and the love of Jesus as we do. And we have a responsibility within the church family to prompt and nurture and encourage that kind of “growing up” in all of our lives!

There are those who assume they’re mature in their faith simply because they’ve been Christians a long time. I don’t think we can back up that assumption scripturally. In fact, it would seem to me that much of the New Testament is written at correcting such a false assumption and the problems that had arisen in the Early Church because of people who assumed they were mature in their faith and weren’t! What we’re all called to do is to humbly submit ourselves to the Lord and to His continual work in our lives so that we in ever-increasing ways reflect His holy character in and through our lives. We dare not become smug or overly comfortable with where we are, but recognize the further work that God has to do in us—and allow God to stretch us toward that, regardless of how painful that process may seem at times.

In the Colossians passage, Paul deals with the matter of distractions along the way—
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

Karl Valletin of Munich, Germany, was a master among the performing artists we call clowns. The scene for which he is best remembered took place on a darkened stage illumined only by a solitary circle of light. Valletin, with long-drawn face and deeply worried expression, walks around and around this circle of light, desperately looking for something. A policeman enters the scene and asks, “What have you lost?” “The key to my house,” replies the clown. The policeman then joins the search, but they find nothing. After a while the policeman inquires, “Are you sure that you lost it here?” “No,” says the clown, pointing to a dark corner of the stage, “over there.” “Then why on earth are you looking for it here?” asks the policeman. The reply was simply, “There is no light over there.”

Here’s a great lesson taught to us by none less than a clown. The clown’s scene is a picture of the snare in which we become entangled. We go to whatever promise of light is available. Not unlike the Colossians, we respond to explanations that appeal to rational thought, to offers of salvation that put us and our efforts in the center, to any philosophy that defines clearly and closes all the gaps of mystery. So Paul gave us strong warning here not to be drawn into the deception of hollow philosophies depending on human tradition. And what I believe he is most saying to us is this: the secret to life is in a Person, not in philosophy—and that person is Jesus Christ. The solution to our greatest challenges in life are found not within ourselves—not within our human capabilities—but the solution is found in Christ. Paul said,
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught… (Colossians 2:6-7)

As important as knowledge is, knowledge is not the answer to meaning in life! We can’t think our way through to reality. An experiential relationship with Jesus Christ is the foundation for the Christian life. This doesn’t mean that we can be sloppy in our thinking and our reason—for God gave us minds and He expects us to use them, and we must use them if we’re going to communicate the Gospel to a huge segment of the world today. But right thinking doesn’t make us holy—it’s only by the grace of God that we can ever responsibly respond to God’s call for us to live holy lives. Paul isn’t demeaning philosophy or learning or intellectual growth—he’s simply warning us against putting human reason above God’s desire to cultivate true Christlikeness in our lives and specifically in our character.

We find our purpose and meaning “in Christ”—in Christ alone. And honestly, my own experience has been that it was those times when I came to the end of myself and the end of my own resources that I discovered the mysterious sufficiency of simply being “in Christ.” It seems like that’s somehow when we get ourselves out of the way and humbly recognize how much we still need the powerful hand of the Lord to work in us! And it’s only “in Christ” that we experience inner peace. And, amazingly enough, those are the times to which we can look back and see most clearly the development of Christlikeness in our lives as we go through the growing pains of maturing spiritually.

Do you remember that Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Wasn’t Jesus proclaiming for all who will hear that He is all that we’ll ever need in life? Wasn’t He trying to help us understand that we find our fulfillment and our peace and our purpose in Him—in Him alone?

This morning, we have the opportunity to share in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper—in which Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples to eat, saying, “This is my body which is broken for you.” Don’t you suppose that their minds went back to His words, “I am the bread of life”?

