And because we are largely a friendly or self-motivated audience I’m finding that you are very responsive to what we are trying to do here, which is really two fold. First is to recruit more workers. In the ministry of Jesus, in Luke chapter 10, he got to this point where he had 72 followers who were apparently very committed to him and the ministry. Jesus had plans to go out into a whole bunch of towns and preach the good news, which was basically himself. So he tells his followers,
go and find more workers, for the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.Now the interesting thing about that is the emphasis that is so often missed- it’s not the harvest time just yet, it’s time to find more workers.
When we look out at London I believe we can see that the harvest is quite obviously plentiful. And in regard to our mission, this means that there are literally hundreds of thousands who, by all apparent signs, have no faith community, no church they are a part of, no small groups they connect with, no active participation in any service or outreach projects, and who, if I may make a bit of a leap, but what I think is a safe leap, feel and live far from God, outside of an active and dynamic relationship with Jesus. If the stats are right less than 10% of Canadians are in church any given Sunday, which for us means more than 300,000 Londoners.
Folks, it’s not the harvest in London that concerns me- it’s finding enough workers that are willing enough, that are selfless enough, that are open enough to share the love of God and start actively loving their neighbors. Workers willing to help us reach out to the city to build up this church. Workers willing to get into the messiness and beauty of actually getting involved in people’s lives that are far from God, estranged from people, isolated from our community and the world. They are hard to find, they are hard to get to know, they are not the people that are already involved in churches. And here I am speaking most directly to those here that would openly say you are followers of Jesus- there’s really only one reason for you to be here and be a part of our church- God is calling you. So if you’re being called to this church, you’re being called to be a worker. You’re being called because you have some gifts, some time, some resources, and some connections that will strategically serve and grow this mission. You have people in your life that you are ready to invite to church, and this is the kind of church you can bring them to.
In other words, if you are following Christ, we invite to join us as a worker. To get involved, to volunteer, to give to our mission, to bring your friends and family and neighbors to meet Jesus here.
The other thing we are doing in these preview services is laying the foundation for our church culture. We are calling it
“Cultivating a Connecting Culture.“We are discussing the values that are essential to our mission and development:
trust- acceptance- truth- healing- connection.
The bible, we talked about, is the story of God creating an interconnected world- where people were connected vitally to God, to one another, to the creation itself, and thus they knew themselves, their purpose and place in the world in a way beyond our experience. And while we’ve broken the connections, God began the work of re-connecting, reestablishing what was meant to be. The first layer we talked about was trust- how the bible is filled with stories of men and women who decided to trust God. Acceptance is the next logical nutrient we want to put into the soil of our culture.
Last time I tried to ask you what is a very profound question when we truly hear it in the depths of our being- what will it take to trust? To trust yourself, to trust others, to trust God? Today I don’t want to ask you a question, I want to offer you and invitation. But I believe it is a very profound invitation -
come as you are.
No, really, come as you are. Most of us have spent the better part our lives, and the better part of ourselves, trying to be someone or something we really aren’t. We try to come as the people that we think the world wants us to be. We try to present ourselves as the girls we think the boys want us to be, as the boys the girls want us to be, as the children we think our parents want us to be, as the workers our bosses want us to be, as the neighbors the Jones’ want us to be. We spend so much of our day, so much of our lives, being someone else, that when I invite you to come as you are, you might not even know whom you are anymore. You’re so far down the road of appearances that you have no idea how to start to finding your way out. We try to put on this Sunday face, this Sunday façade. We put on this mask in the one place where we should be most free to come as we really are.
Come as you- not as you think we want you to be, not as your mom wanted you to be, not as you want to be. Come as you are. Because we are never going to become the people we want to be, we are never going to be the accepting people and church we want to be if we start with masks on. Come as you are. Come with your hopes and your dreams, your glorious successes to celebrate, your awful defeats to find support, your joys and your pains, your gifts and your needs. Come as you are.
On Thanksgiving this past Monday my little philosopher Karis started asking my wife some questions while driving in our minivan. She asked if grown ups ever did anything bad? Don’t you love it that such questions are actually asked! Robin decided to protect her and said no, no grown up has ever done a bad thing in their life. Actually, she took it as an opportunity to talk about what we’re talking about- she said yes Karis, all this time. Robin said how every time she messes up she says a prayer in her heart to ask for forgiveness and ask for the strength, wisdom, and love she needs to try and not make the same sins and mistakes again. And because God loves her, she is forgiven. All was quiet. Karis was pondering these things in her heart.
