Maximum Impact!

July 14, 2013                   THESE NOTES ARE UNEDITED

Maximum Impact

Luke 10:25-37

SIS—Living a life with “Maximum Impact” require a commitment to sacrificially serve others.

A couple of years ago I watched a clip on YouTube in which a popular young preacher by the name of Francis Chan demonstrated what it means to live for eternity, not this world.

He took a length of rope, like this one.  As you see, it is long enough to stretch across the stage.  Imagine, that it never ended, but it just kept going forever.  Then, look at this end of the rope.  Notice that the very tip is painted red.  The red part is less than a half inch.  Some of you in the back can probably not even see the red part.  That little, tiny speck of red represents the typical 70 to 80 years we will spend on this world.  The rest of the rope represents eternity. Compared to the rest of the rope, it is nothing.  It is insignificant.

Most people live only for that tiny, insignificant little part of existence we call “life.”  This is a great tragedy.  What we should be living for is “eternity.”  I call this living for “Maximum Impact.”  Living for Maximum Impact means living with a commitment to sacrificially serve others.  One of the best descriptions of living with Maximum Impact comes from an award-winning song by one of the greatest voices in country music, Randy Travis.  Sadly, Randy is struggling both physically and spiritually at this point in life.  But, he sings a song titled, “Three Wooden Crosses,” that describes what it means to live with “Maximum Impact.”  It’s a story of a preacher and the impact he had on a prostitute’s life.  The anchor line in the chorus says this:

“It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
But what you leave behind you when you go!”

Listen as Randy sings about a life of “Maximum Impact”  [VIDEO]

READING:      Luke 10:25-37

There are three realizations you need to make if you are going to live a life that matters, “a life of Maximum Impact.”  First you must realize:

1.  It’s Not About Us (v 27)

In our text we are introduced to a bright young, lawyer. This does not mean, “lawyer,” like we think of in our culture.  This young lawyer was an “expert” in the Law of God, or the Torah of the Jews.  You may be aware that lawyers in our culture must pass a grueling, multi-hour exam, called the Bar Exam, in order to be given a license to practice law.  Well, this young Jewish lawyer had to pass a test also.  Jesus asked this young lawyer who was an expert in God’s Law:

v 26 “What is written in the Law”

We have the lawyer’s answer in verse 27:

²⁷ He answered: Love the Lord your God  with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind;  and your neighbor as yourself.

This verse puts together two foundational verses from the O.T., Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18.  These two verses represent a summation of the Ten Commandments.  Deuteronomy summarizes commandments 1-4, and Leviticus summarizes 5-10. 

Righteousness means we are living in a right relationship with both God and man.  Jesus uses this same summary of righteousness in Matthew 22:38-40.  These two commandments sum up the entirety of God’s Law.

Why are you here?  I don’t mean, why are you in church this morning.  I mean, what is your purpose in life?  What is it that gives meaning to your life?   What is it that, “stokes the fire of your life?”  What is it that sets your heart on fire each morning you wake up?  Is it a good breakfast?  Is it fame and fortune?  Is it the hope that today you will grasp the “brass ring?”  Is it family?  Is it your job?  Is it living for the weekend to be spent on the beach, in a park, in the forest, at a ball park?  What are you “here” for?

One of the greatest preachers of the 20^th century summed it up about as well as it can be summed up.  He wrote a best-selling book—a blockbuster—based upon the simple theme of, “purpose.”  His book, The Purpose-Driven Life, has sold more copies of a book than any other book besides the Bible!  He became a multi-millionaire over night.  He also gives away over 90% of his wealth.  Rick Warren wrote in the first line of chapter 1:  “It’s not about you.”

Philosophers have pondered the meaning of life for as long as there have been philosophers.  Plato wrestled with it.  Aristotle, Plato’s star pupil wrestled with it.  The stoics wrestled with it as did the Cynics.  The Epicureans wrestled with the meaning of life.  In fact, the Apostle Paul confronted a group of Stoics and Epicureans. These learned men had built an altar called, “To An Unknown God.”  They realized that life must have some ultimate meaning and to cover their bases, they had one altar that covered anything their philosophy missed.  Paul, realizing their struggle to discover “ultimate meaning in life” said this:

Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it —He is Lord of heaven and earth  and does not live in shrines made by hands.

