Sending from Jesus/Evangelism - Men's Bible Study

Introduction

What is evangelism?

Introducing others and bring people to the threshhold of the kingdom of God.

I think we need to understand the mission of Jesus and the sending of us in order to bear witness to the kingdom of God

John 20:19–23 NIV

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Text:

Let’s set the scene a little for what is going on.....

This is immediately following that first Easter. John’s gospel, in the immediate preceding text, shows Mary Magdalene go and find the the resurrected Jesus. It says that she has this amazing encounter. She thinks she is looking at a gardener until Jesus says her name, Mary, and she instantly knows.

She cries out and runs to take hold of him.

He tells her to go and tell the disciples, and that she does.

Then it turns to the disciples back in the upper room.

fearful for the life at this point:

maybe they do not believe Mary

maybe they are confused

they are definitely concerned that they are next, especially if they know the body is missing

So that is why he shows up and proclaims peace over them multiple times. First because this Jesus just showed up in a locked room after they saw him die days before....but more importantly, peace he in the proclaims in the midst of their troubled hearts.

You are Sent

Then Jesus commissions them. This is John’s great commission.

John 20:21 NIV

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

after the commissioning, Jesus transfers God’s spirit to them. The text says,

John 20:22 NIV

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

there are some questions we must wrestle with:

What does it mean to be sent from Jesus?

What are we sent for?

What does it mean to be sent from Jesus?

Apostello/being sent.

This is in the perfect tense. Meaning “as the father has sent me” has not come to completion, it is still ongoing. Translation of a completed task would say something like: The Father sent me, and I am sending you,

Not has sent me. This seems small, but what is at work here is understanding that Jesus’ sentness, his mission, is not completed. It is ongoing.

Then he uses this other word for sent, pempo. Apostello has more to do with the fruit of the mission, pempo has more to do with the character and authority of the one send us.

So his mission is ongoing and we are sent in conjunction with Jesus’ mission.

This has all kinds of implications for calling and mission.

This brings in the idea that it is all about the mission of God. Or what the church calls 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.

1. We are joining him. Not that Jesus sentness is done and now it’s our turn.

Lesslie Newbigin:

“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 (hidden yet revealed to eyes of faith) 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.”

2. We should always prayerfully look to see what God might be doing and join him in it.

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.

Or we do significant church planning with very little prayer.

What are we sent for?

This phrase here: as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Ok so we are in alignment with Jesus kingdom. What does this life look like then?

We get a hint at the text:

John 20:23 NIV

If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

What a radical statement. One that we could spend a lot of time on, but simply put: You are called to bring salvation into the world. The salvation offered by Christ and in Christ is now offered to the world through the sent ones.

NT Wright quote. Easter people.

“Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion...” -NT Wright

Claim life over death

John’s gospel does not lay all of this out explicitly. The synoptics do.

Here is one example:

Luke 9:1–2 NIV

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

Jesus gives the twelve a trial run, a taste of what it looks like. He sends them out with power and authority to:

drive out all demons

cure diseases

proclaim the kingdom

heal the sick

It is another message to unpack these, but can I just say that I think we have spiritualized Jesus. Made him more palatable in our experience.

now, a couple observations....

Sent from the resurrection

The disciples experience this straight out of the resurrection. Two final things here:

Sending happens in resurrection

An encounter with the risen Lord. If you have doubts about this, if this easter celebration is something you still have concern over. Come see me. Talk to someone. Do not suppress those inquiries.

Thomas. Doubting Thomas in just a moment is your representation as he declares, unless Jesus shows up and I touch the scars, I will not believe.

Early church father: sarcastically describes Thomas as too clever of a sleuth. Why do you demand so much Thomas, can’t you just believe. The the church Father resolves, but he is not just representing his doubt but all of our doubts.

2. What happens when we go outside of our sentness?

It is in power and authority we go. It is from a commissioning from resurrection to claim resurrection in the world.

If we go outside of our sentness, we can see good in the world. we can sustain a little while.

Practices of revealing the story of God by Jack Jackson

Announcing the Gospel: Evangelism’s Constitutive Practice

bringing

announcing

proclaiming

declaring

preaching

Announcing the Gospel in Early Methodism

Encourage a Response to the Gospel

Helping people to awaken to the Gospel

Positioning them in a place for further discernment of the gospel

Encourage Repentance

Encourage Sanctification

Verify Proclamation by Modeling Christian Ethics

A listening posture

Examine their faith

Repeat