Mission

This is church! And I am so thankful to be a part of the body of Christ!

As we talked about last week, this new series is designed to remind us of a few fundamental building blocks that we need to be aware of. The question stated at the end of video is answered by these building blocks. That question is: How does God build the body?

First off, we need to realize that God desires to build this body! Not a body of muscle and physical strength, but a body of faith, a body of obedience, a body that will honor and glorify His name.

He builds this body on the foundation of His Word. And today we continue to look at some of the critical biblical foundational elements that are essential to building the body of Christ.

Last week, we talked about prayer. If we desire to be a strong body of Christ, then we must be a praying body. There is no exception here.

Today, we look at another topic that is extremely important. If we desire to be a strong body of Christ, then we must be a missional body.

Pastor… what do you mean by missional… like Mission Impossible? Like this is our mission should we choose to accept it?

Well… kind of... except we need to fix some wording there. It is not “this is our mission should we choose to accept it” but rather “this is God’s mission He created a church to carry out.”

So what is a mission?

A mission is “a specific task with which a person or a group is charged.” In this case, the mission of God has not been charged just to one person… but has been given to the entire body of Christ.

What is God’s mission? Matthew 28:19-20 states it clearly:

Matthew 28:19–20 NIV

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This mission makes a few things VERY clear.

One: the task at hand - TO MAKE DISCIPLES AND TO TEACH THEM THE COMMANDS OF JESUS.

Two: the reach expected - TO GO INTO ALL NATIONS.

Three: the universal call - TO UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS COMMISSIONED ALL BELIEVERS.

I have often summarized this passage by saying this: EVERYONE A MISSIONARY, EVERYWHERE A MISSION FIELD.

No believer serves outside of the call. No territory exists outside of God’s mission. ALL PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD.

God’s mission is not to build bigger buildings… although sometimes bigger buildings are needed.

God’s mission is not to build larger budgets…

God’s mission is not to build fancier programs...

God’s mission is to SAVE SOULS through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

If a church looses sight of the mission God has given us… then I would argue it would cease to be a church. If a body is about anything else other than the plan of God… it ceases to be the body. It might be a really nice social group… but if you’re off mission… then you’re offline.

IF a church remains on mission… that church will naturally grow. As one Christian author has suggested, all healthy, living things grow. Do you know that… GOD’S CHURCH IS ALIVE???

What do I mean by that?

We serve not a dead God but the resurrected Savior! We serve the One that overcame sin, death, and the grave! Jesus IS alive!

Not only is Jesus alive up in heaven, but He is alive within His people! As Paul said in Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20 NIV

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Also, the power of the gospel brings dead things… back to life! Sin was destroying me… it was killing me spiritually… robbing me of life. But when I called on the name of Jesus for salvation, He poured NEW LIFE into me! Where the enemy was stealing and killing and destroying, Christ came in and gave me life to the full!

God’s church is ALIVE!!! It is FULL of new life given by Jesus Christ. And the key to any church remaining alive… is remaining in line with the mission God has given us which means… SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS THAT BRINGS NEW LIFE!!!

Nothing will rob the church of life faster… then loosing sight of God’s mission. If we stop being and making disciples of Christ, you will see the life begin to drain out of this place. IF WE MAKE THIS ABOUT US… IF PREFERENCE AND/OR PERFORMANCE TAKES THE PLACE OF GOD’S PRESENCE, you can be assured that death… will take the place of life within that church.

So what does staying on mission look like? What does staying on mission consist of? When Jesus said to make disciples… what does that mean?

That is where I feel God leading us to go as we begin this new year.

If we desire for God to build this body of believers in 2024, then this year must include missional awareness and execution. This begins by first understanding…

The Message (Reason) of the Mission.

The message of the mission is truly simple… JESUS SAVES. But what is it… that Jesus saves us from? Why is it… that all the nations need to hear this message? Why is it that God desires for His church to make disciples?

Sin… is a very real problem. Sin has been wreaking havoc in this world since Genesis chapter 3. Sin… is the great separator. It separates a person from the presence or fellowship with God. Take note: NOTHING can separate you from His love… but a righteous God can have no fellowship with an unrighteous sinner.

