Bring Someone With You
Made for Mission: Week 6
March 1st, 2020 CCCAG
Scripture- Luke 8
Good morning. We are in the last week of our six-week series called Made for Mission.
Over the past five weeks we’ve talked about how all Christians have been called by God to join in His mission to reach the world.
We’ve talked about what we’re supposed to say, who we are supposed to say it and why we should live on mission to begin with.
If you have missed any of them, they are on the podcast. The links as well as the scriptures we are looking at today are on the back of your bulletins.
A quick question to start us out
By a show of hands, how many of you know your great grandparents first names?
Have many of you know your grandparents first names?
I use this example to show you a truth-
You are only a few decades away from being totally forgotten.
A great, motivational thought for a Sunday morning isn’t it?
Now here is the good news. God’s calling, on your life, is always bigger than your lifetime.
While just about all of us can’t go back three generations in our own family trees, that is not the case with our spiritual family. Based on how the Bible reads I have a suspicion that in Heaven we will be able to study our spiritual family trees forward and backwards.
Since God is outside time, I wonder if we will be able to see how ultimately we became followers of Jesus.
I’m wondering if we will be able to follow up to see the ripples of our life time in impacting those in the future spiritually.
Kind of like ancestory.com but on steroids.
Today we are going go back to a familiar portion of scripture that has been used a lot this series. It’s a scene in the life from a disciple of Jesus named Peter.
We’ve talked about Peter a lot in this series. Peter is one of those insert foot open mouth kind of guys. He was always getting into trouble for speaking before thinking.
If you’ve ever done that before then you’ll be able to relate to him.
If you ever make bonehead mistakes, Peter is your guy. For some of us, he might even be your patron saint.
Today we are going to read two stories found in the book of Luke.
Read Luke 8:40-42
Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.1 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
Jairus meets Jesus and His disciples just as they get off the boat.
His description as the synagogue leader was a big deal. In that culture think city council member or even mayor of that area.
From a church growth perspective, this could be a really big opportunity for Jesus and his movement. If a synagogue leader were to become a follower, he might influence the whole city and even the surrounding region.
I’ve heard reports that Justin Bieber has become a Christian.
For anyone over 45 or so- he’s a famous pop music star. This this generations Elvis, or if you are a really seasoned person, Frank Sinatra.
So often the church loves to take advantage of a celebrity’s influence to spread the gospel but I don’t think that is normally how God chooses to work.
God loves doing extraordinary things through very ordinary people.
We will see that in a minute. Back to the story-
I don’t know what Jesus is thinking but I bet the disciples are not blind to the opportunity at hand which meant that Jarius is the immediate priority for them.
Check out what happens next.
Read Luke 8:42b-48
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,[c] but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
It’s almost funny how this scene starts. Here Jesus is, in a massive crowd of people, all pressing in to get his attention.
Jesus suddenly stops mid stride to ask, “Who touched me?”
It would be like walking through Walmart on Black Friday, or trying to exit Lambeau Field after the Packers play and then stopping to ask who touched you. It makes no sense to ask this.
Everyone is touching you!
Also- What also makes no sense is that Jesus stops on his way to a huge ministry opportunity to talk to someone that everyone else ignored, and not even just ignored, but actively shunned.
There are a lot of things we can probably guess about this woman. She’s poor (in another one of the gospels we read that she had spent all her money trying to find a cure but nothing had worked.)
She’s alone. We sure don’t hear of anyone else with her in this scene.
She’s been seriously shamed and shunned in this city. The religious leaders taught that diseases were a punishment from God, and anyone who had this disease was unclean.
Still with all that baggage she takes a massive risk.
She pushed her way through the crowd to get to Jesus
Think of what she had to endure?
“What are YOU doing here?” “Go home where you belong!”
She was shoved to the side and given dirty looks. Yet in all this, the woman is relentless to get to Jesus.
It pays off and her whole life is changed in a moment.
One of the things we learn from this scripture- You have no idea when or where God wants to use you.
You’re greatest impact will probably come at a time you’re least expecting it.
Something else I want you to see- this woman she has been suffering with this disease for 12 years. She’d prayed for God to remove it from her multiple times a day for over a decade.
If you walked in here and you’ve been carrying around a prayer request for what seems like forever, learn the lesson from this woman. Don’t give up. Run to Jesus. There is always hope and He can do more in a moment than anyone or anything else can do in a lifetime.
Read Luke 8:49 -56
While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”
When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”
They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
They get to Jairus’ place and his daughter is already dead.
I can picture some of the disciples mumbling. “If we didn’t have that stop along the way I bet we would have made it.” Jesus grabs a couple of the guys and the girl’s parents and goes up to see the dead girl.
Jesus says to them, “she’s just sleeping.”
Imagine being in that situation, and hearing Jesus say that. Probably out of pain the parents, his disciples and others close to the family nervously laugh.
Jesus ignores the apparent lack of faith, grabs the girls hand and raises her from the dead. Think about this girl’s life, what a story for her to share. Think about the parents.
In one moment- The Synagogue leader of the area just became a Jesus follower.
How old was this girl? 12 years old. How long did the woman suffer from bleeding? 12 years.
Consider this-
God had been waiting for this amazing day for 12 years.
What this means for you-God already picked the day when He is going to answer your greatest need and is eagerly waiting to see the look on your face?
