VIP Part IV

Welcome to North Way everybody, I am glad you're here today. We are in the fourth week of a series that we've entitled VIP. We live in a VIP culture, we really do. Very important people, they are people that fill stadiums like this. People come out to watch famous athletes just across the street, the cultural district. That place is packed weekly for folks to come out and watch shows, listen to people perform and sing. Just across the parking lot, PNC Park, it's not usually packed, but sometimes if there's fireworks or a bobblehead or something, it's packed, but people are excited about very important people. In this series, we really want to take a different look, we want to look at a different perspective, we want to look at the godly perspective. Who does God think are the very important people in our world? Today we're going to close this series looking at a group of people that, I mean, I don't know, it's hard to say what are the most important people to God, but if this isn't the most important group, it is a group that is really near and dear to the heart of God. Today, our VIPs are the lost, those that do not know Christ, those that are absolutely disconnected from the Lord and disconnected from a local community. Seriously, let's dig in together for a couple minutes. Who are the people in your relational circles that do not know the Lord? Seriously, think. Your family, the neighborhood, the community you live in, whether that's a dorm room or in the city or in a suburban neighborhood, maybe it's at school, maybe it's the folks you work with. But who are these folks that do not know the Lord, that you are deeply involved with on a regular, relational basis? Think through that. You've got a couple names? Like seriously, do you have even just a couple first names? Maybe some folks that you're just not sure even what their relationship with the Lord is, but you know that the lifestyle or you know that the struggles that they're having in life certainly would indicate that they don't know Jesus. Later, at the end of this service, we're going to ask you to do something with those first names because I really want you to think hard. Someone you work with, someone at home, that you know right now is not in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Matthew 9, it says, As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector. Man, the tax collectors in this time, they were the lowest of the low. They were hated by the Jewish people. For Jesus to even pause and acknowledge this man was one thing. But listen to what He says next. Follow me, He told him. And Matthew got up and followed Him. Just prior to this, Jesus called the fishermen to follow Him. And it says they dropped their nets. And I guess I sort of got that in a way, right? Fishing, big deal. You can always come back to it someday if this following Jesus thing doesn't work out, right? But this tax collector position was a big deal. A lot of money. For Matthew just to leave his booth and walk away from that, it always struck me as sort of odd. I always think that those guys are sort of radicals of their day, right? To just pick up, drop it all, and follow Jesus because He called them. But when I dug into this text, when I really looked at some of the commentaries, a couple things that I found out that really amazed me was this. If you were asked to follow a teacher, to follow someone like Jesus, a rabbi like this, it would have been an incredible honor. I mean, usually the people these rabbis called were learned men that had been studying for years from prominent families, from the right families. So they would just be honored to drop anything they were doing and follow the rabbi. But here's Jesus. He's calling these guys that are not really learned folks, fishermen, a tax collector. And they're dropping everything. Their perspective on this would have been, I am blown away that you invited me into this journey with you. I mean, they would have gotten on the phone and called home and told their parents, you're not going to believe this. I know that you think I was never going to amount to much. You know, I'm a fisherman or I was just this tax collector. But I got asked today to follow a rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. This guy that's been around town doing these miracles and all this unbelievable teaching. I am now one of his followers. That would have been the perception as he left that booth and followed Jesus that day. So the very next verse says this. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. Think about that for a second. What's the very first thing that Matthew does when he gets called to become a follower of Jesus? He has a party. He has a blowout over at his house and he invites all other people in his relational circles. And who were they? They were other tax collectors. They were other sinful men and women. And he called them to his house for a dinner. And he invited Jesus into it because again, he was so excited to be a follower of this teacher. A follower of Jesus. That therefore, what it did for his soul, the very next thing he had to do was go get some of his friends and get Jesus in front of them. And it goes on to say then, when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners. Jesus clarifies his whole mission right here. And many thought that the Messiah was going to come as this powerhouse, as a king, as a mover and a shaker, as a VIP in the eyes of the world. But the Messiah slips in to our world so quietly as a servant. He's not come for the movers and the shakers of this world. He's come for the lost. And that's what he makes really clear here, at this party that Matthew has gathered his friends. He is stating his mission. It is to serve and seek and offer salvation to the lost. Can I ask you a question? When was the last time you shared your faith with someone that didn't know the Lord? Like seriously, come on. When was the last time you invited someone to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ? Matthew dropped everything and he was so honored to be a follower of Jesus that the very first thing he had to do was invite his buddies into it. Have you lost that passion? Are you honored to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Or has it become maybe a little