At the beginning of His ministry, Luke 4 tells us that Jesus went into the synagogue and read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Then He closed the book and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Shortly thereafter, many were healed by Him, and news about Him spread. Then in Luke 5, a man covered with leprosy fell down before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” And Jesus said, “‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately the leprosy left him.”

Jesus, God incarnate, Creator of the universe, Light of the world, the Word of God, spoke into the darkness and said, “I am willing.” Wow! Separation from God came when sin entered the Garden of Eden, but God said, “I am willing to do whatever is necessary to draw you back to Myself.” This story of redemption culminates in Jesus Christ who spoke…and demonstrated…a simple message loud and clear, that God is love and God is near. Salvation is here!

“We don’t see eye to eye.”
“Let’s just agree to disagree.”
“You can have your opinion and I have mine.”

A powerful human attribute is the ability to communicate. It’s one of the many ways we resemble God. Our capacity to verbalize allows us to pour what is in our soul into another person. The result is that we connect with others in a way that no other animal can. It’s called transference, and while it can be a beautiful process, it can also be messy. After all, one source of relational conflict is poor communication. On the other hand, the ability to communicate well leads to the strongest bonds we can experience in this life. This is true both in our relationship with God and other people.

If we are to evangelize (to share the good news) Jesus Christ well, then we must communicate well. While some people are more skilled at verbalizing what they think and feel, every believer can share Christ’s love to others efficiently. The key is to know your audience and “speak their language.” Sometimes, people who don’t have a faith in Christ are unbelievers because they’ve never encountered a Christian that communicated well. If we are going to reach our community, then we must learn a basic approach to transferring our faith.

Jesus was the master communicator. The Word took on human flesh and “spoke our language.” He poured His Spirit into us so that we too could communicate the good news to others. As we celebrate communion this morning, may we be reminded of how He communicated His love to us, and learn from Him.

This happens to certain parts of our life too. At some point, there are areas that become stagnant. It occurs in our relationships, in our career, and even in our spiritual life. We get stuck in a gutter going through the motions, repeating the same patterns with no new results and no motivation to do anything different. And then that part of our life begins to smell bad. A pool of stagnant water needs a strong current to force movement again. When it comes to our faith and spiritual life, stagnation occurs when we don’t share the love of Jesus Christ with others! God does not just give us the gift of Christ for our own personal benefits but also that we might share this gift with others. It’s when we share our faith with other people and see them enriched that our relationship with God is strengthened and a newness flows again.

For the next few weeks, I want to elaborate on what I mean and show you how vital evangelism is to the life of the church. Over the past year, we have introduced the Olive Grove Philosophy for reaching our community and growing the church and now on Sunday mornings, we want to offer some practical insight for how we might make this vision happen. Today we begin by talking about the value of humanity as seen in Luke 15 and the parables of the lost ones.

“God lives there.”

This is the response I imagine a mother in ancient times probably gave to her young child who asked as they passed by a temple, “Mommy, what is that place?” If you do an internet search for the word “temple,” many incredible images will come up. Temples are some of the most ornate buildings ever erected. Ancient temples were designed as mansions for the gods and were set apart for a specific purpose: to glorify the gods for whom they were built. These mansions were set apart from every other building, even from a King’s palace. There was no mistaking it.

A few weeks ago, Pastor Steve told us of six temples seen in the Bible: 1. the Garden of Eden, 2. the Tabernacle built by Moses, 3. Solomon’s Temple, 4. Herod’s Temple, 5. Jesus Christ, and 6. His Church. Unlike all other ancient temples, these temples were built by God’s design. I found it interesting that the words “temple” and “template” are both derived from the same Latin root word “templum.” God created the Garden and gave Moses and Solomon detailed specifications they were to follow as they built. Herod later rebuilt the temple to the same specifications as Solomon’s temple. By God’s design, Jesus “became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory…” (John 1:14) Jesus became the template we are to follow as dwelling places of the Holy Spirit, seeking to glorify God.

Is God glorified when people look at us? Do they say without hesitation, “God lives there,” or do they say, “God lives there?!” God is at work building His temple, and He will be glorified. As we worship today, may this be our prayer: “Lord, be glorified in me.”

