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Series: Wiii Church
September 14, 2008

Last week I told you that like the Wii Game system that has revolutionized gaming, the Wiii Church series is going to revolutionize the way you see, understand, experience and “do” church. Like our series trailer reads, the church is where we are loved, where we find our purpose, where we belong. Last week we had to end in a bit of a rush because the band played too long. We ended by just skimming over this passage, and I want to go back to it now as we get into it today.

Remember the church this has just been born. Not built. It has just come into existence, not because people built a cathedral, not because they organized themselves into committees, not because they created a system of church government or church order. People, men and women, young and old, slaves and free, Jews and gentiles, became the church when they heard the message of Jesus, when they believed that he was and is the Son of God, that he died for their sins, that he rose from the grave, that he ascended into heaven, that he will come back again. They became the church when they embraced this message and the Holy Spirit came upon them and into their lives. The church was born because the church is organic, the church is living, and the church is me and you and everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ. They immediately became a part of they mystical union of their life to Jesus Christ, and their lives together in Jesus Christ.

This happened when a man named Peter preached to a multitude of people and 3000 people were saved. The church jumped from a group of about 150, to 3150 in one day. And so we have established that his is church- what we are doing here. Gathering in the Lord’s Day, gathering publicly in worship to sing, to pray, to preach, and to invite people to give their lives to Jesus. And likewise we pray that Connections might see 3000 people and more put come to Jesus, be it over the weeks and months, and even in a single gathering. We see no reason not to do church like this- out in the public, for everyone to hear the good news, to be a blessing to our community and everyone we meet.

But this is just the beginning, because that first day of the church was just the beginning. This is what happened next…

Acts 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Look at verse 44, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” THIS IS THE REVOLUTION- when church stops being something that you do, or just something that you go to. The revolution starts when we become the church, so the church goes with us everywhere we go. SO that when we gather we are the church, and when we go we are still every bit as much the church. This is about getting into the second part of our mission, connecting with people. This is about that second leg of our three-legged stand. Take this away, or cut it short, and the whole thing falls.

Together is a great word. Remember that scene from Gladiator, when they are thrown into the coliseum to fight the soldiers on chariots. Maximus, or whatever his name was, tells them to stay together. But that one dude who is so huge stands his own ground. He can’t watch his own back, so he takes an arrow in the back of his leg. It is then that he realizes his situation. Stand-alone and die, or stick together, and maybe, just maybe, live. He joins the team. They defeat the soldiers, and there is much rejoicing. It’s like that goofy clip we watched earlier- stick with the pack, or get eaten alive.

I’m terrible alone. I really am. I wouldn’t say I’m extremely extroverted, but I’m terrible alone. When I got married all of my needs for socialization, affirmation and entertainment where heaped entire on Robin. I nearly suffocated her by my all-consuming need to be connected. We started having babies just show she could have some other people around the house to deal with me! Now I’m miserable if I’m not together with my family, or if they’re not with me. We have to ask ourselves, all goofiness and gladiators aside, is that really true? Live together or die alone. Find community and find life, or venture out on you own and be killed.

And I’m going to say yes, yes it is true. You know you need other people. You know you need together. You know you need community. You know you need connection. You know that you will die if you try to go it on your own. But almost unfortunately for us is that we won’t be taken out of misery swift and fast like getting eaten by a lion. We’ll probably end up dying a long, slow, lonely, sad, depressing withering away, estranged from people, cut off from community, kind of death.

Hebrews 10 tells us this,

23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Now let me put this into a framework for us. This comes from a book called the Connecting Church, and it’s about to become our way of doing the church together in small groups. There are three ingredients that have to be in place for a group of people to connect. Three ingredients to really become a connecting church. Common Purpose, Common Place, and “Common Possessions, but please don’t freak about that yet, I’ll freak you out about that later.

Common Purpose. We are born into a culture of that esteems the individual over everything else. But what people discover after trying to live a lifetime for themselves, is that they actually want to live for something more. And they long, we long, for a common purpose to bind us together. This is common to human experience. People know this. We use phrases like, “if you don’t find something to die for you have nothing to live for.” And it’s true. We will find a purpose for our lives, the only question is, what purpose?

The church from day one gathered around a common purpose, and that purpose was really a person- Jesus. The purpose of knowing, loving and living for Jesus. Our purpose is to become Christians, little Christ’s. Our purpose is to become Christ-like in everything, because we believe that being Christ-like is simple the best way to live. Jesus showed us perfectly how to love God and love our neighbors. Jesus healed the sick, feed the hungry, loved the outcasts, changed lives and saved lives. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice and gave his life for us. We believe the best purpose, hands down, bar none, is being Christ like. That’s the common purpose that holds us together.

Common Place. Because we are born into a culture that esteems the individual, individuals often end up on a path of isolation. People have never lived closer together physically, but lived more apart socially. We have our own cars and cubicles and Internet connection and we isolate ourselves. We need a place. We long for a place to belong. If I asked you, where is home? Some of you immediately know. Home is where you grew up, because you grew up in the same house with the same people and it’s still your home. For some you know what home is, but it’s in the past. You left home along time ago, and you’ve been a wandering ever since. For some of you home has always been somewhere on the horizon. You’ve looked for it, longed for it, but never found it. I am always amazed at the power of home.

I have three kids, and the power of place in their lives is amazing. I thought I was a grounded person. My folks still live in the same house I grew up in. But I left that house 18 years ago, and I have never lived there since, and I have never lived anywhere more than 5 years since. School, work grad school, first church, now here. I have lost my place, but I still long for it, and now my family and have made the decision to try and make our place here, because we need a place. You need a place. We need a common place to connect and live and be neighbors.

Common Possessions. Isolated individuals naturally tend toward their own accumulation of stuff, or, materialism. Our culture and economy are entirely based upon making you and I the consumers of stuff. But this is no way to live, and many people are starting to catch on. Now they are “Freegains” living among us! Actually, I’m one of them. I pulled a mower out of the garbage the other day!

Here’s the thing- this is the part that is going to freak most people out, and to honest, it freaks me out. This is the most counter-cultural and cult-like quality of connection. But I’m not talking about a cult here. We’re not talking about starting a commune, though you can choose that life. We’re not talking about giving it all away, but you can give everything away. We are talking about a basic understanding that we don’t belong to our stuff, but our stuff belongs to us, and the best way to enjoy stuff is always in community. The best way to enjoy life is through sharing, support and generosity.

When we find a people with whom we have a common purpose, with whom we share a common place, we can get on to living a life of common possessions. That is as simply, and as messy, as sharing in life together. It is as radical as giving to church, and as simple as sharing a meal. And you want this. I know because you want to be generous people. It comes down to this truth- none of us really think we are materialistic, but to varying degrees we are materialistic, but you know some people who are really materialistic, and you don’t like them. And materialistic people don’t really like themselves. But you also know some really generous people, and you like them, and you want to be like them, because you don’t know, and will never meet, a generous person who wasn’t a happy person and the kind of person people want to be around. Think about it, and you will agree!

So how are we going to be a Connecting Church with Common Purpose, Place and Possessions? Through Connection Groups!

Here’s how is works: We will break our year into three semesters: Pre-season, Hockey season, and play-offs. Or as other places in the world call them, Fall, Winter, and Summer. CG’s will run each semester with clearly defined starting and stopping dates, and breaks in between. You will the opportunity to jump into groups at the start of each semester, then rest, and then sign up again. We aren’t going to constantly be putting CG’s in your face, but three times each year we are going to encourage you will all we have to get into a group.

Groups will be made up of 10-12 people. Groups that don’t reach this number can stay open for registration or combine with another smaller group. We want groups large enough that there is created a comfortable social environment.

Groups are organized geographically throughout the city. You are encouraged to join the group closest to you that meet at a time that works for you. We want groups to meet geographically because we want you to be able to really be neighbors, and have a presence in your neighborhood. We want groups to be geographical instead of generational. We want young and old to gather together. If this means that there are little kids in your group, then work it out. Everyone chip in a buck and get a sitter. If it means you have older kids in your group, include them in an opening prayer and bible reading. Then let them go and play in traffic.

Groups will do deeper into the Sunday worship experience, discussing the text and topics that we cover here. Sermons are posted online, both audio and manuscripts. Small group questions will be posted online if you miss the service. Questions will be printed right in you program for your convenience.

We will offer a few select focus groups. But this we mean some groups will focus on a particular topic, need or stage. For example, we are offering ALPHA, a 12-week introduction to the Christian life. This designed to cover all the basics of our faith and is the perfect place for you to go if you want to explore Christianity or get a brush up on the basics.

You can expect each group to have 4 things: Food, prayer, teaching, and socializing. You will be asked to make a commitment to the group for the semester. You will be asked to provide feedback on the experience, letting us know what’s working, and what needs fixed. You can expect us to do everything we can to make these groups a positive, amazing, even life-changing experience.

Now, I can’t make you do this, but I wish I could. Because you need this and you will be blessed by this and you will be a better person for doing this and you will be a blessing to others in doing this. But I can’t make you. I challenge you, no, I dare you, I double dare you, I double dog dare you to give this a semester give this a try. You want it.

We’ve had friends, and they’ve let us down. We’ve had marriages, and they’ve broken. We’ve joined groups or clubs, and they did more to hurt us than help us. And some people have been a part of churches that did more to mess than up that bring them grace, hope and love. But all of us have had little bits and tastes of community and connection, enough to make us desperately hungry for more, but also wondering where we can find it. Like an appetizer that should whet our appetites for a great meal, we’ve had the taste, but we want the meal, the want the full course. And we have created the buffet for you here today.

I can promise that if you put very little into this, you’ll get very little out of it. But that if you put yourself into this, you might get a whole lot out of it.

I can promise you that if you do this, you’re taking a step in the right direction. You’ll be taking a step towards community, towards healing, towards connection.

I can’t promise that you’ll find your best friends in the world, and these relationships will last a lifetime, and if you’re single you’ll find your spouse, but I can promise you’ll meet some amazing people, because I meet so may of you, and you really are some amazing people.

I can’t promise that you won’t be disappointed, discouraged, let down, or even have some significant struggles with your group. I know this because I know many of you, and as wonderful as you are, you’re also really messed up! But I can promise that you can find the opportunity to extend forgiveness, to show people grace, to work out trying to love each other as Christ loved you and gave his life for you.

I can’t promise that you’ll have every problem and every issue in your life solved by Christmas. These groups aren’t your private counseling session. Your facilitators aren’t going to hold up Rorschach ink bog tests, say tell me about your mother, and engage in electro shock therapy. But I can promise that you’ll taste a positive, Christ-center gathering of people who are praying and working to foster a healing environment. I can promise you’ll laugh, or at least laugh at the group after you leave. You’ll share life and socialize together.

I can promise that when you gather together in homes, that you are doing what the church has done from the moment it was born. I promise that when you gather together in Jesus’ name, he is there. I promise that when Jesus is there, you are his body, and you are the church.

And I know this- and it sounds like a guilt trip, but I don’t want it to be a guilt trip, I just believe it’s the truth, if you aren’t a part of a group, you are robbing yourself of what could be one of the most awesome things in your life. And more, you are robbing others of your gifts, of your grace, of your beauty. And I don’t want to be robbed of getting to know you. And I don’t want you to be robbed of getting to know me.

If you’re ready to sign up, go ahead, write your name, mark your group, and hand in the card when you leave. If you have some questions go see Mark and some of our other leaders. Ask them anything at all, even how to drywall your basement. I’m going to pray. You fill in your cards. The band is going to take us out in song.

W

Series: Wiii Church
September 7, 2008

1 Corinthians 12:27 tells us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” That’s what we’re talking about the next four weeks.

When I was in the 9th grade a friend was going on a summer vacation for a week, and I talked him into letting me borrow his NES. For a week of my summer I did nothing but play SMB, determined that I was going to complete the games. The whole concept was revolutionary. That week I accomplished my goal and finished the game. My friend returned. I gave him back his game system, and I told him, “I just wasted an entire week of my summer. I will never play video games again.” Since that time, I have never owned a video game system. I have become woefully out of touch with the world. I ride a horse and buggy, I think little people live inside my TV, I afraid of electricity and don’t understand these “micro-waves.”

Ok, I’m not that bad. But still, I have never been interested in video games… until the Wii. I was volunteering at the Northwest London Resource Centre after school program, and they were having a game day. They had set up a game cube, guitar hero, and a Wii. A kid asked me to play Wii with him. I told him he’d have to teach me, which he thought was pretty cool. He said let’s box. He handed me the numb chucks. It was awesome. Oh, it felt so good to just kick the virtual snot out of this little punk. Then I went on to kick the snot out of another kid. I was on a roll. I was having a blast. Then this little twerp, I mean, he must have weighted 98 pounds fully clothed, with his backpack, soaking wet, holding a 45-pound plate, took the controllers. I’m telling you, I was flailing around all over the place, and this kid barely moved a muscle, largely because he didn’t have any muscle to move, and he totally cleaned my clock.

Hey, all kidding aside, the Wii system is a fascinating development in technology. It was developed under the code name “Revolution,” but they soon decided that this did not really convey what they were trying to do with the Wii. You see the Wii wasn’t so much about a wireless controller, that technology was already commonplace. What was revolutionary about the Wii was how it was going to bring people together. Obviously the Wii is spelled with two lowercase I’s, side by side, representing people standing together, and simple put, the name, “Wii” sounds like “we.” Two or more people, connecting together, sharing in the game, sharing the experience.

They changed the name from revolution to Wii, but Wii has still revolutionized the way gaming is done and will be done. And likewise, this September, we want to revolutionize the way you think about church, the way you understand church, the way you do church, the way we exist as a church, the way the world thinks about us as a church. Today, and all this month, it’s about “Wii Church.” It’s about me, and you, and all of us together, in community, in connection, doing life together.

Even the title of this series emerged in a group a few weeks back as a few of us were talking about this coming fall. But the thinking behind it started in me long ago, and really started to come into focus when I decided to go with the name “Connections.” I knew it sounded like a Christian dating service, or an internet provider, but still, it was a way for me to capture what I hoped and dreamed and believed a local church could be.

Like our mission states, we believe in a church that can become a gathering of people who are radically connected with God, with people, and with the world. And all I mean by “radical” is its root meaning, which is, “root.” To be rooted, connected in a way the grounds, that nourishes, that gives life- to God, to people and to the world. We believe that our connection with God is the most vital, most essential, most important thing we can do in this world and with our lives. And we believe that our God, unlike any religion can ever offer, invited us to enter into a relationship. We believe that God the Father loves us and sent his son Jesus to us. We believe that Jesus lives in a direct connection and relationship with each and every one of his believers by sending us the Holy Spirit. And that each believer, filled with the Holy Spirit, is connected to one another, in a way that is both contemporary and concrete (here and now) and is metaphysical and eternal.

And it is through this connection with God that we become connected with one another, and when we are connected to one another, we become what the bible calls the church. And thus the church is “me,” but it is so much more than just me, it is “we.”

We are Canadians and Americans, and Camericans like my family!
We are young and old,
men and women,
rich and poor,
Red and yellow, black and white, and some even have the orange tan thing.
We are educated and uneducated,
left brained and right brained and no brained,
capable and handicapped.
We are Liberals and Conservatives.
We are athletes and book worms.
Leafs fans and Senators fans, and maybe even some of us who care way more about football.
We are the mature in faith, and new in faith,
traditional and contemporary,
Orthodox and Catholic,
Reformed and Wesleyan,
Baptist and Anabaptist.
We have been monks, and social activists.
We have conscientiously served, and we have conscientiously objected
We have built a city on a hill, and we have entered into the city to heal
We have sinned greatly, and have been greatly forgiven
We have been given much, and we have much still to give
We have loved much, and have many more to love!

We are the church and we are every person, in every corner of the world, who has died, who lives, who are yet to be born, who are IN JESUS CHRIST. That’s it, that’s the primary definition of the church- We are the gathering of everyone who has lived or now lives in Jesus Christ- every person who puts their life in Jesus.

And when we are the church, we will experience life the way it was meant to be lived. We will find community, hope, healing and wholeness. We will find life in Jesus, and we will find life in each other. We will be encouraged, and challenged. We will have our lives saved, and we will have our lives ruined- that is, we will have our old, boring, dead-end dreams of fame, wealth and worldly success ruined by a vision to live in a better way. We will discover that place where we are loved, where we have purpose, where we belong. And in the church, in this connection, we will tap into a power unlike anything else we have ever experienced.

You see, I believe that behind what much of our culture calls psychological disorder (not everything mind you), but much of what we think of as disorder, is actually so prevalent, that it is in fact the normal order of things in a fallen world. Angst, anguish, anger, confusion, depression, fear, guilt, loneliness… since everyone experiences these things to some degree, they are a part of our common soul cry for God.

I believe that because a disconnected soul lies at the heart of most of our personal and cultural struggles, the solution (again, not always, but more often that not) is not therapy, not to further isolate ourselves from others, going behind closed doors to vent on a expert at reflective listening, but church. The solution is believing in Jesus, repentance, turning our life over to God, connecting with Him, then connecting with others in him.

