"The Righteous Life - God's Gift"

Scripture: James 1:16-28

This morning, we begin a 5 week series from James regarding the Lord’s call to live a righteous life. So, you may be wondering, what exactly is a righteous life? Is it as simple as being good? Or does it require that we adhere to every single one of the commandments that we find in Scripture? Or is it something completely different than either of these? What does scripture tell us about righteousness?
In Matthew 25:34-46, Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the destitute, to care for the sick, and to visit the prisoner, and those who do this, he refers to as the “righteous”. And when we don’t respond to this call, he says that we will go to eternal punishment. Not an especially good alternative!
In Luke 1:5-7, we are told that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both “righteous” in the sight of God, because they lived blamelessly in accordance with the Lord’s commandments.
And in Mark 2:15-17, Jesus says that he has come to call sinners, and not the righteous.

But aren’t we all sinners and unworthy to stand in the holy presence of God? Yes! And since we are sinners, by Jesus’ own words, we cannot be righteous - right? Absolutely! But by faith in Jesus Christ, we become worthy, and we become righteous by faith in his righteousness. So it would appear that we are righteous, not by following the Law, not by being “good”, but by following Jesus and doing all that he teaches us.

It appears that righteousness is not quite the same as perfection (thank you Jesus!), but it does require that we live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, following his example and adhering to his word. So with that as our basis, let’s see what James would tell us about the righteous life.

Read James 1:16-18

God has given us free will, or the opportunity to choose between the many options that we are confronted with every day. This, however, is not to imply that all of the choices we make have equal weight or equal “rightness”, but that we have the responsibility of choosing between God’s way and the ways of earth. Our human tendency will always be to choose the easiest and most pleasurable way, but this will not, invariably, be God’s way.
James tells us that the Father is unchanging, so his ways will always be the same throughout the ages. So if the Lord is unchanging, what do you think that means for our future as sinners? God may be unchanging, but he is still the God of change - for us. He will help us change from sinfulness to righteousness.

The last verse in this section gives us several words to help us understand this calling.
First, James writes that we receive “birth” through the “word of truth”. This birth is the second birth, or new birth that comes when we are “born again” (John 3:1-8), it is the birth that comes by faith in Christ Jesus who is the Word of Truth. This is fairly easy to grasp, but James doesn’t stop there.
The second part of his thought is that this new birth is offered so that we might become “First Fruits” for all of creation. “First Fruits” is the offering that is made in gratitude for all that the Lord has given us, as well as all that is yet to come. For us, the first fruit is our tithe, which comes right off the top of all we have received - our finances, or our time, or our abilities – we are to tithe on all that the Lord has given. First Fruits, therefore, become the representative for all the rest, or to put it another way, the faithful, the righteous, are the celebration of God’s goodness.

So, perhaps the first aspect of righteousness is that, by faith in Jesus, we become representatives for the rest of creation, as we stand before the throne of God.

Read James 1:19-21

Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Some folks, ones that you may even know, tend to speak a lot faster than they listen, if you know what I mean! And their anger can crop up at a moment’s notice! James would have us know that these are not the attributes of a righteous person, and he also says that we are to rid ourselves of all the rest of our immoral acts and all that they can bring about in our lives.
In Matthew 15:16-20, the Lord gives us an interesting list of things that come from an “unclean”, or immoral, heart. His list includes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. If these acts sound familiar, they should, because this is a listing, slightly reworded, of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
And when we rid ourselves of this spiritual filth, we begin to have space to begin accepting God’s word for our lives. Now it is interesting that James doesn’t say that we are to “receive” God’s word – he actually writes “accept the word planted in you”. God’s word already exists in us, and we only have to accept it, and study it, and begin living it to gain the righteous nature.

Read James 1:22-25

Don’t just listen to the word of God – do what it says! This is, we will see, the theme of James entire letter – that we aren’t to simply know God’s will, but that we must begin living it every day. Otherwise, he tells us, we will be deceiving, not God, but ourselves.
I suspect that there are even a number of folks in the Church today who read their Bible daily, and have done so for years, but for some reason, have decided that certain teachings of Jesus don’t make a lot of sense to them, that they don’t quite fit with their lifestyle, so they have chosen to ignore them. The Word of God in Christ Jesus is before them, but they choose to “deceive” themselves by deciding that it must be incorrect teaching.

