James McLean
[0:01] My name is James and I am one of the pastors here at Village. [0:06] So thankful to see all of you here this morning. [0:09] We have been going through the book of Philippians for the past couple of weeks. [0:15] And this week we’re going to take a little bit of a break [0:17] and I’m going to talk about the art of neighboring this morning. [0:21] Last week Pastor Steve set us up really well in
[0:24] what he was talking about and kind of just [0:28] our motivation behind what I want to talk about this morning. [0:31] But just, you know, the whole idea that all of our accomplishments [0:36] are meaningless without Jesus as our treasure. [0:41] And so our hope this morning that that we want to live for him. [0:46] We want our lives to count for him.
[0:49] We want to live so that others can become fully devoted followers of Jesus. [0:54] That’s our motivation. [0:55] That’s what we should want in life and that’s what the Christian life is about. [1:00] You know, it was probably about a decade or so ago [1:03] that my life was pretty transformed just by the understanding of being missional [1:10] and having this idea that every Christian is a missionary.
[1:14] That Jesus didn’t just save us so that we could enjoy the gospel for ourselves [1:19] and be changed by it, but he saved us so that we could be used [1:23] in the lives of other people. [1:24] And for me, you know, I grew up in the church, [1:27] but that was a profound thought at that time in my life. [1:30] And it really kind of propelled me into where I am today,
[1:33] just recognizing that God had something he wanted to do through me. [1:37] And I just needed to be obedient and put myself in a place where he could use me [1:42] and respond to the opportunities that he was bringing my way. [1:46] So my hope this morning is that you would be compelled to live your life [1:50] for the mission of Jesus, that you would want your life to count. [1:54] And that when you come to the end of your days,
[1:57] you could look back on your life and say, [2:00] I used it for what God intended for me to. [2:04] There’s a pastor named Jonathan Lehman, [2:06] and I read this recently online that he wrote this. [2:08] I thought it was really good because, you know, [2:10] we can get so caught up in this big vision of what God’s trying to do in the world
[2:15] that we forget about all the little things that need to happen [2:18] for that big vision to be accomplished. [2:21] And he says this. [2:21] He says, don’t devote your life to doing something big. [2:26] Devote yourself instead to a good direction [2:28] and then do all the small things that God commands every day,
[2:33] over and over and over. [2:35] And then a day might come when you discover you’ve accomplished something big. [2:40] And so we just want to be faithful to what God is calling us to do as believers [2:46] and trust that he’s going to use those little decisions every day, [2:49] those little disciplines and those little habits every day [2:52] to be used to build his kingdom.
[2:56] So this morning, we’re going to be in Matthew 22, 36 through 39. [3:02] We’re going to open up the word. [3:03] And the first thing I want to communicate to you [3:06] is that love your neighbor as a command from God. [3:11] So let me share this story to you. [3:15] So the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
[3:19] their big goal in life was to sit around and try to knock Jesus off of [3:25] what he was there to accomplish and what he does. [3:28] And so they sat around and kind of came together and said, [3:31] what can we ask him today that will kind of trip him up [3:34] and make him say something that we can really get him in trouble for? [3:39] So in this particular passage,
[3:41] this man is a Pharisee, but he’s also a lawyer. [3:44] So he’s very crafty in his words. [3:46] And he says this, [3:49] Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? [3:52] And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, [3:56] with all your soul and with all your mind.
[3:59] This is the great and first commandment. [4:02] And a second is like it. [4:04] You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[4:08] So I think the first thing that stands out to me is [4:12] it’s very clear that God wants us to love the Lord your God with all your heart, [4:16] soul and mind, right? [4:17] I mean, that’s pretty obvious all throughout the Bible that we’re called to that. [4:22] In fact, he’s referring in this text back to the Old Testament [4:26] and kind of summing up the law and the prophets with these two commands.
[4:31] And this is known as the great commandment. [4:34] I think it’s amazing that, you know, he goes on to say the second is like it. [4:41] So almost as good as loving the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul [4:45] and all your mind is to love your neighbor as yourself. [4:49] So Jesus is elevating that up to a pretty high level, I believe.