I believe that the greatest need then in someone’s life after they connect with God, is to connect with other people. Communities of people pouring their heart, their love, their lives into others; as we have others pouring their heart, their love, their lives into ours.

And therefore, (and this is what’s going to ruffle the feathers of hard-core church types) these communities are not primarily about correcting wrong behaviors, or providing accountability, or having mentors who are like spiritual giants standing over us- these communities are about connection. Simply connecting with each other, as the children of God, the body of Christ.

Is there a place for correcting wrong behaviors? Sure there is. If your life is wrapped up in self destructive and other-destructive behaviors, then God can help, and the church can help, and God will help and the church will help. But the church is not primarily about entering into a behavior modification program of rules and regulations; it’s about a living relationship with God.

Is there a place for accountability? Sure, when we come to a place where we desire a standard of life higher than we can ever achieve on our own, when we have that kind of intimacy with a few others. But again, the church is not primarily about holding a standard over your head so you feel constantly guilty about where you are. The church is about receiving forgiveness in Jesus, and together leaning on the standard of Jesus to raise us from death to life, from this world to the next, and living in grateful response to the grace and love he’s lavished on us.

Is there a place for being mentored and mentoring others? Of course there is. But these relationships are so intimate, so personal, so wonderful when they happen and come into place, that we can’t force them. But we can plan for them. Because the only way we are ever going to find them, the only way we can ever get to place to say to some one, follow me, or, I want to follow you, is if we are already connected, already in community, already living as the church.

This is about “we” being the church. I want to do this because I believe, like others before me, that the church is the hope of the world. I believe that the church is the one enduring and eternal institution of this world. I believe it is way more than an institution, it is an organism. I believe that the church is the organic, dynamic, predestined hope for the world. I believe that church is the living, breathing, growing body of Jesus Christ. I believe that the church is made manifest in the people of God here on earth, and will be made glorified in eternity. I believe the church is the best thing that I, or anyone else, can be a part of on this side of heaven, because the church is going to be the bride of Jesus in heaven. I believe that church, more than anything else in the world, is the method and the means to change the world.

We are the Ecclesia. That’s the Greek word that we translate church. It means a gathering or an assembly. It also has the connotation of being called out. So we, the ecclesia, are people who are called out from the world, who gather together in Jesus. Then Jesus sends us back out into the world to gather more!

Jesus said, whenever 2 or more people get together in my name, I am there. Whenever one person calls on the name of Jesus, they are saved. They become a Christian. They enter into a relationship with God the Father through believing in Jesus Christ the Son and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are a Christian. And that person, whether they like it or not, whether they want it or not, are immediately and eternally a part of the church. When that Christian gets together with just one other Christian- bang! The church is made visible. That’s the way it is, because we are the church. It’s not a building, and we do violence to the real nature of the church when we think of it not analogous to a building, but as a building, we change it from something living, to something dead. It’s not just a meeting on Sunday mornings. And we diminish church, we lessen it’s greatness when we think if is simply as one hour Sunday morning, no matter how important or awesome that worship experience is.

Some people don’t get this because Jesus didn’t talk about it much. Jesus didn’t rail on and on about the church. He spent his ministry talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God. He preached, more than anything else, repent, for the kingdom is near! Jesus spent his life calling people into a relationship with him, calling people to follow him, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, even raising the dead. He taught people about the love of God and how to love their neighbors. He welcomed little children into his arms. He mingled with the haves and have not’s. He associated with the right people, and the wrong crowd. He comforted the afflicted, and he afflicted the comfortable. He gave people without hope a reason to live. He gave people without purpose a direction in life. He forgave sinners and set them free. Jesus is without a doubt the most compelling figure in all of history. He has changed the world. His legacy lives on and grows larger every day.

Jesus is easy to love. He really is. And there really are few people in the history of the world who have studied the life of Jesus and have not come to believe in him as the Lord and savior of the world, even fewer won’t at least fall in love with him as the most exceptional human who ever lived. It really is hard not to love him.

So Jesus, on the last night of his life on earth, before his death, resurrection and ascension, said to his disciples a new command I give to you: love one another, as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. (John 13:34-35) Can you believe that- he set us up. He came to us, he lived with us, he taught us, healed us, saved us. He became our savior and our Lord, and that was great. Then he had to go and mess the whole thing up by telling us that we had to love each other, and that this is how the world will know him. He set us up!

He set us up because you people really make it hard to love you. I know, I’m your pastor. I mean, you have issues, you have baggage, you have real problems. You come from broken families, and the sins of your parents have haunted you for a lifetime. You have addictions and attitudes problems. You have parents who are sick and dying and need cared for. You have kids who have rebelled and break your heart. You have trouble finding a relationship, and finding someone to marry. Then when you find someone you have trouble in your marriage. You have debt and messed up finances. You have trouble at school and at work. Have you seen you people? Have you looked in the mirror? You really make it really hard to love you.

But God did love you. He loved you so much he has saved you and called you his very own. He loved you and trusted you so much he entrusted to you the very desire of his heart, the very center of his mission- to be the church. To be his body, the body of Christ. And as the church he send us into the world. So we’d be his feet going to everyone on earth. And we’d become his voice and we’d share the best news the world has ever heard, the greatest story ever told. And we’d be his ears, listening to the voices crying out in the darkness. And we’d his hands, going to everyone and lifting them out of the graves of this world. And so now we are left having to love other people the way Jesus loved all people because the Holy Spirit lives in us, and connects each of us, and changes my life from just being about me, to being all about we.

Our story doesn’t end with Jesus. It really just begins. Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days after his resurrection, then he ascended into heaven, promising to send to us the Holy Spirit. And when the Spirit would come, the church would be born. And the Spirit did come, and the church was born, and on the they very day the church was born A man named preached the story of Jesus, and 3000 people believed, repented, and were baptized.

Immediately Acts tells us what marked the life of the church…

Acts 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What are the marks of the church? To summarize, they were devoted to God, they were devoted to one another, and they were devoted to others. And this is what we have devoted ourselves to. Take away one of those pillars- devotion to God, to people, to the world, and the church isn’t the church anymore. Take away one, and like a three-legged stool, the whole thing falls over.

This is what the church did, and what our church does. To gathering in worship in celebration of God, to study God’s word, to pray. That’s what these celebrations are all about. It didn’t end there, that was just the beginning, They gathered in homes to fellowship with one another and share in life together. That’s what we’re talking bout next week. Their life together was marked by their baptism in the Lord Jesus. SO that’s what we’re doing September 21. Their life together was sustained in sharing Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, or the breaking of Bread, or the Eucharist (it sure has a lot of names), but whatever your favorite title, we’re sharing in that meal on September 28.

That passage ended with what I think is just about the most awesome things ever- They enjoyed the favor of all people and the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved. And so we pray daily to see people saved. This is what we mean by Wiii Church.

We are serious about Wiii Church. We are so serious about this, that we want to remove every obstacle form your path to connecting with God, and connecting with people, and connecting with the world. One of the things we’ve heard from some of our folks is that because we rush out of here after worship, a lot of folks don’t have time to connect with others. Sorry, it’s one of the limitations of the theatre and engaging our culture here. But today I want to remove your excuse for not connecting. We believe so deeply in WE, in relationships, that we are giving you a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Everyone who wants one will get one. IF we run out, I’ll run over to Starbucks and get more. They are worth $5, that’s enough for two people to each get a Grande, or Giganto, or whatever they call it, coffee. But that’s the catch. You have to share it. You have to grab a person, grab a card, and go, or set up a time to go. Or, if there’s someone you’ve been wanting to invite to Connections, or someone you just need to connect with, you can take a card, call that person, and go connect.

Are we trying to buy you off? Absolutely. You bet. We think you are worth $5. We think your relationship are worth $5. In fact, we think your life and your relationships are worth way more than $5. We think you are priceless, you are worth the life of Jesus Christ, and your relationships are about the best thing you can invest in in this world. And if $5 can help us communicate you’re worthy. If $5 can help grow relationships, well we think that the best investment we can make as a church.

And if $5 Starbucks cards gets people talking about the church that bribes people to come- well so what. In fact, if it gets them talking, if it gets them visiting us, great! But we aren’t giving out cards next week, so they all missed the boat!

Choose...

Series: Into the Wild
August 31, 2008

Last week we had three people recommit their lives to Christ, three folks who decided to take a chance, and believe in the promise, and believe in Jesus. We had three more people take a step closer to belief. Three people who said they want to know more about connecting with God. And like I always say, there is nothing, nothing I love more than meeting with folks to talk to them about life, and about Jesus. I love helping people make this connection in every way possible. I love giving out bibles, and materials to help people learn and grow. And starting in September we are going to do two things that will help you take huge steps in your growth. First, we are planning a baptism service, here at the theatre, Sunday September 21. This is the ultimate public expression of a decision to believe in Jesus as our savior. Second, we are starting a new Connection Group that is solely dedicated to exploring the basics of the Christian faith. It’s a course called ALPHA, it a video based curriculum and discussion.

