Why
we do what we do, Part 2
Unpacking
the Mission and the Vision of MRWC
Sunday,
September 8th, 2013
Have
you ever lost something? Chances are that if you have owned something for a
significant amount of time, it has been lost at least once, if not twice.
ILLUSTRATION- I am a pen collector. If I
see a nice pen, I’ll inquire about it. If it’s free, I’ll take it; if it’s not
free, but reasonability priced, I’ll purchase it.
I
have pens from all across Canada, and places well into the United States.
If you have a nice pen, you’d
better keep a close eye on it, because if like it, I might take it!
In
1999, I received a pen from the Atlantic District of the Wesleyan Church.
At that time, I
was going to school at Kingswood university, and I was also working at Norton
Wesleyan Church as their youth pastor, and I was invited to attend the District
Ministerial at Beulah. (It’s a pastor’s
conference)
When
I arrived at Beulah, I was given a beautiful blue and gold-trimed pen. It was a
nice weight and was wonderful to write with.
(Believe it or not, but the pen actually came before the iPad....I know,
it’s hard to imagine)
I
took this pen everywhere. I used it to take notes, and I took extra special
care of this pen.
I remember that
it even came with a box, so at the end of the day I put the pen in the little
box, and placed it on my desk eagerly anticipating using it the next day.
One
day, I went to take my pen out of my pocket, and to my surprise—and shock!—it
was nowhere to be found!
Almost
immediately, panic set in. Did someone steal it from me? I wondered.
I
then remembered what you are supposed to do when you lose something, so I
retraced my steps and went to the last place I thought I used the pen, but no
luck; it was still MIA.
After
searching for my pen far and wide, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I even asked
some of my friends if they had seen my pen, but they hadn’t seen it either.
I
took the unusual step of emailing the DS at the time, H.C. Wilson and asked him
if there were any more of the pens left, and if so, could I have one.
He
retuned my email by telling me that the pens were a onetime deal and there
weren’t any leftover’s.
Again,
I was devastated. How could I continue to work without my favorite pen?
I didn’t know what else to do, so I left it in the Lord’s hands and kept
hoping it would show up.
Not
too long after that, I was in chapel one day and as the preacher was preaching,
I noticed that my friend was taking notes with what looked to be like a real
nice pen!
I
whispered to him and asked if I could see his pen for a moment, and upon closer
inspection, I noticed that it was my lost pen!
I
almost shouted! I said: “Ben, that’s my pen!
Where did you find it?”
Ben
told me that he found it on the ground, and he had been using it ever since.
“Well”, I said, “I’d like to have it back.”
He
told me that he would give it back to me after chapel was over.
I
couldn’t wait for the closing prayer to come… I wanted that pen back
immediately.
After
chapel was over, Ben gave me the pen back, and it has been with me ever since.
(Although I have since retired it from service)
I
was delighted to find what was lost.
Now,
before you think I’m certifiably insane, I want to remind you that Jesus shared
a similar story, in fact He told 3 stories about finding something that was
lost.
The
story is found for us in Luke 15, and we’ll seek to unpack this truth.
We're told that: “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners
often came to listen to Jesus teach.” (Luke
15:1, NLT2)
Tax
collectors in Jesus’ day weren’t the most popular people.
In fact they were usually
despised by their fellow man because: “they were considered traitors and because they were
often extortioners” (NIV
Com. Page 148)
No
matter where Jesus went, it seemed that lost people would come from all over to
hear him teach.
“This made the
Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with
such sinful people—even eating with them!” (Luke
15:2, NLT2)
The
Pharisees and the teachers of religious law taught that truly righteous people
would have nothing to do with the kinds of people that Jesus was hanging out
with; if you were righteous, you wouldn’t go near lost people!
Jesus
explained why He did what He did with the following story: “If a man has a
hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do?
Won’t he leave the
ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost
until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4, NLT2)
Remember,
this was in the days before Walmart; if you lost something you couldn’t run out
and get a new one, you actually had to go looking for it; so the shepherd left
the 99 in the open field and went looking for the one lost sheep.
When
the lost sheep had been found, the shepherd tweeted about a party that he was
having, because the lost had been found!
Jesus
explained this story by telling His hearers that: “There is more joy in heaven over one lost
sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are
righteous and haven’t strayed away.” (Luke 15:7, NLT2)
This
is our first glimpse into today’s take away: “God is concerned about lost people.”
Jesus
continues on by saying: “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one…”
(Luke 15:8a, NLT2)
The
one lost coin Jesus referred to here, represented a full day’s wage that had
been lost.
ILLUSTRATION- When 5 dollars goes missing
in our account, my wife is on the hunt to find it.
So when 10% of
this woman’s income goes missing, it’s a big deal!
