Not My Jesus: Boring Jesus

All right, good morning. Welcome to Eagle Creek Church. I’m so glad to have you here. I’m Matt. I’m the pastor here, and we are in a series of messages called Not My Jesus.

And today we’re going to be talking about something that maybe you can relate to. How many of you ever grew up in church, and you would go to vacation Bible school, or you would go to Sunday school? Long time ago, they used to have this painting, or something kind of like this painting of Jesus. Let me see if we can put this painting up, this picture. How many of you remember Jesus looked like that back in the day? You know, I think that came out of the hippie era, and he just needed to have long hair and be sort of chill. How many of you would say, back in the 1960s a lot of people looked like that, right? So that was way back when, and they had that look of Jesus back then.

And I remember, I would go to this vacation Bible school. Whenever I would go there, they had that picture. And whenever you’re a 10-year-old kid, and I grew up out on a farm, I had, there were five of us boys, we had one sister. We were into practicing karate and wrestling and boxing on each other, though we knew nothing about what we were doing. We knew how to throw each other to the ground and kick and all that sort of stuff. We weren’t fighting. My mom would tell us to stop fighting. We weren’t fighting. We were practicing. That’s all it was. And so you do that all week long, and then they take you to VBS, and you see this guy on the wall. Can I just tell you, as a 10-year-old aspiring karate kid, it was not inspiring to me. I would be like, really? That’s what I’m supposed to be?

Now, as I grew up, whenever I got into junior high and a little older, I got, I know this will sound strange, most junior highers don’t do this, but I got really into reading the book of Revelation. Have you ever read through the book of Revelation when you were younger and realized just how cool it is? Like all sorts of crazy things, like flying scorpions and all these things. So I want to read to you the image that, whenever I was about in eighth grade, I read about who Jesus was. And I really liked this picture a lot better. Let me read it to you. Revelation 1:14-17.

It says, “The hairs of his head were white, like wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.” Do we have that picture? Let’s see if we can put that one up. How many of you are saying, okay, for a 10-year-old kid, I can see where you’re going now. “His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand were seven stars.” I pictured them as throwing stars, but, you know, seven stars. “And in his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword,” which of course he could pull out and flip around in circles and destroy the world with, you know, 10-year-old, or eighth-grade imagination. “And his face was like the sun shining in full strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.”

How many say, well, that’ll get your junior higher a little more excited about church? Yeah. Yeah. I think every time they show up at vacation Bible school, kids, that’s the image of Jesus. It ought to be in the Sunday school, in the kids’ room. Maybe we won’t start that off in the toddler nursery rooms just yet. We’ll let them get a little bit older. But I like that version of Jesus a little bit better.

And so this concept, the Not My Jesus concept of the day, is that some people actually, they think that faith is a little bit boring. They have this idea that, you know, if they become a Christian, there’s a lot of things they want to do, but they’re not going to be able to do with their life. And there’s some truth to that.

I’m going to pause before I get into this message. We’re going to focus on what Jesus was really like. In fact, the message isn’t really on this, but I want to take a second just to look at, you know, like two days in his life from Matthew 8. I’ll just read through it real quick.

But I’ve noticed something. You go from a kid to an adult, and it’s an interesting thing. When people are older, they’ll have a perspective and say, like, those young folks, some of them up here in their 20s, they just want to sow their wild oats and go wild and do all this sort of stuff. I know a lot of parents of people this age that are not in church. And the reason they’re not in church, and they call themselves Christians, is they just want to party a little bit on the weekends now that the kids are gone. It’s interesting how you’ll see people go into partying, they come out of partying for their children’s sake to raise their kids and put them through school, and their kids go away, and there’s a bunch of folks that are empty nesters that go right back into the lifestyle again. And they’re like, well, we’re older and we’re more responsible now, so we can handle it. I’m like, but aren’t you just as carnal as an 18-year-old partier? Isn’t it really the same thing? You put your lust of the flesh, your lust of the eyes, your pride of life before your walk with Christ. Isn’t that what you’re doing? Someone give me an amen. It’s true.

