A Call to the Outsider

Good morning, Watermark.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Eric,

and I am one of the guys here on staff.

It's great to be here with you today.

I want to start off by sharing with you a scene from one of my favorite movies.

I'm sure many of you have seen it.

It's called The Fellowship of the Ring.

Anyone seen it?

Yes?

Okay.

So in The Fellowship of the Ring, there's this scene, sort of close to the start.

They're in Rivendell, the home of Elrond.

It's okay if you don't know what these words mean.

But they have this meeting.

They have a gathering because they have a problem.

There's a ring, a ring of power.

And this ring is so powerful that whoever has it will be able to rule the world,

but it always draws that person towards darkness, and it is dangerous.

And they know that it is dangerous, and they know that this ring needs to be destroyed.

And they know that the job of destroying this one ring is far bigger than any one of them individually can accomplish.

And so they form this group of nine that will go to destroy the ring.

They call this group the Fellowship of the Ring.

And they form this Fellowship of the Ring to accomplish a mission that they have that is far too big for any one of them to accomplish on their own.

And I think when we look at the church, a lot of times we feel like, oh, you know, like, God saved us, and then he didn't want us to be bored,

so he gave us something to do to keep us from being bored for the rest of our lives.

And that's, you know, missions and evangelism and telling other people about him.

But I think when you look at the story of the Bible, it's actually the other way around.

It's a lot more like in the Fellowship of the Ring, that there is a mission that God has that is huge.

It's too huge for any one of us to accomplish on our own.

And so to accomplish his mission, God forms us as his people to go out and accomplish his mission in the world.

He forms us as a fellowship to go out and accomplish his mission in the world and sends us out, just like the Fellowship of the Ring is sent out to destroy the ring.

He sends us out into the world to tell others about him and to share about how amazing he is.

We call this mission, life on mission.

And last week, we started a sermon series on this idea of mission, looking at it from the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah, we saw last week that God sends out his call to the thirsty, to those who are looking for something to satisfy them.

God says, if you are looking for something to satisfy, come to me.

All who are thirsty, come to the waters and drink and find satisfaction.

And God calls us, if we are Christians here today, God calls us to go out to those in the world who are thirsty

and to offer them satisfaction in him.

And today we're going to continue talking about mission.

And we're going to look at it from another perspective, another group that God wants us to call out to.

And this group is the outsiders.

And so we're going to look at it, three points.

Number one, a call to missional holiness.

Number two, the mission of God.

And number three, a call to the outsiders.

We're going to start out with the call to missional holiness.

If we look at the first couple of verses of chapter 56, it says,

Keep justice and do righteousness, and soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed.

Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast,

who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Keep justice, do righteousness, keep the Sabbath, don't do any evil.

I think for a lot of us, when we look at commands like this,

there's this part of us inside that sort of bristles at this.

Because we, you know, we like God, we like Jesus, we like this message of love that he has.

But the idea of him telling us what to do in the 21st century can feel a little regressive to some of us.

It can feel a little oppressive to some of us.

Like, who is God to come in and tell me how to live my life?

Maybe we feel like John Lennon when he said, you know, Jesus was all right,

but his disciples were thick and ordinary.

It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.

Basically, you know, this message that God wants us to love one another, that's great, I like that.

This whole stuff about having to obey him and live our life by a standard that he sets for us, not so much.

If we could just get back to that pure message that Jesus had of loving one another without having to obey,

then everything would be great.

But right here it says that he wants us to keep justice, do righteousness, keep the Sabbath, and keep our hands from doing evil.

And I think for a lot of us, we don't like God trying to tell us what to do with our lives.

But there's a problem with our way of thinking on a couple levels.

First off, this command isn't just about obedience.

It is about obedience in terms of not doing things that are wrong.

But it's much more than that.

When we see this phrase, do righteousness,

in the Old Testament, this idea of righteousness and this idea of justice,

it's not just an idea of avoiding what's wrong and punishing people who do wrong.

It's also an idea of identifying things that are wrong in the world and setting them right.

It's what we would think of maybe more as social justice,

a pursuit of what is good and what is right,

not just avoiding the bad, but pursuing actively the good,

chasing after loving one another.

And although we have this tendency to split the world into my private life where I can do whatever I want

and the public world where there's neighbors and stuff like that,

God doesn't dichotomize life in that way.

For God, we are one person.

We're not a separate person when the door is closed and when the door is open and everyone's around.

We are one person.

And the choices and decisions that we make in our private lives

are going to impact the way that we act in public.

And so this call that God wants us to keep our hands from doing evil,

to keep justice, to do righteousness,

it is a call to obedience,

but it's a call to obedience for the sake of love

because we cannot truly love our neighbors as God wants us to

if we are not living our lives according to the standard that God calls us to.

I'll give you a couple examples to illustrate what I'm talking about.

So, we look at the world and we see issues like sex trafficking.

And we're like, that's a bad thing.

I don't think anyone in here would say, like, that's a good thing.

And we say, we need to do things to stop sex trafficking.

Maybe we can have a documentary screening like we did here last week

to raise awareness and get people aware of what's happening in this world of sex trafficking.

And we need to have rallies to call for the stop of it

and to call for legislation to make it stop.

And we can fight for all these things and they're good things to fight for,

but if we go to these rallies and we host these documentary screenings

and then we go home and watch pornography,

we're actually helping spread sex trafficking

because the sex trafficking industry is spread and fueled by the pornography industry.

And what we do in our actions in public, saying we're against it,

and what we do in our actions in private,

doing actions that push for it to be spread,

they're opposite.

We can't truly fight for this justice

and try to love the victims of sex trafficking

like God wants us to

if we're not willing to live our lives according to God's standard

when it comes to what we're doing in the privacy of our own bedrooms.

And so God's call to us to missional holiness

is this holistic call for us to live all of our lives

as people who are in pursuit of him,

avoiding the wrong, pursuing the right.

And not just as a legalistic,

okay, I've done this, now I'm better than you.

No, not at all.

That's not the spirit of this at all.

The spirit of this is,

God gave this command to the nation of Israel.

And he said,

if you will follow me,

if you will live life the way that I'm calling you to live life,

the nations around you will see that.

And they will see this beautiful way of life.

He actually says that if you live according to the standard that I set for you,

he says this back in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, somewhere back there.

He says, if you live according to the standard that I set for you,

there will be no poor in your land.

They will be provided for,

they will be taken care of,

you won't have people starving on the streets,

and the nations around you will see that

and see that it is beautiful.

I want you to follow me because when you follow me,

the life that you will live is a beautiful life.

And the people around you will see that beautiful life,

and they will want that beautiful life,

and they will be drawn to me.

That's the heart of God when he gives this command to the Israelites

in Isaiah chapter 56.

Isaiah 56 · chapter mention

And it's a call that applies to us today as well.

God wants us to keep justice,

to do righteousness,

to keep the Sabbath and avoid evil,

not so that we can check off a list and say,

I've done all these things.

But because when we do these things,

this holiness of our lives

actually serves as a way

of making the people around us

see how good and beautiful

the God we follow is.

Because it's a different way of life.

It's a pursuing of the good.

And it's something that people around us

will see as beautiful.

Yes, avoiding the things that are evil,

but also actively pursuing the things that are right,

identifying what's wrong with the world,

and actively trying

to set those things right.

There's a little story that I have

that I think illustrates this.

Back in the 1930s and 40s,

there was a mayor in New York City

called LaGuardia.

You've probably heard of the airport

named after him.

I don't know if he was a Christian or not,

but this story sort of illustrates this idea

of identifying what's wrong with the world

and seeking to set it right.

Mayor LaGuardia,

he was a very good mayor.

He fought against corruption.

He would join the police on their raids

to try and break up the mob.

He would ride around the city on fire trucks.

He would take orphanages to baseball games.

When the newspaper went on strike,

he went on the radio

and read out the comics to the kids

so that they could still have the comics.

He was loved and respected around the city.

And this one night,

in January of 1935,

he walked into the courtroom,

and he told the judge on duty,

you can have the night off.

Don't think you can get away with that today.

But in 1935, apparently you could.

And he told the judge,

you take the night off.

I'll sit in and hear the cases tonight.

So after a couple minutes on the bench,

this tattered old lady comes up to him.

She's on trial for stealing a loaf of bread.

And she says,

please, sir,

my daughter's husband left her.

My daughter is sick.

My two grandchildren are starving.

I was just trying to provide

a way for my family to eat.

Yes, I tried to steal the bread,

but I was doing it

because I care about my family,

and I don't want my grandchildren to starve.

The baker who had been robbed

was sitting there,

and he refused to drop the charges.

He said, you know,

this is a bad neighborhood.

This is one of the poorest neighborhoods

in New York City.

If we let her get away

with trying to rob me,

then everyone else is going to try to rob me,

and I'm going to be out of business,

and I'm going to need to rob people too.

You need to hold her

to the standard of justice,

Mayor LaGuardia.

And the mayor said,

you know,

this man is right.

The requirements of justice

say that you have to face a punishment.

You either have to pay a $10 fine

or spend 10 days in jail.

And as he said this,

he pulled out his wallet

and grabbed a $10 bill

and dropped it into his hat in front of him

and said,

here is the $10 fine,

which I now remit.

And additionally,

I'm going to charge a $0.50 fine

to every single person

in this courtroom

for living in a city

in which this woman

has to steal bread

to feed her family.

Mr. Bailiff,

please collect the fines.

So they sent around

the bailiff

to collect the fines,

and they handed the woman

$47.50

with which she could go out

and provide for her family,

including $0.50

from the shopkeeper

who she had tried to rob.

And the courtroom stood up

and gave Mayor LaGuardia

a standing ovation

because they said,

this,

what you have just done,

this pursuit of justice,

not just in punishing her

for doing what was wrong,

but trying to fix the situation

that required her

to do that in the first place,

that is beautiful.

It's not just about

holding people accountable

for the wrong things

that they do,

but also looking at

why did they do that,

what are the social conditions

that led them to do that,

and how can we actively work

to change those social conditions

so that they don't have to do that

in the future.

That is the lifestyle

that God is calling us to

in this passage.

Keep justice,

do righteousness,

keep the Sabbath,

avoid evil.

And when we live this way,

this lifestyle is beautiful

to the world around us.

You know,

we sort of probably

also look at this passage

and say,

what's the Sabbath doing in there?

But in reality,

the idea of keeping the Sabbath

encapsulates the rest

of these ideas

of keeping justice,

doing righteousness,

avoiding evil.

Because when we have

the type of trust in God

where we are able

to take one day a week

and rest

and count on Him

to provide,

that's going to spill

into other areas

of our lives as well.

And again,

this idea of keeping

the Sabbath,

I'm not going to go

too much into it

because Bernard spoke on it

two weeks ago

and you can go back

and listen to his sermon

if you want to learn

more about Sabbath.

But this idea

of keeping the Sabbath,

it's not just a command

for the sake

of keeping commands.

Again,

it's a command

to love our neighbors.

Why is that?

Because bosses

who check email

at 3 a.m.

and send out emails

to their employees

at 3 a.m.

expect their employees

to also be on their email

at 3 a.m.

bosses who never rest

expect the employees

who work for them

to never rest.

Bosses

or parents

or managers

who have the confidence

in God

to take one day per week

to just rest,

to just rely on God

to provide,

are going to allow

the people who work for them

to also take that

one day a week

to rest,

to rely on God

to provide.

And it's going

to be a way

for us to serve

and love our neighbors,

another way

for us to show

the people around us

the beauty of the God

that we worship

and serve.