bit more of a duty? I gotta show up, I gotta do this, I gotta come here, I gotta drop a couple bucks in the offering basket. That's when your faith becomes a duty versus an honor. These disciples were honored to follow Jesus. I think we've gotta capture some of that this fall or recapture some of that passion that there's a world of people out there that are in our relational circles that do not know Jesus. And if we are truly honored to be a follower of Christ then we should want nothing more than to invite them into that relationship with the Lord. Do me a favor, right now wherever you're worshiping look around the room. There's some empty seats, right? Depending on what room you're at or where you're at my guess is there's some empty chairs. I would like nothing more than this fall to see those chairs filled with people that do not know the Lord. And not because I want to see North Way grow and get big, no that's not it. It's about partnering with Jesus in this mission to seek the lost to present the gospel so that they can become healed and whole and begin this journey with the Lord. Pastor Jay, Pastor Kent, Pastor Doug are now going to step into this moment and they're going to talk more specifics about what will be happening in that particular community this fall. I really hope if nothing else that we just see that God sees people differently than we do. VIP, very important people to God. The lost are certainly in the heart of God. Alright Well it's kind of tough to follow Scott's message and that was by design. It actually frees each of the campus or venue pastors now to really bring this home. Normally we take the Saturday night service as you know and we tape it and then Pastor Doug uses it in Oakland and Pastor Kent uses it back in the venue and cafe and I'm really pleased tonight that we're not going to be doing that so I'm going to be able to sort of walk you through my heart and let you know what I'm praying about and feeling and thinking about this topic and Scott sort of laid the foundation but I want to go just a little bit farther with it because I want to begin by saying I think he just he just sort of opened the can a little bit in terms of what I'm expecting God to do. How many of you have ever been lost? Just like you know couldn't find your destination? About a hundred percent I would think. I mean at one time or another you've been in that moment when you just realized I'm really lost. And since Scott defined lost people as being VIP's I think it's rather important. I spent a lot of time looking into the original language and what the word lost means. Apolumai is the Greek word for lost. By the way I was lost once with Scott. I'd been invited to go up to one of our missionary gatherings they were having a missions retreat up near Slippery Rock and Scott said hey I'd like to ride up with you and you know I'll be your navigator and drive along with you and I said great just get the directions and you know it was just up off of 79 near Slippery Rock and how hard could that be right? Just a little word of instruction never have a manhole boy be your navigator for any points north of PNC Park. We went back and forth looking for this camp you know I think I refueled twice we passed a certain landmark cemetery five different times we just couldn't find the place. I mean here's the interesting thing all I was concerned about was there was no buses leaving for anything and it wasn't a big program I was just to share with the missionaries and I don't know if you've ever been on a missionary retreat with the mission folks they're the most laid back group they just I mean nothing but for them it was great they just got to praise and worship more they didn't I'm not sure they even missed me actually we finally showed up near I think it was about breakfast time and even though we left the night before we got there and everything was okay but when I did a little study of the word lost in the biblical sense see the consequences of being lost and not finding this camp were just I was a little late in sharing no big deal but the word lost in the biblical sense Apollumai it occurs 92 times and it's usually translated perishing being destroyed ruined or even death Jesus when he was with his disciples and the storm rose up in the sea of Galilee he was sleeping in the back and his disciples yelled out to him Lord don't you care that we are like Apollumai perishing we are drowning and that word again and again and again Master the demon seizes my son and throws him Apollumai throws him into the fire to kill him that's the same Greek word this word has an amazing power to it Jesus said the thief comes to steal kill and Apollumai destroy so we have to understand that when God uses the word lost he doesn't mean hey just kind of sort of off course just a bit very important because if the VIP's are lost it doesn't just mean well they are sort of off course just a bit it means they are heading to destruction and if lost people are perishing it means something a whole lot different to me than just well they are having a bad time of it or it's a little rough for them when Jesus talked about lost people and lost sheep and lost anything he was saying note that they are not going to make it they are going to die if someone doesn't intervene 92 times if I counted correctly 80 of those times it was used other than lost in the sense of sort of don't know my way I think the reason why there's probably 800 or 900 empty seats here tonight at least one of the reasons is because I'm not sure that we see our friends and family and neighbors and co-workers and fellow students as perishing and I'll include myself I guess I see them you know as most of the folks that I know that aren't in church don't go to church regularly but I see them maybe in different places in the area or whatever they are pretty nice they are just a little different than me perhaps but they are pretty good folks right like your friends they might believe a little bit differently but who am I to judge I can't tell but if I knew that they were perishing that their end was to be separated from God forever their eternal destiny was as Jesus described a place of immeasurable torment then I might be just a little bit more concerned that maybe and I'm going to push this off to the