Tangible Kingdom – Obstacles
Matt. 5:13-16 Salt and Light – This is what God sees in us!
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Shine! Don’t Hide. Make others thirsty for God. Jesus said that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone. An unplanted seed bears no fruit. Jesus is the perfect example of incarnation; Jesus left heaven to take up residency on planet earth. He did this in order to bring life into this world, into us.
Now He commissions us to follow His example, to Leave the old life we knew, to Live Among the world around us as little christs – Christians, to listen to the people around us and love them unconditionally. Easier said than done, right?
The Enemies of Incarnational Community
Selfishness - is the enemy of Leaving; “I or Me” can be the most damning attitude. Doing what I want, holding on to the things I want, filling my life with the toys and joys that I want keep me from leaving my old world behind to experience God’s best. Do you seriously think that you have better ideas than God? Is it possible that the plans you have for your life are more likely to bring you joy and happiness than what God has in store for you?
What can you do to combat Selfishness?
1. Let people live in your home for extended periods of time.
2. Have dinners or doing dinners out with unchurched neighbors.
3. Do what you love with others.
4. Go out of your way to build relationships.
5. Look for chances to talk.
Fear - is the enemy of Living Among; ever been afraid to try something new? Your mind can come up with a dozen reasons why this is a stupid idea. We are experts at arriving at the worst case scenario. Problem is, worst case is seldom the real case.
Remember a time when you could go around the block without an adult holding your hand. I can’t remember my parents walking us to school or even driving us, though it was ½ a mile (each way, uphill) Recently Danielle and Alexander Meitiv allowed their 10 and 6 year old children to walk to the neighborhood park unsupervised. As they returned, the police picked the children up, drove them home, scolded them about the dangers of the world and Child Protective Services forced them to sign a temporary safety plan under threat of taking their children away. Yet the facts are that stranger abduction is at an all time low, and children are actually in greater danger of obesity for not being allowed to play outdoors unsupervised. Kids going to sporting events now see their parents interfere and get overly involved, overly competitive and ruining normal healthy neighborhood time. About the only time during the year where families open their doors to their neighbors today is Halloween. And conservative Christians are leading the charge to make children afraid of that one day!
The Bible is filled with one simple thought from Heaven – whether from the lips of Jesus or one of His messengers. That thought is “Don’t be afraid!”
That was the message to Mary from Gabriel, to Abraham from God. It was the message from Jesus to His disciples when they saw him walking on the water.
The only power fear has is to rob, steal and destroy. What fears are occupying your mind lately? Don’t let fear rob you.
In order to do a better job living among, Shelley and I are talking about finding space in our lives to join the Mentor Sr. Center. Some of you may want to let your hobbies or interests lead you into a relationship where living among others overcomes your fear.
Arrogance - is the enemy of Listening; I battle it every day. It’s arrogant to think that what I have to say is more important than what others have to say. My thoughts aren’t more valuable and don’t need to be heard more thoroughly than your thoughts. How can I truly listen if I am thinking about what I am going to say next? How can I expect you to listen if I don’t set the example? Listening is love in action, an unwillingness to listen shows that I am too arrogant to love. Listen, listen, love, love.
Expectations - is the enemy of Loving Unconditionally. It is easy to love those who are my friends. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,
Matt. 5:46 “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?”
When people are meeting our expectations – when they are good neighbors, it is easy to love them. But that isn’t reality.
Living a Tangible Kingdom kind of life is more costly than that!
At POP we use the term “Bless People” even though it might be more biblical to say Love People. Why? Love is a sneaky word. It slips out of our mouth carelessly. But if I want to Bless someone, it stands to reason that I have to be doing something that is perceived as a blessing to THEM! I am famous for one year buying my wife an air compressor for Christmas (25 years ago or more). Did I ask for this?
If I am going to bless someone, they have to know that they have been blessed. I can say I love someone and they could never know or feel loved.
On top of these enemies of an intentional life among our neighbors, there is the fact that some neighbors are harder to get close to than others.
