Sunday Review 9/27

It’s apparent to me that we’re losing some faces in the crowd. You’ve seen it too, haven’t you? Is it discouraging you? Are you worried about it? Do you have a thought or two or three as to why it’s happening? Let’s go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room, or in this case, that may not be in the room.

Attendance is down a bit, yes. But I’d like to encourage you with a couple of cliché reasons as to why. First, whenever a church is in transition, such as we are at Plum Creek, this kind of thing often happens. Second, we’re getting into that time of year where farmers are busy, and we have a large population of farmers, so that’s something to consider as well.

Here’s the thing, though. What it all comes down to is, we can’t let ourselves be distracted by things like this. No matter what happens, as a church, we need to be focused on the mission that God has called us to. I do want to encourage you to join me in reaching out to our missing brothers and sisters, but at the end of the day, we have to be focused on Christ’s mission of evangelism.

Last Sunday we talked about Jesus’ eating with tax collectors and sinners. We talked about how the Pharisees were enraged by this. We also talked about the fact that Jesus pointed out to these, the religious elite, that he hadn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinners. It’s not the healthy people who need a doctor, Jesus reminded them, but the sick.

I picked up a book by a pastor who I highly respect named Tim Harlow. He writes about this passage, and suggests that what Jesus was really saying was:

“I’m letting you know up front that my goal isn’t to have holy little people that live in a little box and get everything right all the time. If that was what I wanted I would just take you all to heaven right now. But this is not heaven. This is earth. It’s messy here, but we’re finding sinners and getting them ready for heaven, and we do that by sitting down and eating with them, just as they are. Sick and messy. If you’re good with that – pull up a chair and join me.” Tim Harlow’s Life on Mission

I gotta tell you, I really like that quote. I really like that mission. I really like that Tim puts it so clearly, so plainly, and so well.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I don’t care that we have people who are wandering. I’m saying that at all. What I AM saying, is that we have a mission to do. And I believe if we stick to it and do it, and we don’t let anything distract us from it, God will take care of us.

We have nothing to fear, Plum Creek. We only have work to do.