Day 22 - A Contagious Community

Usually when we hear the word 'contagious,' it is in a negative sense.  We only need to think back to the SARS outbreak or the 'swine flu' to remember all the efforts that were taken to quarantine the sick.  I remember all too vividly when our kids were sick and we had to call into the school and listen to all the symptoms that they asked our child was experiencing.  The virus had to be kept under control...except for chicken pox!  When I was at a parent teacher night, a friend was telling me that a number of families wanted to bring their kids over to his home because they wanted their child to get chicken pox sooner than later!  So, how do we become contagious in a good way that people want we have, a faith that rubs off on others?

I believe the call to share our faith can be really daunting.  It isn’t easy to find the right words to say to someone.  When it comes to talking about our faith, we like to give ourselves excuses as well.  I don’t feel ready to share, I don’t feel ready to act in love and if I do manage to say something, I’ll just fumble over my words.

However, my goal today is not to guilt you into ‘witnessing’ but to inspire you from the story that I was relating to yesterday about the four men who cut a hole in the roof to get their friend to Jesus.

1.      People are looking for the real Jesus!

The first thing that this story in Mark 2 reminds me of is this, ‘people are looking for the real Jesus.’  They didn’t find him in a church, but they found Him in someone’s home and the place was packed out.  

It is another simple observation, but one that we need to notice.

The Canadian content included Reginald Bibby, one of Canada’s leading experts on religious and social trends.  He shared from his recent book, Beyond The Gods and Back: Religion’s Demise an Rise and Why It Matters.

Here in a nutshell is his most recent findings among Canadians:

50% of adults and 40% of teens are open to greater involvement with the church if they find something worthwhile to engage in.

He also said ‘people are not looking for churches – people are looking for ministry’

People are watching us closely and wondering how much different our lives look compared to theirs.  More and more non-Christians are curious by a church that is slowly recapturing the heart of her mission to serve and love on others and both believers and non-believers are finding Jesus in the most unexpected places! 

I'll never forget being with one of my youth on the east side of Vancouver serving hot chocolate to people on the street during a cold day during the spring break.  Matt, the youth, looked at me and said, "I've never felt closer to Jesus"!

There are three ways we shouldn't approach our culture:

Blend – never works because then we really have nothing to offer, there is nothing different about us.

Hide – and try to keep ourselves free and clear...one problem, Jesus told us to be in the world, but not of the world

Overtake – try to overthrow the culture like the Zealots did and that didn't turn out to well for them and it doesn't work well today either.

Or ENGAGE it – redemptively.  Look inside the heart of every soul and see the craving for meaning, for fulfillment, for destiny as Erwin McManus would challenger us.

Mark Buchanan, a pastor from Duncan, BC on Victoria Island relates the story about how he was praying and asking God for the nations when God opened his eyes and said to him,  ‘what about the First Nations?’ and so now they have begun a ministry where they are able to minister to the children right on the reserves there and where they have transformed playgrounds and families at the same time.

 2.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you divine appointments!

Ask the Spirit of God to lead you to the right people with the right actions for the right words at the right time.

So, let’s imagine that there are four guys here each with one corner of a stretcher lowering their buddy down through the roof.

This man had a divine appointment with Jesus!  There was no question about it and something great was going to happen.

Samuel Johnson, an English author from the 1700s said

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

Here’s the thing about sharing your faith.  When God sets you up, it isn’t hard.  Ephesians 2:10  for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.  

Now the response isn’t always guaranteed to be favourable, but God will lead you through His Spirit…that is the point.

Let’s just explore a few of those divine appointments in Scripture –

Acts 16:13-15 Lydia;  16: 31-34 the jailer; Acts 10:22-27 Peter with Cornelius; Acts 18:7,8  Titius Justus after the people attending the synagogue got abusive with him - 

There is a word that keeps reoccurring here in each of these encounters.  It is household -  oikos – a much broader meaning, it includes not just the family – parents and children but it is much broader. In the first century this household would include the people who are connected through similar economics, vocation, similar interests, circles of networks, people that you live with, play with, do business with, rub shoulders with.  

Today’s buzz word is tribes.  It was simple 50 years ago when there was 3, your work, your family and you neighbourhood.  Now, thanks to special interest groups, there are so many sub groups that are out there, the opportunities are endless because as one speaker shared at the leadership summit,

‘everyone still wants to be in sync (community) because its deep in our DNA’

 3.  Ask God to give you supernatural faith to believe what He says He can do!

He is not willing that any should perish.

Look at this statement, it really is revolutionary.  Jesus says, ‘when he saw their faith, your sins are forgiven’…  Wait a minute…hold the phone.  He said what?  Wasn’t he supposed to say, ‘get up take your mat and walk?’  Isn’t that what everybody came to see…maybe not. 

Often we are wrapped up in thinking the bigger miracle was that he would walk again and don’t get me wrong, that was a great miracle, but it only lasted for the rest of his life.  There is a greater miracle, a greater transformation and it is the one that takes place in a person’s heart when they put their faith in Jesus.

So, what’s our part?  Trust God for the supernatural faith that He can save the people you are believing Him in faith for and you shouldn’t be the only one praying for them.  Share those friends with the rest of your small group, get them to pray for your friends as well because we know from this story that He is looking for ‘their faith’!  Do we all have faith that God can do this?