May I remind you as you prepare your hearts and minds for communion that just as we received Christ Jesus as Lord, we are to continue our lives in Him. As we become firmly established in Him, we are to grow up in matters of faith and trust, learning to depend upon Him more and more…

The word “worship” has taken on all kinds of new meanings and connotations in recent years. And while I understand that it’s generally been in the effort to make the worship experience more meaningful to people—which is a lofty goal—I fear it has too often moved the target of our worship away from the Lord and onto the pleasing of people. It hit me this week that we have turned the word “worship” from being a verb to being an adjective—from “we worship God” to things like “worship pastor,” “worship center” and even “worship wars.” Sometimes I wonder if the Lord isn’t shaking His head in amazement that we humans have taken yet one more thing and messed it up! Other times I’m convinced that God’s just downright brokenhearted over us missing the point altogether and maybe even angry that we still don’t “get it”!

This morning I want us to narrow in on just what “worship” is about. We’re going to do that in the context of this being the first in a series of five sermons built around our mission as a church. Our “mission” is why we exist. It’s what we are about—continually, always! It’s our reason for existence! It’s that which motivates us and keeps us on track!

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 22. Here we have an interesting scene from the life and ministry of Jesus—part of the teaching that He did in His final days. Jesus was under attack from the Jewish religious leaders who clearly didn’t like him and clearly felt threatened by Jesus’ popularity among the people. While there were two schools of thought—Pharisees and Sadducees—who normally didn’t agree on much, the one thing they seemed to unite around was their efforts in trying to get rid of Jesus. Jesus had just won a round with some Sadducees, so the Pharisees got together to try to come at Him from yet another angle. That’s what prompted what Jesus said in these verses. Let’s begin reading at Matthew 22, verse 34—
[Read Matthew 22:34-40, NIV]
I like how the paraphrase of scripture called The Message says that these two commandments are the pegs on which everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hang. So, if we want to get at the heart of what the follower of Jesus Christ is to be about, this is it!

This is one of those times when I wish we had an audio recording from New Testament times so we could hear the tone of voice of the Pharisee who posed the question to Jesus that day. Because we don’t know what his tone of voice was, it’s hard to figure out if he was coming to Jesus out of respect or sarcasm. It would seem most likely that the Pharisee approached Jesus with a bit of arrogance and sarcasm, for they clearly did not see Jesus on par with them—and it bugged the daylights out of them that crowds of people were following Jesus around and hanging on every word He said!

In responding to this good Jew, Jesus referred back to that which was incredibly significant to the Jewish people—what is called the “Shema.” Jesus quoted part of the Jewish confession of faith that is recited by pious Jews every morning and evening—from a few key passages in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). Its message is clear: God is to be loved completely and totally because He—and He alone—is God and because He has made a covenant of love with His people. In this covenant, God gives Himself totally in love to His people; therefore He expects His people to give themselves totally in love to Him—“with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

And then Jesus brought the other critical component together with the first—“Love your neighbor as yourself.” He was saying again that love for others is a natural and logical outgrowth from our love of God. These two commandments belong together. They really can’t be separated.

My premise this morning is that we are called first and foremost to get the core of our lives right—centered on God. That’s where we must always begin—centering in on God in worship. That’s why we encourage our people to start each week off right—in worship—on the first day of the week!

By the way, I’m calling this series “Our Best Life Now.” Some of you will recognize that our title sounds a lot like a similar title by popular author and preacher named Joel Osteen. And while I don’t agree with everything he says and while I know I can’t physically smile as big a smile as the guy always seems to have on his face, I do like the idea that God’s ways are the pathway for us to experience life—here and now—at its best! But I also want to emphasize the “corporateness” of this journey—“Our Best Life Now”—that God has called us to journey together, that it’s by His design, and that we experience life at its best when we’re in relationship with one another, sharing in God’s mission in our world today!

The words of Jesus to us today are the words from which flows our church’s mission statement:
Passion for God
Compassion for People
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”—that’s our “Passion for God.” And “Love your neighbor as yourself”—that our “Compassion for People.”

