Have Softball Bat in Hand

How many of yall played T-ball?

Right now i’m in a new season of life.

Where i’ve always been the player, i’m now the coach, and i’ll be honest it’s a little weird.

Sam played t-ball for the first time this past spring and it was a blast!

He did a great job, but i’d be lying if i said that we didn’t struggle at times.

There are so many different things to t-ball that you have to consider, and it can be confusing. We probably don’t think of t-ball as confusing, but there are a ton of things that we have to understand in order to enjoy baseball or softball, and t-ball is where that foundation is layed.

Strikes, Balls, base hits, catching, throwing, hitting.

Man…. Just staying engaged during the whole game is a feat!

I was the one picking grass in the outfield when i played.

There are so many things to remember, that it is easy for the mission of baseball to get lost.

The Mission of t-ball, baseball, and softball is Runs.

Without Runs, you can’t win the game. everything that you do revolves around either getting runs for your team, or preventing the other team from getting runs in order to win.

There’s a “Mission” in everything. but tonight, i want us to ask ourselves a bigger question.

What is THE Mission?

This is a question that should be at the front of our minds all the time.

There are a ton of missions out there. but there is ONE Mission that bigger than all of the others.

This is the Mission of God.

Check out this quote by Christian Author Chris Wright:

“It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission – God’s mission.”

― Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission

Let me simplify. God doesn’t have a mission for us. God has a mission, and it is us.

God wants us to know Him. He wants us to follow Him. He wants us to Glorify Him. He wants us to mold our lives to look more like Him every single day.

So that means that for us:

The Mission:

The Mission is People

The Mission Is People

Mark 5:2 ESV

2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

Jesus hadn’t even gotten out of the boat good. His feet were still a little wet from the shallow water. And BAM! Someone is there waiting for Him.

For some of us, that would be annoying, but:

The Mission is People

When we’ve accepted Jesus and been saved from death, Hell, and the Grave by His grace, then His mission becomes our Mission.

EVEN WHEN IT’S INCONVENIENT!

God loves People more than all of the other things that He created, because He made us in His image.

We are His children, and regardless of the situation, He wants His children to come home.

Our role in all of this is to show and tell the Love of Jesus to all of those that we meet. To show people that there is Light and there is Darkness. That there is eternal Life and Eternal Death, and that we get to choose which one we will experience.

The Mission is People.

and i’m not sure if yall know this, but if the Mission is People, then the Mission:

The Mission Causes Stress

Why?

Because all people are unique.

Because all people look and think differently.

Because all people have baggage.

Because all people have struggles.

Mark 5:3–5 ESV

3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

Legion had a bunch of problems.

He was loud

He was mentally unstable,

He was willing to fight

He was suicidal

These are all things that would push anyone away

But legion was also waiting for someone who could help.

Not someone who could point out all of the things that He already knew about Himself.

but someone who could actually save Him.

This is why the Mission:

The Mission Requires Jesus

The Plea

Mark 5:6–7 ESV

6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

Jesus goes on to ask the man his name. LEGION!

This is important, because this man is admitting to being possessed by demons. (BAD)

(EVEN WORSE) A roman legion would have been made up of thousands of soldiers. So using the context of the day, this man is saying that He is possessed by thousands of demons.

A seemingly formidable opponent. You’d think with these odds, the demon would at least try to fight.

BUT NO! He doesn’t even try, because He knows that the outcome is inevitable.

No matter the angle, the strategy, or the amount of demons on their side. THEY WILL LOSE.

So they accept that their only option is to bow at His feet and beg for mercy.

The same thing is true today. The enemy doesn’t want to face off with Jesus. So he does everything he can to keep us from involving Jesus in the fight.

He convinces us that we’re to busy.

He causes us to feel ashamed

He tells us that we don’t need Jesus for this

He whispers that we don’t deserve Jesus’ love.

But the mission requires JESUS!, and when we call on His Name the enemy has no choice, but to beg for mercy.

That’s what Legion did here. He begged that Jesus give them a merciful end by allowing them to leave this man and fly into a herd of pigs.

Many of the people that we see around us that look and act different, they don’t want to fight. They’re just looking for someone who can save them. AND WE KNOW WHO THAT IS!!

(Get softball bat) This past weekend, some of you went with us to the trampoline park. We flipped, we climbed, we hit each other in the face with dodgeballs, it was great… but in the midst of the fun, there was a huge Gospel opportunity. And i’ll be honest, some of you Hit a home run and some of you whiffed.

There was a group of people who looked differently than most of us. And I watched as to how you would handle it. Some laughed, insulted, and starred. While others, took the opportunity to approach them and show them kindness in the name of Jesus.

These are the types of opportunities that the Lord lays at our feet. These are the Gospel opportunities that i’m always talking about!

When we look at all people as God’s children, even the one’s who don’t look like us, it makes it much more likely that we will seek to share the good news of Jesus with them and love them as He loves them!

So Jesus gives them:

The Permission

Mark 5:13 ESV

13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Seems like a win, right?! Demons are gone, the day has been won!

but as we’ll continue to find throughout our life.

The Mission Will put you in tough situations

Mark 5:14–17 ESV

14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.

This is really where I wanted us to get tonight.

Walking the Christian life requires us to be different.

As we look more life Jesus, we find ourselves looking at the world through the lens of Grace more than through that of conflict.

We are called to share the Gospel with Passion, but never weaponize it in order to devalue a person.

Unfortunately, many who claim the name of Jesus miss this. Their words are sharp, and their faces are shaped by hate instead of love.

In this passage, Jesus blessed a man and a community. He removed the pain of the man, and the fear of the townspeople.

But they chose hate over love.

Instead of seeing the legions worth as a person, and celebrating his salvation. They chose to see only the money they we losing because of the pigs drowning.

They chose the things of the world over the things of GOD. and the asked Him to leave.

We do the same thing today.

We make up our mind that certain people don’t look like us, so we attack them. Often with the name of Jesus.

This is what the world does.

Sadly, that’s what many of us have been taught to do, but we have to be different.

If we treat people the same as that the world does, then why would they have any reason to listen to us when we tell them about the love of Jesus?!

“You’ve been nothing but rude and hateful to me, and now you wanna tell me about the Loving Savior that you mold your life around??? If He is why you act like you act, then i want nothing to do with HIM!!”

We will lose relationships. We will lose friends. We will be excluded from groups, activities, and opportunities.

But the Mission of Jesus:

Is Worth Every Sacrifice it requires

It will be uncomfortable.

It will be Stressful

It will be tough

But with Jesus, it’s worth it.

The Mission is People.

Love God, Love People.

If you’re a Christian, that is your Mission.

If you’re not a Christian, you’ve never asked Jesus to save you from you sin and surrendered you life to Him

We Love you! You are our Mission. and we want you to know that there is Hope, there is Joy, and that the God who made the universe, who made you, Loves you and wants you to come home to Him!!

Pray