7-28-08 God’s Good News

Last week we began a series surrounding Jesus command where he says, “Go into all the world and tell people the Good News; the Good News of God’s Kingdom (Mark 16:15) 

We’re going to take a look at a story out of the Old Testament-a story that may not be very familiar to you. It starts with a story recorded in the Book of II Kings, Chapter 6 verse 24, but before we start this story I have a couple of questions for you? 

How many of you are happy about the price of gasoline being around $4 a gallon? A bit of a pinch, right? Not real happy about that are you? How many of you re really excited about this recession that’s going on in Michigan? Are you excited about an 8 percent unemployment rate? Not really, right? I have good news for you; by the time that we are done with this story that we are about to read, you are going to think that $4 a gallon for gasoline, and that 8 percent unemployment rate aren’t so bad after all. Ok, here we go.

 

It came about that Ben-Hadad, King of Aram, mobilized his entire army, marched up and laid siege to Samaria. So there’s war going on and one king has come to another’s walled city and surrounded it, not allowing anyone to leave the city This caused a great famine in the city - there’s no one growing crops- there’s no semi’s coming in to deliver food from neighboring areas; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver -What I found was that 96 shekels was a years pay for a field laboror, so 80 shekels of silver was about three quarters of a years pay, and a fourth of a cab of dove dung for five shekels. (2 Kings 6:24-25) Things are not good! It’s way worse than $4 a gallon for a gallon of gasoline.

 

There was a siege and because of the siege there was a famine, and they were so desperate for food that they would sell a donkey’s head for people to eat for eighty shekels. When was the last time you had donkey’s head for dinner? Desperate times. The stories get worse.

 

The king of Israel was passing by on a wall, and a woman cried out, Help, my lord O King! The king asked her: What is your complaint? She answered: This woman said to me: Give up your son. We will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her: Give up your son and we will eat him, but she has hidden her son.

 

When the King heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now since he was walking on the wall, the people could see that he was wearing sackcloth. (2 Kings 6:26-30)

 

It’s hard for us to even get our arms around this kind of desperation, because our lives are so different, but this is not unheard of in ancient times. This is a siege so bad that it was, in this case, cannibalism or death. No hope. This is an important point in this story. The people had no hope. An enemy surrounded them and there was no hope of living.

 

In the next chapter, Chapter 7, we are introduced to four unforgettable characters:

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gate. Why are they sitting outside the city gate? Because they can’t get in, they have leprosy. The people inside the city won’t let them in. Leprosy is a skin disease that is not very contagious, but they were considered unclean and therefore not allowed in the city with the rest of the populace.

 

They said to one another: Why do we sit here until we die? Why do they think they’re going to die? If we say we will enter the city-the famine is in the city, and we shall die. If we sit here, we will die here. So, come let us go over to the camp of the Arameans, and surrender. If they spare us, we shall live; but if they kill us, we shall but die. Sound reasonable, right?

 

So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the enemy. When they came to the outskirts of the camp, behold no one was there. The Lord had caused the army to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so they had said to one another: Maybe the King of Israel has hired the King of the Hittites and the King of Egypt to come upon us. God has done something miraculous here, and this army felt like it had sorely miscalculated and they heard hundreds of thousands of soldiers marching in the night and so they just vamoosed – they hightailed it – they dropped everything, all their possessions, and ran for their lives.

 

Therefore the soldiers rose and they fled in the twilight. They left their tents, their horses and donkeys. They left their camp just as it was and fled for their lives. So when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent. They ate and drank, and they carried from there silver and gold and clothes, and they went and hid them. They returned and entered another tent, and they carried off things from it and went and hid them. (2 Kings 7:3-8)

 

They are reveling in this good news. They are saved and they are stockpiling all of this stuff that they’ve discovered. They want to make sure that if the army of the Arameans comes back, they won’t lose their new treasures. But then …

They said to each other: What we are doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let us go at once and report this to the royal palace. (2 Kings 7:9)

 

So they go to the royal palace, but they cannot get past the gatekeepers into the city. Why not? Because they are lepers. So they tell the

gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers shout the news and it is reported within the palace. Then a funny thing happens, because the King doesn’t believe them.

