The Gospel Isn't for Everyone. Pt 2.

Hello Dear blog Readers!

Yes, I know this is largely a repeat of a previous blog post. However, that post was done in 2014. Since that time I have been blessed to preach this message several times at different churches. I felt compelled to post this updated version of it. This is from 3/1/17 at Antioch. Enjoy!

- Pastor Glen

The Gospel isn’t for everyone

Today we will be in Luke 10:25-29. In a message I’ve entitled The Gospel isn’t for everyone.

 

A few years ago I was on my way to the post office and I saw a man walking down the street. I automatically assumed the man was up to no good based on his appearance.  He looked angry, disheveled and had the glazed over eyes and shaky hands of an addict. As I was judging this stranger by making assumptions concerning his lifestyle and family history the Lord convicted me. Does this man need the gospel? Yes. Did I want to be the one that stopped everything I was doing to give it to him? No. My own fears, my own prejudices were preventing that. How many other people that are in need of the gospel that would never receive it from me because of my own fear? More than I want to consider. 

I went to the post office and had completed my errand and on my way to the next one. It was then that God brought some old memories from 5^th grade. I did not grow up with an abundance of friends. I started 5^th grade most of my friends were in a different class then mine so I did not see them much, couple this with my parents’ divorce, and it wasn’t a great time in my life. Yet, I did make a new friend that year. We will call him Matt. Me and Matt had known each other for years and were friends but in 5^th grade we spent a lot of time together during school. We had a love for Nintendo, Ninja Turtles, and Nature Boy Ric Flair! We got along great and would partner up and challenge each other frequently. We stayed good friends through middle school, but by high school we never had any classes together and would just chat occasionally in the hall. Then after graduation he went off to college and I no longer saw or heard from him. Then it hit me. The angry man I saw walking down the street earlier was my friend Matt. I had condemned my old friend to hell because I didn’t like the way he looked anymore. 

 Luke 10:25-29 “ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’^[a] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 

So, why did I ignore my old friend? Because of fear.

“Fear’s a powerful thing
It can turn a heart black you can trust.
Take a God-filled soul,
fill it with devils and dust.” – Bruce Springsteen

It’s easy to be afraid these days. Just turn on the local news. Stabbings, shootings, muggings, robberies. That’s local. That’s down the street from us.  It’s not upstate NY or downtown LA. It’s not a far off place like the Middle East or Africa. It’s terrifying and depressing and makes you feel hopeless. It also makes you want to lock your doors and keep a gun by your bed.  It reinforces the stereotypes we have in our minds of the people that would commit these sorts of crimes. Before you even click on the link or watch the actual story you already know what the perpetrator looks like don’t you? You already have that image in your head and when you see those people in person we do like I did and ignore them and keep on going. We all know what parts of town not to go regardless of what city we live it. It’s quite useful to know and it’s also primarily fear driven.

If anyone has learned properly to harness the power of fear it’s the media. Fearful messages spread, especially those that play into our anxieties. They capitalize on it, after all fear is very lucrative.  They tell us to be afraid of terrorists, homosexuals, heterosexuals, law enforcement, criminals, the government, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, liberals, conservatives, the rich and the poor, etc. etc.  There’s so much to be scared of!  Finally we shout out that someone should do something, just as long as it isn’t us.  

There is nothing more contrary to God and the things of God than fear.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

God is love. Per the above scripture that love casts out fear. Love and fear cannot co-exist. When God redeemed us He did so by giving us a new spirit that is to be of love, and a sound mind. Not the paranoia that fear drives us to. There should not be a more secured and proactive people than the church of Jesus Christ. Yet, we exist as one of the most fearful, reactionary, and sometimes downright hateful organizations in existence. The reason we are like this is because we believe the Gospel isn’t for everyone. Oh, we will give lip service and quote John 3:16 but we don’t believe it. Not fully.

 

We see this in Luke. The Pharisees and Sadducees were constantly trying to get Jesus. They wanted him to slip up in some way. So they tried trick questions and in Matthew someone asked what is the greatest commandment?  Jesus answered and cut right to the heart of the matter.

Matthew 22:36-40 “36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

So what’s the difference between loving your neighbor and loving your neighbor as yourself? We all love ourselves. We’re very concerned about our own welfare, our own comfort, safety, interests, health, etc. We have a hope we want to realize it. We have a desire we want to fulfill it. We have a need we see to it that it gets met. Is that how we treat other people? Are we even that good to our friends? Our family? Our spouse and children? What about random strangers? This is a difficult command. In fact it’s an impossible command. With a command so difficult you really need to figure out who your neighbor is don’t you?

