Inward Or Outward Focused?

Our message this morning is entitled, “Inward or Outward Focused?” How many of you have heard of churches being either inward focused or outward focused? I am sure some of you have encountered this idea at some point in your Christian walk. Leith Anderson, the pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota says, “Organizational vision goes in one of two directions – either inward or outward. An organization’s first priority is either serving itself or serving others.”(1)

When Anderson speaks of organizations he is referring to churches, and churches will usually exhibit one of two characteristics – they are either self-serving (inward focused), or they seek to serve others (outward focused). Jesus told us in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus set an example for us to follow when he made this statement, and I believe we realize that it is our responsibility as individuals, and as a church, to serve others before we serve ourselves.

The passage of Scripture that we are going to examine this morning shows us the results of being either inward focused or outward focused. We are able to see the consequences of turning inward, versus the joy of looking outward and stepping in faith. So, let’s begin learning some of the characteristics of these two types of churches; and as we go along, begin asking yourselves what type of church we are, and what type of church do we want to become.

If We Turn Inward, We Will Die (vv. 3-4)

3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”

We find here four lepers who were hungry and searching for food. How did they and the rest of the people in the city arrive at this point of famine? The answer is that King Ben-hadad of Syria attacked King Jehoram and the city of Samaria in Israel, and with no way of escape the Israelites were placed under siege by the Syrian army. Since they were placed under siege and could not leave the city for food, they were forced into a situation of starvation. The only way out would have been for them to fight, and this would have required an extreme amount of faith in God’s power to deliver them.

Now, as I said in my introduction there are consequences to turning inward. The consequence for the Israelites’ refusal to fight back was horrible starvation. The starvation was so bad, that we read back in chapter 6, verse 25 of how the people were willing to eat dove droppings, and in verse 29 we see that some of the people began turning on each other and resorting to cannibalism. As the four lepers found out, when they talked about turning inward into the city, they would die. If they sat still and did nothing they would die as well. Sitting still and doing nothing, or turning inward will result in death.

The exact same thing will happen to churches that refuse to reach out to others and that turn inward, or that sit still and become complacent right where they are. People begin to starve in a spiritual sense, and when things are not going right they turn on one another – churches die. Deborah E. Bass wrote,

Somewhere along the way, many churches forget about their call to exist for nonmembers [or those outside the church walls]. They begin focusing their activities, concerns, and ministries inward. Pastors begin functioning as chaplains or caretakers of self-contained congregations. Members want more of their pastors’ attention focused on the pews and less on [those outside]. As inward-looking Christians, they lose their way. They cease to bear fruit and they begin to wither on the vine.(2)

And what happens whenever we wither on the vine long enough and don’t bear fruit? In John 15:6 Jesus stated, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” Ceasing to reach out to those outside the church walls, or ceasing to bear fruit results in death, and this is what happens when we turn inward – we shrivel up and we die.

Since I have mentioned how we can have inward focused churches, and that these types of churches can shrivel up and die, what does one look like? I believe that we would all like to know so that we can avoid becoming one of these inward focused churches, right? In an article entitled, “Evangelism for the Outward-focused Church,” five characteristics are presented in order to help us identify an inward focused church: