Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: If Jesus came to seek and save the lost, those two verbs, seek and save, if there were two verbs to describe your life, what are they? Is it complain and criticize? I showed up to complain and criticize. How's that working for the gospel? How is that opening doors for you to share? How is that making you a better salt and light in a very corrupt world?

Guest (Male): We're unveiling God's strategy for reaching the lost today on Abounding Grace. Join us in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 as we continue our new series, Be the Church. The church is to be all about the gospel and sharing it with the lost. If we're not doing that, we're off track. But how do we reach the lost? The answer is wonderfully simple and given to us in the first chapter of Acts. Here's Pastor Ed Taylor.

Pastor Ed Taylor: The gospel is profoundly social because notice what the word social means. It's a very simple definition. Social means relating to society. That's what social means. So you bet the gospel is going to affect society. We're going to read in the book of Acts when the believers came to town, they said, "Oh no, those that turned the world upside down have come here too." Why? Because wherever the gospel goes, it disrupts society. It is profoundly social.

So the fact that we want to help the poor doesn't make it a social gospel. It is the gospel affecting society. The fact that we want to minister to people that have been mistreated, that have been neglected, that have been abused, the fact that we stand up for people that don't have a voice in the womb is profoundly social, but the gospel always comes first. It's gospel social. If you want to use that phrase from now on, just say it's gospel, and it changes society. I want to be a part of the change of society, don't you? I want to see the gospel change lives. I want to see homes change, neighborhoods change. I want to see people change, and so does Jesus. That's why he died and rose again.

But you know what happens? You think about the city, and you think about all the problems and all the political and all the mayor. You think about the state, and you go, "All the problems, all the difficult, all the taxes, all the governor." You think about the country, all the problems, all the difficulties, all the president, and all that. You start thinking politically and no longer are you living in the gospel. When you start thinking about the city, think about the lost. When you start thinking about Colorado, think about the lost. When you think about the United States of America, think about the lost.

Because let me tell you something. If you don't think about it, who will? Who's going to take the gospel to our city? Who's going to take the gospel to our state? I understand. It's much easier to sit around and be a critic, but I'm telling you right now, God is calling you to stop being a critic and become the witnesses that you already are by faith. That's the work he wants to do in your life. That's his heart for us as a church. That's his heart. It hasn't changed. This isn't anything new. This is right here in the first century. He wanted it then, and he wants it now.

I'm super concerned about the church and about our church. We've lost our way. We've got caught up in things that aren't eternal. If Jesus came to seek and save the lost, those two verbs, seek and save, if there were two verbs to describe your life, what are they? Is it complain and criticize? I showed up to complain and criticize. How's that working for the gospel? How is that opening doors for you to share? How is that making you a better salt and light in a very corrupt world?

I understand we all have opinions, and we all have conditions in the world that we have a dual citizenship. We're citizens of our country, we're citizens of heaven. I get that. And I just wanted to suggest to you that it is okay to hold an opinion. "Oh, this is unfair, and oh, this is right." I believe if you ever start feeling like there's nothing unfair in this world, you've become a friend of this world. Because for a follower of Christ, there's going to be a lot of things that are unfair, a lot of things that are wrong. But really we're living in a time where there's a lot of unfairness and all. Everyone's facing it.

But you're facing it differently, church, because you have the hope of Jesus Christ by faith. You know this is not all there is. He has saved your life, forgiven you of your sins, changed you, flipped you right side up. You're a new creation in Christ. Live that way, church. Live that way in a world that doesn't see any hope, that thinks it's all lost and only measure things in money and possessions and we have all these ways to exclude people from the gospel.

There's a popular one right now. It's probably been popular forever, but they got a phrase for it. It's that phrase, "Not in my backyard." Not in my backyard! Not in my backyard! Really? Christians are saying that. "Not in my... I want to help, not in my backyard." And that really helps the gospel. If not in your backyard, then who? Their backyard. Yeah, but God put you there. It's his house. He gave you that house. He gave you that apartment. He gave you that backyard for a reason. He wants stuff to be happening in your backyard so that you can connect with the people that are close to you in your community, your Jerusalem, your Judea, Samaria, uttermost part. If it's not your backyard, then maybe you need a new backyard, a new heart for the Lord.