Then, Paul went on to elaborate the “purpose in life” is to know and to serve the One True God.  Paul declared:

^{Acts 17:  28} For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Our entire purpose is wrapped up in our relationship with the One True God.  Living with “Maximum Impact” in this life is simply to realize that we were created to “live for God,” and to bring glory to Him.  We bring glory to Him by sacrificially serving our neighbor—that is, doing anything we can to meet the physical, emotional, and most of all, spiritual needs of others.  We cannot meet the requirements of the first law, if we neglect the second.

Living for Maximum Impact means loving God and serving others.  It means, “denying one’s self” and living for God and others.  It means dying to our self and living for God.  Jesus said,

Luke 9:23 If anyone wants to come with  Me, he must deny himself, 
take up his cross daily,  and follow Me.

How much time this past week did you spend on yourself? How much did you spend on the poor?  How many meals did you prepare, or have prepared for yourself?  How many did you prepare or help prepare for others? You see, it is actually possible to quantify and analyze just how much we “love God,” by how much of our time is spent in service to Him by sacrificially meeting the needs of others.

Now, in verse 29 the Lawyer tried to weasel out of the second great commandment, “to love others as we love ourselves.”  His question, “Who is my neighbor” is an attempt to limit his responsibility to God; that is to reduce his duty to God to a manageable level.   In other words, what the lawyer was really asking is, “how little can I do and still get into heaven?”

Does this sound like familiar question?  I wonder, have you asked this question in one form or another yourself?  I’ve had people ask me, for example, “can I drink a beer or have a glass of wine and still go to heaven?”  Or, another version of the question of limiting our responsibility is, “do I have to tithe off of my gross or my net?”  Or, some ask, “Do I have to tithe since that is in the O.T.?”  There are many, many versions of this lawyer’s question, but they all have one thing in common:  these questions seek to reduce one’s responsibility to God to a level that will not interrupt or disturb their lives.

The key component in living for “Maximum Impact” is to realize you live, move, and have your being in God.   You simply cannot live a “Maximum Life” until you realize, “It’s Not About Us.”

2.  Second, It’s Not About Religion (v 30)

Let me outline the story Jesus told to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor.”

The story begins with a man who is travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho on what has been called, “The Bloody Way.”  This road was nothing less than treacherous.  Jerusalem was about 20 miles from Jericho which was near the Dead Sea.  Jerusalem is at an altitude of about 2300 feet above sea level.  Jericho was about 1300 feet below sea level—a drop of 3600 feet.  It was a steep, twisting walk on rocky terrain.  The “Bloody Way” was also, as William Barclay put it, “the happy hunting grounds for brigands (robbers).” Bandits, brigands, would lie in wait around one of the many twists and turns and ambush unwary travelers.  This road was such a “den of thieves” that even as late as the 1800’s travelers on this road found it necessary to pay safety money to the local Sheiks, or chieftains, to travel on it.  This man in our text, is a perfect example of what often occurred. 

vs 30  “[He] fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him,

beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.

This man, lying half dead on the road, would be encountered by three other men:  a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.  We’ll get to the Samaritan in a minute

The priest and Levite were both “religious men” probably devoutly religious men.  All priests were Levites, though not all Levites were priests.  There were 24 orders of Levitical Priests who rotated service in Jerusalem.  The priests were, by this time in Israel’s history, and elite upper class and had homes in the Valley near Jericho where they spent the other 50 weeks of the year when they were not serving. 

I will not speculate on the motive of the priest in passing by this needy stranger because Luke does not give a motive.  The point is, the priest and Levite both represent “religious people.”  And, my point is simple:  “Loving God and serving our neighbor IS NOT ABOUT RELIGION.”

You can be the most religious person in the world and go to church every time the doors are open, and even go by to park in the parking lot on occasion, and still not live a life with “Maximum Impact.”

In fact, religion is more likely to keep you from living a life of “Maximum Impact” than to assist you in doing so.  Religion can give you a false sense of “righteousness” by punching your religious ticket once a week.  This will not lead to living with “Maximum Impact.”   We live in a “consumer culture” and one of the commodities we consume is “religion.” Religion is simply one compartment in a person’s life among many other compartments.  Just like a person has a job, or a hobby, they have a religion—a spiritual activity on their weekly calendar.  Religion is more likely to aid you in living a life of “Minimum Impact,” rather than “Maximum Impact.”

