Connecting with Others Part 2

  • Michael Dennis
  • Jan 10, 2010
  • Series: Vision

Welcome to North Village Church.  This morning we are going to be in Luke 5.  You can go ahead and find it in your Bible.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, in the beginning of the New Testament. 

 

This morning we are going to continue to talk about where the church is going.  Last week we talked about connecting with others and how Jesus has created, called and equipped us to be involved in the lives of others.  I know that can sound a little scary sometimes, but it is simply being aware of other people.

 

Last week we talked about why we are doing this.  We live in a city where 1.5million people in the city, 200,000 people in our area, which is a little overwhelming, but if we could find 3-5 people then maybe we could make a difference. 

 

That is why we created the 3, 2, 1 cards in your seat to make it is as easy as possible to be involved in the lives of other people, however, before we can really get into it we need to talk about something really sneaky that could distract us from our vision this morning.  It is really sneaky, really subtle, and it could stop us before we start.  It is so sneaky that it could nullify everything we do, and it’s called self-sufficiency. 

 

There are some of us who hear a challenge like 3, 2, 1 and there is something in you that wants to accomplish it.  You like goals, you like challenges, you like to-do lists, and there is something in you that likes to cross it off your list.  You are a “do” oriented person.  Your childhood idol was G.I. Joe and you ready to go.   

 

There are some of us who hear the challenge of 3, 2, 1 and you are immediately deflated.  Your childhood idol was Eeyor and you wonder how you could ever do something like that.  Some of you go to the extreme that you might not even try, and even lie about trying because you don’t want to look bad.  You think, “Oh, I could try, but I would probably mess up.”

 

This morning we want to remove those responses because neither one is a biblical response because they are both rooted in self-sufficiency, and avoiding self-sufficiency is one of the sneakiest parts of our spiritual life because it is difficult to identify.  I wrote down some characteristics of self-sufficiency:

 

  • Self-sufficiency is when we tell ourselves if we work harder we can do it
  • Self-sufficiency is when we quit before trying
  • Self-sufficiency is when we measure our effectiveness by results
  • Self-sufficiency is when we compare ourselves to others
  • Self-sufficiency is when our attitude is determined by our production

 

But the gospel is so much greater than self-sufficiency because we can’t do this in our effort, but only through clinging to Jesus and His work on the cross because 1 Peter teaches us He died for our self-sufficiency, He died for our insecurities, He died for our inadequacies, He died for self motivation, He died for our sins, once, for all, and He didn’t die for it so that we can go back to self-sufficiency.  That is why Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  It is why He says, “Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.”  Did you know there is rest in Jesus?  

 

Sometimes people think when we go to Jesus we need to get our life in order, we need to be better, we need to work harder so we start going to church, start reading the Bible, start praying for our friends, and somehow we think if we are doing more then Jesus is going to love us more and if we are doing less Jesus is going to love us less, and it feels like this constant yo-yo.  but that isn’t the gospel.  The gospel is Jesus comes to us, Jesus embodies all the good that could ever be done, Jesus takes all the bad that could ever be done, He dies for it, He overcomes it, and that is why He says all who are thirsty come to me and you will never thirst again.  He has done it all. 

 

Now here is where we struggle.  When we read Scripture and see that Jesus has done it all we feel this weight removed, we are thankful, but we are also paralyzed a little because we are not sure what to do and we over analyze it.  Am I doing enough?  Am I doing too much?  I am doing better than that guy?  But she looks like she is doing better than me and we start to panic.  Some of us just give up and stop all together, some of us start working harder, but either way it doesn’t feel like Jesus has quenched our thirst, it doesn’t feel like His burden is light and His yoke is easy, it doesn’t feel like we have found rest.  It feels like we are exhausted. 

 

Jesus gives us some insight into this in Luke 5 when Jesus comes along side a tax collector.  Look at verses 27-29 of Luke 5. 

 

27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me." 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. 29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

 

Do you know who the tax collectors are?  They are the traitors.  They are some of the most corrupt people at this time.  They are Israelites who have abandoned their devotion to Israel and now work for Rome.  They cheat, manipulate, take bribes from the rich, and take advantage of the poor.  They work for the people who have enslaved their people and the collect taxes.  Nobody likes people associated with taxes.  Right Dan?  Jesus is not only talking with him, but goes to his house with other tax collectors which is a sign of friendship in their culture.  This is highly offensive to the religious people at the time.  Look at verse 30.  