So don’t act like this is an age-defined behavior, where we want to pursue the things of the world rather than the things of God. I would say it’s a matter of the heart-defined behavior, not an age-defined behavior. And so there are people that will always drift toward carnality, toward, all my life is about meeting my physical desires and wants as a fleshly person, and I really just sever my spiritual man and woman so that I can pursue my physical desires. Now, a lot of people become very carnal because they consider what Christ has to offer not entertaining enough for the life they can afford to live. Now that the kids are gone, they have some free income, or they’re young and have very few responsibilities. That’s why that tends to happen there.

When your kids are young and they’re at home, how many of you know you’re out of money and you’re out of time, right? So you’re like, my kids are young, they’re all at home, what do I not have? I don’t have money and I don’t have time. So I don’t get to go play and go party. But before you have kids, you don’t have money, but you have a lot of time. Well, you have expendable income because you don’t have a lot of bills yet. And then whenever the kids go, you’re like, I have my money back now, I’m not spending on, and I have my time back. And it’s interesting, you’re real holy from the time you have a kid till you’re 48 and they leave home, and then suddenly, you weren’t before then or after then. I would gauge to say you never were. I would say that you were just in a lifestyle that you couldn’t pursue fleshly desires because you had to sacrifice for your kids. And so I would challenge you to make the life that you live for Christ a permanent resident and a permanent part of who you are as a spiritual being, and not a stage of life that you’re in. Amen.

Okay. So that’s kind of hardcore, but I think it’s important to be real so that people can live the life that God has called them to for the rest of their life, because I’ve seen too many people fall apart on that.

Okay. So two days in Jesus’ life, Matthew chapter 8. I’ll just hit on some of these things really quick here. So you show up with Jesus, you get up in the morning, you’re Peter, and you’re like, what are we doing today? Well, let’s head over to this community. What are we going to do over there? Well, just follow me. You’ll see what happens today. So, literally, this is just Matthew chapter 8. No other chapters are added to this from the Bible.

In Matthew chapter 8, Jesus meets a man who has leprosy, and he begs for Jesus to heal him. And so Jesus reaches out and touches the person, and he heals him of leprosy. Shortly after that, a soldier says, hey, I have a servant who is dying, could you come? And he says, I’ll come. And he says, don’t worry about it, just say the word and he’ll be healed. So Jesus speaks a word, travels long distance, heals a servant. Servants run out and say, this happened. The centurion says, when did it happen? Or the soldier says, when did it happen? And he said, at this time, the very hour Jesus spoke the word, be healed. Then he arrives at Peter’s house. Peter’s mother has a fever. And so, he touches her and heals her, and she gets up and prepares him dinner. While she’s preparing the dinner, the house is absolutely surrounded by people begging for healing, and some that are possessed by demons. So Jesus heals everyone, and casts demons out of everyone, and sits down and has dinner.

We’re not done. How many say that’s a busy day? How many say, I think if I had lived that day with Jesus, I would not have been bored that day? I might have been like, I am exhausted, but I have more memories in this day than most people have in a lifetime. I will be sharing these with my children and with my grandchildren, with generations after me. They’ll be talking about that one day in the life of Jesus.

And so the next day, when Jesus calls men early in the morning, leave everything and follow me. And they do. And then he’s in a boat sailing across. It’s a raging storm. Everyone thinks they’re going to die. And they finally get Jesus awake, and he stands up and just tells the storm, peace, be still. Everything goes calm. They arrive at shore, and a couple demoniacs run out to him, frothing and raging and saying, what have you to do with us, Jesus? Have you come to torment us? And the disciples are freaking out, saying, oh my gosh, these two crazy demon-possessed guys. And then Jesus commands them to be quiet. He casts the demons out of them. And just before he does, they say, please send us into the herd of pigs. They do. The demons go into a herd of pigs. The pigs plunge themselves in the sea and drown themselves. And everyone from the village rushes out to Jesus and begs and implores and pleads with him to please leave their region. Day two.

How many say, not bored on day two? Not bored on day two.

