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Company's
Coming - Did We Invite Them?
Did we invite them? That is our task and responsibility! Mission and outreach do not originate with us - they have their origins in the heart of God. It was God's loving concern for lost humanity that led God to send his only son Jesus Christ to suffer and die and rise so that the human race could be restored. Methods, language, and music have changed and will change, but the basic mission of the church never changes: Go make disciples and love your neighbor! Dietrick Bonhoeffer writing from a Nazi prison in 1944 stated: "The church is the church only when it exists for others..." There is a natural progression from more blessing to the need for more supernatural power. Jesus gave us the great commission in Matthew 28: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." God bestowed on us both an incredible blessing and an impossible task. One that we cannot do alone. We need God's spirit to help us. Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church writes in The Purpose Driven Church: "The Bible clearly teaches that God has given us a critical role to play in accomplishing His will on earth. Church growth is a partnership between God and man. Churches grow by the power of God through the skilled effort of people. Both elements, God's power and man's skilled effort, must be present." Church growth is a partnership between God and us! We tap into God's power through prayer. We do our part of the partnership when we listen to the needs of others, share our faith story, give concrete help in the Name of Jesus, and invite others to worship with us. If we do our part, God will certainly do his part. Do you think that there is anything that God cannot accomplish through men, women and children of faith who are willing to trust God to do big things? If we act and think and ask for small things, small things are the best we can hope for! Listen to what St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20: "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine..." Bruce Wilkinson wrote: "When you take little steps, you don't need God. It's when you thrust yourself in the mainstream of God's plans for this world - which are beyond our ability to accomplish - and plead with Him, Lord, use me - give me more ministry for You! - that you release miracles. At that moment, heaven sends angels, resources, strength, and the people you need. So, it is time for us to step out in faith in prayer, and in action, and in inviting! Ask God to do great things through you! Trust God to do great things through you! If we want to walk on water, we have to be willing to get out of the boat! Friends bring friends. We see it in the Bible. Philip brought Nathaniel. Andrew brought his brother Peter. The Samaritan woman at the well went and told all her friends and neighbors... "Come and see the man who has told me everything I have ever done! Could he be the Messiah?" Todd Hahn, a Christian leader who has a developed a church that serves the post modern generation says "Post modern people crave relationships and will gravitate to places and people where authentic relationships are being created." Are we building authentic relationships? An authentic relationship is one that does not have an ulterior motive. It is not a means to an end; it is an end in itself. People and young people in particular are tired of being used and are rightly suspicious of all relationships that seem to have a hidden agenda. People want to be wanted and need to be wanted and loved for who they are not for just what they may give or bring or do. Jesus never used people and the church must not either! For my birthday, Carol and I went to see The Majestic. It is a great movie. I loved it and I keep telling everyone they should go see it. Can we be that excited about our faith? Can we be that positive about the church? Can we be that intentional in telling others that church really helps me, you should try it? Jesus' friends bring strangers. Jesus reached out to the marginalized - public sinners, people possessed by demons, those disabled by disease, the poor, the powerless, the lepers, the blind and the lame. It is our task to do the same. Walt Kallestad, pastor of Community Church of Joy in Phoenix writes in Turn Your Church Inside Out: "It is time for churches everywhere to see things as Jesus of Nazareth saw them. That is to say, it is time for the people of God to become a radically inclusive community. Story after story in the written Gospels makes it clear that in Jesus' mind all are invited to sit at God's table. There are no outsiders for Jesus. All are included. All are invited." The socially unacceptable seemed to be quite acceptable to Jesus - are they to us? In our text from Luke 14 Jesus said: "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind." And then in Jesus' parable, many made excuses and so the master instructed: "Go as fast as you can to every street and alley in town! Bring in everyone who is poor or crippled or blind or lame...Go out along the back roads and fence rows and make people come in, so that my house will be full." What are we doing to invite others to the feast of Jesus? What are we doing and where are we going so that Jesus' house may be full? There are many invisible people we encounter every day - the mail carrier, the UPS delivery person, the bank teller, the person at the fast food counter, the food server, the grocery check out person. Can we take time to dialogue with them and listen to their needs and maybe even invite them to worship with us? We are no longer a churched culture. 75% of America is unchurched! Today there are millions of people who have grown up knowing nothing about the Christian faith and faith practices. Mission and growth require intentionality. Too often we have had a Little Bo Peep Mentality: "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep And doesn't know where to find them. Leave them alone and they'll come home Wagging their tails behind them." Or we have taken our attitude from Field of Dreams: "If we build it, they will come." Just sitting here on the corner does not bring people to God and his kingdom. We need to change our attitude. We can't just leave them alone and hope they will come home. We need to pray and we need to invite. On average it takes seven invitations to church before someone comes for the first time. So, keep inviting. Keep asking. Keep praying. Jesus is not standing at the church door to get in, he is knocking at the door to invite us to come out and invite others in. Who is in your network that does not actively participate in the church? Family Friends Co-workers Neighbors Acquaintances Will you invite them? If not you, who? If not now, when? It is my hope and prayer that someday is will be said that prayer and evangelism are at the heart of Faith Lutheran Church. My question for you is - how soon will that be said? Amen. |
