Being overwhelmed and shaken both emotionally and spiritually would
be an understatement in describing the day I was privileged to
experience. Have you ever been hugged by a leper? I thought leprosy had
been eradicated. I found out differently today. Sam and I, along with
Sonny and SK, drove into Nimba County, Liberia. We had some follow up at
a college that we had installed a bigger water system and wanted to
explore the area.
The previous trip at the same college I had met
a man selling goods that had the after effects of Leprosy. Like most
other family men, he was working hard to earn money to support his
family. I knew there were Liberians that had been afflicted with
Leprosy, but until today didn't realize there is an active colony. In
his pushing forward kind of tone, Sam asks 'want to go check it out?'
The decision was made to go immediately. And honestly, I was excited.
Really, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing...loving the least?
Can't imagine a more destitute and 'least' scenario than suffering from
Leprosy in a 4th world country.
It only took about a 15 minute drive to reach the area. But, Sam always
looking for great Liberian art noticed a small shop off the road
selling wood carvings. It happened to be a shop owned and operated by
men suffering from Leprosy.
First off, regardless of affliction
or disease they were selling some of the best hand woven baskets I've
seen. Add in the fact that the artisans were missing most of their
fingers, the craftsmanship was astounding! As we spent time looking at
their products, we had great conversations and all of us enjoyed the
bartering going on. Liberians are legendary in bartering. Add in the
fact Sam Wrisley may be the American-Liberian Heavyweight Champ, it was
an epic battle of wits. One thing I love about Sam is he treats everyone
the same...and these guys loved it! Sam has a gift of knowing people.
These guys wanted to be treated normal and they got it. I'm so thankful
to be part Hope 2 Liberia and to learn from Sam.
As the smoke
cleared and the deals were made, we rounded up the products and loaded
the car. One of the carvers came to me and graciously handed me two
carvings as a gift. The sentiment was amazing. First reaction I had was
to give him a hug. No thought. Just action. The surprising part...he
hugged me harder than I've ever been hugged in my life! As we stood
there embraced, all I kept thinking about was 'when was the last time
he's been hugged?' He let me go and I looked up at his smiling face and
he tells me this...'people think I'm a bad man because my hands are
crippled.' Boy, are they all wrong.
Never underestimate the
significance of a kind word. A smile. A wave. A hug. Share God's love
any chance you get. This is a man that most have forgotten. He knew the
significance of sharing love. He truly rocked my soul and because of him
I'm better for it.
Up until
a few years ago, only the geekiest comic book lovers like myself had heard of
the "Guardians of the Galaxy." I sat through the original and
thought, “This is the geekiest film America has ever loved.” It went on to be the
number #1 grossing movie in 2014. Even those of you who have never read a comic
book are somewhat familiar with Batman, Superman, the Avengers, and Captain
America. But the Guardians, well they were the ignored heroes of the comic
world with only a cult, geek following…until the movie. Friday, their sequel
released.
The movie tells the story of this rag tag group of beings who must band
together in order to save the universe. None of them had grandiose aspirations
to be saviors. As the video showed, they were mostly outlaws. The galaxy had
written them off as lost, as a burden, as common criminals. But these five lost
and broken misfits found each other, and they found a mission larger than
themselves that required them to come together to accomplish something bigger
than their selfish endeavors.
You look at the Avengers, and
Iron Man, and Captain America, and they are more or less clean cut, have it all
together, know what they are about. That doesn't describe many of us, does it?
We may put on a good front for each other, but the reality is that we struggle,
we fail, sometimes we barely hold it together.
And that's okay. I want to get this out there right now, and
keep coming back to it throughout this message. If you feel like a failure, if
you feel like life is always a struggle, if you feel like you have been written
off by society, by family, by whatever, it's okay. Because that is not the end
of your story. God has more in store for you. You have a purpose—even if you
feel like a misfit.
