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Sunday: Restore

In Galatians 5:19-21, there’s a list of “the acts of the flesh”.  And 2000 years and thousands of miles removed from the church in Galatia, when we read that list, it reads like a list.  Sterile and boring.

The thing is that the list of “acts of the flesh” aren’t a list of hypothetical sins.  Paul isn’t keeping a running tally of things that “aren’t good” just for kicks.  They are the actual sins that were running rampant in the Galatian church when Paul wrote the letter.

It’s in this context that Paul writes the exhortation found in Galatians 6:1.  Those of you who are spiritual or live by the Spirit are commanded to restore the brother or sister overtaken in sin.

We see that same word “restore” in Matthew 4:21, only there it’s commonly translated as “repair” in reference to fishing nets.  After going out to fish, fishermen had to inspect their nets and mend them where necessary so that they would be back into usable condition.  That was how they restored their nets.  They saw where it was broken and then, they fixed them.

In the same way, when we’re called to restore a believer overtaken in sin, while we have the unpleasant task of showing where the fault is, we can’t just leave it at that.  We also have the hard work of walking alongside them, helping mend the person back to how they used to be before they were entrapped.  And Jesus lays out the specifics of that restoration process in Matthew 18:15-17.

As I’ve been reading through the New Testament, it struck me that the word “community” is never used to describe the church.  Instead, among other things, it uses a more intimate term: The body of Christ.

We, the church, are all connected to one another.  We don’t just gather together.  We’re not just associated with one another.  We’re connected to one another.  That’s a fact.  It’s not something we have to work toward.  Like it or not, we are spiritually connected to one another.

The parts of our bodies are connected to one another.  When one part is struck or feels pain, the entire body, all the parts react because the body as whole feels the pain.  Likewise, when someone is overtaken in sin, the effects aren’t just localized to that one person.  The effects reverberate throughout the whole body.

When we are in this situation, we can’t stick our head in the sand and try to ignore it, hoping that the sin or that person would go away.  This isn’t something you can just slide.  We can’t afford to simply look out for our own well-being.  We are spiritually connected to one another.

Discussion Questions

• Have you been in a situation where you strongly suspected or even knew that a fellow believer was entrapped in sin?
• What did you do in that situation?
• Is there someone you need to help restore in a spirit of gentleness?
• What do you most fear about the process of restoration?

Sunday: Taming the Tongue

“It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

“It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

What is “it”?  What is the author, James describing here?

As we see in its context, James 3:6-8, James is describing the tongue, our speech, the words that come out of our mouths.  The words that come out of our mouths corrupt the whole body, set the whole course of one’s life on fire, and are set on fire by hell.  Furthermore, no human being can tame the words that come out of our mouths.

I think we seriously underestimate the power our words have over us.  I seriously underestimated the power my words have over me, that is, until this last week.

As I prepared this sermon this week, I paid close attention to what I said.  It’s hard not to when the Lord brings James 3 to the forefront of your brain.  And as I paid close attention to the words that came out of my mouth, I was surprised.

I was surprised by how often I put people down or thought about putting people down.  I couldn’t believe a) how often I do it and b) how I hadn’t noticed it before.  Despite the fact that I was preparing a sermon on the very subject, I still had absolutely no control over my words.  For the first time, I realized the truth of “no human being can tame the tongue.”

So, what hope do we have if “no human being can tame the tongue”?

It’s tempting to read the following verses, James 3:9-10 and assume that the application is to simply cut it out.  Just stop putting people down.  Stop slandering them.  Stop gossipping.  Stop cursing others.

I can speak from personal experience that trying to cut it out is a lost cause.  No human being can tame the tongue.

Instead, verse 10 alludes to the fact that the problem is symptomatic of a greater issue.  The base of the problem lies primarily in the compartmentalization of my speech.  “Out of the same mouth come praising and cursing.”  One moment, I’m praising God with my words as I do when I sing songs of worship.  The next, I’m slandering another person who is equally made in God’s image with my words.

Framed differently, most of the time, I forget God.  My cursing others is an act of forgetting.  It reveals that I’ve forgotten God.  It is impossible to simultaneously praise God and curse someone who’s been purposefully made to resemble God.  When I choose to put someone down with my words, I’m choosing to not think about God.  I’m pushing God out.

Our part then, is to remember God and invite Him to rule over our whole lives, all of our speech.  If we choose to remember Him and be under His rule, He will take care of the rest.  He’ll take care of that “restless evil, full of deadly poison” that “no human being can tame”.  Though we can’t tame the tongue, Jesus can.

Discussion Questions

• “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.”  Do you find this statement to be true in your own life?  Why?
• Think back on your day, focusing on your words.  Did you curse others more often than you thought you did?
• Do you need to repent for the damage your words have caused?  Will you give God Lordship over your words?

