Hide and Seek – Overflowing Outreach
God wants to give us an overflowing life – an abundant life. Last week we focused in on John ten – ten where it says:
“I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10 (HCSB)
If you recall we spoke of how the word abundance in the Greek actually means – an overflowing abundance. We talked about how God wants our lives overflowing with is His love, His joy and His peace. He wants our lives so affected by all the gifts He has to give to us – that it overflows into the lives of other people. That’s called outflow.
Today we want to discover the fact that we can not flow over into other people’s lives – unless we have a personal relationship with God Himself. Our ability to reach out always begins with the depth of our personal relationship with God. Let’s watch a video clip.
(This video clip is about a father talking about how he liked to play “Hide and Seek” with his children when they were growing up. He speaks about how much he enjoyed his children finding him.)
God wants us to have a relationship with Him. In fact just as the father in video enjoyed having his child find him – God wants us to seek Him too – He wants us to find Him. How many of you remember the verse from Matthew chapter seven where it says: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” God wants us to have a relationship with Him. The next verse in Matthew says: “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV) – that is a promise from God. If we seek Him – we will find Him – because God Himself will make Himself known to us. We were created to have a close relationship with God.
People have all types of relationships with each other. Some are good relationships some are not. Some are productive – some are not. This is true of human relationships, but it is also true of the relationships we have with God. Let’s talk about some negative relationships for just a moment then we will look at the type of relationships Jesus had with the people around Him.
We can be:
a. stingy and stuck-up – self absorbed
b. sour and legalistic – overbearing – an attitude which says, “My way or the highway.
c. angry and mean – angry at the whole world
d. uncaring and self-centered – we can have an attitude that says, “I just don’t care.
Would want to be around people with attitudes like this? These are not the attitudes that God wants us to approach Him with. Just as happiness in a marriage depends on how a husband and a wife relate to one another, so too, how we relate to God will determine our joy, our peace and our happiness. Being filled to overflowing depends on the kind of relationship you have with God. What kind of relationship do you desire to have with God? Let’s look for a moment at the relationship that Jesus had with the Father.
In John chapter ten and verse thirty Jesus says,
“The Father and I are one.” John 10:30
In John chapter fourteen verses eight and nine, Phillip says to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus answers, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”
These verses show that:
Jesus had UNITY and HARMONY with the Father.
Of course He did! According to the Bible, God is exactly like Jesus. Or you could say it the reverse way – Jesus is exactly like God. That’s because Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus is God in human form.
In Colossians chapter one and verse fifteen it says:
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” Colossians 1:15
Later in Colossians Paul says:
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” Colossians 2:8-9
Christ is God in the flesh – the Father and Jesus were in harmony. What we are going to look at this morning is – how Christ relates to the people around him. That leads us to point one:
1. Jesus does relationships DIFFERENTLY.
We are going to look at four relationships Jesus had with people. Let’s start with:
SIMON PETER
If there is one thing that shows us that Jesus isn’t hung up on appearances, it’s the fact that Jesus chose Simon Peter – the fisherman – as the leader of His apostles. Running a fishing operation is a smelly, dirty and dangerous job. Handling fish and nets all day left Peter’s hands worn and calloused and I am sure when he went home he smelled like fish.
Simon Peter was a hot tempered – impulsive sort of guy. He was not the sort of person you or I would choose to lead a worldwide religious movement. He didn’t look the part. He didn’t act the part. He didn’t smell the part. Yet Jesus said to him:
“You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.” Matthew 16:18 (MSG)
Jesus doesn’t care how people look or how they smell. He doesn’t even care how we view ourselves. He sees past the surface issues. What we learn from the relationship of Jesus and Peter is:
Jesus looks past the surface “us” to the “us” we were CREATED TO BE.
NICODEMUS
Or what about Nicodemus? Here is a person as different from Peter as any person could be. Nicodemus was a well respected religious leader of his time. He was well educated and had a good reputation. Physical labor was not his occupation. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night to see what teaching he could learn from Him. But he can at night so that others would not see his actions. Jesus said to him:
“Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (HCSB)
Nicodemus did not understand that statement. In fact he asked. "How can a person be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb."
Even with all the education that Nicodemus had - he did not understand the spiritual truth that Jesus was trying to teach him.
The point is that a relationship with God is not dependant on how much education you have. It’s not dependant upon your reputation. It is not dependant on your status of life. It is dependant upon a relationship with God Himself. What we learn from the relationship of Jesus and Nicodemus is that:
Jesus wants us to get to know Him PERSONALLY.
