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Jesus is the answer, but what’s the question? (living in a culture of lostness.)

1/22/2017 In the last two sermons, we have talked about God wanting all people to be saved, and that God is not willing that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance. What else does God “wish,” or want?

Matt. 9:35-38

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Where is everybody going? Such a hurry, walking with such purpose, “must push people out of my way…”

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(Ever been in the middle of all of that?)

(How about this? Ever been in the middle of this?)

(Or how about this?)

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(This is my favorite…)

SO important, day after day, twice a day, 50 weeks out of every year, for decades.

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Do we know where we are going, and why we are going there? Or, are we living in a lost culture, sucked into a lost culture, having nothing to offer a lost culture? It’s not just cities, either. You can be just as lost and lonely in the heartland, in rural America. And so people go online, and click onto Facebook, and see people posting distorted images about the happy lives they wish they really had, or venting about how the political left or the political right is to blame for all their problems, and yet they are still lost. Lost, like sheep without a shepherd… Looking for direction, looking for true leadership, Looking for meaning, and purpose, and a place to belong. It was just as true in Jesus’ day as today. People were just as lost, dislocated, alienated, lonely; Jesus saw it and it grieved him. And I was lost, living in a row house in Back Bay Boston, going to college, walking the streets at night, aching inside, so empty, living in the shadow lands. I was part of that bustle of activity, that intentionality, that determination to do something important with my life.

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How about you? Was that you, IS that you, even now? Are you participating in the culture of lostness, or do you bring something to it, as you come along beside it, where you can offer something different, better, more helpful, more healthy, than the sense of futility that the rat race creates in those who participate in it. Isn’t that what Jesus is observing here, even in his own time?

1. People busy going, but not getting anywhere. 2. People chasing dreams, but never satisfied. 3. People harassed and helpless,

like sheep without a shepherd. If we are disciples of Jesus, we have a clear calling to offer a solution, not to be a part of the problem. Here’s what we’re talking about this morning, Jesus’ response to this aspect of the human condition. (Let’s keeping reading in our passage from Matthew 9.)

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

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What do we see in this little passage? (Let’s unpack it a bit.) 1. Jesus “had compassion on them,”

when he saw how they were living. Literally, “his guts hurt for them”- (we would say)

a. His heart went out to them. b. He hurt for them. c. Their emotional loneliness and lostness

moved him. 2. “He said to his disciples”… (That’s US, isn’t it?) 3. ASK the Lord of the harvest”…(That means pray, right?) 4. What are we to pray for?

“For the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers into his harvest field”… (Again, that’s us, right?)

People are looking for a shepherd, for direction, That’s good, right? But what are we offering them?

I saw this meme a while back, and at first I thought it was just plain rude, disrespectful.

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But I think the world is asking us that very question, and sometimes we don’t have very good answers. We believe that Jesus claimed to be “the way, the truth and the life,” but the way to what? The truth about what? And based on the behavior of a whole lot of those who claim to be Christians, if, based on the example of their lives, Jesus is the answer, then the people in our world don’t want THEIR answer. It’s harsh, judgmental, hypocritical, materialistic, selfish, backstabbing, definitely NOT compassionate. Jesus wants us to pray for workers, and then to become those workers , but workers doing what? Workers using their jobs, their marriages, their role as parents, as citizens- to shine a whole lot of light into a very dark world. Paul will say in Phil. 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…

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Dark universe, bright stars… Notice the contrast. But if we look just like the darkness, how does our example provide any contrast? Stated another way, how is Jesus the answer for you, to the hard questions life asks? If we go back to Paul’s point in this verse, to list one specific application for the morning- “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…”

1. No complaining, got that? No… None. No whining, belly aching… (well, why not?) Well, what does it communicate about your attitude towards your boss, your spouse, your church, the elders? a. You know better. b. You could do better. c. It’s all about you and what you want.

(Sounding kind of worldly, huh?) And nobody likes listening to a complainer anyway. How does complaining model the love of Christ?

2. And no arguing…NO ARGUING? Are you crazy? a. How else will I get my way? b. How else can I stand up for myself? (for my SELF…)

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c. Well, can we disagree with each other? Of course we can. We do it all the time,

but that should lead to listening, and understanding the other person’s position, and trying to take into account the other person’s needs and feelings into any solution that we come up with.

d. It means solutions should not be based on abuse of power, but on responses in love, TO everyone involved in the situation, BY everyone connected to the situation.

Do you think maybe, perhaps, if we served as ministers of reconciliation on the job, in our homes, in the church, with our kids, maybe we could become, at least a little bit, the beacons in the darkness that we are called to be. So which are you- a complainer, an arguer, or none of the above? (Please answer honestly… God already knows.) What are people looking for, as they wander like sheep without a shepherd?

1. They are looking for direction. 2. They are looking for an example to follow. 3. They are looking for human connection.

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4. They want to know who they can trust. 5. They want to see lives worth emulating, in community.

They MAY like Jesus, but not believe that it is possible to follow his example. They need to SEE it, to believe it’s possible. (That’s where we come in…) Lives going somewhere, or rushing to go nowhere? IS Jesus the answer to life’s biggest questions, biggest needs, or is it all just theory, not livable- at least that is the conclusion that the world draws based on your life and mine? What are we to do? How about what Jesus just told us as his disciples,

1. We are to pray for workers, 2. and then we are to BE those workers

in the harvest field. What will it take for us to be good workers, who hold out a light to a world in darkness? Do everything without arguing or complaining.

THAT will add incredible credibility to our message and to our example.

If you ARE a complainer or an arguer, In love, I beseech you, “Just say no. Hold yourself back. Curb your critical, unappreciative tongue.” Let’s PRAY, and then let’s BE, those workers Jesus seeks.