About a year ago, our church leaders set out to flesh out what it will mean for us to live out our Mission in these next few years. While we ended up setting our sights on some specific actions to which we’ve committed, along the way we came upon some primary concepts which helped us get handles on how we were going to live out our mission in the world today. The longer we looked at it, the more we gravitated toward a quadrant model that helps us visualize what we’re to be about—

We recognized that we are called to live out our Passion for God and our Compassion for People both among ourselves as a church family but also out in the world.
• Our Passion for God within the church family is Discipling—teaching, training and modeling growth in Christlikeness.
• Our Passion for God beyond the walls of this church is Evangelizing—embracing God’s desire for people of all ages to receive Christ as Savior.
• Our Compassion for People within the church family is Caring—fostering the biblical model of love and support for one another.
• Our Compassion for People beyond our church is Serving—letting our lights shine in our community and around the world by serving the needs of people.

But if that was the whole of what we did, it would be pretty shallow, for what’s missing is the motivation and heart for doing those things. At the center of our model is the matter of Worship. Worship occupies the center of our quadrant because it’s at the core, the heart, of all we do. We are called upon to “Love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul and with all [our] mind.” When we get things right at the center, then it bursts outward in acts of love and compassion for others, in discipling, evangelizing, caring and serving.

Failing to get things right at the center is to miss the whole point of everything altogether. Even if we tried to carry out that which flows from the center, it would miss the heart of what’s at the center and would in no way be as effective. It would be like inviting a bunch of people to your home for a special meal and getting so sidetracked with the decorations that you forgot to fix the food! It would be like a football team practicing and preparing for the big game and then running aimlessly when they got out on the field. It would be like a couple getting all caught up in the big preparations for their wedding day and totally neglecting one another and their relationship in the process. We’ve got to get things right at the core of what we’re doing!

As Christians, we embrace the call to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. That’s why we do the rest of what we do! We don’t do what we do in order to earn God’s favor or His blessings. We don’t do what we do just in order to be “good people.” We don’t do what we do in order to draw attention to ourselves. At its best, what we do flows out of our total worship of the Lord—our commitment to Him and our determination to honor Him in all that we do! It’s so important that we keep coming back to that!

Otherwise, it’s awful easy to get distracted and to head down the wrong path.
• If we think we’re discipling or evangelizing or caring or serving in order to get God’s blessing for ourselves, then we get angry at God when things don’t work out for us as we thought they were supposed to. What’s motivating us is the hope of getting something for ourselves—and God wants us to be motivated by a pure and total love for Him.
• If we’re doing what we’re doing in some vain attempt to impress others at how good we are—or even if we become somehow enamored with others thinking well of us—then we lose the power and the force of what we’re to be doing in partnership with God and we fail to be effective.

The story is told of a dog-food company whose sales were wavering long before the economy hit the doldrums. Their new line of dog-food had been marketed in the spotlight and they’d spent millions of dollars getting the word out on their new product. But the dog-food wasn’t selling. The management had long and tedious meetings trying to figure out why their dog-food wasn’t selling. Heads began to roll as the marketing and sales people were called to account for their apparent ineptness. The president and the executive board of the company were pulling their hair out, trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally a rather meek but brave young salesman spoke up and said what others had been afraid to say. He told them simply, “Dogs don’t like our dog-food.” You see, they had missed the point of what they were doing. They had gotten sidetracked into big business and forgotten that what was to stir their business was simply providing appealing and nutritional food to dogs!

As a church, we can build a beautiful building and run weekly programs and hire staff and even draw big crowds on Sunday—but if we miss the point of why we exist and do what we do out of any motivation other than a true love for God with all our hearts, souls and minds, then all of what we do can never accomplish what God wants for us to accomplish—and the true needs of people will go unmet.

Let me bring two other passages of scripture before us this morning. The first comes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 10—
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

And I believe this is what God would say to teenagers and children today who are trying to figure out this whole Christianity thing. And I believe it’s what He’d say to young adults who are trying to get handles on their whole personal faith as they are making their way in a world that seems so far from what we speak of as God’s intent in our world. I believe it’s what He’d say to those of you who are consumed with problems and challenges in your daily lives, often physically and emotionally depleted in putting one foot before the other day after day. I also believe it’s what He’d say to those who are experiencing great success in all their human endeavors right now, especially if all their accomplishments are still missing the point of why God created them to begin with. I believe it’s what He’d say to those of you who are trying your very best to live lives that please and honor God.
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)
It’s what is at the core of God’s plan for us and our mission in this world!