What I would tell you is that the people who walk closest to Jesus, day after day after day, find life to be more exhilarating. And the people who have a perspective of what it would be like to walk with Jesus, but don’t actually do it, think it’s boring. You have a perception of what it would be, but you’re not walking in it. Because if you were walking in the life of Christ, and the life of Christ were walking through you, you could not be bored with that life. Amen. You just couldn’t be.

And so, I’m going to give you a couple pieces, just a couple, from the life of Christ that made his life like really exciting. I think you can start applying these things and saying, I think I’d like to live a little more like Jesus in that area of my spiritual life, because if I do, I think I’ll find my spiritual life a lot more exciting. And so, the couple things I want to give you are this, three of them actually. One of them is a summation, but three of them.

Jesus Was Very Passion-Driven

The first one is this. Jesus was very passion-driven. Now, there are some people in this room that by nature you get sort of passionately into what you’re into. How many of you, when you’re really into something, researching it, reading about it, excited about it, you are a verbal processor, and you like to talk out that thing that you’re into, whatever it is. You get into something and you talk a lot about the thing that you’re into. Come on, let me see a show of hands real quick. Raise your hands up high. Okay. I just wanted you to do that, because I am like insanely that way. And everyone’s like, your wife’s a talker. My wife is a social talker. I’m a passion talker. I talk on a subject. She talks about the world and everyone in it. I’m talking about the thing that I’m into.

And so, but I believe that everyone, there’s moments where Jesus can ignite your life with a specific passion that is your thing, right? That God is saying, in your workplace, I’m igniting you with the passion to be able to get a Bible study started, because you met three people in the last two weeks that are Christians, and there’s no other Christians around here, and you’re kind of wishing that you Christians could get together and study, and you’ve been thinking about it. You keep going home and talking to your husband about it, and talking to your wife about it, whatever it is, and God ignites a passion for something, and you just think, oh, we got to do this. We got to get this started. I would encourage you to start considering that the passions that are holy, that are God-word passions, are actually from God in your life.

And so I want to picture this. Okay, I have this picture of Jesus. Picture that you’re a first-day disciple. Peter recruited you and said, come and follow Jesus who I’m following. And you sign up, and you’re like, okay, what do we do? And he said, you get up and you follow wherever he goes. And whatever goes down that day, just goes down that day. You never know what’s going to go down, but it’s always going to be something. Okay, so just buckle up and get ready. Okay, first day. I’m kind of nervous. I’m an apprentice. I don’t know how it works, but let’s go and let’s see what’s going to happen.

How about if this were your first day? Matthew 21:12 and 13.” And Jesus entered the temple.” This is the week before his crucifixion. “He entered the temple, and he drove out all those who sold and bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he said to them, “It is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” And it goes on and says, and they recognized this passage: “for the zeal of the Lord has consumed him.”

Now, this is the week of the Passover. Converts to Judaism from all over the known world are arriving in Jerusalem, and they have to exchange their money to be able to make a purchase of a sacrifice, because they didn’t travel with the sacrifice. So that on the Passover, they could offer a sacrifice at the temple. So the Jews that are there in Jerusalem set up booths all in the outer courts, or the Gentile courts, booths all through there, and they’re doing money changing. The only thing is, they were known for usury. They were known that they would change the exchange rates, and they would cheat all the foreigners, because they had no clue. So they would rob them blind. And after they robbed them blind, and they got a very little bit of temple money for their Roman coinage, then they would go and they would buy the animals, the pigeons or whatever it was they were going to sacrifice. And when they would buy them, they would double and triple charge the foreigners as well.

How many of you have ever been on a missions trip, and when you go to market, if you have a national with you, they say, let me buy it for you, because they’re going to charge you too much? You know what I’m saying? Or you go and you have no one representing you, and you just accept, I’m probably paying twice what everyone else pays, right? Except they were doing that at church. They were doing that at God’s house. And when they did that, Jesus walks in, and he literally starts flipping the tables over.