I’ve read these two stories before but to be honest I think I missed the most impactful part. While Jesus healing the bleeding woman and raising the pre teen from the dead were huge, I don’t think they were the most impacting. Here it is… “When Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother
Why Peter? He had just questioned Jesus in public a minute and a half ago.
Then, Jesus brings him along to Jairus’ house and Peter laughs when Jesus remarks that the girl is sleeping.
Why is Jesus bringing Peter upstairs significant?
It goes back to the main idea this morning-
God’s calling on your life is bigger than your lifetime. Repeat
But, That’s only true if you join God in his mission.
So, Bring someone with you.
As you go live the mission you were made for, don’t go alone. Bring someone along for the ride.
This may be the single greatest leadership lesson we learn from the life of Jesus.
You could make a strong case that Jesus is the greatest leader of all time. He never wrote any books.
He never held a public office.
He never went outside one small area of the world.
He was only on the public scene for a little over three years and then died at age 33.
Yet here we are 2,000 years later and there are over 2 billion people following him from all corners of the earth in hundreds of different languages. The movement he started is growing faster now worldwide than ever before.
That’s pretty good leadership.
So, Bring someone with you.
You know how many times it says Jesus took his disciples and they went somewhere? With the exception of a few personal prayer times, every time in the Gospel’s Jesus went somewhere he took others with him.
Jesus always showed great intentionality to share in His ministry.
Jesus brought people with him.
In fact, consider the last words of Jesus to His disciples before he returned to heaven-
Matthew 28:19-20.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
In the Greek the literal translation is “As you go- make disciples”.
As you live, brings others with you, and help make them disciples.
Think about the different applications to this command.
One is definitely that as you go through your life intentionally share Jesus with the people you meet
The other application I’ve never heard someone say but it’s obvious from watching Jesus’ life.
Bring people along with you and disciple them while you go through your day to day responsibilities.
If Jesus is truly in the driver’s seat of your life than it’s not so much you bringing him with you but instead he’s bringing you with him.
What he did for the disciples 2000 years ago, Jesus still wants to do in our lives today. As he disciples us now, He invites us to do the same with others.
Let me give you some Practical examples.
Parents, bring your kids with you.
Parents, bring your kids friends with you too.
Maybe it’s a Saturday night sleepovers. Obviously talk to their parents first before you bring them to church but your family may be the closest to Jesus that your kids friends ever get.
Another way- As you serve in a ministry, invite someone to serve with you. Would you like to try being an usher or greeter with me one time. Bring someone with you. We are getting big enough now to actually have an usher team, maybe God is poking one of you right now to help organize that.
With friends and family, bring them with you as you try to live out your faith. Invite them to church.
That’s why we have movie nights
Wednesday Nights,
fellowship meals
Non- confrontational ways to bring people in and introduce them to Jesus.
Several studies have shown that that average church goer in North American brings on average 0 lost people with them to church in a given year. (the number is so low that they have to round down to nobody)
The reason is fear and it’s on a few levels.
Let me address that-
Really there are just two possible outcomes if you bring someone with.
1) Your assessment of them might be wrong. You invite someone to come with you on mission and you think they can’t handle it
But you’ll miss out on what God can do. Those people who you think would be the worst people to bring to church, might ones that surprise you and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.
2) Or, it could be that your right, but God is going to use their failure to grow them.
Anybody here ever grew through a failure before? That’s actually the primary way we all grow anyways.
For example, parents—your job is not to protect your kids from ever failing, your job is to raise them up to trust God.
So what happens with Peter?
Jesus could have left Peter outside- after all, you never know what Peter is going to say or do that is just plain dumb.
But in this case, I think Peter got the lesson- Jesus can raise the dead. Even death is not an insurmountable barrier when it comes to Jesus.
What if Jesus didn’t bring him?
Then Peter wouldn’t have learned that lesson.
But he did learn it. Flip over to Acts 9.
If Jesus hadn’t taken a risk and brought Peter with HIM, this future scene probably wouldn’t have ever happened.
Acts 9:36-42 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”
Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed.
This scene is already looking familiar. Peter is just following the example of Jesus here.
Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
Peter heals Tabitha just like Jesus had healed Jairus’s daughter. Many people came to believe in Jesus all throughout Joppa simply because Jesus took Peter with him years earlier.
God is a “connecting the dots.” Kind of God.
We have no idea what God wants to do through us and when He wants to do it.
This is why God’s calling on your life is bigger than your lifetime.
As I said in the beginning, we are all 1 or 2 generations from being completely forgotten.
There is only one thing will last.
Not matter how big your current troubles are, they won’t last
No matter how sick you are, it won’t last
No matter how big of a mess you are in, it won’t last.
The only thing that will outlast you and carry into eternity is if you bring someone with you on this journey.
Yeah, no one will remember you in 30 years and that might be depressing for some.
but having a few extra people in heaven you helped influence to follow Jesus-
That’s forever. And the impact from that will be celebrated throughout eternity.
Bring someone with you.
All rise.
What is God calling you to?
Who can you bring with?
Who in your life does not know God, but as you seek to pursue after God yourself, who will you invite to pursue after him with you.
They may laugh- that’s ok. Because, you’ll be in good company.
Let’s pray