[4:55] And so Jesus, you know, responds, he’s ready to go. [4:58] He knows exactly how to answer this man. [5:01] Love your neighbor is a command from God. [5:04] It’s not just a suggestion. [5:06] It’s not just a nice thing to do if we get around to it. [5:10] But it’s actually a command that Jesus is telling us.
[5:13] This is what God expects from you to love the Lord your God, [5:16] but also to love your neighbor as yourself. [5:21] Anytime we see a command in the scripture, [5:23] we need to kind of sit back and and think about it for a minute [5:26] and take it a little bit more serious and say, wow, [5:30] Jesus is highlighting this specific area and saying,
[5:34] love your neighbor as yourself. [5:37] What does this mean? [5:38] What should we do with it? [5:40] How are we to think about this? [5:42] So what I’m talking about this morning is actually based off of a book called [5:46] The Art of Neighboring.
[5:48] And there’s a story in the book where a bunch of the pastors in this city, [5:53] they go to the to the leaders of the city, to the city council and to the mayor, [5:57] and they ask the question, hey, what can we do to kind of serve this city? [6:02] I mean, we’re here, you know, we’re trying to love Jesus and we’re trying to love our neighbor. [6:07] And what is it that this city needs? [6:09] And they’re thinking, you know, maybe we need to set up some kind of program or a food bank
[6:13] or or whatever. [6:14] But the mayor’s response was kind of surprising. [6:18] He says, what if you just told people to love their neighbor? [6:23] The majority of issues facing our community would be drastically reduced [6:27] if we became a community of great neighbors. [6:31] And so the mayor is kind of talking to these pastors who really should already
[6:36] kind of have a vision for this. Right. [6:38] And he’s challenging them to say, live out what you believe, live out what the Bible says [6:44] to love your neighbor. [6:46] And in that, you know, other people are looking at at their neighborhoods [6:51] and they’re saying, I’m going to take care of these people. [6:54] I’m going to I’m going to pray for them.
[6:55] I’m going to love them and reach out to them. [6:58] Your neighborhood is reached because you live there. [7:03] If you’re a Christian, if you trust in Jesus, if you’re living for the mission of Jesus, [7:07] your neighborhood is considered reached. [7:10] And what I mean by that is, you know, as as we send out missionaries [7:14] and as we plant churches, they identify the different areas of the world
[7:18] as reached based on the proximity to a church or a people [7:23] who know the gospel and are able to communicate it to those around them. [7:28] So that that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re viewing your neighborhood [7:32] as a place for mission. [7:35] But what it means is your neighbors should have a better chance [7:39] of knowing Jesus because they live next to you.
[7:42] You know, and that’s convicting this preparing for this for me [7:47] is is really has been a teaching experience in my own life [7:51] and just learning what it means to be in my neighborhood and and to love these people. [7:56] And so as I talk about this, you know, I haven’t got all this figured out. [7:59] I’m not doing this to to the highest level, but I’m learning along with you. [8:05] You know, what does it look like for me to be obedient to Jesus in this command?
[8:10] So I’m with you in this. [8:12] But our neighborhoods should be different because we live there [8:15] because there’s a Christian presence, there’s a gospel presence in the neighborhood.
[8:21] You know, neighbors have faces and they have names. [8:26] When Jesus says love your neighbor as yourself, he doesn’t say love your metaphorical neighbor, [8:31] love, you know, a random person that you just see on the street or love, [8:36] you know, the idea of loving your neighbor. [8:38] But he’s he’s literally saying love the people that are around you. [8:44] And if you live in a neighborhood, there are people around you right next to you.
[8:48] So we’ve got to move from theory and from identifying this command from God, [8:52] being convicted of it and wanting to to live that out to practice. [8:56] It’s one thing to recognize a command from God. [8:59] It’s a whole other thing to actually live it out. [9:03] And I think most of us immediately, we start thinking of objections, right? [9:08] So we’re thinking through our own scenario and our own neighborhoods and our own lives.
