Missional Living

Intro: “Every Christian here is either a missionary or an imposter.” - Charles Spurgeon Jesus call to the disciple is “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” How do you know if you’re following Jesus? The answer to that question is in the call itself. Are you what Jesus said He would make you? Are you a “fisher of men”? The call to follow Jesus is a call to leave behind everything else and follow Him. However, in our western culture at least, we have recrafted the message of Jesus so that following Jesus is optional. Here, however, the message seems to be, "Come to Jesus for salvation, and then follow Him to be exceptional." (This is not true in the other two-thirds of the world, and in particular where the church is growing fastest.) Did you know that the word “disciple” means “follower”? You cannot call yourself a disciple of Jesus if you are not actively and intentionally following Him. Jesus called disciples to follow Him in order that they would learn what He knew, do what He did, and to inherit His authority and power. The greatest deficit in the church today, the greatest lack, the greatest need, and the reason for a spiritually anemic Christianity is not because God isn't working as He always Has or because of a lack of any resource for the church (after all, Romans 8 says He gives everything we need). It is due to a lack of active discipleship—intentionally following Jesus—within the local church. We've reinterpreted Jesus’ call to "Follow Him" in ways that allow for casual and comfortable practice of religion rather than radical abandonment of ourselves to follow a revolutionary leader whose entire mission is about turning the world upside down and establishing a new way of life with a new allegiance to His Kingdom. Biblically, there are no Christians who are not also disciples. In fact, the authors of the New Testament use the word "disciple" roughly 269 times while the word "Christian" is used only 3 times. You cannot receive the gospel and then not follow Jesus. Jesus doesn't have disciples who are not followers. So you can't believe the gospel and then say "no" to following Jesus. Jesus has saved you for His mission. If you call yourself a Christian, if you claim to love Jesus, then the evidence of that is following him intentionally on His mission. In John 20:21 Jesus says, “as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Notice the progression here! Jesus was sent by the Father, and now He has sent us! Jesus’ mission is your mission! This morning, we are going to look at what it means to live on mission with Jesus. We are going to specifically look at the perspective of missional living, the posture of missional living, and the practice of missional living. The Perspective of Missional Living The first key to missional living is to have the perspective of missional living. This perspective is the lens through which we must begin to see all of life! First, we must understand the mission. Going back to Jesus’ words in John 20:21, Jesus said that the Father had sent Him. Sent Him to do what? When we look at all of Scripture, we find that God’s work began in Genesis 1 with the creation of the universe as His Kingdom for the purpose of demonstrating His glory and goodness. In Genesis 3, mankind rebelled, and God has been on mission ever since then to redeem and restore His Kingdom to its intended status and purpose. This is the mission of the Father, and it is the mission of Jesus—“to seek and to save that which was lost.” This is the same mission you are sent to! And you are called to it the same way that Jesus’ first followers were. How did they carry it out? By leaving everything to follow Jesus! (How does this contrast to how we think of carrying out the mission?) Think about a soldier in a warzone. He isn’t clocking in and clocking out of the mission. Everything about his life is focused on the mission. Not just when he’s actively fighting, but his eating schedule, when and where he sleeps, how he uses every moment reflects the mission he is on. It should be the same with us! The mission God has called you to shouldn’t just come up in moments of religious activity, but it should permeate every decision of every day! Like those first disciples, how we live life should reflect the mission of Jesus! “The church is to be a witness of the kingdom, evidence of the kingdom, and a sample of the kingdom. So our task—missional living—is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel as participants with God in the fulfillment of His mission.” – Chester and Timmis The writer of Hebrews calls God’s people “foreigners and exiles” and the Apostle Peter echoes this language in his letter to those he says were “God’s chosen people living as foreigners.” In reality, this is how we should view ourselves! We are strangers and exiles in this world. It is NOT our home. We are here temporarily on mission as ambassadors for our King to represent Him and proclaim His message to the people of this world. “We have become strangers because we have become strange! Our values, lifestyle, and priorities are radically different from the surrounding culture. Our faith makes us strangers in our own land. We do not fit in. We are on the margins.” – Chester and Timmis The obstacle to missional perspective – idolatry. If we are “strangers and exiles” in our culture, then we should recognize that we do not see things the same way that the world around us does. However, we are tempted to assimilate—to “conform to the pattern of this world.” What is the first commandment given in the 10 commandments? This commandment addresses idolatry and warns against it. Why is idolatry such an important issue? It is at the heart of all sin. It ultimately reveals a worldview that is contrary to a true worldview. A false god=a false perspective on reality. 1 Peter 1:13-16: So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” “Christians are not strangers because they have moved from their homeland to a new country. They are exiles because their identity has so radically changed that they are no longer at home in their country of birth.” – Chester and Timmis 1 Peter 2:9-12: But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. Being citizens of Christ’s kingdom means that the more like Christ we become, the more we are going to stand out as counter-culture in the society we live in. This is not going to make us popular…it is going to make us different, and we will be met with hostility, but it will also make us an attractional community to those that God is calling out. So as we look at life through the lens of kingdom identity, we are faced with 2 continual questions: Who has Christ declared believers to be (justification)? And how does this impact the daily lives of those we serve (sanctification)? If we are going to live missionally, then we need to be aware of idolatry in our culture. Every culture has idols built into it, and we are called by the culture to bow down to them. What are some idols of our culture? How might we identify idols in our own hearts? · Where are your most significant investments of money and time? · What are the things that cause you anxiety or fear? · What are the things you look to for joy and peace? An idol is anything that takes a position of control in your heart. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21: So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. The reality that Jesus is King holds implication for every aspect of the Christian life. It impacts the way we live life corporately (think about things like church discipline Matthew 18, the nature of corporate worship, serving our community together) and individually (life at home is under Jesus kingship, life at work, interactions in business transactions and commutes are all presided over by King Jesus). This means that Jesus isn’t just my buddy who might be happy or sad based on what I do, but rather He is my King to whom I owe allegiance and obedience. The Posture of Missional Living In Christ John 15:5: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” The truth of this passage is certainly one of the primary reasons for the spiritual weakness of the western church. If we take Jesus at His Word in John 15:5, and we acknowledge that we will only be fruitful when we're "making our home" in Him--when we're actively following Him--then we shouldn't be surprised at the spiritual powerlessness that occurs when we are not. The only way we can ever hope to live on mission—to live in the power of God—is to live connected to Christ! Everything about your fruitfulness as a Christian and your experience of the abundant life Jesus has promised you hinges on your connectedness to Jesus! This should come as no surprise. After all, it is the mission of God, and it is God who accomplishes it! He does this by through the indwelling Spirit in our lives. In the Spirit Acts 1:1-5: During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. 4 Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus established their mission, and gives them the instruction about the kingdom of God, and then tells them to wait on what the Father had promised—the Holy Spirit. Isn’t it interesting that His first instructions to those who will carry on the mission are to wait? Acts 1:6-8: So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” 7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The power to live missionally is found only in the Spirit. Jesus had said that it was better that He go and send the Spirit. John 16:7: But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit is essential to missional living because the mission is God’s! Our identity as Christians—God’s children—is found in the Spirit! So What? We’re absolutely dependent on the Spirit for the mission—for the Christian life itself! Galatians 5:16-17: So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Galatians 5:22 speaks of the fruit of the Spirit! This only happens when we walk in the Spirit. These aren’t things we produce ourselves, but rather are things God works in us! The missional posture – a posture of abandon The call of Jesus is a call to deny ourselves…to die to ourselves…and follow Him. Matthew 16:24: Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. In Christian culture, we've gotten good at setting up different levels of discipleship. There are those who are called to Christ for salvation, those who are later called to His lordship, those who are called to serve Him in ministry, those who are called to serve Him as missionaries... We've come up with levels of discipleship so that people will have stop gaps for their own comfort level...so we can say this is where I land. This is what I'll give and no more. However, there’s no such thing as a spiritual plateau. We are either growing in Christ by following Him, or we are moving away from Him and committing spiritual adultery. What is off the table for you? What is off limits to God in your life? Most of us hit a status quo or a level of "normal" in the Christian life beyond which we don't typically move. Probably for most of us it's not something we've really thought about, but what is it that you're afraid God might ask you for? What is it about being a disciple that makes you flinch? In the book of Acts, we see God using people in ways that were way outside of what might have been considered convenient or comfortable. However, we see God doing amazing and incredible things through His people who were walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. Is it possible that comfortable Christianity has become a barrier to Holy Spirit power in the North American church? We are called to live our lives in a posture of abandon. What step might you take this week beyond what would normally be your comfort zone? Is there a part of the Christian life you have been reluctant to live because it pulls you beyond what you’ve been willing to do? The Practice of Missional Living So we’re looking at practical ways we can live on mission so that we are demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel in intentional ways. Intentionality What are some things that you think of when you think of living out the gospel? John 20:21 – We’re sent on mission, and there is no way to go on mission passively—it must be intentional. Matthew 5-7 is known as the Sermon on the Mount, but in reality, this is probably a misunderstanding of Matthew’s goal with the passage. Remember, Matthew’s goal with his book is to show Jesus as the David Messiah and give focus to Jesus as King over His kingdom. In the ANE it was common practice that as soon as a new king came into power, he would give his inaugural decree—his law—and this is what Matthew seems to have in view with chapters 5-7. There are some general themes in these chapters that we’ve already covered under perspective and posture of missional living: being kingdom focused, removing other masters/idols from our lives, Jesus radical call to holy living, etc. But let’s take a look at a couple of other aspects that are discussed. Matthew 5:13-16: “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. 14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Salt = lots of different functions (purify, season, preservative, transformative, etc.), but in order for it to function 2 things are necessary: proximity and potency Light = clarity – our lives should reveal the reality of the kingdom (the church is the evidence, witness, and foretaste of the kingdom). Focus seems to be on good works that bring glory to God. Intentional works that reveal the greatness of God and His kingdom—the power of the gospel. Community Practice of missional living is something God never intended for you to do alone. Just as He has called you to Jesus, so He has called you into His family—His community—His church! He intends for us to live life together! There are by some counts as many as 72 different “one another” passages in the NT! Living missionally is living intentionally in community. He has called us His family! What is a family? What did this mean to the early church? A shared identity! We are responsible to and for one another. We are children of the Father. We share a common purpose and mission. Pursuing Christ Philippians 3:7-12: I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Going back to the words of Spurgeon, “Every Christian here is either a missionary or an imposter.” We are called to live life missionally, intentionally—pursuing Christ and His mission! Now what?

John 20:21 NLT

21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

John 20:21 NLT

21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Bullpen: