Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical information.
The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Sanctuary. It's great to have you with us as always.
This week we're going to take a short break from our Sancturian series.
And the reason being is there's something that's been pressing on me.
And you know, when the Lord puts something on your heart, it's for a reason.
And what we're looking at today is something that the body of Christ unfortunately gets wrong on an all too regular basis.
And it's something that we can easily correct course on.
And really it has to do with how people are instructed to live.
And not just live, but who they associate and interact with.
You see, so many churches get things wrong when they tell people to only hang around with other Christians, with other believers.
That's right. That's what we're talking about today. This is something that actually happens.
And we've all likely run into this at one point or another.
And unfortunately they'll take a piece of scripture, like the cripple who's being passed down in his bed by his friends.
Or some other person will twist it to say, oh you need to be careful who you surround yourself with. It should only be other believers.
And the first and biggest problem with this is it actually goes against the Great Commission.
So let's take a look at that real quick just for a frame of reference.
Turning to Matthew 28 verses 16 through 20.
The word says, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
So we're already being told to go to all nations. In other words, go into the world.
Not just sitting at pew every so often getting preached at.
But to actually get out there and to share the good news, to share the gospel with everyone.
After all, that's why Jesus came. That's why Jesus bled and died for us.
So we shouldn't just be out there saying, Oh, John 3.16, John 3.16.
We need to actually take it to heart. We need to speak to the Holy Spirit about it.
We need to let these words infiltrate our minds, our bodies, and our souls.
John 3.16, we all know the word says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Turning to Luke chapter 5, verses 31 through 32, Jesus said,
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again.
We are not simply to sit around and just talk the talk.
We are commanded to get up off our rear ends and to walk the walk.
Not only that, but Jesus provided us with the example by doing it himself.
He didn't just come for the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance.
Wait a minute. Do I mean to say that we need to engage with nonbelievers?
That we need to associate and interact with these people?
Yes! Jesus interacted with a multitude of sinners and perceived unclean people.
Prostitutes, adulterers, murderers, tax collectors, lepers, and then some.
And you don't have to look far to see it.
Luke 5, Luke 7, Matthew 9, Matthew 21, Matthew 31, Mark 2, John 8, and so on and so forth.
We can find accounts all throughout the Bible of God working with and through various sinners.
Matter of fact, some of the most influential people in the Bible were some of the greatest sinners of all.
We are to connect with each and every single one of them.
Jesus loves everyone. Everyone!
In Revelation 22, verse 17, the word says,
The spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one who hears say, Come! Let the one who is thirsty come,
And let the one who wishes to take the free gift of the water of life.
This doesn't say Christians only. Nonbelievers need not apply.
It says the one who is thirsty.
This means anyone and everyone, all of the lost, not the perfected ones and not merely the saints.
Just like when Jesus came and spoke to the woman at the well.
He offered the water of life.
Matthew chapter 25, verses 34 through 40.
The word says, Then the king will say to those on his right, Come! You who are blessed by my father,
Take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you invited me in.
I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me.
I was in prison and you came to visit me.
Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?
Or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in?
Or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The king will reply, Truly I tell you,
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
And it's not of compulsion or of guilt.
This is serving others with the expectation of nothing in return, loving on others as Jesus did.
Serving isn't just about going to a church service.
It's stopping to help others, to look after one another,
to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That's love.
That's the love of Jesus. That's loving the Lord.
You know, here in the US, we have the Statue of Liberty.
It's one of our nation's many symbols, right? It's well known all around the globe.
And on it, there's a plaque with a poem that's titled The New Colossus.
It was written by Emma Lazarus.
And the most popular and most likely the most important piece of it reads as this.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
We tend to forget about our nation's roots,
of people considered by many other nations and many other countries to be
nothing more than vagrants and vagabonds, a bunch of blowhards and loudmouths, right?
Yet this poem sums up not only what our nation was founded on,
but the love our nation at least once held for everyone.
A nation of religious freedom as provided by Christ.
Yet we start, you know, now we bicker about the most trivial things.
We riot and protest and destroy property instead of having an open discussion,
instead of loving and acting as we should as mature people.
And as far as those who say we shouldn't interact or befriend non-believers,
you know, that we should only interact with and be friends with believers,
well, they're simply out of touch with the world
because they have the status that's kept them away from it.
Or they're living in fear of it.
So they'll use this man-made exception as a control tactic
to hide themselves away and to get out of loving on others
that they perceive as less than or undeserving.
Some even try to hoard their kids away as if they're doing them
some great act of protection, storing them away in a cave.
When the reality is those children will either, one,
find ways to kind of sneak out or get around things and skirt the rules
and, you know, get out into the world anyways.
Or two, they'll be totally unprepared to interact with the world.
The first being the most likely for the vast majority.
You know, and they'll mask it as, oh, my family needs to be first.
It's like, you want to do what? No, no, no, not if it's not their family.
You know, yeah, let's be honest. It's fear.
Second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven, the word says,
for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
So stop trying to control the world.
It's not your job. It's not mine.
Nor is it anything that we have the power to control.
That power rests on the Lord.
And believe me, the Lord is hard at work.
Jesus went to the world to tell them, to tell the world that we all need to change,
that we all need to repent of our sins and get to know God.
He did that for us.
He did that for you.
And because of it, each of us, you and me, we have the ability to take that light that He's given us to the people.
Because it's within you as the Holy Spirit.
Because of Jesus' sacrifice and then sending us the Holy Spirit,
we all have great influence in the lives of others.
And that influence is introducing them to Jesus.
See, we can't expect the world, our country, or even our communities to change
if we continue to hide in pews and hide in buildings while doing everything that we can to stay away from the world
and the people in it to keep them away from us,
the very people who need to hear the good news, the gospel the most.
We need to stop running like Jonah did.
Like Jonah, what we do need to do is to get over ourselves.
We need to swallow that pride in talking to the Lord.
And then go share the word that Jesus sacrificed so much for us to be able to do.
We all need to stop being fearful.
Everyone gets fearful.
But we all need to learn to become brave.
Bravery is leaning on Christ to help you overcome that fear.
And even though it's still there, it's still lurking in the background,
with the power of Christ, you walk into the world, you walk into the fire, and you take care of business.
And that starts by reaching out to one person, pulling them out of the darkness,
and then going back in for another, and then another, and then another,
to reach everyone that you're able to, and to the Lord says,
Well done, good and faithful servant.
So the next time you hear someone talking about how you should only be friends with,
or only associate with other believers, rebuke them and remind them of the Great Commission.
Remind them of all that Jesus did, and all the people that Jesus interacted with,
and came to call friend, and brother, and sister.
Remind them that we are to be in the world, not of the world.
That's our time for this week, so remember,
so you go out, and you go into the world.
You are loved, and you are blessed.
Now go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
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We look forward to hearing from you all.
God bless.