[9:12] And we’re saying, God doesn’t want me to do this. [9:16] I mean, this guy next to me, he’s sloppy. [9:20] He’s his his yard is 15 feet tall. [9:23] And, you know, they’re so noisy and they’re just coming and going all the time. [9:28] The kids are in the way when I’m trying to back out of my driveway. [9:31] And, you know, we’re just we’re thinking of all these different scenarios
[9:35] and objections why we can’t do this, why this isn’t possible for us to actually live out.
[9:43] And, you know, that’s natural. [9:44] We we do that. [9:45] You know, I’m too busy. [9:46] I’ve got this going on. [9:47] I’ve got that going on. [9:48] My house is, you know, I’ve got to work on this on my house or whatever it might be.
[9:53] But the command still stands and Jesus is still calling us to be obedient to it. [9:59] So we’ve got to look at our own lives and say, what, you know, what is it that I need to change to be able to live this out? [10:05] So here’s the thing in Luke 10, 29. [10:09] This is another account of the same story in Luke’s gospel. [10:13] There are people who are objecting as well all the way back in Bible days. [10:18] So you weren’t the first one to start coming up with things in your head why you can’t do this, the excuses.
[10:25] But here’s what it says in Luke 10, 29. [10:28] The lawyer responds to Jesus after Jesus has just told him, [10:32] you know, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. [10:37] But he, desiring to justify himself, [10:40] said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? [10:44] Now, do you think he was asking that question because he actually wanted to know the answer?
[10:49] Or do you think he was trying to push Jesus to say something that he could catch him up in again? [10:54] I think it was the second one, right? And we do that as well. [11:00] So we’re trying to figure out, you know, well, [11:03] can I really wrap my mind around who my neighbor is? [11:06] I mean, really, if you think about it, it could be anyone. [11:09] It could be any of the millions of people in the world, anyone I come across traveling,
[11:15] anyone I see throughout my day, customers, you know, my place of business, any of those kind of things. [11:21] But, you know, we need to start drawing [11:25] boundaries and focus in on what it is and who it is that God has already brought into our lives. [11:31] Practically speaking, we’ve got to stop making excuses and thinking of metaphorical neighbors that don’t exist, [11:38] and actually think about the people that God has already brought into your life and has put near you. [11:44] So most of you live in a neighborhood.
[11:48] I think that’s a fair assumption for the average person.
[11:53] And the evidence that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind is seen in how we love our neighbor. [12:01] And so that’s why Jesus follows it up with that, because I think we could easily say, [12:06] well, you know, I go to church and I have my devotional time, and I’m, you know, [12:10] I sing the songs when the time comes and all those things that prove that I love the Lord. [12:16] And Jesus kind of takes it a step further and says, well, the evidence of that is going to be shown in how you love [12:22] your neighbor, right? So that’s the proof that you’re loving the Lord your God.
[12:28] So neighbors have faces and they have names. God cares about your neighbor, and you should care about what God cares about. [12:37] We all have commitments and we all have jobs and we all have families and things that we need to get done and [12:42] accomplish throughout the week. But the question still stands, is your life and the busyness that you’re caught up in [12:49] pointing to you and your kingdom, or is your life pointing to God and His kingdom and what He’s doing [12:55] in your life and through your life? As a Christian, I think we have to ask that question of ourselves and be honest [13:02] with the answer. So people matter to God. Our neighbors matter to God. They have names. They’re people.