 

The King says: I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the country, thinking: They will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into their city. (2 Kings 7:12)

 

The King hears the good news that all he has to do is walk into the camp. He won’t go. He says: It’s too good to be true. I may be desperate. I may be a dying man, but I’m not going to look like a fool. I’m not going. But one of his officers says: Let’s send a few men to check it out. Worse case scenario, their plight will be the same as the rest of us. We’re all going to die. But maybe it’s true. Let’s send somebody to check it out.

So they send a few men, and they find out it is true. The good news is true.

 

Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of flour sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley sold for a shekel. (2 Kings 7:16) Things got really cheap again because they had all their enemies goods and food. That’s the story.

 

There are a number of parallels between this story and the mission that God has given to you and to me and to our church: to be people who bring God’s kingdom and his good news to all people.

 

First one is this: These lepers knew that they were desperate men.

 

The first time that we see them, they are sitting not in the city, but at the gates outside the city. They’re not inside because they are lepers. They’re not allowed inside. They don’t even have a chance to buy a donkey’s head at eighty shekels. And the parallel here is that apart from God, you are desperate, I am desperate, and everybody that we ever see is desperate and without hope, although many times people forget it … probably because of where we live.

 

Without God I cannot live, without God I cannot breathe, without God I have no way of ever becoming all that I was created to be.

 

Everybody you know … everybody you see has a desperate need for God, they may not know that yet, but they have a desperate need. Every one of us is a desperate person and we need God’s forgiveness and God’s grace to be set free from sin and all that robs us of life. The lepers knew they were desperate men.

 

The lepers were desperate guys. who developed a “go for broke” attitude. I love this part of the story … love the language here. The lepers are sitting at the city gates, and they say to themselves:

 

Let’s weigh our options. Option A: We could stay here at the gate, and if we do that, we will die. Option B: We could go into our city, but there’s a famine there. Even if they let us in, we will die with all of them. Option C: We could go to the enemy camp, and they might kill us. Then we will die. But they might not kill us, and if they don’t, then we will live.

 

So, let’s review our options. Option A: 100% death. Option B: 100% death. Option C: maybe 50-50. Let’s go with C. Let’s go with the 50-50 shot. Let’s go to the camp of our sworn enemy-the enemy that is killing our people. Sounds crazy. Probably is. But what do we have to lose? Let’s roll the dice. If it doesn’t work out (and I love the language here), we shall but die. We’re gonna’ die anyhow.

 

When it comes to reaching out to others who don’t know Christ … when it comes to sharing the Good News … when it comes to telling another person what God has

done through Jesus, do you know what the number one factor is that prevents people from sharing their faith with others? It is Fear. Karla taught me something about fear. You know what fear is. Fear is faith in the wrong direction. Fear is believing that God isn’t able. Fear is believing that the enemy is going to win. Fear is believing that Satan will win. Faith is believing that God will win.

 

The number one thing that blocks people from sharing Good News with other people is Fear. So this morning, let’s do what the lepers did. Let’s weigh our options. Let’s say that you decide to share your faith … to have a spiritual conversation with another person. In the best-case scenario, they are interested. They say to you: Tell me more! And your friendship deepens. They start to take steps on their journey towards God. Maybe their eternal destiny is changed, and you were able to be a part of that.

 

What’s the worst-case scenario? They might say: No thanks. Not interested. Worst-case scenario? Not imprisonment. Nobody’s going to torture you physically. You won’t lose your job. You’re not going to die. Somebody might say. No thanks. Not interested.

That’s probably the worst thing that’s going to happen. So are we going to let that stop us?

 

When I was an electrician, I would regularly strike up spiritual conversations with people and you know the worst case scenario in all the times that I shared my faith. No thanks, not interested. Sometimes people would abruptly change the conversation and I knew they didn’t want to talk about it. I never pushed my faith on people but I was always talking about it. Challenging them to think through their beliefs about God, the church, and life in general.

