Introduction:
Bring in the newspaper, and at the very beginning of the sermon, take it out, open it up and ask, “Would anyone mind if I preached today’s sermon while reading the paper?”
If others say no, then suggest that we really need to work on finding more appropriate ways to engage in meaningful conversation.
If others say yes, than ask ‘Why?’ and suggest that there are other ways to disconnect from people that may not be so obvious, but are still a turn off.
Transitional Statement:
Connecting with people was important to Jesus because He desired to have them know the Truth and to be set free. In today’s text we find Jesus stepping outside the box, again, to connect with sinners, while the Religious leaders of that day were fit to be tied because of this. We learn that Jesus ate with these sinners, yet this simple act of eating for that culture was far more than the physical act of chewing, but it represented the very act of sharing one’s very life.
Transition from last week to this week:
Last week we preached on the fact that God is awakening people to know Him, and the church better not put them to sleep. Today I want us to take this step to consider how we can connect with people in order to share His life with them.
What we find when we look at the life of Jesus, was that he was able to connect with the masses because He was approachable. He allowed people to come to him with their problems and took the time to minister to them
“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.”
Luke 4:18-19
Some people, I have seen, give to the poor a lot of meaningless words, never visit the prisoner or shut in, give the oppressed even more oppression.
I know you and don’t see any of you wanting to do that, but I must caution you that good intentions don’t get the job done. You can have chairs set up to invite dialogue, you can have a scrumptious meal to invite your friends to, but that does not mean that people are automatically going to open up. Your good intentions must be fleshed out. Today it is my hope to give you some principles in God’s word that will help us know what it means to connect
To further help each one of you along this path, I invite you to think of our harvest dinner next month, and what a great opportunity it will be to connect with people. Hopefully by the end of this sermon, you will all be, at least, wanting to see beyond the Turkey and pie, and stuffing, to know that God has made you to connect with others in order to tell them the Good news.
ILLUSTRATION:
I know that I have a lot to learn about connecting with others. Though I do my best, I see my own need to grow. But, there are bright spots like last Wednesday when I went to Heaven Health Care to hold worship service. I determined to go armed with my Bible alone, with the desire to connect with them first and then opening up the Scripture. I usually spend only ½ hour there, but that day, I spend an hour. The people in the room were pretty much all opening up to the issues that were laid before them. God will help us to connect. And that is where I long to be, to not have any prearranged speech to give out to people whom I talk with, but in the process to show them that God is mighty.
This does not come easy, yet this is our mission as a church. In preparing for this sermon, I could not help but to think of another Scripture found in the Gospel.
36 He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ’The old is better.’"
Luke 5:36-39 NIV
One of the many things that Jesus sought to get across was that a person needs a total transformation when it comes to following Him. Far too often, people are cerebral Christians, knowing a lot of scripture, but not knowing how it is meant to impact their life. And I find this to be true when it comes to connecting with others. By living in the 21st century, in the United States we are so adapted to plans and schedules that we only can seemingly do our best when it is on the agenda.
The only agenda that Jesus had was to
…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.”
Luke 4:18-19
I wonder what would happen if we just as a church decided to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, with this being our only plan? I am hoping that we can learn how to step outside the box, per se, when hosting this harvest dinner.
Transition to the first point of the sermon
Illustration: to be funny
Let me ask you as question: Do you think it really matters to Jesus if you don’t get the drumstick this year?
I. One way that we immediately can connect with our community is to understand that loving our neighbor fits like a glove in God’s manner of connecting with us. Listen to these words
Love for Enemies
27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6
43 "You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48
One simple yet powerful truth we find here is this: don’t pick your friends according to what they can do for you.
If God Almighty accepted us on the basis of what He could get out of the relationship, we would be sunk. But listen to the last verse of this text: Be perfect, or literally, be complete as your heavenly father is complete. Completeness is illustrated here for us by Jesus by showing us that love of whosoever, whenever, in whatever condition he is found is simply walking in the footsteps of Daddy. That is connecting my friend.
Now, last week was a perfect example of how we could show love to our neighbor. We may never meet this family who lost their son whom Paulo asked for help for. Yet this was not our basis for ministering to them. Sometimes, we may second guess ourselves when doing ministry by looking at what we don’t have, perhaps thinking, for instance that this family needs some big bucks and all I got is some lousy change. Well, Jesus made a big deal of a woman who likewise did not have much but it wasn’t the amount that he marveled over, but her willingness to give.
Too here in our text, the religious leaders knew that the sinners whom Jesus was eating with had nothing to give him, while they because of their sin, could seriously damage his image. Rather, Christ knew his purpose, and for that soul in need, He needed to be there.
Don’t let the Devil rob you of the joy of connecting with our community by loving them.
II. Another way that we connect with our community is by giving a clear testimony to the individual of God’s call on their life.
The Rich Young Man
18 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ’Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’
21 "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
26 Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"
27 Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
28 Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
29 “I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."
Luke 18 NIV
With all the senseless killings of recent days, with the war on terror, with scandals in big business and in our congress, let us remember from last week’s sermon that there has been a 92% increase in the number of unchurched Americans in the last thirteen years. In 1991 there were 39 million unchurched Americans compared with 75 million currently. (2004)
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=38
People, like this rich young ruler, who may have a lot of the world’s goods are searching for something beyond what they can experience with their five senses.
Note how Jesus connected with him by acknowledging that where he was in life did not bring fulfillment. And note that Jesus did not pull out the four spiritual laws (PULL ONE OUT FOR EMPHASIS) and go through it. In fact he saw right through this man into his heart and nailed him against the wall.
My friends, I want you to listen well to what I am about to say:
We are living during a time when it is not uncommon for churches and individuals to do all they can to connect with an individual to make him feel accepted, while allowing the claims of the Gospel to be secondary.
In looking back on our text, I am somewhat curious what those sinners were so eager to hear from the lips of Jesus
1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Luke 15 NIV
From a reading of the sayings of Jesus it must have been something about the Kingdom of God, and yet these sinners were desirous to hear him. We too must desire nothing less than to share the good news with people.
III. A final way for us to connect with our community is to show them mercy. That is give them what they don’t deserve.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27 He answered: " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ’Look after him,’ he said, ’and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." ?Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Luke 10:25 – 37
Show them mercy. Give them what they don’t deserve.
Mercy is simply that. Giving something to someone who does not even deserve the gift.
Now the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a scant 17 miles long, but it was robber infested. The road that the people we know is likewise too short, and it too is pitted with robbers.
There are robbers today my friends that are long the road of life. Just consider some of them.
The robber of Time, who takes from you precious moments of life, and never gives back anything in return.
The robber worldly success who lures its players into a death trap of learning that the only way to succeed in the world is to beat out the other person.
The robber of Self Sufficiency that teaches its students the importance of the maxim if you don’t take care of yourself no body else will.
And it is upon this road today, that we today as the Solid ROCK FM Church find ourselves. Though we know if our heart that we don’t want to be like the Religious leaders of that day and skirt the opportunity to show mercy, unless we know not just the mind of Jesus on this issue of connecting, but also grasp his heart –new wine in new wineskins- we will not get it.
The sinners whom Jesus talked to and ate with were already beaten up sufficiently by the religious leaders of their day, and here Jesus was being the Good Samaritan, and he was to pay the price for crossing the line, for stepping outside the box of religious protocol.
Conclusion
At the outset of this sermon, I invited you to consider how we can apply the principles of connecting with others to our Harvest Dinner so as to make our dinner more than just an occasion to eat together, but an occasion where we can share our lives and our Joy of Salvation.
Let us pray.