We have these conflicting things. We do have the flesh, and we don't want to walk in the flesh. We need to crucify the flesh. We need to make no provision for the flesh. But we want to walk in the spirit. Every once in a while, something's going to show up in your backyard, and what will you do? God has given you a gift to reach the lost. He's given you a mandate to reach the lost. Our God is an evangelistic God. He hasn't changed.

Flip over, would you, to Luke chapter 10. Because we want to see the things the way Jesus does. The strategy of reaching the world is the same. He wants us to go, to be a part of what he's doing on the earth today. He doesn't want us protecting our comfort and ease. He wants us stepping into the mess of people's lives and the mess of people's sinful consequences. He wants us in the mess of life because life touched by sin is a mess. It's challenging. It's hard.

But God has given us the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, to walk into the difficulties of life. Galatians chapter 5. Notice what Jesus says in verse 1 of chapter 10: "After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them two by two before his face into," mark this word, "every city." And now, of course, this wasn't every city. It was every city that he was about to go. But the word every is super important. You're not going to neglect any city. Jesus is going to go to every city. You go there first, prepare the way.

And he said to them, notice, "The harvest is truly great." Some of your Bibles might say plentiful. That might be an old King James, how I remembered it. The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few. This is a contrast. Again, if you like to write in your Bibles, you could circle the word few and circle the word great and just write an arrow. The harvest is amazing all around us. It's great. But any pastor will ask you, where are the laborers? Where's it happening? Where are the people stepping in?

Now don't misunderstand me at this point. This is not a call to serve in the church. I'm not asking for more laborers for ministries. As a matter of fact, serving in the church is just a great practice for when you leave, where you get to practice on one another, practice with people that know the Lord, work through issues. Why? So you can learn how to work through issues with people in the world. So this isn't a call, "We need more servants." This is a call for outside of this building. The harvest. Just open your eyes. Open your eyes. The harvest of what? Souls. It's just ready. It's ready to go into, but where are the laborers?

The harvest. There's this saying that you find what you're looking for. Being the realist that I am, or Marie might say pessimist, but I choose realist, just see things for what they are. If I'm looking for something to correct, I'll find it. If I'm looking for something to improve, I have that gift of administration, I'll find it. Because you find what you're looking for. If I'm looking for something to encourage, I'll find it, something to praise, I'll find it. If I'm looking for something to criticize, I'll find that too. If I'm looking for something to complain about, never a lack for that.

How about this with people? Are you looking for the lost? Because you'll find them. You're like, "Well, I haven't shared the gospel with anybody in so long." That's just because you're not looking to do that. You're just not looking to do that. Because if you were looking to do that, you would have more people than you could handle. You wouldn't even know what to do with them. If you were looking for the lost, Jesus says the harvest is great. The problem is the church is looking in and not out. It may be a few of you today, it may be many of you today, could be you guys on the radio, I don't know, but the problem is we look in and not out.

If we just obeyed here in Luke 10, what Jesus is doing, if we just obeyed that, it would solve 99% of the church problems we have. All the bickering and backbiting and all the little sins in the church, it would be solved if the church was out reaching the lost. If they were busy about the Father's kingdom, if we would... for instance, I was thinking, you might go, "Ed, I don't even know where to look." I'll give you where to look. Here's step number one. Go to the hospital. Go to the hospital in your community. "Ed, what am I supposed to do?" Go visit somebody. "Well, I don't know anybody." You don't know anybody yet.

Just go in there and say is there anybody that needs a visit? And you might find that the person at the desk goes, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, there's this family," and they take you in. And if not, if they don't let you, you just follow a doctor all the way through. Just follow a doctor like you're with him. Just follow him onto the elevator and follow him to get on a floor and just knock on the door. "Hi, I'm just here to visit and pray with you." "Come on in!" "You actually do that?" Yes, you'd be surprised when you carry a Bible around a hospital how they leave you alone. And you just walk around.

I just did a visit not too long ago with Pastor Micah up here in Aurora North. It's the behavioral unit. It's the mental health unit, or they converted the whole hospital mental health. We're visiting a sister in there together, two by two. But when we were done, instead of going to the exit, we took a right to the gathering area, and we prayed for this brother that was just walking the halls. He was truly sick, and he was truly hurting mentally. But you don't just write them off. I looked him in the eye, got his name, asked him how he was, and asked him if we could pray for him. And I said, "Can we touch you?" We just don't put our hands on, can we touch you so you know? "Yes, please touch." And we prayed for his mental health.

