Bring
2 Corinthians 5:18
I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us are here today because of someone else. Maybe you were invited by someone or maybe you grew up in this church and you’re here because of your family. Even those of you who came here on your own, more than likely stuck around because you connected with someone in the church. The truth is many of us, if not all, are here today and involved in the life of the church because of someone else. That’s because people bring people to Jesus. Can you say that with me? People bring people to Jesus. The church can have incredible programs, a wonderful facility and a great ministries but these things aren’t going to bring people to Jesus because people bring people to Jesus. This is at the core of who we are as the Church and is foundational to our identity as the people of God.
In our scripture today, God calls us Christ’s ambassadors. What exactly does that mean? An ambassador is someone who represents the interests of their homeland in a foreign country. Spiritually speaking, we are to represent Jesus Christ and His Kingdom here on earth to advance his purposes. What is His interest or purpose? Our Scripture today says it is a ministry of reconciliation. In other words, like Jesus, we are to reconnect people to Jesus who are far from God. God is calling everyone back to himself and expects us to deliver the invitation. And you just thought you were a stay-at-home mom or had a boring 9 to 5 job! We’ve been called and empowered to announce to the world the Good News that Jesus is Lord and invite people back into a relationship with their Creator and Redeemer. Now that’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning!
This is who we are and what we are to be about. Jesus called us a city on a hill and the light of the world. We exist to bring those who are far from God back to Jesus. I’ve heard it said the church is the only organization whose sole purpose of existence is for its non-members. Basically, we gather for the sake of those who aren’t here yet. But it seems the Church is having a bit of an identity crisis. In a study by Lifeway Research, only 2% of people who regularly attend church actually invite someone outside of the church to come and check it out in a given year. That means 98% of churchgoers don’t extend a single invitation all year. 7 out of 10 unchurched people have never been invited to church in the entire lives. Here’s the really sad part, 82% of the people outside of the church are at least somewhat likely to attend if someone were to actually invite them. We’ve been calling this series, CSI Church, but for this weekend I feel like we should call it Stuff the Church Doesn’t Do. It seems that we have hidden our light under a bowl and this city on the hill isn’t shining as brightly as it should be.
Today, we’re going to spend the rest of our time together looking at Andrew, one of the 12 disciples, and how he was an ambassador for Christ. Andrew only appears a few times in the Gospels but every time he is personally bringing someone to Jesus. The first time he encounters Jesus, he immediately goes and gets his brother Simon, who would later be known as Peter and brings him to Jesus. Andrew is the one who finds the little boy at the feeding of the 5,000. He also brings a group of spiritually curious Greeks to meet Jesus during the Passover in John chapter 12. So what we can learn from Andrew?
First is maintaining a sense of awe and wonder about Jesus. In John 6, Jesus and the disciples are surrounded by a crowd of 5000 people. Back then, men were the only ones they counted. So if you include all of the women and children, there could have easily been around 15,000 people. They were more than likely on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast and have come from all over to see and hear Jesus. It was dinner time and the disciples couldn’t imagine how they could possibly feed them. They all thought that the best thing to do would be to send the people on their way and let them find some food on their own, everyone except Andrew. Andrew found a boy who had five small loaves of bread and two small fish, and brought him to Jesus. Can you imagine what the other disciples were thinking? What kind of idiot thinks that Jesus is going to be able to feed 15,000 hungry people with a little kid’s fish sandwich? The answer is, the kind of idiot who hasn’t lost his awe and wonder about Jesus and what He can do.
I believe that is what motivated Andrew to bring people to Jesus. We can’t help but share what we are passionate about, and we naturally want to talk about what captivates us. There isn’t a lot of distance between our hearts and our mouths. Jesus said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 That’s why this time of year, we start having quite a few passionate conversations about the Saints. It’s why we talk about our new favorite restaurants. You can tell when someone is really passionate about something because they talk about it. How much do you talk about Jesus outside of church?
When it comes to our reluctance to bring people to Jesus and share the good news, could it be that something else has laid hold of our hearts? As a result, have we lost that sense of awe and wonder for who Jesus is and what Jesus can do? The scary thing is how easy that happens. Many of us in this room have known Jesus for a long time. The more familiar we are with something, the less we appreciate it. One of the reasons we’re so reluctant to bring people to Jesus and to share the good news is because we have forgotten just how good the Good News is. We have let go of our first love (Rev. 2:4) and we have lost our sense of awe and wonder for who Jesus is and what Jesus can do. But not Andrew.
