Scripture: Matthew 11:2-12
Advent 3 -
Title: What would we tell John?
In our passage Jesus shares 1. His Mission and the 2. Parameters of that Mission. Jesus clearly states His Mission ( therefore our Mission) and His Target Audience (therefore our Target Audience). Jesus message is a reality check for the Church Today.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world!
One of the places that our family loves to eat is Chick-fil-A . We like the food. We like the people who work at Chick-fil-A. We like the philosophy behind Chick-fil-A . But, we also know that Chick-fil-A is not Longhorn's or Olive Garden. We don't go to Chick-fil-A to get a bowl of minestrone soup. We don't go to Chick-fil-A to get a 11 oz. steak with a baked potato. We go to Chick-fil-A to buy a chicken sandwich. Now, that sounds rather simple doesn't it.
Years ago, a man by the name of Samuel Truett Cathy (March 14, 1921 – September 8, 2014) founded the Chick-fil-A franchise. He started off with a little restaurant located in Hapeville, a suburb of Atlanta, back in 1946 called the Dwarf Grill. It was there that he and his brother Ben created the chicken sandwich that has brought them fame and fortune. Over the years they have dabbled into some other ventures but it isn't long until they return back to their staple product - the Chicken Sandwich. The Cathy brothers know a winner when they see it and they know what their sweet spot is. It's not in marketing fish or beef but it is chicken. Chick-fil-A is a great place to get a high quality chicken sandwich for a very reasonable price.
The same can be said for the Proctor and Gamble company. They have made billions over the years selling a lot of different products but one of the most successful products in recent years has been their Swifter Wet-Jet. It's successful because P&G knew who to target and how to target them. According to the company, the Swifter Wet-Jet was designed for the working woman who maintains a hectic schedule, enjoys watching some TV shows and who reads woman-oriented magazines for help with cooking, cleaning, children and relationships. It's designed for the woman who likes to save money, uses coupons and rebates. It's designed for the woman who want her home to be as clean as her mother's home but without all the fuss and mess of a broom and mop. P & G knows their target audience and over the years it has paid off. Since its introduction in 1999 the Swifter Wet-Jet has netted over 4 billion dollars. Wow! Think about that for a moment. One product has brought in over 4 billion dollars. Now, that's knowing your target audience and what they believe they need.
The same thing could be said about Wal-mart, Toyota, Nike or any other successful enterprise. Each of them spends vast amounts of time understanding their target audience. Then they do all they can to provide what they believe that audience wants and desires. Then they go out and deliver and usually are highly successful.
Did you know this morning that Wal-mart sells snow shovels? Well, of course, you do. However, did you know that if you go into a Wal-mart in San Diego any time of the year you will not find a snow shovel? Why? Because they not only know their target audience but they know where that target audience resides. Wal-mart carries snow shovels but it doesn't put them in locations where they know they will not sell. That's just common sense isn't it?
In our Gospel Passage this morning Jesus shares with us who is to be our target audience as a Body of Christ. Jesus takes the time to remind his friend John the Baptist and us:
1. His Mission
2. His Mission's Parameters
Our passage begins with John the Baptist sitting in the dungeon of Machaerus near the Dead Sea. His promising prophetic career had nose dived ever since he had publicly rebuked King Herod Antipas of infidelity and immorality. Recently, King Herod had seduced his sister-in-law Herodias while visiting his brother Philip in Rome. Not a nice guy.
Afterwards, Herod and Herodias thought that they could cover up their affair by swiftly divorcing their spouses and getting remarried to one another. They knew the people of Judea would be shocked at first but they believed if they got married then there would not be a major outcry against their relationship. So, as soon as King Herod arrived back in Jerusalem he dismissed his wife and set about plans to marry Herodias.
However, when John the Baptist heard the news he immediately confronted King Herod. John just could not allow such a arrogant display of public immorality go unaddressed especially when it involved the King. John knew things could not merely be smoothed over and forgotten. John demanded that King Herod and Herodias repent of their sins. He demanded that they change their ways before it was too late.
