WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

All right. So which is worse? Turn to your neighbor and tell him your answer. Losing your car keys or losing the remote control. Go real quick. Which is worse? Losing your car keys. We’re losing the remote control. Last service, the lady was like, losing an earring. Anyway, good to be with you guys. Good morning. Morning. My name’s Chris Pavila. I am the senior pastor here at St. Mark. And today we kick off a brand-new series as March, man. It’s fun to say actually.

SERIES

But here in March, we kick off a brand-new series today on all about finding lost things called Each One Reach One. It’s this idea that God so loved the world he sent you and that each of us are on this mission or called by God to be on mission to reach the world around us. It’s kind of Christianity 101, really.

It’s not just on the outside it looks like it’s all about just knowing the right answers so you can pass the final exam. And once you know the right answers and you’re good to go, then everything’s all done. But actually, once you get inside the church and inside the faith, you realize that there’s kind of two parts to Christianity 101. One is yes, believing and coming to faith, but then on the other side of it is sharing the faith. And in fact, each one of us are here today because somebody at some point in time decided to reach us and tell us about Jesus. You’re here today because someone told you about Jesus. Even if you’re just investigating him or looking into him or not so sure about what you believe about this whole thing, even you’re here because somebody decided to reach you. And that’s a good thing.

But we need to talk about how we can get better at reaching others and how we can use some techniques and tools that we can use in reaching others because we’re not good at it, which kind of brings me to something, a disclaimer I need to say right away.

DISCLAIMER

If you are just investigating Jesus, if you are just looking into faith, maybe you’re watching online and you’re checking us out online to just try to figure out what it is we’re about and how you feel about it. First of all, thanks for tuning in. Every week is somebody’s first week and every week is somebody’s second week at St. Mark. And so, we hope for you, that’s next week, but thanks for watching. But again, a disclaimer to you too, if you’re watching online or if you’re in the room of like, okay, I’m not sure I’m on team Jesus, but we’re going to talk today and it’s going to be like we’re talking about you as if you’re not in the room.

And I don’t mean to come across as insensitive. I don’t mean to come across like you’re a project for us. And I don’t mean to come across insensitive. I really don’t. We just every once in a while, in church, we need to have kind of a housekeeping conversation so that we just are as effective and as efficient as we can be as a church. And today that’s just going to be on this topic of reaching people who don’t know Jesus. And so, if at all, if I come across as, again, like treating you like a project, that’s not my intent. Actually, if I could say anything to you or to anyone, and if you’re a follower of Jesus, you’ll kind of agree with these things. There are a few reasons why we hesitate to talk about our faith. And actually, I’ve got three of them here that I’m going to kind of lay out, but there’s three reasons why each one of us struggles to reach anyone and like why we struggle to be on mission.

WHY EACH ONE STRUGGLES TO REACH ONE

1. DISTRACTED

And the first one is that we’re distracted, man. We just are. It’s so easy to just kind of get caught up with the demands of life that you have to … It’s really hard to create that bandwidth to, “Oh yeah, I’ve got to be concerned for others and what they believe about Jesus.” We’re running from soccer practice to hockey practice and color guard and volleyball and basketball all on the same Saturday, for instance. And then we get home and we have to make dinner and then we have to do dishes and, oh my goodness, the laundry, I don’t have anything in the wear in the morning. That is the demands of life. It’s really hard to, in the middle of all of that hectic chaos to go, “Oh yeah, I need to have a heart to reach people. ” Or, “I’ve got schoolwork to do, or I’ve got work that I’m thinking about.

” It’s just difficult, man. It’s really, really difficult. And we become distracted. So, it’s not like anything like we don’t want to tell you about Jesus or heaven or hell or anything, or we aren’t concerned what you think about those things. It’s just that we’re distracted. And actually, distracted people can make a distracted church. That’s why we have to have a mission statement as a church that clearly puts the mission in front of us. Our mission statement is we lay down our lives so as many as possible, experience Jesus. That’s the mission. One of my mentor pastor friends of mine, just one of my mentors, he said all the time, “The church is not the mission.” The church is established by God to accomplish the mission. The church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a church and he would put it in front of and put it in those terms all the time.

And he always said it and it stuck with me. The church is not the mission. And when we’re distracted and we come to church, then we can start to be distracted by our demands, our desires, our preferences and the way we like to do things. And there’s this gravitational pull in churches to kind of be inward focused on the way we like to do things and forget that there’s a whole world around us that needs Jesus, man. So we’re distracted. It’s nothing personal. We’re just distracted.

