We are like the lost sheep that has been found.
Someone has reached out to us at various times in our lives to re-connect us to
the church and inclusion in God’s Kingdom on Earth. We have found meaning,
purpose and a new spiritual life of joy in Jesus. The Readings challenge us to
get up, go out, find and bring others home to Jesus. They teach us how to do
this by:
· Being Discerning
but not judgemental
· Being Loving,
patient and forgiving
· Being Courageous
in outreach
· Remembering
apathy is a failure to love our neighbour
1. Being
Discerning but not Judgemental
Jesus is giving a stinging rebuke to the Pharisees and
teachers of the Law in the parable of the lost Sheep:
· They
had set themselves up as judges over the people and spent all their time
focussing on rules and interpretations of the Law
· They
did not love God or their neighbour
· There
was no love, patience or forgiveness for sinners – only determining appropriate
punishment
· Un-forgiveness
had eaten away and destroyed their souls
· They
had died spiritually put themselves outside of God’s Kingdom
· Religious
pride separated them from both God and neighbour
· They
would never go out, find and bring the lost back to God
2. Being Loving,
Patient and Forgiving
Jeremiah reminds us that God had been reaching out to
people for 4,000 years. The Old Testament is a history of God reaching out in
love through Abraham, Moses and the prophets. His goal was to draw them into a
day to day love relationship with Him of love:
· Paul’s
letter to Timothy reminds us of Jesus continuing this work in reaching out to
Paul – the most famous persecutor of Christians
· Paul,
like many of us, had been overwhelmed by the dramatic way in which Jesus
displayed his “…immense patience as an example for those who would believe in
Him…” (1 Tim. 1.16)
· The
love, patience and forgiveness of God had broken through Paul’s intellectual
defences and pride,
· Having
experienced personal forgiveness, Paul knew he could depend completely on the
grace of Jesus Christ to keep him in God’s Kingdom
· His
experience of the Holy Spirit as guide, teacher and healer had given him a
completely new life – the old Paul was dead
· The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in forgiveness was a completely new concept that
he was determined to share with people anywhere
3. Being Courageous
in Outreach
The work of prophets, pastors, priests and teachers is
to warn people of the consequences of failing to respond to God’s love in
reaching out to them. We live in a time when speaking the truth of Christianity
regularly and often leads to persecution:
· Globally
more Christians were killed for their faith last year than at any time in
history
· Persecution
has driven Christians underground or out of many countries
· In
Canada Christians who remind people of harsh Biblical warnings against abortion, euthanasia, false
teachings, pagan religions, sexual immorality and unbelief have been persecuted
as criminals
· My
trip through Greece, Turkey and Albania changed my life by making Paul’s
example of courageous outreach in the face of persecution and hardship real.
4. Apathy in
Outreach is a Failure to Love our Neighbour
In our time it is dangerous socially, politically and
professionally to say things about religion that could be interpreted as
insensitive or hate speech. We excuse ourselves from outreach because “we do
not want to offend anyone” – or we have to “respect their viewpoint”
· This
is a failure to go out into the night, find the lost sheep and bring them home
to Jesus and an eternal spiritual life of joy
· If we
really love people we are compelled to share the good news of Gods’ grace,
love, forgiveness and healing
Outreach tests our
love
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