SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020
WELCOME HOME 2: HOUSE RULES
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, TX
This year, we are celebrating 30 years of the OpenDoor Food Bank and 25 years of OpenDoor Church.
THERE WILL NEVER BE A MAJOR CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE UNTIL THERE IS A MAJOR CHANGE IN YOU.
My job and my role – and my understanding of my job and my role – has changed, developed, morphed and become more clear as I have grown and changed, and as our church and tribe has changed through the years.
I have changed a lot in how I teach and preach the Gospel, but I continue to tell my own story and not somebody else’s story. I really think that’s a good thing.
John 4:14 – “…but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
A well springing up. A fountain of living water – I think, meaning that we GIVE life, PREACH life and DEMONSTRATE life out of our overflow. If you don’t have it, you can’t give it.
Acts 3:6 – Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
So, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Especially if there’s any victory in your life because of King Jesus.
Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death
I do tell my own stories, but my stories don’t make me the hero. My stories make Jesus the Hero.
Yes, I’ve got a revelation, but I’m not highly educated. Yes, I’ve got success, but I’ve got a rap sheet of failures that should have killed me.
I’ll tell you what I’ve learned that is much greater than success in the Kingdom, and that is Fruit.
God has not called you to be SUCCESSFUL in all things. He has called you to be FRUITFUL in all things.
So, get up and show people the fruit.
If you’re going to tell your own story, you have to be real. You have to vulnerable and you have to also understand that people need to know what’s perfect in your life is not your humanity.
You do and you will make mistakes. You don’t have it all figured out. You are still being transformed by the renewing of your mind. There are still problems and challenges and things you have to deal with.
HOUSE RULE #1
Only flawed people are allowed to operate in this house.
You will never do that if you want to be famous. If you’re famous, you are known for something. You can never disappoint the people who look at you.
HOUSE RULE #2
Don’t be famous; be influential. Be a leader.
Yes, there is a harvest and I’m going to tell you about it, but don’t think there’s no weeds in it. Show people your resolve to be more about the fruit than you are about the weeds.
So, in talking about my role as the leader of OpenDoor means that I have to be the senior person of influence.
The face, the voice and the attitude of how OpenDoor demonstrates the heart of King Jesus.
The chief architect of the culture of the house and definer of goals, finish lines and victory dances.
Culture: How we do things around here.
All of the parables where Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is just like that” are times when Jesus is teaching us the culture of Heaven.
I’m going after something perfect and fully-formed, but I’m not presenting my life or our church as flawless.
This means a big part of our house rules has to be about grace.
“Grace is favor. The free and undeserved help God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.” It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to people “generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved” – that takes the form of divine favor, love, clemency, and a share in the divine life of God.
HOUSE RULE #3
We love and celebrate the GRACE OF GOD in this house.
If you come from another house or a history that is suspicious of people who live in the grace of God, I want to invite you to embrace grace!
The Bible gives us 159 definitive verses on the grace of God.
The gift of the grace of God manifests in some many different ways, such as unmerited favor.
GRACE
1. God-given ability to overcome
2. Endless second chances
You can approach the presence of God anytime, in any condition under grace. You don’t have to live a powerless life because of Grace. You don’t have to hang your head or run off the reservation because of Grace. You don’t have to be a slave. You can a child of God and walk in true fellowship with Him because of Grace.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MINIMAL GRACE. I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ANYBODY WHO JUST NEEDED A LITTLE BIT OF GRACE.
THE GRACE TO ACCEPT THE KINGS INVITATION TO SIT AT HIS TABLE IN HIS HOUSE
2 Samuel 9:1-5 – And David said, “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. 3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. 4 And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. 5 Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.
Several years earlier, David had made a covenant with his friend Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of Saul and the heir apparent to the throne, but God had rejected Saul as king over Israel and had chosen David. It was during this time that David remembered the covenant he had made with his best friend, Jonathan.So, David sent for a man named Ziba, who once served Saul. David asked him to see if there were any survivors of Saul’s family (v.3)
2 Samuel 9:3 – Then the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”
Now, it is as if Ziba is saying to David, “You know king, you should think twice about sending for this guy. He is going to be no use for you because he’s lame.” But that didn’t matter to David. David sent for Mephibosheth that he might show kindness to him for Jonathan’s sake.
Now, the first mention of Mephibosheth is in 2 Samuel 4 where we are told how he came to be LAME IN HIS FEET.
When David takes the throne of Judah, Saul’s son Ishbosheth is ruling in Israel with Abner, his general. The rule of Ishbosheth collapses and Abner is killed. At this time, Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, was 5 years old. When Mephibosheth’s nurse heard that Abner was killed, she panicked, grabbed the boy and ran thinking if David found him, he was dead. Why? Because it was the practice in that time for a new king to seek out any survivors of the previous dynasty for the purpose of WIPING them out.
All potential rivals were put to death.
History records that in some of the neighboring cultures the new rulers would seek out the surviving rivals and have them skinned alive.
They would take the skins of those people and make couches or chairs out of them.
So, the nurse was AFRAID of King David. She took Mephibosheth to flee from him and Mephibosheth fell, perhaps injuring his spinal column or breaking his ankles.
MESHIBOSHETH MEANS “SHAMEFUL ONE”
He could not walk because of a fall.
THAT is us. We CANNOT walk right because of a fall. WE are lame as the result of the fall in the Garden that has affected ALL of us.
Intimacy with God was broken. The ability to live a righteous life became impossible.
No use to God. Unable to walk with God. Unable to serve God all because of the fall. Sin, separation and death.
Remember, the name Mephibosheth means “Shameful One”
A perfect name for us. WE are shameful.
I DO NOT mean to pop anyone’s bubble today, but we need to see ourselves in the light of Scripture. Mankind is LAME and shameful.
2 Samuel 9:8-7 – And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. 8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?
2 Samuel 9:13 – So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.
THIS IS HOW THE HOUSE RULES WORK FOR THE HOUSE OF THE KING.
He was still lame and he was still flawed, but he belonged at the honored place of the King’s table.
Table is family.
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