Love the Lost

Good evening everyone, as you obviously recognise that I am not live with you tonight because

I didn't realise, I'm speaking at the Board of Ministry report at the General Assembly

and I didn't realise until yesterday that the report was from 6.30 in the evening. I

had understood that it was on Wednesday afternoon so I had mostly prepared my talk this evening

so I thought the best thing to do would just be to record it so that you can listen to it

and not try and get someone else at the last minute to prepare something and that you can then head

into prayer and we can follow on in the series that we're doing on Gospel conversations and

hunters very happily agreed to lead the meeting tonight and Hunter I'm very grateful to you

for doing that. So really I just want to spend a little time as we carry on in our discussions

on Gospel conversations to look at loving the lost and the importance of that. The chapter that I'm

looking at and some scripture obviously as well is from Matt Smithers before you share your faith

and it's the chapter on loving the lost which is chapter three and I would encourage you to read

that because I'm not going to be referring to a great deal tonight but it'll be helpful to read

it before the city group and because some of the questions might be related to the

chapter instead or some of the points that are raised in the chapter. So loving the lost it seems

a very obvious thing to say and yet very important but I do think that when it comes to sharing our

faith we're always fighting well I certainly am and I'm sure most of us are to a greater or less

degree we're fighting our natural instincts and we have several natural instincts that maybe

resist or work against us sharing the Gospel and maybe the first is safety first and we want to stay

safe within the Christian family and that's right isn't it? Corey preached on that last Sunday

morning about the importance and the significance the centrality of Christian family that's absolutely

central and it's vital for us to be linked in and secure and committed to our church family but

sometimes we can use that as a reason for being in a Christian bubble and never coming out of that

and maybe we also hear the message of society with regard to privatisation of everything

including our faith and so we compartmentalise our lives and we keep our faith to ourselves

and we stay within the Christian community and this Christian family and we just survive in

the outside world without seeing the need to take risks of faith so safety first is a natural

instinct with us so it's actually I think for us finding fault comes very naturally to us in our

sinful nature really we look at the world and rather than using discernment about the world

we simply judge the world and we take the place of God we love being in the judgment seat of God

and I heard an interesting thing recently we said that when it comes to and this is maybe a

different thing but it comes to our own faults we act like a defence lawyer when it comes to the

faults of others we act like a judge and that's very true is that we see the sin in the world

around us and the behaviour of people in the immorality maybe and the unbelief and the atheism

or whatever it might be we condemn it or we're shocked or we're coiled and we declare we've

got nothing in common and what is light to do with darkness and so we isolate further

and yeah sometimes if we have the wrong attitude in that we feed that sense of taking God's place

being judges and it fosters pride within us because we are to discern we are to have a hatred of sin

but we're not to be in the seat of judgment so finding fault is another natural reaction

and a third one is fear within us I'm not going to talk much about fear because that's subject

for another week but very often when we separate ourselves from the world we don't take time to

understand people we don't take time to think about them as estranged children from their father

and rather we see them to be avoided and we become afraid of people because we don't really know them

and we also fear their response and their opposition and we become just paralysed by fear

because we don't get to know and love people but also sometimes fear is caused by our longing for

popularity and it's popularity is so important to us and we have no problem and no trouble making

friends in the world, the other issue we have no problem making friends with people who are not

Christians and be very close to them and acting in many ways like them but we fear their response

if we share the gospel with them or share the message of Christ or challenge them in their life

so we remain silent and fear again paralyses us so these are some of the natural responses of our

heart that cause us to struggle to share our faith but I think it's really important for

to recognize that every part of our Christian walk encompasses at least two foundational truths

there are two really important truths to think about when we think about the gospel and sharing

our faith and loving people first is that we're new creations we're new creations

in your in the city groups so maybe look at 2 Corinthians 5 11 to 21 which speaks about us

being new creations in Christ and what that means and that speaks about identity doesn't it?

it reminds us that we are loved that we have belonging that we're right with God and we're

right with God because of Jesus' sacrificial love he took my sins from himself and across

and we're part of a community of believers that that also recognize that and we help and encourage

each other to grow in that grace and to share together in that identity to encourage one

another and to encourage one another to share that great identity that we have in Christ that takes away

fear and reminds us the love that secures our identity and the second foundation not just

that we're new creations but that we're being transformed by that love itself Romans 12 two

reminds of that we're not to be conformed to the world but be transformed because of the love of

