Apr 2 2017 Jesus Accepted the Unacceptable - Imagine a World where People are Set Free!

Sally: We asked our family: Can we find a group that supports people going through addiction? I contacted the Akron Police dept – and got connected to The Packard Institute here in Akron – it is a different approach to recovery – they are doing amazing work. I got in touch with Spencer at the Recovery House – and we offered to do some volunteer work to partner with them. They had not had an ‘outside family’ helping before – they have a family dinner once/month – they operate like a family – they have jobs, accountability, and have to pay rent. Once we talked, they said we could help. We met with them on a Sunday dinner in January – then in February, our family came and served.

Carl: We prepared the dinner at home – before dinner started – Jack – one of the guys there – was celebrating his 1 year clean/sober anniversary. He was to graduate from the house. Everyone was sharing how much growth he had shown and how much he meant to them – and vice-verse – a display of what can happen when people apply themselves to turning their lives around. For me – being 3 years into my own recovery – I know that the one year mark is poignant. We fed them dinner – and during the dinner – 15 people in this room eating – and one of the guys – John – who had been a volunteer firefighter in NY – and Jon asked John what his take was on the addiction problem in Akron – and what they might do to battle it. This guy had a lot to give – God is bigger than any substance – keep applying God!

Sally: This isn’t something we’d just like to do for one dinner – so we are partnering with them as long as they’d like us to be connected. I am speaking at a recovery workshop next weekend and some will be there to support me – and some will be coming to Easter with us.

Mike - The important part of Carl and Sally’s story – the church can erupt anywhere - not just in these four walls – and it needs to erupt in all kinds of places. Like leaven – that is what He meant - filling the dough- – and it might not be what you expect. Expect the unexpected. It might be staring you in the face.

This is our last week in Revelation. Next week is Palm Sunday and then Easter.

The last church – oftentimes, this is everyone’s favorite – or, at least, people tend to talk about this church (Laodicea) the most.

A little backstory: There is a simple reality that all churches, throughout time, there is a tendency for the church to take on aspects of the surrounding culture. We become like the environment we are around – we tend to conform to those around us. The same is true for all the churches in Revelation – but especially for Laodicea.

Laodicea was a banking center for the Roman Empire. It was a garment manufacturing center – it was a FASHION center – it was the Paris of the Roman Empire! They had a smooth black wool that was highly desirable and highly lucrative. They also had one of the premier medical centers! People would flock to Laodicea to get their eyes healed. It was also a very independent city. They were wealthy enough – they never asked for help from Rome. They were Texas. They would have seceded from the Roman Empire if they could have!

There was one problem – the city had no source of fresh water. So the city had huge aqueducts to pipe water in. Another community had hot springs – and by the time it got down to Laodicea, it was no longer hot. It just wasn’t great water. People would spit it out. It was like drinking really bad well-water.

Rev. 3:14 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 15 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

The church has become like the water supply. Now, there used to be this theory – when you think of hot and cold, you think of being hot for Jesus – but in this culture – hot water was seen as being medicinal. At a banquet – they would serve hot water. Cold water was seen to be refreshing – so it would be served at a banquet too. But they were neither hot nor cold – it was useless – the only thing good about it was to make you throw up. This church – HE is saying – is not refreshing, nor life-giving, nor refreshing to anyone.

I know your works – they may have been ‘doing church’ – but it was of no benefit.

Water that is lukewarm is room temperature is no longer a helpful and welcome contrast – it has adapted to its surroundings – so it is with the citizens of Laodicea, profiting from the trade of the imperial period.

17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

We have need of nothing – they would say – but they did not realize their true condition.

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

You need to buy some gold – and they thought – we have all the gold we want! But Jesus is saying – you need real gold – you have fool’s gold.

You need white garments. They were known for their smooth black wool. They wore the finest clothes in the Empire, but they were naked. You could buy the most expensive clothes and put them on and still be naked.

And salve to anoint your eyes so that you could see again. They were known for their ointment. You think you have that? You don’t have that!

We need to ask ourselves – how have our cultural advancements set us back? Every culture needs to ask this.

Think about our country – we have the most technically advanced medical system in the world – people come from all over the world to places like the Cleveland Clinic – and our healthcare system is a mess.

Social media makes people less sociable! Studies show that those who spend more than two hours/day on social media are unsociable! We put so much trust and hope in our advancements – but they really just pull us back.

19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

This church gets the worst end of it – nothing good to say about it – but Jesus still loves this church – He is reproving and disciplining this church because He loves them. God takes and loves us just where we are. He is happy with that. And He calls us to repentance.

I think sometimes when we think of repentance, we think of telling someone to stop doing something – but the word means something so much more. What it means – to recognize or realize that you have gotten off the path – and knowing this – determining to return to the path. We have gotten off the trail and repenting is saying – how did I get here?