[13:11] He created them. He wants to have a relationship with them. And we’ve got to begin to see people the way God sees them. [13:18] We can’t view them as an obstacle. We can’t view them as someone to tolerate, as a nuisance. But we’ve got to start [13:27] loving them and seeing them as God sees them. People don’t exist to make your life easier. You exist to help them know who [13:36] God is and to love Him. So in 2 Corinthians 5, 16, this verse has meant a lot to me. Actually, it’s taught me a lot [13:46] over the years. Paul says this, From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once [13:55] regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. So what does that look like? What does it mean to
[14:03] say that we regard no one according to the flesh? What it really looks like is we view people as souls. We don’t just [14:13] view them for what we see on the surface and what we assume they are, but we view them as people who Jesus shed His blood [14:21] for. We don’t look for our differences. We don’t look for the reasons to criticize or to hate them. But we have [14:29] compassion on them. We empathize with them. We desire their good. And we want to see the potential of God fulfilled in [14:38] their lives. And so, you know, I think that’s a challenge as you think about your own life and the people that you encounter, [14:46] maybe even the people in your neighborhood, that it’s difficult to love people, you know, that we do naturally regard them
[14:53] according to the flesh. But God’s calling us, if you’re a Christian, if you have Jesus in your life, if you are in Christ, [15:02] you should view people differently. You should see their souls. You should see what God’s doing in them and how He wants to [15:09] use you to further the gospel in their lives. So the first step in loving your neighbor, I believe, is praying for them. You [15:20] can’t really dislike someone if you pray for them. It’s hard to not have compassion for someone if you pray for them. And so [15:30] it really breaks down anything that we might have between us, because you’re coming to the Father on their behalf and lifting [15:37] them up to Him. So in order to do that, we’ve got to learn our neighbor’s names, right? I mean, it’s kind of hard to pray for
[15:46] someone that you don’t know, that you know nothing about, and that you’re not familiar with. So we need to learn their names. [15:52] We need to learn who they are, what they care about, what they struggle with. And maybe your first prayer needs to be, [16:01] God, help me have the courage just to talk to my neighbor. I think that’s an honest prayer. I think that a lot of us are in that [16:09] place where we’re not sure how that’s going to go or how we’re going to be received. We’re not sure if they’re going to ask [16:16] something of us or expect too much of us. And so the first prayer, I think, is just, God, help me with my fear of being out in [16:25] my neighborhood. And then also, God, prepare my heart to love my neighbor. Open doors for me to have conversations with them.
[16:35] And then as God does that, we’ve got to walk into those opportunities. So when you came in, you should have been handed one of [16:43] these along with your handout. And this is just kind of a practical, there’s nothing special about this. You could make one of [16:49] these probably on a notepad of your own if you wanted to. But what this is, is this is called a block map. And so what the idea [16:57] behind it is, we easily forget things, right? We easily forget people’s names or things about them, their kids’ names. [17:05] And so what you would do is you would put yourself in the center of this block map. And then around you, you would just find [17:13] the closest houses that live near you. And as you meet people, and I would encourage you to do it right away, like as you meet
[17:21] somebody, all right, I met my neighbor, Sally. All right, before I forget, I need to go back into my house and write down [17:27] Sally. You know, she’s got two kids. What are their names? Because you will forget. And then put this on your fridge, put it in a [17:35] place where you can actually look at it and remember. And then when it comes time for you to pray, you actually have names of [17:42] people who you’ve met and you have a face in your mind as you’re praying of somebody that you want God to work in their lives. [17:51] So this is a really good tool. I mean, like I said, you can just write this on a pad or anything, but be intentional about how you [18:00] reach out to your neighbor. Try to remember. I always love it when people say, I’m not good with names. It’s kind of a backhanded
[18:08] insult there. It’s like, well, you basically just told me I’m not important enough to learn my name. And that’s fine. But look, if you [18:21] remember their names, you can remember their names. And as you continue to pray for them, you’ll know their name and you’ll [18:25] remember. And you may even be able to, you know, wave at them and say their name and interact with them. So, you know, I [18:32] believe that prayer is kind of the first step in reaching your neighbor. There are things that God can do through prayer that [18:40] you can’t do at all. There are barriers that he can break down. There are emotions in you or in them that he can comfort and put [18:51] aside. And so do not discount, you know, what prayer is able to accomplish, both in praying for yourself and praying for your