And so God

calls us

to live

this missional

holiness lifestyle,

a way of

taking

what He

has created

in the world

and showing people

a beautiful way

to live life.

And not just

a beautiful way

to live life,

but a beautiful way

to live life

that points them back

to the beautiful one

who gave us

that way to live.

He wants us

to live

as a people

who are known

for missional holiness.

But who does He want us

to take this message to?

Who does He want us

to reach out to?

That brings us

to point number two,

the mission of God.

In verse three,

He says,

let not the foreigner

who has joined himself

to the Lord

say,

the Lord will surely

separate me

from His people.

And let not the eunuch

say,

behold,

I am a dry tree.

He specifically says

right here,

he wants this message

to go out

to foreigners

and to eunuchs,

which to us

may seem strange,

but to the ancient Israelites,

these two groups

of people

were known

for being outsiders.

Historically,

if you look at each

of the groups,

we'll start with

the foreigners.

They were excluded

from the Jewish community.

Yes,

God wanted them

eventually

to be included.

He wanted Israel

to live in such a way

that their lifestyle

would draw the foreigners

to come and join.

But they were excluded.

There is a Jewish prayer

that's prayed

even to this day

by the men

when they wake up.

And it says,

God,

I thank you

that you did not make me

a foreigner,

a slave,

or a woman.

The women have

their own version

that basically says,

God,

I thank you

that you did not make me

a foreigner,

a slave,

and that you've given me

the joys of being a woman

or something like that.

But there's a standard

Jewish prayer

to this day

that says,

God,

I thank you

for not making me

a foreigner.

The foreigners

are excluded.

The foreigners

are looked down upon.

Even if you jump ahead

to the book of Acts,

you'll see a story

about the apostle Paul

being arrested

because the Jews

thought that he had

brought foreigners

into the temple.

Foreigners are excluded.

Foreigners are not

allowed in

to God's house.

Foreigners,

that's most of us

here today,

I'm guessing.

by the Jewish standards

of this day

when these words

were spoken,

were second-class citizens,

outsiders,

not seen as people

on the same level

as the Jews.

But God says,

that's going to change.

He says,

to the foreigners

who join themselves

to the Lord

to minister to him,

to love the name

of the Lord

and to be his servants,

everyone who keeps

the Sabbath

and does not profane it

and holds fast

my covenant,

these I will bring

to my holy mountain

and make them joyful

in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings

and their sacrifices

will be accepted

on my altar

for my house

shall be called

a house of prayer

for all peoples.

He says,

you foreigners

who have been excluded,

you are going to be

welcomed into my house.

You who have been

looked down upon,

you are going

to be welcomed.

And he says,

this may not really

click with us,

the significance of this,

but he says,

their sacrifices

will be accepted.

Now why is that

so significant?

Because as humans,

we have this problem

of sin

that separates us

from God.

And in the Old Testament

under the temple system,

the only way

to have your sins

forgiven and taken away

was by going to the temple

and making a sacrifice

to God of an animal.

And when the animal

was sacrificed,

you would be forgiven

for your sins.

Which means that

if your sacrifices

are not accepted,

you don't get forgiveness,

you don't get acceptance

by God.

God's saying that

he will accept

their sacrifices,

our sacrifices,

I guess,

since most of us

are foreigners,

is God saying,

I will accept you.

I will bring you in

as part of my people.

I'm not going to look

down on you.

I'm not going to see you

as a separate group.

I'm accepting you.

I'm welcoming you.

Come.

He also speaks here

to the eunuchs.

Now eunuchs,

again,

are a group

that in ancient Israel

were outsiders.

Deuteronomy,

Deuteronomy 23:1

chapter 23,

verse 1,

bans eunuchs

from coming to worship

in the temple.

And there was a historian

around the time of Jesus

named Josephus

who wrote down

just a brief statement

about the way

that eunuchs

were seen in his day.