Five weeks ago we stepped into worship here at Connections, and I challenged you to step "Into the Wild." Actually, I challenged you to see your life through the story of the bible. I argued that seeing your life through the bible is the best possible way to make sense of your life and the world we live in. And then when we got into the bible what we discover is that our lives, and our world, have already been thrown out into the wild, and our job, our journey, is one of finding our way back. We are born into this wild world where sin, and death, and pain, and suffering are every bit as real as happiness, and joy, and laughter and fun. It’s a broken world, but still, we experience and know God’s love and grace. One of our top priorities in this world- to remember. To remember God, who he is, who we are, where we are and where we’re going. Where are we going? As individuals we are on a path of living or dying; as a world, we are progressing to coming kingdom of God. Not back to a garden, but to the city of God where all the peoples live in shalom, peace, with God, with each other, with the creation itself.

Through this wildness journey God has given us some guidelines, the law of the jungle. And there we had to challenge what is perhaps the most common misunderstanding that the entire world, and all people, have about God and the Ten Commandments. Almost everyone you ask thinks that commands are God’s ten-step program to earn his love and work our way into heaven. But nowhere does the bible teach this. What the bible teaches us is that God loved the people of Israel, so he became their God, and he became their savior, and he brought them out of slavery, and into freedom. The commands where God plan to keep free people free. I kept saying it over and over, “rules without relationship always lead to rebellion.” We know this, God knows this. SO God entered into a relationship with the people so that they will know that the rules he set up were not to keep them from something good, they were to keep them some something bad. The rules don’t keep us from doing fun and wonderful things, they keep us from doing foolish and harmful and destructive things. The law is not God’s way to earn his love, it is to confirmation his love, and to confirmation of our freedom, and simply put- the best way to live.

We have a hard time believing this because we haven’t gotten into the relationship with God. But if we are in the relationship with God we will know, we just know, that it is God’s way to keep free people free- free to love God, free to love other people. We keep free to worship, free from idolatry, free from working seven days a week like slaves, free to honor our parents, free fro murder, from sexual sin, from theft, from lies from coveting. That’s a great way to live! That really is freedom.

Then, with the people free from Egypt, free from their slavery, with guidelines that would ensure their freedom and with the promise to be their God, he led them to the edge of the Promised Land. They sent the men in to explore. We read the wild story about a land flowing with milk and honey, with great big fruit, great big cities, and great big people. And like I said last week, it’s one of the greatest insights into the human condition, the people said we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. And though God lead them out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, and confirmed his loyalty to them, and proved himself trustworthy, and even though it was the Promised Land, not the “maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t land,” not the, “take a change and see what happens land,” but the Promised land, they didn’t believe the promise. It’s hard to believe the promise. But I challenged you to believe the promise. And of you did believe the promise last week. We celebrate that more than anything else here at Connections.

Today we need to drive this series home. When we left last week we left in a bad place. The people of God rebelled, they didn’t believe the promise, so they were left to wander through the desert for 40 years until an entire generation passed away. And that is exactly what the people did. They literally walked around in circles in the desert, skirting the edge of the promised land, always looking in, always being reminded of what they rejected, while they learned the hard way to trust God, to follow him, to believe in his promise. Even Moses, who had been leading the people this whole time, was kept from entering the land.

But Moses led them back to the same place they stood 40 years earlier, back to the edge of the Jordan River, and there he delivered to them his final address. We actually have the entire address recorded for you in the bible. It’s called the book of Deuteronomy, and I’d like to read it for you now, it’s only 34 chapters sow we’ll be done before dinner. How about I skip to the end? We’re going to look at his final encouragement to the people in chapter 30. He has poured out his heart and soul for these people, even as he has poured out his entire life to lead them to the Promised Land. He has encouraged them in every way he knew how to believe in the promise, to trust in God, to take what was theirs. Finally, he says this…

11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Everyday we make choices. I’m kind of weird about choices. Most of the big choices in life have come relatively easy for me. After my first real date I knew, I just knew that Robin wanted to marry me. It was just written all over her face. I took me a few months to come along, but eventually I did. But many of the big decision have come easily. I gave my life to God at a very early age. I made the decision to marry Robin without hesitation.

