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Need some vulnerability from Communicator in this.Introduction:(series graphic) “But wait! There’s more.” You ever get hooked by that phrase? I don’t care if we’re talking ShamWow or The Chuck Norris Total Gym, my response is clear, “Shut up! You had me at ‘But.’” I’m a born and raised consumer, with an appetite so finely tuned for more that you’d think I was hatched in a shopping mall laboratory.Twenty years ago, the younger version of myself would have probably lost it if quarantine had kept me from the mall for months. No GAP, no Abercrombie, NO AUNTIE ANNE’S PRETZELS! Things are different now. Quarantine hasn’t slowed me down a bit. ***Thank you Amazon Prime.*** It’s been shopping nirvana at 2:30 in the morning. Click. See you tomorrow Amazon delivery van! Get a load of my recent purchases: Supercharged batteries for my kid’s Power Wheels (now it goes 20), a sous vide cooker (life changing), a blow torch to sear food, and another blow torch that’s supposed to kill weeds (ummm…a weed torch). And get this, Prime totally got me with the “Wait! There’s more!” Streaming video! I cut cable to save some money. Smart, right? That is, until I added Netflix, Disney+, YouTube TV, and Hulu to Prime. That’s FIVE streaming services. I’m winning at consuming.But if you want to really scratch that itch to consume, nothing beats the buffet. It doesn’t matter if it’s Golden Coral or a fancy Brazilian steakhouse. Keep that card on green and keep the steak coming! As a kid, I’d get so full I could hardly make it back up to the buffet line. At that point, all I could cram down was one more salad. And believe me, I did! They’d have to carry me out of the place. I don’t doubt that there are more than a few of us that can identify with the consumer itch. But here’s the problem. The consumer mindset doesn’t stay confined to just the physical world, it affects our spiritual lives as well.Consumer or ContributorIt’s not uncommon to for us to think this way when it comes to church. Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate, framed this perfectly.In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.Explain in a couple words what we mean by enterprise. “Meaning it’s like a business making stuff to be sold and consumed.” Have you ever thought of the church that way?Do we need to introduce “contributor” before diving into this comparison?Unfortunately, that American enterprise we call church is often all too willing to deliver when it comes to satisfying consumers. It causes me to step back and really ask myself if I’m a consumer or contributor. If you don’t mind, let me prod a little bit. Feel free to say ouch if I strike a nerve! Ask yourself which side of these statements fit you better. Consumer or Contributor: Too much content for screen. Make it in a table and more punchy.A consumer Christian comes to be served; a contributing Christian comes to serve.A consumer Christian is entitled; a contributing Christian is grateful.A consumer Christian focuses on their preferences; a contributing Christian focuses on the needs of others.A consumer Christian focuses on what they will gain from following Jesus; a contributing Christian counts the costs of following Jesus.A consumer Christian has trouble finding a church family; a contributing Christian joins a family and begins inviting new members into the family.I’ve come down on the wrong side of that list too many times in my life. It seems to be at the core of our nature as human beings. As much as I’d like to assume you and I are all good, the truth is that there is a deep root of selfishness in each of us. Think about it. Do you ever had to teach a two-year-old to be selfish? “Hey Billy, it’s time for your selfish lessons today.” Of course not! Kids are born with a master’s degree in selfish and complete their Ph.D. by five. It’s not just something we grow out of. That will to selfishly consume is just as strong at 42 as it is at toddler two.Dallas Willard, one of my favorite theologians and one to never pull a punch, said it this way.Consumer Christianity is now normative. The consumer Christian is one who utilizes the grace of God for forgiveness and the services of the church for special occasions, but does not give his or her life and innermost thoughts, feelings, and intentions over to the kingdom of the heavens. Such Christians are not inwardly transformed and not committed to it.There is no satisfaction in endless consumption. Jesus shows us something truly better and more satisfying than consuming. Word: John 4He’s not just our example, but the actual template of our transformation. We’re aiming to be like him in every way, but there’s a long way to go. That’s why I find passages like the one we are studying today so interesting. The contrast between Jesus and his disciples in this story is radically stark. Let me set the scene for you.In John 4, there’s a famous scene at a well where Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. He tells her of living water that satisfies forever, and by the end of the conversation, Jesus goes from being a stranger to being her Savior. She finds her way back to God right there at the well. However, there’s a part of this story that is often overlooked. While Jesus is talking to this woman, doing amazing and eternal things of course, the disciples are out looking for food. Consumers gotta consume, you know! They come back and are surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman. When she leaves to tell her village about what Jesus has said to her, the disciples seize the opportunity to try and get Jesus to eat. I’m sure they had the best of intention, just like my parents had great intentions when they told me eating canned spinach would give me big muscles. Rather than consume, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach them how to fill up more than their bellies. His response to their offer seems crazy.I have food to eat that you know nothing about. – John 4:32What do you mean, “food you know nothing about?” The disciples must be thinking Jesus has a secret cookie stash or maybe angels sneaking him sandwiches under their wings.Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” – John 4:33Then Jesus delivers the point.My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. – John 4:34Craig Groeschel offers some fantastic teaching on this note. Might not need to quote him, just rephrase.Jesus is saying: “My food, My nourishment, is something else. When everyone else thinks about, fill me, fill me, fill me, what actually fills Me is to fill others. What nourishes Me is to pour into the lives of others, to do the work of God, and finish the task that He sent Me to do.”But we typically think more like the disciples. It’s buffet time and I need to get my fill. If we can get out of the consumer trap, there’s such a freedom in Jesus’ perspective. Do we need to be sensitive to those struggling with food insecurity? He doesn’t sound at all like someone who is worried about running out of food when he tells his disciples he has “food they know nothing about.” I want to know about that food. I want to know the food that lasts and satisfies.You can see Jesus’ contributor attitude in the way he operates of the notion of being sent. He knows that he was sent for a purpose. If you just read John’s Gospel, the idea of Jesus being sent is all over it. In 21 chapters of John, talk of Jesus sent-ness pops up 44 times. As one sent, nothing fills him more than filling others. How beautiful that Jesus has enough abundance of life and love and grace to be filled through POURING OUT! Even the Samaritan woman in this story, a brand new Christ-follower no less, is sent right back to her village to tell people about Jesus. In fact, He stayed there for two days leading many people to find their way back to God because this woman understood her own sent-ness. Jesus was sent. This Samaritan woman was sent. And for us to move from being consumers to contributors, it’s essential that we understand we’re sent too.Sent to Contribute:John 20:21Think about the physical space you live in.? What made you choose that space?? Was it the kitchen, the yard, maybe that small little cubby where you pictured yourself reading.? My mom always told me to pick a house that faces west so I could have shade on the back patio in the afternoon but if I’m honest, for me it was the pantry I fell in love with, big enough to walk-in and lay down. Our culture tells us we should choose the places we inhabit through a consumer lens, marking off how many of the must haves, it has in order to determine its value.? When we look at the crime rate, we’re really asking will I feel safe?? When we check the public school test scores, we want to know if our kids will get a good education.? Inquiring about the complex amenities translates to, can I have access to the things I like to do? ? When I chose where I was going to live, I have to admit, every criteria centered around me and what living there would provide. Anyone else?Ok now, let me ask you this, what do you love about the neighborhood you live in?? Add things with the city locations and Aurora in mind. Would you say it’s the comfy deck chairs at the community pool?? Is it how precisely the family on the corner cuts their lawn or is it entirely something else?? I personally love my neighborhood because of my neighbors and the way we care for each other.? When Barbara was diagnosed with cancer, we mowed the lawn and brought her meals.? When Stacy’s mom died unexpectedly the whole street was at the funeral.? We’ve celebrated the homecoming game for the past three years with a tailgate at my neighbors before walking to the football field to see their son Zach on the O Line and my daughter Chloe in the marching band.? When Tim honored his mom by raising funds for Alzheimer’s research, we all donated in remembrance.? And when Covid hit and prom was cancelled, everyone came out to take pictures on the front lawn, fussing over how beautiful the girls looked all dressed up.? I may have chosen my home for what it had to offer me, but I love my neighborhood because of the families and the ways we contribute to each other’s lives.? It’s the reason I encourage others to move into our neighborhood. It’s this contribution of time and energy that brings joy, meaning, connectedness and value.??In his book John for Everyone, Tom Wright comments on John 20:21 as Jesus is sending the disciples out infusing them with the Holy Spirit.? He says:“The point of receiving the Holy Spirit, it’s clear is not to give the disciples new “spiritual experiences,” though to be sure they will have plenty.??Nor is it to set them apart from ordinary people, a sort of holier-than-thou club -- though to be sure they are called to live the rich, full life of devotion and dedication that is modeled on Jesus’ own.??The point is so that they can do in and for the whole world what Jesus had been doing in Israel. “As the father has sent me, so I’m sending you.” Need to introduce John 20:21 earlier.God calls us to a counter-cultural way of living, to be contributors not consumers, in which we use our whole self, our mental, our emotional, our physical and our financial resources to contribute to the places we are sent; a subdivision or a cell block, a school or a workplace, a physical space or a digital one.? The places you inhabit, are the spaces God has sent you to contribute influence.? How might these communities change if you began to see them not through this consumer lens, counting all the things they can give you but if you start to see them as places where you are sent to contribute???Sound overwhelming? A bit altruistic? Perhaps, altruism is defined as “behavior that is not beneficial to an individual, (behavior not motivated by what it can provide to you), but behavior entirely beneficial to another person,(an act of contributing to their well being)”. It might sound overwhelming but it also sounds a lot like Jesus, so maybe we’re actually on the right track.??How then do we become more altruistic, growing our capacity as contributors and not consumers in the places where we’ve been sent?? Abigail Marsh, a professor at Georgetown University, may have some insight.? She has been exploring the question “What drives us to help other people?”