Living lives of integrity by through obedience and worship...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James, who was the brother of Jesus. And James, as Senior Pastor, wrote a letter that addressed early followers of Jesus when it came to how they were to live out their relationship with Jesus in their day to day lives, we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle that Living on mission requires that we live lives of integrity. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that God has given us to be the vehicles that reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we must live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others.

In this section of this letter, we will see James reveal for us four different ways that we live lives of integrity as we live on mission. Wednesday we discovered that we live lives of integrity when we respond to others the right way and that we live lives of integrity when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus. Today, as we jump back into this section of this letter, we see James reveal for us a third way that we live lives of integrity in James 1:22:

 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Now if you grew up in church or went to church for any length of time, you probably heard this phrase. But what exactly does this church mumbo jumbo talk phrase actually mean? This phrase, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today would have sounded something like this: Make sure that as a follower of Jesus you are living your day to day life in a way that actually follows the message and teaching of Jesus. Make sure that you do not deceive yourself into thinking that hearing the message and teaching of Jesus is the same as actually following the message and teaching of Jesus. Make sure that you do not deceive yourself into thinking that knowing a lot about Jesus is the same as knowing and following Jesus”. James then paints for us a timeless word picture to drive this point home beginning in verse 23:

 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Now this morning, I imagine that one of the first things that all of us did when we woke up this morning was to look in the mirror. Some of us looked in a small mirror. Others looked in a full length mirror. Some of us even looked at a hand held mirror on the way to church this morning. But, why did you look in the mirror? We look in the mirror to contemplate and consider what we look like, don’t we? We look in the mirror because the mirror exposes what we really look like, doesn’t it? Because the mirror doesn’t lie, does it?

Have you ever woke up in the morning, only to discover a new patch of acne on your face? Or a new wrinkle? Or a few more grey hairs? Or a few less hairs? You did not realize what had happened overnight, until you looked into the mirror. And then you wish you did not look in the mirror. And the stronger the mirror, the more it exposes.

Two years ago, when we took the students to New Orleans for the challenge conference, we stayed in a hotel that had one of those professional concave mirrors. You know the mirror that exposes every single pore on your face. That mirror revealed and exposed things that I had previously never seen on my face. Like how poorly my electric razor shaved my face. You see, we look in the mirror to either verify that we look o.k. or to expose the things we need to change before we head out into public.

Now, if you were to look in the mirror in the morning to see that you had a bunch of toothpaste still on your lips and had only shaven half of your face and that your hair was all out of place, how would you respond? You would not respond by leaving the toothpaste on your lips, would you? You would not respond by leaving half of your face unshaved, would you? You would not respond by leaving your hair a mess, would you? Would you take the time to contemplate and consider what you saw in the mirror and then walk away and do nothing to deal with what was exposed when you looked in the mirror? 

James explains that is exactly what the person who deceives themselves into thinking that hearing the message and teaching of Jesus is the same as actually following the message and teaching of Jesus does. James explains that is exactly what the person who deceives themselves into thinking that knowing a lot about Jesus is the same as knowing and following Jesus does. James point is that the message and teachings of Jesus are a mirror that exposes areas in our life that are out of place and need to be taken care of. The message and teachings of Jesus are a mirror that exposes areas in our lives that do not line up with the life that Jesus calls us to live.

However, the person who deceives himself into thinking that hearing the message of teachings of Jesus is the same as following the message and teachings of Jesus responds to what is exposed by the message and teachings of Jesus by walking away from those teachings and doing nothing with those teachings. James then contrasts the person who deceives himself into thinking that hearing the message of teachings of Jesus is the same as following the message and teachings of Jesus with one who actually follows the message and teachings of Jesus in verse 25:

  But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Now when James uses the phrase to look intently, this phrase is a word picture of one stooping down in order to examine something from a closer point of view. James is explaining that the person who looks in the mirror of the message and teachings of Jesus with a focus on not simply hearing, but actually contemplates and considers what the message and teachings of Jesus have exposed and are calling them to do, and then acts by following and aligning one’s life with the message and teachings of Jesus, that person will be the recipients of God’s blessing, or divine favor, in their lives. 

And it is here that James reveals for us the reality that we live lives of integrity when we obey the message and teachings of Jesus. As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we respond the message and teachings of Jesus by obeying them. We live lives of integrity when we respond to what the message and teachings of Jesus expose in our lives by addressing those areas in our lives so that our lives are aligned and following the message and teachings of Jesus.