And the other passage that seems to relate to this is found in Romans 12:1-2—a passage that has meant much to me for many years.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)
In these words, the Apostle Paul makes clear what worship is. It’s not merely going through the motions of a worship service—as important as that can be to us. The heart of worship is offering our total selves to God—loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the heart of worship! It’s about surrender to the Lord. Worship that’s done to please us misses the point! Worship is our effort to honor God.

And, as Jesus made clear in the words we first read from His teachings in Matthew 22, true love for God—true worship of God—springs forth in genuine love for others, expressed in genuine acts of love and care for one another, in serving the real needs of people (wherever they are), caring enough about people to bring them to the Savior who can address their deepest need for forgiveness, and loving them enough that we walk with them as they become established in their faith. Love for God and love for others go hand in hand. Jesus said it’s hard to separate them. But let us never forget that we’ve got to get first things first—we must first center our attention on loving God with our total selves!

So, having said all of that…what is worship? It’s the act of centering our lives on Him, making Him our foundation and embracing His template for how we are going to live our lives. Worship has nothing to do with pleasing people. I get so frustrated when we make the concept of worship consumer-oriented, as if worship is designed to please me. Some of the nastiest and most vicious battles in the church have revolved around our concept of worship—and surely God is grieved that we’re so missing the point! Who would have figured that we could take the vest best of things and make it into a tool of the Enemy?!

Worship styles have become the most divisive issue in the church—and people flit around from church to church trying to find a worship style that fits them. Could it be that worship has nothing to do with styles fitting people but that worship is far more about us learning to please God? Could it be that people need to quit flitting around trying to find the perfect church and rather determine to honor God wherever it is that He plants them?

I understand that we’re all different and we all have our favorite way of doing things. I understand that there are many different approaches to authentic worship, and that driven purely by our own personalities and life experiences that we may be drawn to different approaches to worship. But the American Church today seems to have let our differences get way out of hand! And while I desire that what we do when we gather together to worship on Sunday mornings be effective in drawing others into the experience of worship, I always want to make sure that ultimately what we do honors and pleases God—and if we let the tools of worship be instruments of division, then it seems to me that somehow we miss the point of worship altogether!

So…what am I saying? I’m saying that we need to get first things first—in our personal lives as well as in our life together. And I’m saying that what must be at the center of all we do—at the core, first and foremost in our lives—is our love for God. And it must be a “total love” for Him—with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind! Everything else we do as individuals and as a church must flow out from that which is at the center!

And regardless of what distractions come our way, we’ve got to keep first things first. The cares of life easily distract us from what is at the core of our lives—and we dare not give the cares of life that power over us! Our best way of dealing with the cares of life is to keep first things first—keep our love and devotion to God at the core of all we do!

We sometimes get so caught up in doing the right things—in caring for others, and serving them and even reaching out to them in hopes of drawing them to Jesus—that we neglect the core of our lives, our love for the God who cares for us all. I suppose this is where hard-working church-folk can get distracted—in trying so hard to do all the right things and the expected things that we somehow forget along the way why we’re doing what we’re doing in the first place. Then we get worn out and frazzled and lose heart in serving. Sometimes we get frustrated when others don’t agree with our way of carrying it out, or when we don’t get the recognition or affirmation we long for and think we deserve. May I encourage all of us to make sure we keep first things first—at the center of all we do?!

God wants us to throw our whole lives into our worship of Him—to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength! And, because of our consuming love for Him, He wants that love to spring outward then in loving others, but without ever forgetting what’s at the core!

So, when we come together for worship, as Scripture encourages us to do, I hope you’ll sing your heart out when we sing—even if you can’t carry a tune in a bucket! The Psalmist said, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” Let’s throw ourselves totally into worshipping God and honoring Him. Make He help us to keep that central in all that we do! And then, as we’ll be exploring in upcoming weeks, let’s allow our love for the Lord to burst out in love and care for others—a Passion for God that truly stirs Compassion for People.