In the beginning of the Church, it was clear to them—they
knew where to go and what to do. It was
going into their world and doing the very thing Jesus told them to do. They didn’t have anywhere else to go or
anything else to do, but the One Thing Jesus told them to do. And the One Thing that they did, the one
thing that turned their world right side up, the one thing they did that
accounts for us being here this morning, is this: They Made Disciples Of Others Through Loving
Them And Sharing With Them What Jesus Had Done In Their Life! The One Thing that THE Church, EVERY Church,
and THIS Church must be is that Community of Believers who GO into the world
and DO what Jesus wants, and what Jesus wants is for the lost to know they are
loved by the Father and can have a relationship with Him!
Yet somehow, many churches today have forgotten the ONE
Thing. The ONE Thing is not about our
programs. The ONE Thing is not about our
buildings. The ONE Thing is not about
the budget. The ONE Thing is making sure
that our programs and buildings and budgets are focused on the ONLY Thing Jesus
wants us to do: Make Disciples By Showing
Them God’s Love, Sharing What God Has Done For Us, And Inviting Them Into That
Most Important Relationship Of All. And
it’s not by being a member here, or in the United Methodist Church, but
becoming The New Creation That Happens Only Through The Blood Of Jesus Christ.
Too much of what happens in many churches today is about
consumerism. We think that the church is
all about meeting our needs. Have you
ever heard anyone say, “Well, I’m not going back to that church because it’s
not meeting my needs.”? We’ve made the
church about what we want more than what Jesus wants! You can get mad at me if you want for what I
am about to say, but unless you can show me that it’s not what Jesus wants,
then I’m standing by it. The Reason We
Exist Here At This Place Is To Show The Real Love Of God To Real People In A
Way So That They Can Become A Real Disciple Of Jesus.
To be the person that God created you to become, to live the
life that Jesus died to give you, there are two steps to take and one thing to
remember:
1. Make The Commitment To Go
Into This World!
Just in case you haven’t noticed, let me tell you what this
world is like. It is a world that at
times is not very nice. Sometimes it’s
dirty and ugly. It’s a world that is
sometimes filled with a lot of pain. It’s
a world that is often dark and scary.
It’s a world that is filled with some who are living lives of quiet
desperation, who are about to be crushed beneath their worries and fears that
no one else sees in them. It is a world
that is filled with others who are not quiet about their desperation, but they
are angry and bitter. It is a world that
is unfair and sometimes unreasonable. It
is a world that is usually selfish and narrow minded. It is a world that can be torn apart by
disasters and wars. It is a world that
is filled with darkness and sin.
But it was into this same world that Jesus left heaven and
entered. Jesus Entered Into The Pain,
The Filth, The Brokenness And The Sickness Of This World. Sometimes, people came to Him wherever He was;
but Jesus didn’t wait for them to show up.
He went to them. Jesus sat and
ate with the worst sinners of that day—Tax Collectors. He reached out to everyone who was called
unclean—the prostitutes, the adulteresses, the lepers, the poor—called unclean by
those who thought themselves to be religious and godly. Anyone who had been pushed aside by the
world, Jesus reached out to them. And if
we are going to be His Disciples, then we follow his example! In order to be a Brand New You, we stop going
where we want to go and start going where Jesus goes.
2. Make The Commitment To Do
Something Only Jesus Would Do!
Do you know what Jesus is doing in our world today like it
is? He is loving every single
person. When Jesus walked this earth as
a human, He came to show a world that for some who wondered if God loves them,
and for those who felt like God didn’t love them—that God has unconditional
love for everyone! It is really clear
what Jesus wants us to do—To Love Others Like Jesus Loves Us! Jesus loves us completely, unconditionally
and sacrificially. None of us deserves
such a love. But Jesus shows us how much
God loves us at the Cross by meeting our deepest needs.
And He wants us out there showing others how much God loves
them. We love others not with our words,
but our actions. We show our love for
Jesus when we give food to the hungry, clothes to those who have little or
none, when we offer care to those who are sick or lonely, when we care for
those who are in prison. It’s not what
we talk about doing that shows our world the love of God, it is what we
actually do to help those who are among the least, the last and the lost. This is why we need to GO into our world so
that we can see who is hungry, who is hurting, who is in bondage, who is lost and
in our actions show them how much God loves them through our actions. Your world will never see how much God loves
them until they see and experience how much you love them. In order to be a Brand New You, we need to
start doing what Jesus wants done—that this world knows the Love Of God
Revealed In Jesus!
3. And Remember, Remember That
You Go And You Do Because Jesus Is With Us!
Too many are trying to operate the church with their best
efforts, as if the survival of the church depends on them, on their wisdom and
their ability—and that is just plain wrong.
If you are focused on the budget, building or programs, Jesus doesn’t promise
to be with you. When it comes to going
and doing what Jesus wants, you are never alone. He is with you. Did you hear how The Message translation puts
it? “I'll
be with you as you do this, day after day after day.” He has never asked you to go and to do
alone. In fact, He insists that you
don’t. In order to be a Brand New You,
it takes confidence, the confidence that what Jesus said to those disciples, He
really meant it and He really means it for you, too. We can’t be the Body Of Christ Unless We Have
In Us The Presence Of Christ. And You
Must Believe That It Is His Presence, And Only His Presence, That Will Make The
Difference In Our Life, And In Those Lives We Are Called To Go To, And To Love.
Our Life Purpose is to make new disciples for Jesus, by
going to them, by doing for them in love, and sharing with them all that God
has done for you. I can hear some of you
thinking, “Well, I can’t do that. I
can’t lead someone to Jesus.” What that
means is that you do not have confidence in the ONLY one who has ever promised,
and kept that promise, that He will be with you day by day by day as you do it,
even to the very end of this age.
There was a sign on door of a business that read: “Gone out of business. Didn't know what our business was.” Churches that close their doors when there
are people who are lost around them, didn’t know what their business was. To be a real disciple of Jesus, to be an
authentic Christian, to be a real church, we have to remember that our business
is all about bringing people into a relationship with Jesus—making new and more
disciples. You have to know why you are
here. Let me share with you a story I
read about the great Yogi Berra and Hank Aaron.
Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank
Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves were
playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless
chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the
Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron
came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, “Henry, you're holding
the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark.” Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next
pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at
home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, “I didn't come up here to
read.”
Hank Aaron knew why
he was there. Do you know why you are
here?
