God is at work behind the scenes of everyday life stuff, but his name is rarely mentioned. He's working, through all these things. Kind of behind the scenes. So, then we come to the crux of the matter, in verses 16-18, but Ruth replied don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you in me. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. That's the courageous action that unlocks and unleashes all kinds of Kingdom goodness. And throughout the Bible people come to a crossroads where one path is the clear winner. It makes the most sense. It's the obvious choice. But the person makes an unexpected move. They choose the unexpected path. They courageously act for God's sake and for the good of the Kingdom, even though in practical terms it doesn't seem to make sense.
See, when we come to worship that is a very different thing than going to church. Coming to worship is categorically different than going to church. Because when we come to worship, we come thinking about the offering we are going to give. We come ready to do the work of worship. We come ready to pour out our hearts and our minds and our emotions in adoration and praise to our beautiful King with our brothers and with our sisters. We come and we are willing to risk vulnerability for God's sake and each other's sake. And when this happens, when we come in this mindset, you can try this out, but when we start to come in this mindset, I promise you this worship gathering will change in ways that I am incapable of describing.
Prayer may be the most important practice for co-operating with God as he tenderly pulls up the old carpet in our lives and installs his new creation version. But the triggers around prayer are real. I have a bunch of them myself. You may as well. Prayer may be the most important practice, but in some ways it is also the most challenging and the most confusing. It is challenging, we might say, because it is so confusing. Prayer can be so challenging and confusing that our prayer life sometimes becomes part of the old carpet of our lives, meaning our prayers become rote; somewhat meaningless, boring. We think of prayer as a duty lacking much delight and in either the front or in the back of our minds, prayer raises hard questions for which there does not seem to be very many satisfying answers. Questions like, if God knows everything already and knows what is going to happen, why in the world does prayer even matter? Or, if prayer is so powerful then why do so many prayed for people suffer and get sick and die instead of being healed? There are dozens of these graduate-level questions and there's not too many of them that have an easy answer or any answer. So like most things in life, and most things in the life of faith, prayer is a thousand-piece puzzle.
Paul commands us to not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Because then we will be able to discern God's good pleasing and perfect will. And I do not believe it is possible to resist conforming or to be transformed or have our mind renewed or discern God's will unless we are regularly and consistently interacting with the Bible in ways that shape our inner core in the way of New Creation. If we are not consistently engaging with scripture and being shaped by it then inner transformation is a pipe dream and the renewal of our mind just ain't going to happen.
This is America, where we are free to actually arrange our own gatherings, our own dinners. It’s a constitutional right. You can do it. There’s opportunity for you to connect with folks during the week, on your own. But whatever form it takes there’s just no way to effectively love one another or any of the other one another’s, in theory, or in general, you know from a distance. So maybe for you renewal or renovation or tearing out the carpet in this area of one another for you might mean that you need to show up. That you need to make yourself known. Contact Ashley and let her know you’re interested in a small group. You need to commit to coming to church on Sunday, not just anonymously ducking in and out but expectantly. Praying to the Holy Spirit that he might direct you to someone who needs “one anothering” today. Maybe you need to commit to serving with our children or our youth or our impact or hospitality teams. A place where you can be on mission with others. Maybe you need to pick up the phone and grab dinner with someone you haven’t connected with in a while. Or maybe even with someone that you just met last week. You see it’s really easy to look at our interactions and say, “aaah, we’re just to shallow, it’s just too shallow. They need to go deeper," and you’re right, they do. Here’s the thing, the only way to get to the deep end is through the shallow end. Standing outside the pool only ensures you’ll never get wet.