 

They didn’t try to hurt me. They didn’t try to have me carried out of the plant. They sometimes just changed subject. This was the worst-case scenario. Here’s part of why I bring this up. That night when I went to bed … when I laid my head on the pillow … at least I was able to say: God, I did what you asked. I tried to plant a seed.

 

I don’t know if they will ever remember the conversation. Everybody is on a spiritual journey, one way or another, and sometimes we have a chance to be a part of people’s journeys at different points along the way. I don’t know if this will lead to anything more, but God, at least I did something. At least I didn’t wimp out. At least I planted a seed.

 

Here’s what I know for sure, if you don’t take the risk. If you never test the water to see if a person would be able to engage in a spiritual conversation … if you let fear win, then you know for sure you will never get the chance to help lead somebody else to the

“Stuff.” The lepers had a go for broke attitude. Let’s go for it! We shall but die. Love their attitude.

 

Another parallel: The lepers revel in their unbelievable good fortune.

This is a really important point. Remember, the lepers were just hoping to live, just hoping not to die, but once they get inside the enemy camp, and they discover there’s all this loot, they immerse themselves in the riches that they have found. I love this picture. They are stuffing their faces with food. They are guzzling the drinks down their throats. They are trying on the best clothes. They are pointing at each other and laughing. They are stashing away gold and silver. They can’t believe their haul. They can’t believe how lucky they are!

 

Many people come to the Christian faith because they don’t want to go to hell. They want to go to heaven, so they become a Christian. Many people just go through the motions just hoping to die and have everlasting life, but the message of Christianity is not that at all.

 

If a person really loves God and tries to love him with all that they are and they try to love people as much as they love themselves, then something happens, they get all this treasure inside – all this peace, and all this love, and all this joy inside, they get all kinds of great stuff and if they really have the heart of God, they don’t want to just keep it for themselves, they want to give it away to others, because they know that there is an unlimited supply. They want to give it away because they realize that there are people that are starving for what we have. There are people who are without hope because nobody has ever given them the Good News of God.

 

Here’s some more of the stockpile:

• God loves me
•  Jesus died on the Cross for me, so that I can know I am forgiven. I am not under guilt. I am not under condemnation. I am not defeated by my own fallen-ness or stupidity. The God of the Universe says that everything is OK between Himself and me.

•  Not only that, I have people that I love. I get to laugh and cry and dance and worship and learn and grow with people who are like brothers and sisters to me.
•  I am never alone. I have the Holy Spirit with me to guide me and to help me when I’m tempted and to give me power. I have people in this body to walk with every day.
• I have spiritual gifts that I’ve been given through no merit of my own, and I get to use them to make a significant difference in the world. I love that.
•  The Scriptures say that I have every good and perfect gift. They all come from God: oceans and mountains and sunsets
• I get to work with God – not just me, but everyone of us as we join him in bringing up there down here, as we join him in doing his will and his work.
• I have a body that moves.
•  I have a mind that thinks.
• I have a chance to do work that is productive and meaningful.
• And, if all that is not enough, when I die, I have a promise that Death will not get the last word, and I will get to share an eternity with God-an eternity that has no suffering or weeping or crying or pain and live in ever-expanding circles of productivity and delight with the God who loves me.

 

Isn’t that kind of Good News?

Show me someone who revels in how good God is, who regularly immerses herself or himself in how much undeserved grace God is sending at every moment, who is living in rich community and gratitude and learning in joy and freedom … just freedom with God … and I’ll show you someone who authentically wants to invite other people and say:

I want you to come to the stockpile. You’re not going to believe this!

 

On the other hand, if somebody is a Christian, but they’re locked up in legalism, or they’re just going through the motions to please a spouse or a parent, or they’re serving God, but serving half-way in a life that is really paying allegiance to some other god-over committed, over-scheduled, over-pressured, over-hurried, tired, exhausted-inside they’re going to be thinking: Why in the world would I want to invite somebody else into a life that looks like this?

 

You were made with a soul that seeks to be satisfied and if you don’t find it legitimately, you will search for it in illegitimate places. Revel in the stockpile!

 

Here’s another point: These lepers are reveling in the stockpile, and then all of a sudden they think beyond themselves.

