We wanted to follow that up by looking at Jesus, the early church and what the market place mission looked like for them and what we can learn from that.

Most people are OK seeing Jesus as a teacher or prophet who spent a lot of his time with the poor  - but what about a business man who spent most of his time in the marketplace? Consider this:

- Jesus was born in the marketplace (he was born in an inn – today would be a mix of a fuel station and motel)
- His first visitors were small business owners (shepherds)
- His neighbours described him by his occupation – a carpenter (Mk 6:3)
- Before he started his ministry he would have run the family carpentry business – managing profit and loss, supply and demand
- Of the 132 public appearances we read about Jesus, 122 were in the marketplace
- Of the 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a marketplace context

Think about the early church and the marketplace.
- Jesus’ disciples were not professional religious people – they came from the marketplace
- The writers of the Gospels were not religious scholars – but from the marketplace – a physician, a tax collector, a fisherman and the son of a wealthy family
- The early church met in homes – where often the family business was run from
- Of the 40 miracles recorded in Acts only 1 was at a religious venue – the rest were in the marketplace
- Paul was an apostle – but also funded his ministry in the marketplace as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3)

So what does all this mean…
If we want to follow Jesus we need to fulfil our Marketplace Mission.

We  need to find how to Love God and Love People in the marketplace.

We need to Be The Church.

Stay tuned for a follow up blog post tomorrow on some really practical ways to start building relationship with people in the marketplace.

We all have some part to play in the marketplace and we all spend more time in the marketplace than in church.

So how do we Be The Church in the marketplace…?

We think part of church should be to train, equip and empower us to take the Good News message of Christ into the marketplace.

Our mission doesn’t change – to Love God and Love People – these were Jesus’ commandments to us.

To point people towards God.

To love our community – not resemble it – not remove ourselves from it.

So here are some practical steps to help you fulfil your marketplace mission.
Begin by recognising what your “marketplace” is.
Think about the people who are there.

1. In the marketplace you are still there to serve God.
- Check out what Paul said to the Colossians – to work at everything as if we are working for God.

2. Do not be ashamed of the Gospel
- This is what you have chosen to live your life by – be ready to talk to people about it when the opportunity arises – as Jesus said – do not be ashamed of Him and His message.

3. Be ready to tell your story
- The best way to talk to people about God is to tell them your story – as Peter says – always be ready. How you met God, what you were like before and how this has changed your life.

4. Live with Biblical attitudes in the marketplace
- So there are heaps of these we could reflect on but here are a few to get you started:
- Serve wholeheartedly (your employer, fellow employees, customers, suppliers etc)
- Strive for excellence
- Work ethically in the boundaries of the law
- Trust
- Be generous with your time and your money
- Have an interest in community and environmental issues
- Stewardship – make the best use of the resources that have been given to you
- Have a work life balance
- Show commitment
- Fight for justice
- Use your creativity
- Be joyful
- Forgive
- Be humble
- Be prayerful

5. Develop a marketplace plan
It’s good to be intentional about your role in the marketplace so here are some questions to help with that
-  Are you in the marketplace where God wants you right now?
- Why are you there – this is your marketplace mission – it’s ultimately about people – people are won by people
- Who are you representing Christ to?
- Who are you going to impact?
- Who are you leading to Christ?
- Who are you discipling?

Let’s spend time in the marketplace.

Let’s love those people.

Be The Church.

That’s probably caught your attention but let’s explain what we mean.

In Matt 25 we read that Jesus said “I have come not to be served but to serve others”. It’s a radical idea that when the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of the universe walked on earth – our natural response would be to serve Him – but Jesus is clear on many occasions where He says that He was here to serve us – not the other way around.

What Jesus did say was to follow him – to be his disciple – to look at how He lived and follow that as an example. Following Jesus’ example of serving is an important foundation as we continue to learn how to Love God and Love People.

Part of our response to the freedom we have been given through Christ is to serve. Paul says it well when writing to the Galatian church: ” For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”

So let’s get really practical – what does it mean to serve.

We want to do this by comparing a real servant heart to the “look at me” approach – you know the kind of service with the wrong attitude – where people care about being noticed, getting rewarded, counting the cost…

1.Listen to what God says
Look at me: usually human effort, expending energy and counting the cost.
Real service: Inspired and prompted by God.

2. Be willing to do any task
Look at me: care about the size of the task – like the “big deal” jobs.
Real service: never distinguish between the size of the task and often drawn to the smaller jobs.

3. Be willing to serve anyone
Look at me: pick and choose who to serve. Sometime powerful people because of what is may bring. Sometimes defenceless people because of the humble image it may bring.
Real service: is the servant of all (Mk 9:35)

4. Don’t worry if anyone is watching
Look at me: likes to serve in public places. Often looking for external feedback from people appreciating the effort.
Real service: content even if no one knows.

5. Be prepared to serve all the time
Look at me: serving temporary around a certain task. A decision to serve is based on how you are feeling.
Real Service: Being a servant is a lifestyle – always ready.

6. A servant excels
Look at me: does the job with the minimum effort required
Real service: gives the best they can – usually more than is required

Follow Jesus.

Have a Servant Heart.

Be The Church.

James writes: “Anyone who listens to word but does not do what is says, is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

In church we sometimes talk a lot.

In church we sometimes listen a lot.

We think it’s time to start doing what the Bible says…

Here’s a couple of thoughts to get started with – just working through parts of the Gospel of Matthew:

Work where God wants you (Matt 4:18-20)
- is your work situation dictated by following God – or other circumstances?

Bring light in the darkness (Matt 5:14-16)
- do you bring love, joy and peace into your world?
- what good deeds are you doing that glorify God?

Love your enemies (Matt 5: 43-47)
- do you pray for those people you find hard to love?

Take power and authority given by God to to heal the sick and cast out demons (Matt 10:1-2)
- when was the last time you prayed for a sick person who wasn’t at church?

Sell your possessions and give to the poor (Matt 19:16-21)
- how much stuff do you have that you don’t need?
- how much of your time are you spending generating earthly wealth?

Provide help to those that need it (Matt 25:24-40)
- when did you last make a meal for someone who needed it?
- when did you open your home for someone that needed shelter?
- when did you supply clothes for someone that needed them?
- when did you last care for a sick person?
- when did you last visit someone in prison?

Go into the world and make disciples (Matt 28:19-20)
- who are you discipling?
- when did you last baptise someone?

Let’s Do What It Says this year.

Be The Church

Mary

Mary was a teenager due to be married to a poor carpenter named Joseph. Imagine how she felt when she was told she was pregnant, as a virgin outside of marriage! What must it have been like to tell Joseph and her family and somehow get them to believe that an angel told her that she was carrying the child of God.

Mary’s response is our first lesson – she worshipped. Read Luke 1:46-55 to see her song.

Joseph

Joseph had just proposed to Mary and then found out she was pregnant – and he knew he had nothing to do with it! Now he could have publicly embarrassed Mary, which might have even resulted in her being stoned. An angel came to Joseph and explained what was happening – this would have been hard to understand – but Joseph was obedient to what God was telling him, regardless of the consequences. You can read more about it here.

The Shepherds

Shepherds lived on the outskirts of the community. Usually they were not welcome – maybe because they smelt like sheep! They were the outsiders, the unlovables. This is who God chose to tell first, that His Son had been born. From this we know that God loves the outsiders, he values them and so should we.

What’s cool is that once the shepherds had met Jesus they responded by telling everyone they could – sound familiar… Go into the world and tell the story of Jesus…

Read Luke 2:8-20 for their story.

Magi

The wise men must have been very influential because they got an audience with King Herod. He tried to use them to ultimately kill Jesus but when they encountered the real King they risked their lives by not doing what Herod had asked for. What we learn from the wise men is about their generosity. They travelled massive distances just at the prospect of meeting Jesus and when they did they gave extravagantly.

Simeon & Anna

Simeon and Anna were old. They had been promised by God that they would meet the Messiah before they died. You can read their story in Luke 2:25-40. They never gave up in believing God’s promise which was eventually fulfilled in their life time.

So what gift does God want from us at Christmas?

- our worship (Mary)
- our obedience – no matter what the consequences (Joseph)
- to love the unlovables (Shepherds)
- to be generous (Magi)
- to never give up on the promises God has made (Simeon & Anna)

This Christmas let’s make sure we celebrate the main character – God with us – Jesus.

Be The Church.

Think about that – the God of the universe – came to earth – to save us.

So let’s spend some time reflecting on Jesus.

Jesus was fully man:
- he worked as a carpenter
- went to family gatherings
- went to parties and drank wine
- got hungry and thirsty
- had male and female friends
- celebrated holidays
- was happy
- was stressed
- had to pay taxes
- prayed
- was betrayed
- bled
- died

And Jesus was also fully God.

