MANIFESTO- Week 1

Matthew 7:24-27
DISCLAIMER- I don't thoroughly edit my messages. I write with the intention to speak. There will be many typos and grammatical errors!

HAPPY Father’s Day! let’s give a shout out to the father’s in the house...
Let me tell you something about being a father that I love- the perfect obedience of my children. How many other father’s here are so happy that your kids always do exactly what you teach and ask of them? I’ve discovered this about kids, its really amazing how easy they are raise. I just tell them exactly what to do, and the do it, without question, without exception ...
I’m telling you, being a parent is SOOOO easy because all I have to do is tell my kids the right thing to do, the best way to live, the safest way to play, the wisest decisions to make- I just download the right information into their little brains and they just instantly DO what is good, best, safe, right and wise! It’s really awesome.

Now how many people are aware that I might not be telling entire truth. My own kids are probably saying, he can’t possibly be talking about us, he must have the whole double life, secret other family or something. Of course I’m not talking about the reality of parenting here. Nor am I talking about the reality of our lives. Because in all our lives, not just the lives of our children, we have an incredible gap between what we know and what we do; what we know would be the best way to live, the right thing to do, the proper response to the situation, the most beneficial attitudes and beliefs and behaviors, and what we actually DO in life.

This is a common human condition that plagues people and institutions. In the business world there is a ton of literature and research that has been done on this knowing/ doing gap. A boss KNOWS that he or she needs to deal with a interpersonal situation at work, but they don’t do it. They just keep putting it off day after day, week after week. A company knows that it has an enormous customer relations issue. The facts are in, the knowledge is there, the remedy is even within their reach, but because of the time, efforts and work that is required, they simply never get around to attending to the issue. It’s not an issue of knowing, it’s an issue of doing; it’s not a knowledge problem, it’s a doing problem.

It’s a parenting issue, it’s a business issue, it’s a people issue, and it’s a spiritual issue. It’s this knowing/doing gap that effects every single person regardless of sex, age, race, culture or belief. Many problems, not all problems, but most I’d say, stem not from a lack of knowledge or information or even the ability to initiate the solution- they stem simply from a lack of doing. Doing the right thing, the wise thing, the best thing, the godly thing, the thing that in the long run that we know we should do.

Now what I’ve just told you I did not make up or just pull out of the air. This is what Jesus teaches us. This comes right out of the bible. It comes right out of the text that we’ll be dealing with all summer long. It’s from Matthew Chapter 7, which is part of a block of teaching found in Matthew chapters 5,6, 7- a section that many of you probably know more commonly as the Sermon on the Mount. A section of teaching from the Bible that we are calling “MANIFESTO.” Or, “The Divine Conspiracy to Change the World.”

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature, but may also be life stance related. This stuff is about our life stance. But as a life stance, this will effect everything- politics, economics and all of culture. This is a public declaration by Jesus, and it has public and private implications. This passage of scripture, perhaps more poignantly and poetically than any other concise section os the bible, provides for a blue print for the Christian life. It’s like a road map that lays out for us a foundation of Christian belief, behavior, religion and relationships, attitude and ambition in life.

I am so excited about this series I can hardly stand it! I’m chomping at the bit to tell you everything. But before I tell you anything else, I have to start with a warning. My intention with this series is to rock your world. To change your life. To change our church. To change our community. To literally change our world. This is not about downloading more information into your brains. This is about changing the way we do life- our lives, life together as a church, life in our community and our world.

SO here’s the deal, this is your warning, if you don’t want to be changed, don’t come back, or better yet, quietly slip out now. Say you have to got to the bathroom, and run. Just tell the person next to you it was all the coffee you just had, but you need to excuse yourself immediately. IF you like your life just the way it is, don’t come back, because this is intended to change your life. If you’ve got God neatly wrapped up an in a box and you like the way you understand God, don’t come back. If you like your relationships with people just the way it is and you don’t want to go deeper, don’t come back, because this is intended to take you deeper. If you like your attitude toward life, if you like your value system just the way it is, if you have reached your ideal you, your perfect you, if you are perfectly content with you right now, you don’t want to be changed at all- don’t come back. If you like the world just the way it is, if you think the world is just perfectly fine and dandy and and we should just put our world into a holding pattern as is, then don’t come back, because I’m just going to make you mad, because this is going to mess things up.

Now rest assure, I’m not doing this just to mess things up for me for you for us for our world. I’m not setting out to be offensive or controversial, I’m just telling you, that’s part of the nature of what we are going to get into this summer. In fact, I would be shocked, I will be shocked, if some people don't leave Connections because of this study. When Jesus taught this stuff, people heard him, they understood at least in part what he was telling them and asking of them, and many of those people walked away. That was just a simple fact. Thank you Jesus, you made yourself very clear. I think I get what you are saying. Have a nice life, this is not for me.