And . . . this is assuming that you are actually devout and committed to your religion.  Most people who “have a religion” are like people who have a “stair-climber or treadmill.”  Having a treadmill and using that treadmill are two different things.  Having a religion, and practicing that religion are likewise, two different things.  I recently read on my FaceBook page that a woman got excited about exercise so she named her dog, “Five Miles.”  Now, she walks her dog to the end of the driveway and tells everyone she walks Five Miles every day.

Having a religion and living for Maximum Impact are two different things.  Even if you are as devout as a priest and a Levite, living for “Maximum Impact” is not about religion.  It’s about something else altogether.  “Living for Maximum Impact” is all about

3. Compassion (v 33)

Let’s look at that third man who comes along,

³³ But a Samaritan  on his journey came up to him,
and when he saw the man, he had compassion.

Now, I want to make it very clear what “compassion” is NOT!  It is not sympathy.  Sympathy is merely seeing someone in need and “feeling sorry for them.”  We can assume that both the priest and the Levite, felt sorry for the beaten man.  For all three men the text says the same thing, “He SAW” the man.  The priest saw the man.  The Levite saw the man; and the Samaritan saw the man.  Simply seeing needy people in our world is not the same as having “compassion” for the needy people of our world.

I love the word, “compassion,” in the N.T.  It is my favorite Greek word.  It is “splanknon (splagchnon).”  The Samaritan had “splanknon” for the man.  Literally, it means, “He saw the man and loved him with all his bowels!” Do you remember that first time you met the “love of your life?”  Do you remember how you wanted nothing more than to make her, or him, happy?  Do you remember how you determined to do whatever it takes, pay whatever it cost to serve him or her?  Do you remember that feeling in the pit of your stomach that felt like a “rumbling” or like “butterflies?” That was deep, devoted love.  That’s what “splanknon” means.

“Compassion” drives us to action.  The only kind of love that qualifies as God’s kind of love is “love in action.”  Compassion drives us to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of others.  Compassion is the fuel that fires up the engine of righteousness.  Compassion is the power that launches us on a life of “Maximum Impact.”

Make no mistake about it:  if you choose to live for “Maximum Impact,” it will cost you something—in fact, it will cost you everything.  The story of this Samaritan, though we do not know his name, has endured for over 2000 years, so much so that to “Be a Good Samaritan” has become a common phrase in English.  This Samaritan lived with “Maximum Impact” and his legacy extends even to this day two millennia later.  But, notice what it cost him

(A)  It cost him his time (v33).  Just like the traveler, the priest, and the Levite, the Samaritan was “on a journey.”  He was going somewhere and had something he needed to do.  Picking up a beaten, bloody stranger was not on his “Things To Do List” for that day. Living for “Maximum Impact” means expecting interruptions in your day—in fact, you begin to long for these types of “Divine Encounters.”  If you are going to live for “Maximum Impact,” expect to pay a premium of your time.

(B)  It cost him his talents (v34a).   He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil  and wine.  The wording in this first half of verse 34 suggests the man knew a little about “first aid.”  He was able to form bandages, which meant he may have even ripped apart his own clothing. He also knew the healing properties of “oil and wine.”  Olive oil was commonly used as a soothing balm for injuries, much like aloevera is used today.  Wine, had antiseptic properties and was commonly used in first aid.  It is significant to point out the hero of our story is a Samaritan.  This would have caused the Jewish lawyer’s skin to crawl because they hated Samaritans.  In fact, in some Jewish communities it was against the law to receive oil and wine from a Samaritan.

So, the Samaritan’s compassion, cost him the use of his talents.  Everybody in the church has talents and abilities that they can apply to meeting the needs of others.  Everybody.

(C)  Living for Maximum Impact cost his TREASURES (vv 34b-35)

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day  he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

There is no “cheap path” to living for Maximum Impact.  I know it makes people very nervous when the preacher talks about giving money in the church.  But, this is as important as giving our time or talents, and perhaps even moreso.  It takes money to meet needs.  It takes money to buy food for the hungry.  It takes money to provide shelter for the homeless.  It takes money to buy clothes for poor children.  It takes money to provide the church programs that preach the gospel to a lost community.  Living for Maximum Impact is going to cost you money.