side just a this chair which represents those chairs okay I just wanted to make it a little more inviting because I think the seat that God has for all of those who don't know Him is a seat that people want to be part of a place for them that's what it stands for it's kind of difficult isn't it I mean it's kind of difficult for me anyhow when I think well I've got a two-fold mission here one I've got to tell people that they're lost that is they're in the pathway to destruction and that's not an easy thing and then second I've got to tell them and I know the right way which makes well that's even oh now that's really a difficult assignment because it appears like maybe I know more than they do and you like me and I find that's just a little hard sometimes it's a hard one two thing I've got to say you know what friend you're you're going the wrong way and I know the right way and that's not an easy thing to convey with any humility I have to be honest it's challenging however I want to point out something to you this isn't in your text and the beautiful thing is that since Scott really gave you most of the message I can just make a couple of the references you might want to jot this down though this is John 3 16 I thought it would be familiar for you for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish apolumai but have eternal life notice this for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world then Jesus goes on and says whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he's not believed in the name of God's one and only Son so I take from that that Jesus spoke what He asked us to speak it's just the truth of the Word as difficult as it may be 92 times He speaks it now I want to go a little different direction with this oh and by the way for those of you who are still hot the air conditioner is working we're going to get things cooler for you in just a bit notice some people ran to their cars and got you know they pulled the cloth off the seats I don't know we're working on that it's just part of the we're anticipating a full house we're letting you know what you like if this was full we'd have to have the AC all the way down but here's what I want you to see this now folks you all know we take this preaching privilege very seriously and when I wrestle with this this is what the Lord put in my heart to share with you let's look at it just a little bit differently shall we about this last piece because here's what helps me just a bit what if we took half of the challenge and we said to people what if being lost isn't necessarily starting at the point of your eternal relationship with God because that's a tough one to approach I mean that's where we ultimately get to but how many of you think there might be part of someone's life that isn't going all that well let's take for example maybe their well some of their really really important relationships are lost a good friend maybe a romantic relationship maybe they've gone through a divorce maybe they've had a child that's not talking to them anymore maybe their parents aren't talking to them anymore you see and it's they're lost and it's in the definition that I used it's it's broken and there's not communication going on and if something doesn't change that relationship will perish you know I would venture to say that most everyone in this room has at least one relationship like that and I'm pretty confident that many people that we are friends with who do not know God at all have a relationship like that and if that becomes the starting point of the conversation and you say something along the lines about well you know well maybe God cares a lot about that lost relationship you know what they start to lean in just a little bit and they get just a little more open and they say well do you have any help for me in restoring those relationships do you know that on September 21st and I would jot that down we are going to start something new we're going to unite all of our care ministries in one night we're going to call it care night and as far as I at least I think this is very carefully spelled in that insert that's in your North Way notes ten ministries here at Wexford will be meeting on Monday night and most all of them are designed to bring restoration and reconciliation into broken or lost relationships how interesting would it be to say to someone well I got a chair for you on Monday night the 21st in marriage matters and I might be able to help you address this lost relationship with your wife or maybe something with parenting or whatever it might be others have lost a position in life how many of you know somebody who's lost their job in the last year let me just if you don't you're not I mean you're living in some sort of hut somewhere because just about all of us know somebody people have lost jobs actually I know people who have lost entire careers I know whole companies that have been closed down whole industries just last weekend or so ago yeah a week ago last night Lee Edwards who used to lead our kids ministry was here with her husband Brad and their new little baby they're doing fine but they live in Detroit and Detroit's been just rocked upside down by everything that's gone on and did you know Brad was sharing with me that in the first quarter of this year their offerings were down 70% because that many people lost their income their job, their career their position now interestingly they're a little more than half way through the year now he told me their attendance is actually going up why? because people realize they're lost and they don't have answers and they need to find the chair that God has for them because there's no other answers very interesting some have lost their sense of value or meaning or purpose in life I was to this day I can't describe to you the emotion I went through the end of one of the interviews I did at a car cruise, the very first one matter of fact a fellow was waiting around for me, he said I knew I could find you here so I waited for you to finish the interview and he had tears in his eyes and he might even be here tonight I'm not going to embarrass him and call him out or anything he said can I share? I said well sure, sure that's why we have this thing called the car cruise so we can talk we've got four hours