So here is a question to consider when it comes to living on mission: Are you obeying the message and teachings of Jesus in your life? Are you deceiving yourself into thinking that hearing the message and teaching of Jesus is the same as actually following the message and teaching of Jesus? Are you deceives yourself into thinking that knowing a lot about Jesus is the same as knowing and following Jesus? Because we live lives of integrity that are living on mission when we obey the message and teachings of Jesus. James then reveals for us a fourth way that we live lives of integrity in verse 26:

 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Now James statement here, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “If anyone considers themselves to be living a life of integrity with God in their relationship with God, and yet does not hold in check his tongue, they have deceived themselves at the core of their being and their worship of God is empty and lacks truth”. James here is revealing that we are hypocrites when our worship of God does not match up with our words towards other.  James is echoing the words of his brother Jesus, who said the following in Luke 6:45:

"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

James then explains that, by contrast, worship that is pure and full of truth before God “is to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Now when James refers to visiting widows and orphans in distress, this phrase conveys the sense of exercising oversight and care in order to look after widows and orphans that were experiencing trouble and distress. In the culture of the day, as it is today, widows and orphans were marginalized by society and were especially vulnerable. In addition, James explains that worship that is pure and full of truth before God results in a life that persists in displaying the character of Jesus in the midst of a world that is hostile to God and places itself in opposition to God and God’s kingdom.

And it is here that James reveals for us the reality that we live lives of integrity when we worship Jesus with our words and our actions toward others. As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we worship Jesus with our words to others. We live lives of integrity when we worship Jesus with our actions towards others that reveal and reflect Christ in our character and our conduct toward others.

 So here is a question to consider when it comes to living on mission: Do you worship Jesus with your words and actions toward others? Or do you view worship as something that occurs for an hour on a Sunday? You see, worship, simply put, is a response. Worship is a response that is focused on who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do. Worship is not simply singing, reading your Bible and prayer, although it can involve singing, Bible reading, and prayer. Worship is a lifestyle; worship is a life that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to God’s character and activity in the world.

And the timeless reality is that living on mission requires that we live lives of integrity. Living on mission requires that we lives of integrity that respond to others in the right way. Living on mission requires that we lives of integrity that we accept the message and teachings of Jesus. Living on mission requires that we lives of integrity that strive to obey the message and teachings of Jesus. And living on mission requires that we lives of integrity that worship Jesus with our words and actions to others.

So this morning, how are you doing when it comes to living a life of integrity?

Living lives of integrity by our response to others and the message and teachings of Jesus...

This week, we are examining how, as followers of Jesus, do we address the accusation and objection of hypocrisy by followers of Jesus and the church, by looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of James. Yesterday we saw James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to living on mission that addresses this accusation in that living on mission requires that we live lives of integrity. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that God has given us to be the vehicles that reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we must live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others.

We talked about the reality that the word integrity does not mean perfection. Instead, the word integrity literally means to be whole and undivided. Integrity is a consistency between attitudes and actions. Integrity is a consistency between character and conduct. Integrity is a consistency between what we say and what we do. Integrity is a consistency between our public life and our private life. Integrity is a consistency in what we strive for and what we call others to strive for. Integrity is walking the walk and not just talking the talk.

Today, we will see James reveal for us two of four different ways that we live lives of integrity as we live on mission. James reveals for us the first way in James 1:19. Let’s discover that way together:

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

James begins this section of his letter by stating this you know, my beloved brethren. Now this statement, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “My beloved followers of Jesus, make sure you pay attention and put into practice in your day to day lives what I am about to say”.

James then provides three commands to followers of Jesus throughout history: Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In other words, James is commanding followers of Jesus to respond to others in a way that is swift to listen to others and slow to express ourselves to others. As followers of Jesus, we are to be swift to listen to others and slow to express our displeasure to others. James then provides the reason why we are to be swift to listen to others and slow to express our displeasure towards others by stating the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. But what does that mean?

James point here is that when we respond to others by expressing our displeasure to others, we will not bring about or accomplish what is right in God’s sight. When we respond to others in a way that does not reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we do not advance God’s kingdom mission. And it is here that we see James reveal for us the reality that we live lives of integrity when we respond to others the right way.

As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we are swift to actively engage others by actively listening to others. We live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we are slow to express our opinions to others and instead take the time to listen to their opinions. We live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we are slow to express our displeasure and disapproval of others.

So here is a question to consider when it comes to living on mission: Do you respond to others the right way? Do you respond to others in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus by being swift to listen and slow to speak and anger? Those are challenging questions, aren’t they? I know they are for me. But we live lives of integrity that are living on mission when we respond to others the right way. James then reveals for us a second way that we live lives of integrity in verse 21:

 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Now when James uses the phrase putting aside, here, this phrase literally means to lay aside or rid oneself of. What James commands followers of Jesus to rid themselves of is all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness. In other words James is commanding followers of Jesus to rid themselves of any moral corruption or wickedness that is prevailing in our lives. 

Now an immediate question that arises here is, “well Dave how do I do that?” James provides the answer by explaining that we are to in humility receive the word implanted. Now when James uses the phrase receive the word implanted, this phrase literally means to accept something that is already present and established so as to indicate your approval. The word here refers to the message and teachings of Jesus that had already been established in their lives.

James then explains that it is the message and teachings of Jesus that reveal for us how we can be rescued from our selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. And it is here that James reveals for us the reality that we live lives of integrity when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus.