Jimmy Fallon did a bit about #MyWeirdNeighbor asking people to Tweet him their experience with a weird neighbor.
I sing in my apartment all the time and occasionally I hear my neighbor singing along with me. #myWeirdNeighbor
My neighbor used to steal my paper, read it, then knock on my door to distract me while his wife put the paper back. #myWeirdNeighbor
The name of my neighbor’s WiFi network is “ICECREAMBUTTCHEEKS.”
I had a neighbor who had a garage sale for three months straight because “business was good.” #myWeirdNeighbor
If we threw our Frisbee or ball over the fence by accident we would get it back with a note attached saying “I hate kids.” #myWeirdNeighbor
What about you, do you have a weird neighbor? Chances are pretty good that your neighbor thinks that they have a weird neighbor too.
When I was a kid, neighbors were pretty important. We played with the neighbor kids every day. We got into fights with them, we made up, we played some more. Sometimes the parents had a harder time making up than the kids did. A recent study showed that only 7% of people felt that their neighbors were significant affiliations. You don’t have to be best friends with your neighbors, but did you know that a lot of people don’t even know most of their neighbors by name! What can we do to change that? Like a Good Neighbor State Farm did a study on neighbors. They found that while 83% of us would be willing to help a neighbor in need, 60% of us have complaints about our neighbor. Lots of people might help out with some yard project, or bring a meal for someone who is hurt, but only 15% would ever lend neighbor money and only 10% would consider letting a neighbor live with them temporarily.
Jesus talked about some obstacles to Life in Community
He gave some very clear direction on how to interact with others, how to live with our hands open. “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
This single command demolishes the triple threat to community life known as Individualism, Consumerism, Materialism
Individualism keeps us from Communion and from Community.
John 17: 21 says, “I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.” (GNB)
Everyone needs to have their own (fill in the blank) when the reality is, we use that item just a few hours or days a year. This really plugs in well with consumerism and materialism. What if we time shared some things in order to live in community with others. What if in sharing those things, we had more time and money to invest in other people. People in need.
Jesus wanted nothing to do with Individualism - unity with His Father was His life
And he wanted the same thing for us.
Consumerism is rampant during the holidays, it masquerades itself as the “Christmas Spirit” but in reality, it is an enemy to God’s mission and His intention for our lives.
You hear people spout words like “Take care of #1” or “I am only doing what is best for my family” when in reality, we are probably ruining any chance for happiness and fulfillment for our family. Exactly how many toys can your kids play with at a time. How many sit unused? But it’s not just presents and toys.
Consumerism drains our natural resources. What if everyone on the planet wanted to use as much electricity, or fuel, or closet space and landfill space as I use? Half of landfill space is taken up by food! Much of the rest will not decompose and could have been recycled. This is our one and only planet, God told us to tend it. Consumerism and materialism not only signal waste, but prevent us from blessing others.
Materialism is focusing more on what you don’t have than on what you do have.
We may not think of ourselves as materialistic, but we all know someone who is
Start making a list of things you want to do to bless others instead of a wish list.
If God took away your material blessings away, would you still love Him? Are we thanking God for the right things? Or are we grateful for our idols?...house, cars, stuff?
If God didn’t do anything else for the rest of my life…and took away all my stuff…He’s still blessed me far beyond what I deserve…
The best cure for Consumerism is to Share
The Best cure for Materialism is to become a generous giver
The best cure for Individualism is to do things with or for others. Compete less. Cooperate more.
“The more we do “together” the less individualistic we’ll be…
The more become “one” with Christ, the less consumer oriented we’ll be…
The more we do for “others” the less materialistic we’ll be.”
Next Step - Dare me to be like Jesus
Get into family discussions about how you can eliminate the fears and obstacles that rob us of true community.
Going deeper
1. What can you do to get to know your neighbors better? Make a plan to do it!
2. How are your listening skills? What will you do to improve them?
3. Is your life more about Consumer and Materialism or Generosity and Sharing