Now here’s how we are going to approach the manifesto. I’m going to employ a classic teaching methodology here- to begin with the end in mind. I already have. I’ve begun with the end in mind- this series, this manifesto, is not primary about collecting more information, it’s about changing lives, changing the way we do life, the way we think, believe, behave and interact. Jesus goes through this incredible body of teaching. It’s is literally rocking people’s worlds. It is blowing their minds. Jesus, who normally taught so much in the form of story and turning the wrong questions into the right questions, has been amazing clear and direct. Then, when he gets to the end, it’s almost like he can’t help himself. He says, to get this stuff, to really get what I’ve just been talking about, I have to tell you a story. He ended with this, but I want to begin with it, because I’m not as good a teacher as Jesus. I want to start with his ending, so that next week, when we get into the beginning, you can already start to say, oh, I think I know where this is going. He tells this story...

²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27)

Everyone here who grew up in a churched home learned a little song that is now going to be stuck in your head the rest of the day. I tried to get the band to do a rocking version of it today, but they said some things can just be done. The wise man builds his house upon the rock. He digs down, he does the work, he thinks about the future, he looks at his present situation, he knows what going to happen, he understands, and he does something about it. The foolish man build his house on the sand. Well duh, he’s an idiot. Everyone knows he’s an idiot. You do not have to be in the construction business to get this one. I can’t even get a beach umbrella to stand up in the sand let alone a house. This is painfully obvious stuff. So what’s the point?

There are two types of people, Jesus says. But they aren’t the two types of people that we probably want to hear. This is what we’d like Jesus to have taught- There were once two men who went to build homes. The one man build his home, and everything went just perfectly, because he built his home in the Caribbean. He built his home and his life was perfect- there was never any storms, never and winds, never and waves, never any bad weather. It was 25 degrees with no oppressive humidity, a slight breeze, just a few clouds in the sky, and it only rained a night when you went to bed and it cooled things off just perfectly so you could sleep at night. The other man build his house in London, Ontario. It snowed half the year. When you thought it was spring, a another storm would hit. When it finally got hot, the humidity was oppressive. Just when summer seems to get good, it was fall again. Yeah, there were a few nice days in there, just enough to keep hope alive, but really, the weather just stunk.

Now everyone who listens to what I say will have life in the Caribbean- perfect, no problems, a Utopian existence for all of your life. That’s what we WANT Jesus to say. But guess what, and in a crazy way this is supposed to be good news for us- all of us build our homes in Canada. He says everyone builds in London, Ontario.

He says that into every person’s life there is going to come storms. There will be rains, winds and waves that come crashing down on each and every one of us. The two kinds of lives are not one with storms, and without storms. The two kinds of people are determined by how you weather those storms. Are you going to be swept away, or are you going to make it through to the other side.

Jesus says I’m not teaching a path to avoid every storm, every problem, every issue of life. I’m teaching you a way to live so that when the storms come, you are going to ride it through. I don’t know if that’s good news for you today, or bad news, but that’s the news folks. That’s what Jesus teaches us. That’s why Jesus taught us. He said I know that into your life is going to comes storms and I want to build for you a foundation so you will stand rock solid. In fact, Jesus says, some of those storms that you face, some of them, they are actually going to come into you life BECAUSE you have believed me, because you have followed me, because you have build your life on me. Because when you really and truly follow and obey me, when you really open your life up to be used by me in the the world, it’s going to change things, and there will be trouble.

Some of you are sailing through good weather right now. You’re a newly wed and life is like one giant extended date, it’s all cupcakes and sprinkles, the only thing you fight about is who loves each other more. You just had a baby and you are amazed at the miracle of life that God has brought into your life. You found a job, you found a house, things are good. Now I’m not being pessimistic here, I’m just telling you the way it is. No matter how clear the skies are now- a storm is on the horizon, and it’s coming your way, and Jesus says there is NO way to avoid it. Into every life there will be storms. Now we can bring a lot of storms into our lives, that is for sure, but I’m talking about the storms that you have no control over. the storm that you didn’t ask for. the storm that hits suddenly, the storm that hits really without reason or explanation. the storm that just happens- those storms come into all our lives. What is going to happen to your life when that storm hits?

Some of you are in the mist of the storm. You’ve lost your job, your health, you marriage, a loved one, a child, a sister, a friend. You are in the storm, if you have your doubts today, I simply want to tell you that it’s not too late. You can still weather this storm, you can build up your foundation.