As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus by not being full of ourselves, but by humbly placing ourselves under the authority of the message and teachings of Jesus. We live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus so as to rid ourselves of the moral corruption and wickedness that can cause us to stumble in our relationship with Jesus. And we live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in our lives reflecting God’s transformational activity in our lives as we become more like Jesus.

So here is a question to consider when it comes to living on mission: Are you accepting the message and teachings of Jesus in your life? Are you humbly submitting your thinking to the message and teachings of Jesus? Or are you arrogantly submitting the message and teachings of Jesus to your thinking. Because we live lives of integrity that are living on mission when we accept the message and teachings of Jesus.

Friday, we will see James reveals for us two additional ways that we live lives of integrity...

Living on mission requires that we live lives of integrity...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together in a sermon series entitled living on mission. During this series our hope and our prayer is that we would enable, equip and empower us to live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus on mission as a missionary to those that God has already placed in our spheres of influence who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

And if you are here this morning and you do not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing, let alone whether you should follow Him or live for Him, here’s the thing. What you will discover during this series is that there is a way that those who are followers of Jesus are supposed to live. And there is a way that followers of Jesus are supposed to talk about the claims that Jesus made about who He was and what He came to earth to do.

And my hope for you is that you would see what Jesus calls His followers to so that you can see how He feels about you and what He calls His followers to do when it comes to engaging you. That way, you can cut through the bad experiences that you have had with Jesus followers to see the truth when it comes to what Jesus calls His followers to be truly about as they live around you.

This week I would like for us to address one of the most common objections and accusations that those who are far from God have when it comes to Christianity and the church. If you are not sure you buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing, you may have made this accusation against Christians. And if you are here and you are a follower of Jesus, you may have heard this accusation made against the church and Christians.

The accusation and objection that I want us to address is this: the church and Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. Maybe you believe that the church is full of hypocrites. And if we could have a conversation at the courtyard coffeehouse, one of the first questions that you would ask me is “Well Dave, don’t you see that the church is just full of hypocrites? That’s why I don’t like to come to church, because the church is full of hypocrites. How can you say that the church is not full of hypocrites?”

If we were able to have that conversation, here would be my response. First, what do you mean when you say that Christians are hypocrites? The word hypocrite literally means to join in playing a part of pretending. The word hypocrite was used to describe someone who was an actor in the Greek theatre. In our culture today, we would refer to such a person as a poser.

A hypocrite creates a public impression that is at odds with ones real motivations or purpose. A hypocrite, by definition, is someone that says “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. A hypocrite fails to follow the message and teachings that they impose on others. However, a follower of Jesus who strives to follow the message and teachings of Jesus, yet sometimes falls short is not to being a hypocrite. Instead they are being a human being.

So if you define a hypocrite as someone who falls short of the standard that they are striving to live, then we are all hypocrites. If that is how you define being a hypocrite, you will fit in quite well at our church. You would fit in quite well here because even if you don't buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing, you have a standard that you set for yourself when it comes to how you live your life. And there are times that you fail to live up to the standards that you set for yourself, don’t you? So if that is how you define a hypocrite than you will fit in here quite well.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that there are followers of Jesus who are hypocrites. There are followers of Jesus who say “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. And hypocrisy in the life of a follower of Jesus incredibly hinders our ability to live on mission.

So how do we as followers of Jesus address the accusation and objection of hypocrisy by followers of Jesus and the church? How are we as followers of Jesus, to respond to this accusation? To answer these questions, I would like for us to spend our time together by looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of James. This letter was written to early followers of Jesus by a man named James, who was the brother of Jesus.

To fully understand the significance of this letter, here is a question to consider: what would it take for you to believe that your brother was God? What would it take? What is so interesting is that in the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, James is someone who did not believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be. So what would it take to make a skeptic like James become a follower of Jesus that eventually became the Senior Pastor at the church in Jerusalem?

What it would take would be seeing your brother raised from the dead, which is exactly what happened to James. You see the transformation of James from skeptic to being a pastor and leader of the new movement called Christianity is one of the strongest evidences for the resurrection of Jesus and truth of Christianity. And James, as Senior Pastor, wrote a letter that addressed early followers of Jesus when it came to how they were to live out their relationship with Jesus in their day to day lives.

And it is in this letter to early followers of Jesus that we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless and true principle is this: Living on mission requires that we live lives of integrity. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that God has given us to be the vehicles that reveal and reflect Jesus to others, we must live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others.

Now to fully understand this timeless and true principle, we first need to wrap our minds around that the word actually means. The word integrity does not mean perfection. Instead, the word integrity literally means to be whole and undivided. Integrity is a consistency between attitudes and actions. Integrity is a consistency between character and conduct. Integrity is a consistency between what we say and what we do. Integrity is a consistency between our public life and our private life. Integrity is a consistency in what we strive for and what we call others to strive for. Integrity is walking the walk and not just talking the talk.

