Vineyard Church | Weekly Update February 26th, 2025

As we have been traveling through the Gospel of Luke, I find it fascinating to see what is highlighted as I prepare and read. I have always seen the crowds, I have been aware of how often they crowd around Jesus, but this time new meaning is presenting itself.

This past Sunday, we called the crowds Reciprocal Seekers– people who had heard enough about Jesus to go see for themselves what the fuss was all about. They were intrigued; some were hopeful, and a few were even fearful of who and what Jesus might be. But as the story unfolds, we see the crowd do what crowds typically do… disperse.

Allow me to think out loud for a second… Or out quietly… As I type, if you’re picking up what I am laying down. The crowds. The point isn’t about the crowds. The crowd wasn’t the goal. Does that even make sense?

Maybe this makes it clearer: The goal wasn’t to get them to come. That feels more on the mark– the goal was not to get them to come. So why is it ours? As we discussed the demise of the American church, it strikes me that the attractional, “just get them to come” mentality has permeated modern evangelism. The goal has been distorted, and when the goal is corrupted, the metrics follow. The goal Jesus has isn’t to get them to come. Consider this from the Apostle Peter:

13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.[c] Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. 17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!
18 Christ suffered[d] for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. 1 Peter 3:13-18 (NLT)

Peter is giving us a lot to unpack, more than we will cover on a Wednesday morning. So, let’s focus on one key piece and how it applies to the goal. In verse 15, Peter says, if someone asks you about your hope, be ready to explain it. Have we been asked lately?

I think this brings us closer to understanding the goal– the true goal that reflects the ongoing narrative of God’s unstoppable plan: transformation through faith in Jesus. Transformation. Change. Authored and perfected by Jesus himself. This change makes us look different, live differently, and act with a hope that is so unnatural to the lost world, that it compels them to ask why. Why do we have hope that is so foreign to them?

The goal isn’t to get the crowd to come. The goal is to bear fruit that is seen by the lost. As we continue through the Gospel of Luke, we are beckoned into this transformation that is both for us and through us a mechanism for the Son of Man to seek and save the lost.

Adam Greenwell
Pastor
Billings Vineyard Chruch www.billingsvineyard.org