If you hear the teachings of Jesus, and you do what he says, you are like the man who build his house on the rocks. If you hear the worlds of Jesus, and don’t do what he says, you are like the idiot that build his house on the sand. Like I told you at the beginning, this stuff is going to be offensive to some people. Jesus says this stuff that I’ve taught you, this stuff that We are going to walk through all summer long, isn’t about gathering more knowledge, it’s about changing the way we do EVERYTHING. But the reason for this is not random or arbitrary. It for a very real and compelling reason. So before you get offended by what Jesus says, please understand this. Jesus says I'm not promising you a life without storms. Now you can live wisely and avoid TONS of stupid, destructive storms in your life. But Jesus says, there will be storms, and when they hit, if you have built your life on the things that I’ve taught you, you are going to come through the other side. If you do the things I’ve taught you, you will make it through to the other side.

Some of you could stand up here and tell us about the storms you’ve weathered. You’ve lost a job in your life, but God brought your through the storm. You lost a child, but God brought you through the storm. You lost your health, but God brought you through the storm. You lost your marriage, but God brought you through. You lost your faith, but God brought your through the other side. Your life was build on the rock and while it looked like everything above the surface was destroyed, everything that everyone else could see was a complete and utter disaster, a state of emergency, completely wiped out, but there was a foundation there, build upon Jesus, and you came through the other side of the storm.

Folks, this isn't about just hearing and learning more stuff. This isn’t just about knowledge. That was so last year. That was so 2008 people, get with the times! This is about doing. This is supposed to change the way you do life.

Here’s what you need to understand. You know what the biggest insult to the follower of Jesus, to anyone who calls themselves a Christian, should be? According to the message that we are going to study all summer it’s this- You are no different than anyone else. You followers of Jesus, you’re just like everyone else in the world.

That is a fundamental betrayal of everything Jesus is working to do in our lives. Jesus gives us this manifesto because our lives are to look different. Not different because we avoid every storm and every problem in life- but different because of how we weather the storm, how we even embrace the storm, how we’ll even use the storm as a opportunity. That’s what makes you Christians so different from the world!

But let me be clear- there is good different, and there’s bad different. There is easy different, and there’s tough different. Jesus wants us to be a good different. All of us have seen bad different. Weird different. The kind of different that just makes you unlikeable, unapproachable. Jesus wants to make us good different.

But good different is most often tough different. It’s costly different. Easy different says well I’ll just go to church all the time and where Christian t-shirts and listen to Christian music and only have Christian friends. And you know, there’s nothing wrong with any of that- I work for the church, I only wear Connections shirts, I have a lot of Christian friends. But guys, that’s like the easy stuff. That the no brainer stuff- of course we need to worship, of course we need Christian friends, of course we need edifying music and stuff in our lives. I’m talking about going the next steps, tough different. Different that changes use in the very core of our being and then effects everything about our lives.

This kind of difference is going to be written all over every page, every paragraph, every teaching of the Manifesto. Your attitude and approach to life is going to be different. Your going to be poor where everyone else seems rich. Your going to bring peace where everyone else is bringing war. You’re going to be pure where everyone else indulges. You’re going to be righteous, where everyone is self-justifying. You’re going to be salt in a world that is rotting with decay. You’re going to be light in places that are consumed with darkness. You’re going to love when everyone else is ready to hate. You’re going to be keep your vows when others are breaking them. You’re going to honor your words when others do not. You’re going to give when others hoard. You’re going to pray when others just put on a show. You’re going to have faith when others a consumed with worry. You’re going to forgive when others hold a grudge. You’re going to by authentic when everyone else is a hypocrite. You’re going to take the hard road when others take the easy road. You are going to be different!

If you do the things that Jesus guides us in doing. If you live the way Jesus instructs us to live, your life will be different. But a good different. A tough different. A kind of different that gets us through the storms, that gets us through to the other side. The kind of different that the world needs. The kind of different that your spouse needs, that your kids need, that your neighbors need, that you boss needs, that your employees need, that your community needs, that the world really does need.

I want to ask you two things this morning- if you haven’t taken a step of faith to give your life to Jesus, to build on Hims as your rock, your foundation, give it a try this summer. Make this the day you break ground. The day you lay that foundation. You can do that so simply, by just praying, Jesus, I’m tired of weathering the storms without you. Take my life. Forgive my sins. Make me yours. And He will.

If you have taken that step of faith, and if you are going to do this with us this summer, I’m asking you to do something very real today. On your way out our ushers and greeters will be handing out these copies of the Manifesto, Matthew 5, 6, 7. I’m asking you to commit to reading this all summer long. All summer long, everyday even. It takes about ten minutes to read through the whole manifesto. And I want so badly for us to be changed by this that I want us to just be consumed in it all summer long. So take the Manifesto, read it. If you have your own bible, you can just use that. Read it first thing when you get up. Read it on a coffee break. Read it as a family before dinner. Read it before you go to bed. Read it. Pray about it. Ponder it. Write about it. Get it in you so that it can get into you.

Let’s pray...