Now, that first picture of Jesus, how many of you, the one holding the lamb, can picture that’s the flipping-the-table-over Jesus? How many say, I think that second picture is more the flipping-the-table-over Jesus, right? So flipping the tables over, coins are going everywhere. And not just that, he’s grabbing the chairs of the people that are selling the pigeons, and he’s dumping them and knocking those all over. First-day disciple. How many of you lean over to Peter and say, is he always like this? Wow, I did not expect that. And then you’re kind of in Jesus’ corner, because he came in this door, you came in that door, you’re all walking right with him, and now he’s throwing stuff over. How many say, I’m going to stay close on his heels? How many say, I’m going to distance myself just a little bit? I don’t know that guy. I’m not with him. Oh wow, yeah, that’s crazy. What’s going on, everyone? Aren’t you with him? Well, first day, you know, I didn’t know he was going to do that.

And it’s interesting, when you’re called into a life of following Christ, what if he ignites your passion for the unborn? Not popular to a lot of people, but he ignites your passion for the life of the unborn. What if he ignites your passion for the holiness of God in your circle of friends, and you see all your empty-nester friends drifting now that their kids are in college, and partying, and not in church, and not growing, and faking it when they show up at community group now and then, like they’re a good Christian, when you know they’re like, hello. Amen. The Lord approves of that message right now. Thunder on those that do those things. You know, I’ll tell you what, it was booming last night. And I normally sleep through everything, but I did not sleep through that.

But I want to encourage you. If God ignites a passion in you, can I encourage you to pursue that? Can I encourage you? I want to tell you something about this. When you allow a passion of God to consume you, you will not be bored in those passionate moments where God has consumed you for something that is from God. Amen. You just won’t be bored when you’re like, I am consumed with a passion to help teenagers follow Jesus Christ. I want to be a youth sponsor and help these kids go after Jesus and serve him and follow him. I have a passion, when new people walk through the door, I want to be the first to make them feel welcomed and loved and at home. I know what it’s like to walk into a church and no one talks to you. So, I’ll catch anyone out there. This is me.

Can I tell you, one of Sherry and I’s passions is we try to connect with everyone that no one’s connecting with. If you’re like, why doesn’t he come and talk to me? Probably because someone’s already talking to you. That’s the truth. I’m one of these people. And it’s funny, because my wife and I were both that way in junior high and high school. We always saw the person that no one would befriend in the lunchroom, and we would sit with them. I know that seems kind of weird that we met up and married each other. We’ve literally been that way our whole life. I was friends with everyone that everyone rejected, and I would love, I was friends with the cool kids too, but I’d be like, if I had a choice, I would look and say, this is a cool guy and no one knows him, and he’s kind of quiet, he’s off in a corner, and let’s go befriend this guy, and let’s bring him in, and let’s make him part of this, and let’s make him feel like he’s valued and a part of things. Maybe that’s always been a passion of mine.

I’ve been very careful, I’ll just tell you this, with the way we pastored our church specifically. We wanted to make sure that even the way we dress, the way we look, the way we approach people. I don’t play golf. I love golf, but if I play golf, I’m in the cool kids club. I would alienate myself. There’d be people like, yeah, you can afford to play golf. Well, wouldn’t that be nice? And if you play golf, that’s fantastic. But the point is, people have all these hierarchies in Lee’s Summit. I don’t want to have a church full of hierarchies. I want to have a church, I have a passion to see everyone come to Christ, and to walk into these doors and know on day one you’re accepted and you’re loved. Amen. Amen.

There are certain passions that drive what we do that really have an impact. I have a passion for truthful, transformational preaching coupled with the truth of God’s word and the love and the mercy and the grace of God’s Holy Spirit. I believe transformation cannot happen without all the truth of God’s word and with all the grace of God’s spirit. And so when I preach, I am straight at you, but I love the tar out of you guys, because I believe Jesus does, and he wants to change your life. So I have a passion for truth and a passion for grace. I don’t want a little bit of each. I want to be an extremist with truth and an extremist with grace. Those are passions of mine.

