I. In Luke 19 we find Jesus looking over Jerusalem and weeping over its lost condition. Have you ever wept over your city?
A. Do we love the people of our city?
1. Has the Lord placed on our hearts the desire that none in the Sacramento region should perish?
2. Do we spend any time thinking about those who could so benefit from knowing Jesus? Those who may be on the way to hell, but for us?
3. How will these people ever get on a different course?
B. Up until recently most people chose to come to a building-church to hear the gospel be taught and to partake of the sacraments
C. This purpose of the building-church has literally become outmoded
1. How can I say this? Because less than 18% of American adults attend a building-church
2. The current model is simply proving insufficient for the challenges and mindset of the 21st century
D. For the church to accomplish the Great Commission of Matthew 28, it must discover genuine mission in a new paradigm
1. I have known and believed this for a number of years now, but for a while I had hoped we could have the comforts of a building and be missional. That has not happened
2. Though the verdict may still be out about that possibility, the fact is that the number of adults who no longer attend a building-church has doubled since 1991
3. Even while the adult population grew by 15% during those same years
4. Considerably over half of those who no longer attend are men
5. We also know that if the church won’t or can’t disciple people, the culture surely will.
a) Parents who do not take an active role in their child’s education will find them adopting evolution and atheism easier and quicker than they can possibly imagine
b) Moral standards are hard to find in the public education sectors
c) Biblical principles are all but extinct in these places
E. As such, we cannot simply think our way into a new way of acting. We must act our way into a new way of thinking
II. I’m calling us to a new “buy in”
A. Our whole emphasis must change in order to win the lost
1. We cannot not exist to simply serve consumers
2. Making fat Christians fatter is not redeeming or changingsociety
3. I believe we need to hold ourselves accountable to guard against the trappings of traditional church where Christians typically look at the weekend meeting as their deserved personal respite from life
4. Many a Christian has lapsed into a loathing of the daily life
a) Work is viewed as a necessary means to an end instead of where our ethos should be expressed
b) Salt on a table is there to help enhance the flavor of the food
c) Believers are to be that salt and light
B. Jesus did not live for the weekends. He lived his life in the marketplace – daily
1. Typically not perceived as a safe place
2. And if we center around true mission, as he did, we too will need to live near the edges and margins of society
C. Again when asked why, the answer is statistically clear – most people when asked about Jesus will say, “Jesus yes, the church no”
1. Gandhi once said – “If Christians would only live the life of Christ as described in the bible, all of India would be Christian today”
2. Ask yourself this question: If you were to chart the weekly time you spend learning about or sharing about Jesus?
3. Of that amount of total time, how much of it is either personally in your home or collectively inside a church building?
4. I know the answer is probably alarming
5. Another question: Have you ever led another person to Christ?
6. How did you come to Christ? Altar call or through a personal encounter
7. What would happen if each one of us went to the Lord and asked him to help us lead just two other people to Jesus and to disciple them, to in turn, do the same?
8. This should be a no-brainer
9. I am committed to do this myself
D. The church has lost the culture of personally sharing Jesus with others
1. It seems we will do anything but that
2. There is no end to wonderful programs designed to attract people to Jesus
3. For instance, who decided that Sunday School and the adult service were the best ways to grow in Christ?
a) If you grew up in the church, were you taught as a child how to lead other children to Christ?
b) Were you taught how to be incarnational at your school and in your neighborhood?
c) How will children learn to be incarnational stuck in a classroom?
d) If that’s where we keep them, we will reproduce ourselves
e) Kids can lead other kids to Jesus
E. I have figured out that if I spend just 1/5 of the time I currently spend serving the church, proactively sharing Jesus with individuals outside the church, there would be 2-3 times as many people here today – most of whom would be new believers
F. I will always serve the church, because I love the church, but starting now – I am reordering my priorities and asking God to make the marketplace more life-giving for me
G. Of course, for anything to be life-giving, it must of necessity be ensconced in life
1. Remember my recent teaching? Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve
2. The church has come to think it’s highest calling is to serve Jesus – but he didn’t even ask us to do that
3. Often starts with serving one another and not expecting only the pastor to do that
a) Praying for the power of God to impact each other requires no training or skill – simply ask God to bless someone else
H. For this to happen, our whole paradigm needs to shift. Remove some of the church language
I. Instead of the market place being a place of fear, it can become a playground. I use this metaphor because sharing Jesus ought to be fun
J. Who can play? Everyone
1. When we gather in traditional ways, new ones may be participating earlier
2. No tenured or seniority philosophy
3. New ones can dive right in
4. Everyone will be expected to serve. Not just a few doing most of the work
K. Yes, changing in this way may look awkward
1. Every person, no matter how attractive looking, had some teenage years of awkwardness
2. Most people can’t stand the thought of having someone over to their home unless they can present it in a way that shows no blemishes
3. That’s the way I have wanted Sunday mornings to appear
a) Straight rows of chairs
b) Mood lighting just right
4. Two weeks from today – it’s not going to be like that
III. Conclusion
A. We are going to be spending a little time biblically unpacking someof what I have shared today
1. Won’t always be me teaching
2. May be some group dynamics on Sunday morning
3. More sharing and showing
B. Learning what it means, practically, of having Christ formed in us
C. Ephesians 3 speaks of “making our hearts a home for Christ”
D. What we do becomes an overflowing of the love of Christ in and around us
E. Hopefully we can see the truth of what I’m saying. That we would conclude that this really is what Jesus calls us to
1. Focused time of learning how to share Christ
2. Praying for a spirit of boldness
3. Jesus becomes excited whenever he sees his body do what I’m talking about
4. The Brits have a saying: “In for a penny, in for a pound”
5. Let’s jump in with both feet
- Johnny