MARTHA AND MARY
It’s only fitting that since I’ve introduced two men that I should also include two women. A lot of you can probably relate quite well with Martha. Let me introduce her by asking you to fill in a blank.
“If you want something done right you need to do it YOURSELF."
That’s Martha. If you agree with that statement you’re probably a lot like her. Martha was a “take charge person”. When there was a dinner party going on – Martha is the one who stepped up to the plate to make sure everthing was in order. She is the one who took charge of the preparations. In fact sometimes she became frustrated because other people were not like her. She expected other people to jump in when they saw that there was a need. One time she came to Jesus and said:
“Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” Luke 10:40 (HCSB)
Do you know what Jesus said to her:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 (HCSB)
The point is:
Jesus in more interested in a personal relationship with us then what we can do FOR HIM.
Did you notice how all four people mentioned related to Jesus differently? That brings us to point two.
2. All of us approach Jesus DIFFERENTLY.
Peter was loud and MESSY. Sometimes he was bold, enthusiastic and sometimes foolhardy. He no doubt was an extrovert. When he was around – you knew it.
Nicodemus was slow and STEADY. Remember he is the one who went to Jesus at night. He came to him one on one. He was careful and cautious. He did not want to draw undue attention to himself. But as time passed he became bolder in his relationship to Jesus.
Martha was quick and CAPABLE. She wasn’t the type of person who waited around to be told what needed to be done. She just jumped in and did it. She is the one who ran out the house to meet Jesus on the street when her brother died. She did not wait for Jesus to come to the door. She was a woman of action. She was a woman who took charge.
Mary on the other hand was easygoing and RELATIONAL. To her – relationships are more important than tasks. She was relationship oriented rather then goal oriented. Mary desires a close relationship with Jesus. She wanted to soak up every word that He has to say.
The central truth here is that:
Everyone relates to Jesus in their OWN WAY.
Jesus related back to each one of these individuals at their own level.
That brings us to the third point:
3. Connecting with Jesus produces OUTFLOW.
Peter, Nicodemus, Martha and Mary were all deeply transformed by their relationship with Jesus. Because of their relationship with Jesus they began to think, feel and act differently toward other people. They all stopped thinking only of themselves – but they started thinking about the needs of others. In Acts chapter three we find Peter confronted by a crippled beggar. Do you know what Peter did? He went over to the man and said:
"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.” Acts 3:6-7 (NKJV)
Peter had become bold in word and in power because of his relationship with Jesus. He had gone from catching fish to meeting the needs of people around him.
Nicodemus who first visited Jesus at night because he was worried that others would find out is the one who boldly took the body of Jesus to be buried – because he had met Jesus and it changed him. The Bible says:
“Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.” John 19:39-40 (NKJV)
In those times getting a body ready for the tomb was an action that only a close family member would do. The custom of the day was that a person who touched a dead person would themselves become unclean by touching the body. Therefore a person would only be involved in the process if you really loved the person - yet Nicodemus got the body of Jesus ready for burial. He was no long concerned about who saw him or what they thought. Nicodemus had been so changed by his relationship with Jesus he had moved out of the darkness of night into the brightness of day.
Mary was the same way. She wanted to please Jesus so much that poured perfume on Him. In John chapter twelve it says.
“Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.” John 12:3 (MSG)
Some translations tell us that the perfume was worth about a year’s wages. Do you know what the average household income is in America today? According to the United States Census Bureau, the median household income is about $46,000. What could you do with $46,000? Mary took a year’s worth of wages and poured it on Jesus’ feet.
Why did Mary do that? Why did she pour a fortune on the feet of Jesus? I’ll tell you why – she was so full of love for Him that she had to let it flow in some way – the best way she could – and so she poured the perfume on Him.
This kind of outflow is mentioned in second Corinthians chapter two where it says:
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV)
And what about Martha? Was she transformed to overflowing? You bet! In John chapter eleven she loved Jesus so much that she confessed to Him:
“You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." John 11:27 (NKJV)
She was filled with a love so amazing that she had to let it flow out. She let her love for Jesus spill out through her testimony about him. She witnessed for Him. She worshiped Him.
How about you? Have you been filled to the brim with God’s goodness? Have you been filled with God’s grace? Have you been filled with God’s love, joy and peace? He wants you to be. Do you remember I opened the sermon with this statement – "God wants to give us an overflowing life – an abundant life?" That is a fact. God wants to fill us not just till we are full – but till we are overflowing with His love, joy and peace so that we can spill out into the world around us. Have you found that overflowing life yet? God makes it available to you. But you have to look for it. You have to ask for it. You have to seek it. The Bible says:
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV)
Ask today – don’t delay.