It's all over. You look for it. We could have prayed for every single one, but then somebody came and escorted us out, and we were done, which is fine. It's fine. We'll just do what the Lord has for us. And if you can't get on an elevator with a doctor or nurse, that's fine. The ER has a waiting room, and there are so many people there worried about the person in the ER because they won't let them in. You can see them, they all huddle up in sections, families. They huddle up all throughout the ER. And if you're very observant, you might see someone crying, you might see a sniffle, you might see a bunch of tissue. If you look for it, you'll find it.

"The Holy Spirit, Ed, I've never done that before." I know, but you start doing it, you'll have more people to pray for. You don't want to go in the ER? Walk around the outside. Go to the parking lot. People are walking to their cars. And you just walk, "Hey, is there anything I can pray for you here in a hospital?" "Yeah, I work here." Okay, well how... and you start talking about work. "Well, yeah, my son is up on the third floor." You talk about the son. The opportunities are endless. You don't have to go somewhere you don't know. You go to work every day. There are people all over your office. You have a boss, you have a coworker. We get caught up in all the stuff that absolutely means nothing for the kingdom of God. And every day people are walking right by us. The harvest is great; the laborers are few.

So what does Jesus tell them to do? He says pray. That's what he says. Remember in Acts, he says I want you to go, but before you go, wait. This time, earlier, he says I want you to go, but before you go, pray. So two things we can do before we go: pray and wait. Pray. That's what he says. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers in the harvest. I mean, this ratio exists still today. So much more harvest than there are laborers. But pray. And as you pray, what will happen? You will be the answer to your prayer. It's not "pray for all the laborers." All you need is one more. You.

If you're married, take your spouse with you. Take your kids. Take your kids along and say, "Hey, come with me. I want to show you something. I want to show you somebody that needs prayer." Even if you sat in the ER and you showed your kids the hurt and pain that's in the world and you prayed. Amazing opportunities abound in these last days. Maybe you're caught up in things that are just wasting your time, wasting your time. We don't want self-action, because spiritual action without prayer can actually become self-action. There are a lot of people that get involved in so-called ministry serving God, but they really aren't called to that area, they really don't belong there because they haven't prayed. They haven't prayed.

People get burned out because they're not serving in the Spirit. They get burned out because they're complainers. Complaining will burn you out so quickly. The ministry that God's called you, the way that God has called you and the power that God's given you will be joyful. You'd be tired, but it'll be joyful. It'll be satisfying. You will feel, you will literally feel good by helping someone else. It will spark the endorphins and everything about... you will feel good being an agent of change.

Jesus says pray for laborers. He doesn't say pray for supervisors. He doesn't say pray for foremen or onlookers. He wants laborers. Get into the work, church. Jump in and serve him. "Oh, but Pastor, I can't. I can't. I'd love to serve like you do, Ed, but I'm not in full-time ministry. Maybe one day when I'm in full-time ministry, I can serve like you." Now you got it all wrong. That's a complete misconception of full-time ministry. You are in the full-time ministry right now. It's not by position or title. It's not who signs your check. It doesn't matter if Walmart signs your check, you're in full-time ministry. If UPS signs your check, you're full-time. If the government's signing your check, full-time ministry. If you're at home taking care of the kids, full-time ministry.

I want you to change the thought for a second and go, "Okay, Ed, one day I'll be a full-time Christian, then I'll serve the Lord." What, are you a part-time Christian? Is that what you're saying? You're just kind of doing it every once in a while? No, you're a full-time Christian, which puts you into full-time ministry. It doesn't matter where your check comes from or what your title might be. Many Christians are confused by that phrase, but you need not be.

The truth is we're all in the full-time ministry. And with those giftings that God has given us, he moves us and mobilizes us into a world with God's love. Listen, full-time ministry is normal Christianity. It's entry-level all the way to the end. Jot that down. Full-time ministry is normal Christianity. It's not something you attain to one day. It's not something you grow into or mature into. The millisecond you're born again is the millisecond you're in the full-time ministry. You are now a servant of God. The only question is, are you a faithful servant or an unfaithful servant? Are you being used by him, or you continue to live a selfish life?

Selfishness will hinder the gospel. When you care more about yourself than you care about others, it will hinder you for the gospel. And you'll have all the Christian language. You might have some new cause you're into. That's all you talk about. It's Christian this, Christian that, and you have no care or concern for the lost. And so you can and I can be very self-deceived because of selfishness trying to protect and guard instead of give, instead of serve, instead of surrender.