This attitude is why people outside the church believe that we are all “hypocrites” – that we are “two faced”! We espouse belief in Jesus Christ, and yet we don’t live the life that he calls us to live. And I hate to say it, but they are right! But the flesh changes slowly, and even though we may desire to be a true follower of Jesus, it takes time, it takes a tremendous effort, to become that kind of person.
But we keep on trying, we stay the course, we persevere, and by the grace of God, one day we will succeed in putting all of those “unclean” things behind us.

Read James 1:26-27

And our brother James isn’t done yet! Now it’s the words we speak that get us into trouble! But I guess that this goes right along with the previous call to “Speak slowly and listen much faster”! And we all have to admit that he is right – how many times do hurtful words spring out of our mouths before we consider the impact that they may have on someone else?
And still we consider ourselves to be “religious”! But the question isn’t whether we think we are faithful or not – it’s what God knows about us!

The righteous life can only have one definition, my friends, and it isn’t ours. God is the example of righteousness in all that he has done, all that he has taught, all that he has given.
Our High and Exalted God became a humble servant for the lowly. And so must we.
He surrendered all glory for himself so he could bring glory to those who could never attain it on their own. And so must we.
He suffered humiliation, and personal attacks, and betrayal and denial from not only his oppressors, but also from his closest friends, so that we might be comforted when we are persecuted. And so must we.
He was accused and convicted and executed as the most vile of all criminals, so that true criminals might find forgiveness. And so must we.
And he accepted our sin and the rightful punishment for it, so that we might have eternal life with him instead of eternal death in solitary confinement.
And you may have noticed that it is all about what God has done for us, and not what we have earned or deserve.

The righteous life isn’t an easy one to live. It’s work! It’s hard work! It requires a commitment beyond anything we have ever known! But as we will read next week, faith without Godly work is just as dead as good works is without faith. These next few weeks will challenge us in all that we live and all that we do, that we might live a life that not only goes against every human instinct, but is the very one that we all must desire to live if we are to bring glory to God.

"The Confusion"

Scripture: John 6:60-69

This is our third week of looking at Jesus’ teaching regarding his flesh and blood. It was both, the most difficult to receive, and the most important to claim. And today is no different. People have always had a problem with our call to “eat his flesh” and “drink his blood”! (John 6:53) But the basic problem that has always plagued humanity is that we hear the words, and want to take them literally. But Jesus never meant them in that way. Even if it was God’s body that we were to consume, He never taught that cannibalism would ever gain us a single thing.
The Lord was speaking in a spiritual sense. He had taught that he is “the Bread of Life”, that he is “the Living Water”, and that these two basic necessities of life are replicated in him. While physical bread and water provide the basic needs of nourishment for this life, His offering provides the sustenance for eternal life.
And when we hear that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, this, too, cannot be taken literally, and it cannot be taken out of context. We need to relate these words to the ones he would speak at the Last Supper, when he used the same analogy, but in relation to the bread and wine that were such an integral part of the Seder meal. Seder was the central focus of the Passover celebration – when the angel of death passed over Israel, but claimed only the first born males of Egypt. The blood of the Passover lamb symbolized the Blood that the Lord would, one day, shed for all.

Jesus is not the angel of death – he is the Angel of Life. And he has given us a new way to celebrate his gift of life – through the Eucharist, or service of Thanksgiving, or as we know it, Holy Communion.

But people still struggle with this concept, and even his own followers of that day found the teaching to be nearly impossible.

Read John 6:60-63

And even his followers begin “grumbling” about the teaching. Jesus makes reference to his future ascension, and asks if that would make any more sense to them, or if that would make his teaching any more palatable! The point he was making, I believe, is that there is little about Jesus that will ever make any sense to us, and even less that can help to make sense of it. But sense and reason and intellect isn’t what the Lord is all about - faith, acceptance of his overriding message, that is all that is required.

But many who heard the Lord’s words that day just couldn’t accept them. So he takes the message up a step. He actually tells them that this is all about spiritual life, and that human life, or human flesh, has nothing to do with eternity! So let’s think about this for a minute. In John 14:1-4, Jesus tells us that he is preparing a place for us, and when all is ready, he will return and will take us to be with him. He doesn’t say that we have to help build that place, or that we are to meet him there – Jesus is doing it all.
The flesh, as we understand it, has nothing to do with it – it counts for nothing – it is worthless when it comes to salvation! This is about spiritual food, and the people, then and now and every age in between, haven’t gotten it.