? Now you’re probably asking, how do you go about doing that?? Well she’s been studying altruistic kidney donors, people who donate a kidney, a vital internal organ, to save the life of a complete stranger.? This is a small group of people, only a few thousand in the entire country and much to her surprise they were extremely enthusiastic to be studied.? Willing to fly across the country at a moments notice, going through great lengths to be helpful and considerate. Some arrived three hours early for their evaluations just so they would not miss the opportunity to contribute.? There are three things she noted that I think will help us grow our capacity as contributors: What I find amazing about her study is that she was just uncovering and affirming what God’s word has told us for years.How can we wordsmith these better? Just put Humble, Different, Persistent on screen.They were unusually humble, they didn’t see anything special about themselves.? They didn't think they were unusually compassionate, or extraordinarily generous, they just happened to be “at the right place at the right time”, which is not how anyone else views someone who gives a kidney to a complete stranger.??Ephesians 4:2?says, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”? Let me ask you this, in what ways does the space where you’ve been sent need you to humbly exhibit gentleness and patience?? How can you stand in solidarity with those around you who are suffering with discrimination, or loneliness or a painful loss, bearing that pain with love?? If we’re going to be contributors instead of consumers, we are going to need to be the type of people who are intentionally looking for opportunities to be in the right place, at the right time.They were different, at least when it came to their brains.? The kidney donor’s amygdala, which is essential to your ability to feel certain emotions and to perceive them in other people, was 8% larger than average brains.?Emphasize the Spirit as the thing that makes us different. They were legitimately different from the rest of the population, but then as Christ followers so are we; empowered as Acts 1:8 says through the Holy Spirit to be a witness in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth, which includes your neighborhood and workplace. Emmanuel Suhard, a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, said it this way,?Maybe not this quote.“To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery.? It means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.”??We contribute to the spaces and places where we have been sent by living a life that continually points people toward God, one that only makes sense because of God.?What does that look like in your life??What would that look like in the places where you have been sent?They were persistent.? Many individuals got to the act of kidney donation through lots of smaller acts of generosity.?No one goes from ground zero to donating a kidney. Almost always, these individuals were long time blood or bone marrow downers. They fostered children. They rescued animals.?They had all done things in the past that involved giving of themselves to help other people.? It seemed almost everyone came to the extreme choice of donating a kidney through lots of baby steps, smaller acts of kindness that contributed to the greater good.?The kinds of things that lots of us do, or could do easily.??Look, I’m not suggesting we all contribute to the world by giving up a kidney next week, though wouldn't that be cool if someone did?? What I am suggesting is that we can grow our capacity to contribute:Join a community cares teamDonate bloodMow your neighbors yardIntentionally speak words of encouragement and kindness into a childHost a watch party online or in your house.Think of 5 people you could invite not only to our next series but to contribute to the spaces where you all livePick one you could do this week.Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”? Start small and begin to build your capacity to contribute in the places God has placed you.??Over the next few weeks we’ll be in this series Love Where You Live and we want to challenge you to begin to view your city not just as a place where you live, but a place where you have been sent.? No matter how you feel about your neighborhood or community right now, the truth is God does have a purpose for placing you there.? So let’s begin to see these places with new eyes.? Let’s live as though we have been sent to those places for a purpose; believing the words of Jesus, “as the father has sent me, so I send you”May we become a church who exists not for ourselves, but a church who exists for the world.? I think Pope Francis understood this principal when he said:Put a line of commentary in this quote somewhere.“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.? Living for others is a rule of nature.? We are all born to help each other.? No matter how difficult it is...Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.”??May we grow our ability to love the people where we live by intentionally contributing to the places we inhabit.? May we show up with humility, seeking opportunities to be in the right place at the right time. May we show up with persistence, continuing to grow our capacity to contribute, and may we live a life that is so dramatically different it can only be explained by the existence of God. ? - AmenBring back something from the intro into the munion - John 4:13-14If we want to be able to pour out our lives as a contributors, we must begin by being satisfied with Jesus. He told the woman at the well:Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. – John 4:13-14Jesus so completely and abundantly fills us that we become a spring welling up and bursting up to eternal life. As we remember Jesus’ sacrifice, don’t forget the abundance of His life and goodness. You might feel like you’ve got nothing left to give to the people around you, nothing and no one for which to be sent. But as you look to the cross, you’ll find a love that overflows, a living water that can’t be contained. Receive this love and pour it into others. ................
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