Throughout human life we have done stuff that separates us from God – we call that sin. It was never meant to be that way. The Bible says (Rom 3:20-22) that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin are death.

Ultimately we need to remove the separation from God – but when God let us try and do that on our own we couldn’t do it – so he sent his Son to help.

This is why we have Christmas – to remember God was with us.

Jesus spent his life showing us how to live.

The authorities didn’t like what he was saying – so eventually they murdered him in the most gruesome, public way – a crucifixion.

Jesus performed many miracles but it’s at this point he performed his greatest miracle…
- during his death He took the sin of the world into his body
- He paid the price for the things that we have done wrong
- His resurrection removed the separation from God
- He gave us access to eternal life – an everlasting relationship with God

Listen to some of Jesus words:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26

“I Have come that you may have life – and have it to the full.” John 10:10

When Jesus left earth He said I will be with you always - He is here right now.

This is Christmas – remembering God with us – celebrating Jesus.

Be The Church.

Remembering that God – the creator of the universe – walked with us.

Remembering that God… is still with us.

When Jesus was born he was called Immanuel meaning “God With Us” – the fulfilment of a prophecy some 700 years earlier.

When Jesus left the earth he made a promise – that He will be with us to the very end of the age – that He is still with us.

So as the world spends this season buying useless gifts, setting up Christmas trees, fighting crowds at shopping centres, stressing about the Christmas day food and maxing out the credit card – it’s our chance – as followers of Jesus – to show the world what it means to live, to celebrate, to expect – “God with us”.

How do we do that?

God gave – so let’s give.

Let’s spend less money on “stuff” and give our money to those who need it most – the hurting, the needy, the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed…

Let’s give our time to each other.

Let’s love.

Let’s not buy into what the world makes Christmas about and use this an opportunity to talk and demonstrate the real meaning of Christmas – that God is with us.

Be The Church.

Jesus talked a lot about the concept of fruit and how our lives can have “good” fruit or “bad” fruit.

But what is fruit? It’s the natural expression of a tree, in other words an apple tree naturally produces apples, not apricots or peaches.

The same is true of us – Paul writes in Galatians about what the different fruit look like depending on whether we are living a life that is following our own desires and being controlled by our junk or following the Spirit of God.

We need the power of the Spirit of God in our lives to help us be more like Jesus – to help us have more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness and more self-control.

This fruit in our lives draws people to God.

So what’s your inward condition?

What’s your outward expression?

Be The Church.

Throughout His time on earth, filled with the Holy Spirit, He healed the sick, cast out demons and spoke to people about the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus declared himself as the Son of God He said ”the Spirit of God is upon me,  for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
 He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

When he first sent out His disciples Jesus said He had given them power and authority to cast out demons, heal the sick and tell everyone about the Kingdom of God.

It’s a pretty consistent message.

As a church we have this thing about finding practical ways to love people – but we also carry the power of God and believe that part of loving people is bringing the power of God into their world – that filled with the Holy Spirit we heal the sick, cast out demons and are equipped to tell people about the Kingdom of God.

So if we have been filled with the Holy Spirit why don’t we always see the power of God at work like this?

We don’t think it is because you need more power, in fact no where in the New Testament do we read about the early followers of Jesus going back for a “refill” – we think it’s because our own “junk” gets in the way.

Our junk is the things like:
- Pride: worried about failing or carrying a false humility
- Fear: scared of what may or may not happen
- Reputation: caring more about our own reputation rather than our reputation as servants of Christ
- Laziness: just finding reasons why we don’t do what God has called us to do.

So let’s get rid of our junk.

Let’s not just talk about the Kingdom of God – let’s demonstrate it.
Let’s not just read the book of Acts – let’s live it.
Let’s not just hear stories of God’s power – let’s live in a way that we have our won stories to tell.

Be The Church.

As a church we are on a journey learning what it means to love God and love other people – but in a world that is communicating more and more online – how do we love God and love others online?

Here’s some questions to help you think this through…
- start by working out where you are communicating online: email, Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, Blogs etc.
- check that the character of the real you is the same as the online you?
- consider how you use social technologies like Facebook or Twitter – are you just telling people about you – or are you letting the story of your life point people towards God (maybe read back over your status updates of the last few months and see how the story reads)?
- do the blogs, tweets, facebook posts that you follow or like show consistency with the things you believe in?
- what do photos that get uploaded of you reveal about your life?

We are not scared of technology – in fact we embrace it – it is part of the world we live in. We just want to make sure that in our online world we continue to Love God and Love People.

Love online.

Be The Church.