[19:00] neighbor and any needs that they might bring up. So I want to talk about, spend the rest of our time just kind of talking about [19:08] some practical steps. So, you know, we’ve talked about how we need, it’s a command from God to love our neighbor, right? We’ve [19:16] accepted that, we’ve recognized that. And we know that, we need to know their names, we need to know their faces, we need to [19:23] actually know them in order to love them and to move towards them. So moving on, you know, we want to talk about some [19:31] practical steps towards neighboring. And like I just said, you know, prayer is always going to be the start. And even when you [19:38] come across times where there’s a difficult moment, maybe a tense conversation or an argument or a conflict in the
[19:46] neighborhood, you would be amazed at what prayer can overcome in the midst of that and what God can do to move things. [19:55] Jerry Falwell once said, nothing of eternal value is ever accomplished apart from prayer. So the work that we’re trying to do in [20:04] our neighborhoods is not just practical and physical that you can see, but there is something eternal, there’s something more [20:12] meaningful going on in the neighborhood that God wants to do in and through you. And so if you’re going to have any kind of [20:25] prayer, you’re going to need, don’t underestimate the power of it, use it. God is listening, God is there, and He is active, and He [20:35] answers our prayers. So the first thing we want to do is we want to pray for people. We want to use this tool to write their
[20:41] names down and remember who they are and what’s going on in their life. We also want to do good, right? I think a lot of times [20:51] Christians, and this may not be you, but there are some out there who, it’s like the first thing they want to kind of go through [20:58] the Roman’s road or talk through some track that they got. People want to know that you actually care about who they are as a [21:06] person, not just getting them to see what you believe and experience the life that you have. And so we’ve got to desire their [21:14] good, and that involves a little bit more than just passing a track out to them. Everyone that we meet, we represent Jesus to [21:23] everywhere we go. So our motives in building those relationships in our neighborhood matter, and people can tell that. So God tells us
[21:32] to do good to others and to desire the best for them. In 1 Thessalonians 5.15, Paul says this, See that no one repays anyone for [21:43] evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. So we need to be thoughtful about how we live in our [21:51] neighborhoods. We want to pray for our neighbors and we want to pray for our neighborhood, but it’s got to go beyond that. We’ve got to [21:59] seek their good. We want to know how can we do good to these people, to this neighborhood. We have to start thinking about how we [22:07] live on our block. We can’t just wake up in the morning super early, leave, not have any experience with anyone there, work all day, [22:16] come home at 6.30, you know, it’s dark outside, we pull up, head right inside. And for some of you, that’s like, man, that sounds
[22:24] great. Yeah, it does. Sometimes. But here’s the thing, we’ve got to acknowledge, here’s Jesus over here saying, hey, this is what I’ve [22:38] had in mind when I saved you. You know, I have these people that, more people that I want to worship me, and so I want to use you in [22:46] this. Are you willing to be obedient? So we need to pray for our neighbors. We need to do good to them. And just even in your prayers, [22:57] you know, think about what good could I do here? What is the, you know, each of us is made uniquely. We have different gifts and [23:03] abilities. I am not the handiest person in the world, so anybody that wants help on their house, I can probably help throw some things [23:11] away, but that’s about it. But hey, that might be the one thing they don’t want to do, you know, so what good can I do? I had a
[23:20] neighbor that came over last week and he wanted to use a truck that I was borrowing, and so I, he hopped in the truck and we went to [23:28] Home Depot and picked up some wood and came back home, had a great conversation on the way there. So there’s little things we can do [23:35] here and there, but we have to do something, right? We can’t just sit around praying and having good thoughts about this. We have to [23:44] do something. I would say the number one thing that you can do practically in your neighborhood is to be outside, and specifically in [23:55] the front of your house. It’s very, I have a privacy fence in my backyard. It’s very nice. It protects my son from being, you know, [24:04] spied on or whatever, whatever reason they build privacy fences for, but you know, we try to be very intentional about being in the
