Is like

 Luke 12:13-21

One year we had a vacation bible school called "Spy Kids". It was all about understanding what the kingdom of God is like. You remember the sayings: The kingdom of God is like...a pearl, a mustard seed, barns being built in vain. Well we had one day where we made cards, just general ones, to cheer someone's day. Then we went to deliver them. I had forgotten the place we were going to deliver them to had just moved. We walked a mile downhill and the place was closed with no cars around it. As we walked back a little girl kept saying, "We did all this for nothing!" 

Once we got a little ways uphill I remembered another ministry house for women who were in recovery and we stopped there and gave away our cards. The little girl all the way back to the church kept saying, "We did all this for nothing!" She couldn't see that God had a different goal for us that day and instead of bringing to cheer to one place we brought it to another. She thought the original goal was all that mattered and she couldn't see another goal had replaced it and brought blessing.

This is the parable today. It is about God's kingdom and where we place our faith in. The rich man and the man looking for the inheritance were like the little girl, looking in the wrong direction. So how do we attune our hearts and minds to looking in the right direction? This is the harder question to answer because we have long thought the goals were to run our places just like the marketplace as a church. But this is not the answer for us anymore as we see our numbers dwindle and changing, becoming something new has us confused and scratching out heads. So what would it be like to delve more into following Jesus?

The world has changed and the church changes not as fast. Social Media, Websites, and actually living out the Way of Jesus outside our doors has us panicked. Yet we shouldn't be. We are a kingdom people, actually we are supposed to be spies. Think of it like this. In Joshua the battle of Jericho didn't happen without spies being let into the city and on top of that they were in league with a prostitute of the city. Unlikely allies coming together to see what was there. Now archeologists have discovered that there probably never was a battle. There is no geological evidence of walls falling. What they have uncovered is an egalitarian society in which a few Hebrew refugees probably scoped out and then told others to come because it was safe. They did spy and found welcome there and it didn't matter who they were. They settled in the land of Canaan and became a part of the community after initially spying what was good about the area. 

This is exactly the sight we need today. We put such store in what is here and now. So are you ready for it? The church needs to become spies today. We need to start with relationships outside of our walls. We aren't used to being this. We are used to saying here is the party, come and party with us. Now we have to go and start making relationships and seeing where the party is and become a part of it. Because in doing so people will have a relationship with us. Look and see what those people are doing I want to learn more. We need to engage peoples curiosity and we can't do that sitting in our pews.

The kingdom of God has to be searched out. It can't be found in one place. This is one of the things about today. We feel as if everything kingdom oriented is within these walls or looking out our beautiful window. It is found though in spying how we might engage with others and going out and finding those ways of engagement. Just like Pentecost we need to go outside the doors and speak the language of the people we encounter and give good news. Maybe it will be in finding out a ministry we can do for someone at their place. Maybe it will be in reaching out and getting more engaged in the community around us and hopefully through that people want to become engaged with us. 

Maybe it is only in that outside area, maybe it isn't in the church, but we have to stop building this as the storehouse and saying we can sit back and relax. This isn't our legacy. They way of Jesus is and Jesus walked and engaged and crowds followed, not to a place, but all over the country side. Don't be like the little girl, "We did all this for nothing!" See where we are witnessing a difference that connection makes. See where there is the need and fill it. Go out and bring the good news to others.