Read John 6:64-65

I suspect that you are wondering why Jesus had to make this so hard to comprehend. He knew that many would be confused and would be unable to make the connection between his words and the concept that he was presenting to them. He knew that, but God wants us to believe without a complete understanding. He wants us to study his word; he wants us to delve into the entirety of scripture; he wants us meditate and ponder and accept the truth of all that he teaches and preaches without it being a simple matter of fact for us.
He wants us to be “all in” for him - and half-heartedness, and fence straddling, and waiting until we have a good grasp of all that God is, will not work.

He also tell us that no one will understand unless the Father clears the way first. Once again, human wisdom just won’t cut it! And God wants each and every person to be open to his ways before we are exposed to his ways. Now this also may not make much sense – after all, don’t we spend our entire life in the study and learning of various concepts so that we can comprehend the larger issues of life? God, on the other hand, wants us to be accepting of him and his ways, regardless of whether we understand them of not! In Isaiah 55:8-9, we read “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” In other words, we will never come to understand God without his help, and that help can only come after we express our commitment to him.

Read John 6:66-69

And many disciples could not, or would not, open their hearts and minds to this teaching, and they turned their backs on Christ. It wasn’t only Judas who would betray the Lord - those who turn away from Jesus are also betraying his offer of eternal life. And many leave the presence of Glory and Life.

And as the ranks of the faithful begin to thin out, Jesus doesn’t give those who remain any slack. He looks right at them and puts them on the spot – “How about you – don’t you want to leave, too?” In essence, he is asking them if they still believe in him! And Peter responds for them all with words that are reminiscent of the accounts from Caesarea Philippi. (Matthew 16:13-20) Jesus had asked them “Who do you say I am?”, and Peter replied “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”
In John’s gospel, which doesn’t have an account of Philippi, Peter takes another powerful stand, beginning with “Where else could we possibly go?” He is saying that there is no one else who can truly offer the promises that Jesus holds out. Jesus offers eternal life for all who will claim him as the Bread of Heaven and the Living Water for their life. He is confident that Jesus is who he says he is – the Holy One of God!

Were the 12 scratching their head over the teaching on flesh and blood? Very possibly! Our human nature wants to understand what is being taught, and Peter and John and the others were no exception. But the difference was that they believed and trusted, whether they understood or not! Understanding can always come later, but faith can never wait! Understanding can fill us after Jesus returns to claim his Church, but faith must be in place before that time arrives.

Of course, the greatest question of all is why would God do this? Why would Jesus willingly leave his glory to come to a place that he knew was filled with sin? Why would he spend, not a day or two, but thirty three years of experiencing our lives, and seeing our brokenness, and loving us in spite of all that we do? Why would the Father allow his Son to be treated so badly – to be denied; to be ridiculed; to be served, not by the angels in heaven, but by sinful humans; to be betrayed by the very ones he loved so much; to be beaten unjustly; and to be executed as a common criminal? Why would God take on our sin and subject himself to our death and darkness because of it?
I’m not sure that there is any good answer to this, except that the Lord loves us so much that he would never leave us in our own condemnation without giving us a chance to escape from it and live with him in eternity! We stand condemned – there is no question of that! But by the blood of Jesus we are made worthy, and by his broken flesh we are healed.

Are you still waiting to understand all of this before you believe? Before you give your life to Christ? Jesus tells us that it doesn’t work that way! In his Great Commission to the Church, we are told to first, make disciples – to encourage others to begin following Christ, and only then to begin to teach and grow them in the ways of God.

First follow, and only later, begin to understand. Are you a follower of Jesus? Are you one of his committed disciples? If not, why not today?

“The Controversy”

Scripture: John 6:51-59

Last week, we read of Jesus’ pronouncement that he is the true manna of heaven, the “bread” that brings us life eternal. He was comparing himself to the manna that fed and sustained Israel for 40 years of wilderness living, and while that manna had to be gathered every day for its nourishment, the Bread of Life is received once and sustains forever. The manna of the wilderness could only sustain and nourish day by day, and even though it was God-given, every one of the people would eventually die. But this Manna would nourish and sustain through eternity.

It was a holy and blessed promise, but nonetheless, the people questioned it, and misunderstood it, and were turned off, especially by last week’s ending verse – “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (v. 51) So that is exactly where we will begin this week.

