Point of Grace Worship 10.1.23 Sermon Notes – “Blessed to be a B.L.E.S.S.ing”
B.L.E.S.S – 5 everyday practices to love our neighbors and change the world
B-egin with Prayer
L-isten
E-at
S-erve
S-tory to Share
Listen
Being heard is so close to being loved that, for the average person they are indistinguishable -David W. Augsburger
“The first act of love is always the giving of attention” -Dallas Willard
“Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.” - Henri Nouwen
1 John 5:13-15 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
“When we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us – that Spirit creates in us a sacred space [middle space] where the other can be received and listened to. The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains. When we dare to fully trust in the power of God’s Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur." - Henri Nouwen
This means that if we have a new life birth in us by the Spirit of Jesus, we can love people selflessly in ways like:
Listening willingly before being listened to
Seeking to understand before seeking to be understood
Being interested before trying to be interesting
We can be a people who listen, because we are people who have been listened to. Talk is cheap and plentiful, Listening is expensive and rare. How would the world change if we became known as people who listened? - Andrew Cordy
Eat
Jesus’ practice of “radical hospitality” at the table addressed a deep and abiding human need common to us all – the need to BELONG!
Luke 5 27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. 29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Luke 14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
Jesus’ radically showed that human beings (all of them) “belong” with God!
The absence of this relationship leaves us wanting… always longing to belong!
Serve
John 13:12-17 12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Meeting tangible needs of people in Jesus name is an act of grace – unmerited favor that speaks volumes to a skeptical world.
Listening, Eating and Serving the Jesus way display the radical hospitality which was a core value and practice of His and the community of followers He formed.
Why should we dive headlong into these ancient practices of love and radically commit to this kind of lifestyle?
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever