Reaching Out Together, Sermon
Herb Palmer
Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire
October 14, 2007
40 Days of Community, Reaching out Together
Isaiah 58:6-9; Colossians 4:2-6; Luke 5:27-32
Saturday, a week ago, a group of people from the church went to our Lutheran Camp, Lutherhill, near LaGrange. A part of the day was planned for the group to use the low ropes course. One of the challenges in this course is to move people from one platform to another. There were three platforms and two boards, neither of which was long enough to reach across from one platform to another. The key to being successful with this was that we had to work on this together.
During these 40 Days of Community we are talking about doing life together. Today we take a look at reaching out together. We often think about outreach as a challenge; often as a difficult challenge or a challenge we do on our own. What if we changed the way we thought about reaching out; and we understand it as a challenge that we can accomplish together? Just as we did on the low ropes course platforms, getting one another from one place to another… reaching out is not something we need to do alone. We can take the challenge… together.
Before we go any further, let’s clarify something that might seem to be stating the obvious. What are we talking about when we talk about reaching out? Reaching out is a New Testament notion. It is the brain child of Jesus, himself. Reaching out is about a relationship with God. It is not about getting someone to come to our church. It is not about building up church institutions that lead to building up assets. It is not about growing programs.
Reaching out is about a relationship with God. God desires a relationship with everyone. According to Jesus, reaching out is letting someone else know what you know about this relationship with God. Jesus believed that it would be heard as good news; and having heard it, people would arrange their life around this relationship. This relationship God desires with every person, God also wants it to be the desire of our hearts. God wants it to be the passion of every Christ follower to believe that every person’s life would be better lived if lived in a relationship with God.
An example of that is the story about a man named Matthew. Matthew was quite successful; and to have him tell it, his life was going well, even without God. He had a better than average income, a home, and friends. Matthew’s relationship with God had been marginal, at best. Matthew wasn’t even sure about God. Religious people had not helped him to come any closer to God. Religious people acted as thought they believed that Matthew was lost and they should not have anything to do with him. When there was contact, their standard operating procedure was to shame him or to shun him.
Matthew worked as a tax-collector. One day Jesus saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. Unlike other religious people Jesus had a curiosity about Matthew. Neither shaming nor shunning Matthew, Jesus takes a chance and says: “Why don’t you come with me for a while. Let’s learn together what it means to have a relationship with God.” This invitation from Jesus came at the right time for Matthew who seems to be ready to make some changes in his life. Matthew left what he was doing and he went with Jesus.
This is the same Matthew who is credited with writing the first of the New Testament gospels. By what he chose to write, we learn a lot about his faith. Among the things Matthew passed on to us, is that he told the story of the time when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment. Jesus said: The Greatest Commandment is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt. 22:34-40)
What might that story have meant for Matthew who, at one time, had many things of greater value than his relationship with God? What might this teaching of Jesus meant for Matthew, who left everything behind in order to pursue a life in which he would love God with all his heart, soul, and mind?
And it was also, and only, Matthew who wrote about The Great Commission, when Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore 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 that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20a) What might have that meant for Matthew who, at one time served another Lord?
We owe Matthew a deep sense of gratitude for what he left for us to read about faith in God. Matthew, not only wrote about these things, but he took this to heart from the very beginning of his faith journey. Soon after he is invited by Jesus to learn about a relationship with God along with him, Matthew had an office party at his home, inviting his friends; among them are other tax collections. Here reaching out was a challenge done together.
First of all, reaching out to his friends, Matthew doesn’t begin with a serious conversation about sin, death, heaven and hell. That may appeal to some people, I am not sure I know who they are; but for most people it will likely chase them off.
Neither does Matthew begin by inviting his friends to church. He invited them to his home. Matthew wasn’t thinking about what was easy for himself. He was thinking about what was comfortable for his friends. Reaching out is about connecting with other people, loving them for themselves, sharing life with them, praying for them, having a curiosity about them; and, then, waiting for God to give the opportunity for you to share something about your relationship with God.
Secondly, Matthew invites not only the people with whom he worked; he invited Jesus and others who had followed Jesus to also be his guests. Matthew’s new friends were at the same party with his long time friends.
Finally, Matthew would not have come to this point if something had not happened in his own heart. There was a conversion in the way Matthew understood life. At some point, Matthew came to terms with the fact that God needed to be number one in his life. He had learned that he is to love God with his all his heart, soul, mind and strength. But he had to also live it and to order his life around it.
When we start believing that God is number one, how we live and how we relate to other people will change, also. We will also think about planning our life to include other people with whom God is passionate about growing a deeper relationship.
Remember that low ropes challenge course? How Matthew reached out to his friends was very much like moving from one point to another; but he couldn’t do it alone. The low ropes course challenge course is a wonderful example of how to help others grow closer to God.