Sunday: Reclaiming Our Purpose of Making Disciples

When you read Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-36, you can’t help but be moved.  It’s such a compelling, attractive description of the first church the world has ever known, the church in Jerusalem.  They were committed to one another.  They lived life with one another.  They took care of one another.  They made sacrifices for one another.  God was working through them powerfully and their numbers grew.

There was only one problem.  It didn’t have staying power.  Acts 4 paints the picture of the church in Jerusalem where “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” and in Acts 8:1-3, almost the entirety of the church scatters, leaving only the apostles behind.  In real time, that span from Acts 4 to Acts 8 lasted about a year.

Can you imagine that?  For one intense year, you live in such a way that you’re more open, more vulnerable, more authentic than you’ve ever been with a group of people who are equally open, vulnerable, and authentic.  And as you live this life you see God moving in you and the people around you.   And then, persecution hits, and just like that it’s no more.  How disappointed are you?  How much do you long for the good, old days of genuine community?

I find it interesting that there’s no mentioning of how disappointed the scattered people were at the loss of community.  Instead, there’s Acts 8:4-5.  They preached the word wherever they went.  This speaks volumes toward what they saw as being ultimate.  Had community been the end goal, in the face of persecution, the Jerusalem church would’ve done everything in their power to keep the community intact.

Instead, they preached the word wherever they went.  The persecution that broke up the Acts 2 and Acts 4 community wasn’t a hindrance but an opportunity to further the end goal of the Jerusalem church: Making disciples of all nations.  Prior to Acts 8:1-5, the witness of the Jerusalem church was bounded by the city walls.  But as the people scattered in response to persecution, the word was taken with them to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  This was Jesus’ original intent as described in Acts 1:8.

Jesus intended for His Church to be about making disciples of all nations, being His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  And that’s precisely what the church in Jerusalem showed itself to be about.  It took persecution to bring it out, but it was there.  Jesus planted that desire in His disciples.  And His disciples passed it on to the first manifestation of His Church, the church in Jerusalem.

Has that desire been clearly passed down to you?  Is that your end goal in life?  Making disciples?  Or like the game of telephone, has it become so garbled in its transmission over the millennia that it’s morphed into something else entirely?  Are you about making disciples?  Are you about being His witnesses?

The Church doesn’t exist for you.  It hasn’t been established to meet your needs.  The church exists for God and His glory to be made manifest on the entire earth.  And that necessarily means that our focus is on making disciples, on being His witnesses everywhere we go.

Join me in reclaiming the Lord’s purpose for your life.  Join me in being about making disciples: Leading others to Jesus and leading others to become more like Jesus.

Discussion Questions

• As you read Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-36, what most attracts you about the church in Jerusalem?  Why?
• Given how the Lord has made you, what does it look like for you to make disciples?
• What will you do to move toward being about making disciples?

Sunday: Going Out of Your Way for Community

This picture that I found off of Google images is how I used to think John 13:1-21 happened.  Jesus is washing Peter’s feet and ten of the other disciples are watching.  Meanwhile, Judas is off in the distance, lurking in the shadows, about to make his move to betray Jesus.

But then, I read the passage and I was struck by John 13:12.  “When he had finished washing THEIR feet…”.  Jesus didn’t just wash Peter’s feet.  Jesus washed all of the disciples’ feet.  He even washed Judas’ feet.

My guess is that Judas would’ve preferred it the way that it’s drawn in that picture.  He likely wanted to keep his emotional distance from Jesus and the others.  And so, he likely started off in the distance, lurking in the shadows.  But then, Jesus called out for Judas, He reached out to him, and He went out of His way to serve him.

And it wasn’t that Jesus was naïve about Judas.  The author of the gospel, John makes sure that we know that Jesus knew what Judas was about to do (John 13:2, John 13:11, John 13:18, John 13:21).  Not only did Jesus not try to protect Himself from Judas and his schemes, Jesus went out of His way to serve Judas in the middle of his scheming.

This makes no sense.  You’re supposed to protect yourself from people who are out to get you.  Or you’re at least supposed to keep your distance from people you’re not all together sure about.

We’ve learned this in life.  All of us have been hurt by someone.  And so, we’ve learned to protect ourselves.  We distance ourselves from others.  We put up walls and barriers so that people won’t get too close unless they earn our trust.  It’s no wonder it’s so difficult to find community in our broken world.

But Jesus doesn’t do that.  Knowing full well that Judas was going to hurt Him, Jesus loved Judas and went out of His way to serve him.

This Jesus, the man who reached out to His betrayer lives in us.  For those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, this is a fact: Jesus lives in us.  It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you.  Jesus who served the unlovable and untrustworthy 2000 years ago lives in us and is able to do it all over again through us.  He’s done it before and He can do it again.

