Missions is Personal

Introduction

Introduce self

Dismiss children

Excited to begin a series titled Who’s your One?

We have had a couple guest speakers and another one next week helping us to hear about kingdom advancement through church planting and medical missions work around the globe.

Today and the last Sunday of the month I’d like for us to put a focus on how we are to be living on mission as individual believers here in Bristol.

That phrase on mission has been used in Christianity recently to describe followers of Jesus that are evangelizing and loving on people.

When this is talked about though it’s often depicted by people at events or groups giving meals away at homeless shelters or being apart of a program.

The idea of living on mission though is more about your indidivudal life than it is about your participation in whatever program or event is going on around you and more about you living your life with Jesus around others.

Character- A believer that relies on other methods to share the gospel

Have you ever heard of a show called Mcgyver? I gottta be honest with you. I’ve never seen an episode. However, I like many of you know the pop culture reference.

Mcgyver could have any sort of random things around and make a device to get him out of a situation.

I love the creativity and the resourcefulness…and most of the time that type of thinking pays of.

However, most if not all of the time, using the right tool or method to accomplish something makes the process not only easier and more enjoyable but also being more effective and impactful.

Wood, Screwdriver, screw, nail, hammer

Those who follow Jesus and live a gospel driven life desire to see their lives have an impact on those around them and the world.

Problem-Trying to see God’s work done, mans way without God’s say

We live lives desiringt o see God’s work done and either don’t know what God’s means of accomplishing is work is, have been told wrong, or choose not to use them.

We try to Mcgyver God’s work with our own methodology or lifestyle.

The problem is that God has given a means by which His work is done. No, it’s not a check list of programs at a church, clothes you wear, music you listen to, or anything like that.

Notice what Jesus said to the disciples when they told him they couldn’t do his work.

Little context here: A man brought his son to have a demon cast out of him. and the disciples couldn’t do it.

Jesus came down from the mount of transfiguration and comes upon this situation. After casting the demon out the disciples as “Why couldn’t we do that?”

Matthew 17:20–21 “20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

They were trying to God’s work without using God’s methods.

Agitated- Failure, burnout, frustration, and disappointment

What happened to the disciples when they had done that?

When we read the Bible we can’t just read it as though it is without emotion or real people experiencing it.

While the description of emotion is not given as if you were reading modern novel, you have to think for a moment…what would a group of men that were following a leader who had called and empowered them to do a job, and when it came time to do the job they were called to they were unable to do it. How do you think they felt? Like failures? Disappointments? frustrated?

Is this how some of you have felt following Jesus?

You got saved, you began doign wht people told you and things just werent’ working out the way you thought they should.

You began living and talking just like the other people around you and tried to become the image of what you believed a Christian was supposed to be yet it’s causing you to get frustrated and disappointed.

The disciples must have been trying to do what Jesus had called them to do but it was not the way God called them to do it. They knew God had called them but theyy haad forgot how He had called them to do it.

When we are seeking to live with and for Jesus, in such a way that he didn’t call us to, we are going to experience disappointment and burnout because it’s like trying to hammer the screw in or screw in the nail to the wood.

So what do we do?

Solution- Knowing God’s purpose for you and living it out

We have to understand what God’ purpose is for us and live that out.

Not His purpose for other people, His purpose for you as an individual. That starts with a general purpose but is lived out in your individual life. What are your contributions to the cause of Christ?

We each are different and bring different talents and gifts to the table. We all come from differetn backgrounds and connect to people differently. If you find yourself being confirmed to a model that isn’t you then your being what many believe when they look at christianity, fake.

While God will change your heart, He will change your desires, He will work in and through you in great ways yet He does not turn you into anyone else, you are still you.

Guide- Jesus, Others around you

This will only happen when you are following Jesus as your guide and those around you are pointting you to Him and not themselves.

Paul said

1 Corinthians 11:1 “1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Don’t cconfuse that…He’s ultimatelyy pointing yoyu to Jesus not himself.

This is important when it comes to evangelism. We cannot help people know a Jesus that we only know becuasae of a friend. When we have cconfident personal relationship with Christ we can share about him easily with anyone.

Journey- Starts with yes and ends with yes

Your journey with Jesus did not start because you wre following a person, it started becuase you had faith in Him.

He called and you answered with faith.

That’s what happened with the first disicples as well.

Let me give you some context before we jump into the text today.

• All Hebrew boys went to Torah school starting at age 5.

• By age 10, all young boys knew the Torah and the best students went on to study the remainder of the Old Testament.

The rest returned home to work in their families’ businesses.

• At about age 17, if you wanted to go on and make a career out of religious studies, your next step was to find a rabbi you admired and apply to become one of his disciples (talmidim).

• When you found one, you would go and sit at his feet. That was your request to learn. And the rabbi would examine you with questions and put you through a series of tests to see if you were worthy to be his disciple.

• The rabbis could choose the smartest, most talented boys to be their disciples.

• Another reason the rabbis were so picky is that when they chose a disciple, they were choosing someone whom they believed could become just like them—to not just know what they knew, but to do what they did.

• For several years, these young disciples (talmidim) would follow their rabbis, imitating them in every way. The goal of a disciple was to be like the rabbi.

The rabbis would look for the qualified young men that would turn into the best students and eventually carry on their legacy just like they did.

But when Jesus came to the disciples…that was not the case.

Matthew 4:18–22 “18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”

Jesus came to the disscicples and to you, when they were not qualified to be His disciple.

They were fishermen? They were hardworking men but they were not great stuents. They were not looking to follow a rabbi.

They weren’t ignorant men but they were not the most educated.