1. HARD

And then the second reason we struggle to reach one, and at some point in time, and different varying levels, it’s hard to talk about hard things. It just is. Yesterday, I asked one of my sons to, what is the gospel? And he knows. And he was kind of giving this answer and it was like a rabbit trail and it’s like such a big concept.

How do I explain this? But beyond just like how do I take this big thing and condense it into a conversational way when I’m talking to people, there’s this sensitivity to it. It’s offensive and it’s hard to lead a conversation with people with things that are offensive. It’s hard. Look at some of the words that Jesus used to describe why there’s a mission in the first place. And these are words that Jesus used and claims that he made about each one of us and they’re offensive.

And he calls us lost. You tell someone they’re lost, and that’s offensive. He tells us that we’re condemned. There’s nothing we can do. The verdict is pronounced. He tells us that we are blind and in the darkness. And he tells us that we’re perishing and dead in our sins. Now it’s not very friendly to go up to people and call them lost and blinds and perishing, especially when you attach the words that Jesus used to describe the consequences of that condition. So, it’s not just like he made that claim, then he latches onto these consequences for that mission. Look at these. He says that we are under God’s wrath. He says that we will be tormented in a place called Hades.

It’s eternal darkness where there’s weeping and starvation. And he says that it’s a place of fire and we are cursed to it. He couldn’t have chosen more direct language. What other word could he use? If this is what he thinks is our situation, what other words could he use to try to get our attention on our absolute need? And if you’re looking into Christianity and you see those words and you’re offended by them, I get it. They’re offensive, intentionally so. But if you’re bothered by those words, listen, listen so closely. If you’ve tuned me out, don’t miss this. If you’re bothered by those words, you’re closer to the heart of God than you realize because he was so bothered by those words, he did something about it, even though it cost him everything.

He paid the ultimate price. That’s some other claims that he made. He says he didn’t come into the world to condemn the world. He came to the world to save it from condemnation. He didn’t come to the world to watch us perish and wander and the wilderness lost. He came to seek us because we’re lost. He says that he came to us who are dead and came to give us life. And he says, He gives his life as a ransom to purchase us from the dominion of darkness. That’s good news. That’s where we want to get in our conversation with people is that.

But those words are kind of hollow unless it presupposes and talks about the baked in assumptions that we’re perishing, lost, blind and in the darkness. Why do you need a savior if you don’t need saving? Why would he give me life unless I’m dying? Why would I need his light unless I’m in the darkness? And so it’s a hard conversation. That’s the second reason we struggle to talk about this.

1. NUMBERS

And then the third reason I think each one of us struggles to reach anyone is the numbers, just the sheer numbers of it. We hear that God so loved the world. God so loved the world that he sent his son and we hear world and we’re like, that’s big. The world has billions of people in it. Our country has millions of people in it. Our city has thousands of people in it. Your phone has hundreds, maybe even thousands of people in it on your contact list, right?

And you care about all of them, not just your phone, not just the city, not just the country, not just all of it, the world. You care about all of it. You love everyone and you want all of them to know Jesus. So where do you even start? It’s overwhelming. After World War II, there was a French newspaper that said, talking about the war and said, “One death is tragic, but 10 million deaths is a statistic.” And it’s kind of how it feels when you look at the world and saving the world. It’s just overwhelming. You don’t even know where to start. It’s like fighting a flood with a teaspoon. I’m not doing anything.

I’m one person. How can I save the world? And so we’re overwhelmed into inactivity. Any of you parents ever have a kid with a really messy room? One of my kids who will remain nameless, so I don’t call them out in front of everyone, has a messy room. And we send them up to the messy room to clean it, but it’s like so messy at this point. And we’re like, “Just start with the corner, just the shelf. Start with the bookshelf.” And it’s just overwhelming and that takes an hour in itself and it’s one shelf in a big old room, right? It’s overwhelming.

And so, we don’t know where to begin. And we end up not saying anything at all because we’re distracted. It’s hard to talk about, and it’s just an overwhelming mission. And I’m sure there’s other reasons that you’re thinking of that I haven’t thought of. That’s fine. I’m just saying these are three that kind of explain why we struggle at this, why we need to get better at this.

GOD’S HEART

But before we get into the tactics and the techniques and the how and the who and all that kind of stuff, I don’t want to give you a bunch of marching orders and things that you can do to get better at this and then have you go do it. That’s actually a veiled form of legalism. I’m telling you to do something. It’s good what we’ll eventually talk about in the series and telling you how to do this, but that’s still telling you to do something.