Now a natural question that arises here is “Well Dave that sounds great, but how do I live a life of integrity? And how can I grow when it comes to living a life of integrity? In a section of this letter, we will see James reveal for us four different ways that we live lives of integrity as we live on mission. Tomorrow, we will see James reveals for us the first way…

Living on mission requires inviting those who are watching us to experience Jesus with us...

This week, we are looking at an event from the life of Jesus that is recorded for in the gospel of Luke. Wednesday, we looked on as a Jewish tax collector named Zaccheus responded to Jesus offer to hang out with Him by scurrying down the tree and warmly welcoming the opportunity to extend hospitality to Jesus. However, the crowds, upon witnessing this encounter between Jesus and Zaccheus began to loudly and publicly express their disapproval over Jesus wanting to hang out with people like Zaccheus.

 Zaccheus then responded not to the crowds, but to Jesus with a powerful statement: "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." Jesus pursuit of Zaccheus; Jesus desire to hang out with and develop a relationship with Zaccheus had changed Zaccheus heart. Instead of being driven to be greedy, Zaccheus was now driven to be generous. Instead of being driven to extort money from others, Zaccheus was driven to restore what he had taken by extortion to others. And to demonstrate his sorrow for wronging others, Zaccheus was willing to pay restitution equal to four times what he had extorted from others.

Zaccheus had been watching and hearing about Jesus. Zaccheus had heard about the message and teachings of Jesus, either first hand or through his tax collector friends. And what Zaccheus had seen and heard about Jesus as he watched Jesus led Zaccheus to want to get closer to Jesus. Zaccheus heart was changed as a result of Jesus offer to hang out and enter into relationship with him. And Zaccheus change of heart resulted in a change of the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back to God. And that change of trajectory resulted in a change of behavior that lined up with the message and teachings of Jesus. Luke then records Jesus response to Zaccheus in Luke 19:9:

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham."For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Now when Jesus says that salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham, He is not saying that Zaccheus experienced salvation as a result of what he had done for Jesus. Salvation had come to this house because Zaccheus responded to Jesus pursuit and desire to hang out and have relationship with Him by believing, trusting, and following Jesus; Zaccheus actions were the proof of what was produced as a result of his changing the trajectory of his life that was moving far from God back towards God by placing Jesus as large and in charge of his life so as to strive to follow His message and teachings.

Jesus then explains that this deliverance from a life separated from God as a result of selfishness and rebellion through Him was due to the fact that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Now, I don’t know about you, but a natural question that arises here is “why is Jesus talking in the third person here? Why is Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of Man? What is that all about?

When Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, Jesus is using the phrase to identify Himself with the promised Messiah that was predicted and proclaimed in Daniel 7:13. Here is what Daniel, over 500 years before the birth of Jesus, said about the Messiah:

"I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

So when Jesus says that He is the Son of Man, He is identifying Himself as the Messiah that had come from God as God in a bod to usher in the kingdom of God here on earth. Jesus here is revealing the reality that as the Son of Man, Jesus came to seek and bring back to relationship with God those who were outsiders that were far from God and had been lost as a result of their selfishness and rebellion.

As the Son of Man, Jesus came on a mission to rescue from eternal separation from God and bring back to God those who were outsiders that were far from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. Jesus came on a mission to provide all humanity the opportunity to experience the forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for, but had been separated from as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, through His life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

And it is here, in this most unlikely encounter, that we see God reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless and true principle is this: Living on mission requires inviting those who are watching us to experience Jesus with us. In order to embrace and engage in the mission that we have been given by God to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others, we must invite those who are watching us to experience Jesus with us.

Living on mission requires that we create space for those who are watching us to hang out with us as we live our day to day lives so that they can experience Jesus as we experience Jesus. Living on mission requires that we invite those who are watching us to experience genuine and authentic community with us as we experience genuine and authentic community. And living on mission requires that we invite those who are watching us to explore faith during corporate gatherings and community group gatherings so that they can experience Jesus as we experience Jesus.

So here are some questions to consider: Are those around you who are watching you and are far from God comfortable enough with you to hang out with you? Are you inviting those who are watching you and are far from God to experience Jesus with you?

An Invitation that Results in Transformation...

This week, we are looking at an event from history where, as Jesus was passing through the city of Jericho, a man named Zaccheus, who was a Jewish tax collector, tried to get close to Jesus. However, because of the large crowds that had also come to meet and greet Jesus, Zaccheus was unable to get close enough to Jesus. We discovered that Zaccheus was hated and despised by the crowds that had come to meet and greet Jesus. Zaccheus was an outsider who had no status or stature in the eyes of the community. Zaccheus was small in stature in the eyes of the community who viewed him as a traitor who was far from God and was an outsider when it came to how God viewed him.

