Posts Tagged “in the margin.”

I often hear people, in so many words say, if you want to reach people you cannot talk about the hard stuff. I would say if you want to reach people you better talk about the hard stuff! Why? because we live in the hard stuff don’t we? Much of what we journey through in our lives is not easy, it is hard. Life doesn’t get lived in simple formula’s and steps. Life is complicated, life is hard and demands truth that addresses these difficulties. For example last weekend I said I wanted to be clear about one thing “you have no hope, apart from Jesus”. There are a couple ways to view that statement. You could call that “hard truth” because of the exclusivity of that statement. I’m sure that many would read John 14:6 and call it “hard” as well. Yet there is another way to view it, beautiful. If it is true that as Jesus says there is no hope outside of HIm, then the fact that He provides us with hope is in fact beautiful! You could call it terribly arrogant and exclusive to say that “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me”. Unless of course its true. If its true, that changes everything. Then saying that would in fact be the most loving thing Jesus could ever communicate. Randy Alcorn says this “Come and see what God has done, the psalmist says, ‘how awesome his works in men’s behalf!’ (Psalm 66:5). ‘Taste and see that the LORD is good’ (Psalm 34:8). Scripture gives us many such invitations to come to God and personally experience him. The best way to do this is to open the Bible and learn about Jesus. Ask yourself who He is and whether you could believe in him. If you hold him at a distance, you will never see him for who he is. Phillip simply invited his friend Nathanael to ‘come and see’ Jesus (John 1:45-46). Have you come? Have you seen him? If not, brace yourself. Because once you see Jesus as he really is, your worldview, your goals, your affections, everything – including your view of evil and suffering will change.”

- If God is Good by Randy Alcorn pg. 219

This has been an amazing season in the life of our little church. Yes, I said little church. I’ve been to enough sporting events to know that people gather in great number to celebrate what they are passionate about. I grew up in a town where 24,000 of us would fill an arena twice a week to cheer on “Big Blue”. I now live in a town where 75,000 gather regularly to cheer on the Broncos. We topped over 11,000 people a couple weeks ago and had over 10 again this past weekend. Which is significant, but I sure hope we aren’t satisfied. There is work to be done, people to reach out to, and many broken and hurting people that still believe if there is a God, he certainly wouldn’t want to have anything to do with them. Jesus said “open up your eyes and look at the fields! they are ripe for the harvest” John 4:35. So lets not fall into the trap of thinking we’ve somehow arrived. Lets certainly not fall into the religious trap of “circling the wagons” and trying to preserve what we have at the expense of reaching more people. What God is doing here is just that, WHAT GOD IS DOING. We can’t manufacture it, and we can’t do it, we are just along for the ride, called to be faithful with what He has entrusted us with. People’s lives are being transformed, homes are being rebuilt, relief is being delivered to those in need, here and around the world, we are throwing an extravagant party for the marginalized in our community, and God keeps revealing Himself in new and fresh ways to us. So my question is simple: Why? As I read the Bible, its clear that not everyone is granted a gift like this. Not everyone gets to see God move in such extraordinary ways in their local church, or even in their own lives. Jeremiah certainly didn’t experience what we are experiencing. Even Paul’s great successes were born out of tremendous suffering and persecution that is honestly foreign to us. So why has God decided to use our little church to make a big difference? I don’t know what makes God look best? Using a bunch of broken messed up people like us meeting in an old feed store in Lafayette, Colorado or using a bunch of shiny happy people in some big cathedral? I think God using “tools” like us makes the Him “the carpenter” look all the more skilled, all the more amazing, all the more faithful, all the more glorious. So why? I think God is using us because using people like us, makes Him look good! And He is very good.

God is doing an amazing thing in and through us who are a part of Flatirons Community Church. This past weekend we presented the idea of throwing a party that would demonstrate what the heart of God looks like. We said that throwing a party for the most overlooked, marginalized people in our culture would help demonstrate 3 truths.
1) Jesus values ALL people
2) the proud get humbled and the humble get elevated
3) God wants to party with those who’ve never been invited to a party.

So we introduced the concept of throwing a party for those in our community with special needs. People 16 and up who have mental and or physical disabilities. Flatirons community church responded in such a huge way to the idea of shining a light on who God is and what He is like that we’ve now had to add a second night of shine! If you want to volunteer sign up now, if you know someone who should attend as one of our guests, sign them up now! Its going to be an amazing demonstration of Luke 14:12-14 and Matthew 25:34-40.

The word “margin” means “the edge or border of something”. God has always been concerned with the margins of our lives because its in the margin that we can help the marginalized. Deuteronomy 24:19-22 is just one of the places that God makes this clear. While most of us don’t have fields, olives or grapes to harvest the teaching isn’t hard to apply. Unfortunately most of us haven’t been taught to live this way. In fact most Americans live lifestyles that can’t be sustained by their income. Could this be one of the reasons we are so stressed out? I think so. God doesn’t command us to live beneath our means, only to take care of others (although that would be reason enough) but also to take care of us. Living beneath our means so that we can spend more on what matters most is a great way to live, a healthy way to live and a sustainable way to live. I’ve always loved what Jim taught several years ago in one of our financial series, “the space between what you make and what you spend is called margin, also called peace”. Its in the margin that we will find the heart of God, and in the margin we will find peace.