HoHum:
Recruits in the army are told, “Always dig your foxholes big enough for two.” More effort to do so, but it could save a life. Making room for more people in our lives is good and missional.
WBTU:
Missional- Missionaries to other countries have two different approaches. 1) The missionaries go with a clear plan for reaching people in that culture. Before they ever get on the field, the plan is in place. This may or may not work. 2) The missionaries go to the field, live among the people and listen to them. They listen to their pains, their joys, and their needs. Then they pray. They pray that God will guide them on how to reach these people with the gospel. They might find that they need to listen even more to the people and that is their next step. Just paying attention to where the needs are and trying to help meet the needs.
Think about Jesus and how he reached us. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...” John 1:14, NIV. ““The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”--which means, “God with us.”” Matthew 1:23, NIV.
Many times we think of this in big terms, as in God is with us in the person of Jesus for the sake of the entire world. While Jesus came for the entire world, he did this in a very local way. Jesus moved into our neighborhood. His primary ministry was to Galilee. He did not take on the entire world in his ministry. He was a local minister. To be in a neighborhood is to be relational. And to be relational is to be present.
Scott Boren- When I hear the word evangelism, I immediately think about a friend who called me when I lived in Houston. He and his wife wanted to take me to lunch. He was not a close friend, but I was honored by the invitation, so much so I was willing to forsake watching a Dallas Cowboys football game. While eating lunch with him, I soon realized that he had a message to share with me. He had just been to a multilevel marketing conference, and before returning to his home in North Texas, he wanted to give me the opportunity to get in on this great money making venture. He was excited about what he was sharing; to him it was good news. But all I could think about was the fact that I had just wasted an opportunity to watch a Cowboys game. I have never heard from him since. Later I realized that my reaction to him is very similar to that of some of the people I had previously forced to listen to me share about Jesus. I wasn’t interested in them, I was just interested in what I had to share. Instead of a conversation it was more like a monologue where they couldn’t get a word in edgewise. All the research confirms that people primarily come to Christ through significant relationships. Unfortunately, like a salesperson who builds a relationship with someone to make the big sale, too many Christians do something similar when they try to share Christ. We find prospects and when nothing happens we drop them like a salesperson who moves on to someone else. Need a better strategy.
In Luke 10 Jesus set an example for us by sending the disciples out in pairs. There are many examples of individuals who had a grand vision and worked to accomplish it. However, we find that these ideas did not take off until a team of people began to live the vision together. An individual cannot do this alone. Being present in a community is best done by two or more people so they can demonstrate how they live together in front of others. When we live in a community where Christian relationships are demonstrated, we give people an opportunity to feel the life of the gospel and not just hear it.
Word of caution from the context: When we look at Luke 10 we must understand that this is not a current ministry model. Jesus is sending these disciples out to prepare the way for him as he goes to Jerusalem for the last time. Two by two is good but some of this does not apply today.
Thesis: Luke 10 talk about presence, peace and hospitality
For instances:
Presence (Luke 10:1-4)
We often talk about and say this prayer. Notice that the workers are going into the harvest field. These workers are living in the local culture and focused on doing the small stuff of the kingdom for a specific group of people so they can actually experience and feel the life of Christ in and through Christians as Christians relate to one another.
Many stories shared about evangelism and missions are spectacular. A conference speaker relates how he shared Christ without someone on an airplane and that person immediately wanted to be baptized. A preacher tells of a waitress who wants to come to church after he left a large tip and asked how her life was going. A missionary reports sharing the gospel with a tribe never before exposed to the gospel and the whole tribe becomes Christians. These are exciting stories and there is nothing wrong with them except for the fact they are so exciting that they often create a view of sharing Jesus with the world that most people cannot do. Most of us do not fly on planes, or preach at a church, or engage with remote tribes. What we need are stories about engaging people with the gospel in real life. How about going bowling as a group and inviting a neighbor to enjoy the evening with us? Or spending time with a coworker over lunch listening to what is going on in his or her life? Or mowing our neighbor’s yard just because? All three of these examples implies an ongoing conversation that requires the development of focused, loving relationships. These are not random acts of kindness to strangers, but they are acts of kindness for people we know.