This is the challenge course where the stakes are high, however. Yet, imagine a world where we have helped one another to successfully reach that place in life to know our loving God as we know God through Jesus Christ. Working at this together it can happen. Will we take the challenge? Back at Lutherhill when everyone reached that final platform there was a lot of cheering; imagine how much more the cheering when what is reached is a relationship with God. Amen
Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire
October 14, 2007
40 Days of Community, Reaching out Together
Isaiah 58:6-9; Colossians 4:2-6; Luke 5:27-32
Saturday, a week ago, a group of people from the church went to our Lutheran Camp, Lutherhill, near LaGrange. A part of the day was planned for the group to use the low ropes course. One of the challenges in this course is to move people from one platform to another. There were three platforms and two boards, neither of which was long enough to reach across from one platform to another. The key to being successful with this was that we had to work on this together.
During these 40 Days of Community we are talking about doing life together. Today we take a look at reaching out together. We often think about outreach as a challenge; often as a difficult challenge or a challenge we do on our own. What if we changed the way we thought about reaching out; and we understand it as a challenge that we can accomplish together? Just as we did on the low ropes course platforms, getting one another from one place to another… reaching out is not something we need to do alone. We can take the challenge… together.
Before we go any further, let’s clarify something that might seem to be stating the obvious. What are we talking about when we talk about reaching out? Reaching out is a New Testament notion. It is the brain child of Jesus, himself. Reaching out is about a relationship with God. It is not about getting someone to come to our church. It is not about building up church institutions that lead to building up assets. It is not about growing programs.
Reaching out is about a relationship with God. God desires a relationship with everyone. According to Jesus, reaching out is letting someone else know what you know about this relationship with God. Jesus believed that it would be heard as good news; and having heard it, people would arrange their life around this relationship. This relationship God desires with every person, God also wants it to be the desire of our hearts. God wants it to be the passion of every Christ follower to believe that every person’s life would be better lived if lived in a relationship with God.
An example of that is the story about a man named Matthew. Matthew was quite successful; and to have him tell it, his life was going well, even without God. He had a better than average income, a home, and friends. Matthew’s relationship with God had been marginal, at best. Matthew wasn’t even sure about God. Religious people had not helped him to come any closer to God. Religious people acted as thought they believed that Matthew was lost and they should not have anything to do with him. When there was contact, their standard operating procedure was to shame him or to shun him.
Matthew worked as a tax-collector. One day Jesus saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. Unlike other religious people Jesus had a curiosity about Matthew. Neither shaming nor shunning Matthew, Jesus takes a chance and says: “Why don’t you come with me for a while. Let’s learn together what it means to have a relationship with God.” This invitation from Jesus came at the right time for Matthew who seems to be ready to make some changes in his life. Matthew left what he was doing and he went with Jesus.
This is the same Matthew who is credited with writing the first of the New Testament gospels. By what he chose to write, we learn a lot about his faith. Among the things Matthew passed on to us, is that he told the story of the time when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment. Jesus said: The Greatest Commandment is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt. 22:34-40)
What might that story have meant for Matthew who, at one time, had many things of greater value than his relationship with God? What might this teaching of Jesus meant for Matthew, who left everything behind in order to pursue a life in which he would love God with all his heart, soul, and mind?
And it was also, and only, Matthew who wrote about The Great Commission, when Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore 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 that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20a) What might have that meant for Matthew who, at one time served another Lord?
We owe Matthew a deep sense of gratitude for what he left for us to read about faith in God. Matthew, not only wrote about these things, but he took this to heart from the very beginning of his faith journey. Soon after he is invited by Jesus to learn about a relationship with God along with him, Matthew had an office party at his home, inviting his friends; among them are other tax collections. Here reaching out was a challenge done together.
First of all, reaching out to his friends, Matthew doesn’t begin with a serious conversation about sin, death, heaven and hell. That may appeal to some people, I am not sure I know who they are; but for most people it will likely chase them off.
Neither does Matthew begin by inviting his friends to church. He invited them to his home. Matthew wasn’t thinking about what was easy for himself. He was thinking about what was comfortable for his friends. Reaching out is about connecting with other people, loving them for themselves, sharing life with them, praying for them, having a curiosity about them; and, then, waiting for God to give the opportunity for you to share something about your relationship with God.
Secondly, Matthew invites not only the people with whom he worked; he invited Jesus and others who had followed Jesus to also be his guests. Matthew’s new friends were at the same party with his long time friends.
Finally, Matthew would not have come to this point if something had not happened in his own heart. There was a conversion in the way Matthew understood life. At some point, Matthew came to terms with the fact that God needed to be number one in his life. He had learned that he is to love God with his all his heart, soul, mind and strength. But he had to also live it and to order his life around it.
When we start believing that God is number one, how we live and how we relate to other people will change, also. We will also think about planning our life to include other people with whom God is passionate about growing a deeper relationship.
Remember that low ropes challenge course? How Matthew reached out to his friends was very much like moving from one point to another; but he couldn’t do it alone. The low ropes course challenge course is a wonderful example of how to help others grow closer to God.
This is the challenge course where the stakes are high, however. Yet, imagine a world where we have helped one another to successfully reach that place in life to know our loving God as we know God through Jesus Christ. Working at this together it can happen. Will we take the challenge? Back at Lutherhill when everyone reached that final platform there was a lot of cheering; imagine how much more the cheering when what is reached is a relationship with God. Amen
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