Though life has taught us to protect ourselves from others until they enter our circle of trust, Jesus in us is fully capable of doing the impossible and serving the unlovable and untrustworthy in our lives.  We need only to give Him the reins and trust Him with our pride, our dignity, and our emotional well-being, trusting that He will be true to His promise that He is the Good Shepherd.

Discussion Questions

• Why do you protect yourself emotionally from others?
• Describe a time when you saw Jesus at work in you or others in your LTG, loving the unlovable or untrustworthy.
• What does it mean for you to trust Jesus with your pride, dignity, and emotional well-being?

Sunday: The Vision Talk

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, God is being robbed of 95% of the worship that He deserves.  Only 5.3% of the population here, worship Him.  Though God created 100% of the people, loves 100% of the people unconditionally, and sent His one and only Son so that 100% of the people could worship Him, only 5% worship Him.

The God that we worship is not satisfied with that.  Our God, is the God of this entire world.  He is deserving of every nation, tribe, and tongue worshipping Him in unison declaring, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

And He has commissioned His Church worldwide to partner with Him in making that vision into a reality.  Jesus’ agenda for His Church since before it was even established was for it to increase His glory by inviting all of His creation to come and follow Him.  Jesus sets the agenda for His Church in Matthew 28:18-20.  This is the Lord’s purpose, His mission, His vision for His Church.  To make disciples of all nations.  To increase His glory by inviting all of His creation to worship Him.

Here, at Baylight, we’re aligning ourselves with Jesus’ vision for His Church.  We are about reaching the lost.  We are about reclaiming for Him, the worship that He deserves from all of His creation.

And we’re going to do this by inviting others to our LTGs so that they can see and experience the love and care that the Lord allows us to have for one another.

I have to admit that when I first heard about the idea, I was skeptical.  I was skeptical about my ability to invite people who don’t know Jesus to my LTG.  But more than that, I was skeptical about the interest people who don’t know Jesus would have about coming to my LTG.

Back in May, I flew out to Houston to visit a church that is about reaching the lost.  And the way that they go about it is by inviting people to their “house churches” which are largely equivalent to our LTGs.  I spent most of my time with one of those house churches.  In getting to know the people in that house church, I found out that two of the families came to know and follow Jesus through the ministry of the house church.  When they first came, they saw how the people in the house church genuinely loved and cared for one another.  And they experienced for themselves how the people in the house church genuinely loved and cared for them too.  And after experiencing this love and care for one another, they decided to come back.  Over time, they became curious about Jesus, they asked questions in their house church, they came to Sunday services from time to time, and eventually the decided to follow Jesus.

Baylight, we already do this.  And it’s the best thing that we do as a church: Love and care for one another in our LTGs.  Let’s exercise the strength that the Lord has already given us to fulfill His vision for His Church.  Let’s invite people who don’t know Jesus to come to our LTGs.

Now, as for my skepticism about my ability to invite people who don’t know Jesus to my LTG, that’s where Porticos come in.  In a nutshell, Porticos are about making it easier for us to invite people to our LTGs.

The main point of inspiration for having Porticos actually came from the series of women’s nights that some of the Baylight ladies hosted back last winter.  They were hangouts with an open invite.  Baylight people and friends of Baylight people came, both Christian and non-Christian.  And from what I heard, there was a good mixing of social circles.

That’s what Porticos are about.  People in our LTGs meeting our friends who don’t know Jesus with the hope that as they meet one another, it’d become easier for us to invite them to our LTGs.

As for Sunday mornings, Sunday mornings will resource the LTGs in multiple ways.  I’ll share three.

The first is with people.  As people come to Sunday mornings, we have the opportunity to invite them to our LTGs.  The lunches we have after service give us additional time and space to do this.

The second is with a point of decision.  After every sermon I’ve preached over the last few months, we’ve had communion.  With communion, in addition to the remembering Jesus, the essential question becomes “Will I follow Jesus?”  Communion acts as a point of decision for both the believer and non-believer alike.  For the Christian, it’s a challenge and reminder, usually in response to the word that was preached.  For the non-Christian, it becomes an altar call, a challenge to take the first step in following Jesus.

The third is with discussion points for study.  Application oriented questions will be given to the LTGs by the previous Sunday’s speaker.

One final thing is considering how central our LTGs are, our leadership structure should support the LTGs.  So, the current COT and I propose to dissolve the office of the COT, our elder board.  And in its place, we propose to install the LTG leaders to be the governing body for Baylight.  Since this would be a change to our church bylaws, we will have a vote on the matter two weeks from now.

Discussion Questions

• When was the last time you played an active role in inviting someone to follow Christ?
• What do you think of the statement “Jesus sets the agenda for His Church in Matthew 28:18-20″?
• What keeps you from inviting someone to LTG?
• Who can you currently invite to LTG?