Sunday November 18, 2007

Find the Missing
2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2

I. Introduction

Every year I am asked by the leaders of the Free Methodist Church to emphasize and renew our purpose to reach out
to those who do not know Jesus.

They call this initiative “One More Soul.”

While I deeply appreciate the vision of the church and follow the suggestion to make outreach an emphasis for one month,
I hope that you are aware of our constant emphasis on reaching out to our community and the people we work with.

In light of that, I asked the question two weeks ago, “If I call myself a Christian, does that mean I have to follow Jesus?”

How does following Jesus relate to reaching out to others?

To follow Jesus is to do what He did – what did He do?

He “came to seek out and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, NRSV)

We should also be committed to doing the same.

Today, I have another question – how does God reach people today?

II. Find the Missing

I want you to think for a moment – how many people at your work are enjoying a personal relationship with God?

How about those in your family?

I know it is not a popular way to describe others, but the truth is that those who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ are lost – they are trying to find their way, but do not even know where they are going.

Have you ever been lost? How did you feel?

Normally, I have a pretty good sense of direction. I have never gone down the wrong trail and have always been able
to find my way back to camp when I have been out in the wilderness.

But one day I did get lost [story of trying to find my brother’s house as I was going to a Mariners game and the impact that had not only on me, but on Jessica and Rebecca].

Jesus saw the people as “sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). They appeared lost. They were without
adequate protection.

When sheep are lost they are vulnerable to the elements, wild animals and thieves.

Do you remember the tragic situation with the Kim family last winter? They took a wrong turn and became stranded in the snow on a remote road in Southern Oregon. After nine days of waiting in the car and eating meager amounts of food, James Kim set out in a heroic effort to save his family. Sadly, he never made it – he was found frozen to death two days after searchers rescued his wife and two daughters.

Being lost often has serious consequences, and being lost spiritually has the direst consequences of all.

When someone is lost here in Oregon there is a massive amount of time, energy and resources expended in an effort
to save them.

But how much time, energy and resources are we expending to find those who are missing spiritually?

Do we care?

We could say that it is up to God to find those who are lost, but what do the Scriptures teach us?

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since
God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake
he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6:1 As we
work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, ‘At an
acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2, NRSV)

Now you might say that Paul was speaking of himself and those who were working with him, and therefore it is wrong
to apply this to all Christians.

But the Scriptures clearly teach us that God always uses people to do His work here on the earth.

   • To create a holy nation, God selected Abraham.
   • To preserve righteousness on the earth, God chose Noah and an ark.
   • To bring deliverance to God’s people from the Philistines, God sought out a shepherd boy by the name of David.
   • To bring revival to wicked Nineveh, God chased down a reluctant prophet by the name of Jonah.
   • To bring Jesus as Savior to the world, God found willing servants in a carpenter called Joseph and a
     teenager named Mary.
   • To 5,000 hungry men, Jesus told the disciples to seat the people and asked a little boy to give up his five
     loaves and two fish.

Could God have done these miracles in any other way – without human participation? Of course! But, He chose not to.

The point – God uses people to reach people. The missing will never be found until we become willing participants in God’s plan to redeem the world.

Having said this, however, I suspect that the need today is not to convince you of your responsibility – I think most, if not all, of us would agree that God uses people to reach people.

Perhaps there are other issues that hold us back in our desire to share the Good News with others.

Let’s look quickly at two issues I think hinder our efforts more than any other.

A. Our own sense of inadequacy

This manifests itself in a number of ways, but the bottom line is that we just don’t think we have what it takes.

Listen to the responses of Moses when God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’”
(Exodus 3:11, NRSV)

  • This reflects the common feeling that we are not worthy to “find the missing” on behalf of God.

“But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?’” (Exodus 3:13, NRSV)

  • This reflects the common misconception that we do not know enough.

But thank God we do not need a PhD to simply share our story with others.

“But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”
(Exodus 4:1, NRSV)

  • This reflects the common fear of rejection.

“But Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’” (Exodus 4:10, NRSV)

• This reflects the common feeling that we are not gifted.

Listen, Moses was probably one of the most incredible men that ever lived, but he felt totally inadequate for the job.

The point is that we all feel inadequate and in many respects we are inadequate, but what is God’s response to
our inadequacy?

“I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:12, NRSV)

Enough said.

B. We get sidetracked by a lack of resources.

When Jesus wanted to feed five thousand hungry men, what was the response of the disciples?

“Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
(John 6:7, NRSV)

Often, we are too focused on our lack of resources – we do not have enough money to run this program or hire someone to head up a certain ministry.

God does not need our money and programs to find the missing – He needs people who are willing to give whatever it is they have and watch God do the rest.

III. Application

How do we find the missing?

We find the missing when we understand that we are working together with God.

A. We find the missing when we truly believe that God not only commands us to go, but also promises to be with us.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NRSV)

B. We find the missing when we understand that God will use whatever we surrender to Him.

When Moses expressed his own hesitancy to do what God was asking, all he had was a shepherd’s staff.

When he was willing to let go of that staff by dropping it to the ground, God was able to do a miracle.

When Jesus fed the five thousand, the little boy only had five small barley loaves and two small fish. The little boy had to give his lunch to Jesus, but then he witnessed a miracle.

We may protest that we don’t have enough talents. We may politely suggest that God doesn’t know what He is talking about in inviting us to share in fulfilling His redemptive plan.

God is not nearly as interested in our assets as He is our availability.

Sufficiency is not what we bring; we surrender our inadequacies, He makes us adequate. When we surrender our
liabilities, God can turn them into assets.

Finding the missing may lead you to feel like the trapeze artist who must let go to accomplish the feat. He or she can’t hold on while reaching for the next bar. It involves risk. It opens the possibility for failure as well as the possibility for success.

What risk do you need to take to reach out to someone who is missing? Who is waiting for us to let go of the bar of inadequacy, fear of failure and the lack of resources?

How can we be more intentional about seeking the missing?

I thank God for the man who let go of the bar and shared Jesus with me. Because of his cooperation with God, I have come to enjoy the blessing of being in right relationship with God.

God uses people to reach people. God uses what we surrender to Him. Is there something we need to surrender to God
so He can use us more effectively in bringing the missing into the family of God?