Living for Maximum Impact will cost you greatly:  your time, your talents, and your treasures must be sacrificed in service to others.

Living for Maximum Impact is fueled by a God-sized compassion for the lost and hurting in our world.  Living for Maximum Impact means putting our love for God in action through sacrificial service to those in need.

CLOSE:  I have shared this little ditty that I first learned in Primary Sunday School.  It sums up what it means to live with “Maximum Impact” in a simply, yet profound way:

“’tis one life will soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

I think Randy Travis’ song sums it up quite nicely.  Living for Maximum Impact is not about “What you take when you leave this world behind you, but what you leave behind you when you go!”

Jesus ended His talk with the devout Lawyer by saying:

“Go and do likewise”

<<END>>

Christian Goo-Goos

July 7, 2013

Christian Goo-Goos          Grammar Police Alert:  These Notes are Not Edited

Galatians 6:1-16

SIS—Christians should be readily recognizable by their propensity to do good deeds.

Have you ever heard someone call someone else a “good two shoes?”  Did you ever wonder where that phrase came from?  It comes from a children’s book published in 1795 about a poor, orphan girl named, Margery Meanwell (she means well, get it?).  Margery walks about town with slumped shoulders and a forlorn look because she only had one shoe.  Then one day a kind and wealthy man bought her a new pair of shoes.  She spent the rest of her days running around town knocking on doors and shouting, “two shoes, two shoes.”  Thus, she becomes, Miss Goody Two Shoes.

Do you know any “mugwumps.”  The Mugwumps were Republican political activists who bolted from the United States Republican Party by supporting Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the United States presidential election of 1884. They switched parties because they rejected the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine. In a close election, the Mugwumps supposedly made the difference in New York state and swung the election to Cleveland (Wikipedia).  This term for these “do-gooders” became a negative term for someone who switches parties.

What would you have if you had a full room of “Goo-Goos?”  Well, you’d have a room full of “Good Government Men.”  I know that seems like a contradiction:  good government men, but like mugwumps, Goo-Goos rose up against political corruption.

Goody Two Shoes, mugwumps, and Goo-goos are terms all related to someone doing some “good deed.”  Ironically, these terms became negative terms for people thought to be “high and mighty,” or “holier-than-thous.”

Christians are supposed to be “Do-gooders.”  We don’t want to ever appear “high and mighty or holier-than-thous,” but we certainly want to be known for doing good works.  Let’s Read what our texts says about Christian Do-gooders.

READ Galatians 6:1-10.

1.  Christian “Do-Gooders” Live By the Spirit (7-9)

The entire theme of the Book of Galatians is written to establish the basis for the True Gospel, which is justification by faith, as opposed to the Judaizers that were trying to teach “justification by works.”  Paul presents his argument in Galatians by contrasting the True Gospel, as living in the Spirit, and the false gospel, as living in the flesh.  Verse 5:1-5 solidify his message.  I think it is helpful to read these verses:

5 Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm  then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.  ² Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. ³ Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law. ⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.  ⁵ For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait  for the hope  of righteousness.

Upon this foundation of grace through faith in Jesus our “justification” rests.  It is a wholly spiritual matter to which nothing done in the flesh has, or ever could, contribute.

“Justification” refers to the act of God in removing the guilt of our sin and at the same time making us righteous through Christ.  A simple play on the word might help:  justification is just as if I had not sinned.  Not very scholarly, but pretty accurate.

Apart from this “right standing” in Christ by grace through our faith in Him, nothing we do in this life accounts for any good whatsoever.  It doesn’t matter how much of our money we give to charity.  It doesn’t matter how much of our time we give to good works.  It doesn’t matter even if we die on the behalf of another; there is absolutely nothing we do in this life apart from our relationship to Christ through the Holy Spirit that counts for anything.  In fact Isaiah the great prophet declared that without a relationship with God,

⁶ All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Paul goes to great lengths in Romans and here in Galatians, and in other places to demonstrate that a person that seeks to do good deeds in his own flesh never amounts to much in this world, and in the world to come, amounts to nothing at all.