 

30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

 

There are a couple of observations we can make about this passage.  The first is how Levi responds.  What does verse 29 tell us?  Levi throws a party.  It is a simple way of being others centered.  He invites people into his home, invites over other tax collectors, invites Jesus and throws a party.  Some of you didn’t know you were so others centered.  You have been throwing parties and living out Scripture and you didn’t know.  It is that easy.  Just as a side note isn’t that a great picture of Jesus, sitting and dining with the people who were considered the worse types of people?  Sometimes Jesus is presented as someone who is unapproachable, distant, intimidating, and yet Luke 5 describes him at a party with tax collectors. 

 

The second observation is how the Pharisees respond.  The Pharisees are the religious leaders of the day and they respond how we might think Jesus would have responded.  “Grumbling, complaining annoyed, eating and drinking with sinners.” They had just seen him heal the sick, cure the diseased, and then claim to forgive sins, which are all claims of His deity, and yet now Jesus is sitting with tax collectors.  Who does Jesus think He is? 

 

This morning you need to know Jesus didn’t claim to be a good person, a good teacher, a prophet, or a religious leader, but God who comes and walks among the lowliest of low and brings a message of forgiveness and purpose.  This was completely different than what the religious leaders expected.  It was completely different than merely adding religious behavior.  Jesus clarifies in verse 31.

 

In verse 31 we see our third observation, which gives us a great deal of insight into why we might have this feeling of exhaustion that we talked about earlier.  In verse 31 Jesus tells us He didn’t come for those who are healthy, but for those who are sick.  This statement has deep insight into the gospel that is often neglected and overlooked.  There is a little bit of sarcasm in verse 31 because it creates an illusion that there are those who are healthy, and there are those who are sick, but Jesus knows who is healthy and who is sick, and the gospel teaches us that all of us are sick and only one who is healthy is Jesus.   

 

He creates that illusion because the religious leaders thought of themselves as the healthy ones but it also implies that they don’t need Jesus.  We do that today in very subtle ways when we find ourselves drifting toward self-sufficiency.  When we elevate ourselves over others based on our morals or our accomplishments and we think , “I can’t believe they did this, said that, their children did this.”  We are drifting away from the gospel, toward self-sufficiency. 

 

When we find ourselves wallowing in discouragement and defeat and think, ‘I should have done better, I am horrible, nobody cares about me” and slowly we are drifting away from the gospel and toward self-sufficiency. 

 

It is drifting away from the gospel because we don’t see ourselves as sick and needing Jesus, but as healthy and we should be doing better.  The gospel is simply Jesus came for the sick and we are all sick and in desperate need of Jesus. 

 

Augustine, a great theologian in the 300’s, described by the world as a saint, but when he described Himself said, “Lord, save me from the wicked man that I am.”  He was crying out for Jesus. John Knox, possibly the greatest preacher in the history of Scotland said, “In my youth, middle age, and now after many battles, I find nothing in me but corruption”.  He desperately needed Jesus. The Apostle Paul describes himself as the chief of all sinners and desperately needed Jesus.  Jesus isn’t someone we needed when we were sick, when we were kids, when we have bad things happen, but we need Him all the time. 

 

Self-sufficiency is the opposite of the gospel and puts the pressure on us, what we are doing, what we aren’t doing, and the result tends to go in one of two directions.  It is either arrogance because we are impressed with ourselves, or discouragement because we should be doing better. 

 

As a church and Christ-followers we need to be on guard against self-sufficiency and this morning I want us to do something really practical together as a church to help us drift more toward the gospel in our daily lives.  To help us walk through this exercise we are going to specifically apply it to our 3, 2, 1 challenge as a church.  We are going to make this as simple as possible:     

 

Before we even start the first thing we need to do when it comes to any spiritual challenge is examine it to see if it is biblical.  Does it reflect Scripture?  For us, 3, 2, 1 in its base form is simply a tool that challenges us to be others centered.  When we look at Scripture we see this modeled throughout and specifically in Jesus when He says I didn’t come to be served, but to serve.  If it doesn’t show up in Scripture then it doesn’t matter, right? 

