Engage

The focus of the church is to share the gospel, which is the good news that God covers all of us with extreme love. Jesus, God’s own son was willing to sacrifice himself to save us from ourselves and our sin. You would think that this good news would be easy to share with others. However, I know that I can get it wrong, by thinking it is about just sharing knowledge.

Engagement is an active work, and is about attracting and holding the attention of someone. The mission of the church is to attract and hold people in the community of faith that is built on the character of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

We live in a world that is a hostile environment for the disciples of Jesus. We live in a caustic, corrosive culture that undermines faith and commitment. The prince of this world – Satan – does everything in his power to diminish the impact of the church, and is bent on destroying it. We need to be resilient disciples of Jesus. Resiliency is not just about hanging in there, it is about responding to Jesus’ love and redirecting that love to others. To engage people, we need to demonstrate God’s incredible love to others.

We can make the mistake of measuring our success as a church by the numbers that turn up on Sabbath morning. There is something exciting about being in a church full of people who are focused on worshiping God. But what if all we do is turn up on Sabbath morning? What if our faith is only about what happens in those few hours? Turning up can be a good starting point, but is that all there is to being a disciple of Jesus?

The inclination to limit faith to biblical knowledge is an easy trap to fall into. A biblical based faith is important, but a true biblical faith also impacts our hearts. The story of Jesus coming and dying for us is one that touches our hearts. Jesus told stories that showed God’s heart for people. God has a heart for lost people. God is like a shepherd searching for the lost sheep. God is like the woman who turns her house upside down, looking for the lost coin. God is the Father who is looking in the distance with a heart of love for his lost son to return home. The Father sees his son at a distance and runs flat out to embrace him with extravagant love.

Jesus himself spent time with people who were a long way from God so that they could know that He wants them home with Him. The Holy Spirit is sent to stir us up to engage with people and to demonstrate the love of God. We are called to share our story and Jesus’s story – the gospel. Jesus himself spent a lot of time ministering to people – looking for sick people not healthy – for sinners not the righteous. He sought out people who knew they needed God’s mercy.

Our world needs an extraordinary demonstration of the love of God, and we are called to do this in our homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces or wherever we find ourselves. The people in our lives need to see what the love of God looks like. There is a quote from Steps to Christ which reminds me that faith is what happens in the everyday things of life as seen in Jesus own life.

Most of our Saviour’s life on earth was spent working in a carpenter’s shop in Nazareth. Jesus was as faithfully doing His Father’s work while labouring in the shop as when He was healing the sick. Working as a carpenter was as much His duty as quieting the stormy waves of Galilee.

God does not expect people to worry about success. They do not need to feel, or know, that they are doing great work. If they quietly and faithfully do the work God has given them, their lives will not be wasted.

Imagine disciples of Jesus humbly demonstrating acts of generous love right where they work and live. Their actions and words of encouragement touch hearts and lives. They may never know the impact of what they do, but they just keep doing what Jesus asks them to do without great fanfare. God will bless you as you show generous love right where you are.