I’ve written previously about the process of recruiting hosts and how it fits into the crowd-to-core strategy of neighborhood groups.  I’ve given you the basics of a great sermon on the topic from Matthew 9:35-38.  Another really good passage is found in 2 Kings 6:24-7:9.  Are you familiar with that story?  You may have heard bits and pieces and never connected it to the way God’s heart goes out to the unconnected, to the people who don’t have what they need.

2 Kings 6:24-7:9 is the story of a city under siege.  In the story the Aramean army has surrounded a city; bringing great distress as the food supplies grows short and become more and more expensive.  The people are desperate and even begin eating their own children, paying  eighty shekels of silver for a donkey’s head.

It’s also a story of four lepers who find themselves just outside the city’s walls while the Aramean army surrounds the city.  They’re in a tough spot and they know it.  But as they look at the situation they come to the conclusion that there’s no upside to remaining where they are.  If they stay where they are they’ll starve, just like the people inside the walls.  On the other hand, if they go over to the enemy camp…”maybe they’ll give us something to eat.  Worst case scenario, they’ll kill us…but maybe they’ll give us something to eat.”

So the four lepers get up and walk across the fields to the enemy camp.  When they arrive they discover that sometime in the night the enemy left so suddenly that they left behind everything.  Food.  Drink.  Clothing.  Everything.  And suddenly these four men, once starving, found themselves alone at the buffet line!  They eat and drink.  Maybe for the first time in days or weeks they have enough to eat and drink.  It is amazing and they gorge themselves.  You can imagine it can’t you?

But then, out of nowhere, one of them is conscience-stricken.  “We’re not doing right,” he says.  “This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

In that moment he realized that just a football field away there were multiple generations that would die if they didn’t get what they needed to eat and drink.

Stop right there.  See the group life application?  This is another perfect story to weave into a small group ask.

In my workshops I often talk about using a message series about “God’s Heart for Unconnected People” to prime the pump for asking people to volunteer to be a HOST in an upcoming church-wide alignment.  While the Bible is full of great stories that talk about this idea, here are the two scripture passages that I use to illustrate the basis for what could be a message series.

• Matthew 9:35-38
• 2 Kings 6:24-7:9

Here is the basic idea for Matthew 9:35-36:

This passage clearly illustrates God’s heart for people.  Everywhere Jesus went He saw people who were “harassed and helpless.”  What do you think of when you hear word, “harassed?”  Bill collectors calling?  Playground punks teasing a smaller kid?

The first century word used here for “harassed” came from the same root as the word that meant flaying an animal…taking off its skin to prepare it for butchering.  It was a tougher, harsher word than what most of us think of when we think harassment.

The word for “helpless?”  It was a word that described the way a work animal threw itself to the ground after a long, hard day working in the fields. My dog Maxwell will run and bring a ball back over and over again.  When playtime is over he’ll literally collapse to the ground.  Not gracefully.  Just collapse in a heap.  That’s what the word “helpless” meant in the language of the first century.

When Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

I love this passage because it so clearly shows God’s heart for people who don’t have what they need.  It’s always interesting to me that this is an instance where it isn’t Jesus speaking.  There are plenty of places in the Gospels where you can read what Jesus said.  This isn’t one of them.  Rather, this is Matthew’s observation of Jesus’ body language in the midst of a crowd.  This is Matthew reflecting on how Jesus felt about the people in the crowds.  About how His heart broke for them.

How did Matthew know that this is what Jesus was thinking when He “saw the crowds?”  I believe Matthew knew this look…because he had seen how Jesus interacted with people just like this when He came over to Matthew’s house for a dinner with Matthew’s friends…the “sinners and tax-collectors” mentioned in Matthew 9:9-13.

Matthew knew what most people don’t realize.  He knew that God’s heart breaks for people who don’t have what they need.  God sees them as harassed and helpless and His heart goes out to them.  Jesus, God with skin on, modeled this for all of us.

Do you have a heart for people like that?  If you have a heart for people like that…you could be a HOST.

Using this message:

The key to using this message is that talking with people about God’s heart for people prepares them for the moment when you ask them whether they have a heart for people like that.  I do it just like that.  I say, “Do you have a heart for people like that?  If you have a heart for people like that…you could be a HOST.”

What comes next?  I begin what I call “the dance.”  There are several specific elements of the dance.  Done correctly it will lead people from the moment when they are adequately prepared all the way to the moment when they turn in their commitment card.  You’ll find the rest of what I call “the dance” right here:  Making the Ask

There’s so much happening right now!  Really great to see what’s possible, what God’s using, what sort of things are working.  Tripped across this message series concept being used at Community Christian in Naperville.  Complete with a game and prizes.  Isn’t that cool?  Can’t you see how easy it will be to invite people?

I’m often asked for message/sermon ideas that will help raise awareness of the need for/role of community.  Don’t know if you’re down with Francis Chan but he did a great job on a very important message back in April at Cornerstone.  You can download The Purpose of the Church right here. Definitely one of the best messages on the idea of community I’ve heard.