And as we have talked about before… God did NOT make us for sin. So when sin became a problem for which we had no answer to, God began to reveal His plan to redeem His creation. Jesus Christ… became our undeserved answer. The giving of Jesus PROVED that our sin did not stop God from loving us.

Sin… is a very real problem! It is a problem that the world does not know how to contend with. It tears a person up from the inside out…

People will often look for ways out… but fall short because there is only one way… and His name is Jesus.

An example of this is found in the story of the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus starts up a conversation with someone that according to culture, He shouldn’t have been talking to. He sees her need and He offers her something she had been longing for: LIVING WATER.

This woman… was dying inside. And she was looking for a worldly way to satisfy her inward need. As the conversation continues, Jesus reveals that she has had five husbands, and the person she was with then was not her husband. Her response, to me, is incredible.

John 4:19 NIV

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.

She doesn’t deny her situation… she owns it. And Jesus didn’t start up this conversation to humiliate her… He wanted to set her free.

Her sin-broken soul was leading her from one relationship to another. She thirsted for something more… something that would satisfy… but she was routinely left lacking what she truly needed. Because her answer wouldn’t be found in another fling… but would be found in the love and mercy of Jesus.

How many people are looking for the answer? How many people are trying to find healing from the brokenness caused by sin? The answer is staggering: Every person that doesn’t know Jesus!

Jesus came to become the answer that would FULLY SATISFY our greatest need. He came to offer us LIVING WATER… that our soul would no longer thirst for anything else!

Our world LONGS for this satisfaction… sin has created a universal need for a Savior - for someone who will bring life instead of death. THIS REASON is why we MUST present the message that JESUS SAVES!

Jesus transformed the woman at the well! He made such an impact in her life that she took this good news back to her town and testified of what Jesus had done, “Who told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:29)

This town, I’m sure was aware of who this lady was. You don’t go from one house to the other without gaining a reputation. People knew who she was… and what she did was no surprise either. BUT… I believe what the woman was telling the people was Jesus revealed to her WHY she was doing what she did! He revealed the problem… and offered a solution.

And look what takes place in the aftermath of her testimony.

John 4:39–42 NIV

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

The point is… PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR HOPE… AND JESUS IS THE HOPE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR! We, the body of Christ, have the opportunity to help connect this world with the hope who is Jesus Christ!

JESUS SAVES us from our sin, heals us from our brokenness, delivers us from death, and protects us from the evil one. He promises new and eternal life! He paid the price we could not pay to make a way where there seemed to be no way.

The moment the woman received from Jesus… she became missional for Jesus. She led her town… to the Savior of the world!

This is our reason… Jesus is our message… and we also need to understand…

The Method of the Mission.

Methods are important. Why? Because if the methods ever compromises the message… it immediately becomes counterproductive. And… if the message gets lost or is unrecognizable in the method… then we are wasting time.

Our methods of ministry can change over time. As cultures shift, and as communities change, so should our outreach methods.

But today I want to talk about two simple methods of mission that must be accompanied by the correct motive as well. Those methods are:

A missional believer will LIVE out his/her faith.

A missional believer will TELL of his/her faith.

A missional believer will be motivated or driven by love.

First off, what does it mean to live out our faith? Simply stated, it means that we believe… God. We believe His Word so much that we live it out in our lives on a daily basis.

Many people claim to believe in God… but many fail to believe Him. Living out our faith means surrendering ourselves to His will, His Way, and His Word. It means that Our faith is evident in the way we live.

Your life… is a living testimony and it speaks loudly of what you believe… and who you believe in.

If you were able to replay your life from this last week, would the way you live speak of the faith you profess?

A missional believer will live out his/her faith.

Secondly, we need to be telling of our faith. We need to be actively communicating to this world that Jesus saves.

Now, don’t over complicate this. I’m not talking about standing up and giving a sermon to your coworkers over a lunch break (unless God leads you to do this), I’m talking about speaking of the things of God as opportunity is given.

