Big Idea - Sheep and Goats

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Journal Questions:

• Who are the "least of these" in your life, in our community?
• How do you respond to them usually? (be honest)
• Would seeing Jesus in others change how you normally respond?
• In what ways?

Observations:

For some this will be a scary passage - because we too often look past the least and the lost. It's easy, isn't it? But maybe it's better to look at this as a promise - a promise of reward for those who love others. Maybe it's better to read the positive - and look at how we HAVE seen the least and ministered to them...

So - the least in our community? The underemployed and the single moms, the mentally challenged and the addicted. Honestly, I too often don't see them - because I don't look at them and don't look for them. I wait for them to come to me...but that's not Jesus' command, is it? Still, sometimes we get it right, don't we? Rich Mullins wrote a song called "Hard to Get" in which he sings:

Do You who live in radiance

Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin

We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was

Still we do love now and then

So...we get it...but not always. Do you think God understands? Does the love that "covers a multitude of sins" not flow down from the cross into our lives?

How does seeing Jesus in others change how we respond? It SHOULD...but does it?

Scott Krippayne

I Am Jesus

Saw his old weathered fist holding on tight to that brown paper bag
Pressed it up to his lips and took another sip in the rain
He was mumbling words on the edge of the curb with his eyes to the ground
I would've walked on by but I thought I heard him say

I am Jesus
I'm your mother, father
Sister, brother
Your son and daughter
You can pretend you don't hear me
You can say I don't exist
But I am
I am Jesus

I admit right at first I thought he was just some crazy old fool
'Til he carefully shifted his gaze and looked up at me
I recalled an old phrase from back in the days as his desperate eyes sunk in
Something about whatever you do to the least of these - you do to me

Repeat Chorus

There's no way
Could it be
I don't know
Maybe he
Was some sort of homeless angel
With a message just for me

Repeat Chorus

The Big Idea

So this is the inaugural post for Otterbein Church. Best place to start is with what we're pursuing beginning today: The Big Idea:

LIVING THE ADVENTURE!

"Come, Follow Me..." -Jesus

Focusing on the five purposes around which our church is structured, we'll be studying the life of Jesus and applying the Gospel to our lives. We begin with Fellowship and our core value that "Every person in the Brokenstraw Valley matters to God."

Monday: Radical Hospitality

Scripture: Genesis 18:1-8

Hebrews 13:1-6

Journal Questions:

• Abraham opened up his life to three complete strangers: What does radical hospitality look like?
• Abraham (and Sarah) spent hours preparing for their guests: What sacrifices are you willing to make to welcome others?

Observations (from Pastor Bill):

I'm not sure Abraham had a clue at all that it was God by the oaks of Mamre. I think that radical hospitality was just so core to who Abraham was at this point in his life that he opened his home up to them. Even if he had an inkling that these three were something special, Abraham really went far beyond what almost anyone I know would go - not just opening the home and welcoming and offering some refreshment - it's a meal - and not a simple one at that. And he stands while they eat (like some kind of hovering butler, or something...heh). So, they eat first? Does he eat? Does Sarah?

Personal Applications (from Pastor Bill):

Confession: I don't want to do this. Welcoming the stranger is...hard...it's dangerous...doesn't God realize that there are crazy, dangerous people out there? Sigh... I can offer every excuse in the book for not welcoming people into my home - and I have - but I've done the same thing in the church... The guy at Kersey who came four weeks but never came back, the street corner preacher who creeped me out... I had one good success - Bill, who came to Breakthrough and I heard that he's still coming (and, like all good things, I can only take a little credit in that - I did talk to him and shake his hand and welcome him ever time he came - but so did about ten other people - in fact, those ten inspired ME to do it).

And, in the end, there's NO excuse for us as a church to not welcome the stranger in worship and into community. Pastor Steve said yesterday in church that the model for conversion in this post-postmodern age is Belonging (to a group, tribe, community), Receiving (the Gospel, the expectations for belonging), Believing (living a life according to the group core values - for us, the Gospel).

So we welcome - and we keep speaking the truth - the Truth (and the whole Truth) in love and we pray and we disciple.