Transcript
We're talking about being the light of the world, living the gospel of Jesus Christ in your neighborhood. And we've talked about getting out of the Christian ghetto. We've talked about seeing people as people, treating the people that you regularly come across in your life as people.
Engagement in My Community
But I want to talk about two further things: engagement in my community and engagement in community as an opportunity to incarnate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Engagement means this. I want to look for opportunities to be involved. Here's some opportunities.
Join your neighborhood association. If you have a neighborhood association that's a regular gathering of neighborhood people about concerns and projects for the neighborhood. It's a wonderful opportunity for you to engage in people.
Join the Little League. Become a little league supporter or a little league coach. Be involved with your YMCA boys club, your community center. Look for those regular gatherings of people in your neighborhood that you can be involved in. They can get to know you. They can get to know what you're about.
Second means of engagement is your home is a phenomenal resource for ministry. Make your home the most hospitable home in your neighborhood. Invite kids in your neighborhood to your home. Invite families for a cookout. Be known for your hospitality. What often happens is once people feel comfortable, they begin to tell their story and as begin to tell their story, you have wonderful opportunities for the gospel.
Jesus Makes His Invisible Love Visible
Here's what I want you to think about. Jesus, makes His visible love invisible by sending people to love people who need love. Let me say that again. Jesus makes His invisible love visible by sending His people of love to people who need love.
As you're engaging, as you're being hospitable, ask yourself the question, "Where am I in contact with people? Who are the people that need love, that need to know and understand the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how can I visibly represent that love?"
Maybe that's the older lady down the street who has gotten to the point where yard work is hard for her. I'm going to marshal my family to do yard work for her and ask my wife to make a loaf of banana bread to take to her as we do the yard work.
Maybe it's a kid down the street that seems like a loner and we're going to show him parental love. We're going to invite him in our family and get him involved with some of our activities. Maybe it's a sick person who can't get out very much. Maybe it's a family that's under stress about ready to explode that we can welcome into our family and love them and hear them and encourage them.
Opportunities Right in Front of My Face
What are the opportunities to incarnate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that are right in front of my face? You see, if you don't see people as people, if you aren't engaged in your community, if you are not being hospitable, you probably won't have many opportunities to incarnate the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, why is that important to do? Because His love is the most powerful force of change in the universe. If God were not a God of love, the whole story of the world would be different. You can be part of His agenda of love. There are people around you everyday that need love and will respond to that love. And as they respond to that love, they're having the question in mind, "Why has this person loved me the way they've loved me," and then you can talk about the beautiful story of Jesus.