Luke then explains that Zaccheus responded to his small stature by running ahead of Jesus and the crowds so that he could climb a sycamore tree. You see, Zaccheus climbed the tree because Zaccheus had already been watching Jesus from a distance. Zaccheus was already familiar with who Jesus was. Zaccheus had heard the word on the street from his tax collector friends when it came to Jesus. And now Zaccheus wanted to be in a position where he could see Jesus more clearly. Zaccheus viewed the crowd as an obstacle to him getting to know Jesus at a deeper level. So Zaccheus was willing to do whatever it took to get a closer look at Jesus. Today, we will see Luke revel how Jesus responded to seeing a grown man in a tree in Luke 19:5:

  When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."

Now to fully understand the significance of Jesus response here, we first need to understand something about the culture of the first century. You see, in the culture of the day, staying at one’s house was more than simply getting a meal and a bed for the night. Instead, in the culture of the day, staying at one’s house was a sign of a desire to develop a deep and personal relationship with someone.

So by asking to stay at Zaccheus house, Jesus was communicating to Zaccheus that He desired to develop a relationship with him. Notice what Jesus says to Zaccheus here. If Jesus was talking to Zaccheus in the language we use in our culture today, the conversation would have sounded something like this: Zaccheus, hurry up and come down here. I need to you to get down from that tree and meet Me. I need you to hurry up because I must stay at your house. I must stay at your house because I want to get to know you and hang out with you so that we can develop a relationship between us. So get down here.”

Now I want us to take a minute to place ourselves in this story as Zaccheus. You’re Zaccheus. You are an outsider who is despised and hated. You have your own category. You are a tax collector and sinner. You have no standing or stature in the community. Nobody wants to hang out with you, never mind have a relationship with you. And now Jesus wants to hang out with you so that He can develop a relationship with you. What would you be thinking at this point? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see Zaccheus response in verse 6:

And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly.

Luke tells us that Zaccheus responded to Jesus offer to hang out with Him by scurrying down the tree and warmly welcoming the opportunity to extend hospitality to Jesus. What is so interesting is that the word gladly here is the same word that is translated as joy in our English Bibles. This word refers to having an attitude of delight in life that is not based or tied to circumstances.

You see, in spite of the fact that he was viewed as an outsider and was hated and despised, Zaccheus was fully focused on the reality of Jesus desire to have relationship with him. Zaccheus experienced an attitude of delight in life that was based on how Jesus viewed him in spite of his circumstances or how others viewed him. Luke then gives us a glimpse of how the crowds responded to Jesus engaging Zaccheus in verse 7:

 When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

The crowds, upon witnessing this encounter between Jesus and Zaccheus began to loudly and publicly express their disapproval. Their complaint, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “What is Jesus doing! Does Jesus not know who He wants to hang out with and develop a relationship with! I mean Zaccheus is a tax collector and sinner. Zaccheus does not measure up to our moral standards and expectations. Zaccheus is an outsider who is far from God. Jesus should not be hanging out or getting to know people like Zaccheus.”

Now here is a question to consider: If you were to place yourself in this story, who would you be? If you were to place yourself as a character in the story, would you be a part of the crowd? If you were to place yourself as a character in the story, would you be Zaccheus? Who would you be if you were to find yourself in this story?

What I find so fascinating about Jesus is that those who were outsiders who were far from God felt comfortable to hang out with the Son of God, while those who thought they were insiders who were close to God were very uncomfortable hanging out with the Son Of God. Luke then reveals for us how Zaccheus responded to Jesus and the crowds in verse 8:

 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much."

Luke tells us that the crowd’s accusations against Jesus for wanting to hang out with such an outsider like him provoked Zaccheus to stop in his tracks as he walked with Jesus toward his home. Zaccheus then responded not to the crowds, but to Jesus with a powerful statement: "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much."

You see, Jesus pursuit of Zaccheus; Jesus desire to hang out with and develop a relationship with Zaccheus had changed Zaccheus heart. Instead of being driven to be greedy, Zaccheus was now driven to be generous. Instead of being driven to extort money from others, Zaccheus was driven to restore what he had taken by extortion to others. And to demonstrate his sorrow for wronging others, Zaccheus was willing to pay restitution equal to four times what he had extorted from others.

Now the big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word for what happened to Zaccheus here is the word repentance. The word repent literally means to feel remorse that results in a change of one’s mind and heart. To repent means more than simply feeling sorry for something you did; to repent means that you feel sorry for what you did and the sorrow that you feel drives you to change something in your life. To repent is to change the trajectory of your life that is moving away from God back to God.

 Zaccheus had been watching and hearing about Jesus. Zaccheus had heard about the message and teachings of Jesus, either first hand or through his tax collector friends. And what Zaccheus had seen and heard about Jesus as he watched Jesus led Zaccheus to want to get closer to Jesus. Zaccheus heart was changed as a result of Jesus offer to hang out and enter into relationship with him. And Zaccheus change of heart resulted in a change of the trajectory of his life that was moving away from God back to God. And that change of trajectory resulted in a change of behavior that lined up with the message and teachings of Jesus.

Friday, we will see Jesus response to Zaccheus...