to talk and here's what he said, I'm going to quote him now, he said the car cruise saved my life I said that's pretty radical, what do you mean? he said twice this winter I ended up in the hospital, I tried to commit suicide and I didn't know where to turn so I called my car cruise buddies and they told me about this counseling center that you have and I didn't know where to go but they had a chair there for me so I went to the counseling center and then his sort of misty eyes brightened up and a smile came on his face and he said I feel like I got my life back I know where I'm going, he said I'm so thankful for this place and these people and I would venture to say that you know people who are depressed depression is the number one illness in America the most number, the number one prescribed other pill is an antidepressant and maybe one of the openings for you to help people find their way into the chair next to you is by helping them to know that God cares about that situation and has an answer for them I guess you see what I'm saying there's lots of different ways to approach people and as I read the gospels, Jesus normally started his exchanges with people around those needs, physical needs emotional needs family needs he spoke to the things that people were living just last week I spoke with a 60 year old woman whose husband had a heart attack while driving his car he crossed four lanes of traffic, didn't hit anybody, but he died right there on the spot I talked to a 40 some year old man who'd broken the law and now faces potentially some time, significant amount of time in jail I talked to a 25 year old couple who had an unexpected baby arrive and they're having to readjust their whole life for all of them those conversations were openings to tell them about a chair that's available to them because God cares about their needs He cares about what's going on in their life so here's what we know whether wealthy or poor, educated or not in with the big shakers and movers the VIPs that the world talks about or not a time will come when people will know that something is slipping away from them and they can't do anything about it we even say this word sometimes don't we? boy, they are losing it huh? they're losing it what does that mean? they just can't control what's happening from happening and that is the time I want to suggest to you that people are most open for you to step in and friends, here's the most important statistic of the night and I hope we can get it up most recent research, this came out in Leadership Network I just read this last week passed it on to the staff 82% 82% of people let's put that up please came to a ministry or to church because they were invited by friends, co-workers or family just leave that up for a second 82%! that's 4 out of 5 so in other words you know, advertising in the paper that's all fine, it doesn't hurt anything but 4 out of 5 people come because you had the courage to invite them and you know what? I've watched that number over the years, it's never varied much been 78% it's been 80% but it seems to even, if anything, be going up people really respond when someone cares enough to say, hey come with me can I meet you there? I'll sit with you for a while I'll pull my chair up alongside of yours and we'll discover together what's going on that staggering number tells me that you are central to God's plan to populate heaven what an awesome gift that is I hope you feel lifted up a little bit you have a purpose in this whole thing called Redemptive History and that is 80% of the time people show up because you had the courage to say, hey, I don't have all the answers but come and see I'll come with you let's check it out together, that's why Jesus sent his disciples out 2 by 2 that's why he said, wait for the power on high and then go out and make disciples of all nations you've got to do it friends hear what I'm saying, please look around, these chairs are not going to get filled by us just wishing for it but, you know if we had enough money to buy up radio time and run spots night and day on TV, radio and the internet it happens because you get engaged and say I want to be, Lord I want to be your instrument and you have the courage to say, hey we have a chair with your name on it and it doesn't matter if you're a teenager a senior married, single, doesn't matter the numbers the statistics are the same all across the board now, once they come, here's the other part of it maybe you're really good at getting people in but then what happens then and this is just the other part of this and this is what's going to begin tonight as you walk out into the lobby into the atrium, you'll see here's the thing that, again, another astounding bit of information 75% of people said they stayed connected because they got involved in a small group and I'm so pleased and so blessed and proud of our people who lead and serve in our small group ministry and if you happen to be one of those folks that are here tonight and you've been kind of around North Way for a while but never really made that step of getting in a small group how about getting just down to it and saying, alright I guess I gotta you know, if I'm gonna take this seriously and I'm gonna help someone else find their way into a seat, I guess I better get a seat in a small group I gotta tell you, these are nice chairs, these are really nice chairs I could stay here you know, my small group and I've been in a group non-stop since we began and we've had moments of course, of things not going all that well, a couple little blow-ups here and there, but you know what it's wonderful to know that a group of people cares about us prays for us I find myself if I have an evening off it's usually someone in that group that I call and say, hey, wanna grab some dinner, wanna go out, whatever and if you're not in a group, tonight, make your way out into the atrium and there's a dedicated team Pastor Scott McCabe and his team will be out there they'll help you find a group that will fit your demographic needs and all the rest that you can make your way into two other little quick numbers, 40% of the people who stay said it was because they sensed they belonged, now how did they do that? because people around them were friendly and said, hey my name is Roger.