WELCOME TO THE MISFIT KINGDOM

Welcome to the Misfit Kingdom Luke 14:12-24

Here are three quotes from well-known pastors.

“The sign of the saved is their love for the least.” ~ Max Lucado

“We have never locked eyes with someone that did not matter to God.” ~ Bill Hybels

“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat those who can do nothing for them.” ~ Charles Swindoll

How about these quotes? Do they sound familiar?

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 7:12 _NLT)

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” ~ Jesus (John 13:34-35 _NLT)

“The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” ~ Jesus (Mark 12:29-31 _NLT)

If we follow Christ, loving others should be one of the central themes and goals of our lives. This morning, we’re going to look at that, but things are going to be a little bit different, as far as the sermon goes.

One of the greatest ways to impact our hearts and minds is through the use of stories. Jesus often used parables to drive home important points. So, this morning, I’d like to share a few stories with you. My prayer is that they will seep deep into your heart – that they will impact you to the extent that your life will be changed. I would ask that God would allow them to impact the way we feel, the way we think, and, in turn, the way we act.

Story #1: John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort, he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month, the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding.

Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting — 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.”

So, at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen. A young woman was coming toward him, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit, she was like springtime come alive. He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As he moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured. Almost uncontrollably he made one step closer to her, and then he saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes.

The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. He felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was he desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. He did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which he had been and must ever be grateful. He squared his shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while he spoke, he felt choked by the bitterness of his disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”

The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

French novelist Arsène Houssaye wrote, “Tell me who you love, and I will tell you who you are!”

The rest of this morning’s “stories” are from Pastor Ryan Johnson. Some years ago, he pastored a church in Glen Elder, Kansas. They are from his life, but they are surely impacting!

But first, let’s hear one of Jesus’ stories. It’s from Luke 14:12-24 _NLT.

¹² Then [Jesus] turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward.   ¹³ Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

¹⁵ Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. ¹⁷ When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ ²³ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. ²⁴ For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

Ryan Johnson spoke of Jesus’ loving the unlovable when he wrote the core of this sermon. The first point? If You Welcome Misfits, You’ll Be Blessed v12-14

Here, is story #2: One day when my best friend Karl Schad invited me to a late breakfast. We were in Joplin, Missouri and I was eagerly awaiting our trip to McDonald’s.

A few blocks from the Golden Arches out the passenger window we saw Miss Posey.

Miss Posey was a familiar figure around Joplin. You see Miss Posey was homeless. One look at her would tell you so. I guess you could call her a misfit, an outcast. To society, she was a throwaway. At one time she may have been a child with hope, but that was years ago, now the unsheltered summer and winter nights had taken their toll on Miss Posey’s 65-year-old body.

She had mismatched Salvation Army clothes on; yellow plaid pants, a lime green jacket, and her life’s belongings in the bag next to her. She was waving to all the cars oblivious to the fact that no one knew her.

Karl and I traveled on. We went through the drive-thru and I ordered a couple of cheeseburgers, a fry, and a coke – just enough to appease my empty stomach.

As we drove out of McDonald’s Karl got this wild idea that I should give Miss Posey one of my cheeseburgers. Karl didn’t understand I had not eaten all morning. There was no way, absolutely no way, I was going to give my breakfast away to Miss Posey.

(Long pause) So, there we sat next to Miss Posey, watching her chow down my cheeseburgers, and sucking down my coke. …and that’s when it happened.

We asked her the most important question that anybody can ask. “Miss Posey, do you know Jesus Christ?”

Without hesitating, but with tears welling up in her eyes she said, “Oh, yeah, He holds me every night.”

“He holds me every night.” Jesus welcomes misfits.

The faith of misfits can bless us, but sometimes they’re not so easy to love, because they’re not like us.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:34-36 _NRSV

³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Our second point, If You Welcome Misfits, The Kingdom Will Expand v15-22

Story #3: I had just dropped off my wife and kids in Salina, Kansas at my mother–in-law’s and was heading north out of town when I saw him. His name was Charlie.

Charlie was sitting in the ditch with large army bags. A cold misty rain was drenching him and his bags. He wore his Vietnam jacket proudly and it laid over is 400-pound body like a tarp.

I pulled over and asked if I could help. He said if I would load his bags (and man did he mean bags) on the car and drive them to the gas station that was a hundred yards away he would appreciate it.

I did. He limped along following behind my car.

After a few fruitless hours of trying to talk him into going to a rescue mission, I prayed with him and left.

I continued home and that’s when Jesus started in and I said, “Jesus I can’t take him home…He could kill me…But Jesus he really stinks…Jesus there is no way I am letting him stay the night…Now Lord I prayed with him, I helped him.”

Echoing Matthew 25, I felt Him say to me, “I said when you welcomed me – not if you prayed with me.”

So, I made a U-turn and as I pulled up next to Charlie at the gas station, I said, “Charlie get in!” And Charlie said, “Gitty up!”

For the next hour and a half, I rode with this 400-pound man in my small car. I had to crack the window to be able to breathe through the stench. I heard the story of how a once-proud veteran became a misfit. It was the common dilemma of needing medicine to get a job and a job to get the medicine.

We got to my place. I laid a sheet on the couch and I washed his clothes and belongings.

The next morning, I took him to the police station as a part of the ministerial alliance agreement to get him a free motel room and a hot meal.

Later that day I received a call from the Hospital’s Social worker. She said that Charlie was admitted and would speak to no one but me.

I walked into his room and said, “Charlie what do you need?” He said, “I don’t want anything. I just wanted you to know, they told me that my heart is bad and I’m dying. They want to ship me to Wichita. But I can never hitch a ride out of Wichita, so I want to stay here to die. Last night was the first home I have stayed in in over 20 years. Because of that I felt welcomed. And I know Jesus is asking me to get my real heart right. I just want you to know Preacher, I want you to help me accept the Lord.”

When we welcome misfits, the Kingdom expands.

Jesus said in Luke 15:1-7 _NLT

¹Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ² This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. ⁶ When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Jesus ate with sinners – he welcomed them. The angels rejoice every time a misfit child of God is welcomed.

Sometimes the misfits Jesus calls us to love and welcome home don’t smell like us. Sometimes the paths we choose in life lead us into quicksand and before we know it, we are caught. And if no one is there to help us…what do we do? Misfits don’t always choose to be misfits.

Our third point is You Must Welcome Misfits Because God Welcomed You! vs22-23

In today’s passage from Luke 14 about the banquet. that all of the invited guests had poor excuses to not attend, the spiritually crippled, the lame, and the blind that Jesus talks about? We are those people.

Story #4: On May 20, 1974, a promiscuous young lady gave birth to a son. She could have had an abortion but by the grace of God, this woman chose life.

She gave the boy up for adoption and five days later he was welcomed into a new family.

He wasn’t told that he was adopted but when he was 10 years old he found out quite unexpectedly.

He was on his knees on the kitchen chair dipping Easter eggs with his brother and sister. He knew that his oldest brother was adopted but he assumed he was a real kid…a wanted kid.

His mother was testing the waters as she said, “Well, what if you were adopted.”

The truth sunk in – a crack zigzagged across his tender heart. But it did not stay tender… Feelings of rejection and bitterness filled his heart. Rigor mortis began to set in and for the next 7 years, he tried to fight his feeling of rejection with sex, drugs…and trouble.

One night the accumulation of all the hurt as an outcast, a misfit, got the best of him. He sat with a shotgun in his mouth in an attempt to fix a temporary problem with a permanent solution.

As he sat there, he suddenly remembered that he had made a promise to his best friend Karl Schad. The promise was to go church the next day.

Remember that name – Karl Schad? He was the best friend of Ryan Johnson, the pastor who authored these stories. This young man on the verge of suicide? It was Ryan Johnson.

He went to church with Karl and after the service in the pastor’s office…Ryan was welcomed home. He surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. The misfit kid was welcomed home. His rejected heart for once felt accepted…felt wanted…felt needed…felt home!

While some misfits are pretty obvious, some misfits don’t even look like misfits. We have to look…we have to listen. Jesus welcomes misfits, shouldn’t we?

(At this point I left my notes and spoke from the heart.)

God’s needle of grace is weaving together such a variety of threads. Threads like Miss Posey and Charlie and Ryan, red, yellow, black, and white. And he is creating a mat at his door that says, WELCOME HOME!

So how do we get home? How do we extend a welcome to others?

A professor of Ryan’s referred to the two doors of the Church. One door is very wide…it’s an inclusive door – all can enter. Miss Posey, Charlie, Ryan, come on in. It’s OK, you’ll never be kicked out of here.

Above this wide door is a sign with GRACE in big letters. All are welcome…no exceptions.

But there is another door and it is a very narrow door…an exclusive door. It is the door of TRUTH.

All are welcome but all have to acknowledge that Jesus is the door of truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life we must allow Him to welcome us home. He will put you in the Heavenly Father’s arms and at some point, in the not so distant future He will take our hand and walk us across this chilly River Jordan that we call death.

Now, if you would, think of all those people that welcomed you home – your parents, a loved one, a Sunday School teacher, a pastor. Or maybe someone you have welcomed home.

When we cross that old River what a joy it will be to see and be with Jesus, our Savior, and our Father God but on that other side will be those who welcomed you home. And all of those misfits will have signs that say, “WELCOME HOME!”

The core of this message was preached by Ryan Johnson at the Glen Elder Christian Church in Glen Elder, Kansas on February 23, 2002.

Sept 13th, 2020, Sun, 9:00 am