They were called Choose You Own Adventure books, and growing up I loved reading them. The idea behind them was that kids would be more inclined to read a story if the got to choose what happened throughout the story. An example might be that at the end of a chapter the reader could choose to go into the dark cave or go around the mountain through the swamp. There were different outcomes of the decisions that were made, and the reader would turn to a specific page to see what awaited them based on their decision. I remember getting absorbed in these types of books as I would read the outcome of one decision then go back and see what would happen if I decided to do the alternate option.

This is Easter week. A week in which we celebrate the punishment, death and resurrection of Jesus. Most Jesus followers understand this week to be special, even life changing. However, people who have not made a decision to follow Christ, see this as a Choose Your Own Adventure option. They see this as a path that is chosen that is just as viable as any other spiritual direction. That is because their view of spirituality is academic, not relational. As people who have been affected personally by the events of Easter, it is our responsibility to show the world that our decision to follow Jesus is a relational one, founded on a personal relationship with God through Jesus.

How do we do that? First, by knowing our story of salvation. Seems easy, right? But too often Christians don’t see how their personal faith fits within the entire context of God’s Story. This is so important to us at Westwind that we taught an entire series on how we fit into God’s Story (Click here to listen to the messages). Our stories are God’s extension of the Bible. He is constantly at work with humanity and interacting with the lives of those he has promised to save.

Secondly, our responsibility to the world is to live out our stories. By this I mean that our actions should reflect our relationship with God. Another way to think about this is by recognizing that our personal walk with Jesus should be personal in its intent, but public in it’s expression. Good stories should always be this way. When we have a good story, we want to let someone know about it, right?

This week our Resurrection Encounter writers are going to be sharing their stories with you. We hope that this will inspire you to share your story with others in your environments. In doing so you will show your listener that Easter week is more than a holiday season. It is a life-changing choice that you made. A story that ends in “And they lived happily ever after.”

So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News. -1 Timothy 1:8-11

What comes to your mind when you think of barriers? I really had to think about that as I wrote this. The first thing that came to my mind were physical obstacles that are meant to keep me out of somewhere or to keep me from going too far. The fence on the side of the mountain when I’m skiing, the guard rails on the Interstate, or a “No Trespassing” or “Keep Out” sign. Webster’s defines it simply as “something that impedes or separates.” But the more I thought about it the more I began to think of a different kind of barrier. The kind that keep us from reaching out to others. The barriers that we put up in our own lives. Whether to keep people out or to protect ourselves from hurt. Maybe it’s a barrier for God…telling Him how much He is allowed to do with us and in us. It might be a barrier or culture or maybe it’s a barrier that only we see when we look at a person less-fortunate that us. But each of these hinder us from caring for those around us. Because we see them through our barrier…and not through the “barrier-free” eyes of God.

When I was in Brazil at the end of January I witnessed a perfect example of barrier-free care. There is a man in this neighborhood whose name is Tio Preto. And he is homeless. Most days he just wanders the streets and every couple of days he makes his way to the home where I was staying just to talk a bit with the pastor who lives there. Geferson, the pastor, always makes time to have conversation with Tio Preto. And while he is doing that Marcia, his wife, is inside making a small sack lunch for him to take when he leaves. They don’t grumble about it. They don’t hesitate, even though it’s a sacrifice for them. And they don’t hide behind any barrier. They just show him love – no matter what. And as I stood in the doorway watching this unfold one day I remember thinking, “This must make Jesus smile.”

What barriers are keeping you from showing love and care to those around you? Jesus challenges us to set aside the barriers that are so much a part of our lives and make ourselves vulnerable by showing mercy to people and befriending them. Ask God to show you the barriers in your own life that keep you from reaching out. Then ask Him to break down those barriers so you can see people through his “barrier-free” eyes.

“Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I’ve been missing
Give me Your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see.”
- Brandon Heath

When I was first married I was so excited to have people in my home. The excitement to use the new gifts given to my husband and I for our wedding was overflowing in me. I thought I knew what hospitality was…until I met our friends from Nepal.