However, like most prophets who renounce evil, John found himself paying a stiff price. Upset and seeking revenge, King Herod cast John into the dungeon where we find him in our passage. John is still being allowed to preach and have disciples but his days of baptizing at the River Jordan were over. His days of traveling all over Judea were over. It wasn't long before the new Queen Herodias found a way to silence John's voice forever. Matthew 14:10 tells us that the promising career of John the Baptist ended at the end of an executioner's axe.
It's while John was suffering in the dungeon that he sent some of his disciples to go and find Jesus. John had seen something in Jesus that he had not seen in any other man. John believed and hoped that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. He sent his disciples not to question that hope but to confirm that hope. Sitting in prison John sought confirmation and as we read the story we know that Jesus did not disappoint him.
Jesus answers John's questions very quickly and directly. Jesus tells John's disciples to go back and share what they were seeing. To go and tell John - "The blind are having their sight restored, and the lame are walking; the lepers are being cleansed, and the deaf are hearing; the dead are being raised up, and the poor are receiving the good news."
We see that Jesus is pointing back to part of what he said in his first sermon back in Nazareth which St. Luke records in his gospel. Listen to Jesus' words:
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18 - 19 ESV).
Jesus wanted John to know that is exactly what he was doing and much more. Jesus was restoring the sight of the blind but was also healing the lame, cleansing the leper, causing the deaf to hear, raising the dead and preaching to the poor. All of this pointed out that Jesus was in fact doing the all the works that the Prophet Isaiah and others said that the Messiah would accomplish ( Isaiah 29:18; 35:5-6; 42:8; 61:1). Jesus wants John to know that his hope and belief were accurate. Jesus is the Messiah.
Everything we read so far is both amazing and uplifting. It is when we focus in on verse five that we have to take some time this morning to pause and reflect. Verse five is one of those verses that puzzles us. For if what Jesus says here is taken at face value it causes us to reflect and see if we are doing the same mission as Jesus was doing. Is this group of people that Jesus targeted the same people that we target today?
To many people gloss over verse five and don't take it seriously. Many Bible scholars by pass the first part of the verse and focus instead on the part where Jesus says that he is reaching out to the poor as the main emphasis. Others attempt to interpret the passage parabolically. That is to say we are to interpret our passage as we would one of Jesus' other parables. We are not to take what Jesus says here literally. Instead we are to take his words and see the blind, the lame, the leper and the deaf in another context. Perhaps we are to see them this way:
+The blind are those who have not yet seen the truth and so we are to engage in the mission of evangelism.
+The lame are those who have trouble walking the way of righteousness and so we are to engage in the mission of spiritual formation/education.
+The lepers are those who have committed some hideous sin who believe that they cannot be forgiven and so we are to engage in the mission of recovery.
+The deaf are those who have deaden their conscience and cannot hear God and so we are to reach out to them in ways that they can once hear the message of God. We are to perhaps be seeker sensitive.
+The dead are those who are dead in their sins and so our mission is once again centered on evangelism and sharing the Good News.
And then of course when we get to the "poor" part, we come back to a literal interpretation. We make sure that we send missionaries to those we consider poor, disenfranchised and marginalized. It does not mean that we go but that we support those who believe that they should go.
We are tempted to see this passage in this fashion for several reasons. If we take these words literally then they cause us to ask ourselves some rather sticky and perhaps uncomfortable questions. Questions like:
+ If we believe that Jesus is the Messiah then are we saying that what He was doing is what God seeks to do in our world not only in that day but in our day as well?
+Are we also saying that Jesus' mission and target audience ought to be our mission and target audience as well today?
Edwin Ray Frazier in his little book, The First Hundred Days: One Hundred Devotions for New Christians shares this insight:
The church disappoints many people because we don't realize who the LORD came to reach; brokenhearted, captives, blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead, and wretched. We'd like to think that the church is a lovely gathering of healthy and pleasant people. The fact of the matter however is the church is more like a hospital. Most of us are spiritually sick in some way.
