“Being Christ to Our Community:
Jesus’ Mission Statement”
Luke 4:14-21
Two weeks ago yesterday, a number of us met here at the church at 9:30 in the morning in order to go out into our community—to the homes closest to this church building--knock on doors offer a homemade treat baked by a number of you, and ask folks if they have needs we can fulfill and if there is anything we can be in prayer for them about.
We went out in teams of two; each team taking a specific street.
We told the folks we met that we will be doing this once a month and that, if it is alright with them, we will see them again soon.
It was, honestly, a lot of fun.
The people we met were open and gracious.
We didn’t give anyone a hard sell.
We were honest about our intentions.
We are trying to get to know our neighbors, our community.
I really believe, more than anything, that a church is called, first and foremost, to serve those closest to them.
After-all, Jesus instructs us to “Love God and Love our neighbors.”
How can we expect to fulfill this commission unless we are loving those who are, quite literally, our neighbors?
God has placed YOU and ME--this congregation—on this plot of land, in this building at this address in this very time in history for a very specific reason.
We are here to be Christ to our community.
We are to reflect God’s light and love to those around us.
And the homes which surround this building are filled with people who are suffering, lonely, lost, poor in spirit and poor in the pocketbook, prisoners to their sins and addictions and unable to see any way out of the mess they are in.
In 1st Corinthians 12:27 Paul says to the Church: “you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Do we realize just how significant that statement is?
Can we even try and get our heads around it?
We are the Body of Christ that meet at 3800 Dayton Boulevard in Red Bank, Tennessee in the year 2018.
That’s you—that’s me.
That is a huge responsibility.
It’s a staggering challenge, and the greatest privilege humankind could ever know.
What a gift.
What an honor.
To squander it would be to throw the greatest treasure in the garbage heap.
And so we are to be the Body of Christ to the people created in God’s image who live on Redding Road, to our neighbors on Leawood Avenue, Tacoma Avenue, Pickering Avenue, Knollwood Hill Drive and on.
We must be more than a group of folks who meet in this building.
We must be something real, something tangible, something that pervades this community with the love of Christ.
A friend of mine used to tell his congregation, “Those people might just go to heaven because of what you do.”
It’s amazing to me, but Jesus has chosen to use us to build His Kingdom—to save this community.
Teresa of Avila put it this way long ago:
“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ is to look out on a hurting world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which his is to bless now.”
May it be so.
Before our passage for this morning Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.
And we are told that Jesus returned from His baptism “full of the Holy Spirit” and then was led by the “Holy Spirit” into the wilderness for a time of testing as Jesus refused the pathways that the devil offered—the pathways of the world.
In the wilderness Jesus refused to be lured by wealth, power and spectacle.
Then we are told, at the beginning of our lesson for this morning, that “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…”
And Jesus went into a synagogue in Nazareth, His hometown.
And this is where Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
“He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’”
Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and began to tell the people: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Nearly every biblical scholar worth his or her salt will tell you that in reading and interpreting these Words from Isaiah Jesus is stating His Mission.
And therefore, it should go without saying that, as Christ’s Body, this is our mission statement as well.
When Jesus announces: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” He is proclaiming that the promised liberating work of the Holy Spirit is present in Him.
And the author of Luke—who is the same guy who wrote down the words in the Book of Acts—traces that continuing fulfillment through the Acts of the Church.
And it continues in us today through the power of the very same Holy Spirit.
It is the “good news.”
What is striking, though, is that this is only “good news” to us when we are willing to admit what is hard in our lives, what is lacking, what has been most difficult, that we sin, that we fall short of the glory of God and that all our work and trying is just filthy rags without the “Good News.”
And that is because it is not “good news” in general, but rather good news for the poor.
It is not just release, but release to those who are oppressed.
Do you see what I mean?
God offers words of comfort, but these words only mean something to those living with discomfort.
How do you hear Jesus’ words today?
How do I?
In this world, so many of us spend so much time acting as if we have it all together.
We spend so much money trying to look better, get fitter, appear younger.
There is so much pressure on us externally from the culture at large and internally from ourselves to not need anything or anyone.
It’s no wonder that the Good News of Jesus is often rejected or ignored by so many.
And you know what?
The stories we tell ourselves about being perfect, the commercials we pay attention to telling us that we really can have it all, the ads that promise us that if we just purchase this product we’ll never feel insecure again—these are all false.
And deep down we know it, don’t we?
So while Jesus’ message is “Good News,” in order for us to hear it that way it must first sound to us like bad news, the bad news that we are not who we want to be, can be, and should be…and we never will be.
When I was in college, I gave a speech about Christianity in a psychology class I was taking.
Before the speech, I handed out tracts that I had.
On the front of the tracts was written the words: “Good News.”
After class, I saw that a number of classmates had left the tracts I passed out on their desks, so I went around and picked up the ones that were left.
When I picked up one of the tracts I saw that a student had crossed out the word “Good” and in its place had written “Bad.”
At least he or she was being honest.
Jesus comes bringing good news to those in need, but those who don’t see or don’t want to see and admit their need don’t want anything to do with Him.
And most of us have been there.
Did we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior—forsaking all else—as soon as we heard the Good News or did it take a while…
…a lot of “sowing our wild oats” or checking out other options before making our ultimate commitment to Christ?
Think about the rich young man who is described later on in the Gospel of Luke as well as the Gospel of Mark and Matthew.
We will be focusing more closely on his story next Sunday.
He races up to Jesus all excited and asks: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus tells him that he lacks one thing: “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
Did the “Good News” of Jesus sound like Good News to this guy?
We are told that “he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.”
Of course, living with great wealth and not sharing while so many starve, live under bridges, don’t have clothing, clean drinking water—the basic necessities of life, is, from a Kingdom of God perspective, incredibly selfish, hard-hearted and foolish.
You will notice that in your bulletins this morning are “Pledge Sheets.”
I’d like you to take those home and put them on your bedroom or bathroom mirror.
And every-time you look at yourself this month, think and pray about what God is calling you to give to His Body for the sake of this community in the year 2019.
It’s an important decision.
It’s a life and death decision.
We will be talking about what it means to be Christ to our Community all month.
On Sunday, October 28, we all will be invited to fill out a pledge sheet—making a covenant and promise to God as to what things of God we will share with His Body next year.
It’s very easy to get side-tracked from the central message of Christ.
The prophets had to remind the people about God’s main purposes all the time.
And Jesus, like the prophets before Him is not impressed with ceremonial shows of self-righteousness.
What did Isaiah say?
“Trample my courts no more…learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
Jesus came to fulfill what Isaiah pleaded for.
To know our mission and to understand what God has given us to do is the most important thing we can uncover.
It is the secret to life.
We are invited not just to hear and receive the Good News, but to BE IT.
This is what the Body of Christ is—God’s hands delivering the promise of salvation to all.
“Are you afraid?” we may ask those in the houses around us.
“Find courage in Christ.”
“Are you lonely? Come join our community.”
“Are you sick?
Come here—or better, let us come to you—to care for you.”
“Are you isolated?
We will visit you.”
“Discouraged?
Let us gather together and encourage one another.”
When we decide to follow the Jesus of the Bible the Holy Spirit comes and gives us something to do for God. Following Jesus means accepting His mission as our own.
God gives us the challenge and the strength to bring Good News to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and new beginnings to all who have failed.
Jesus went forward in the power of the Holy Spirit to His own hometown as the Agent of God’s mercy to the downtrodden.
Shall we?
