Reach Out...Helping Others 1John 3:16-20 7-12-09

Sermon 7-12-09 reach out- helping others scripture 1 jn 3:16-20
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

What is the Christian faith?
A relationship with God thru Jesus Christ
that translates into a life that gives itself away in the name of and spirit of christ.

We have been taught that there is a danger in works righteousness.
And there is.

What we have not been taught is that there is a danger in knowledge only spirituality.
We were taught to believe in Jesus, go to church, read the bible, and have daily devotions. No one ever told me that if we stopped there, we run the risk in living a life of faith that is still self centered.
My money, my car, my house, my blessings, my stuff, my time, my God at my convenience

While avoiding works righteousness, I fear that we have created a culture of Christians in America
That excuse not helping the poor
That have forgotten about the hungry in Africa and KC
That drive by the homeless, the very ones that exemplify “the least of these”

Many American Christians dismiss the notion of stewardship
We choose to use our resources as we see fit
We See others as we choose instead of seeing them as God sees them

We have driven away an entire generation of Americans by trying to tell them the gospel story without the accompanying actions of love.

There is no witness with out action.

Maslow’s higherarchy of needs
Physiological Needs
the most basic needs - water, air, food, and sleep- all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.

Security Needs
Examples of security needs include a desire for steady employment, health insurance, safe neighborhoods, and shelter from the environment.

Social Needs
These include needs for belonging, love, and affection. friendships, romance, families -involvement in social, community or religious groups.

Esteem Needs
things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment.

Self-actualizing Needs
Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their potential

Where does the verbal message of the gospel fit?
It hits the three top levels, but not level one…..
We cant speak to them if we don’t feed them

What is the evidence of scripture
What do we see in the life of jesus?

Jn 13 - Washing feet
They were talking about who was great…jesus washed feet

Mt. 14 story of Loaves and fishes- feeding the 5,000
Jesus healed many. Dinner time came. The disciples wanted to send them away
Jesus said, no, we are going to feed them

Mark 9 -a cup of cold water 33-37 and 41
33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." 36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." ………41I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

Luke 10- Good Samaritan- the religious people pass by
Show the video - Good sam version for 2009

Mt 25- I was in prison and you visited me. I was hungry and you fed me
doesn’t ask how they got hungry or in prison….just that you fed me.
Mt 25 version for 2009
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. 42For you saw me hungry on the corner with a sign but kept your window rolled up., I was thirsty under the bridge and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a strange new neighbor and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and your closets were full of things that you did not wear, but you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison at the Jackson County detention center, 1300 Cherry, KCMO and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty on a corner or a stranger in our neighborhood or needing clothes or sick or in prison in Kansas City, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
James = faith w/o works
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

There is no witness without action

quotes
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Quotes on Sacrifice
Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

St francis………- Preach the gospel. Use words if needed.

Conclusion - We have forgotten who we are/ who we were
story reported in the New York Times about a female commuter who suffered a seizure during the New York rush hour. While hundreds of commuters streamed by, it was only the homeless, living in the city's bus terminal, who showed concern and compassion. It was the homeless who put their hats, scarves and gloves under the woman's head. It was the homeless who wiped her face. It was the homeless who watched over her while one of them got a police officer to radio for help. The title of this newspaper report? None But the Homeless Stopped: None But the Homeless Helped.-New York Times, 3 January 1990,

Do you remember a time in your life when you didn’t have money for food.
When you couldn’t go anywhere because you needed your gas to go to work

reaching out begins with a commitment to help those less fortunate

prayer of st francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy. grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.