Who Do You Invite to Your Party?

Luke 14:1-11 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. {2} There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. {3} Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" {4} But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. {5} Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" {6} And they had nothing to say. {7} When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: {8} "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. {9} If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. {10} But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. {11} For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for one last Passover week as he goes to the cross. While on his way there he visits many villages and towns, meeting a collection of people including tax collectors and sinners, 10 lepers, little children, a rich young ruler, Blind Bartimaeus of Jericho and Zacchaeus - the dishonest tax collector. It was a motley crew of people desperately in need of Good News. Many of this collection of folks were not the prominent people of society, but the unimportant, the despised and the unclean. Jesus was ready to share the good news of the Kingdom of God with all of them including the prominent Pharisee at whose house he now sits on a Sabbath Day. Jesus wants to find out if the Pharisees gathered there get it - the Kingdom of God that is. He affords them every opportunity to express that they understand God's love and what He is doing in their very sight and hearing.

A guy shows up with "dropsy" which the medical dictionaries describe as an accumulation of water particularly in the feet due to congestive heart failure. This guy's life hangs in the balance. If Jesus doesn't heal him, his life will end soon. So - he give the Pharisees a chance to demonstrate that they understand. When asked if it is lawful to heal him, the Pharisees don't have a single thing to say. Their silence was deafening. For them, keeping the letter of the law mattered infinitely more than a human life. Jesus is undaunted and taking physical hold of the man, He heals him, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that Jesus did this. Even after reminding them that the law allows for the rescue of a donkey that might fall in a pit on a Sabbath Day, they still have nothing to say. Their devotion to rules and regulations makes it impossible to see the bigger picture of God's love come down in the person of Jesus. Their seething silence does little to mask how much the despise Jesus.

As we believers go on mission together, it is vital that we never allow our systems, traditions and rules to become more important that the redeeming of a single life. Like one invited to a banquet with lots of important people, Jesus encourages us to take the posture of one who honors others and their needs more than our own status or place in the pecking order. Jesus goes even one step farther. He suggests that when we throw a banquet or party, that we invite those in physical, emotional and spiritual need. That gives us a great opportunity to bless others. In doing so, we might experience the thrill of someone saying to us at the resurrection of the righteous (v. 14) "Thanks for sharing your life and Jesus with me. If it were not for you, I might not be here."

The Catalytic Growth of the Kingdom of God

A catalyst is “a substance usually used in small amounts relative to its reactants that modifies or increases the rate of reaction without being consumed in the process.” Yeast fits the description of a catalyst. Jesus taught about yeast this way in Matthew 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” Jesus is describing a scene that every Galilean would recognize. Yeast (not the powdered kind, but a little piece of dough kept from the previous baking) was mixed into three pecks of flour (roughly a bushel) and the resulting bread fed 100 people! What looked like a very little “catalyst” had amazing power. While tiny in comparison to whole batch of dough, it changed it and multiplied it exponentially!

Many might expect that the Kingdom of heaven would come all at once with raw power. But like yeast, it has amazing power which might not be immediately observable. Instead it transforms people internally and then externally. The power of yeast is that once worked into the dough, it can’t be stopped! When God’s Kingdom comes in, the same is also true. Look at what is happening in the Global South:

In Africa, Christians were 3% of the population in 1911. Today they are 47%. In China today there are more Christians than Communist party members and the spread of the Kingdom is being led by young people 18 to 30 years old. In India, 2% were Christian in 2002. In less than 10 years India is at 10%. Each time a new disciple is formed by the Holy Spirit they take a “little piece of dough” with them to their family, village and region and the catalytic yeasty process continues. Altogether that has resulted in 500 million new believers within a century. That spread has happened because newly discipled believers believe that sharing what they have just learned is exactly what should be done.

Meanwhile, the fastest growing “religious” grouping in North America is labeled “unaffiliated”. Barna Associates report that in North America, 10% of any city is reached on average and 90% is unreached. In Luke 10:1-3 Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

God’s Kingdom yeast is as powerful as ever! It starts seemingly small in the person of Jesus and in small groups where he is present (Matt 18:20) and becomes so shockingly big that that today over a billion people around the word identify themselves as His followers.