Our first experience with our Nepalese friends was much different than anticipated. We walked into their apartment and were not only greeted warmly, but I noticed this shuffle of people. At first glance you would think you walked in on a game of musical chairs, but we soon realized that they were giving up their chairs to sit on the floor. They were offering the best seats they had to us! Talk about feeling like royalty! Not much later we were given Nepali tea and then a huge plate of food- more ramen noodles than i had eaten in my whole life. These people had so little and yet they gave so much to mere strangers.

In Luke 5:27-32 Levi held a banquet for Jesus. Tax collectors and sinners were present at this banquet. Not a modern day banquet if you ask me. As I sat in this banquet that the Nepalese had prepared for us, I realize that was what Jesus wants from me…a willingness to serve and act generously to whoever was in need…especially to a sinner, a Nepali, who doesn’t know who our sweet Savior is.

How are you showing care to your neighbors? Can you remember the last time you invited someone into your home that doesn’t know Christ? Now is the time! Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity because it may never come. Be bold! So often we are “hearers” and “talkers”, but now is the time to be “doers”! (James 1:22-25) God will bless your action.

The cliché used by anyone wanting to poke fun at an actor is the stereotypic screen star turning to the director and asking, “What’s my motivation?” Why am I dialing this phone; why am I having this conversation; why am I hiding in the bushes? In other words, “Why on earth would I be doing this?”

For me, there seem to be two distinct, and very different, motivations I can have for showing Care, our theme this week. There’s Guilt-Care and there’s Mercy-Care. With Guilt-Care I act out of my own feeling of ‘the shoulds’. I should do something for my neighbor or else it makes me a bad person. I should because everyone else at church is. I should because God will be mad if I don’t.

But Mercy-Care is best illustrated in the story found in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus was eating at the home of a Pharisee when a woman with a sullied reputation came and poured expensive perfume over his feet, covering them with her tears and wiping them with her hair. When the Pharisee questioned to himself why a supposed prophet would allow such a woman to do something like this, Jesus responded with the parable of two people indebted to a moneylender, one of them for ten times the amount of the other. When the moneylender cancels both of their debts, which will love him more, asked Jesus. The answer of course is that the one who had the bigger debt canceled will love more.

The one with the bigger debt responds in love because of the size of the debt canceled. The woman with the perfume responds the way she does because she grasps just how much sin in her life has been forgiven.

To show Mercy-Care to those in my life in need of Christ is, then, simply the natural result of seeing how much of my own sin he’s forgiven. To love because I feel guilt is not love at all. To love because I have been released from guilt, and can now choose to love in response, is true love indeed. The first accomplishes absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, while the latter honors the One who showed us mercy.

Nuts and bolts time: Getting involved in caring ways in the lives of those around you will bring you into some messy situations. Some of the biggest needs in a person’s life you may called upon to fill through an act of love will be the result of their sinful choices, maybe repeatedly sinful choices. It’s so very easy to say that you should at that time love the sinner but hate the sin, but the temptation will be to shy away from helping them, to think, “Well, it’s their own fault.” It may be, but care for them anyway.

And the key to doing so is to see things as the woman with the perfume did – through the lens of what she has been forgiven. You can accomplish this by spending time remembering. Remember, in sordid specifics, what Christ has done for you. What sins has he forgiven you? How have you lived in the past that he no longer holds against you? What mercy has he shown you?

That’s our motivation.

One of my daily tasks as a college football coach was taping ankles. I usually enjoyed the time with the athletes as we bantered. I encountered many different types of feet as I taped. Some were very large, some were small. I don’t know that I ever called a pair of feet “beautiful,” but I did come upon a pair that were definitely disgusting. One player had a terrible fungal infection in his feet. Everyday he would hop up on the training table and stick his feet in my face and smile. I would always hope that nothing similar to “alien” was going to jump out of his feet and take over my body. I taped those feet every day-it was my job.

In John 13 we come upon Jesus doing something that was not his job-but it was his delight. As the cross looms before him, he takes off his clothes, and puts on the robe of a servant. His disciples are clueless as he begins the process of washing their feet. The task is menial and reserved for those that were considered “inferior.” Jesus, the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega, the Creator of the Universe, stoops low to wash the dirty feet of his disciples. He washes the feet of fishermen, tax collectors, doubters, those would deny him, and one who would betray him. He washes the feet of Judas, as an act of love and friendship. The Greek text says, “He showed them the fullest extent of his love.”

