On Mission
As a church our mission isn’t just what we do on a Sunday, it is who we are throughout every day of the week. We are a church, fixated on Embracing People, Embracing Jesus, and Empower Leaders.
Week 1, Embracing People
Embracing People
I sat in a meeting recently where I was listening to different people share. They were all Christians but were all from different church and cultural backgrounds.
Throughout the meeting I found myself judging them. One I judged on how they looked and how he shook my hand. Another I judged on their church background and outlook on church.
And after a while I pulled myself up and allowed Jesus to rebuke me. I felt Jesus say to me; “Look how judgemental you are, making judgment on people on irrelevant issues.”
I am embarrassed to share this story. But I am not sharing it for any reason other than to highlight, I just like you have a problem, and I need Jesus.
When it comes to Embracing People, I fall so short of doing it how Jesus calls me to do so.
Just because embracing people is biblical, does not mean it is easy.
Q. While you may not have the same problem as me, share a time you found yourself judging someone. What caused you to judge them like that?
People are difficult. They do things we disagree with; they act in inappropriate ways. They can be offensive. Embracing people can be hard. And embracing people will require you to extend grace towards them.
John 8:1-11 tells this story of Jesus interaction with a woman caught in the act of adultery.
The religious leaders of the time drag the woman to stand before Jesus in front of the crowd he has been talking to demanding him to do something. As according to their law, she deserved death.
The fascinating thing here is... there is only one offender on trial. The woman, not Jesus.
The ancient world was extremely violent, unfair, and biased towards women. Men in the ancient world were rarely held to the same account as women.
This cultural bias was playing out right here in this story. They were biased and had pre-determined the value placed on the man as well as the woman. The man they considered just made a mistake and deserved grace and forgiveness. But the woman, she needs to be punished.
We may not like to admit it, but don’t we do this still today? We let one person get away with something you wouldn’t let someone else do.
You might disagree but think of it this way.
I bet you will show more grace to your family, children, parents, friends, etc., for their actions than someone else you don’t know who does the same.
I would suggest it is human nature to do so. But just because we naturally do it, does not make it right.
Q. Be honest and reflect over your life. How often have you shown grace to one person but not to another who does the same thing?
Q. Share a time you’ve done this.
The people wanting to see the woman put to death keep at Jesus... “What will you do...” and I love this; Jesus does nothing. He just writes in the sand.
Church tradition suggests that what Jesus was writing in the sand was the sins of the people standing before him. Lying, lust, gossip, hate, anger, swearing, stealing, etc.
Here’s the amazing thing. According to Jesus every person is worthy of having grace extended to them.
Q. With that thought in mind, how does Jesus unconditional grace confront us when we consider the grace we extend to people?
The story goes on with Jesus saying to the people demanding the woman be put to death that; sure, put her to death. “But whoever is without sin, you throw the first stone.”
He wasn’t saying what she did was ok, he was saying her sin needs to be extended the same grace their sin is given.
Q. If we are honest how often do, we turn a blind eye to our own personal sin, but (at least secretly) want to see others held to account for theirs?
What happens next is that that one by one, the people ready to stone the woman all one by one, drop their stones and walk away. And Jesus ends up having this dialogue with the woman where he asks her “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
To be clear embracing people doesn’t mean you don’t have prickly conversations with them. It doesn’t mean you don’t pull them up and say that isn’t right. It means that you get in their corner and stand with them regardless of their actions. It rather means that you are full of both truth and grace when you interact with them.
Q. When was the last time you had a grace filled conversation with someone that equally was filled with the truth?
Q. Share a time where someone extended grace to you while at the same time being truthful to you?
Week 2, Embracing Jesus
Embracing Jesus
How often does how we connect with Jesus become a tick box habit? I’ve read my bible, went to church, listened to x-number of sermons, read Christians books, went to small group, etc.?
A tick box connection might make us feel good, but it does not bring about life change.
The hallmark of embracing Jesus is this, allowing Jesus into your life to; convict you of sin, re-direct your path, and thus transform your actions.
If there is none of the above in your connection with Jesus, you have a tick box connection rather than a deep embracing relationship.
Q. Be honest, do you have a tick box connection with Jesus, or a deep embracing relationship?
Q. When was the last time you remember Jesus convicting you of sin and re-directing your path?
Q. Spend some time sharing with the group a story about Jesus convicting you and re-directing your path. What happened in your life because of your following Jesus leading rather than your own desires?
There is this story in the Gospel of Luke 19:1-10 where Jesus has an interaction with a tax collector (tax-collectors where deemed the vilest of sinners of their day) named Zacchaeus.
The story goes that as Jesus was making his way through the town of Jericho there were crowds of people lining up wanting to get a glimpse of him. Zacchaeus was one of these people. But because he was short, he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. As Jesus passed under the tree Zacchaeus had climbed, he looked up and called Zacchaeus down and told him that he needed to go to his house for dinner that evening.
This angered everyone, especially the religious people, because Zacchaeus wasn’t deemed worthy of hosting someone like Jesus.
While the people are telling Jesus that he should not be going to such an evil person's house, Zacchaeus does this in verse 8, he says “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
When Jesus heard Zacchaeus say this he said, “Salvation has come to this home today.
This wasn’t a tick box connection, this was Zacchaeus saying, I have just been convicted, re-directed, and my actions reveal my life has been transformed.