Then Robin hears Karis whispering, “Eden, what if God doesn’t like us?” Eden replies, “Why are you whispering Karis?” “I don’t want him to hear me,” she says. “God can hear everything- even what you say in your head,” says Eden. “Well I can’t hear what I say in my own head.”
When we say, “Come as you are,” we are saying that we know you have done some bad things, even you adults. We’ve all done some bad things, we’ve all made some mistakes, none of us are perfect. We are also saying come as you are because God still likes us. More, God still loves us. And we’re saying come as you are because really, in the eyes of God, there’s no other way that we can come. God isn’t fooled by our whispers, our fronts and facades. God looks to the heart. And so we say come without the pretense, come without the lies, come as you are because that’s the only way that God sees us anyways.
But I think many of us are still wrestling with the question that starts as early as 5 years of age-
“What if God doesn’t like me? What if God doesn’t accept me? What if God doesn’t like me as I am?”
It’s a question that haunts many of us. More here than you might suspect. A nagging feeling, a heavy feeling that slips upon us in the quiet of the night, or even in the laughter of a party, that we are just not good enough. That we don’t measure up, even though we’re not sure what we’re being measured against. Feelings of guilt, which aren’t always bad feelings if we’ve done something we should feel guilty about. But for many of us it does deeper, it goes in our being, it goes into shame. This sense not that we’ve done some bad things, cause we’ve all done bad things, but this sense that we are bad people- bad, unlovable, unworthy, unacceptable.
Early in Jesus ministry he meet up with a two brothers named Simon and Andrew. Andrew was actually the first to meet up with Jesus, and he was so impressed with Jesus he immediately goes to his brother Simon, takes him to Jesus. Jesus says, “You’re Simon, son of John. You will be called Rock.” Yes, he actually said you will be called the Rock. Well Simon was so impressed, he went back to his boat and continued fishing.
Because some time later, we read in Luke 5:1-11…
Picture the scene- the boat just off shore, Simon and the gang cleaning their nets, Jesus teaching, and a huge crowd gathered. And after a bit Jesus says to Simon, put out to the deep water and throw your nets.
There are a few different options that Simon has here. Option one, he tells Jesus to shove off. They’ve worked all night long and caught nothing. They are tired, hungry and frustrated. And you now what, the last thing they are going to do is take fishing lessons from a traveling Rabbi. Jesus you stick to the preaching, we’ll stick to the fishing. And the result- nothing changes for Simon. He goes home, gets some rest, and goes at it again the next day.
Option two, he plays it a little more tactfully- you know Jesus, we’ve worked all night and didn’t catch a thing, and you know, as fun as that sounds right now, let’s just reschedule, Even later today. I’ll just run home, get some food, a little rest, put on a change of clothes, and then we’ll go out, I promise. The result- the same, nothing happens, nothing changes. Opportunity given, opportunity passed.
How often do we respond to the call of Jesus in the same way? Option one- we blow it off. Jesus, your demands are too hard, too unrealistic, too demanding. So forget it. Let’s just keep our relationship the way it is. You can stay on the boat with me, but I’m going about my business. I’m going to stick close to shore. Jesus, you can get onboard with my marriage, but I’m going to about things my way. You can get on board with my work, but I’m not changing the way I do business. Get on board with my parenting, but I’m not going to change the way I raise my kids. I’m going to stay close to the shore. The result- nothing changes, or at least not anything that takes us deeper into the waters of faith.
Option two- Jesus, I hear what your saying, and I think I understand what you’re saying, but you know, right now is not good for me. I’m tired. I’ve got other things on my plate. Now I want to obey, but let me get some things in order first. Let me get through school, or get this first year of work under my belt, or this second home paid for. Then I’ll push off into the deep. If Simon said, hey, let’s wait and hour, I believe he would have missed the moment. He would have missed the opportunity to leap, and he would have missed the opportunity to be part of a miracle. The result- nothing changes, and Jesus goes on to a different boat.
But there’s a third option, and it’s one the Simon ventures. I love how Simon puts this- Jesus, I want to be very clear about this, we’ve worked all night. We’ve caught nothing. You’re a preacher, we’re fishermen, we do this for a living. But out of respect, if I hear you right, we’re going to do this thing. And what he’s really saying, which in a moment becomes very significant, is that you Jesus, you will get all the responsibility, or the credit.