A Wee Little Man and A Tree...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together in a sermon series entitled living on mission. During this series our hope and our prayer is that God would equip and empower us to live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus on mission as a missionary to those that God has already placed in our spheres of influence who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

And if you do not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing, let alone whether you should follow Him or live for Him, here’s the thing. What you will discover during this series is that there is a way that those who are followers of Jesus are supposed to live. And there is a way that followers of Jesus are supposed to talk about the claims that Jesus made about who He was and what He came to earth to do.

And my hope for you is that you would see what Jesus calls His followers to so that you can see how He feels about you and what He calls His followers to do when it comes to engaging you. That way, you can cut through the bad experiences that you have had with Jesus followers to see the truth when it comes to what Jesus calls His followers to be truly about as they live around you.

This week, I would like for us to look at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke where we will see Jesus have another unlikely encounter. And it is in this unlikely encounter that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. So let’s look at this encounter together, beginning in Luke 19:1:

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

Luke brings us into this most unlikely encounter by providing us the context by which this encounter would take place. At this point in Jesus life, Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which commemorated God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. Most scholars and historians believe that this event from history occurred within two weeks of Jesus arrest. Within two weeks of this event from history, Jesus would be arrested, tried, and put to death.

Luke tells us that on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through the city of Jericho. As word spread that Jesus was passing through Jericho, large crowds came to meet and greet Jesus. And one of the members of the crowd was a man named Zaccheus. Now if you grew up in church, you are probably familiar with Zaccheus because Zaccheus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he, or at least that’s how I heard that the song goes. 

Zaccheus was a Jewish man who was a chief tax collector that worked for the Roman Government. In other words, Zaccheus was great at his job. Zaccheus was a great tax collector. Zaccheus was so good at his job that Luke tells us that he was a very wealthy man. And Zaccheus was so good at his job as a tax collector that he was promoted to the position of being the supervisor who was in charge of all of the tax collectors that worked for the Roman Government.

Now Jews who were tax collectors were hated by their fellow countrymen for two reasons. First, these tax collectors were hated because they would often charge higher taxes than necessary in order to make a profit. Since the Romans did not care what these tax collectors charged as long as they received what was due them, many tax collectors became wealthy by charging over and above what the Romans asked. So Zaccheus had become wealthy at the expense of his fellow Jewish countrymen.

Second, Jewish tax collectors were hated and were viewed as traitors because they were working for the enemy. Jewish people so despised tax collectors that they had a separate category for them. There were tax collectors and there were sinners. There were those who sinned and then there were tax collectors. After providing the context for the story, we see Luke bring us into this story in Luke 19:3:

Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

Luke tells us that as Jesus was passing through the city of Jericho, Zaccheus tried to get close to Jesus. However, because of the large crowds that had also come to meet and greet Jesus, Zaccheus was unable to get close enough to Jesus, because Zaccheus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.

But it wasn’t simply that Zaccheus was small in physical stature that he was unable to get close to Jesus. Remember, Zaccheus is the chief tax collector. Zaccheus is hated and despised by the crowds that had come to meet and greet Jesus. Zaccheus was an outsider who had no status or stature in the eyes of the community. Zaccheus was small in stature in the eyes of the community who viewed him as a traitor who was far from God and was an outsider when it came to how God viewed him.

Luke then explains that Zaccheus responded to his small stature by running ahead of Jesus and the crowds so that he could climb a sycamore tree. Now Sycamore trees, which grow to a height of thirty to forty feet, are one of the few trees that grow to a large height in the desert. So Zaccheus, pulled up his robe, ran ahead of Jesus and the crowds, and climbed up this large tree.

Can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what it would have looked like to see a grown man frantically running and climbing up a tree in order to get an opportunity to see Jesus before he passed by?

Now a natural question that arises here is “Why would Zaccheus expend that much energy and effort to see Jesus? I mean climbing a large tree is not something that a grown man usually does, so why did Zaccheus climb the tree?”

You see, Zaccheus climbed the tree because Zaccheus had already been watching Jesus from a distance. Zaccheus was already familiar with who Jesus was. Zaccheus had heard the word on the street from his tax collector friends when it came to Jesus. And now Zaccheus wanted to be in a position where he could see Jesus more clearly. Zaccheus viewed the crowd as an obstacle to him getting to know Jesus at a deeper level. So Zaccheus was willing to do whatever it took to get a closer look at Jesus.

 

Tomorrow, we will see how Jesus responded to a grown man climbing a tree…

Living on mission requires removing our excuses...

This week, we are looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament called the book of Exodus, where Moses had an encounter with God. Wednesday, we saw Jesus respond to Moses by promising His presence when we live on mission, because while we may think we are a nobody, Jesus, who is present in our lives, is somebody. And God want us to remember His name and His story, because while we may forget about God’s story, God has not forgotten about your story and how He wants to use you to impact others by living on mission. Today we will see Moses ask a third question to Jesus, which we see in Exodus 4:1. Let’s look at it together:

Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'"

Here we see Moses bring forth another excuse as to why he should not engage in the mission that he had been given by Jesus in the form of another question: What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?” By asking this question Moses is basically saying “don’t send me because they will not believe me.”

