April 29, 2007
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

Having the Eyes and Heart of God
Acts 16:9-15

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us"

In the movie “Bruce Almighty,” Bruce has messed up his life and relationship with his girlfriend, Grace, by being self-centered. He finally realizes the errors of his ways and wants to release Grace from the pain of being in love with him to find happiness for herself. He has the following conversation with God:

God: Grace. You want her back?
Bruce: No. I want her to be happy, no matter what that means. I want her to find someone who will treat her with all the love she deserved from me. I want her to meet someone who will see her always as I do now, through Your eyes.
God: Now THAT’S a prayer.

“Running the Race” Outreach Conference was held here yesterday, our Bishop Coyner speaking. Clearly, outreach and evangelism must be given more than lip service by churches. No matter what kinds of outrageous things have been done in its name in the past. Outreach and evangelism are about having the eyes and heart of God as we live in this world.

I. Outreach grows out of God’s vision.
“ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ ¹⁰After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Did you ever notice the power of seeing things through someone else’s eyes. I am willing to admit that a lot of people could go to the Alamo in San Antonio do a brief tour and say, “That’s nice” or worse, just say, “I thought it would be bigger.” Most of us can look at something in which we are not interested and be bored. But if you were there with the right guide, like me, who could tell you about the lives of the people there, the things they experienced, the trials and tribulation, you might begin to see it a little differently. If you look at something with someone who is passionate about it—and they are explaining it to you, they can get you more excited about it.

Paul hadn’t given a thought to the people of Macedonia. It wasn’t that he was ignoring them, he just wasn’t aware of them. But then, Paul had a vision from God—God helped Paul see the people of Macedonia as He saw them—a people crying out spiritually for help—people in spiritual need. It was then that the Macedonians began to matter to Paul.

Notice that God’s vision is a Spirit-caught vision. It is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. There are so many stimuli around us—so many people, so many needs—for our sanity we naturally tune most of them out. It is the Holy Spirit, the presence of God who comes to live in us when give our hearts to Jesus Christ, who enables us to begin to see life and people with the eyes and heart of God.

We may be unaware of them, but “lost people matter to God!” Hurting people matter to God! Spiritually stunted people matter to God. To see this just read the parables Jesus told about the woman’s lost coin, the shepherd’s lost sheep, the father’s lost son.

We are called to see people through the eyes and with the heart of God. Instead of people’s inviting Jesus into their hearts, Jesus would be drawing people into His heart! By this, the Holy Spirit motivates us to care and to do something when we feel some of the pain and desire God feels for those wandering and troubled. We can response to need, to a cry for help God helps us hear. This concern can only be taught up to a point. Then, if it is not in a person, it will fade away—but not if we allow God to place His vision in our hearts.

Stop and listen to the Spirit speaking to you. Who are people crying out today?

II. Outreach involves getting out of our comfort zones.

“¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. ¹²From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.”

Without God’s vision, Paul would have remained on the continent of Asia, doing the same familiar thing he had been. Outreach usually involves getting out of our comfort zones. Paul went farther from home—he experienced the dangers of traveling in those days—being ridiculed, stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and imprisoned.

Today we must be 1st century Christians, calling people to the resurrected Christ and our changed lives, not 20th century Christians just building buildings or having good programs so people will come—because they won’t. Only 50% of people go to church in America. Of people age 30 or less, 20 % have EVER been in a church building—even for weddings, funerals, etc. For many people today, they will run from the church until they become comfortable with some Christians.

Doing your Bible study at Cracker Barrel where people can see you. Spiritual book discussions at McDonalds. Our Bishop told us yesterday that the average United Methodist asks 2 people to church IN THEIR LIFETIME. In Korea, they ask an average of 4 friends to church every week. No wonder the Faith is growing there.

Faithful-living adventures can be exciting, but they can’t be experienced by hunkering down and living only to ourselves.

III. Outreach is a cooperative work of God and us.

“¹³On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.”

Outreach includes a willingness to reach out. For some people this is no big deal, but for most it is hard to do. We are to be living our witness so that we can look for the person who is ready to receive.

Find the Person of peace—as our study book describes it—the person who is open to God, ready to hear God’s message. It is not all on us to convert people. Jesus didn’t chase after the rich young ruler who asked about salvation and then walked away without finding it. Jesus let him go and went to minister to those who were ready to hear. There is a lesson for us to learn in this.

We are to live a lifestyle of mission, evangelism and service. Where you are right now is always an opportunity to model Jesus, acting as He would act, speaking as He would speak. As you show kindness and speak encouragement, you may be opened to and open a Person of Peace there with you. Opportunities to speak a gentle word about Christ’s working in your life can help you identify a Person of Peace.

Don’t argue with people—it doesn’t work. If nothing else, the reward can be the building new friendships.

In Fairmount, IN, a particular church had Wed. Kid’s Club for elementary age children. Three of these kids were on the school bus talking about what they had learned at Kid’s Club last week—that Jesus loved them enough to die for their sins and to prove God’s love for us. An older child—one who was “ruff as a cob” was listen to their conversation. When she got off the bus, she turned to the bus driver and asked, “Do you know anything about Jesus?” “Yes, I do,” he said. “Is it true that he died to forgive my sins and so that I don’t have to hurt any more?” “Yes, it’s true” the bus driver said. “Why hasn’t someone told me about this before?” she asked?

What will you do now?

Who is Lydia around you? Will you open your eyes and life to find her? If we will walk through life with our eyes open and our ears listening to the Spirit as He reveals to us People of Peace. Amen.