 

Second thing we do is pray.  Most of the time we see something in scripture we are filled with a variety of feelings.  We might feel excited, anxious, fearful, doubt, and we might feel our heart race a little faster.  We start thinking, “What if I do it wrong, what if I mess up, what if other people do better than me?”  Our mind and heart starts racing and that is why we need to pray.  We take those thoughts and feelings to Jesus.  Involve Jesus in the conversation as quick as possible.  Go to Him with our fear, our anxiety, our doubts, maybe frustrations, or even anger.  Remember He came for the sick.  It doesn’t mean when we prayed a prayer or walked an isle that we became healthy and we don’t need Him any longer.  We need Jesus to be involved as quick as possible.  Side Note.  That feeling you have will apply to any command in Scripture.  You feel this way when you see love your husband, be patient, not to gossip, self-control, fill in the blank.  Our thoughts and feelings will start to race in a 100 different directions and we need to go to Him in prayer. 

 

Second Response.  Turn to Scripture, involve truth, that is why we want to read it, listen to it, and let it fill our hearts and minds because Scripture will remind us that through faith in Jesus we have been empowered and indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  That is God living inside us.  Scripture teaches us we have been given every spiritual blessing in heaven.  We are blessed.  We need Jesus, but it doesn’t mean we are incapable.  We are not defeated by sin, Scripture describes us as conquers, we are victorious, we are children of God, no longer in the dark, but in the light as children of righteousness, a new creation, made alive, and we have been given wisdom, strength, boldness, confidence, and anything Jesus calls us to He has given to us the ability to respond.  That is why His yoke is easy and His burden is light, that is why we find rest, that is why we will never thirst again because it doesn’t come from us, but from Him.  When we neglect prayer and neglect being reminded of all that we have been given in Jesus then we will turn to self-sufficiency and result in arrogance or discouragement.   

 

Third Response.  Application.  How does it happen?  What are the baby steps?  Again this could apply to any truth in Scripture, but specifically to our challenge of 3, 2, 1 of being others centered.  We need to think of people.  If we skip our first and second response and go straight to the third response we might think, “I don’t really know anyone, but as we go to prayer and encouraged through Scripture we might take a minute and think about the part of Austin we live and think about the people that are already around us.  Where do people already gather?  Where do people spend their time? Where are memories being made?  There are likely festivals we can attend as families, parties in our neighborhoods, holidays with family, school roles like PTA, mom’s groups, our jobs, and they are full of people that already exist around us.  Remember this isn’t of our own effort.  We aren’t impressed with what we accomplished.  This is Jesus, Holy Spirit, and us coming together.  It doesn’t lead to arrogance because this didn’t happen alone.  It doesn’t lead to discouragement because we aren’t doing this alone.  It isn’t competing with your friend or spouse to be more spiritual, it isn’t guilt from a religious leader; it is a powerful experience as we connect with the eternal God.

 

Fourth Response.   Action.  This week I am going to pray for this friend, call a friend, set up a lunch with a friend, go on a walk with a friend, get involved at my kids school, attend a family event, help my neighbor with some landscaping projects, or go on a bike ride with a friend.  It can look a lot of different ways.  If we started with the action it could lead to exhaustion, but this is a process that started with Jesus and He is going to empower us and create those moments.  There is a lot of grace in this process and Jesus is just cheering us on every day excited about what we are going to experience.   Which leads us to our last response.  

 

Fifth Response.  Reflection.  What did I learn from the experience?  What was more difficult than I thought?  What was more enjoyable?  What would I do different?  What am I excited to try again?  We go back to prayer and reflection and it might happen while you are reading Scripture, and it might happen while you are driving in traffic, sitting in a meeting, talking with a friend, and sometimes Jesus will speak a strong word to us because there is something we are holding on to that isn’t of Him.

 

I don’t mean to reduce the spiritual life to a 5 easy-step process like an easy bake oven, but it is important not to skip that first and second step and go straight to the third or fourth response because it will result in self-sufficiency, exhaustion, arrogance, and discouragement; and ultimately we become like the religious leaders of the day who did all the “right” things on the outside but internally there was a lack of any relationship with Jesus. 

 

Ultimately, that I what we want to experience.  A relationship with Jesus and we believe when we are reading about Him, walking with Him, doing things He is doing that we are going to experience a really powerful spiritual life.  I think that’s what we were created for and I think that’s what we all want and hopefully these 3, 2, 1 cards will help us move in that direction. 

 

Next week we are going to start a series on a biblical understanding of marriage and relationships.  We are going to do an in-depth study of Genesis 2 and look at what the Bible teaches us about marriage, husbands, wives, sex; it will be a lot of fun!