And so I want to encourage you to discover the passions of God, because in that you will discover really the place where God is going to make your life really exciting. There’s this quote, I love this quote, I want to give it to you. It’s from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written by C.S. Lewis. And Susan, if you’ve watched it or read it, I had to read it in eighth grade, I went to a small Christian school as required reading, and then I loved it and read all the books in the series. But at the opening book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you learn about the two sisters, Susan and Lucy, and Edmund and Peter, the two brothers, and they come into Narnia through the wardrobe. And there’s this moment where Susan is meeting Aslan for the first time. Aslan is a massive lion that represents Christ. It’s a picture of who Christ is. And as she’s about to meet the lion for the first time, the animals in Narnia speak. And so she’s talking to Mr. Beaver, and Susan asks Mr. Beaver about Aslan, and she said this, “Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “Safe,” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe, but he’s good. He’s a king, I tell you.” 

And a lot of people aren’t comfortable with a Jesus who flips over the tables and a Jesus who throws the chairs around. They want the safe one holding the lamb, not the one who has a double-edged sword proceeding from his mouth. By the way, that’s a picture of his word of judgment on humanity. If you’re like, what’s the sword? It’s a picture of his word of judgment. With a word, he will judge all mankind. His eyes of fire are eyes of judgment. He sees penetratingly into the soul, and his word of judgment is final and secure.

And so the question is, is he safe? And the answer is, oh, of course not. How could you imagine that he’s safe to the sinner, that he’s safe to the soul that rejects him? How could you imagine that he’s safe? But he is a good God. And I want us to be reminded of that, and to say, so when he stirs me with a passion, I better get fired up for the things God wants me to be fired up for in this world. Amen. And you better, too. We better say, I’m yours. And if you’re trying to ignite a fire in my heart for something, then I want my heart to be ignited for that thing.

Jesus Cared for the Hurting

And the second one is this. Jesus cared for the hurting. This is something that brings a great passion and fire and excitement to your Christian faith. I’ve seen this one over and over again.

People who have first a passion in their Christian faith, a passion for prayer, a passion for God working through them to see miracles happen in life, a passion to share their faith, a passion to raise their family to know God, a passion for God’s word, whatever it is, everyone can’t have every passion. How many of you know, when someone gets excited, gets a passion about a passion, they think everyone should have their same passion? And here’s what’s interesting. When you’re a senior pastor, everyone comes to you and tells you what your church ought to be passionate about. And can I just tell you, I can’t be passionate about every single thing every single person in this church is passionate about. I’m sorry. I love you. I think God gave you a passion. Pursue your passion. I’m going to say, amen, God bless you, go for it. But I’m pursuing the passion God gave me as a pastor. Amen. Okay. So, it doesn’t mean you can’t tell me about your passion, but I may not adopt it, with everyone else’s, and have 89 passions that I’m supposed to pursue. I’d be completely ineffective. So, God’s given me a few things I can be passionate about as a leader and pursue.

But the second area that really makes people excited about their faith is honestly caring for people. Jesus cared for the hurting. And whenever you look at this passage, let’s look at Mark chapter 1:40-42. This is what it says. And I told you we’d go back to one of the stories that we mentioned in Matthew 8. “And a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling, and said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, with compassion, with mercy, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.”

Now, this is a story of healing, but it’s a story of much more than healing. It’s a story of compassion. It’s a story of pitying someone. And it’s not just that it’s said in there, it’s demonstrated as well. For the leper, the thing that they have lost is their place of connection in society, in the Jewish culture. They’re literally separated from society. They have to live outside of town. They cannot live in town. They have to move out of their family home. In fact, the family homes are burned to the ground with every possession in them to stop the spread of the disease. So, literally, they’ve lost every possession from their entire lifetime. Their family is having to move in with relatives, and they’re essentially evicted to live outside the community. And when they come to town, they have to tell everyone, announce it openly, that they are unclean, because no one can touch them, because it’s a communicable disease. They believe it’ll spread to everyone, and they just don’t want to risk it. And so by Mosaic law, you would be considered unclean. You would be put out of the community for a period of time for observation, and ritually, ceremonially, physically cleaned as well. All of those things would happen if you touched someone.