So much so that
she turns on all the lights, gets out her Swiffer and begins searching the
entire house; “And
when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice
with me because I have found my lost coin.” (Luke
15:9, NLT2)
Another party
takes place when the lost item—this time a lost coin; representing a full day’s
wage—is found.
Jesus reminds us
again that God
is concerned for lost people, by telling us in verse 10 that: “there is joy in
the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” (Luke 15:10, NLT2)
Just
to make sure Jesus’ hearers pick up the point He’s trying to make, He told them
the story of a Father and his two sons.
The
younger son wanted his share of the inheritance, so Pops divided up his wealth between
his sons, and the younger son—we’ll call him Ernie—cashes in his coins and
heads off to the far country.
When
he finally arrives in Vegas, he is mesmerized by the glitz and glamour; so much
so that he blows through his inheritance on sex, drugs and probably rock and
roll.
After
his current reality is made known to him, a famine invades Vegas and everything
dries up; including his stomach.
Sensing
that Ernie needs to survive, he looks for Guido who owns a pig farm and gets
hired on as a pig feeder.
Even though he is surrounded by all that
bacon, he has nothing to eat..
Realizing
that he is missing out, he comes to his senses, and admits that his servants at
home have more than enough to eat, so he picks up what little he has, and heads
for home, all the while rehearsing the: “Dad, I’ve sinned royally, and I’m not worthy to be called
your son, take me back as your servant” speech.
As
Ernie is making his way home, something—more specifically Someone--- was out
looking for him.
“While he was still
a long way off, his father saw him coming.” (Luke
15:20, NLT2)
This leads me to
believe that The Father was out looking for his lost son on a regular basis,
and when he finally found him, he was:
“Filled with love
and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”
(Luke 15:20, NLT2)
After
receiving the love from his Father, Ernie began his speech: “Father, I have
sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called
your son.” (Luke 15:21, NLT2)
The
father cut Ernie off and wouldn’t let him finish, but called out for the
servant to bring his son the robe, some slippers and even a ring—signifying not
a servant but someone very important.
He
also instructed the servant to kill the fat calf because they were going to celebrate
that the lost had been found.
Again,
the obvious teaching jumps off the page: God is concerned about lost people.
God
is so concerned about lost people that He sent His Son into the world to bring
us back to Himself:
“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.
17 For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through
him.” (John 3:16-17, NIV)
Our God is a God who is
concerned about lost people.
In what could be
described as His reason for coming to planet earth, Jesus said: “the Son of Man came
to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke
19:10, NIV)
Jesus has come
into this world to find lost people. And at one time, we were like my pen:
completely lost.
But because of
God’s amazing grace, we have been found and beacuse we have been found, we are
called to GO and find lost
people.
Just before He
left this earth for heaven, Jesus said to His disciples, which includes you and
me: “Go into all
the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15, NLT2)
If God is concerned about lost
people—and He is because He sent Jesus into this world to find us—then shouldn’t we be concerned with
lost people?
We’re told in
Luke 15 that as Pops was celebrating Ernie’s “found-ness” his elder brother was
out working in the field.
As he made his
way home from work, he—we’ll call him Bert—heard a noise coming from the house
and asked his servants what was going on.
Bert was told: “Your brother is
back…and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because
of his safe return.’” (Luke 15:27,
NLT2)
At this news,
Bert became angry. He was bitter that his brother had blown his share of the
inheritance on prostitutes and was still allowed to come back home again, and
to make matters worse, a party was given in his honor!
Bert had been by
his father’s side the entire time and not once was he allowed to have an animal
for his party….
The father
gently reminded Bert that he had always had access to his father’s resources
and the need to party was
great because the lost been found.
My friends, this
is what God’s grace is all about. Grace found us when we were lost, and grace
compels us to go find others who are lost.
God is
concerned about lost people and He
wants us to partner with Him to find lost people.
What can you do?
You can 1) Pray for God to
give you a burden for lost people. They don’t have to be on the
other side of the world; they simply have to be in your backyard.
2) You can share
your story of life change with
the people in your backyard.
This doesn’t
have to be a huge theological explanation, it just needs to be: “I went from
what I was to what I am only by the grace of God”
3) You can
partner with your church leadership as we seek to wrestle with the “what can we
do to reach people for Jesus” question.
Jesus called us
to go into the world and rescue the perishing. And as His church, this is what we will try and do.
Why seek to become a
church unchurched people want to attend? (The vision)
Because God is
concerned about lost people and
the church that bears His Name exists “To Know Christ and to Make Him known” (The
mission)
The band is
going to come back, and we’re going to sing and then pray, and as we’re
singing, let’s pray for a passion for God and for our community as we focus on
Him and on finding lost people.
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