Understanding the Values of the Vineyard:
Being Outwardly Focused & Serving Others
11 March 2012
I’ve embarked on a series of teachings to underscore as well as
UNDERSTAND the spiritual “principles, standards (and) qualities considered
worthwhile (and) desirable” at Vineyard Church in Bowling Green.
Those are the values we embrace and attempt to live out as a community of
God’s new covenant people.
We took three weeks and looked at worship.
Of course, we only scratched the surface of that incredible topic.
Worship, as I said, can transform an individual, a small group or an entire
church, taking her/him/them into deeper intimacy with God and a greater
expression of Christ-life!
We took two weeks and looked at the passionate pursuit of God. We saw that
the passionate pursuit of God has two aspects to it: His pursuit of us, and our
pursuit of Him!
The latter doesn’t happen until the former…
This morning I want to think about what it means to be “outwardly focused
and serving others.
(Let’s pray…)
Obviously, being outwardly focused means we aren’t inwardly focused!
(That’s really profound, isn’t it?)
Before I go any farther, let me say that there is a place for us to care, share,
value, help, encourage, bless and respond to the needs within the body of
Christ!
That is why “community” is so vital!
That is why we need to be connected with each other through small groups,
whether formal or informal (the formal would be the small groups
opportunities afforded each week; the informal would be the times you hang
out with each other…).
We need that community!
We won’t be healthy if we don’t have a balanced inward focus (the operative
word in that sentence is “balanced”!).
But too often – and I’ve experienced it first hand in 24 years of pastoral
ministry – churches become almost private, members-only, bless US clubs!
(As I said, I’ve experienced this first hand as a pastor. A church I led in
another state was soooo inwardly focused that they couldn’t bring themselves
to change in order to reach the community around them that had changed.
The community around this church didn’t look like the church: it was
predominately composed of people of Puerto Rican descent. It was often poor
and under-educated. It was young. It was a totally different culture.
But instead of seeing this as a missional opportunity, it was seen as the
reason not to come to the building at night because church members were
afraid of “those” people!)
So, when I tried to implement (sometimes even small changes) I would hear
grumbling and rumbling and not-too-subtle suggestions that “we can’t forget
about the people who are here!”
There was a “fortress” mentality at work. We’ll “hold the fort” against the evil
outside world and hope they don’t break into our cars during the Sunday
morning service!
Folks, I would suggest that kind of inward focus is a sign of an unhealthy,
dysfunctional church! (Now, of course, not everyone there had that attitude,
but the “gatekeepers” – the elders and others in leadership [read: the people
that gave money] – by and large did!)
I don’t even have the vocabulary to describe how frustrating that was! (If I
sound off the wall sometimes, it’s probably because of the concussions I
suffered running my head into that brick wall for 7 years!)
Now, we must guard against that kind of toxic dysfunction. It’s easy to turn
inward and start navel-gazing; it’s difficult to maintain an outward focus
because, after all, we really do love each other here!
That is a good thing!
But, as God’s new covenant people we have been called to be a missional
people – seeing the “fields white unto harvest”; going into all the world and
“making ‘life-students’… teaching them to observe all things (Jesus)
commanded”; doing all things for the sake of bringing “good news”!
I want to look at how Paul did that. Turn to 1 Cor. 9:19-23…
Let me give you 4 components of Paul’s strategy to be outwardly focused (I
don’t usually do this, but this will be a lot of alliteration using the letter “i”):
We see Paul as:
 Inclusive
 Intentional
 (Having) Integrity
 (Depending on) Impartation
First off, he was inclusive.
In verse 19 he says, “I have made myself a slave to all (and notice how many
times he uses that word in this passage), in order to win more people.”
That was Paul’s passion! He ate, drank, breathed and lived “good newsing”!
And he would do whatever it took to accommodate those people outside the
family!
He didn’t compromise the gospel, but he proclaimed it in a way that the
people could understand:
“To the Jews…”
“To those under the law…”
“To those outside the law…”
“To the weak…”
Paul’s accommodation to different people was cultural, NOT theological…!
(After my knee surgery my surgeon told me what he had done. He didn’t use
a lot of medical jargon or “insider” talk – he “accommodated” his description
of what he found and what he did so I could understand!)
I suggest that we must do that as well. That means we try not to use that
strange language known as “christianese”…!
That means we try to meet everyone where they are, NOT where we’d like
them to be!
How far did Paul go?
 He had Timothy circumcised to accommodate the Jews…
 He left behind all the scruples and cultural prejudices of Judaism &
Pharasaism to accommodate the gentiles…
He said, “I have become a slave to all…that I might bring them to Christ!”
Paul was also:
Intentional
The NLT puts v. 22b like this:
“Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone so I might bring them to
Christ.”
Paul knew that not everyone would respond, but he fully intended to win
SOME!
This is where it’s important to remember that it is God “who gives the
increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).
As Steve Sjogren says in his book Conspiracy of Kindness (and I’m
paraphrasing here): We must be seed flingers and fire starters!
That’s why we do servant evangelism outreaches. I don’t know how many, if
any at all, have come to this place because we try to show them God’s love in
a practical way.
But we’re going to keep doing it because our prayer is that something would
be “planted” in their hearts; we hope that they are moved a little closer to
Jesus!
God, however, is the One who brings about the new birth, not me or you!
WE are simply called and commissioned to be faithful in “good newsing”!
It has to be intentional, however.
There has to be an effort made to actually go out and share snacks or cook
hot dogs or hand out water and soft drinks or speak to a neighbor or coworker or friend about the Kingdom!
(This does not mean we see human beings for whom Christ dies as “scalps”
to be hung on our church walls or “notches” to be place on our bibles…!)
That leads to the next “I”:
Integrity!
Paul did not see the people with whom he shared Christ’s love as mere
targets!
There was no hint of hypocrisy or ethical compromise in Paul’s practice of
evangelism (unlike some of the tactics employed by American evangelicals)!
What was Paul’s stated purpose for being inclusive and intentional:
“I do all this to spread the good news…” (v. 23 NLT)
There is one missing ingredient – and it’s most essential for the others to
work:
Impartation
What is that?
Spiritual power!
A divine IMPARTATION of God’s power and life was, ultimately, what
made Paul’s strategy work!
We will have no success without the impartation of the Holy Spirit!
Look at what Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:4:
My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power…
We must depend on the Spirit and His gifts to effectively communicate the
good news with inclusiveness, integrity & intentionality!
E.M. Bounds, the great writer on prayer, knew this:
“Earnestness is good and impressive; genius is gifted and great. Thought
kindles and inspires, but it takes a divine endowment – a more powerful
energy that earnestness, genius or thought – to break the chains of sin…
Nothing but holy anointing can do this.”
(Power Through Prayer)
So we should expect God’s empowering presence when we “good news”!
And guess what? God always shows up!