And he’s begging for healing. But Jesus looks and not only sees that he needs to be healed, but he needs someone to touch him again. Have you ever gone for a long period of time, maybe you’re away on a trip or something like that, and you just haven’t had anyone hug you in, I don’t know, say two weeks or a month, and you’re just a hugger, and you get home, and when you get home, what do you want? You want your kids jumping in your lap. You want to hold your babies in your arm. You want your husband or your wife to give you a big hug. You ever been in that place in life? You walked through the doors from college and mom walked up and gave you a big hug, and you’re just like, ah. Anyone know what I’m talking about? You know that moment, right? That’s an incredible moment.

This guy has probably gone on for years and years and years without ever having that moment. And Jesus just has this heart for him, and he reaches out and he takes hold of the guy. When it says he touched him, the Greek word there, probably the better translation would be, and Jesus took hold of him. And Jesus took hold of him. And as he’s holding him, he speaks healing. If you’re willing, I’m willing, be healed. And he’s holding him in that moment when he does that.

And there are so many people around us that, boy, could they be made whole if someone would reach out to them. If someone would take hold of their life. If someone would show them that they matter, that they’re valued, that they’re loved. If someone would take hold of those people.

I’ve always been a fan of hugging people. I don’t know if you know that at church, we’re kind of huggers around here. But I always view, I don’t know who it is that just needs to be loved, that just needs a hug, that just needs care, that just needs someone to reach out to them. And I kind of grew up that way. That’s my home. That’s my mom. That’s our home as well. We grew up with always hugging the kids and the grandkids and all that sort of stuff. So I want to encourage you. I’m always careful and say, men to men, men to women, I always do side hugs for the most part, try to be appropriate with all this stuff and do it the right way. But nevertheless, having a heart for someone that you look around and you’re like, someone needs to go talk to them. Why? They should be treated like an outsider? No, they should sit at my table with me and have coffee and a donut with me. They should be invited to our community group. Let’s just connect with this person and make them a part. We don’t have to have a certain look or a certain style or a certain group that’s okay, and then others are not.

It’s been cool for me to watch my children be raised this way, and to see all four of my kids always say there’s no barriers between them. Some of them were the cool kids in school, some of them were not as much the cool kids in school, but whether they were deemed the cool kid or not deemed the cool kid, there was never anyone beneath them. And they continued to befriend whatever segment they were in. They befriended all segments. And I love that. I love that they have that mindset, because it makes your life rich. It makes your life fulfilling. Whenever you do that, guess what? Now God can flow through your life to minister to literally anyone, from the highest to the lowest. The entire world is basically the place where God can use you. You’re not like, well, I can only be used by, in this kind of group of people. No. When you’re as open as Jesus was to everyone that’s in need, when you’re that open, now you get to see every moment, every person, everywhere you are, as an opportunity. Amen. Amen.

I hope that you’ll understand that. I’m going to be real honest with you, okay? I’m going to tell you something about me. Whenever I grew up, I grew up on a farm, way out, 80 acres, nine miles outside of Odessa. And so when we would go to town, it was like a really big thing. The biggest treat in the world was, sometimes we had a Pepsi at home and popcorn, and we got to watch the Sunday night Disney movie. It’s like life was good all of a sudden. Sometimes we didn’t have Pepsi, so it was orange juice and popcorn. But it was one or the other. So I remember growing up like that.

And whenever I started ministering, I want to tell you the truth, I had a bit of a challenge ministering to people that were wealthy. I saw them as the, like some people would look at someone who’s in poverty and struggling or whatever, and say, I feel distant from those people, I don’t know how to relate to people like that. For me, I feel totally comfortable. I ministered in the inner city of East St. Louis. People would be like, I don’t know how to minister to people of different nationalities, from different ethnic backgrounds and skin tones. For me, I’m super comfortable. My wife, she grew up in the Chicago area, and we started a church in the Chicagoland area, and then we were in the East Bay of San Francisco. We were a minority in multiple places where we lived. And so minorities are not a challenge. You’re just like me. I hate to say that, but to me, I don’t really, people are like, you, everyone sees skin color. It’s like, well, technically I do, but I look right past that, and I just see people like they’re friends. They’re cool people. I like them for the same reason maybe I like this person or that person. They’re just someone, you know, that Jesus loves.

