We
are in the middle of a series of messages talking about the sequence of six main
characteristics or traits that I hope every one of you graduate out of FMBC
Student Ministries. Essentially, 6 fundamental aspects of a person who is
radically surrendered to Christ. So we’ve already talked about having a love
and passion for church and having a love and passion for worship. This week, we
are talking about having a love and passion for people. Essentially, Following Christ into Radical Surrender demands a Love for
Each Other. God’s love for us compels us to love others. His Holy Spirit within
us gives us a unique connection to other Christians. And His commands give us a
unique calling to the world.
Luke
10:1-4; 16-20
Jesus’
first instruction to the 72 was that they pray. When He said that the harvest
was plentiful, Jesus meant that there was much work to do to bring the gospel
of the kingdom to everyone. His disciple messengers were few in proportion to
the large task. Therefore the disciples needed to pray God to send every
qualified messenger out into the “field” and that none would fail to
participate in this mission. This verse expresses Jesus’ desire for more
workers and for full participation by the workers who were available. And our
main task it to pray.
Jesus’
second instruction to the 72 is to go. The sheep among wolves pictures the
dependent and vulnerable position of His disciples among hostile adversaries.
They needed to trust in and pray to God. Jesus sent them out as missionaries.
Jesus was speaking as the Shepherd of His sheep. I hope every one of you are
actively praying for the salvation of your friends. That your non-Christian or
unchurched friends would come to love Christ. Undoubtedly the 72 prayed as they
conducted their mission trip, but they also preached. Jesus did not tell them
just to pray for God to make the people responsive but also to proclaim the
gospel to them. Neither did He tell them simply to go out and do good works.
Praying for the lost and proclaiming the Gospel should go hand in hand whenever
possible. So we trust God’s Sovereignty. We pray for God’s grace and mercy. And
we go as God’s ambassadors.
We all have a good idea of how to pray. But what is
the Gospel and how do you proclaim it?
The Gospel in a minute:
1. God loves you and has a plan for your life to live a
joy-filled relationship with Him forever.
2. But we have turned away from God’s abundant plan and
chose to live for ourselves. That is called sin.
3. Our sin has permanently separated us from God both now
and for eternity. And the price we have to pay for our sins is death.
4. But because He loves us, He wasn’t satisfied to leave
us in this spot. So He stepped into our situation and did something about it.
He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh to pay the price for us.
He allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross and died that God can now forgive
us of our sins. And he rose from the grave that we may have eternal abundant
life in Him.
5. So how do we respond to this? You can either reject
what God has done for you, or you can accept Christ into your life, commit to
living your life for Him, and enter back into a joy-filled relationship with
God forever.
This whole story deals with
the joy that is only experienced by disciples who participate in God’s plan for
their life. The greatest and most fundamental reason for rejoicing for any is
his or her personal salvation. Yet there is additional joy for followers of
Christ who take part in God’s plan for salvation and advance His will in the
world. It involves seeing a preview of the final victory over the forces of
evil. Being this type of Christian is going to be harder, and there is
rejection and hardships that only you will know. This joy more than compensates
for the deprivations and rejection that discipleship entails. A follower of
Christ who does radically surrender to God’s plan for their life by
passionately loving others knows nothing of this joy.
Before we make this personal,
I want you to notice one more thing. What is the next Bold Sub-Heading in your
Bible? This immediately precedes the story of the Good Samaritan. Do you think
it is a coincidence that Jesus leads and teaches his followers to love people
to the point of proclaiming the Gospel and then follows it up with a story
about a guy who shows incredible love and compassion to his enemy? Don’t limit
salvation to just your friends.
So
let’s become like the original disciples of Christ for a minute. As you leave
here, you are going to be sent out 2 by 2 back into your great mission field
affectionately called the public school. I want everyone to pair off and for
the 2 of you to come up with a list. I want you to think of one unchurched
person that you will begin praying for, and one non-Christian person that you
will look for and create opportunities to proclaim the Gospel to. So one friend
that you are praying for and one friend that you will try to reach for Christ.
What will that look like? I hope you are making opportunities at school or
after school to engage these friends in spiritual conversations. And at some
point in the next month or so, to intentionally and verbally present the Gospel
to that friend. After you have done that, or if you are completely
uncomfortable doing that, then you secondary goal is to get both these friends
to begin attending Pulse with you regularly every week!
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