Personally, I find it offensive what Jesus said here and very offensive what Frazier shares. It's offensive in the sense that it does not allow us in the contemporary church to be content with our modern day rituals and traditions. It does not allow us to focus inwardly upon ourselves.
Instead, it causes us to focus on the full meaning of agape love. It causes us to see what Jesus' true mission is and who makes up his target audience. It causes us to see if we are ready to continue that mission in our world today.
I. Our Mission today is to be a Continuation of Jesus' Mission.
Our mission today is to be the same as Jesus' mission; that of redemption, renewal and restoration. We are to be sharing the message centering on the Kingdom of Heaven. We are to share the Good News of repentance, baptism and being filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to let people know that they can experience a whole New Life from above, a New Life made possible through the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Jesus came to bring a message of love and hope to a world that was living without either love or hope. It was a world that lived by the philosophies of "dog eat dog" , "I'll get mine while you get yours" and "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you will die". It was a world that focused inwardly upon believing that no one truly cares about anyone except themselves. It was a world that would rather stick it's 3rd finger in the air telling everyone else that is what it thinks of them. It was a world very much like ours today.
Jesus came to tell us in and through Him we could experience a whole new life. A life that would bring us back into peace with God, with ourselves, with others and with our world. A life that would look and feel radically different than anything we had experienced before. A life in which people truly loved one another and a life in which the focus was to reach out to those who needed help the most.
Jesus did not come to discuss politics or how we could become wealthy and have large 401 K accounts. Jesus did not come to show us how to gain earthly power but how we could give that power away. Jesus did not come to tell us that might makes right but instead that we are to pick up our cross and follow him.
Jesus did not even come to spend all his time in the Temple. Did you know that is exactly where Jesus could have spent all of his time? He could have come to earth and spent all of his time in and around the Temple. After all would that have surprised us? Would it have surprise us if the Son of God would have spent all his time around a place of prayer, sacrifice and the Holy of Holies? After all, isn't that where most of us have been taught that ministers and the message of Jesus should stay? Sadly, most people do not see the church as something outside the doors of a building. Most people believe that if they want to know about God or worship God then they have to come to church. That's the only place you can find worship, ministers and things of God. They don't see the church as something that exist beyond the four walls of certain buildings.
Jesus' true mission didn't focus on the Temple but on people who needed the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. Jesus' mission didn't focus giving his disciples gold or silver but on them receiving the Kingdom of Heaven in their hearts and lives. Jesus mission focus on repentance, baptism and the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus mission focused on transforming the world not through programs but through the hearts, minds and souls of men, women, boys and girls. Jesus mission focused on changing our lives from the inside out. Jesus' mission was spent removing any barriers that kept people away from His Heavenly Father. Jesus mission was to get rid of senseless traditions and rituals and begin focusing on the people who needed God's love the most. And that leads us to our second point this morning:
II. Jesus' target audience were those who the world was rejecting and who needed restoration
Let's look over Jesus' list one more time. We find a list that includes the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor. All of those were people groups that the Temple and the "holy ones" had rejected. During the time of Jesus, if you suffered from any handicap whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual you were rejected by the Temple hierarchy. There was no place for you inside the doors of the Temple.
Several years ago there was this small congregation that decided they would target some children that lived "across the tracks". They knew that every day these children had to face a life surrounded by drugs, violence and immorality. It wasn't a life that any child or even adult should have to endure and so they decided to do what they could for them.
Each Sunday morning someone from the church would go and pick up these children. They would bring them to Sunday School and to church with the hope that over time they would be able to rescue them and their families. It was very difficult work to say the least. At times the people picking the children up had to go inside the home, step over a pile of dirty laundry and a stack of beer cans, wake the children up, dress then and then bring them to Sunday School. It required a great deal of courage and dedication but they believed that God has sent them to these children. They saw these families as Jesus saw the poor, the blind and the lame. They were broken people who needed someone to love them and reach out to them.
