ONEFAMILY Outreach

ONEFamily Outreach exists to "Connect Kids to Community and Communities to Kids."

Have you considered having a mission week for your church? This is one of my favorite "in-depth" ways of reaching out with the Great News of Jesus Christ. Activities can include:

Interactive and participative praise concerts for children, youth, and families;
Morning staff studies on Servant Leadership
Soup lunches for the community with a gospel-study focusing on our scriptural call to justice;
In-service for your volunteers or teachers on reaching today's youth and families with the vibrant, living, message of Jesus Christ;
Evening parent seminar on "Significant Conversations: The 21-conversations you want to have with your child before they leave home";
Local networking with other groups to talk about starting a "Character-Based Mentoring Program" for at-risk youth in your area;
Humorous and thought-provoking assembly for local schools (secular or religious).

ONEFamily Outreach is primarily supported by trainings, workshops, retreats and concerts.

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Sheep without a Shepherd

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Proper 11B

July 20, 2003

Mark 6:30-34

[Mk 6:30] The apostles *gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. [31] And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) [32] They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

[33] The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. [34] When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. (NAS)

Mark 6:53-56

[Mk 6:53] When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. [54] When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, [55] and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. [56] Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured. (NAS)

Mark 6:30-32

All that they had done and taught

I can hardly wait for the day when we will be able to share face to face with Jesus. When we—like the Apostles—can tell him “all that we’ve done [GSN4160 poieo] and all that we've taught [GSN1321 didasko].” Yet, until those days, Christ has given us the church in which to share “all that we've done and all that we've taught.”

Many churches have strayed from this vital function. Attendees are often entertained by video displays and emotionalism or they observe ritual with little or no participation. Few are rarely asked; “Where did you find Christ this week?” Or, “Where did you accompany Christ this week?”

Wouldn’t it be interesting if our churches initiated testing at the end of each week? What if we were asked to report like the Apostles did to Jesus in Mark 6:12-13: [Mk 6:12] “They went out and preached that men should repent. [13] And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.”

Perhaps we fear doing this because we are concerned we would lose members—even Pastors—if we held people accountable to Christ’s commission. Yet, at some point, spiritual leaders must ask themselves if they are seeking to appease members or disciple apostles (a word which translates into “the sent away”). Do we prepare people to be sent away if we do not also demand that they put into practice what they are learning?

In the end, Christ demands fruit of us and spiritual leaders are held to a higher standard than others. We are called—not only to produce fruit—but to see that we produce fruit trees! We need to ask a legitimate accounting of those whom God sends us. What have they done and taught?

As Christian leaders, we must remember that our Lord was harshest on the trees that didn’t produce fruit and the shepherds that disregarded their sheep:

Matthew 21:19

[Mt 21:19] Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. (NAS)

Christian leaders are held to a higher degree of accountability. If our sheep are lost or our trees are not producing fruit, then we will be held accountable.

James 3:1

[James 3:1] Let not many {of you} become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment. (NAS)

Come away by yourselves

After incredible experiences of performing miracles and teaching about Christ all around the city of Nazareth (indeed everywhere but Nazareth), the disciple’s return to Jesus charged with new enthusiasm. They experienced the power of God alive in their words and works! There is really nothing like seeing a person you have mentored return from a task with that light burning in their face—no matter what their age or situation in life. I have seen it occur in the faces of street youth I have worked with and hardened criminals who took the Gospel to their cellmates. The experience that “God can use even me!” is an awesome revelation for each of us.

No doubt the apostles wanted to rush out to “do and teach” even more. Yet, Jesus reels them back in for a period of seclusion and rest. We might have thought Christ was nuts. His apostles are on a roll, sales are hot, “get it while you can!”

Yet, Jesus literally tells his disciples; “We must commit ourselves [GSN2596 kata—cast ourselves aside] to solitude [GSN2398 idios—to specifically set something aside] for rest [GSN373 anapano—literally, a time to refrain from action].”