“In a word, what I'm saying is, grow up. Your kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” ~ Matthew 5:48 MSG
The other day I was walking through this room. No one was here, and I was on my way to that kitchen right there to see if anyone had recently had a meeting where there were more sandwiches than people. And as I strolled in here on a food finding mission, it occurred to me that pretty soon people will be in here, slicing, and cutting, and pulling, and tugging, and prying up, this old carpet. And it might come up easily or the years of foot traffic, and basketball games, and chair legs, might mean the glue underneath the carpet hangs on for dear life. And the challenge of getting this up and out might be extreme. And then this thought, just jumped into my head, where is their old carpet in me that God wants to replace? Where is there a door in the building, that is me, that needs new paint, a chair that needs softer cushions, or some other aspect of my interior world that the Holy Spirit wants my permission to renovate and my cooperation on the project? I mentioned earlier the importance of eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that are open to what God might want to say and do in us. My experience in my Christian journey and my experience as a pastor suggests that it is most wise for you and me to assume we don't have eyes that see, ears that hear, or hearts that are open, and I realize that's harsh, but I think it's true.
It’d be a lot easier if we all pulled the same lever, just a lot easier. I'll trade that in any day of the week. There's only one problem, if you have that you don't have the church you've got a group, you've got a click, you've got a hobby club, but you don't have the church. Because, the church by definition is this mess of messy people all over the map going, we're coming to be this, the table holds us together. Jesus Christ is King. We're going to orient to that and we're going to trust that the bond we have in Jesus being King is bigger than our differences. That's the plan. We're held together because we believe Jesus is bigger than our differences. Unity in our differences points to God's power.
Pastor Mike Lueken finishes up our "Send Me" series with an interview with Shawn Young who shares how we can recharge and refuel as we go out into the world on mission together for God.
“Our life together as the community of followers of Jesus is the most powerful proclamation of Jesus we can make” ~ Mike Lueken
For people to hear that proclamation they have to be invited in. And so, Jesus sends us out to be hosts, to practice hospitality. The practice of hospitality has been one of the most foundational practices of the church since the beginning, two thousand years ago. All throughout the New Testament, over and over, we are told we are commanded to offer hospitality. In addition to that, we know from the history of the first centuries of the church that hospitality was a mark of the early Christians where they welcomed people into their homes, they cared for them regardless of who they were or whether or not they could pay them back. And while hospitality and practice can take many forms and shapes at its core, hospitality is a spiritual posture. It is an attitude. Hospitality is the posture of making room for the outsider whether this is in our homes, in our work places, in our social circles, in our church community. To practice hospitality is to assume responsibility for the care of the guest. To make sure they feel at home and have what they need. Really it is the spiritual act of adoption. Even if only for a short time so that the guest feels like part of the family. And when we open up space in our Christian community for those who do not know Jesus, they are able to experience the reality of Jesus and not just hear about it. And for a world that is reluctant to talk about Jesus, creating spaces where they can experience it, is essential.
The Bible tells us that God deeply cares for people. He wants none to perish. He wants all to know him and live with him; rulers of Rome, thieves on the brink of their own death, Roman guards, Jewish peasants, the blind, the rich, the sick, the powerful, the person you named when we started. None is too far gone. No one is outside God's loving reach. His heart breaks for those who want nothing to do with him. One day his judgment will come in its full expression. He waits because he wants people to turn to him and his plan A is to send you and to send me to be guests who demonstrate the beauty of the Kingdom.
What better way to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, who changes lives, than to have people in our life actually see Jesus transform us. Actually, see Jesus transform our character. I mean imagine when the people to whom I have been sent notice that where I used to be consumed by worry there actually now is peace. When the people who could see my addiction to work, my addiction to performance, and success, all of a sudden experience me being free from that. Imagine the power of the people in our lives, who have known us to gossip, or be judgmental of others, finding us being, I don't know, encouraging, thinking the best of others. You get the picture right? I mean this is how awesome the redeeming power of Jesus is. That when we continue in an ongoing process of transformation. When we allow him to do his transforming work in us. Even the rough edges, even the blatant cracks in our character, can be used to declare the praises of him who brought us out of darkness and into his glorious light. So, what comes to mind for you? What has the Holy Spirit been stirring in you during this message?
Is there an area in your life that is getting in the way of you proclaiming Jesus?