That’s perfect. I don’t think Jesus really asks anything more of us. It’s really rather unremarkable. Throw out your nets. But do it now. He’s done it a thousand times before. It’s not like the actual act of obedience was anything new. It was simply the context and the timing. Out of faith, out of obedience, listen to what I tell you to do now, and see what happens. And that’s how Jesus works with all his followers. He really asks nothing spectacular out of us. He asks for trust. Then he tells us to leave the results up to him.
A teacher named Ray VanderLaan helped me understand this. At this point in Jesus life and ministry he has achieve the status of a Master, of a Rabbi. In the Jewish culture there was not great position of honor and respect. In a crazy way it’s sort of like celebrity status today. People were fascinated by Rabbi’s, they revered them, they followed them, they wanted to be like them.
But very few were ever called to be Rabbi’s. Only the best of the best of the best. The ones that could memorize the first five books of the OT by age 10, the rest of the OT by age 14. These were the mutant kids going to professor Xavier’s school for gifted kids- they were awesome, but they were kind of outcasts.
So they would go and present themselves to a Rabbi. The Rabbi’s would ask them questions and get to know them. They’d assess these kids to see if they really had what it took, if they could really be like the Rabbi- to know what he knew, to do what he did, and then, to take it to the next level. And if they were good enough, worthy enough, acceptable in the sight of the Rabbi, they would invite them- follow me. But that was the best of the best of the best. The rest went on to the family trade. The rest did things like become fishermen because they didn’t have the right stuff.
Jesus is a rabbi. Jesus has crowds of people following him. Jesus actually has crowds of people hoping to be called by him. Jesus tells Simon to set sail and throw out the nets. So they set out, they throw down their nets, and you heard the story, you know what happened, they have a miraculous catch of fish- so many fish it becomes clear to everyone that this is not normal, this is not even natural. Something is happening here, it has some real significance and some real importance.
And what does Simon say?
“Jesus, go away from me, for I am a sinful man!”Go away from me Jesus, I’m not worthy. Simon sees two things very clearly I this moment- two things with absolute crystal clarity. First, he sees that Jesus is no ordinary man. He sees that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is in fact the messiah, the one they’ve longed for. And that is very exciting.
But he sees something else in a way that perhaps he had never seen so clearly before. He sees his sin. He sees in the presence of Jesus’ miracle, in the presence of Jesus’ glory, that he has missed the mark, that he has fallen short, that he is a sinner. And in the presence of Jesus now, he is overcome with this most basic of human feelings, the most fundamental of human fears- what if God doesn’t like me?
It’s the most absurd thing he could have possibly said- it’s the most human response a person could have. I’m not worthy. I’m a sinner. Please leave me Jesus, because if you really get to know, if you really spend some time with me, you know what, I’m not the guy who will throw out his nets whenever you ask. I’m the guy who going screw up, and mess us, and fail you. I am not acceptable.
Jesus knows this, and he says the most amazing thing- don’t be afraid, follow me. He says Peter, come with me and I will make you a fisher of men. He is telling Peter, you are acceptable, you can follow me. You are worthy to follow a Rabbi- you are the best of the best of the best. But more, if you follow me, you are going to do what I do, you are going to become a fisher of men. You are going to go out into the world, you are going to call people, and you are going to catch them. They are going to follow. But they aren’t going to follow you, they are going to follow me. They are going to join you in following me.
Today, right now, some of us are hearing the call of Jesus for the first time. Some of us are hearing God speak into our hearts and we are hearing for the first time- you are acceptable. Follow me. And we whisper back, but what if you don’t like me? And Jesus is saying I know you, I know you inside and out, I was there when you were born, I’ve been there every step of the way, I’ve seen everything you done, I know every thought you’ve ever had, I know everything about you, and I know that terrifies you, and you want me to go away, but I’m telling you- follow me, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me, because I love you, and I want you to be with me.
Some of us have heard this call from Jesus long ago, but we are still whispering in our heart, I don’t think God likes me, but today you are going to hear the Rabbi calling you to follow him, and you too will become a fisher of men. You are going to follow Jesus and he is going to do amazing things through you, and through this church. Because if there is anything this church believes, if there is anything we want to have grounded into the very fiber of our being, the DNA that comprises who we are and we are about it is this- you are accepted in Jesus. You are accepted and known by Jesus. You are accepted and loved by Jesus. You are accepted, and called, and will be used by Jesus.
The band is coming up…we are going to pray…some of us need to hear the call for the first time…some of us need to finally that that leap of faith, the leap of trust, embrace the acceptance of Jesus, and follow him, because we are accepted in the arms of our beloved.
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