Read John 6:51-52

Scholars have debated the significance of these two verses for a long time. Some believe that they were inserted by an unknown editor in a future time, in order to bring a sense of the sacraments into John’s work; others state that only Protestants find these words strange – that Roman Catholics, in their appreciation and understanding of the concept of transubstantiation, are the only ones who can understand; and others state that these are truly John’s words, and even though this gospel is generally devoid of sacramental theology, this is his understanding of what Jesus would be teaching theologically regarding the significance of the Last Supper.
There is no simple solution to the controversy, and I expect that it will never be completely satisfied, but regardless, we can take this to be a spiritual statement regarding the life-giving gift of Jesus to all who believe.

But for Israel of 2,000 years ago, eating human flesh was not only disgusting, it was actually a divine curse (Leviticus 26:27-33). And consuming blood – any blood – was just as bad, and maybe even worse. It was believed that life resided in the blood, and to drink blood symbolized the taking of life away from another, and using for your own purposes. (Leviticus 17:10-14) And not only was the very thought of eating a man’s flesh appalling, the idea that anyone would carve off a portion of his body to give to another was unthinkable!

In the societal context of that day, and, quite honestly, that of today, too (!), the eating of human flesh and the drinking of blood was nothing short of pagan ritual at its finest. The Jews were right to be indignant, at least in a worldly understanding of Jesus’ words.

Of course, the physical act wasn’t what Jesus was calling them to be about. He was speaking metaphorically, he was speaking of a spiritual feeding.

Read John 6:53-56

Remember our discussion a few moments ago that the blood was believed to contain the “life presence” of an individual or animal? In this context, consider Jesus’ words in verse 53 - “I tell you the truth, unless you eat [my] flesh … and drink [my] blood, you have no life in you.” Blood and flesh were soundly based in “life” concept, and the Lord is telling us that any life outside of him is no life at all. Still, to equate this to a gift was still quite a stretch for the people.
And Israel had little or no understanding of the Holy Spirit as yet, and therefore if, instead of “flesh and blood”, Jesus had said “The Holy Spirit will bring new and eternal life to your worldly bodies by faith in me”, it would have made even less sense to them! The time had yet to come when the Lord would teach about the Spirit, and that this new Advocate would only come after he had left the earth.

And as if the issue of “flesh and blood” weren’t bad enough, verse 54 caused even more conflict. The idea of resurrection and eternal life was prevalent in teaching by the Pharisees, but for the Sadducees, it was not a recognized concept. This was just one more divisive statement for Jesus, but then, what else is new?

And that last verse – if we eat and drink in him, we can remain with him – just added more strangeness to the equation. We are always being separated from each other by something - travel, work, family, and especially death, so this doesn’t make any sense, either. How in the world can anyone remain with Jesus forever? The practicality of life says that this is impossible – that it is ridiculous!

Read John 6:57-59

Jesus had been teaching about “Father God”, and most had figured out that the Lord was really talking about “Jehovah”, except that Father implied that there were at least two others involved – a mother and a child. But that was a minor point for discussion when compared to the rest of this lesson!
And the fact that Jesus had been sent by the Father was not a big issue, either. After all, Jehovah God had sent many prophets to the people, and more were coming all the time. But he throws in this concept of life one more time, and now God-given life is not only for him, but for us, too. But wasn’t life evident in us simply because we exist? Oh sure, God breathed life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), but that was it – wasn’t it?

Are you following all this? Are you beginning to understand why Israel had such a difficult time in accepting Jesus as the Son of God and the Son of Man? We’ve had 2,000 years to study and digest and discuss and debate, trying to get to the essence of all that Jesus taught, and we still struggle with the words of Jesus. But Israel was getting it fresh, with no explanation and no concept of what these strange words were all about! No wonder they thought that Jesus was crazy!

The Lord’s teachings have always been controversial, but this is some of the hardest teaching that he ever offered. Sometimes the newness of his lessons brought others to him. It surprised people, it made them think in a new way, it went against the status quo (which some folks liked!), and it was always in such an authoritative way that no one could ignore it. (Matthew 7:28-29, 9:8) But most of the people just couldn’t get past the fact that Jesus taught counter to the Law of Moses, and this set them against him right from the start. And some things never change.