But the seemingly inconsequential decisions are a whole other story. From the moment I wake up I am plagued with decisions that almost incapacitate me. My dear wife doesn’t ask me to pick up anything from the store anymore because I’ll just walk into the cereal isle and I’m paralyzed- Get mini-wheats. OK, do we need regular sized mini-wheat’s, or bite sized? Strawberry or vanilla, brown sugar or cinnamon, or now cinnamon apple strudel? When did it all have to become so complicated!

Like what to wear. I hate deciding what to wear. I wish I had school uniform I could put on everyday and not have to think about it. I have actually made little systems to help me make these decisions. For Sunday morning I have three pairs of jeans- blue, black, and khaki. And my shirts- I actually have a system where I have my shirts lined up left to right, and I take the shirt furthest to the right, wear it, wash it, hang it on the left, and this way I rotate through my shirts evenly. (Some of you are going to start doing that!)

We've all been in a situation where someone we love- a son, daughter, parent, spoouse, friend, is faced with a monumental decision. The implcations are a serious as life and death. And we see so clearly which way they should choose. If they opened their eyes, took a step back, or just took a moment to stop and think, they;d see it so clearly too. But they choose the path of death, of destruction, of curses. And there's nothing we can do to stop them, to make the decsion for them. We have to watch, we have to deal with the consesquences of their decsion with them. Our hearts cry out because we want tnothign but life and blessing for them, but still, they make the wrong decision. It's not a matter of prefernce or taste, it's life and death. But they still choose death.

Here’s the thing. Some choices that seem big, really come quite easily. And some choices that should be obvious, somehow, we can make confusing. I need a volunteer from our congregation today. I need someone to help me illustrate the power of choices... Ok, I have here to things- this is a rat trap. Can you guess what this symbolizes? This is $20 from MY wallet (This will cost me, it's part of the metaphor!). Can you guess what this symbolizes?

Now today I want to offer you a choice. I’m going to put each of these behind my back, and then I want you to choice one of my hands, and what ever is in that hand can be yours. I promise you that I will not switch the items in my hands. Ready, choose…

Now, wouldn’t it rot if God offered us choices this way. Behind one door is death, behind door two is life. You have a 50% chance of getting something great! But you also have a 50% of dying a miserable death. But tough beans, take a shoot, and see what happens. No, here is what God does, and here is what I’m doing for you today. I set before you right here, right now, life, or death. I’m not holding it behind my back, I’m not holding up in the air, out of your reach, I’m not holding it away from you so you’ll have to run for it. In fact, I’m making this incredibly easy, because I know what I want you to choose. So choose… (Now I’ll never have trouble getting volunteers from the congregation every again.)

This is what God does for us. God has proved his heart for us. he wants teh best for us. he wants freedom for us. he wants blessing for us. he watns life for us. But God also says God says to us, I love and respect you so much that I am not going to force the decision on you. I’m not going to assume you want what really, everyone should want. As crazy as it sounds, I’m not going to assume that you’ll want to choice what is best for you, for your family, for others, for the world. But I really do hope and pray that I’ve made this incredibly obvious, and incredibly easy for you- choose.

Friends, God really wants it to be that simple, that obvious, that good. Blessings, or curses, life or death. Now choose blessings. Choose life. Choose God.

God wanted to make it so simple that he removed every obstacle that would lay in our path. Our passage read what I have commanded you is not too difficult or beyond your reach. The word is very near you, it is in your mouth, and in your heart so you may obey it.

A writer named John, when telling of the birth of Jesus, wrote that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God wanted the choice to become so obvious, so easy, that he even removed the obstacle of his divinity, by becoming flesh and blood, while yet remaining entirely God. Jesus, the word, became one of us, and he lay his life down before us, so that the choice would be that easy- to simply say yes to Jesus.

What breaks my heart, what truly breaks my heart, is that everyday, everywhere I go, I see people making the wrong choice, and missing life. I see people who are so close. I see people who want life so badly. But they keep missing what is right in front of them. They keep missing Jesus. They keep missing the sacrifice that God made so we could know him. The keep missing the greatest story, and the greatest news, the world has ever heard.

Friends, please don’t miss what God offers you this day. He laid down his life to show us his love. He made the hardest decision the world has every known, so the decision would be easy for us. He choose death, so that we might life. Now choose life. Choose Jesus. Choose him today…