No better news has ever been expressed than what is expressed in those three words. A Christmas Carol may summarize it best: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” What began in stark humility peaks in magnificent glory, and all of our hopes are met in the resurrection. Out of darkness comes light. Out of despair, hope is born. Our sin is forgiven! The promise of eternal life is secured.

So today, because of the resurrection we can sing:

Lost are saved, find their way
All condemned feel no shame
Every fear has no place
All the weak find their strength
Hungry souls receive grace
The fatherless find their rest
Sick are healed, and the DEAD ARE RAISED!
At the sound or Your Great Name.

Can it get any better than that? Jesus makes all things new. Today is a day to sing like you have never sung before: Because of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.

He is risen, indeed!

“The master of humility is Christ who humbled himself and became obedient even to death, even the death of the cross. Thus he does not lose his divinity when he teaches us humility…

What great thing was it to the king of the ages to become the king of humanity? For Christ was not the king of Israel so that he might exact a tax or equip an army with weaponry and visibly vanquish an enemy. He was the king of Israel in that he rules minds, in that he gives counsel of eternity, in that he leads into the kingdom of Heaven for those who believe, hope and love. It is a condescension, not an advancement for one who is the Son of God, equal to the Father, the Word through whom all things were made, to become king of Israel. It is an indication of pity, not an increase in power.”

What more power should God need that he already doesn’t possess? Augustine aptly points out that Christ wasn’t coming into Jerusalem to extract anything from the crowds. When ancient rulers entered a city, they made their presence known with pomp, circumstance, and at times, intimidation, ready to enforce their requirements on the people. Yet when Christ enters the city, he isn’t concerned with increasing monarchical power (because all of his power proceeds from God the Father, not Jerusalem). Instead he comes to the city because of pity for its inhabitants. The King comes not to take but to give. Ironically, as he enters in royal triumph, in a few days he will leave its walls as a convicted criminal. His time in the city yields the greatest highs and lows to his ministry.

However, this Holy Week ends the way it begins, in the triumph of resurrection. In the end, we have due cause to celebrate because salvation has come to the entire world!

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9-11, ESV)

The Church is the Temple of God.

There is a story of a man who was contracted to build a house. The owner instructed him to use the finest materials, but the builder decided to pad his profits and cut corners by using lower quality building materials. When the house was completed, the owner handed the keys to the builder. Unbeknownst to the contractor, he had built his own house. When you build, use the best possible materials.

In the book of Kings, Solomon used the finest materials to build the Temple. He imported fine lumber from Lebanon—cedar and cypress. He covered the entire temple in gold. No expense was spared for this most important building, the house of God.

Paul’s warning to church workers in Corinthians is to take care how they build God’s temple. They should use materials that last, because the quality of the materials used will be tested by fire.

The most important work we have is that which surrounds the church, the temple of God. We should take care how we build. The finest materials we have at our disposal are the Word of God, the message of the Cross, the mind of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, and worship in Spirit and truth.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you? God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

May the glory of God fill His temple as we worship in unity, saying the same thing: “And for all of my days I will bow down before You, giving glory and honor to Your name. And for all of my life I will worship and adore You, crying, ‘Holy is the Lord on high.”

The Church is the Temple of God.

There is a story of a man who was contracted to build a house. The owner instructed him to use the finest materials, but the builder decided to pad his profits and cut corners by using lower quality building materials. When the house was completed, the owner handed the keys to the builder. Unbeknownst to the contractor, he had built his own house. When you build, use the best possible materials.

In the book of Kings, Solomon used the finest materials to build the Temple. He imported fine lumber from Lebanon—cedar and cypress. He covered the entire temple in gold. No expense was spared for this most important building, the house of God.

Paul’s warning to church workers in Corinthians is to take care how they build God’s temple. They should use materials that last, because the quality of the materials used will be tested by fire.

The most important work we have is that which surrounds the church, the temple of God. We should take care how we build. The finest materials we have at our disposal are the Word of God, the message of the Cross, the mind of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, and worship in Spirit and truth.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in you? God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

May the glory of God fill His temple as we worship in unity, saying the same thing: “And for all of my days I will bow down before You, giving glory and honor to Your name. And for all of my life I will worship and adore You, crying, ‘Holy is the Lord on high.”