Because the message of the
gospel centers around this joyous premise—God accepts and uses outcasts. Listen
to what Paul says about you, and me, and the person sitting next to you:
For consider
your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly
standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.But God chose what is foolish in the world to
shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;God chose what is low and despised in the
world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,so that no human being might boast in the
presence of God.And because of him you
are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and
sanctification and redemption,so that,
as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians
1:26-31 (ESV)
The early
church was not made up of super heroes. According to Paul, they weren't the
best and the brightest. They weren't Captain Americas, Iron Man, or Wonder Woman.
And that's exactly how God wanted it. If you were a somebody you became part of
the Roman worship cults. You paid your membership dues, you received your
status and your special perks. But most of the people couldn't afford that.
Couldn't be a part of that. And that's helped the church to explode in the
first century. It was a place for the outcasts of society. For the not good
enoughs. For people who were willing to surrender to Jesus together, become a
family despite not sharing blood, and carry each other along in this life when
the need arose.
If I was going to assemble a
team whose purpose it was to change the world, I would not have chosen the
disciples. The disciples were misfits too. Their choosing by Jesus goes against
every leadership book you can find. They say things like, "Surround
yourself with solid, capable leaders." But Jesus did the opposite. He
surrounded himself with misfits, malcontents and knuckleheads. When you read
the gospels, the disciples come off more as the three stooges than a story of the
foundational leaders of a worldwide movement. So when Paul says "God chose
the foolish and the weak, and the lowly, and the things that are not" we
should perk up and have hope. "That’s me!"
I have a friend who took his
church group to a big summer conference.
As a church, they teamed up
with another local church and one of the kids from their youth group
desperately needed a win in life. He had been going through some major issues,
and my friend’s guess was that outside of the youth group kids he didn’t have a
lot of friends. It would very safe to assume that in most settings he was a
social outcast.
Just as an aside – that is
who we are to be. A place that loves outcasts. I remember around six years ago,
we had some of the very “popular” kids coming to our Wednesday kids program. We
also had a “totally unpopular” kid from a very poor family coming. The “popular”
kids started picking on the “unpopular” kid. I pulled the leader of the bullies
aside and told him that the church needs to be a place where everyone feels welcome
and loved. If there is one place in the world where someone should feel
accepted, this is it. The “popular” kid left that night and never came back.
And that’s okay. The church needs to be a place for the outcasts and the unpopular.
And if the “popular” people aren’t okay with mingling with the less fortunate,
then church should make them feel very uncomfortable.
On Tuesday night the
conference hosted a talent show. There were some incredible acts. Between
Taylor Swift-esque talent, humor, and poems, the talent of those kids was
incredible. Then there was the boy. He signed up to be a part of the talent
show and as My friend says, “If I’m honest, I thought, "Dude…don’t do that
to yourself. All the eyes are on you, you shouldn’t set yourself up for
failure."
This
boy’s talent was the Rubik’s cube. He was a master; no one questioned that. The
fact that he could complete the thing was impressive enough, but he could do it
with ease. For the talent show, he wanted to do it blind folded.
My friend asked him,
"How will you know how the colors line up?"
He said, “I just memorize the
pattern."
My friend didn’t see how he
could succeed.
He was the second act. The
host messed up the Rubik’s cube, and the boy sat off stage studying it, tapping
it, and staring at it.
It was his turn. He put the
bag over his head, and then put his hands behind his back.
"No way!" people
shouted.
It would have easily been the
most impressive act of the night.
The audience watched in
silence as his hands tapped and twisted.The video camera zoomed in on his hands as he worked on it.
Time counted down, and he
failed. The host even gave him extra time, yet he still failed. The group tried
to comfort him with their applause, but you could see the defeat in his body
language.
After the talent contest was
over, My friend and him walked back to the dorm together. My friend asked him,
"How are you doing?"
He said, "Not good. I
feel like that was my one chance and I failed."
It was one of those moments
in a kid’s life that could have been a huge confidence boost to a kid who
needed it. Yet he failed.
But that’s not how the story ends. Just like the Guardians didn’t fail because
of their mistakes, nor does our story end with our sins.
Now fast forward to the last
night of the conference. The director was on stage at the beginning of the
night and said, “I feel like we need to set something right tonight. I feel
like we were close to seeing something amazing and just missed it. Is the
Rubik’s cube kid here?”