But I had more of a struggle with people that were really successful and really well-to-do, because I didn’t grow up that way. And so it was more of a challenge for me to say, I have to figure out how to connect with people that seem like they have it all put together. And some of you can relate to that. But can I just tell you, the challenge of saying, no walls between me and who Jesus wants to use me to minister to and touch, is such a critically high goal for every one of us, to live an exciting, fulfilled life. Because when there are no walls, you get to love everyone at any place in life where God puts you, and he gets to say, right here, I get to use you to love on this person, no matter who they are. Can you give me an amen on that one?

And so I want to encourage you to have that openness to say, Lord, wherever I am, whatever my background is, whatever my experiences are that make me more comfortable, help me to stretch beyond that. Because you literally went to a leper that no one would touch. You put your hand on him. You hold on to him, you bring healing to his life. And I believe this, compassion and connection are the things that bring healing to people’s lives. And so if you want your spiritual life to be super exciting, it’s going to take you being connected and close to people, showing compassion to people. And as you do that, and God now is working through you in others, you’re going to start loving your spiritual life a lot more. You’re going to be like, I love being a Christian. And why do you love being a Christian? I just love being able to show God’s love to anyone anywhere, and just see what God’s going to do in those moments. You never know what God’s going to do through your life today if you have a heart full of compassion, and you’ll connect and care for people. Amen. You just never know what today is going to bring. The next day and the next day and the next day is going to be another really cool day.

Jesus Called People Into Purpose

And I want to end with this thought. Jesus called people to a purpose. Number three, Jesus called people into purpose, over and over and over again. And I just want to give this quick example. Matthew chapter 14 and 28. It says this, and you know this story here. And Jesus is walking on the water. And he’s walking out to the disciples. “And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And he said, ‘Come’. So Peter got out of the boat, and he walked on the water, and he came to Jesus.”

Now in this moment, when he does this, obviously what would be super comfortable would be to just say, Jesus, will you come to me in the middle of my storm? Will you come and calm everything? I want to be safe and secure, and Jesus, I want you to make me safe and secure right now. Come get in the boat. Say, peace, be still. Calm the waters of my life, because I feel like everything is raging around me. And in the middle of everything raging around him, he said, Lord, teach me to walk with even greater faith right now in the middle of my storm. I don’t want comfort. I want faith. I want to step out.

This is challenging. This new job where I’m working is challenging. Everyone’s got foul mouths. Everyone’s angry. Everyone’s losing it with each other. And I just want comfort in my boat of safety. Make everyone a good person next week, you know. No. Step out in this storm, in this challenging circumstance, step out into the water. Walk to them. Show mercy and love. In the middle of their foul language, in the middle of everything that’s going on, in the middle of everyone’s anger, would you step out into that storm, and would you walk on the water in faith? Would you say, Lord, teach me to walk in the storm, in the trial? Teach me to. Lord, I don’t want to step out with passion in this situation. I don’t want to be passion-driven right now. I just want everyone to stop doing bad stuff, and just step into my boat and make all these bad things, my friends that have gotten into the worldly and fleshly stuff, just get them out of it. And then God says, you know what? Rather than calming that storm while you sit comfortably in your boat, I’m going to call you out of your boat to go help bring peace to that person. I’m going to ask you to walk on the water a little bit. I’m going to ask you to step out of your boat of safety and comfort, and you go to them.

I don’t want to go to them. I want to stay safe in my boat. No, get out of the boat. I don’t want to deal with that person in compassion and mercy. Get out of your boat. Go minister to them. Go speak to them. Go love on them. In the lobby, you’ll see someone. It’ll make you nervous to go talk to someone that you’ll be like, I don’t know, they just feel like they’re in a different place in life. It’s okay. Get out of your boat. Amen.

If you want to live the life that God has called you to live, you’re never going to live the life God has called you to live in your boat. You’re going to walk the walk that he has for you when you climb out in faith and say, I’m going to speak up for the passion that you put in my heart. I’m going to care for the people that you put in front of me, no matter what they look or sound like, whether the background is just like mine or nothing like mine. I’m going to go and care and be compassionate.

