A Time of Learning

 

I took the boys to this park on the edge of Puget Sound this week.  While there you have great views of the Naval Base and can hear sea lions barking in the background!

 

I wrestle each week with what to post here on the blog.  It isn't that I have to search long and hard to find things that God is doing here in Everett.  He moves every day and is quite active here, both in our hearts and in the hearts of people around us.  The challenge is that there are things that go on behind the scenes that sometimes are personal to people around us because the circumstance deals directly with their life.  I don't ever want this to become a place where we trumpet good deeds being done in an effort to make us look good.  That's popular in this age we live in but is totally inappropriate as a follower of Jesus.  We are commanded to not "do your good deeds publically, to be admired by others..." (Matthew 6:1), so while many great things have happened this week, because of their personal nature with people in our church they won't be posted here.  However, please join us in praising God that He is moving in lives here in Everett, and they are changing for the better!  Only He can do that.

I can focus instead on a great learning experience from Saturday.  A group of us from EFC went down to Renton to experience a training event titled "When Helping Hurts", which is based upon a wonderful book of the same title.  The basic premise of the training is that the world and the church don't do a good job of helping the poor because we are only treating symptoms of a much deeper problem.  We unfortunately have experienced this firsthand here.  Consider the homeless for a second:  many of them request money but when money is provided it only goes to alcohol or drugs.  The alcohol and drugs are often their "medication" to treat the deep sense of aloneness and spiritual emptiness that they feel.  When many people learn this lesson the hard way, their response is usually to back away from the homeless and stop giving anything because, after all, they won't use the resources the right way.  But doing that is also wrong, because the problem still hasn't been addressed.  On top of that, to back away in horror or disgust is to lack love for that person.

We learned to instead view the problem as a person being disconnected from God, themself, other people, and the community.  But before we get to this point, we have to view every human being in the world as being poor.  You might argue with this point, especially if you've heard me teach, by reminding me that you yourself aren't poor.  Economically you probably are not since all of America is in the richest 20% of the world population.  But how about spiritually?  Like it or not, you and I are spiritually broken people.  While we may attempt to know God and become like him, we still have this thing called sin which, no matter what, is a disease that persists in our bodies until the day we die.  So in light of this perspective, are you poor?

Or maybe you still don't consider yourself spiritually poor.  Are you poor in relationship with the rest of creation?  We were commanded by Jesus to:

John 13:34-35
³⁴ So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. ³⁵ Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

And yet we have a global church that isn't meeting the needs of orphans, widows, or the poor.   You are right in thinking that some in the church are doing these things, but not many in proportion to people who regularly attend.  Jesus also said that our neighbor is everyone around us (Luke 10:25-37), and yet how many of us can name a single thing we have done to show love to someone who is NOT in our family or group of friends.  Can you think of any recent examples in your own life?

Matthew 5:46-47  

46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[s] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 
If we are all poor, then we are in this journey toward Jesus together.  We can walk alongside someone else who is poor and lead them toward Christ through discipleship.  This also was a command of Jesus.  Instead of giving money away, we can find ways to empower them to make lasting change in their lives, through our love for them.  However we must remember that a person who is barely surviving through 30 years of a broken life will not change overnight, just as you and I haven't changed overnight.  It may take years and a lot of frustration and persistence, but even if it does, is there any better way to demonstrate the love of Jesus to someone?  Isn't He doing that very same thing to you?

Our team is challenged with this new perspective, and I believe that the Lord brought this training to us at just the perfect time.  We are praying and considering His vision for our ministry in Everett, and what better way to do that than to constantly consider the best way to "love our neighbor as ourself"?  The more I read the words of Jesus the more I see that He calls us to give our lives away in love to Him and to others.  Our job now is to figure out what that looks like in our specific neighborhood and context.  I am convinced the Lord will show this to us.  Please join us in prayer as we seek the Lord's vision for this new ministry.

Further Information

If you are interested in this new way of thinking about loving those around you, I would encourage you to listen to my recent sermon on this very topic.  You can access it by clicking on the Sermon Recordings tab at the top of this blog.  I believe the Lord spoke in a fresh way through this lesson, and I personally learned a lot in just putting it together.

Sundown over the Port of Everett with the Naval Base in the background.