Luke 10:29 “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 The teaching of the day was to love your neighbor. However, there also was a very narrow definition of neighbor. It consisted of people that you liked. Tax collector? Not your neighbor.  prostitute? Not your neighbor. Adulteress? Not your neighbor. Criminals? Not your neighbor. Gentiles? Definitely not your neighbor. 

 Jesus then answers his question, and by proxy our question, with a parable. The parable of the Good Samaritan. In a traveler goes on a journey and is a set upon by men of ill tent, they rob him, strip him of his clothes, and leave him bleeding in the dirt. A priest comes by, sees him, ignores him, a Levite sees him also and ignores him and goes about his business.  The a Samaritan sees him and begins to aide him regardless of the circumstance or personal cost. He tends his wounds, applying oil and win, carries him to an inn. Gives him all the money he has to take care of him and promises the inn keeper more if more is required. The Samaritan did this because he was his neighbor. We read that story and are deceived by our true nature thinking we are the Samaritan when the reality is that we are the ill intent and set upon the travelers that get on roads we feel they should not be on.

Who is your neighbor? Everyone. The world that Jesus died for. You know who that includes? Everyone. Annoying neighbor? Your neighbor. Person you blocked on Facebook? Neighbor. That co-worker you wish would quit/get fired? Neighbor. Relative you wish would move to another state/country? Neighbor. Atheists trying to get all public expressions of Christianity outlawed? Neighbor.  Junkie going down the street that makes you roll up your windows and lock your doors? Neighbor.

It’s difficult to love folks, because love is messy. What’s the most loving thing you can do for someone? Give them the gospel, both in word and deed. But Glen! You say. Those people aren’t deserving of the gospel. Agreed. Neither are we. No one is. 

 

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”

 

We so quickly transition from grace right back to the law. “That’s not true!” You say. Sure it is. We all do it. We have an image of what people at our church should look like. We know their skin color, clothing choices, background, personality, sexual orientation, political preferences, etc. etc. When they don’t immediately look like that when they walk in the door they can either conform or walk right back out. It’s no different than telling someone they are too sick to enter our hospital. We can’t help you we say. The gospel is not for you. Is it any wonder the headlines are so horrible? 

 When we look at the world today we are in need of a movement of God! Racial tension, economic instability, moral collapse, violence, terrorists, wars… it’s time we as followers of Jesus stopped talking politics and started getting broken over the hurt and pain of a world without God! Our solution is not coming from Raleigh, NC. Our solution is not coming from Washington, DC. It doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Latino, Asian, middle eastern, or European.  It doesn’t matter if you are old, young, gay, straight, male or female. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum the answer and the hope is not legislation, the answer and the hope is not in some policy, procedure or election. The answer and the hope is only in the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because when God moves people get changed from the inside out and it is real genuine lasting transformation. 

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains

might quake at Your presence!”—Isaiah 64:1

As Christians,  we believe that the absolute worst thing that could ever happen has already happened. The torture and crucifixion of Christ. We killed the one person who had never done us any wrong, that only had our benefit in our mind. Who loved us more than anyone would ever love us. I’m here to tell you that the absolute depravity of man cannot touch the power of the resurrection. That there is no sinner so far from God that His grace cannot bring him back. The Bible teaches us that the resurrection of Jesus changed the world. Even if the world doesn’t want to admit it yet. In fact, since the resurrection we have been on an unalterable course towards renewal and rebirth. The power of the resurrection heals all, including our fear. 

“This is not the time for labeling, blaming, condemning, conserving, protecting, defending.  For those of us who really believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, this is the time to speak with tenderness, compassion, confidence, love.  It is not the time to answer every question that is asked us or accept the terms that are given to us by the world.  When the wrong question is asked, we offer better questions.  When we are given a multiple choice test, we answer in essay.   When we are asked for a clear answer, we respond with a parable.  When we are asked for a position, we give our testimony.”

 With Revival starting on Sunday, with Easter around the corner we will have some of our best chances to tell people about Jesus.  What are you going to do with that chance? It doesn’t require power, fame, money or influence. It just takes the Gospel. 

 Matthew 28:18-20 “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”