Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 6:1-13. He said that we go from deep dependence infused with divine authority to offer warm welcome and full pardon. Lector: Meagan Baker
Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Mark 6:1-13. He said that we go from deep dependence infused with divine authority to offer warm welcome and full pardon.
Lector: Meagan Baker
Earlier in our series in Mark, we said Jesus provides us warm welcome and full pardon
Both are fundamental to the good news of his gospel.
If you receive pardon from prison, but are released into a hostile environment, that's only partially good news.
If you're set free to a life of violence and isolation, that's not good news.
If a warm welcome is extended to you, but you're guilty and stuck in prison, that's not good news either.
If a beautiful home with a loving family and full pantry is waiting for you, but you're not allowed to leave your cell, that's not good news.
We need full pardon from our sin and warm welcome home into the family of God
This evening, we have the opportunity to offer warm welcome to hundreds of guests as a way of embodying their full pardon
The way we love and welcome others helps them understand the way God welcomes them home in and through Christ. Paul puts it this way in Romans:
Welcome each other just as Christ has welcomed you so that God will be given glory.
-Romans 15:7
Tonight, there is more than hot dogs, costumes, and candy being shared
Through our warm welcome, we are announcing their full pardon.
No effort is too small, no gesture insignificant tonight.
I know many of us think sharing the gospel, following the mission of Jesus, needs to be big and impressive. Let me remind you of why we do this event.
12 years ago, we surveyed our neighbors.
Asked questions like: what's the best part of this neighborhood?
How have things changed for the better here? For worse?
What do you miss? What do you long to see changed here?
Over and over, those neighbors shared how sad they were that the neighborhood wasn't safe anymore
Many didn't let their kids trick or treat anymore. Too dangerous.
So...we decided to let kids trick or treat in our parking lot.
Trunk or Treat wasn't really a thing in 2012.
This wasn't a church growth strategy or an outreach event.
We were trying to show our neighbors the warm welcome and full pardon of Jesus by meeting a deep longing of our neighborhood.
The Kingdom of God is safe. Did you know that?
But that's hard to see and believe when your streets are dangerous.
So we try to give them a glimpse of it one night a year.
Maybe that doesn't sound spiritual enough, or strategic enough, for you.
Let's consider the strategy of Jesus' mission.
Jesus doesn't have a 50 page how-to manual for his disciples.
His mission is not to paint by numbers. The Bible is far more stories than instructions, too.
For instance, chapter 6 begins with even more rejection. In his hometown!
Their resistance was so great, he could hardly do any miracles. A few healings.
Jesus was extraordinarily disturbed by their unbelief.
Right after this, Jesus sends the twelve out in pairs to teach, heal, cast out demons
Imagine being the disciples, watching Jesus' family, relatives, neighbors, all reject him, and then he says "hey fellas, now it's your turn."
What's going on here?
If the timing of this mission was not strange enough, look at what he says to them:
He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler's bag, no money. He allowed them to wear sandals but not take a change of clothes.
-Mark 6:8-9
What kind of strategy is this?
Some of you recently sent your first child to college.
What a monumental, significant moment in life, both for you and your child!
What did you send them with? Probably some money in the bank, took them to their dorm, made their bed, filled their mini fridge, made sure they had a phone and charger...here's your first aid kit, here's campus police etc. etc.
But not Jesus. Doesn't even permit a change of clothes.
It isn't so crazy to think we're going to pass out candy as part of the mission of Jesus, amen?
Let's dig a little deeper...consider how Jesus is sending the disciples
He's sending them from a posture of dependence.
We have seen this over and over over in Mark's gospel: it is the needy that Jesus welcomes, the hopeless and helpless that he heals.
And the same way we come to Jesus is the same way we are sent by Jesus.
Needy, dependent, helpless on our own. He wants them to feel this, so in this instance he tells them not to bring anything.
Sent from a posture of dependence...but with divine authority.
Did you catch what Mark told us?
He called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.
-Mark 6:7 (emphasis added)
Whose authority are they given? JESUS'! Not their own. That's the strategy.
Deep dependence infused with divine authority is the strategy of Jesus' mission.
And that's what makes our mission so mysterious.
We have been given this same kind of authority, the real presence of Christ by faith, but we're not exactly sure how it will go. Listen to the instructions:
"Wherever you go," he said, "stay in the same house until you leave town. But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from you feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate."
-Mark 6:11
They go places expecting God to show up, waiting for someone to welcome them.
Who is the kind of person they're looking for? A welcoming, curious person.