Jesus Christ in this so that we're not therefore to capitulate to our natural desires our natural fears

and our natural desires to find fall or to be safe and cocooned but we're to recognize that

God's transforming our love and our heart for the lost and also for himself of course and we know

that that's a battle for us and our whole Christian lives is to recognize that we're to be transformed

in our heart and our life and our attitudes and our responsibilities are being turned upside down

by Jesus very often I think we can we feel safe and relaxed without recognizing the huge battle that

is at work in our own hearts because of what Jesus has done so these two foundational truths are

very important first we are loved we're a new creation in Christ and we're really loved by him

and that love is a transforming love that changes us and changes our attitudes the way we think

not only as we love him and love one another but also as we love our enemies or love the lost as well

however we term whatever term we use so sharing if we're going to be sharing our faith how is it

that we love the lost well how is it that we can love the lost well well I think there's a few things

I just want to say quickly about Jesus and using Jesus as an example for us here and the first is

Jesus' own reputation it reminds us of how to love the lost well in Luke's Gospel chapter 7 and

verse 34 we have the Pharisees speaking about Jesus the Son of Man or Jesus saying in response to

the Pharisees the Son of Man came eating and drinking and you say he is a glutton and a drunkard

a friend of tax collectors and sinners that's in response to his behavior as opposed to John the

Baptist's behavior so Jesus' reputation among the religious leaders of his community was that he was

a friend of sinners tax collectors and sinners in other words he was known for associating with

those who are lost and who are regarded as unclean or outcasts and or undesirables he was wrongly

accused and this is very important he's wrongly accused obviously of being a drunkard and a

glutton yet he clearly committed himself to people who weren't Christians who weren't believers who

didn't have faith he attended situations of feasting and drinking and he was willing to risk

being misunderstood and it's very important to remember that it was a misunderstanding he wasn't

a drunk and he wasn't a glutton and I think sometimes we can use that text as an excuse to

be in the world and of the world as well but he clearly intentionally chose to make friends

with the lost with those who weren't believers and to accept the risk of that and I think 1st

Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 7 I may also reflect Paul following his master's example

where he says in verse 7 and 8 so we cared for you because we loved you very much we were delighted

to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well so many of these Christians

in Thessalonica became Christians because Paul and the apostles shared their lives and became friends

with them and maybe at risk being misunderstood so Jesus' reputation helps us to understand a little

more about how to love the lost well but also Jesus' motivation and I'm going to read a longer

passage here if you'll bear with me it's mark chapter 10 verse 17 I'm reading from the NIV here my own

Mark 10:17

Bible as Jesus started on his way a man ran to him and fell on his knees before him good teacher

he asked what must I do to inherit eternal life why do you call me good Jesus answered no one is

good except God alone you know the commandments you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery

shall not steal you shall not give false witness you shall not defraud honor your father and mother

teacher he declared all these I have kept since I was a boy Jesus looked at him and loved him

one thing he said you lack go sell everything you have and give to the poor you will have treasure

in heaven then come and follow me at this man's face fell he went away sad because he had great wealth

Jesus looked ground and said to his disciples how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God

disciples were amazed as words but Jesus said again children how hard it is to enter the kingdom of

God it's easier for the camel to go through the eye of a needle than someone who's rich to enter the

kingdom of God the disciples were even more amazed and said to each other who then can be saved

Jesus looked at them and said with man this is impossible but not with God all things are possible

to God and Peter spoke up we've left everything to follow you truly I tell you Jesus replied no one

who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the

gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age homes brothers sisters

mothers children in the fields along with persecutions and the age to come eternal life

but many who are first will be last and the last first and we see there Jesus teaching but also

Jesus motivation this rich man comes to him and he just got these lovely words in verse 21 Jesus

looked at him and loved him so he just loved this guy and it's such a beautiful verse that he loved

the lost and he was fulfilling his own teaching from Matthew 5 in the sermon on the mount about

loving an enemy good to look at that passage again and do good pray for those who persecute you

and so we see his motivation leads him to a conversation with this rich man and the answer

the asking of a provocative question and he had time to converse with him he gave him

of his precious time but in doing so he loved him but he he didn't hold back the truth he exposed

the reality of this man's heart and maybe in ways that we can't in the same way although we seek