Zacchaeus life was transformed from encountering Jesus, and this perfectly demonstrated in his actions. The same should be said of us. When we accept Jesus, we are transformed into a “new creation.” While we aren’t made perfect, nor expected to be perfect. We should be able to look back over our lives and see how our actions have been transformed as a result of embracing Jesus.
Q. Share how your life has been changed as a result of following Jesus?
Q. What evidence is there in your life that you have been made a new creation?
Zacchaeus here in this story was saying “Yes” to Jesus. And that was reflected in his actions.
Yes, to Jesus is a choice so many of us have made, but I wonder if we truly understand that saying “Yes” to Jesus requires us to say “No” to something else?
If Zacchaeus said yes to Jesus, but at the same time yes to his personal desire to make money at all costs and add a little more tax on the tax bill. By default, he’d be saying no to following Jesus in action.
Likewise, if we say yes to Jesus, and at the same time yes to living however we want, all we have done is said yes to a tick box connection that produces zero life change.
Q. Share about a time where you're saying yes to Jesus caused you to have to say no to something you really wanted to do?
Q. Considering embracing Jesus goes deeper than just ticking ‘spiritual boxes’ (reading the bible, going to church, praying etc.) what areas of your life need to change today, to step out of a tick box connection, to a life changing relationship with Jesus?
Homework
Spend the week praying this over psalm over your life.
Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
As you pray it, allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you and highlight what areas of your life he wants to remove.
Leader Action
Split the group up into pairs and encourage the pairs to pray for one another throughout the week. Encourage them to share with their partner what the Holy Spirit has been revealing to them personally as they have been praying this over themselves.
Week 3, Empowering Leaders
Empowering Leaders
God has a plan in store for you. The issue we often have is that we always seem to think that God’s plan for us is to do incredible things, nearly as if God’s plan for us is to be some kind of hero in our story.
Let me state it as simple as this. God’s plan for you is to become the person her created you to be, which is this; ‘To be holy.’
The word holy is used over 600 times in the bible and it means; pure, morally blameless, set apart for holy use.
This is a word that depicts God. He is pure, morally blameless, set apart, He is holy. Not us.
However,
This is Gods purpose for your life, to be Holy.
Q. Stop and ponder the word Holy; Pure, morally blameless, set apart for holy use. When considering your life and God's desire to make you Holy, does the meaning of this word reveal to you how far away from Holy you are? Explain how so.
The bible uses some big words we never use in life, one of them is this word called sanctification.
2 Thessalonians 2:13
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit making us holy. But here is the thing, you will never embark or move forward in the process of sanctification unless you allow Jesus to lead you.
There is a story in Matthew 14:22-33 where Jesus comes walking to the disciples on water. The story starts with Jesus sending the disciples off in a boat while he stayed back to pray. While the disciples were crossing the lake, a storm blew up and caused the water they were sailing to become very rough.
At around 3am in the morning, Jesus came walking towards them on the water. In fact, in Marks account of this story it says that Jesus intended to walk straight past them.
Theologian David Garland says...
The verb parerchomai is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as a technical term to refer to a theophany—those defining moments when God made “striking and temporary appearances in the earthly realm to a select individual or group for the purpose of communicating a message.1
Jesus intending to walk straight past them was not Jesus intending to leave them in their time of need. It was Jesus attempting to get their attention.
A common statement I hear is, “I feel God is distant,” or “I am struggling to feel God at the moment.” Often it is used when people find themselves in the middle of a storm or a difficult season.
A thought here is that perhaps it isn’t that God is distant, but rather he is walking past you trying to get your attention.
Q. Have you ever gone thought a season where it felt like God was distant?
Q. Looking back could it have been that God felt distant because he was trying to get your attention?
When the disciples see Jesus coming towards them, they freak out thinking it's a ghost. But Jesus calls out to them and reassures them that it is him. Upon hearing this Peter calls out, “If it is you, call me to come to you walking on the water.” So, Jesus called him, and Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus on the water.
Here’s the thing.
Sanctification (the process of being made Holy) can never happen inside the boat. Its comfortable inside the boat. It might be scary and unnerving at times, but we stay there because it is at least as comfortable as we can get.
The truth is all of us at different times hide away from Jesus' voice in a boat. Your boat might be, your busyness, your ability to battle through, your success, intellect, your something?
Our boat is often discovered by asking ourselves this question.
Q. “What is it that most produces fear in me—especially when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?
What I find so fascinating about this story is that 12 disciples saw Jesus' walking on the water. 12 disciples heard his voice. But only one disciple (Peter) was willing to follow his voice and step out of the boat.
Sanctification (the process of being made holy) happens when we follow Jesus leading, regardless of how uncomfortable it is.
Q. Share a time you followed Jesus leading into somewhere uncomfortable. What happened as a result of that?
Stepping out and following Jesus leading could be a multitude of things. It could be anything from a job change, sharing your journey of faith with a friend, to saying no to something that Jesus does not want you doing.
Q. Is there anything in your life you feel Jesus prompting you to do, but the un-comfort that will come with stepping out keeps you from doing it?
Q. If so, what is the next step, to step from where you are into where Jesus is leading you?
Leader Action
Split the group into “accountability pairs.” encourage them to connect during the week and share with each other what their current boat is, and what they feel Jesus is leading them to do. Have each pair commit to holding each other accountable to following Jesus leading and stepping out of the boat.
End the meeting by praying over one another. Specifically praying for boldness in following Jesus leading.