The children naturally fell in love with Sunday School and the people of the church. For the first time they began to learn about Jesus. They loved the fact that someone cared about them so much that they would take the time to wake them up, help them get ready and even give them a warm breakfast. They felt safe, loved and accepted. The mission of Jesus was being fulfilled in their lives.
Sadly, however, the whole rescue mission came to an abrupt end. Several regular church families began to complain about the language these children used and the stories that they shared with their children. They complained about their clothes and the influence they were having on the other children. They told the leaders that they didn't come to church to have to deal with such negative influences and that if those children continued to attend they would have to find another church. Tragically, it wasn't long before those children were left behind and it wasn't very long before that church went out of existence.
Jesus' words remind us today that we are to continue His mission. We are to be reminded that we have been called and commission to work with the same groups of people that Jesus targeted. We are to reach out to those who have been rejected and show them the love and hope that they can experience in Christ. We are to co-partner with God in helping them experience spiritual, physical and emotional transformation.
Jesus went out and lived among the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead and the poor. Jesus went to the disenfranchised and the marginalized. Jesus visited the areas where they could be found and were they were comfortable. Jesus did not require them to come to the Temple but He brought the greatest Temple of God (Himself) to them. Jesus met them on their own turf.
In Luke 19, Jesus meets Zacchaeus underneath the sycamore tree. Now, the sycamore tree was known to grow in the poorer sections of town. It was known for bearing fruit eaten by the poor and disenfranchised people. Going to where a group of sycamores were growing meant that Jesus was targeting the poor, the disenfranchised and the marginalized. He was meeting them on their turf.
In John 4 we find the story of Jesus traveling through Samaria. He went there to meet the Woman at the Well. He chose the time when he knew that she would be coming to the well. He sits down and waits for her, he talks to her and shares the Good News. Her life was transformed because Jesus targeted her.
In Luke 9, Jesus sends his apostles to go out and be among those who are possessed and oppressed by demons and disease. He gives them the power to bring healing to their bodies and their souls. In Luke 10 we see Jesus sending out the 70 to do the same work. They too were to go among those who were poor, handicapped spiritually, emotionally and physically. Jesus gave them the power to go and preach the Good News and to bring healing and wholeness.
Throughout the Book of Acts we see the Holy Spirit leading the Church to target these same people groups. Peter and John are sent to heal the lame man in the Temple. Peter's shadow is used to heal the poor and needy around Jerusalem. Philip is sent to the Ethiopian eunuch who is baptized and brought to Christ. Paul is sent to a people whose lives were overrun with sexual sins including rape, incest, fornication and adultery. Paul is sent to people who lives did not know anything about holiness or righteous living.
The poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the addict, those captured by sexual sins and those who have lived the wrong way have always been the target audience of the Authentic Church of Jesus Christ. And the question we have to ask ourselves is are these same people groups a part of our target audience today? Are they the people that we plan to reach out to and to bring the message of Jesus Christ? Are they included in both our mission statement and in our mission endeavors?
All of this causes us to have to seriously look at our mission and our target audience. It causes us to examine our priorities and our plans. It causes us to ask ourselves some very serious questions.
+Do we pass off this part of our mission work to others?
+Do we give money to others to work with these people groups so that we do not have to work with them?
+Do we find off site charities to take care of their needs so that we don't find them wandering around our hallways and bathrooms?
+Do we rationalize our decisions thinking that others can best met their needs and that we are truly doing God's work by keeping ourselves at a distance?
It is true that other charities and other social groups may do a better job financially and emotionally. But we can never believe that the local soup kitchen, the local social chapter or even the local governmental office can do a better job in sharing Jesus Christ. We can never allow some local chapter to attempt to meet the challenges of the Great Commission when Jesus gave us the Body of Christ that purpose and mission.
Somewhere along the line the Church for the most part has given up targeting the very people groups that Jesus targeted. Somewhere we decided that we had other things that needed our focus, our resources and our attention. We found ourselves involved in other ministries that centered more towards our own needs than the needs of others. We found ourselves putting up barriers instead of building bridges to the lost, the disenfranchised and the marginalized.