So many of us think that our job is to go and win.
When winning, rather than announcing, is the goal, we do what competitors do.
We train our skills. We build confidence in our ability to show up and do the work.
But if the Lord doesn't build the house, the laborers work in vain, amen?
We go with a posture of dependence infused with divine authority to those who welcome us with curiosity.
What about those who don't?
Jesus said to leave them. Shake the dust off our feet. Abandon them to their fate.
What's their fate? I don't know!
Maybe it's eternal judgment, maybe it's another couple years of sinning and suffering so that they'll be curious with the next person God sends.
But it's not yours to fight that person. Call them to come home to God.
Call them to turn from their sin and come home to God.
And if they say no, if they fuss and fight, move. On.
Move on to the next person. We spend far too much time working with people who are hostile, unwelcoming, un-listening.
What I do if I'm married to that person?? What do I do if I live next door? If they're my mom or my dad or my kid?
From a posture of deep dependence infused with divine authority, you love them.
You serve them. "Really? That's it?" Yes. In nearly every instance, that's it.
And let the stories of these past chapters inform your expectations.
See, Jesus hasn't sent us out on a three day excursion like these disciples.
He's sent us out for life. It's our LIVES, not a weekend, not a retreat. Lifestyle.
This all began with a story about a farmer scattering seed...do you remember?
Potent seed that grows anywhere.
After telling these stories, Jesus gets out of a boat and BAM demon possessed man runs out to him.
Jesus gets into a boat again. Gets out, huge crowds, BAM leader of synagogue runs out to meet him.
Jesus follows him, BAM bleeding woman stops him.
Then Jesus decides to go home and is rejected...so. He. Leaves.
Chapter 5 is curious people WHO INTERRUPT JESUS.
So Jesus stops. He receives the interruption.
Offers them warm welcome, generous presence, healing touch.
Others reject him. Does Jesus pout and whine and fuss and fight? No, he moves on.
So, we go from a posture of dependence, infused with divine authority, prepared for interruptions.
We have to let go of some of our days, our strategies, our priorities, and see what God might be up to.
When folks start fussing and fighting, we move on. It's OK. We're OK.
And I know this doesn't sound very innovative, very effective or productive.
But this was the strategy of Jesus. And I'll just point out two things to you.
First, our neighborhood was a DUMP a decade ago. And it's not today.
Our neighborhood was profoundly unsafe a decade ago, and it's not today.
Is it perfectly safe? No. Is it FAR SAFER, yes.
When we started trunk or treat, we were putting a seed in the ground.
Small thing. It was something we could do in the name of Jesus, so we did.
A little sprinkle of safety in a dangerous neighborhood.
We've fixed up this building that was deteriorating.
We took down chain link fencing. Put in landscaping. Passed out candy.
Is our neighborhood safer because we did trunk or treat? Is our neighborhood more beautiful because we've taken care of our building?
No, I'm not saying that's why...but I'm also not saying it ISN'T!
The Lord is moving in this place, and we got to be a small part of that.
Sowing seeds. Steady, faithful drips of warm welcome and full pardon.
We are a deeply dependent people, but we are infused with divine authority.
So, we do what we can in Jesus' name and trust him with the results.
Does everyone who lives in this neighborhood agree with what we believe?
Of course not. And you know what we say to them? "Here's some candy, here's a hot dog. We love you, let us know if we can help you."
There was never a long term plan for Trunk or Treat.
No tracks or evangelism training classes for all the guests.
Just Christian's trying to create a space that felt like the KoG, offering a warm welcome in hopes that some would hear about their full pardon.
And here, 11 years later, our neighborhood is different.
It will not be obvious that the mysterious mission of Jesus, with all of its lack of strategy, actually works...until it's obvious that it works.
Which brings me to my second and final point...
If you are skeptical that people doing small acts of faithfulness, from a posture of deep dependence filled with divine authority, will actually get anything done, will actually produce fruit, will actually work...to you I say BUT WE ARE HERE!
Isn't that so delightful? WHITE PEOPLE IN INDIANA WORSHIP JESUS!
White: Jesus was not white. His disciples were not white. None of his friends were white. He is not like us, they were not like us. But here we are! Lines of ethnicity, culture, language, and geography have been crossed and we are here.
In INDIANA! The other side of the world!
Deep dependence and divine authority carried the gospel of Jesus to every corner of the world.
This is our mission: deep dependence, infused with divine authority, small acts of warm welcome to announce full pardon.
Let's Pray.