I think for Andrew, his wonder and devotion to Jesus had a lot to do with how Jesus called him to be one of his disciples. Mark 1:14-18. I’ve always thought it was strange that Andrew and Simon were so quick to drop their nets and leave everything to follow Jesus just because he asked them to. It all seems a little fishy, pun intended, as to why these men were so easily persuaded. Some of it has to do with the fact that this was not the first encounter these men had with Jesus. You can read about that in John chapter 1. It also has a lot to do with the culture in which they lived. In first century Israel, everyone wanted to be a Rabbi. They were the rock stars of their day and age. Kids didn’t grow up wanting to be a famous athlete, they grew up wanting to be a Rabbi. Every Jewish boy started off on the path to become one. At the age of six, they would begin their Rabbinic training. There were three stages of schooling along the way, and at each you were evaluated. If at some point, it was determined that you didn’t have what it took to be a Rabbi, your training ended and you were sent home to learn your family’s trade. If you did have the right stuff, then you would choose a Rabbi and you would spend the next several years of your life following him, learning from him and living just like him. When Jesus calls Andrew to come follow him, what is Andrew doing? He’s fishing. He has taken up the family trade, which meant he didn’t have what it took to be a rabbi. There were only dashed and broken dreams left. So when Jesus called Andrew, you understand why he was so quick to drop his nets and follow. I don’t think Andrew ever forgot that. Andrew maintained this sense of awe and wonder at what Jesus could do and it started with what he did in his own life.
Second is remembering we’re chosen. Remember when you were a kid and you picked sides for a game. You never wanted to be the last kid chosen. That was embarrassing and painful. By the time Andrew reached this stage in life, he was one who wasn’t chosen. I think one of the reasons we lose our passion for the Gospel is because we forget that Jesus picked us when no one else would. We forget about how Jesus rescued us and made us new. The most passionate followers of Jesus tend to live within close proximity to grace of God they have received and as a result, their passion and wonder for Jesus isn’t necessarily dependent upon what Jesus has done for them lately. It comes out of the continuous gratitude for what Jesus has already done. Oswald Chambers put it this way, “If God didn’t ever do another nice thing for you, what he has already done for us in Christ is infinitely more than we deserve.” If we’re going to recapture that sense of special calling, we need to reconnect with our call and the grace we have received. We need to claim our identity as the light of the world, then be in the habit of reminding ourselves just how good the Good news is. Jesus picked us when no one else would. We have been rescued and made new by the grace of God.
Third is our deepest longings and desires are fulfilled. Remember, every Jewish boy dreamed of being a Rabbi. I can imagine that this was especially true for Andrew seeing how quickly he left everything and followed Jesus. That dream was long lost as he returned to his family’s business and went about the drudgery of working day in and day out just to survive. But then along comes this Rabbi whom everyone is talking about, who is doing and saying things that no one has ever seen before, and he calls Andrew to be one of his disciples. Jesus brought reality to the deepest longings and desires of Andrew’s heart. I think that raises the question: what are your deepest longings and desires in life? Andrew’s story is our story. It is Jesus who calls us to a purpose and cause greater than ourselves. The question for most of us is, “Who would we be if Jesus hadn’t called me to follow him?” Would I be the person I am today? Would I be living my life for a greater purpose than my own self-preservation? Not only does Jesus rescue us, but Jesus brings reality to our deepest longings and desires. That is what I call great news, the kind of news you can’t help but share with other people.
Fourth is a deep awareness of the needs of others and a willingness to do something about it. Immediately after his first encounters with Jesus, Andrew gets his brother, Simon. The experience was too good to keep to himself. So the first thing he does is find someone else who needs to experience Jesus. At the feeding of the 5,000, only Andrew acted to meet the hunger pains of the crowd gathered. In both of these instances, we see Andrew had a deep awareness for the needs of other people. Often it is our compassion that helps create opportunities for people to encounter Jesus. How aware are we of people’s need for Jesus? What if we truly believed that what people needed was an encounter with Jesus? What would we be willing to do? How far would we be willing to go? How would this change the way you see that person who gets on your nerves, or that family member everyone has given up on? Who do you know that needs to be here? If you can’t answer that question, than maybe that’s where you need to start. Bringing people to Jesus is going to require us to allow compassion and not convenience to determine how we live and interact with others.
Andrew didn’t wait for someone to do it for him, and he didn’t expect the people to figure it out for themselves. Andrew stepped up and brought the people to Jesus himself.
Imagine if the person who invited you or brought you to Jesus hadn’t. How would your life be different? We are Christ’s ambassadors. God has given us the ministry reconciliation. How are people going to hear the good news if we don’t share it with them? On August
One of the things that I think we struggle with here is that we think, “Everybody knows about Munholland”. But they don’t. Being here on Metairie Road doesn’t get people to Jesus. As a church, we have experienced a lot of success. God has done some truly incredible things in and through this place, but God is not done yet. I didn’t sign up to be a part of this church to simply celebrate the past. I want to be a part of the future and what God wants to do through us.
On August 23rd, we celebrating “I Love My Church Sunday. We want to give you an opportunity to talk about and share what you love so much: Munholland. We have a vision of extending 15,000 invitations to your oikos to come worship with us. Our goal is to double our worship attendance. How? You are going to bring them. But first, you have to invite them. We want you to accept the 20/20 Challenge. Beyond personally inviting the 3 persons/families you've been praying for, we want you to invite another 100 people through social media via email, text, Instagram and Facebook. There are also invitations cards you can pick up in the back as well. And if you don’t have the postage, we’ll mail them for you. Let’s become that city on a hill and that light in a world which too often is filled with darkness Amen.