Now how often do we find ourselves using this excuse for why we are not living on mission? How often can we find ourselves saying or thinking “I can’t live on mission because nobody is going to believe me anyways? Nobody today buys the whole Jesus Bible church thing, so why would I want to live on mission by engaging those around me who aren’t going to buy it anyways.” How often can we be paralyzed by what we perceive as the unbelief of those around us? We see how Jesus responded to Moses excuse in verse 2:

 The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail "-- so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

Jesus responded to Moses excuse by providing him with three separate signs that would serve to demonstrate God’s power. The first sign was to empower Moses staff to become a snake. In the Egyptian culture, snakes served as a sign of power and life. So this sign would serve to reveal that God was more powerful than the Egyptians.

The second sign was to empower Moses to have and heal leprosy. During this time in history, leprosy was a prevalent disease that was incurable. This sign would also serve to reveal the miraculous power of God over what was viewed as being incurable.

The third sign was to empower Moses to turn the mighty Nile River into blood. The Egyptians viewed the Nile as the source of life and blessings, so this sign would also serve to show that the Lord was more powerful than the gods of the Egyptians.

And it is here we see Jesus respond to Moses excuse by promising to empower him for the mission. You see, Jesus responded by promising to empower him for the mission because while Moses thought he was powerless, God was all powerful. And in the same way today, God promises to empower us to live on mission, because while we may think that we are powerless to accomplish the mission, Jesus, who gives us the mission, is all powerful.

Now, at this point, you would think that Moses is finished with all of his questions. And at this point, you would be right. However, Moses is not done making excuses, as we see in verse 10:

 Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

This time, Moses makes an excuse in the form of a statement: “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue”. In other words, Moses is basically saying to Jesus “Jesus, don’t send me because I am not gifted or talented enough”. Now how often can we find ourselves falling back on this excuse as to why we are not living on mission?

How often can we find ourselves using the excuse “Well Dave I can’t live on mission because I do not have the gift of evangelism. I can’t live on mission because I do not know my Bible well enough. I mean, what if they ask me a question that I do not know the answer to?” We see Jesus response to Moses excuse in verse 11:

  The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say."

Now can you imagine what Jesus response must have sounded like here? At this point, I do not think that Jesus used a mellow voice. Instead, Jesus basically said “Moses who made your mouth? Who enables people to see and hear? Moses, last time I checked, that was Me. Now I have already promised you my presence, my power, and my gifting, so get going”. 

You see, while Moses thought he was without gifts, God was the giver of gifts. While Moses had determined that he was unable to complete the mission, God had determined that he was able to complete the mission. Now, at this point, you would think that Moses would stop talking and get going. And at this point you would be wrong as we see in verse 13:

But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will."

Here we see Moses respond to Jesus responses by revealing the real reason behind his excuses that had been disguised in the form of questions. Moses tells Jesus “send the message by whomever You will”. In other words, Moses basically says “Jesus, don’t send me because I don’t want to go. Instead find somebody else”.

You see, the real reason behind all of Moses excuses and questions was that Moses did not want to obey the mission that He had been given by God. Moses wanted to live for his own mission instead of living for God’s mission. Moses simply wanted to live in disobedience to God’s mission and let Jesus know that, to His face.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “well Dave that is just crazy, I would never say something like that to Jesus face”. Now here is something to consider. Is overt disobedience any different than covert disobedience? I mean disobedience is disobedience, isn’t it?  

Now you might be thinking to yourself, well Dave, yeah it might be disobedient, but it’s not like I am robbing a bank or lying to someone. It is not like I am breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Is God really going to be mad if I just decide to live for my mission and not live for God’s mission? We find the answer to that question in Exodus 4:14:

 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. "You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. "You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."

Now when it says the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means that the Lord was hot against Moses. Jesus was stoked in anger toward Moses for his rebellious and disobedient attitude toward the mission that He had given him.

And in His hot anger, Jesus responds in three specific ways. First, Jesus removes any excuses to engaging in the mission by providing Moses a partner in the form of his brother Aaron. Second, Jesus reminds Moses of the promise of His presence, power, gifting for the mission. And third, Jesus reinforces the reality that this mission was not optional. You see, while Moses thought the mission was optional, the reality was that the mission is an essential requirement of living in relationship with Jesus.

And it is here that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission. And that timeless truth is this: Living on mission requires removing our excuses. Just as it was for Moses, just as it has been for humanity throughout history, living on mission requires removing our excuses.

Living on mission requires removing the excuse that we are nobodies, because Jesus, who is somebody, promises His presence as we live on mission. Living on mission requires that we remove the excuse of a lack of authority to be living on mission, because Jesus gives us the authority and remembers both His story and our story. Living on mission requires that we remove the excuse that no one will believe me, because Jesus, who gives us the mission, is powerful enough to bring belief.