There is much to learn from the yeast of Kingdom growth in the Global South. Ying Kai, a Chinese American missionary to Asia suggests the following in order to get that yeast outside the walls of institutions. Some shifts in our thinking might be necessary. “Go, not come: The Great Commission says we are to go, not just invite people to come to us. We must go to where the lost are, training new believers to also go to the lost, into workplaces, homes, shops and neighborhoods. Everyone, not some: We must make disciples of all, not just a few. We typically choose whom we want to share the Gospel with, trying to pre-judge who might accept it. But God said to share with everyone. We cannot predict who will believe and whom God will use to birth a movement of Kingdom growth. Make disciples (trainers), not church members: We must not satisfy ourselves with making converts and church members. Jesus commanded much more. He wants true disciples.” And what do true disciples do? Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” including going and making “disciples of all nations.”

You – your family – your churches are bears Kingdom yeast where God has placed you. Work it into the dough of your community and it will do its work of permeating and transforming people and culture through the power of the Spirit as believers carry little pieces of that “yeasty dough” with them everywhere they go. Like a catalyst, it will never be used up.

Cultivating or Planting - What Season Is it?

Just like farming, there are two activities for a life of witness: cultivating and planting. If you do the right thing in the wrong season, you get zero results." That somewhat paraphrased statement from Ben Arment in Church in the Making: What Makes or Breaks a New Church Before it Starts has a great deal of wisdom in it. Knowing which season you are in can be used by God to produce a bountiful harvest.

One who is planting a garden (small scale) or a field of grain (large scale) understands that the sequence is important. You turn over the hardened ground before you put the seeds in the soil.

In our life of witness we will meet people whose hearts have been hardened by broken homes, sexual abuse, death, divorce and a myriad of other life circumstances. They are just not prepared to receive the seed of the Gospel. That's the time to cultivate, patiently waiting to plant the seed. Too often we walk away from such people, seeking instead those people whose hearts are already cultivated and ready for the seed. It seems so much easier.

But an eventual harvest requires both activities. Paul understood this. He said of himself in Romans 15:20 "It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." Paul was ready to do the painstaking work of cultivating people's hearts.

5 ways to cultivate people's hearts (with some thoughts from Ben Arment and some from me)

1. Pray like crazy for people you meet who seem to be hard soil. Pray for softening of the hard ground and patience for yourself in seed planting.
2. Purposefully spend time with "hard ground" kind of people, loving on them, spending time with them, being their friend even if they never come to know Jesus. This likely will mean you will have to go to some places and people groups you wouldn't go to if it were just up to your comforts and conveniences.
   
3. Understand that every encounter has the potential for a redemptive relationship of cultivation. Spend tons of time listening to people who are outside the churched world. Listen for their hurts, concerns, fears and challenges. Don't just give them the Gospel in written form - give them yourself.
4. Build strong friendships with high trust. People want to know you're a friend, not a missionary first.
5. Be aware that with many people you will have to restore Christianity's reputation first. The book UnChristian interviewed thousands of people 16 - 35 who find Christians not to be very much like Jesus but instead find them judgmental and cold. Your warmth and love to a those outside the world of the church gives them a glimpse of Jesus.

The privilege of it all is that the potential is there for God using us in overlapping mission activities at once. If we are faithful disciples we will likely always find ourselves cultivating hearts, planting seeds and seeing the joy of the harvest of 10's, 100's and perhaps 1,000's who come to know and love Jesus.

Faithful, Fruitful and Reproducing Churches

In scanning the book of Acts it is apparent that not only was the early church "devoted to the apostles' teaching"Acts 2:42 but as a result was fruitful and reproduced.

Of course it didn't happen through cleverness or human effort, but God used His Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and faithful followers to spread the best news ever heard!

Sadly, some people today are suspicious of of churches that reproduce new believers, new groups and new churches, thinking that they must only be growing because of gimmicks or watering down the Scriptures. Some even believe that "normal" is hanging on and surviving rather than "thriving"

While the early church was persecuted and suffered much, "thriving" and "reproducing" was NORMAL. A quick look at Acts reminds us of this:

Acts 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

Acts 5:14 ...more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Acts 6:7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 9:31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria... grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

Acts 11:21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:24 ... a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Acts 13:49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

Acts 16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Acts 18:8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

Acts 19:10 ...all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Acts 19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

I fervently believe that God's desire is for every faithful church to be fruitful and reproductive. Some will grow faster. Some may grow larger - but every church has the potential to make new disciples who make other new disciples. Some will help new churches to grow with their faithful mission gifts. Others will plant new churches themselves. All can reflect and live out God's mission heart "all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Marks of a Missionary Movement #5 - Adaptive Methods

In Steve Addison's book Movements that Change the World, Adaptive Methods is the 5th mark of a Mission Movement.