These are the men he chose to be his first discicples and carry on the work He was called to do and calingthem to do.

As a follower of Jesus today you are the same as me. Unqualified. however you have been ccalled.

We often think we have to be the best to serve Jesus but Jesus doesn’t choose the best…He chooses the willing.

You will not live your Christian live for Jesus the same way someone ele does. You will not reach the same people that someone else does. You don’t have to be the best Christian, you need to be a willing Christian.

John MacArthur: “God skipped all the wise of the day! The great scholars were in Egypt; the great library was in Alexandria; the great philosophers were in Athens; the powerful were in Rome. He passed over Herodotus the historian and Socrates the great thinker and Julius Caesar. He chose men so ordinary it was comical. No Rabbis, no teachers, no religious experts...”

They were willing.

They were willing to follow Jesus and give Him their lives when he chose them.

Noticec that they did not choose Jesus. He came to them.

Remember the normal way students got with a Rabbi? they would choose the rabbi and go sit at their feet for years. Rabbi’s weren’t out picking people to follow them, they were waiting for the students to choose them.

God chose us when He sent Jesus to die for the world. We choose to accept His ccall that is made to every person on this earth.

When we accept that call we are accepting not only the salvation that he offers but the life that He provides. The life of serving others and inviting them into a relationship with Jesus.

that doesn’t happen becaue we do a lot for Him…it happens beccause we are with Him.

He didn’t tell them where they were going or what assignment He had for them. His primary call is not to do something; it is to become like Him. And to become like Him, you have to know Him. To know Him, you have to know His Word.

You have so many outlets here for this—weekly messages, life groups, discipleship, and mentoring. If you are really serious about being His disciple, you’ll take advantage of a lot of these. Get His Word inside of you until it dominates your thinking and decision making. Know it, quote it, and live by it.

Remember the purpose of the Word isn’t to just know it, it is to know Jesus through it. Jesus called you. Jesus is desiring to be with you.

And when Jesus is with you, you can leave everything else.

Notice what the disciples gave up to follow Jesus

Matthew 4:22 “22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.”

They left the ship…they left their livlihood, their work, the comfort of what provided for them financially.

They left their father....their most significant relationship.

To follow Jesus, He has to take precedence over both. Most of you won’t literally lose your father and mother over Jesus ...

Some might. For some, God may tell you to change careers. Maybe God will tell you transfer your job to be part of a church plant.

Or leave your job and carry the gospel overseas. For many of you, it probably won’t be that dramatic. But you’ll have moments where you decide which holds greater sway over your life.

The point of following Jesus isn’t to forsake all of those things, it’s to live with an open hand on all of them willing to if called to.

However, and this is imoprtant, hear me now. He may never call you to forsake those thing but use them for his glory.

Your mission field might be your workplace, it might be your family, and could be your friend group. Becuase God didn’t change who these men were at the core, He knew who they were at their core and called them anyway. Then he took what they did, fishing, and who they were in their peronalities and equiped them spiritually to reach people for the kingdom.

The call to follow Jesus isn’t just a call to salvation and willingness to give up everything for him, it’s a ccall to reproduce spiritually.

You are not meant to be a lone wolf Christian. Or a Christian that just keeps it all to yourself. Jesus called the disciples to become fishers of men.

He called them to evangelize.

Evangelism or missions is not a gift some of us have it is a privelage each of us have been commanded to be apart of.

Through practice, prayer, and payment. We practicec evangelism in our personal lives, we pray for our evangelistic efforts as well as our missionaries over seas, and we pay to support the mission of kingdom building and gospel spreading locally and worldwide.

We believe God has created us for his glory and therefore should have to ask ourselves, how do we glorify Him

John 15:8 “8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

We gorify God by bearing much fruit. The fruit of the ministry and of our lives is souls saved from the damnation of hell and into an eternal relationship with God.

Robert Coleman wrote:

When will the church learn this lesson? Preaching to the masses, although necessary, will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. Nor can occasional prayer meetings and training classes for Christian workers do this job... Individual women and men are God’s method. God’s plan for discipleship is not something, but someone.

Resolution- fruitfullness, fulfillment, and kingdom advancement

When we decide to stop trying to live our lives for Gods in some way that God didn’t design for us and choose to live with Jesus and for Jesus we will see that God’s method of evangelism isn’t an invitation to church, although that’s great, it’s not another outreach opportunity, it’s not a program, it’s not a class, it’s a personal devotion to the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we are living based on who Jesus is and who we are through Him in our careers and in our homes not who someone else tells us to be or not who we see someone else being, then we can find frutifullness, fulfillment, and kingdom advancement.

That’s something I’d love to have said about my life. It was fruitful for Christ, I found fulfilment in Christ, and God used me to advance the kingdom in some way.

Impact: Negative: Continued decline of culture and problems with people Positive: People happily living with Jesus and sharing His good news

Knowing that God has called you to this, you now have a choice to make.

If you have not been living with a personal walk with Jesus that has resulted in you producing fruit in your life with and for him, you can continue down that path. It is an option for you.

You can be apart of the problem of the continued decline of the cutlure and the problems people have.

Or you can choose to be apart of the solution.

It’s not joining a church, it’s not volunteering in a ministry, although those are great things, it’s choosing to live with Jesus and for Jesus by verbally sharing the news of His death burial and resurrection paying for your sins. It’s telling others of who Jesus is to you and what He has done. It is seeing that who you are in Christ, the things that have happened in yout life have equipped you to reach people for Jesus in a way that others can’t.

When you do this more people know Jesus and to end with a cliche…when we know Jesus…we know Peace.

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