Living on mission requires that we remove the excuse that that we are not gifted enough to complete the mission, because Jesus is determined to give us the gifts to complete the mission. And living on mission requires that we remove the excuses that reveal our disobedience belief that living on mission is optional, because Jesus has made it clear that living on mission is an essential requirement of living in relationship with Jesus.

So here is a question to consider: What excuses have you been using in order to avoid living on mission? And what do you need to do to replace those excuses with God’s promises so that you can live on mission?

A Promise of Presence and Authority...

This week we are looking at a section of letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Exodus, where, after forty years of living in utter obscurity in the desert, we see a man named Moses have an encounter with God that would change the trajectory of his life in a powerful way. Yesterday, we looked on as Moses found himself face to face with an Old Testament appearance of Jesus, who explained that He had heard the cries of suffering from the Jewish people and was going to respond to their suffering by rescuing and delivering them from the oppression of the Egyptians.

 Now today, I want us to imagine ourselves as Moses. You have spent the last forty years in utter obscurity in the desert after you attempted to deliver the Jewish people by killing an Egyptian only to fail and be rejected by the Jewish people. And now, Jesus appears to you and explains that He is now on a mission to rescue and deliver the Jewish people, just as He had promised Abraham hundreds of years earlier. You are Moses: what would you be thinking at this point? What would you be feeling? Jesus, however, was not finished talking, as we see in verse 10:

 "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."

So you are Moses; now what thoughts are running through your mind? Now how are you feeling? You see, up to this point in the conversation, Jesus had been saying “I have seen the suffering; I have come down on a mission to rescue My people; I am going to complete the mission to bring them into the Promised Land.”

Now Jesus says “I am sending you to accomplish the mission. I am sending you to deliver them from slavery. I am sending you to bring them in to the Promised Land. You are going to be the vehicle that I use to accomplish my mission to bring My people into the Promised Land”.

And Jesus message today is the same to us: You are going to be the vehicle that I use to accomplish my mission to reveal and reflect Me so that I can bring My people into the forgiveness and relationship with God that they were created for”.

Just as it was for Moses, while God does not need us to do anything, God sends us to live on mission and to accomplish His mission in the world. We see how Moses responded to the mission he had been given by Jesus in verse 11:

  But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"

Moses responds to the mission that he had been given by Jesus to be the vehicle that He used to accomplish His mission with a question: Who am I? Actually, this is not a question. Instead this is an excuse as to why he should not engage in the mission. By asking “who am I?” Moses is basically saying “don’t send me because I am nobody.”

Now, here is a question for us to consider: How often do we find ourselves using this excuse for why we are not living on mission? How often can we find ourselves saying or thinking “I can’t live on mission because I am a nobody?” We see Jesus response to Moses excuse in verse 12:

 And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

Jesus responded to Moses excuse with a simple but powerful statement “certainly I will be with you”. Here we see Jesus respond to Moses excuse by promising His presence. And so that Moses would know that God was present, Jesus tells Moses "you worship Me at this very place in the future". You see, Jesus responded by promising His presence because while Moses thought he was nobody, God was somebody.

In the same way today, God promises His presence when we live on mission, because while we may think we are a nobody, Jesus, who is present in our lives, is somebody. Now you would think that Moses would be encouraged by the promise of the Lord's presence as he accomplished God’s mission. However, Moses had another question for Jesus, which we see in verse 13:

 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

Here we see Moses bring forth another excuse as to why he should not engage in the mission that he had been given by Jesus in the form of another question. This question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “What if the Jewish people say to me ‘well if God sent you to us, then tell us His name’?” Now, by asking this question, Moses is basically saying “don’t send me because they will question my authority and if you really sent me.”

Now how often do we find ourselves using this excuse for why we are not living on mission? How often can we find ourselves saying or thinking “I can’t live on mission because people are going to question why I am living on mission? I can’t live on mission because people will question or challenge whether or not Jesus would really want me to be sharing the gospel with them or living my life the way that I am when it comes to how I follow Him?” We see Jesus response to Moses excuse in verse 14:

 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"  God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. "So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. "They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.' "But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. "So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. "I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. "But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians."

Jesus responds to Moses excuse by providing God’s name and God’s story of how He has always revealed Himself to others and accomplished His mission through others. Now when God calls Himself by the name “I Am”, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means “I Be”.

In other words, God is saying “I have always existed and I have always worked the same way. I have always worked through the lives of others in order to accomplish My Kingdom mission here on earth”. And once again, God was going to accomplish His Kingdom mission to rescue the Jewish people from slavery through Moses.

You see, God provided Moses His name and reminded Moses of His story because while Moses had forgotten about God’s story, God had not forgotten about the Jewish people’s story. And in the same way today, God want us to remember His name and His story, because while we may forget about God’s story, God has not forgotten about your story and how He wants to use you to impact others by living on mission.

Friday, we will see Moses ask some more questions that will reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to living on mission...