Fulfilling Jesus' mission and targeting the same people that Jesus targeted does not mean that we cannot have nice buildings, host wedding and baby showers, have sports teams or do the other 100 things we try to do in church. It doesn't mean that we can't have nice fellowships dinners and banquets. It doesn't mean that we can have great worship services.
However, it does mean that we must provide a welcoming environment for all people. It does mean that we no longer can do ministry from a safe distance. It does mean that we can no longer attempt to meet the needs of the poor and those that need restoration away from our campuses. It does mean that people should be able to rely on us to help meet their emotional, social, physical, spiritual and financial needs.
Sure we can and we should help support sister charities. But we cannot as the Body of Christ allow them to do the work alone. Jesus tells us clearly that "Man shall not live by bread alone." All too often the main focus of many charities has been primarily food, shelter and clothing. All of that is vital and necessary. But what about the heart and soul of people? What will Jesus one day say to all of us if all we did was to provide food, shelter and clothing and we did not share the Gospel of Jesus? What will happen if we are judged more by how we attempted to meet people's spiritual needs rather than how we meet their physical needs. We should and must doing both this morning.
A good gauge to help us understand if we need or our church needs needs some course correction is to ask ourselves some pertinent questions:
+If someone was to come into our church high on meth what would be our response? Would we be more likely to call the police or to begin praying for them and then seek ways to begin to work in their lives?
+If someone came into our fellowship smelling of cheap whisky and sex what would be our response? Would it be to get away from them as fast as possible or to reach out to work with them finding a way to help them?
+If someone comes to us needing shelter, clothing or money how long does it take us to respond? Do we always send them to the local shelter or the local compassionate charity? Do we even have the means available to help them or are we afraid that if we do help them that they will continually come wanting our help?
+If someone comes with a handicap do we turn them away or do we find ways to meet their needs? The church today is still one of the most difficult places for people with disabilities to attend. From bathrooms, to ramps to special needs we often are 25 to 50 years behind everyone else.
Jesus' words here in verse five cause us in this season of peace, hope, love and joy to perhaps experience some uneasiness. Especially for those whose biggest hope is to find a gift on sale or to find a close parking park at the shopping mall. Jesus words cause us to rethink our mission and our target audience.
Yes, it is more comfortable when we go to worship with people just like us and that are seemingly healthy and sound. Yet, according to the average statics many of us who come to church each and every Sunday are broken or have brokenness in our families.
+One out of every 3 marriages are having domestic problems that are leaning towards separation or divorce
+60% of people are having financial problems and are living paycheck to paycheck
+25% of people have an STD that they either do not know about or are keeping hidden for fear that others would ostracize them
+10% of people have an illegal drug problem mainly using misusing prescription medication
+100 % of people have a spiritual problem that only Jesus can answer.
The truth is this morning all of us in the church and out of the church find ourselves in verse five. We are all broken and need the grace, mercy and love of Jesus Christ. We all need salvation, Christian baptism and the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit. We all need to be redeemed, renewed and be working on being restored into the image of Jesus.
We in the church maybe better adapted at how to hide our brokenness than some in the world. We may even be better at how we self-mediate so that it can remain hidden but the truth is today we all need Jesus.
As we close this morning we do so with an open altar.
+An altar that is open for all who would like to come down and receive Jesus as Savior and LORD.
+An altar that is open for all who would like to come down and consecrate themselves to fulfilling the same mission Jesus had on this earth - to reach out to those who are spiritually, physically, emotionally and socially seen as outcasts.
+To all who want to dedicate themselves to Jesus and commit to Him that our church will be a church that is
+A house of prayer
+A place of fellowship
+And a place that invites, welcomes and goes out to target people for Jesus.
+That we will not only do our best to meet their physical needs but their spiritual needs as well. That we will co-partner with God in transforming our communities for Jesus.
As we close this morning - If John's Disciples came to us and ask us - WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SHOULD WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER BODY OF CHRIST OR ARE YOU DOING THE WORK OF JESUS? How would we answer?
Let us pray and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.