He says,

let those that have

made themselves eunuchs

be had in detestation.

This is a big word

you don't hear very much.

And avoid any conversation

with them

who have deprived themselves

of their manhood.

Let such be driven away

as if they had killed

their children

since before the children

were born

they lost the means

of having them.

He says,

if someone is a eunuch,

you should avoid

talking to them.

You should treat them

like you would treat someone

who has killed

their own children.

Quite a harsh statement

against people

who are eunuchs.

And the even worse part

is that not only

did they have this shame

to carry around

during their lifetime,

but as eunuchs,

obviously,

they were not able

to reproduce.

Which means that

there was no chance

of their memory

living on.

There was no chance

of there being

future generations

to carry on their name,

to rewrite their story.

They lived their one life

in shame and disgrace

and when they died,

that was it.

And God says,

that is not going to be

the story for the eunuchs

anymore.

He says,

to the eunuchs

who keep my Sabbaths,

who choose the things

that please me

and hold fast my covenant,

I will give in my house

and within my walls

a monument and a name

better than sons

and daughters.

I will give them

an everlasting name

that shall not

be cut off.

He says,

I'm going to give them

a name better

than children.

I'm going to welcome

them into my house.

They're not going

to be banned.

They're not going

to be excluded.

They're not going

to be outsiders.

They're going to be

welcomed.

And he says,

they will not be

cut off.

I don't know

if you noticed this,

but this passage

right here has

some amazing promises

to those in the church

who live as singles

and commit themselves

to celibacy

or to those in the church

who are married

and unable to have kids.

Because God's telling us

that our standing

as his people

is not dependent

on our ability

to reproduce.

It's dependent

on our relationship

with him.

And so the fact

that we don't have kids

doesn't make us

second-rate Christians.

No, we are all

the people of God.

We are all

a family of God.

And God has

a unique place

in his family for us

where we are able

to serve in ways

that people with kids

can't serve.

And God welcomes us

as his people.

God is excited

to have us

in his family

if we are single

or if we are married

with no kids.

That's just a side note.

But God welcomes

the foreigners.

God welcomes

the eunuchs.

God welcomes

the outsiders.

He says,

the people

that society

has rejected,

I want them.

The people

that historically

have not been able

to stand before me,

I want them

to come.

I'm not out

just for the worthy.

I'm not out

just for those

that everyone looks at

and thinks they're great.

I'm out

for those

who are outsiders.

Which brings us

to point number three,

a call

to the outsider.

Because if God

is interested

in reaching out

to the outsiders,

that means

that God

is interested

in us

reaching out

to the outsiders.

My question

for us today

is who are

the outsiders

in our world.

It's really tempting

to just give a list.

There are certain groups

that the church

generally looks down

upon today

that we could

roll them off

of our minds

of people

who are ostracized

by the church,

people who

have a hard time

fitting in

if they show up

at church.

I was really tempted

to list off

a couple of these groups,

but I received

some good wisdom

from some friends

who said,

Eric,

remember,

if you do that,

you make it seem

like some group

is worse

than another group.

And that's not true.

The reality

of the situation

is that all of us

are outsiders

before God.

All of us

have chosen

sin

that separates us

from God

in our lives.

All of us.

sin

and there's no one group

that's a little better

or a little worse,

a little more severe

or a little less severe sin.

The fact is,

sin is sin.

Sin makes us guilty.

Sin separates us

from God.

And in God's eyes,

all of us

are born

as outsiders.

And if we're honest,

we can all see

glimpses of this

even just in the way

that we live our lives

on a social level.

Right?

If we're in middle school

or high school,

we feel like we need

to have the best

social networks,

profiles,

so the people around us

can look to us

and say,

like,

that's a cool guy.

If we're new in a job

or new in a social group,

we try and find

the influencers there

and get on their good side

so everyone else

will like us.

Maybe if we feel like

friends aren't

including us in stuff,

we'll get really

passive-aggressive.

You know,

you're a jerk!