All of the created order – regardless of its form – does not change gracefully. Valleys and volcanic islands grow and recede in violence. Plant and animal life dies and putrefies and takes on a horrendous odor. Have you ever thought about the child’s pain in receiving new teeth? And the labor associated with child birth! And school – the learning and relearning of facts and processes – this, too, can be a major struggle for us. And have you read Revelation recently? The end times are going to be more violent and abrupt than anything we have ever known!
We aren’t comfortable with change; we don’t like change; we have a terrible time in accepting change. But change is exactly what Jesus has always been about. Unfortunately, our brand of learning and relearning isn’t always done in God’s way. We rationalize based on what we already know, which isn’t always reality. But God’s change, God’s correction, God’s newness is always right, is always true, and it can always be trusted.

Jesus offers us God’s truth, and while we want the Lord’s way to fit nicely into our way of thinking, it seldom, if ever, does. The fact is that in John 14:6, Jesus sets the standard for the world – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And whether we like his way or not, it’s the only Way of God.

Seek the truth of Jesus’ words, and not just the surface appearance of them. And when we do, Jesus’ call on our life becomes much clearer. (Matthew 7:7-8) But some will always stumble over the literal sense of his teaching, and next week, we will see where those footsteps lead us.

“The Promise”

Scripture: John 6:35-51

It amazes me that for the three and a half years that Jesus walked this earth that so few people believed him! Have you ever thought about that? Here is God – walking among us, teaching, preaching, healing, raising people from the dead, having an incredible effect on the lives of so many - amazing most of them - and still, doubts were far more prevalent than was belief. Why couldn’t Israel accept Jesus for who he really was?

I have a theory that I’m going to offer - it might be right, or it might be completely off track, but regardless, here it is – the people had trouble believing because of his humanity. In physical appearance, he was too much like us, and that was not what Messiah was supposed to be. In attitude, he was, for all practical purposes, too humble – Messiah was supposed to be powerful and majestic. And his voice? It wasn’t much different than yours and mine – it didn’t boom, it didn’t pierce, it didn’t astound. Jesus, in appearance, was plain and ordinary, and he could blend in easily with any crowd – there was nothing physically special about him.
But when he taught, when he touched, when he stooped to help, he was unlike anyone else in all the world. He spoke with authority. His touch was pure power. His demeanor was elegance. His teaching was to the point – maybe too much to the point for most folks! And yet, most could only see what he did for them, and they totally missed all that he was offering to them.

Jesus was an enigma, and very few would ever figure him out.

Read John 6:35-40

It was those first two sentences that threw everybody. They heard “I am the Bread of Life.” They heard that Jesus will keep them from ever being hungry or thirsty again! And when their minds centered on these strange words and tried to figure them out, they never heard the rest of the salvation message that he offered to them.
‘You have seen me, and still you do not believe.” How do we imagine Jesus looked in those days? What do we think he would look like if he walked in our front door this morning? Would we know him? Probably not! At least not until he began to speak, offering some teaching that was completely new to us! Some would understand and accept it, but I’m afraid that most of us would miss his point. It wouldn’t fit! HE wouldn’t fit! And we would completely miss the reason that brought him into our lives.
Jesus wants us to focus on what we see in him, and not just on what he may look like. When we see him at work in our lives, when we see him in faith in our hearts, when we feel his touch on our wounds and hurts and failures, these are the times that we come to know who he really is. But will we miss that, too?

Jesus’ message today is the same as it was 2,000 years ago – it hasn’t changed one bit, even though some folks want it to. He has come to us from heaven, and the desires and motivation and the will to share all that has come to him is intended solely to bring glory to the Father. And the only response that we need to make is complete and trusting faith in him. And when we do, the Father will promise eternal life to us. That’s the message – not a single thing that is new.

The problem, though, is that he would probably begin with a few words that would stretch the faith in all of us, possibly even to the breaking point. Maybe he would look straight into our eyes and tells us that we have failed him – that we are too hung up on the things we do and say, and don’t love him nearly enough, and that unless something changes, we may fall far short.
After hearing that, would we be able to focus on the rest of his words for us?

Read John 6:41-42

Would we respond any differently? They had known Jesus from the time he was a baby. They knew his parents. They had seen him grow up. They knew his brothers and sisters. He was the same Jesus who had grown up in the sixth house past the synagogue. They may even own a table or chair that he had built! He’s one of us, so how could he be Messiah God?
We have the teachings of Jesus, we have the teachings of Israel, and all we have to do is study them, and discuss them, and seek to understand them, if we truly want to come to grips with the full significance of his life for us.