Jesus has called us to infiltrate, not isolate. The answer to this world's problems is not all the Christians huddling up and moving to the mountains so we can protect ourselves. It is to get into the world and love people in the name of Jesus, to serve them, to love them. God has placed you where you are in your neighborhood, in your job, in your singleness, at home for a reason. That's where he wants you in culture. He wants you to take the gospel and affect society. His desire is for you to abide in him, and he will use you as you permeate this world living among the world as salt and light, Jesus said. Salt has those properties of flavor and arresting or slowing down the rot of meat. They would put salt in meat so the rotting process would slow down.

And you think of the rottenness of our world. As the church, the church is that salt and light in darkness. Even the smallest light fills a room, a dark room. Even the smallest light can light up a darkened room. But you know what happens? You get caught up in it all. You get caught up in it all, and you just sound like the world. And you live like the world. And then you're not speaking in any difference. There's no difference between you and the world because you're mad like the world's mad. And you're upset like the world's upset.

And the language... notice what Jesus says. He says in verse 3, he says, "Go your way and listen, this is so key, I send you out as lambs among wolves." Not the other way around. I don't send you out as wolves against the wolves. You are lambs, which speak of vulnerability, timidity, dependence. When you're sent out into a hostile world as a lamb, you know what you need the most? Your shepherd. Your shepherd. A lamb is super in trouble if they're not close to their shepherd.

No, but what happens is the wolves... Christians think they need to go out as wolves. That's not what Jesus said. "I'm going to be a wolf, and I'm going to take on the wolves." Well here's what's going to happen. You're going to look like a wolf, sound like a wolf, and have absolutely no effect because Jesus said go out as lambs. It's going to be different. You're going to be different. It's going to be a distinction. You're going to bring hostility. Your very life in Christ is going to bring wolves around. Your very life in Christ is going to bring liars around. They're going to be mockers around. There's going to be scoffers, people undermining you, trying to people trying to get rid of you. All of that is part of the normal Christian experience because Jesus said I want you to go out and you're going to be like lambs. You're going to be taken advantage of. You're going to be hurt. But I'm going to be with you.

You need the world just like the world needs you. And you go, "What? I need the world like I need a rotten tooth." No, you need the world because the world refines you. The world challenges you. Every time you get that rise, every time you get upset, every time you're like, "Oh, I can't believe this world," you need the world so you can learn how to die to yourself more and more. Whatever it is that you can't believe, die to yourself. "Don't you... did you hear?" Actually I didn't hear, but it sounds like you did. Sounds like you need to die to yourself. I probably won't believe it, but it sounds like God's doing a work in your life right now teaching you how to depend, how to trust, and how to navigate a very difficult world in the power of Jesus Christ. Why? To make you more effective with the gospel.

Makes a difference. What kind of church does Jesus want us to be? One filled with compassion for the lost, one that walks in his direction, one that's come to seek and save the lost. So that our... if we did have verbs that describe us, the verbs that would describe us is we too seek and save the lost. That we too are stepping into people's lives, that we too are generous, loving, caring, laying aside all of our preconceived prejudicial opinions that we all have and dying to ourselves, denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus. That's where life is. It's hard, it's tiring, it's draining, and it's fulfilling because it's exactly where God wants you, church.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today as we study through the Bible and learn of God's abounding grace. This is Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Are you interested in hearing this message again? It's easy to do, just visit aboundinggraceradio.com, oneplace.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our pick of the month here in April is Real Worship by Warren Wiersbe. In it, he defines the essence of worship and discusses the key issues surrounding this sometimes controversial topic within the church. We'll send you Real Worship when you give a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call toll-free 877-30-GRACE. Again, we're at 877-30-GRACE. Resources like this are also easy to order through our online store at calvaryco.store. And by the way, thank you for your support. It allows us to bring the teaching of God's word to stations like this every day. We're constantly hearing from folks all over the world that are being blessed and your gifts help to make that possible. You can donate through our website at aboundinggraceradio.com. Here's a question for you: how has Abounding Grace blessed you? We want to hear, and it's easy to share your thoughts and prayer requests at aboundinggraceradio.com. Scroll down to the bottom of our homepage and connect with us. May God richly bless you with his abounding grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.