Hometown
Pt. 1 - Cry . . . Baby!
Introduction:
Apathy. The word is defined as and literally means "without feeling". Little or no concern. From the Greek it perhaps carries the most revealing and what should be the most frightening definition for us today . . . Without passion! How devastating, what a shame if we are passionate only in name? The name of this body was not chosen because it was cool. It was chosen because in one word it speaks to the standard that we are called to uphold and to live up to. If we can't live up to that, then we are guilty of false advertising. You can not brand yourself "Passion" and at the same time find yourself consumed by apathy. If you choose to attend this church then you have are also accepting the demand that our name places on us!
As we have marched through the principalities that we are trying to defeat I believe that this principality is the toughest because if you connect until you are no longer isolated, if you get freedom financially to breakout of poverty and if you are filled with hope, but then you continue to be bound by apathy you will have relationships, resources, and what others need and you will sit on the sidelines, bored, uninvolved, unmoved and unconcerned. A form of godliness without the power to prove it! Over the course of the next few weeks we are going to attack our apathy toward people and towards God. You may think those are backwards. However, I think that if we can't love those we see how can we love the One we can't see? I am asking you to allow the Holy Spirit to talk to you - apathy will try to get you to think this is for the person next to you!
Prayer
Oklahoma is ranked among the highest in the nation for women killed in domestic disputes. 593 Oklahomans, mostly women, were killed by their intimate partners between 1998 and 2013. Half of the counties in Oklahoma lack a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
A quarter of all children in Oklahoma are at risk of going to bed hungry tonight. Nearly 700,000 adults are unsure about where their next meal will come from. 1 in 16 Oklahoma seniors are also at risk of going to bed hungry tonight.
Over 10,000 children are in DHS custody due to neglect, abuse or they are simply unwanted. In 2014, 14,182 children were confirmed by DHS as victims of maltreatment.
Oklahoma has become the pipeline for sex trafficking of children in the United States. Oklahoma ranks first in the nation in “Child Abuse” and “Children Going to Bed Hungry,” second in “Homeless Youth” and “Teen Pregnancy”, third in “Divorce”, and fourth in “Women Murdered by a Husband/Lover.” These conditions combine to make the children of Oklahoma some of the most vulnerable in the nation.
The average sex trafficking victim in America is now twelve years old.
In 2014, 4,916 babies were aborted (murdered) in Oklahoma.
In 2014, 626,906 Oklahomans lived below the poverty level which is less than $23,000 a year income for a family of 4. 209,022 children living in poverty in 2014. 284,000 Children in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment. The Oklahoma City Public School District had 3,187 homeless children enrolled in the 2014-15 academic year. Oklahoma had 43,643 homeless children in 2012-2013.
Overholser Elementary across the street - 87% of students live under poverty level.
317,000 kids in 2014 live in a single parent home.
Statistics. Numbers on a page. We have become numb to the plight of those around us. We have become programmed to simply turn the channel. We've been trained to turn our attention to something pleasant. Consume our time so that we can ignore and apathy continues to reign supreme. Entertain us in 1 hour so we can keep keepin' on never stopping long enough to do anything more than pleading with God that those things don't touch us. We want to be protected we just don't want to prompted or picked to do something about it! We are apprehended by apathy!
Text: Luke 19:41-44
When the city came into view, he wept over it. “If you had only recognized this day, and everything that was good for you! But now it’s too late. In the days ahead your enemies are going to bring up their heavy artillery and surround you, pressing in from every side. They’ll smash you and your babies on the pavement. Not one stone will be left intact. All this because you didn’t recognize and welcome God’s personal visit.”
Jesus approached His hometown . . . when the city came into view He wept.
A challenge and question...
Our hometown must come into view!
His hometown came into view. I believe our issue is that we have become so apathetic that we don't see properly. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts so that we "see" our city through the eyes of Jesus. When you view our hometown do you simply see the glitz, the renaissance, the prosperous or do you push past the facade of flashy and really allow the city with all of its pain and problems to come into view? I know it is easier to become cocooned in comfort. I know it is easier to become disinterested with daily distractions and daily duties. I know it is tempting to become so preoccupied by our own pain that we allow compassion and passion to become all but stamped into extinction. However, I am asking you to see the city again! Wake up and realize what is happening around us!
Which leads to this question . . . When Jesus saw what was happening and going to happen to people He wept over His hometown. When was the last time you wept over yours? Have you wept? What has brought you to tears? What has moved you? Jesus was moved by compassion and passion because He knew He was the answer to their issues and their struggles. It crushed Him to know that what they needed He had. Rescue was within reach. Relief was cresting the hill. Salvation was within grasp. It destroyed Him to know that they were missing that answer. Maybe we have forgotten that we have the answer to the issues of our hometown. One man said it like this, "The hope of the world is the local church!" That is true if we embrace our name, our call and then mobilize to distribute grace! However, maybe we have come to the conclusion that this is just about good church services and being spiritual on Sunday! Maybe we have forgotten that Jesus has commissioned us to be the instrument by which the hope we have battled for is distributed! We huddle together weekend after weekend and the answer is within their reach! What good does it do if we are hope full if we are suffocated by self-centeredness and we are self-consumed? I can answer that from Scripture . . .
Galatians 6:7, 9
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God! (there it is apathy towards people and God) harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
Paul makes it clear that God pays attention to more than just how we respond to Him. He is also mindful of how we respond to those in need! He equates ignoring needs of others to ignoring God. You can't even claim passion for God if you are apathetic towards people! He says our love for God should become seed that we plant into others starting . . . But that is just the starting point, that is kindergarten, with those in the body and then extending to those in need.
In fact, we are informed by James that "Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight!"
Real worship isn't a good song that moves us or a good word that challenges us. It is when we take the answers, the resources that we receive weekly and we reach out to those who have less than (widows and orphans). Those who are alone, abandoned, and broken. Then and only then have we really had church, really worshipped, really touched and tapped into the heart of our Father!
Notice Jesus did more than just weep. His tears drove Him to take action! Don't misunderstand . . . I want you to cry baby!
As we begin to fight apathy I want to challenge you that we must see again to the point that your heart is captured by compassion. I want you to weep again! Some of us need to be brokenhearted again. Some of us are willing to go across seas or send money across seas but we aren't moved by what is happening in our hometown. Some of us need the smile wiped off our face as we are exposed to the pain around us. Some of us need to be crushed by the confused, bound, destroyed, sin controlled state of our State! Some of us need to cry! Weep over our hometown. Weep over the hopelessness of our homies. Cry over the craziness of your classmates. Sob because of the systems that have made promises they can't make good on!
However, I don't want you to just come to an altar and cry. That is how Pentecostals placate their apathy. They spiritualize it around altars! We weep and then we wimp out. We blubber then we bail. Our emotion around an altar exonerates us from ever doing anything. So, over the course of the next 4 weeks we are going to ask you to get involved. Apathy is dissolved by action. Apathy isn't something you think away. Apathy isn't something you can talk away. You can't just proclaim apathy away. Apathy is uprooted by action. As you practice caring you peel away and unseat apathy! So we must take practical steps to break the hold of this principality.