He was.
“Do you have the Rubik’s cube
with you?”
He did.
“Of course you do. Come on up
here. We want to give you a second chance.”
The director interviewed the
boy and asked him what he needed to make it happen. The boy said, "Compete
silence." The director and the audience obliged. But it got really
awkward. The director asked the boy if he was close; he wasn’t. It got even
more awkward. So the director transitioned to offering, and the boy just sat
there studying the Rubik’s cube. After offering, the director asked the boy if
he needed more time. He did, so the boy went next to the drums, center stage
and sat cross-legged. He tapped; he studied; he tried to memorize the Rubik’s
cube. Meanwhile the show must go on, and the director interviewed the main
speaker for the night while the boy sat cross-legged next to the drums behind
them. Tapping. Studying.
The moment of truth arrived.
The boy stood, turned around, put the blind fold over his head, and placed his
hands behind his back. The video camera zoomed in on his hands holding the
Rubik’s cube. On the big screen for everyone to see.
You could have heard a pin
drop as they watched. 900 people completely silent. Everyone pulling for this
kid. And he nailed it! In forty seconds, the boy completed the Rubik’s cube
blind folded and behind his back. The audience erupted. Standing ovation.
Clapping. Cheering. Whistling. High fives. His success was celebrated. He got
high fives on his way back to his seat. He was given a second chance, and was
redeemed.
That’s what the church is
supposed to be as we work with Christ to redeem those who desperately need
second chances in life. We help others out when they are down. When the world
rejects you – when you feel like a misfit, if you shut out the world and listen
to the Spirit in you, you will hear it say, "You are mine. I choose you. I believe in you."
That's love. That's acceptance. No matter what we've done; no matter how the
rest of the world regards us; we are still God's treasured children.
Though we may feel like we
are the least and though the world treats us like the last, we are called to
join God's mission of saving the world. We often feel like that kid walking
back to the dorm – defeated and a failure. But when you join his team – the
church – we carry each other through life’s hard times.
God entrusts us with the task
of finishing the mission that Jesus started. God believes in us! God believes
in you! God accepts and empowers you! But he doesn’t expect you to do it alone.
Paul wrote:
He chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him. Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
Take a second and really let that sink in. In a world of celebrities,
impossible beauty standards, and constant comparison, where we are always
feeling like the last kid picked for the team, God looks right at us and
says—"You. I want you on my team. We can win if you play with my
team."
Since all that is true—that
God accepts and empowers us, then doesn't it follow that the church should be a
place of acceptance and empowering of those same outcasts? Just as God says,
"I love and accept you," that is what the church is supposed to be
like. A place where people come and find other misfits saying, "You are
welcome here. You are loved. You’re part of the team." When you fall, we
will help you up. Because guess what—the church is full of misfits, outcasts, and
unloved people that the world has turned their backs on.
Because of
that, Church is always going to be messy. And doing church right is hard. As
morals and families break down in society around us, the dysfunction in
people’s lives grows worse. When we enter the church, we bring that with us.
Ministering to people will be hard, messy, frustrating. So be constantly kind
and gracious to each other. Always help one another out rather than tear people
down. We will have to turn the other cheek, love our enemies, endure hardship,
insult and betrayal, and, most importantly, continue to make church about
Christ and others, not about ourselves.
And so we need to realize
that people are not sinners to be converted, projects to be preached at, or
demographics to be reprogrammed. We should never generalize, categorize,
dismiss, or underestimate people who walk through our doors. Every person is a
story, rich with history, experiences, creative potential, strengths and
weaknesses, clarity and blindness. That was the mindset that the early church
embraced; that changed so many lives.
Since everyone who walks
through those doors is in that process, that means that we bring with us the
baggage of the past. The church becomes a baggage collection center. If you
feel that you have it all together, then praise the Lord. Now get back in there
and help those that don't. Now is not the time to sit aloof looking down on anyone.
Doctors and nurses who aren't ill in the emergency room are there to help. We
don't need to be like the Pharisee who looks around and prays, "God I
thank you that I'm not like the tax collector. That I'm not some drunk, some
addict, some messed up person." If you want to boast about your place in
life, boast in what the Lord has done in you. And work to make that a reality
in someone else's life. See yourself in their situation and show them a light
out of the darkness instead of a cold shoulder. Start helping others out.
When a parent takes a crying
child who has just broken something valuable into their arms with a loving
embrace, they aren't saying that their child’s actions are justified. Their
love isn’t condoning the behavior. They are saying that they love the child,
despite their mistakes. Yes, there are consequences—there always are. But there
is also love, and grace, and restoration.
Let me stop here and offer an
apology. An apology to all who have suffered disdain, exclusion, ostracism,
hurt, cruelty, a cold shoulder, or unfair judgment at the hands of the church.
To those who have not felt that love and grace from the church. To those who
resent the church and what it seems to stand for in America in 2017, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that the church has not been the church. Has not been the beautiful
bride of Christ who shows love, grace, correction, instruction, redemption and
restoration. Please forgive us. Please don't give up on the church or us or
God. And for those here who are part of the church with me, let’s work to make
it what it was intended to be.
Don't give up
because just as our personal sins and failures are not the end of our story,
the church's story does not end with failure and hypocrisy. It ends with a
wedding. Revelation pictures the church as a bride who is made beautiful,
wearing white. Then the church partakes in a giant wedding feast where all the
faithful share in the greatest party you can imagine. It's the victory party
for the greatest underdog story of all time. A group of misfits, losers,
outcasts, and not good enoughs are the winners. But before that happens, the
mission of the church has not changed. We are still here to save the world. To
add more players to our rag tag group of believers. To change the world. To aid
in the saving effort to restore people to God.
In the Guardians of the
Galaxy movie, there is a character named "Groot." Basically, he's a
tree. He seems pretty dumb as all he ever says is, "I am Groot.” Except
for one time at the end. But don't underestimate him, because he might teach us
a valuable lesson about what it means to be part of God's church:
We are
Groot. As the ship is going down, Groot wraps all the Guardians in his branches
in order to save them. And when the raccoon asks why, he simply replies,
"We are Groot." I think it was his way of saying, "We are a
team. You are worth sacrificing for."
It reminds me of the verse in
Galatians:
Brothers, if anyone is caught
in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of
gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill
the law of Christ.For if anyone thinks
he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.But let each one test his own work, and then
his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.For each will have to bear his own load.
Galatians 6:1-5 (ESV)
As a church, this is something we would love to plan or program, and we could
probably do that. But I have felt for a while that programming is done in a
church to make people who don’t live out the gospel feel comfortable about not
living it out. Instead, we just have to live this bearing each other’s burdens
out when burdens are revealed. And we can do this when we recognize that we are
one – that we are groot.
And as I think about the
church, we are groot in a way. Not always pretty to look at. Not always the
brightest bulb. That’s the norm with outcasts. Not always what the world would
consider desirable. We are a lot like the Guardians who saved the galaxy. We
need to help each other when we are down to make a difference. But when we act
like the church—when we put aside our holier than thou attitudes, pettiness,
pride, and whatever else puffs us up and tears others down, something amazing
happens—we have the power and strength to save this world. The Guardians had a
mission to save the galaxy, and they came together as a bunch of misfits
needing to help each other out to accomplish it. Through their weaknesses,
failures, even through their dislike of one another. The mission was more
important than their personal endeavors. And our mission is to be God's kingdom
here on earth--all of us, together, a bunch of misfits and outcasts that God
has brought together, accepted, redeemed and restored.
So If you are feeling like one of the not good enoughs—not good enough
for your family, your friends, or the church,don’t leave without hearing this—God loves you and wants on his team. There is no need to do silly things to
fit in because God has already chosen you and has a spot for you on his team.
And for those of us who call ourselves members of the church, who have already
experienced this grace of being chosen and accepted, may we never forget the
depths from which we came. May it change how we view one another and this
world. May we lift each other up in our times of crisis. And may we never
forget that God's church is a place where people can find healing, acceptance,
and love. Let that be us.