I hate you!

Is something wrong?

No!

You're my best friend!

Or maybe we'll drop

hints about it,

like,

you know,

you really,

you really sound like

you're going to have

a great birthday party.

You know the one thing

that would make it better?

If I was there.

Too bad I can't be.

Didn't get an invitation.

Right?

We know

from the way

that our social interactions go

that all of us

at times

feel like outsiders

and feel like

there are things

that we need to do

to be accepted

and to be on the inside.

And the thing is,

all of that

social pressure

and feeling

of being an outsider

is merely a shadow

of the fact

and the reality

that in

the relationship

that we have

with God,

we are alienated

and we are

outsiders.

it's not just

a figment

of our imagination,

it is the reality

of the situation.

That all of us

have rebelled

against God.

But the good news is

that God

wants us

as his people.

God calls

to each of us.

You know,

the Bible tells us

in Isaiah 53

it says that

each of us

like sheep

have gone astray

and we've chased

after our own desires

rather than God.

And yet Jesus comes

and listen

from Isaiah 53

about the things

that he said,

just three chapters

in front of the one

that we're looking at today,

the things that Jesus

went through

so that we no longer

have to be outsiders.

in chapter 53

verse 3

it tells us

that he was despised

and rejected

by men

so that we

can be accepted

by God.

In 53

5

it says that

he was wounded

for our transgressions

and pierced

for our iniquities

so that we

don't have to be.

In 53

9

it says

they made

his grave

with the wicked

although he had done

no violence

because we had

and someone

had to pay

the price

for us

to be accepted.

You know

we talked earlier

about this idea

of missional holiness

Jesus is

the ultimate example

of what it looks like

to live

this life

of missional holiness.

Not only

perfectly obeying

every one

of God's laws

his entire life

but also

at the end

of his life

laying down

his life

to set right

what was wrong

in our relationship

with God.

When we want

an example

of what it looks like

to live

with this missional holiness

Jesus is

our perfect example.

He did

what was perfectly right

but didn't settle

for that

as if it was enough.

No,

he also pursued

setting to right

what was wrong

in the world

so that God

can welcome in

us

the outsiders

into

his family.

God

if you're here

today

and you're

not a Christian

my encouragement

to you

is that God

is calling

to you

today.

You've spent

long enough

being an outsider

from his family

and he wants

you

to come

to him

today.

He wants

to welcome

you in.

Despite your sin

Jesus has come

and paid

the price

so that you

can be

accepted

by God

and you

no longer

need to be

an outsider.

Will you

come running

to him?

If you're here

today

and you're

a Christian

God is also

calling you.

See you

were once

an outsider

but now

you have been

welcomed in

to God's

family

and now

God wants

you to go

out and reach

out to the

outsiders

in your

world.

So who

are the

outsiders

in your

world?

Maybe a

good first

step

question

to ask

yourself

is just

who are

the

non-Christians

that I

interact

with

on a

regular

basis?

Maybe

co-workers

maybe

friends

maybe

people

from

your

club

or

your

sports

team

the

people

that

you

just

see

on

a

regular

basis.

But

then

let's

take it

one

step

further.

Who

are

the

people

that

you

see

on

a

regular

basis

but

you

don't

really

see?

Maybe

it's

the

janitor

at your

office.

They

come in

and they

take out

the trash

every day.

You

see that

same

face

every

day

and you

still

don't

know

that

person's

name

even

though

you've

seen

them

every

day

for

five

years.

Maybe

it's

the

person

after

church

standing

at the

table

by

themselves

just

waiting

for

someone

to

say

hi

and

welcome

them.

I

don't

know

who

it

is

in

your

life.

But

God

has

placed

people

in

each

of

our

lives

so

that

we

can

connect

with

them.

And

when

we

look

at

people

like

janitors

and

say

you

know

I'm

on

a

different

level

socially

than

them.

They're

an

outsider

I'm

in.