So, what happens when people do that? I can tell you, I was by nature a very shy kid, grown up on 80 acres, and my brothers were my best friends. They still are. But that was it. And I was in a happy, safe little world. And I would have stayed there as long as I could for the rest of my life. And instead, Jesus dropped me into the burned-out ghetto of East St. Louis, doing ministry to children in housing projects, and at times having to grab all the kids and pull them away from running to see where the gunfire was coming from. On multiple occasions, I’d be like, no, no, no, no, everyone back here, back here, back here, because there would be gunfire behind one of the housing complexes, and they all wanted to go watch. I’m like, you’re going to catch a stray. More than once, I dove into the van that I was picking up kids in while there was gunfire in the house where I was picking up kids. Once I hid behind my little Chevy and ate Oreos with brother McKiszik, while we watched two guys chasing each other with guns out front. And that was after we had dropped all the kids off after our big Tuesday night kids rally.

Can I tell you, I was no longer safely in my boat, but I want to tell you, I’ve been living life on mission for Jesus. And not a day of my life has been boring since. Not a day of my life has been boring following Jesus. When you follow him on mission, you will never be bored. You will live a life that is truly life. He was not boring, and your faith should not be. And if it is, you should reinject it with passion from the Holy Spirit and the word of God, and with compassion from the heart of God, and live life on mission now. Amen.

And I want to pray that across this room over your lives, that you’ll be sent out of here today, as we walk out of this room, that we will walk out ready to reignite our faith and our passion for the things of God and live a whole lot more like Jesus lived.

Let’s pray.

Lord, I pray that all across this room, that you would ignite our hearts full of passion for you, full of a desire to live the life that you live, with great mercy, with great kindness, with great love, that wherever you place us, we would feel a confidence. We’re in this place to talk to this person. Doesn’t matter whether we feel capable or not. You put us there. You’re capable. Help us to accept every assignment as an assignment from God, so that we live a life full of passion, full of energy, full of the life of God, and bringing it to others. I pray that grace all across every life in this room and every life listening online.

If you receive that, would you give me a big amen? Amen. Amen.

I’m so glad that you guys were here today. We’re going to do a couple things before we walk out the back doors. Don’t get up and start going yet. I know you want to get to that toddler nursery hallway first. Hold on. You just rev your engines. Get them ready. Those legs are ready to roll, I know. But just a second. Here’s what we’re going to do. First, we will have Connect 15 down there for anyone who’s brand new and you’re ready to get plugged in. That’s right down here at the welcome room. We will have prayer up here if you need prayer. We want to pray God’s miracles and grace and healing over your life.

But next week, listen to this. Next week, a good friend of mine, actually he was an intern for me in East St. Louis in those housing projects, went on to be a pioneer pastor in Detroit. Had him last summer, and he talked about how he was attacked in his household and stabbed like 37, 38 times, left for dead by a guy who was just strung out on crack cocaine. And then he started ministering to people in the prisons, and now he does death row ministry. He’s going to be here next Thursday and next Sunday, but he’s written a brand new book that he’s releasing at Eagle Creek Church for the first time. We’re excited to have the release of his new book, Family Fractures: When Forgiveness Isn’t Good Enough, when you have to do something more than that.

And he was talking to me yesterday, and he said, Matt, he said, literally, I was able to restore a relationship between a mother and her son the day, I think it was the day of his execution, I think he said 30 minutes before his lethal injection in Texas, and that was just in the last several months. He said, I was able to restore a broken relationship, a fractured relationship, between a mother and a son. He said, I’d known the son and been working with him, and he had come to Christ and was a man of God, and God was doing good things, and he was just telling me about this. And so, he’s written this book called Family Fractures. And I want to encourage you to be here next Sunday. In fact, I would encourage you to bring people that you know that are hurting and need some healing in their life. Next Sunday is going to be super powerful.

God bless you guys. Let’s stand as we go. Let’s worship as we go. Let’s ask God’s grace and God’s blessing. Let me pray over you one more time.

God, I pray blessing on every person. I pray that you would use them, empower them, and make them the men and women of God you’ve called them to be. I pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen. God bless you as you go. Have a great week. We’ll see you next Sunday.