The only way to be a “Christian Do-gooder” and bringing honor to God and real blessing to others, is to “Live in the Spirit.” Paul uses a comparison from agriculture to drive home this point in Verses 7-9:

⁷ Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, ⁸ because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit  will reap eternal life  from the Spirit. ⁹ So we must not get tired  of doing good,  for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

Christian “Do-Gooders” live in the Spirit and thus are truly, consistently, and eternally a blessing to people both inside the church and outside. 

The gravest mistake any person could make in light of Paul’s teaching in Galatians, and elsewhere, is to think that any “good deeds,” or a mountain of good deeds could ever make amends for even the slightest sin.

2. Christian “Do-gooders” minister in a spirit of humility (v1)

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle  spirit,  watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.

The word translated, “caught,” carries the meaning of being overrun by a military power,” in other words, “taken prisoner.”  This is the essence of sin:  we are overrun by the Devil and become his prisoner. 

So, Christians are a little like Seal Team Six.  Do you recall a few years ago when Somali pirates hijacked an American merchant ship and held the captain hostage?  April 8, 2009 four pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, a merchant vessel.  This is the first time a vessel sailing under the American flag had been taken by pirates since the early 1800’s.  Though it was the first American vessel, it was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked by pirates who had previously extorted ransoms in the tens of millions of dollars. As the event unfolded Captain Richard Philips was taken hostage with three pirates on a lifeboat towed behind the ship. One pirate remained to negotiate the ransom. Two American warships were in a standoff with the pirates.  All attempts to negotiate for the Captains release failed. In the course of the negotiations, the Captain of the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge convinced the pirates it would be better to be towed into shore (for negotiations) by the Bainbridge.
That’s where the elite Navy Seals enter the picture.  They had parachuted aboard the Bainbridge. The order had been given to take whatever action was necessary if the hostage’s life seemed to be in danger—and it was.  U.S. Navy SEAL snipers, from the on the Bainbridge's fantail, wind whipping the lifeboat as it bobbed on the sea like a cork,  opened fire and killed the three pirates remaining in the lifeboat with a simultaneous volley of three shots.  This is what Navy Seals do—free prisoners.
This is our calling also as Christian “Do-gooders.”  We are to set free, or restore, those who have been overrun by the enemy the Devil.  The Navy Seals did not decide whether the Captain was worth rescuing, they just rescued him.  They never questioned, why he was overrun, or whether it was his own fault.  They just rescued him.
There are too many Christians who are “judgmental and condemning” of sinners. There are also too many Christians who simply turn a blind eye to the sin of others and say nothing.  Neither of these two attitudes is taught here in our text.  We are certainly not to ignore the sin that is apparent in others, and neither are we to take a “criticizing, judgmental attitude” toward the sinner.

Our calling is to “restore people to a right standing with God.” The word restore means to “set in order.” We are not to be “harsh and judgmental.” Jesus condemned a “critical, self-righteous, judgmental attitude” in the greatest sermon ever preached.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said,

Mt. 7    ¹Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.  ² For with the judgment you use,  you will be judged, and with the measure you use,  it will be measured to you.  ³ Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?

Jesus did not mean we are not to form opinions on people’s behavior based upon the measure of God’s Word.  In fact, in verse 6 Jesus forms just such an opinion in regard to “unrepentant, rebellious” sinners.  He calls them “dogs.”  Jesus formed opinions about the Pharisees.  Jesus formed opinions about the behavior of His own disciples.  So, Jesus does not talking about “never forming an opinion about the acts and attitudes of others.”  Jesus is talking about “judging” in a manner that denigrates, or devalues a person.  Jesus is talking about a “harsh, critical pronouncement of unworthiness.” 

Paul is the interpreter of the life of Jesus and he gives us guidance in how we are to minister to others:  restore such a person with a gentle  spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted (v1).

The words, “watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted” are a reminder that we are all sinners and we can at any point in our life when we are not “watchful” be overrun by the Tempter.  These words are a reminder that Christian ministry should be marked by humility.

There is a story attributed to St. Augustine that one day he was in a town near the waterfront when he was approached by a young man, dirty, dressed in rags, and smelling of alcohol. He begs Augustine for some money. Opening his purse, he gave the man a couple coins. Seeing what he had done, another passerby came over and ask why Augustine had given the man money. Couldn't he see that the man was a bum, a drunk, and a good for nothing. Augustine watched him leave and said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Too often we see someone caught and a fault and we do as the Pharisees did:  we say, “thank God I am not like that sinner.”  Paul warns us in verse that we should be “watchful because we are sinners like everybody else.”