That’s a law. It’s legalism. Unless we start with what not you do, but what God has done. And so, I want to start this series by talking about God’s heart for each one.

And his mission has to begin with his heart or we’ll fail at it. We’ll sputter out. And today I want to talk about how God has a heart to reach one because God has a heart for each one of us. If you can hear the sound of my voice, God has a heart for you. You will never lay eyes on anyone that God doesn’t love, that God didn’t give his life to save. Last month I was flying into Phoenix and it was at night and I looked out the window and it was just as the plane’s approaching and it’s just this sea of lights and I’m watching like the cars far below on the highway and the headlights just kind of like ants marching, right? And I’m seeing the twinkling lights on houses and buildings. And I had this thought that every one of those lights represented somebody.

And I wanted so much for each one of them to know Jesus. And it was just like the overwhelming burden I felt, but I felt a burden for them. As I was feeling a burden for them, I realized that I was feeling God’s heart for them, for each one.

JESUS EXAMPLES

And that’s actually what we heard in our reading from Grant a few moments ago. He’s demonstrating in all of these stories that Jesus tells, that God has a heart for each one. So he tells this story of a hundred sheep and there’s a shepherd and one of them wanders off. You’ve heard this before. If you grew up in church, you colored pictures of sheep and put cotton balls on pieces of paper. You’ve heard this story before. One wanders off and he goes and finds it, but the point is God has a heart for each one.

And then Jesus follows it up with another like one off story about a widow with just 10 coins to her name. And so, she turns the house upside down, not looking for a luxury like car keys or a TV remote. No, looking for a coin that she needs because God has a heart for each one.

And then he follows that with a story we didn’t have time to get into, but it’s immediately following this with a third story. It’s a story of a father with a large family, but one son wanders off and his heart breaks. His heart agonizes over his missing son until he returns and the Father rejoices because God has a heart for each one. Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus tells a story about a master throwing a big banquet, a party, and he notices there’s one empty chair at the banquet. So he sends his servants out to the highways and the byways compelling anyone to come in that no seed is empty because God has a heart for each one. And it’s not just in the stories that Jesus tells us about God. It’s the stories and the accounts of how Jesus lived among us. He was one time he’s walking through this huge crowd of people, thousands and thousands of people.

People are climbing on roofs to seem him and running ahead to try to get ahead to guess where he’s going to go. And they’re climbing trees to see him and he stops and he sees this man in a tree and he invites him to a conversation because God has a heart for each one. This is another story of a time where he’s walking through a mob of people who are all pressing him and touching him. And all of a sudden he stops and he says,” Who touched me? “And they’re like, ” Everybody. “He’s like, ” No, no, no. Someone touched me in faith for healing. Who was it? “And a woman comes forward because God has a heart for each one. Another time he’s walking through a crowd of people in a busy marketplace and he stops and he invites the ostracized tax collector to follow him as well because God has a heart for each one.

Jesus would see the shunned adulterous woman. He would see the far-off leper in quarantine. He would hear the cries of the overlooked beggar because God has a heart for each one.

GOD’S HEART

And that kind of brings me to my heart. See, that heart that God has to beat for the lost, to hurt for them, to be agonized for the agony tormented by the torment, that heart is in you. There’s a book from an obscure prophet named Ezekiel in the Bible and has this beautiful line in the middle of it that talks about what happens when we become followers.

26 I will giver you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and giver you a heart of flesh.

                                                                                                                                         Ezekiel 36:26

God gives us faith. And Ezekiel 36:26 says “I will give you a, say it:

Response: “New heart.”

Pastor Chris Paavola: Not, I’m going to fix your heart. That’s a lost cause, man. Your heart is fickle. Your heart is emotional. Your heart can be calloused. Your heart can be cold.

Your heart can be deceptive. Your heart is bent on evil. This is why you should never listen to your heart when making a decision, please. It’s a terrible, terrible guide.

And God’s like, ” I’m not even going to bother trying to fix that. I’m going to give you a transplant. “And he puts a heart in you. Whose heart? His own. And his heart now pulses through your veins. His heart, his heart that burns white heart to save the world is in you. So, he gives you a new heart and puts a new spirit in you and removes from you “your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh.” It’s awesome. It’s awesome. We just had a series on first Thessalonians where we went through the book of Thessalonians in five weeks. And there was one line in there in chapter five, we talked about it last week where it says,” Do not quench the spirit.