[24:14] front of our house. What could I do in the front of my house that could put me in the presence of my neighborhood? So, you know, we’re [24:23] thinking about yard work, thinking about, you know, let your kid, you know, ride his bike in the street with you there. That didn’t [24:33] used to be the case, but we’re in a different world now. You know, but think about your life and what you do and how you live and how you can be [24:44] outside more. How could you be more present in your neighborhood? What are some of the ways that you could do that? And being in the front of [24:51] your house is huge. You know what’s interesting to me? Whenever I’m in the front of my house for some reason, I start seeing little trickles of [24:59] people like come out and do other things. It’s really weird. I don’t know if you’ve seen it before in your neighborhood, but it’s like there will be
[25:07] moments where it’s completely silent and it’s like, is this, does anyone actually live here? Like it’s like a ghost town, you know? But for some [25:14] reason, whenever I get outside in the front and start doing something, other people start going, maybe I should go outside and do something. And it’s [25:23] some kind of, I’m sure there’s psychological or sociological studies that have been done that have something to do with that, but they just start coming out [25:32] and those are opportunities where, hey, how have you been doing? What’s going on with this thing? And so I would say that’s the next step is you need to talk to [25:42] someone. You have to have conversations. Being present is one thing. You could even be present in the front of your yard and never say a word to anyone. It’s [25:51] impossible. But we’ve got to talk to someone, right? We’ve got to actually engage them to know who they are and to be able to meet them and
[26:00] hear about their lives. Start conversations. Introduce yourself. Ask for their names. Not everyone in here is good at that. Some of you are too good at it and you kind of [26:10] dominate the conversation. Others of you don’t even know where to start. And so I’ve kind of laid out a couple things that I got from the book that are sort of like [26:21] steps towards meaningful conversations, right? So here are some of the stages of conversation that are helpful as you’re talking to people in your [26:29] neighborhood. So the first thing is we typically talk about things we can see, right? So like the weather or the neighborhood or local events or something like that. [26:40] You know, hey, what’s going on with all this rain lately? Oh, man, my yard’s, I’m flooded back there. I got this thing. You’d be amazed at how easy it is for someone to jump in on [26:49] that conversation because they can relate to it. It’s really basic. And that’s a great place to start. And if that’s all you do in your first conversation, that’s good.
[26:58] That’s a win. Obviously, it needs to go beyond that at some point. You want to have a deeper conversation and relationship than that. So the next step is basic personal [27:10] information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here’s the basic information. So here [27:40] you’re in a place where you’re actually interested in someone and you’re asking questions about themselves. That’s very rare in today’s culture. So as we’re talking to them, we’re you know we’re learning basic information about them. And I would encourage you as you learn those things go and write those down too because you may forget it. Then then you move on to hopes and dreams. So now we’re getting into some deeper areas. We’re talking about you know what do you love most about what you do. What are your dreams in life. If you could do [28:10] anything, what would you do. What are you working towards in life. And people love to share about those things. Sometimes there may be some some hard things that come out of that hard conversations. And then I would say the final thing that usually people talk about sometimes sometimes they lead off with this. You never know is regrets losses and pain. And so you know because of the fall because of sin, we all have areas like this. You know we all have people that are struggling in our family or sicknesses that are being dealt with. [28:40] Or financial issues or things like that. And as you learn those things, those are areas you can pray for as well and encourage them in too. So and you know it’s so easy for you to say to them, can I pray for you about that. And most people, even the most staunch atheists, usually will let you pray for them. [29:02] Because they’re at this point, they’re like, hey, maybe this will do something. You know, they don’t know. And you know that it will. So it’s a great opportunity. So those are just some some really basic things that to have conversations with people and to to kind of move towards deeper relationships there. Don’t assume things about people just because you have, you know, a window into what’s going on outside the front of their house doesn’t mean that you know everything about who they are. You know, so you know,
[29:32] you could learn that the reason that their their lawn is is 10 feet tall is because they’ve been in the hospital caring for some family member that’s dying of cancer. You know, so that’s an opportunity actually to serve them and to do good to them. [29:46] So don’t assume things about people. Get to know them.