In 2004, Mel Gibson wrote and directed a movie called “The Passion of the Christ”. Remember that? It was a powerful depiction of the two days that led up to Jesus’ crucifixion, and it was a huge box office success. The problem with the movie was that it was extremely graphic, and the brutality and violence that it depicted turned a lot of people off. Did it go too far? Did it go beyond the reality of Jesus’ beating and execution? No – if anything, it may have been softened a bit. But even in our violence prone world, we didn’t want to see this thing lifted up on the “big screen”. And many totally missed the message of salvation that was portrayed.
It’s all about where we focus our lives.

Read John 6:43-51

We may not see Jesus with clear eyes, but he knows everything about you and me – and that includes our doubts and our fears and our failures and every attack that we have made against someone else. But this will never deter him – he tells the people that they can only believe in him if the Father has called them, and that can only happen when we listed to him and receive Godly wisdom from him.
If we only listen to those first few words – that “No one can come to [Jesus] unless the Father … draws him”, we will begin to believe that God has predestined that some will be called, and others will not. But when we see the next words – that if we listen and learn from God, that it is then that we will be called – we discover that it is dependent on our receptiveness to his word, and not on the Lord’s judgmental hand!

Jesus even offers us a reason as to why we should believe in him – that no one has seen the Father except for the one who the Father has sent to the people of earth! That’s Jesus! And he then goes on to offer the divine promise that is made to the people – that if they believe that Jesus is the One who has been sent from God, they will receive eternal life.

And he even explains the comparison that he has made between himself and life-giving bread. He uses a bit of Israel’s history to explain the meaning of “Bread of Life”. Manna was the life-giving bread from heaven while they were wandering in the desert. They refused to trust God, they refused to honor God, they proved their doubt of God over and over, they were completely unworthy to receive anything from God – and still the Lord sustained their lives through it all.
Jesus tells us that while it was physical manna that sustained the people in their wandering, it is his “Spiritual” manna that will sustain us for eternity. The people had to believe that the manna would nourish them, and then they had to go out every day to gather it in. And we, too, have to believe that Jesus is our Bread of Eternal Life, and we have to be welcoming of him in our lives, every moment of every day.

The people had to gather and eat the manna every day if they were to live, and we, too, must consume this spiritual manna throughout our lives, if we are to be nourished in God’s sight. The manna came from heaven, and so does our Bread of Life. The manna had to be chewed and swallowed if it was to do them any good, and the spiritual manna, representing the sacrifice that Jesus made for us at Calvary, also had to be offered and broken and accepted if it is to do us any good.

Today, we receive the elements of communion in the form of bread and juice.

When we receive the bread, know that this represents the Jesus Manna that sustains us both now and through eternity, and is a sign from God that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and made worthy to receive his gift of salvation.
When we receive the juice and hear that this is the “cup of a new covenant”, remember that the Blood of Jesus, given in humility and sacrifice at Calvary, represents the promise of a relationship that is eternal, but one that can only come by faith in him.

Jesus offered this promise 2,000 years ago, and we are still trying to come to grips with the depth of its meaning. And, quite honestly, we keep trying to make it too difficult! Just remember verse 40:

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and [they] will be raised up at the last day”. That is the promise of Jesus – it is sure, it is trustworthy, and it is offered to you.

Accept his promise, and you will live.
Refuse it, and you can’t.

“The Mission”

Scripture: Matthew 10:5-15

During the past few weeks, I’ve been preparing for my last seminary course – “Mission”. The reading has been especially interesting, even though one of the books was pretty heavy and needed a lot of focus and attention. But all in all, I think that this will be one of the more interesting and relevant classes that I’ve taken. It has also challenged me to share much of what I have been learning with all of you, and just to give you an inkling of what that may entail, here is a passage that has come to mind, and one that I will be basing one of my papers on – John 20:21 – “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Jesus had to leave his home in glory to reach out to us, and in like manner, we must leave our comfort zones if we are to reach out to this lost and hurting world that is all around us.

Mission, as I have mentioned a few times before, is the effort that extends us beyond the 4 walls of the church in order to carry out the call that Jesus places on our lives. Perhaps “outreach” is a more familiar term, but they both mean the same thing. They represent and define the true task of the church, as evidenced in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. Mission includes all of those things that the Lord has told his Church to be about, and not only occurs in faraway places, but just as importantly, in our neighborhoods and community, and even in our families.

Our series on healing has been a part of that mission, but we are never to keep it to ourselves – we are to carry that sense of healing out to the lives of others. But in truth, there is so much more than just this.