As I read and allow the fullness of this passage to marinate in my soul, I am taken back by my love and serving others. I do it for so many reasons, much like the disciples I am sure. I might serve so that I can be an example, or to show leadership, or even to participate in service “competition.” Many times the church is filled with a spirit of competition and criticism as we see who can be the greatest. This was the spirit of the disciples, and sometimes, sadly, me.

The longer I live, the more I learn about humility and service. It is in humility that I can truly learn to love others. I mean, really love the unlovely, and those that I would rather hate than serve. It is in humility that I can best use my gifts to serve those that I would rather have serve me. It is easy to serve when something is going to come back to me. It is easy to serve when I know others are watching and expecting it. It is easy to serve when I am on a mission trip. It is not so easy when no one is watching or expecting it.

There is a cost to serving others. Jesus was willing to give up everything to lavish love on me when I did not deserve it. He was willing to serve those in love that would deny and betray him. Am I willing to serve those around me in this spirit? When no one is watching, and no one will know, will I still serve those around me?

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 NLT

One of my favorite Gary Larson Far Side cartoons depicts a goldfish stuck in an extremely small bowl with a horrified look on its face. Above him (literally centimeters away because the bowl is so small) is a goldfish floating upside down in a “dead float”, complete with X’s on the eyes. The live fish has no where to swim to get away from the dead fish. The small bowl makes the comedy come through, but there is a similarity to those who call themselves Jesus followers that can’t be denied. We, like the goldfish, live in a small world, too. And we cannot get away from the fact that those around us who don’t know Christ are the “proximal perishing”. Too many of today’s Christians, however, are trying to swim as far away in the tiny fishbowl of life as they can to get away from the spiritually dead. This is not how Jesus wanted his followers to act to those who did not know him.

Jesus, as he was preparing his disciples for his leaving tells them:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35)

As a worshipping community we are familiar with the concept of loving each other. Every week at Westwind is an opportunity to give/get a hug, share in a conversation, or be encouraged in some way by another believer. Our church is a loving church. But this is not what Jesus is suggesting in these verses. The disciples have spent years with Jesus. He is not asking them to love each other. He is telling them that the new command is to love those outside of the discipleship circle. They are to show love to those who do not yet know Jesus. It is easy to love within the walls of a spiritual community. Jesus is telling his disciples that the new way of doing things is to look outside the circle at the rest of the world and show love to them.

And how are they to love? As Jesus did. We, Jesus followers, are to look at the life and character of God’s son as to how to show love to the world. Here are just a few examples of Jesus’ love.

1. He met the physical needs of others
2. He showed grace and mercy to those who would collapse under religious fundamentalism
3. He humbled himself and served others
4. He looked past borders that would separate others: race, gender, social class
5. He gave his life to save others

This is a short list, but we could spend our entire lives trying to master just half of these. When Jesus says, “as I have loved you, so you much love others”, he is raising the bar to a level. That new love level can only be reached by asking ourselves “how can I love others as Jesus would?”

The last aspect of that passage states that the way in which we will be seen as Jesus followers is by how we love others. Think about all the ways people use to show their support to a specific athletic team. There are hats, shirts, coats, flags, tire covers, TATTOOS! You can spend thousands of dollars showing your support to a team that is known for shooting an orange ball through a metal ring. Jesus doesn’t require any of that. He also doesn’t say, “people will know that you follow me by what you read, or what you listen to, or what you wear, or what you don’t do”. Those things may help in holy living, but they will not be the reason why people identify us with Jesus. It is through our acts of love that they will see Jesus. Because he is the author of the ultimate act of love, saving us for our sins.

This week, through our Resurrection Encounter, we are asking our worshipping community to express their love for Jesus through acts of love toward others who don’t know him. In doing so, according to the words of Jesus, those people will have a better understanding of him, and his ultimate love for them. How can you share CARE to those around you who do not have a relationship with God this week? How can you model Christ in your relationships with unchurched people in your environments?