I

can't

interact

with

them.

what

we're

saying

is

God's

desire

to

welcome

the

outsider

doesn't

matter

to

me.

I

care

more

about

my

social

status

than

I

do

about

loving

my

neighbor.

But

the

truth

is

that

God

reached

out

to

us

when

we

were

outsiders

and

he

wants

us

to

reach

out

to

the

outsiders

around

us.

One

more

step

further

in

this

idea

of

reaching

out

to

the

outsiders.

Who

are

the

people

in

your

life

that

you

feel

are

beyond

salvation?

Who

are

the

people

that

you

look

at

and

you

say

oh

them?

Yeah

I

don't

think

God

would

really

be

interested

in

them.

Because

the

truth

is

that

those

are

the

people

that

God

is

calling

us

to

reach

out

to

today.

Jesus

died

to

welcome

the

outsider

there's

no

group

that's

more

or

less

worthy

of

his

love.

All

of

us

are

unworthy

and

all

of

us

are

welcomed

freely

only

as

a

gift

of

grace.

And

when

we

put

ourselves

in

God's

shoes

and

say

this

person

is

unworthy

of

hearing

the

gospel

what

we

do

is

we

say

I'm

better

than

you.

I'm

more

deserving

than

you.

But

let me

ask a

question.

who is

the

worst

sinner?

The

prostitute

who comes

and sells

her body

because that

is the

only way

she knows

of to

provide

for her

family.

Or the

Christian

who looks

at her

and based

on her

profession

decides that

she's not

worthy of

hearing the

gospel.

who is

the

worst

sinner

in that

situation?

Jesus

calls us

to reach

out to

the

outsider.

He did

it.

He set

the

perfect

example

of it

in his

life.

And now

he calls

us to

do it

as well.

And he

gives us

a promise

that as

we go

we don't

need to

be afraid

because the

success

of our

going

is not

dependent

on the

expertise

of our

presentation

but on

the

faithfulness

of God.

When we

share the

gospel with

others we're

not going

as experts

who have

all the

answers.

We're

going as

outsiders

who have

been welcomed

in and

are offering

someone else

another

outsider,

another chance

to be welcomed

in in the

same way

that we

have.

And in

chapter 56

verse 8

God promises

I will gather

yet others

to him

besides those

already

gathered.

He says

I'm going

to take

care of

this.

People

will come

when you

share the

gospel.

My family

will grow.

Outsiders

will be

welcomed in

as long

as you

are willing

to go

and share

with them.

And so

if you

are a

Christian

here today

God calls

you reach

out to

the outsiders

in your

life.

Don't

ignore them.

Don't

overlook

them because

you think

you're better

than them.

But go

to them.

Share

with them.

Show

them the

beauty

of

Jesus.

He has

promised to

take care of

the results.

But he calls

us to live

on mission

as a group

that he has

formed for the

accomplishment

of this

mission.

He says

go.

Live lives

of missional

holiness.

Reach out

to the outsiders

because I love

them and I want

them and I want

them to come

to me.

I want you

to be my

hands and

feet.

Welcome

them into

the family.

Will we

do that?

Let's pray.

Father we

thank you for

your love for

us.

We thank you

that you

are good

and you

are faithful

and that

you give

us grace

that we

don't deserve

that when

we are

outsiders

you called

to us

and you

welcomed us

into your

family.

God I

pray that we

would be a

people who

live lives

of obedience

to you

not just for

the sake of

keeping the

rules but as

a way of

showing the

world around

us how

beautiful of

a God

you are

and of

inviting them

in to

join your

family.

God I

pray for

those who

are here

today who

don't know

you that

they would

come running

to you that

they would

find a

place of

welcome and

a place where

they don't need

to be an

outsider anymore

in you.

I pray for

those who

are here

today that

know you

that we

would live

lives of

faith telling

those around

us about

you and

how great

you are

trusting you

to be

faithful with

the results.

God we

love you.

In Jesus

name.

Amen.