Addison reminds the reader that various forms of soccer (football) "have been played for thousands of years in diverse cultures." Why is that? "You can drop a round ball at the feet of a three-year old child and she can start playing immediately." That is not true of American football, baseball or golf. Soccer can be adjusted to play in any circumstance, geography and people group. It is an adaptive sport.

Adaptive methods in mission are like soccer in that they are simple, easy to learn, contagious, adaptable, transferable and low cost. Dwight Marable of Missions International has done extensive research on Missional Movements and found the same thing in research released in 2010's A Comparison of Root Principles in 2 Recently Assessed Nations, Missions International. Dwight found that where exponential growth of the church is taking place "training is given in small pieces in the homes of believers, at the village well, or in the rice field. They learn enough to implement and do, and they go and do just that. . . There is no waiting period. . . everyone should be teaching new converts and unbelievers creating a culture of training."

Adaptive methods enable a movement to function in ways that suit changing environments without changing the core beliefs. How can we know when adaptive methods are needed. Addison offers a powerful analysis:

"When powerful organizations and movements in one era end up crippled in the next, the cause is often 'the failure of success.' They stop learning and adapting. Worse still, the informal methods that brought initial success become formalized and inflexible with complex policies and procedures. Creativity and innovation jump ship or are made to walk the plank."

What is the solution? Revisit and embrace core beliefs; Give the young and young at heart freedom to pioneer new adaptive methods. Support grassroots missional networks at the local and regional level. Give permission, encouragement and support to those who demonstrate the spread of the one true Gospel in diverse and innovative ways and learn from them.

I would encourage you to order Steve Addison's book Movements that Change the World from http://www.movements.net

Marks of a Missionary Movement #4 - Rapid Mobilization

In his book Movements that Change the World, Steve Addison tells the story of Roland Allen to introduce the 4th mark of a Missionary Movement, Rapid Multiplication.

Allen was an Anglican missionary who wrote about planting churches among those who had not yet heard the Gospel. Born in England in 1868, Allen was ordained and served as a missionary in North China. As Allen challenged the methods of planting of churches in the early 20^th century he wrote a book titled Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? Allen looked at the spread of the Gospel in Acts and noticed that where he saw the church growing exponentially in his day, it resembled what he read about in Acts. But mostly he saw slow, cumbersome, highly ordered ecclesiastical ways of planting churches which resulted in the addition of a few churches at best and looked very little like the early church. He grieved that multiplication was not happening in most places except for where indigenous people groups took it upon themselves to plant churches. He advocated a return to the methods of St. Paul.

Allen wrote "This then is what I mean by spontaneous expansion. I mean the expansion which follows the unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual members of the Church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for themselves…I delight to think that a Christian traveling on his business, or fleeing from persecution, could preach Christ, and a Church spring up as the result of his preaching."

While his ideas were largely rebuffed by the Church of England, they sound much like the way the Gospel spread and churches were planted exponentially in Acts.

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

The Greek here means to make disciples “in your daily comings and goings," or "as you pass from one place to another.” That's what followers of Jesus do. Acts 8:1, 4 tells us how this unfolded for early believers " On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…{4} Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Who left and who stayed? The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, and the other believers were scattered? So – who did the preaching? The scattered believers did…everyday followers of Jesus.

The result of the preaching of these scattered followers? The story of the church at Antioch paints the picture. Acts 11:19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Acts 11:20-21 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

The powerful witness of Christians scattered throughout the Mediterranean world resulted in churches being planted everywhere.

Does this kind of rapid mobilization still happen? It is happening in 3^rd world areas. In 2000, there were 360 million Christians in Africa. At the present rate of growth there will be 633 million Christians there making it the second largest Christian continent after South America. Fifty years ago the fledgling church in China was reeling from the expulsion of Western missionaries. Today the Christian church in China grows by 16,500 new believers each day! Why is this happening? It happens because new believers are excited and empowered to share Jesus the day they become a believer.

This can happen in North America among Lutheran Christians! As pastors and other leaders empower people to learn to know, love, listen to and share Jesus with their unbelieving friends, the Holy Spirit can work to bring about faith and new life! I want to be a part of that. How about you?