There are a couple of very important lessons we can learn from this:

1) Jesus was teaching balance to his disciples. He wanted them to learn to balance reaching out to God’s people with reaching inward to God’s sustaining power. For power without purpose is violence.

Often, we can be so focused on reaching out that we forget that God doesn’t want our works; he wants our relationship. Our works are essential only because they deepen our love and commitment to God. But, God does not love us for what we do; he loves us for trusting him. When we go out to accomplish the miraculous or teach the Gospel we can become increasingly reliant on God—but only if God is at the center of our actions. We should not be surprised if Christ dries up our fruit and our hearts if we do not center our outreach on him.

2) Jesus was not focused on the miracles the apostles were doing as much as he was committed to showing them a) how to be in relationship with God and b) how to lead others into that relationship as well. Jesus was not into the miraculous to impress others; he was focused on teaching his disciples to have a living and breathing faith. If Jesus had been focused on earthly gain—popularity, wealth, or worldly power—he would have given a pep talk to the Apostles and told them to capture market share before “the other guy blinks.” However, the kingdom of Christ was not of this world and our Lord knew he had a short time to build a lasting church. Jesus did not focus on entertaining his followers but on deepening their dependence on God. His knew that his time was limited—as is ours.

Mark 6:33-34

Ran there together on foot

Mark seems to design the stories of this chapter to present us with four varying responses to Jesus and four varying responses by Jesus.

1) The people of Nazareth

The people of Nazareth saw Jesus as a carpenter’s son; they saw him as “one of them.” Treating Jesus with familiarity they missed the potential of the Savior among them. As long as we see Jesus as “just one of us” we will never know the resurrected Christ who died for our salvation.

2) Herod Antipas

Herod’s eyes were clouded with the guilt of John the Baptist’s blood. He could not see past the cloud of his sin so he saw Jesus as the spirit of John in another man’s body. Unless we seek forgiveness the life of Christ will only remind us of our sin.

3) The crowd

The crowd was confused until they saw the miraculous Jesus. At that point, they followed after this wandering Rabbi to alleviate their earthly suffering. As a result, they missed Christ’s most important purpose; the Savior who would die for our sins.

Instead of following Jesus, they filled their stomachs or healed their leprosy and returned to meaningless lives. We only get a piece of Jesus if we just seek him to alleviate our “bad times.” We miss the fullness of Jesus when we treat Jesus as a heavenly “honey-do”; “Jesus do this, Jesus do that.” This is exactly what Paul refers to when he tells the Hebrew Church that they are still babies in Christ:

Hebrews 5:12-14

[Heb 5:12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. [13] For everyone who partakes {only} of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. [14] But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (NAS)

When we turn to Jesus only to meet our needs we completely miss the Jesus who can give us incredible purpose and power and radically change the humdrum of our lives.

4) The Apostles

The Apostles saw Jesus as their Rabbi (master and teacher) and gave up everything to follow him. In response, Jesus gave everything to them. They received salvation, power and the authority to preach, teach and heal. At first, they too were confused about who Jesus was: prophet or messiah. But, as they dedicated their lives to him, he revealed himself to them. Soon, they would come to know that the life-changing power of Christ was not merely to be observed; but absorbed. Unlike the people of Nazareth, who only saw the human Jesus, unlike Herod, who only tolerated Jesus because of his guilty past, and unlike the crowd, who only sought to take from Jesus; the Apostles gave everything to follow Jesus. In return, they received the complete Jesus, the divine Jesus, the forgiving Jesus, the miraculous Jesus, but even more, the Jesus who would live within them. When we leave behind our life for his, he moves into us.

Sheep without a shepherd

How is it that the people of Israel—the very children of God—were so completely lost? Were they not the chosen? Did God not set them aside solely as his people?