[29:50] You’ll come to find that most people are willing to talk to you and willing to be known. [29:57] Then they want to know you as well. So, you know, the final thing is you have hope. You have hope in Jesus. And so tell them about it. Tell them the hope that you have as you build conversations. You’re going to get a chance. Hopefully, as you pray and as you look for opportunities to share what’s most valuable in your life. And that is should be your relationship with Jesus. [30:22] You know, how has your life changed? What difference is Jesus making in your life? How has he brought you from where you were to where you are? All those things are important and people will hear you out on those. [30:37] There was a recent study that Tom Rayner of Lifeway did of unchurched people. [30:43] And they found out some pretty incredible things that I think we all assume about people. And here’s here’s one of the most amazing things they found out. [30:52] 96% of the unchurched people that they surveyed said they would be somewhat likely to attend a church service if invited. So sometimes it’s as easy as, hey, I’m going to church this Sunday at 9 a.m. Would you like to come with me?
[31:09] And they may say no, that’s OK. But I think we just kind of got to a place in our culture where we just assume they didn’t care anymore. You know, because whatever we’re reading news or we’re following tweets or whatever. [31:22] And we were just like, well, this culture doesn’t want Jesus. And so I’ve kind of given up on that. Don’t give up there. This is proving that people actually want to be invited. It’s just no one’s inviting them anymore. [31:35] So let’s not assume things about people. Let’s pray and work as if God is meeting us there and he’s going to do some work in their life. [31:42] We want to look for ways to build bridges, whatever that might be. There’s so many different ways that we can build goodwill with people and to foster community in our neighborhood. [31:52] You could invite someone over for a meal. You could have a cookout. You could walk their dog. You could make them a baked good. [32:00] I’ve heard stories of people that, you know, that’s gone really well. And I’ve heard stories where people have tried to give someone cookies and they’re like, no, you probably poisoned that. And so I’m I’m not going to take that.
[32:11] So you want to work. [32:14] You want to hope and pray that it’s not one of those people. But don’t let that be discouraging to you. You know, that’s one neighbor out of however many that you live around. So don’t don’t let that keep you from doing what you know you’re supposed to do. [32:27] One thing they mention a lot in the book is they talk about block parties and kind of bringing together other neighbors and saying, hey, you know, you bring this food. I’ll bring this food. That way they feel like they’re involved. And it’s not just you doing everything. [32:40] And you’d be surprised that people, you know, want to get to know each other. And they they they know that coming together in their neighborhood is good for them. They know it forms a sense of community and they feel safer because they know this person that lives there. [32:56] So so, you know, work with all those things that you know are already there. [33:01] I want to close this morning with this.
[33:05] In Jeremiah 29, five through seven.
[33:10] The. [33:11] Israelites have been sent into exile into Babylon. And this is what
[33:18] it says. [33:19] It says, Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf. [33:42] For in its welfare, you will find your welfare. [33:46] So as I close this morning, I just want to challenge you. Are you seeking the welfare of your city? Are you seeking the welfare of your neighbors, of your neighborhood? [33:57] Do you want their good? Are you praying for them? Are you reaching out to them and having conversations with them that that could lead to some good fruit? [34:08] Um, we’ve been called. God has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourself, and we only have a certain amount of time to do that in on this earth. So we want to make the most of that. We want to ask, why has God allowed me to live in this neighborhood? And how could he use me for his glory?
[34:31] So we want to transition at this time into a time of communion. [34:36] As you as you take communion, as you pray, be thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus made for you to draw you close to God, have peace with God. But as you pray, recognize that there are more people out there that Jesus wants to save, that he wants more people to have peace with God and be able to commune with him and recognize the sacrifice that was made. [35:04] For them through Jesus. So think and pray through your own life. God, where would you have me work? Where would you have me move towards? What? What neighbor are you calling me to reach? How can I be obedient to you? [35:22] When you’re ready, come.