Review

• We discussed how local outreach would make us more racially diverse and that effective ministry required us to not only examine the spiritual impact of this change but also the social impact.
• We discussed this in great detail so that we could remove any reservations you might have had about this significant change in our ministry.
• At various times over the last several months, I’ve summarized these changes—some of which were imposed on us (e.g. Covid, the sanctuary fire, the political climate).
• But other changes were ones we initiated.

This is the Way

• There’s a mantra repeated by the characters when they are doubling down on one of their core beliefs.
• They say, “This is the Way.”
• And once that’s said, it ends all debate: “This is the Way.”
• It feels imposing.
• It feels controlling.

 

• It feels like I’m overstepping my bounds.
• Because we’re used to doing what you want to do.
• We’ve gotten comfortable submitting to your preferences.
  • And we’re not alone.
    • This is an attitude that has quietly been adopted by American Christian culture over the last several decades but has spread significantly more after Covid.
    • The Covid years were of course traumatic, but during those people found a new superpower.

Our New Superpower

• • • • What was that power?
        • The power of options

• We told the movie theaters, our employers and the church:
• “You don’t control me.”
• “I’ll show up if I want to show up.”
• “And if I do show up, it better be good.

• “And if you try to check me, I’m going to check you.”
• “I’ll
• troll you,”
• block you,”
• ghost you”
• “I just won’t show up.”
• “Because I no longer need you”
• “You need me”
• So, you’d better accommodate me.

• People worship their options and churches worship the people.
• Then churches justify giving in to what people want in the name of outreach.
• There is a place for being strategic.
• We’ve been talking about—as Paul says in Corinthians: become all things to all people that we might win them.
• However, winning them means winning them over to what Christianity actually is—which is about prioritizing what Jesus wants, not what we want.

The Priority of Jesus

• Matthew 6:33 (ESV): ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
  • What’s the most important word in this statement?
    • First.
    • If you don’t understand this word, you don’t understand the rest of the verse.
    • The things that matter to Jesus must always go first.
    • Whatever else you do, whatever else you seek–what matters to Jesus always goes first.
    • That is, we figure everything else out after we’ve addressed His priorities.
    • What we’ve done is the opposite:
      • We figure out what Jesus wants after we’ve addressed our priorities.
      • He gets the leftovers, if He gets anything at all.
      • We seek first the things and then add Jesus.

 

The Reality of Human Need:

• Matthew 6:25–33 (ESV): ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
  • Look at the things He’s addressing:
    • Food, water, clothing
    • Basic human needs
    • He didn’t tell us not to seek them.
      • Of course you should seek them.
      • They are critical for your survival.
    • What He’s saying is “Don’t be anxious about them.”
      • He’s saying, “Don’t allow them to be a source of worry”
• The vast majority of people in the ancient world didn’t aspire for much more than food, water, and clothes.
• There was no practical pathway for most people to change their stations in life.
• There was no practical way to become rich, famous or powerful if you were not already born into a family with ties to those things.
• If your parents were sheepherders, you were sheepherder. Your children would be sheepherders, and their children would be sheepherders.
• There were no commercials advertising an alternative way of life.
• There was no college pathway toward a new socioeconomic status.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html):

• Physiological Needs: air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, reproduction
• Safety Needs: personal security, employment resources, health, property
• Love and Belonging: friendship, intimacy, family, sense of connection
• Esteem: respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, freedom
• Self-actualization: desire to become the most that one can be
• However, the difference between them and us is that they did not have all of the artificial influences on their minds.
• They weren’t aggravated by the constant comparisons to other people that were imposed on them through commercials, social media and the status symbols of neighbors.
• Also, back then traditional family structures were a much more reliable source of affirmation than they are today..
• they take their business elsewhere

How Jesus Responds to Our Need

Matthew 6:31–33 (ESV): ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [and you can add: “Where do I belong? Does anybody see me? Does anyone care? Do I matter”] ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [I’m not ignorant about what you need. I know all about it because I made you. I know what you need. Your needs are legitimate. But look if you really want to address those needs] ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The Kingdom is the Key to the Best Pastoral Care

• John 6:24–27 (ESV): ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
  • They are seeking Jesus, but not for the right reasons.
  • They want the human Jesus to personally respond to their material needs on their terms.
  • Jesus redirects their focus to their most basic need: Thier need for Him
    • John 6:35 (ESV): ³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
      • Living Bread
        • Jesus, the lamb
        • Like Priests

• • • John 6:53–55 (ESV): ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

The Differences Between the Crowd and the Congregation

Matthew 13:18–23 (ESV): ¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³ As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Markers of the Crowd

• John 4:34 (ESV): ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Markers of the Congregation

Principles:

• Contribution and Continuity
• Lead with the seed, not the need.
  • The Word is a seed.
  • Your contribution is a seed

5 Markers of the Congregation

Payer

• Filled with Him.
• Change the situation
• Hear from Him (He Sounds like the Word)

Bible Reading

Giving

• Giving is one of the ways that Jesus pastors you.
  • Matthew 6:21 (ESV): ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
    • God uses giving to shape your heart.
    • God doesn’t need your money, but you need to give.

Service

• Romans 12:4–8 (ESV): ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
  • Your gifts contribute to other people’s development as we gather together: Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
• Your own need for care should remind you of your responsibility toward other people’s needs:
  • Proverbs 24:10–11 (ESV): ¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. ¹¹ Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

Discipleship

• Matthew 9:35–38 (ESV): ³⁵ And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
  • Pray gives you God’s heart.
  • While you’re praying for laborers, you become a laborer.
  • God’s sending you.