Multisite - The Woodlands Hills

Intro/Scripture

John 17:18–23 NIV

18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The word of God for you and me, the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Pray.

I stumbled into seminary.

Was trying to figure out how to pay for it and found this church planting program. Where they would help me raise money and there were scholarships involved. I began to see and learn from church planters during that time and it began to unleash something in me.

Foundation for the mission

Before we talk about joining God in the work we need to understand where mission begins. It begins in the heart of God. This prayer is so rich. If you spend time with the gospels you can see a trajectory of sending. Matthew’s gospel ends with the great commission and the sending of the disciples to make disciples of the nations. Luke’s gospel is part 1 to Acts and the expanding mission of the people of God by the Spirit. Mark leaves a cliff hanger after the resurrection inviting us to live into the unwritten story. And John, as you will see, builds a foundation of the mission of God… the Missio Dei.

No one knows the father....

First, let’s start with the man doing the praying in this text, Jesus. The gospel of John is communicating to us with urgency throughout the gospel that Jesus is more than a man. He is more than God’s anointed missionary. Jesus is God himself.

John 1:1–3 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

then John has these words:

John 1:18 NIV

18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Made him known = exegete. This word means to interpret, reveal, expound. In our prayer today, Jesus uses that word again and says “I have made you known to them.”

Paul, says it this way:

Colossians 1:15 NIV

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Meaning if you want to know what God is like then look at Jesus. So the identity, the message, the purpose, the redemption of God is found in Jesus. This is so important. The redemption of God through the history of creation is exegeted in Jesus.

Make them one

Then, the revelation of God in flesh, the embodiment of the mission of God, Jesus prays that the disciples and all that follow would be one. One with each other, one with God, one with Christ:

John 17:20–23 NIV

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Forever the Jews have prayed the shema, that there is only one God and Jesus has demonstrated how He is caught up in this One God. Now he prays that the disciples would be a part of the unity found in the Father and Son.

Complete Unity:

A unity that compares to the unity of the Father and son. Then, the world will know that God has sent Christ.

Sent Ones

Out of their unity with the Son, they are sent into the world. Just a few verses earlier....

John 17:18 NIV

18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

Notice a couple of things here. He is sending them. Plural. And if they are sent out of unity then they are sent to bring others into this unity.

Evangelism is more like a life rafts than it is a floating device.

This is the Missio Dei....

Missio Dei

Definition: God’s redemptive, historical initiative on behalf of his creation. To put it plainly: mission is far more about God and who He is than about us and what we do.

We do this in the most subtle ways as we reduce mission to something that we are doing when we are in certain circumstances. We compartmentalize mission like God takes days off when we are busy or lazy or whatever.

Lesslie Newbigin (Open Secret).

Proclaiming the Kingdom of the Father: Mission as Faith in Action

“God’s reign is indeed at hand. God is indeed active in history. But his action is hidden within what seems to be the opposite— suffering and tribulation for his people. The secret has been entrusted to those whom God chose. They are to be witnesses of it to all the nations....Their task is to remain faithful to the end. By faith they know that the reign of God has conquered the powers of evil. Their calling is to proclaim that fact to all the nations.”

Joining God in the missio Dei is about witnessing to the world that the kingdom is here. That even in the midst of difficulty we live by faith as citizens of heaven…already broken through.

“Mission seen from this angle, is faith in action. It is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: “Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”

Sharing in the life of the Son: Mission as Love in Action

“If we say— as we must — that the reign of God was present in Jesus, that it was present in his living, his dying, and his risen life, we have to go on to say that in a secondary, derivative, but nonetheless real sense the reign of God is present in the community that bears his name, lives by faith in his person and work, is anointed by his Spirit, and lives through history the dying and rising of Jesus.

It is a sinful community. It is, during most of its history, a weak, divided, and unsuccessful community. But because it is the community that lives by and bears witness to the risen life of the crucified Lord, it is the place where the reign of God is actually present and at work in the midst of history, and where the mission of Jesus is being accomplished.”

We share in the missio Dei by sharing in the life of the Son. As we “put on love” and live sacrificially we are living as an extension of the ministry of Jesus.

Example: we went and saw my brother Logan. Luke loved him like Jesus did.

I think the older, wiser, more mature I get, the more conditions I put on loving people.

Bearing the witness of the Spirit: Mission as Hope in Action

“The Spirit brings the reality of the new world to come into the midst of the old world that is. It is the firstfruit of the coming harvest. It is the proof that we are heirs of the coming kingdom. And it is thus that the Spirit is witness— the recognizable presence of a future that has been promised but is not yet in sight. It is thus, also, that the Spirit us the source of hope— not just hope for ourselves, but for hope for the completion of God’s whole cosmic work. In this hope we are saved (Romans 8:24).

It is in the Spirit that we go into the world proclaiming the kingdom. The Spirit is the source and the power.

Source: the Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God. It is by the Spirit that our eyes are opened. It is by the Spirit that we as a community get it right and point to the kingdom. God is the sending God, other wise we are just philanthropists low on resources....

Power: and the Spirit is the power. We are sent into the world in the Spirit. God’s redemptive plan using and working through us.

What does this look like?

Individually.

We do this as a community. United.

Faith in action, love in action, hope in action.

Dallas Willard:

Churches are not the kingdom of God, but are primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, and instrumentalities of the presence of the kingdom among us. They are “societies” of Jesus, springing up in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the furthest points on earth (Acts 1: 8), as the reality of Christ is brought to bear on ordinary human life. This is an ongoing process, not yet completed today: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come” (Matthew 24: 14).

Closing:

What I am feeling in my bones is that we are called to this venture. To bring Faith, Hope, Love in action into the world. To bring another outpost witnessing to the kingdom of God into the world into Willis and The Woodlands Hills.

I want to tell you that God and FMC is going to do this and it will be successful in the timeframe we hope and it will be seamless. I can’t say that for sure.

Since I landed I have been hustling. I have actually used that word. Behind the scenes maneuvering and networking, and pushing to make this all happen. I have ridden the roller coaster of being at the hands and determinations of the institution, of DS’s, Bishops, everyone at every level. I am done riding that roller coaster of emotions. I am done being continually disappointed. Because I am done predicting, projecting, and trying to dictate on my own.

I dont know if we will plant the way we envisioned. I dont know what the future holds. But here is what I know.....

We are called to this. We are called to be an outpost. To live Faith, Hope, Love in action and to do it boldly and courageously. To be weird and peculiar. To live like ones that have insider information.

Close your eyes and hands open....

John 20:21–22 NIV

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Faith, Love, and Hope, in action.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.