Embracing the Mission of God

One of the people in the Bible that I find fascinating is Paul. After Paul converts to Christianity, he starts preaching Jesus right away, and then goes away for 3 years to be with Jesus in the desert. When he comes back, he serves as an elder in Antioch and while there, the Holy Spirit tells the elders to send Paul and Barnabas out as missionaries. So Paul travels around the Mediterranean basin, planting churches and preaching about Jesus.

A couple of years later Paul wants to go back to all the towns where he preached before. He ends up back in the town of Lystra and he finds out that a woman named Lois, who became a follower of Jesus through Paul’s preaching last time he was in town, has been building a legacy of faith in her family. Now her daughter, Eunice, is also a believer and so is her grandson Timothy.

Timothy is one of those church kids that is something special. He’s helping stack the chairs, he’s teaching Sunday school, he ready to go at 9:00am for the Spring painting and clean up day.

So Paul shows up and he sees Timothy helping out all over the place. He grabs someone from the leadership team and asks, “What’s with that kid?”

“Oh, Timothy? Yeah, that kid is going places. He loves Jesus, everyone likes him and he loves to serve.”

Paul contemplates it for a bit and then goes over to Timothy.

“Hey Tim, how’s it going?”

“Good, good.”

“Well, pretty soon, I am going to continue on my church tour. Do you want to come with me? Learn a bit about leadership and see what God’s been up to?”

Timothy is all charged up, “Golly gee willikers, Mr. Paul, sir. I’d love to.” (No idea if he talks like that, but I like to see him as the Robin to Adam West’s Batman from the Batman show from the 60’s).

“Well, there’s only one catch. Where we are going, there are going to be a lot of Jews around. And with your dad being Greek, some people are going to be mistrustful of you. Soooooo..”

And so Timothy, who is probably in his teenage years, gets circumcised. And so be grateful that when we ask you to serve here at Brentwood Park Alliance, that we have less strict requirements.

So Paul and Timothy go off on their merry adventure and so begins a relationship that would last for years as Timothy helps Paul accomplish his ministry and Paul helps shape and mold Timothy into a pastor who would eventually take over the church in Ephesus.

In fact, when Timothy was a young pastor in Ephesus, Paul, writing from jail says something pretty significant to him.

2 Timothy 2:2 NLT

2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.

For Paul, being a life-long follower of Jesus means enabling and empowering others to become life-long followers of Jesus who themselves enable and empower others to become life-long followers of Jesus and so on and so on.

We started this year with a new teaching series called Missio Dei, where we are looking at our new vision, mission and values statements. We have just spent the last 3 weeks looking at our vision statement and for this week and next we are going to do a deep dive into our mission statement.

Let’s read our mission statement out loud, together:

Our mission is to empower people to grow in a relationship with Jesus through biblical teaching, passionate worship, community service and intentional relationships.

Next week, we are going to break this statement down and examine each part of it. But for this week, I want us to look at the Missio Dei - the mission of God that Jesus gave the disciples at the end of the book of Matthew.

This passage, which Helen read to us, is THE foundational text when it comes to understanding our mission.

But maybe you’re asking why is having a mission important for the church? Isn’t it enough to love each other? Can’t we all just get along?

And the answer is no, it’s not enough to “just get along with others and be nice to people.” The mission is crucial for the church because

The church is God’s chosen instrument to reveal himself to the world.

2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV

20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

It’s also crucial because the mission is our expression of how and why we love others.

And it’s crucial because Jesus doesn’t give us a choice. The language he uses here in the Great Commission is an imperative - its a command that he expects us to obey. So if we say yes to following Jesus, then we are saying yes to obeying his commands, which, in this case requires us to embrace the mission.

So what is the Missio Dei? What is the mission of God that Jesus has given us? It’s to make disciples.

What is a disciple? A disciple is simply someone who attaches themselves to a teacher in order to learn how to be like that teacher.

Discipleship is more than getting to know what the teacher knows. It is getting to be what he is.

Juan Carlos Ortiz

So therefore…

Christian discipleship is a life-long journey to become more like Jesus and help others do the same.

Jesus commands his disciples that they make disciples. And then those disciples would go on to also make disciples who made disciples and on and on through the ages. This statement is so powerful, that it fundamentally changed the course of the entire world.

Christianity survived and even thrived through the deep persecutions that came against it, and has spread to billions of people all over the planet for 2000 years because believers throughout the ages have taken this mission to heart.

But how should we make disciples? Well, Jesus gives us three ways to do that.

The first way we make disciples is by GOING.

Jesus says, “Therefore, GO” He doesn’t say, “Wait for people to come to you.” He says to go. We are to go to others first. We are to be the initiators of spiritual conversations and instigators of discipleship relationships.

After Jesus was baptized by John and he began his preaching ministry, look at what Jesus does:

Matthew 4:18–22 NLT

18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him. 21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

Jesus didn’t wait for them to come to him. He went to them and invited them to come and follow him. That’s what we have to do as well. We need to keep our eyes peeled and our hearts ready for whom we are to start the process with.

God is calling you to start the conversation about faith and life with your favourite co-worker. God is calling you to go up to that younger Christian and invite him or her to coffee so you can begin a discipleship relationship. God is calling you to start leading devotions with your kids. God is calling you to invest spiritually into your grandchildren.

The first way we make disciples is by GOING.

The second way we make disciples is by BAPTIZING.

Baptism, in it’s literal form, is when we declare that Jesus has saved us and washed away all of our sin by being immersed in water. Here at BPAC, we practice what we call Believer’s Baptism which, simply stated, is every person needs to decide for themselves to follow Jesus and so we baptize believers, not infants.

And, as a side note, some of you here have put your faith in Jesus, but haven’t chosen to be baptized yet. I would ask you, why not? Baptism isn’t about being perfect or attaining some spiritual level. It’s a sacrament to commemorate the beginning of one’s relationship with Jesus. So what’s keeping you from being baptized? If you want, I’d love to talk more with you about it over coffee if you’re interested.

But baptism is more than just the literal event of submerging people in water.

First, it’s an identification with the people of God. Baptism tells people that you belong to the fellowship of the forgiven. That’s why Jesus got baptized himself - it was to identify with sinners like you and me.

And soon after he got baptized, at the beginning of his preaching ministry, what did Jesus do? He gathered a team of people around him. Jesus knew that even he needed people in his life. Baptism is about a community of faith walking together.

As disciple-makers, we have to get people integrated into the body of Christ. That’s what baptism is - it’s a public declaration that you are now on team Jesus. And it’s a team. While faith is personal, it’s not meant to be private. Faith is meant to be lived out in community so after we have built a relationship with someone - after we GO to them - we have to bring them into our faith communities.

Invite them to an social event, to a church service or youth group or kid’s camp. Come with them to an Alpha or build a small group around them so they can explore their burgeoning faith. Help them make connections with others and empower them to get involved with the church.

Second, baptism is symbolic of the death of self and the resurrection of new life.

Just as Jesus died, was buried and rose again, so too do we, in baptism, symbolically say that we are dead to our old, self-centred ways and are buried with Christ when we are submerged in water. Then, as we emerge from the water, we show that we are raised to new life - that we are a new creation - the old is gone and the new has come.

And I believe that a good part of our discipleship is about helping people continually die to themselves and live for Jesus. Water baptism is a one-time act. But in the sense of empowering people to die to their selves and live for Jesus, well, that’s something we do continually.

The first way we make disciples is by going. The second way we make disciples is by baptizing them into the fellowship of God’s people in the name of the Father who loves them, the Son who died for them, and the Holy Spirit who gives them spiritual life.

The third way we make disciples is by TEACHING

I believe it’s important for every one of us to grow in our knowledge. We need to know our world history and our church history better. We need to grow in our understanding of theology and science. We need to increase our amount of biblical knowledge and be well versed in understanding the philosophies of our world. It’s important to learn and grow in knowledge. But what’s more important than knowledge is obedience to Jesus.

You can come to church every week. You can read the Bible every day and get a PHD in theology but if it doesn’t result in greater obedience to the teachings of Jesus, then it’s all a giant waste of time. Our orthodoxy - what we know - has to lead to a better orthopraxy - what we do.

People today really dislike the idea of obedience, especially when it comes to a religious context like Christianity. Because pastors and leaders have twisted the idea of obedience in order to grow or maintain the power they want, people are understandably mistrustful of those who tell them to obey.

This is why it is so crucial that we teach our disciples the fullness of what Jesus says in this part of the Great Commission. We are to teach people to obey JESUS’ TEACHINGS. We aren’t teaching them to obey every person, every leader, no matter what their character is like. We aren’t even teaching them to obey us. We teach them to obey Jesus’ teachings.

We make disciples by Going, Baptizing, and Teaching. But these three ways are not independent of each other. They are like steps in the process. First we go to them. Then we baptize them by introducing them to Jesus and his bride, the church, and when they put their faith in him, they become part of the fellowship. And then the life-long journey of teaching begins where they learn to become more like Jesus and learn to obey his commands.

Conclusion

I read a story this week where a truck driver was hauling a load of 500 penguins to the zoo. Unfortunately, his truck broke down, so he waved down another truck and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the zoo.

The next day, the first truck driver picked up his repaired truck. When he drove into town, he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the second truck driver walking across the road with 500 penguins, waddling single file behind him.

He jumped out of his truck, ran up to the driver and said, “What’s going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!” To which the man responded, “I did take them to the zoo. But I had enough money left over so now we’re going to the movies.”

Obviously, he misunderstood the assignment. And you know what? A lot of us in Christianity also misunderstand the assignment. We mistakenly make our faith about what we receive and how good the Sunday service is or how amazing the weekly programs are.

Our whole faith is wrapped up in hearing God speak to us, in feeling God’s love for us in worship, in what we get out of church and faith. And those are elements for sure - God does speak to us, and loves us, and fills us with joy and awe. But equal to all that is obedience to fulfill the missio dei - the mission of God.

Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus. And our new mission statement - ……to empower people to grow in a relationship with Jesus through biblical teaching, passionate worship, community service and intentional relationships. - will help us do that.

Paul looked around the church and saw Timothy. He mentored this young man into becoming a significant pastor in Ephesus. He was a disciple who made disciples who made disciples.

So who is your Timothy? Or, if you are new to the faith, who is your Paul, who can help you grow in your relationship with Jesus? Who will you go to and start the spiritual conversation with? Who will you begin mentoring in the faith and helping to obey Jesus’ teachings?

We are called to be disciple makers who make disciple-makers. Let us embrace the Missio Dei - the mission of God.

Pray.