Goo-Goos are “Good Government Men.”  Christian “Goo-goos” are “Do-gooders” who are motivated by the Holy Spirit within them and who seek to help others in a spirit of humility.

This means, that the essence of being a “Christian Goo-Goo,” or “Do-gooder is to be

3.  partners in a global, good-deeds, mission (v 10)

The summation of this concluding chapter is simply this:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work  for the good  of all, especially for those who belong to the household  of faith.

Christians are to “do good” . . . period.  As my Dad would say when he’d give me a task:  “And I don’t want to hear any ifs, ands, or buts about it!”  Just do it.

Christians are to do “good,” not to gain salvation, but because we already received it as a free gift.  Paul says something similar in another book:

¹² So then, my dear friends,  just as you have always obeyed,  not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Jesus said something very similar in the Sermon on the Mount:

Mt. 5:16  Let your light shine  before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

When a person is truly wired into Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and has a humble heart of a servant, then there is an unexplainable urge to do good deeds and meet the needs of others.  John the Apostle says,

^{1John 4    19} We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Ministry is simply, “Love in action.”  Love in action is evidence that God has taken up resident in a person’s heart.  God is love, and those that are God’s children are characterized by an innate, Spirit-born, desire to express God’s love through “good deeds.”

A non-serving Christian is an “oxymoron.”  An oxymoron arises from the combination of contradictory terms, like a “deafening silence,” or “irregular pattern.”  Shakespeare strung together oxymora when Romeo declares:

"O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!

A Christian who isn’t seeking to meet the needs of those around him or her is an “unholy contradiction.”  We were not saved to sit in a pew but to serve on the streets. If you signed up to be a member of the Church, then you volunteered to serve. God is serious about filling up His Church with those He has called to be saved.

In Luke 14 we have what has been titled, “The Parable of the Great Banguet.”  In this parable “A certain man,” who represents Almighty God, was preparing a great feast and festival.  He had invited many guests—apparently everybody who was anybody in the town was invited.  When the time for the party came, the master’s servant reported that one by one all the invited guests gave excuses for why they could not come.  Here is the master’s reaction:

²¹ “So the slave came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’  ²² “ ‘Master,’ the slave said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’ ²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

God wants His house filled and He expects us to fill it by “doing good works” to the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame, and to anybody in the course of our highways and byways of life.”

The Holy Spirit declares in our text through Paul,

Therefore, as we have opportunity,

we must work  for the good  of all,

On this day, the 7^th Day of July, in the Year of the Lord 2013, I do hereby declare war upon the idea of “pew sitting.”  If you are a Christian, you are expected to be a “Do-Gooder.”

John Newton wrote a poem during his days as pastor in Olney.  It was set to a tune and became a beloved hymn of the church.  It says,

There is a balm in Gilead // To make the wounded whole
There is a balm in Gilead // To heal the sin-sick soul

The idea comes from Jeremiah 8:22 where the prophet weeps over the brokenness of the nation of Israel:

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?

So why has the healing of my dear  people not come about?

We should all lament over the sadness, brokenness, and spiritual devastation evident everywhere on our streets.  We should weep over the homeless, we should weep over the hunger, we should weep over the brokenness in homes.  Our hearts should be broken and our eyes awash with tears when we look out over the lostness of our communities, nations, and indeed our world.

But, it is not enough to be broken-hearted.  It is not enough to cry tears of compassion.  We are called to be “Christian Goo-Goos,” or “Christian Do-gooders.”  We cannot let it be said of our community that “there is no balm in Giliead,” no healing for our city.  The last verse of John Newton’s hymn reminds us:

If you cannot preach like Peter // If you cannot pray like Paul
You can tell the love of Jesus // And say, "He died for all".

The “Goo-Goos” were “Good Government Men” committed to standing up against the evil they perceived in government.  They were the “mugwumps” who were not afraid to stand against the corruption in their own party.  And then, there was Margery Meanwell who was so overcome by the kind act of receiving new shoes that she made herself annoying going door to door “telling of her good fortune.”

We must be like Margery.  We must “go door to door all about town in every highway and byway telling the story of God’s good news.”

Let’s Pray.