Every single one of us in this room are the result of someone else sharing faith with us. That might have been from a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a youth sponsor, a neighbor, a family member, etc. For a Samaritan town… their faith was the result of a woman sharing her testimony with them.

Jesus has commissioned all believers to make disciples… to tell of our faith and to teach His commands. We have been given… a lot of good news to share! God will open doors of opportunity to share the good news… the question is will we take the opportunity to share the good news?

A missional believer will tell of his/her faith.

Lastly, in all of this, our motivation for doing these things MUST BE LOVE.

Love was the motivation of our Savior, and love must be the motivation of His church. If love is NOT the motivation of how we live or what we tell, then all we will be doing, according to 1 Corinthians 13, is making more noise.

The LAST thing the world needs is more noise! This world is noisy enough! LOVE HAS THE POWER TO BREAK THROUGH ALL OF THAT NOISE.

Again, the love of Jesus broke through the noise happening in the life of the woman at the well. He broke through the excuses, the justifications, etc. with a word of love and truth. He didn’t attack her… He told her what she needed to hear.

Love keeps our hearts in the right place. Love keeps God in focus. Love keeps us out of our self, and in the ways of the Lord.

We have many reasons not to love… but one compelling reason why we need to love: Because God loved us, first. While we were yet sinners, GOD SO LOVED!!! God requires for His church to extend to others, what has been extended to us.

Love does not compromise or water down truth. Love compassionately leads with the truth that is God’s Word for the sake of leading sinners back to Jesus.

If all we do is done without love… it is meaningless and will make no lasting impact. But if love is at the center… then God is at the center… for God IS love and love NEVER FAILS!

So the non changing method I want us to see clearly today is simple: Live, tell, love. As Jesus is the message, we are to live in Jesus, tell of Jesus, and love like Jesus.

And… if we are going to do this on a daily basis… we are going to need daily assistance. Just like in Mission Impossible, there is an opposing force trying to stop God’s church from being missional. But God has given us what we need to stay on task. So as we close, I want us to talk about…

The Power for Mission.

Making disciples of all nations… is a tall order! It’s a BIG mission… a God-sized mission!

Consider the original context when this commission was given: It was given to the 11 remaining disciples… 11!

Now imagine the potential weight these guys felt on their shoulders… Jesus expects 11 guys… to make disciples… in all the world? How in the world is that possible?

Jesus NEVER expected His church to operate under its own power. In fact, even while giving the Great Commission, Jesus reminded these guys He would be with them. THAT WAS NOT AN EMPTY PROMISE!

Jesus has given His church the power to accomplish the mission through the giving of the Holy Spirit as promised in the gospels.

The indwelling of His Spirit as received at salvation is to help us live out our faith on a daily basis. He is the advocate… the Spirit of truth according to John 14 and 16.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is given that we might be EMPOWERED witnesses for Jesus. The Spirit of God empowers us to tell the whole world that Jesus saves according to Acts 1:8!

A missional church will live in Jesus, tell of Jesus, and love like Jesus, through the power given by Jesus.

He gives the message, the method, and the power to be… missional. Now all He needs is a church that will say… yes… to the mission.

But Here’s the deal: YOU must give the answer. I can stand up here and declare that we are going to be a missional church! But if the body doesn’t make that choice by placing action to the declaration… then we won’t be known by our claim… but by our lack of fruit that we bear.

This is your choice today, congregation… to be missional. I can preach it… I can teach it… WE MUST LIVE IT.

And we must live it… not because a preacher said to… but because Jesus has commissioned us to: everyone a missionary, everywhere a mission field. Will you help us answer the call to make disciples?

What does this look like in real time?

Volunteer to help in ministries at the church. Look for opportunities to share God’s love with friends, family, and neighbors. God may not be calling you to go across the world… maybe all He wants you to do is go across the street!

The mission of God… build the body of Christ. We are called to plant the seed, the Lord will bring the harvest. When we do our part, you can be assured God will do His. This is God’s mission… will you choose to be a part of it?

Closing Prayer of submitting to God’s mission. Prayer of depending on God’s Spirit.