Read Matthew 10:5-8

Jesus’ first call to mission isn’t to some other place – it is to the disciples’ home towns, to their own nation, to their own people. That’s where we all start. And notice that he doesn’t send them to the faithful of Israel – it’s to the “lost” of Israel, the same people who Jesus reached out to. The 12 are to do the same things that Jesus did for them, and without actually saying it, to experience the same rejection and persecution that he did. Be careful, though, that you don’t think that Christ’s followers are never to go to these other people – it’s just that to begin with, they are to go to familiar places and familiar faces.

Jesus even gives them the core message that they are to preach – that “The kingdom of heaven is near.” Did the 12 understand what Jesus was saying to them? Do we understand what this message is all about? Was his reference to “near” about time, or proximity? Was it his nearness that they are to preach, or the fact that little time was left to prepare for eternity? And what is the implication that “the kingdom of heaven is near”? The possibilities are endless, and sometime in the days to come, we just may delve into a discussion of these, but for now, we’ll simply recognize that Jesus is giving his followers direction and guidance and training for the next phase of their lives in him.
He even gives them assignments to carry out when they do reach out in his name. And it’s quite a list, isn’t it? Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse them of leprosy, and drive out demons. Preach, heal, give life, free them from evil – in essence, do all the things that they had seen Jesus do!
The Lord doesn’t expect, or even want, us to make up things to do on our own. He wants to guide us, to shape us, to prepare us for each step we take in faith, and if we branch out on our own, that’s when we get in trouble. We need to either stay or go just as the Lord tells us – no closer, no further, no sooner, no later.
And what are we to gain from all that we do? “Freely you have received, so freely give.” What have the gifts of God cost us? Absolutely nothing, so that is exactly what we must expect from others when we carry the message and gifts of Jesus to the world. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there is no reward at all for service in the name of Jesus – it’s just that any meaningful reward will also come from God. Our God is Jehovah Jireh – which means “God provides”. And he does!

Read Matthew 10:9-13

But there are things that we need in life – food, clothing, shelter, warmth – shouldn’t we make provision for these things? Apparently not! The Lord’s people, at his direction, will care for these things, too. This is the concept that missionaries and mission-minded people have labored under for 2,000 years – that their contribution to the ministry and mission of Christ will be supported by others who work in partnership with them. Even Israel, during their time of wilderness, had to solely depend on God to provide them with the necessities of life. In 40 + years of wandering, their clothing and footwear never wore out; drinking water came out of solid rock; food was provided every morning and every evening (except on Sabbath. Every day fresh blessings would come to the people, and so it will for all who step out in the name of Jesus.

Jesus tells his disciples that when they enter a town, they are to look for a person who is worthy of their presence. He doesn’t say “who is willing” to help you – it is those who are worthy of them. This tends to put servants of the Lord in a very special class of people – at least in the eyes of the Lord! And how do we know if a person is worthy of helping us? We offer a “greeting” – a blessing, if you will - upon the town, the home, and those who live there, and if we receive a sense of peace from it, we stay. If not, we move on.

Read Matthew 10:14-15

And if a person, a home, a community is not welcoming of you and the message of hope that you carry, move on. “Shake the dust from your feet”. In other words, take nothing of this place or people with you – not even the dust from their road. They aren’t worthy of you, and nothing about them is of any worth to you. This may seem a bit drastic – after all, isn’t all of God’s creation worthy? Yes, of course, but humanity has one gift that the rest of the earth does not – we can choose to live in that worthiness, or to reject it. And when the people of God are rejected, that’s the same as denying the Lord. Shake their dust off and leave it behind. Don’t waste your time on them - just move on to the next opportunity. You may, one day, be called back to them, but for now, no.

This is what mission is, basically, all about. There is much more, of course, as evidenced in Matthew 25:35-36, and in Matthew 28:18-20, but it all comes down to the basic lesson before us in today’s text – go and do exactly what the Lord says, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and do no more, and no less, than that. Nothing more is necessary, nothing more is asked of us, nothing more is expected.

And today, he asks us if we are weary, or burdened, or struggling, or suffering – if so, he wants to bring rest and renewal and freshness into our lives. And when you come forward to seek his blessing, remember the lessons that we learned from the woman who was bleeding, and the paralytic and his friends, and the 10th Leper, and Bartimaeus. Come in their example; come in faith.

At this point in our services, a healing service was held.