Called to be His Heart for the World
I have a confession to make. The other night I snapped. My wife and I get a dozen or so “Sales calls” a day. I was watching an NBA playoff game and the phone rang…and it was a sales call, so I grabbed my referee’s whistle, leaned into the mouthpiece and let it rip! Then I hung up!
Have you ever received a call you didn’t want?
I also frequently receive those chain letters, and chain e-mails that always call on me to do something to keep the chain alive.
Illus. One church had some suggestions for church members unhappy with their pastor: "Simply send a copy of this letter to six other churches who are tired of their ministers. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list. Add your name to the bottom of the list. In one week you will receive 16,436 ministers, and one of them should make you happy. Have faith in this letter. One man broke the chain and got his old minister back."
I want for us to take a few minutes this morning and wrap up this series called, “Beyond the Tomb”. If you remember we started this the week after Easter.
The first week we talked about how we have been called to Be God’s church. Loving God and each other.
The second week I talked about how we have been called to be His living Word.
Weeks three and four we looked at how we are called to be His living sacrifice. People of the cross! Living examples of the meaning of the cross!
Today we are going to wrap up this series by seeing that we have been called to be His heart for the world!
When someone is passionate about someone or something we say their heart is really in it. What was Jesus’ heart really into?
If you were to pick up a Bible and begin to turn the pages of the New Testament you would quickly read about Jesus interacting with people who were hurting,and needy and desperate.
Throughout its pages Jesus is described as a man who cared deeply for others. Matthew 4 says:
“Jesus healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all.”
Jesus cared to the point of His own exhaustion! When crowds came to Him He gave Himself to them.
Matthew 8 gives an account when Jesus is coming down off the mountain, followed by His disciples
“Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in His ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus saying, ‘Master, if you want to you can heal my body.’ Jesus reached out and touched him saying, I want to. Be clean.’
There is only one thing that would make a clean man reach out and touch a leper…He cared! He really cared!
Illus. Man who became a leper. “We lepers”
There was another familiar story when Jesus was followed by a crowd for 3 days, with no food. Looking around at all of the hungry people Jesus said,
“I hurt for these people. For 3 days now they have been with me. Now they have nothing to eat.”
This wasn’t life or death. Not blindness or leprosy, but hunger. A small boy came to Jesus and brought 5 loaves and 2 fish. (Happy Meal). And Jesus did a miracle that day for all those people. The Bible says, “They all ate and were satisfied.”
Jesus got involved in the lives of others because he cared. Because he cared He had to get involved. Because He knew that he possessed what they lacked. He had what they needed.
This is really evident in the book of Exodus chapter 3. Moses is out tending sheep and he sees a bush off in the distance. The bush is burning but it isn’t being consumed by the fire. Sop he goes over and checks it out…
When He gets there God speaks to him. He tells him to take off his sandals, because the ground he is walking on is holy! Cool!
Then God says, (Slide)
“I have seen the misery of my people, I have heard them crying, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.”
God is a God who cares! He notices. When we care we notice. That’s why our wives get upset with us when we are in the room, but we are not really with our wives. May be a million miles away, oblivious to what they6 are saying. Not picking up on any of the clues…
Illus. Wife and husband walking in store. Beautiful woman walks by and the husbands eyes follow. The wife continues talking then suddenly asks, “Was it worth it?” “Worth what?” The trouble you are in!”
If we care we are aware, aware of needs, hurts, likes and dislikes. When we care we are aware!
God was aware, and He heard their cries! And their cries concerned Him!
The Hebrew word here means to be deeply moved, to be moved to the point of sickness”.
•It’s what happens when you see someone get badly injured.
• Or when you see or hear about something happening to someone that shouldn’t ever happen.
•It’s being sick about it!
God cares so much…He notices their problem. He hears their cries. He is deeply concerned. And He does something about it! This is one more thing that separates God from man.
We notice. We hear. We may even be deeply concerned. But often, too often, we never get involved. We never offer ourselves as a part of the solution!
So do…Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King...
He cares, and His deep caring brings Him into our lives. It compels Him to run to our aid. To offer Himself as the solution!
1 Peter 5:7 says "Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.”
And because He cares, because He wants to enter into the situations of our lives…He chooses! “So, now go. I am sending you.”
And we know Moses response…(excuses)
God is not too happy with these excuses.
“The Lord’s anger burned against Moses.”
Now catch this…God is not angry because Moses wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t mad because he wasn’t a great speaker, or because he lacked confidence. God was angry because Moses was refusing to offer Himself as a tool in God’s hands.
God doesn’t care if you aren’t perfect. He knows what your weaknesses are…He made you! What Angers God is when we come up with excuses to remain on the sidelines, refusing to get in the game, even after God has called our name! That makes Him mad!
Our refusal because of something we think we lack is really a pride thing. We think that we are so essential to the success of the project that we have to have everything it takes to pull it off.
God isn’t interested in using people who have what it takes!
Remember this:
God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!
So Moses gives in and trusts God. What does God do? He uses simple Moses and some even more simple, common items to pull of a series of plagues, designed to force Pharaoh’s hand so he will let God’s people go.
Look at what He chooses…
I want you to notice something interesting about the frog plague…found in Exodus 8:1-10
God called Moses. But He is also using these frogs to speak into the life of Pharaoh, but Pharaoh isn’t listening! Instead he puts it off! (Lots of people like this…) Missing God.
He is so close! GOD IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!
A hairs breadth away.
Reaching to people. Because he cares!
In picture Michelangelo painted Man is reclined, it is God who is leaning to man. He makes the move! Awaiting our response!
(I can put up with the frogs one more night!) Tomorrow!
He is close. He has chosen the simple things of this world. He is calling. He is calling you and I to help release people from captivity! Top proclaim His word!
He has called us…You and me! To be His heart to the world! To be an extension of His heart, His passion fdopr people!
To notice them. To hear them. To be concerned about them, to the point of offering ourselves, and God as the solution!
We say we care…about lost people! Do we?
Are we involved in their lives? How?
What are we doing for them?
What are we doing for God to see them released from Satan’s grip?
Jesus Got involved in your life and mine, because he cares.
He has chosen us because he cares!
He has called us because He cares.