“Sheep without a shepherd,” is an interesting term. The word, “without” may seem obvious to us but it has a very complex background. Mark actually uses two words for without: Me [GSN3361] and Echo [GSP2192]. Together, these words mean; “to have no ability or knowledge.” In today’s vernacular we might say the people were “clueless” about God.

Yet Jesus does not blame them; he feels compassion [GSN4697 splagchnizomai] for them. It literally means that his stomach hurt or “his bowels turned to water” in pain for them. In his eyes, they are sheep [4263b probaton] without a shepherd (or pastor) [GSN4166 poimen]. The image I get when I read this description is of the many street orphans I have seen begging on the streets of Mexico City. They were completely lost, with vacant stares, acting skittish and living with a gnawing emptiness of hunger; both for food and hope.

Where were their leaders, their shepherds? Where were those who could organize, direct, or give vision to the lost sheep of Israel?

We know where Herod was. He was too involved in playing politics and pandering to his own lusts to care about his people. But, where were the priests, the anointed of God?

It is consistently the condemnation by the prophets that the priests of Israel become too enamored with ritual and theology and forgot relationships. They disdained the needy and blamed the poor for their own plight. When the long-awaited Messiah finally arrived they were too full of their own roles to recognize his.

Have our leaders changed significantly? Can we—as Christian leaders—claim to be accused of being a “mouthpiece for the hungry” and “shepherds of the lost?” Does our “shepherding the lost” translate into feeding the hungry and embracing the desolate. Is our preaching accentuated by a love-feast for the hungry and weary?

The fullness of Jesus’ words were that they translated into food for the hungry, healing for the sick, and hope for the lost masses. We are told to measure our leadership by the fulfillment of these actions.

Mark 6:53-56

They came to land at Gennesaret

Jesus and the disciples had been headed for Bethsaida when the evening’s storm blew them to Gennesaret instead. Notice our Lord’s response. He does not tell the Apostles to set out to sea and try again. Instead, he disembarks and begins to minister to the people around him.

Christ’s response is to see the storm as God’s will and to minister appropriately wherever he lands.

How do I respond when my day is blown off course? Do I respond to daily (or even major life-changing) “inconveniences” by looking for God’s purposes or do I become angry and frustrated at the “interruption” of my plans and purposes?

I have found that the higher my personal agenda; the less I am able to see God’s purpose in my daily “interruptions.” Yet, I have also found that when make myself available to “Deus Interruptus,” incredible and miraculous things frequently happen.

Have you ever considered beginning your day by “giving God permission to alter your agenda at any moment and any time?

“Dearest God, feel free to interrupt my agenda today with yours at anytime or in any place.”

Just touch the fringe of His cloak

Why touch the fringe of the Lord’s garment when he longs to give you his complete love?

So many people just turned to Jesus because he could fill their stomachs or heal their physical maladies. That’s like a businessman going to church merely for the professional connections. Meeting your physical needs is the least common denominator for experiencing faith. It is akin to domesticating God; treating him like a card tick you call upon to entertain friends and relatives. This is not only offensive to God, but such a shallow approach to the Savior will not result in either joy or salvation.

Christ calls us to a deeper discipleship; a radical response to his radical love. To love Jesus is to leave everything behind and follow him. We cannot expect to experience salvation just because we go to church on Sunday or display a bronze fish symbol on the back of an SUV. We may call him, “Lord,” but he wants us to act in accordance with that statement: [Mt 25:41] “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’” (NAS)

If someone is our Lord, he owns our lives. We possess nothing, every goodness flows from him, and every action is centered in him, we should everything in order to glorify his name. He has the right to take whatever we have at any given moment. Of course, we know that our Savior is our loving Lord—anything that he places in our life is truly for our salvation and ultimate joy.

Matthew 7:9-11

[Matt 7:9] “Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? [10] “Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? [11] “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (NAS)

Salvation lies beyond calling upon Jesus to meet my needs; it is living each day seeking nothing but to fulfill his mission.

Luke 4:18-19

18 ”THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

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