Over the last 300 years, when people talked about missions, they meant doing ministry in a foreign country. The idea was that the West was Christian and the rest of the world was not. So the major task of the church was to do missions among those over there. We can no longer rightly say that the West is Christianized. (Probably never should have thought this anyway) The mission field has shifted to include those who live on our street, in our workplace and even those in our family.
Many in our culture get their ideas about Christianity from Oprah, Dr. Phil and TV shows. Christians are seen as mean spirited and judgmental. How do we change that? Only as people notice how we act and relate with one another over the long haul with this change. Talked with Brett (former missionary to Germany) and he is trying to reach out to a homosexual. One day he was online and saw that this person had put a post talking negatively about Christians. Brett e-mails him and says that he is concerned that he thinks this way about Brett. The person says, “No, I wasn’t talking about you, I know you are a Christian but you are different from the others.” This is where we change people's minds and hearts, one on one, personal contact
Peace (Luke 10:5-6)
Let’s say that we have a group of friends at church and we want to reach out. We have Christ and he is something that those outside the church need, and feel like it is their job to tell them the truth. Because of our knowledge, we have power, and we feel called to inform those without this knowledge of their ignorance. This is combative in nature. The goal of ministry to those outside the church is to convince them of the validity of Christianity. Therefore, they work up all the energy and conviction they can to go to war with the ignorance of the infidels of the world. This is the tone of many of the gospel presentations used over the past couple of centuries. Almost all of them depend upon a one way conversation where the one with the Christian insight tells the one without it what it means to be a Christian. Little encouragement to engage in dialogue or conversation. A slick sales presentation is unpopular today. People respond to this with fight or flight.
When Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to proclaim the kingdom, he told them to enter a home by proclaiming peace. This is more than saying a word. When proclaiming peace, a person embodies a stance contrary to a combative one. In the Gospel of Luke, peace is used as another way of saying salvation. Much more than simply the absence of conflict, it calls for a positive stance represented by the OT word shalom, which means communal well being. Shalom is a gift of God upon his people to live in security, blessing, and relational wholeness.
When those sent out two by two entered a home, they were to proclaim peace with their mouths, inviting these people into God’s peace or shalom. Not a cheap sales pitch. They came in a stance of peace, offering themselves to the people of this neighborhood.
How do we say Peace today? Often, learning to practice peace with our neighbors begins as we respond in peace when conflict among Christians arises. Can we choose the way of peace rather than the need to win? Choosing the way of peace does not mean ignoring reality or covering things up so that emotions are set aside. Peace, true peace, creates an environment in which each person can offer their perspective and deal with differences because no one feels the pressure to win. When people in our neighborhoods see us dealing with conflict in peaceful ways, they will notice the difference and wonder who this God we serve is.
Hospitality (Luke 10:7-8)
For those of us raised in church, it is hard to image how hospitality relates to being missional. We often think of fellowship meals but it is so much more. In our culture we view our homes as escapes from the world. The things we do at home are private activities meant for the family or the individual, but not for others.
3 aspects of hospitality that make it great for outreach:
1. Hospitality is something we experience at home. When we open our homes, we create an atmosphere of welcome and conversation. In today’s society, this might prove too big a step; we might begin with places like a coffee shop, restaurant or civic club. In Luke 10 the disciples were sent into communities and told to enter homes and receive others’ hospitality. Both then and now, the point is the personal nature of the home where the divide between the private and the public is torn down.
2. Food- The simple physical act of eating has direct affect upon our spirituality and our experience of God. Notice how many times Jesus shared a meal with others in Luke.
3. When offering hospitality, refrain from trying to convert or change the person. Hospitality is a practice that receives people where they are. The art of hospitality allows others to enter our hearts without expectations. To embrace a stranger, the one who takes the first step is the host. The host must go out and draw in the stranger. Receptivity is only one side of the coin of hospitality. Receiving a stranger does not mean a group should abandon what they believe, becoming neutral because of the fear of offending. In hospitality, the host enters into conversation with the stranger. By opening up our homes we share our ideas, our opinions and our lifestyle clearly and distinctly.
How do we begin? Think about people we would like to embrace, draw closer to us. From there a group can host a Matthew party, named after Matthew the tax collector. “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” Luke 5:27-29, NIV. Group members birthdays provide a good excuse for Matthew parties. The group, family, can throw a party and invite unchurched friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers to celebrate the birthday with them. Just a thought!
So what?
This is stupid! Oh really, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46, 47, NIV.