I don’t remember why we did this – but we were out hiking – and we thought there might be a good picture opportunity – and to get back – we went the wrong way. We weren’t far off the path – but there is this fear – this moment of panic – and that is what repentance is. When you realize – I am not being the way Jesus wants me to be in this situation. Well, repent! Get back on the path! It is not REPENT! It is – hey, you’ve gotten off the path here – you are heading for a cliff – come back to the trail. We have this picture of a mean Jesus guy telling people to knock it off – but look what is next…

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus isn’t using a battering ram. He just knocks. When we get off the path, Jesus is knocking at the door - If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

When you repent – we’ll dine together. If you open the door – I will come in and we will have fellowship together. This is called Table Fellowship in the Ancient World. Their view of eating is so much different from ours. We go out for business lunches where deals are made. Or a meal is a place to get to know another person. There is a new dating app thing – “It’s just lunch” – where people have gotten sick of being lied to on the dating websites – they’d rather be lied to in person – so they go to this thing and get lunch.

But in the Ancient World – to dine together was to share your life together. Our meals can be very casual and guarded. For them, it was the opening of a life completely to another.

“The imagery of dining here in Revelation in this passage stems from the near-Eastern practice of table fellowship. To share a meal was to share a life. When people were estranged, this opened the door to reconciliation. Even everyday mealtimes were highly complex events in which social values, boundaries, statuses, and hierarchies were reinforced.”

This is why Jesus talked about where to sit and not sit. People would put the most important people in special spots… - he wasn’t just saying – Be humble! He was saying – that’s how it works!

“Jesus broke many of those boundaries by sharing meals with sinners in order to tell the religious establishment that in God’s kingdom, all were welcome not on the grounds of acceptability but the response to God’s call.”

Jesus always ate with the unacceptable. He welcomed in the unacceptable. And showed himself to be a friend of sinners.

On Good Friday – we are going to do this. We are going to do something a little different – we are going to have a communion meal together. It won’t be dinner. If you are hungry – like Paul says 0- Eat before you come. Bread/hummus/grape juice – NOT DINNER – this time together to eat together and have communion together. More from a symbolic meaningful understanding of what was taking place.

We will have a sign-up sheet next week.

21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

So the question in closing – what is the Spirit saying to the churches today through all this?

Walter Rugerman – “A prophetic word is speech that interrupts the common assumptions of a dominant culture”

We need a prophetic word. The church, first to our culture. When we think of the common assumptions – we need to live a life that interrupts the greed, immorality and power grabbing – we need to enter into that with a word and a lifestyle that says – STOP! Wait a minute! What we assume, because we have been brought up with it – MAYBE there is something wrong with it – something has gone astray.

When Jesus is talking to the churches – He does this in two ways. The first problem – the churches have begun to mirror the surrounding culture. – and that is true today. IN so many ways – churches – and not just THOSE churches – all churches – we think of the churches we don’t agree with as having conformed – but all of us.

“It summons us to ask – how do our country’s ideologies match up with the Israelite prophets, Jesus’ teaching, and John’s critique of the cultural context?

How does this measure up in all areas – is that what Jesus would say – Is that how He would act? That is what it means to be a prophet.

“What values have we as Christians and churches internalized that run counter to the culture of God… to setting the kingdom of God first.

The second way God’s prophetic word comes to us – in each church – there are things about the dominant culture that need a prophetic word spoken to it. There are things – that have nothing to do with the outside culture – and everything to do with the culture of the Christians – that need to be interrupted by a prophetic word. This has always been true. The church has always believed things that 200 years from now – the church asks – why did we ever believe that?

But what happens – we think – they believed that back then – we don’t believe that now! But 200 years from now – they will say – we were just as off.

When we look back and see that they were for slavery – we think – Oh my! But don’t think that there aren’t things like that that Christians in general don’t believe today.

Revelation says – Change NOW! Don’t wait 300 years!

We live in a time where people are really angry – You see it everywhere. It has infected the church. This anger has seeped into the church. We think it is righteous anger.

I heard this on another podcast – I’ll clean it up a bit: Just because you are p.o.’d does not mean you are a prophet – it just means you are p.o.’d. Just because you are ticked off – it doesn’t mean you are prophet – deal with the anger! Last week we talked about a gentle nonconformity to evil. There is so little patience and gentleness in our world and we need to exhibit that – we need to be the nonangry people right now. That is the problem

Cindy saw a bumper sticker – Hillary (or Donald) made me lose all my friends.

There is anger deep in the souls of America – and we as a church have the opportunity to be different.

Jesus turned over the tables. We look at that and say – See! But he did that ONCE – so you get one shot!

What is needed – not just someone saying – you’re wrong – thinking that will get them to change. Yes, He tells them to repent – but what is most important – we need a new narrative – a different story than what is being told in the world. A counter-narrative. Think of MLK – if he had simply said – Black children don’t have the same privileges – it wouldn’t have done much – instead, he painted a picture – I have a dream… He told a story of what it might look like – and the impact was POWERFUL.

We have an incredible story to tell. Imagine a world where there is no Jew or Greek or White or Black or Poor or Rich – like Paul said.

In the kingdom of God, the poor will be rich – Jesus said – The kingdom of God is like… Blessed are the meek – they shall inherit the earth. Imagine a world where the last is first! Where the poor are rich! Where those who have been put out are brought in. We need to say the same. Imagine a world where people don’t yell at one another – where they love and forgive one another. Where people who are addicted are being healed and those with broken marriages are being restored. IMAGINE! That is what people need to hear.