God's wisdom so to do in our lives and and as we pray and as we depend on the Father

amazing things can happen but Jesus didn't hold back in the truth despite the apparent

obedience of the life of this man and yet he exposed the idol in his heart and I think one of

the interesting things here is there's no evidence whatsoever that this was a successful

encounter in the sense of this man becoming this rich man becoming a believer we don't know

he went but we do know he went away sad so this isn't about successful evangelism I'm speaking

at this point it's just about the example of Jesus who loved this man and shared the gospel

shared the truth with him and because his motivation was so significant and then from that we get Jesus

teaching to towards the end of that section where he makes clear that the journey of faith or coming

to faith is tough it's a battle it's a battle particularly for those who are rich maybe even

especially physically rich or materially rich but also those who feel rich in themselves and

who don't feel poverty stricken it's just hard it's it's hard for them to come to faith and

it's it's hard to see results and even Jesus the Son of God here his words don't bring this man to

faith as far as we're aware in fact it's not it's just hard it's actually impossible you know the

disciples see what really the earth can be saved then Jesus said look this is impossible with us

but it's not impossible with God and that's the thing you know when we love people and what we see

about Jesus he reminds us that he he loves people enough just to tell them the truth and we need to

do that as well even though it's tough and but there must be this recognition that our love for

them is such that we will tell them the truth and overcome the fears that we might have and the

natural instincts that we have our inclinations and recognize that our task is impossible and it

will we will have butterflies in our stomach and we will be opposed even but recognize that what we

think is impossible and and is impossible for us in many ways to do both naturally and because of

the condition of people's hearts it's not impossible for God you know but with God all things are

possible Jesus says and so it's the reminder to us really that we're we're coming to God about

this we're coming to God asking for the impossibility of loving the way he loves loving our enemies

loving those who are lost taking the risks of faith and making unbelieving friends maybe especially

among people that are social outcasts maybe are the unexpected or those who are not our natural

friends but but but whatever we do to do it in such a way that we're we're willing to risk being

misunderstood but also avoid and compromise you know that's that's why we need the impossible

grace and strength of God to do this you know that we don't become friends with the world in order to

be just like the world and to become drunkards and glutton's you know and others engaging in

sinful pleasure and to in the name of evangelism which is easy to do it's easy to get into that

rut and but to see how great are the riches we've received amazing gifts we've been given by God

amazing life we have and to see that that life is precious and is transforming our hearts changing

our softening our hearts and working with the not working against the natural and sinful inclinations

of our heart not to share the gospel or to judge and be separate from others or maybe even to share

the gospel in a harsh and and critical or or a loveless way a proud way whatever it might be

we need we need the grace and the the strength and the help of the Holy Spirit and God

and to take time the impossibility of that all and to love the way he loves and when we do so

we know that there will be opposition he says that in verse 30 along with persecutions it's part of

what we've we've received when we deceive Christ but it's this it's this transformation where he says

that those who are first will be last and the last will be first it's upside down everything is

changing the rich man the person we speak to the friend that we have may well go away sad but that

might not be the end of the story and the story is not being written by us and we are simply to

plow this turf furrow but to do it in love and to share our faith and it may be that some people

will persecute us or give us a hard time but we know that others will believe because it's God

who saves and God is sovereign God is us in His kingdom and He uses us to do that it's His sovereign

work and that gives us great comfort we are simply called to be transformed to depend on Him to love

like Him to love Him love others who are our brothers and sisters and love the lost and love our

spiritual enemies as it were pass on the good news and that's a remarkable privilege and

it's something we need His help to do so I think often our lack of sharing our faith is because

we don't love like Jesus and that's because we've forgotten it's impossible to love like Jesus

without being dependent on God and without seeing the need for our own hearts to be transformed

to have the mercy and the loving kindness and the concern for people that Jesus Himself had

so it's just really a taster there are many things that you will discuss differently maybe at the

city group but I hope that that has at least read your appetite to think a little bit more

about the nature of what God's wanting to do in us before and during and as we seek to

love the lost be willing to be misunderstood but also be willing to be courageous and in love

share the good news of Jesus as He is transforming us so He will change

redeem and make new creation of others thanks