“And you could say the same thing. You can quench the heart within you. You can douse the flame. You can ignore it. And the more you ignore God’s heart for the lost, the easier it gets. And the inverse is true too. The more you lean into God’s heart to reach the world around you, to reach the people you love, the more you start to feel it. People will come to me all the time and be like, ” How can I feel closer to God? And how can I see God working in my life? “Do you want to be on God’s mission? Be about what God is doing in the world, saving it, and you’ll start to experience God like never before. You will. It’s not about sitting around singing kumbaya all day until you feel and achieve a state of nirvana. It’s about being on his mission.

WRITE NAMES

So, I want to end our time today by giving you the opportunity to take on a heart of flesh, to take on God’s heart for the lost people in your life, to someone you know you are the closest they will ever come to experiencing Jesus. So, on your way in, you got a bulletin? Grab your bulletin. Grab your bulletin.

And if you didn’t get one, grab the prayer request card in front of you or the journal that you brought with you or whatever. You just need something to write on and then grab the pen in front of you in the pew rock. And there is, it says on the back here, heart for one and then some blank lines. I’m going to ask you a simple question.

WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT DOESN’T HAVE FAITH IN JESUS?

Who are the people you know who do not have faith in Jesus? Maybe start the closest circle and kind of work concentric out. But in your life, who are the people you know who do not have a faith in Jesus? Just go ahead and I’m going to give you a few moments. Write your responses. Who are the people you know that do not have faith in Jesus? Many couples, you guys can work on this together. Family, coworkers, friends, the waitress at Luxe, your barber, your neighbor.

Who are the people you know? You do not have faith in Jesus.

All right. The next question then, who’s the one? Who’s the one person? Maybe the one that you can reach. Circle their name. Just circled it. There’s a story that was in Reader’s Digest back in the ’80s. Whether it’s true or not, it’s kind of hard to figure out, but in the story, there’s an author who’s on a beach. He’s on a writing retreat, and it’s the day after a storm, and the storm had washed up hundreds of starfish on the beach. As the author is sitting there writing, he looks over and there’s a boy walking down the beach. And every so often, every few paces, he would pick up a starfish and frisbee it into the ocean. And he thought at first the kid was just having fun, but he would just walk, pick up one, throw it, walk, pick up one, throw it. And as a kid got closer to him, he called out to me.

He’s like, ” Hey, what are you doing? “And the kid said,” I’m saving starfish. They’re going to die. “And the writer’s like, ” Well, you miss some. There’s a whole bunch of them on the beach that you missed and I don’t think you can get them all.

“And the kid says,” Well, I got that one. “And the point of the story is that you do for one. You do for one what you wish you could do for all. You can’t save everybody that you just wrote down. You can’t reach them all. It’s so big. It’s too overwhelming. It’s like trying to clean a really messy room. So just start with the bookshelf. Just start with the one. Who’s the one that maybe you can reach the easiest or the quickest, or you interact with the most, or there’s like a low hanging fruit of conversation. Maybe they’ve said … I talk about the nots all the time. They say things like, ” Life’s not going well or I’m not from around here, or I’m not a part of a church. “When you hear those knots, they’re telling you, ” Here’s a doorway to … “So, who is it?

WHO’S YOUR ONE

Just circle one and then keep that sheet somewhere where you can see it this week. Put it on your fridge, your dashboard, whatever. But that’s the one.

And I will remind you that God loves that person so much more than you, and they have a heart for them. There’s a chapter in two Peter, that’s a book of the Bible. And he says that God has not returned yet because he’s patient and he wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth that no one would perish. And he’s waiting for his return for the person that you just circled. He’s waiting. He’s buying as much time as possible because there’s still time, there is still hope and you can still reach them. Praise God that he waited long enough for you. There’s still time for each one of us to reach one more. I’m going to Pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we’re sorry. We’re sorry that we are not on mission as fervently as we should be. We’re distracted. It’s hard to talk about and the numbers are overwhelming. But God, we pray for the names on the paper in front of us. When Penn meets paper, it gets a little more real and we pray specifically, God, for the person we circled. How do you want to use us to reach that one? We thank you, God, that you have a heart for each one, to be a part of your kingdom. It’s why your son taught us to pray these words about your kingdom coming to each one of us. As we pray together,

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day, our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory,

Forever and ever.

Amen. Amen.