 

This is the hinge point of the whole story. These lepers are plundering the stockpile. They’re eating and drinking and partying and stashing away the loot, when all of a sudden, a thought enters into the mind of one of them. He stands up and says:

Wait a minute! Wait just a minute! What we are doing is wrong! The other lepers say:

Wrong! What do you mean “Wrong.” We rolled the dice. We took a shot. We’re here. This is wonderful. This is fabulous. What do you mean “wrong?”

 

The first leper says: You know, there’s a whole city of dying people out there. Yesterday, we were those dying people. Yesterday, we were the ones starving at the city gate. Yesterday, all we had was donkey head and dove dung. Now we’re here at the stockpile, but just because things are OK for us in here, that doesn’t mean that things are OK.

 

This is a day of Good News. There is a measure of accountability in this story:

If we are silent, we will be found guilty. If we wait, punishment will overtake us. We’ve got to go. We’ve got to tell.

 

Jesus told us that the greatest commands are to love God with all that we are, and to love those we find ourselves next to as much as we love ourselves. That’s who we are to be. And out of that love, we are called to do one very important thing. Share it with others. Share the good news with others.

 

Notice something else about the lepers: The lepers are not in control of how people will respond to their good news.

 

Sometimes you take the risk, roll the dice, and nothing happens. That can be discouraging. The lepers say: This is a day of good news. The King hears it, and the King doesn’t believe it. The King says: It’s a trick. It’s too good to be true. I don’t believe it. I’m not going to be suckered.

 

Sometimes people respond that way, and that’s hard. Sometimes it happens in a casual conversation with a stranger, and they close the door. Sometimes it is a conversation with someone you love, and you pray for him or her, and you invite him or her to take the next step and they don’t.

 

Then there’s a story that Jesus told that is helpful to me. He said: There was a sower who went out to sow some seed. He threw seeds all over. Some of those seeds fell on hard ground, and nothing happened. Some of them fell on thorny, cluttered ground, and nothing happened. Some of them fell on rocks, and nothing happened. But some of them fell on good soil, and then something happened. And then, there was life. (from

Matthew 13:3-8/ Mark 4:3-8/ Luke8:5-8)

 

Now what would have happened if the sower had gone out and thrown a seed and it had landed on hard ground and nothing happened? And what if the sower had said:

You know, It’s just not working. It’s discouraging. I throw a seed, and it’s just wasted. I’m not going to do it anymore. No. The sower’s job is to keep sowing seeds. The outcome is in God’s hands. We can’t control outcomes. Our job is to sow the seed.

 

God calls us to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength. God calls us to love him with all that we are. God doesn’t call us to just do things that are comfortable for us. If we are going to love God, then we have to love those that he loves.

 

God calls us to love our neighbor as our self. Who’s our neighbor; All those who we find ourselves next to. We are called to love everyone that we come in contact with. Can we have the best news in the whole world and not share it with those around us? The accounts of Jesus’ life are called Good News, because they hold the keys to life. Share the good news of God’s grace and love with all those who you find yourself next to.

 

Go for broke, take a chance and share the stockpile of the kingdom with others, so that they can rejoice in the great stockpile of the blessing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Link:

 

If you would, ask your group if anyone has gone out to the web site and read my message from the site when they haven’t been able to listen to it on Sunday. How many people have done that and how many times. Is it helpful?

 

• Just for fun, answer this question, “What ability do you possess that you like the most?”

 

• Summary of message

 

• The Question

 

• Why is God’s Word called the Good News? Why is it Good News to you?

 

• Why does God call us to share his Good News? Is this easy or hard for you? Why or why not?

 

• What factor does fear play in sharing the Good News? Does anyone remember the phrase about fear that Adam told us to write down? (Fear is Faith in the Wrong direction). How can you overcome your fear of sharing the Good News?

 

• What is New Community’s mission and vision statements? How does sharing the good news fit into these statements? In other words, how does sharing the good news lead us to love God and each other? How does sharing the good news lead us toward heaven coming to earth?

 

• How do we share the Good News? How often to you do that? How can we share the God’s Good News more? – More effectively?