The Mission

I want to start today by saying something I said last week that came full circle this past week.

Iryna Zarutska...Charlie Kirk...Shooting at the Colorado school.

I have been finding it hard to grasp that this is the same country that I joined the navy to defend. I joined the Navy to defend the rights I enjoy every day. Yet, I see those rights being tested, not by outside influences, but by the very people of this country.

I have to say this, if you are celebrating the deaths of these two people, you are the problem this country is facing. In this country, we should be able to have freedom of speech without the threat of violence, We should be able to be someone of a different race, religion, nationality, and different political beliefs without threat of violence.

Today, my heart breaks, because of the celebration some are having over the loss of life. No one deserves to die because they believe something different than you.

It is like me saying that chocolate ice cream is the only right one to eat and all those who eat vanilla should be killed.

Ridiculous! Yes! But it is no different than what we have been seeing!

So right now, let’s take a moment of silence to pray for Charlie, Iryna and their families, and pray for our country.

As you can see we are going to be talking about mission.

A one-legged school teacher named George Scott from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor to offer himself for service in China. "With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?" Asked Taylor.

"I do not see those with two legs going," replied George Scott. He was accepted. 

Today, we will look at the mission Christ gives to His Disciples and the mission of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s read our verses for today.

John 16:4–15 CSB

But I have told you these things so that when their time comes you will remember I told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.

Mission statements are required to set any organization on the right path.

Here at NEC our mission statement is in plan view. It is to reach, to teach, and to serve. So our mission is centered in the Gospel.

Here at this point, Christ is having what we call the last supper with his disciples. He is explaining to them that even though He will be leaving them, they still had a job to do. They had a mission, but they also would not be alone in their mission.

Let’s first look at

The Mission of the Disciples

I want you to take this picture in. You are surrounded by the people you spent the last three years with and the teacher just sent one off to betray Him. And now Christ tells them again but in a more deliberate manner that he will die, resurrect from the grave and ascend into heaven.

How would you react?

Basically, Jesus tells them...I am leaving, people is going to hate you and I need you to go out and tell them about me.

The past three years, they did not need to worry about persecution or go out on a mission. Their main focus was to listen, learn, follow and trust in their rabbi.

But soon everything was about to change. Jesus was going back to His Father, and their whole focus would no longer be in the physical Christ but to establish the church.

How would you react?

Everything is being laid out for them on what they will need to do. They thought Jesus would take over as king, and now He is telling them you will have to follow me to the cross. The cross will become their central focus of their work. It still is today.

How would you react?

The natural response is grief. Everything you thought would happen is being torn out from under you.

Yet, Jesus rebukes them in their grief.

What?

Their grief is a natural response but it is a self centered response.

It is like those who take a selfie every time they do charitable work. You don’t see the work being done cause all you see is the face of the giver.

Their grief is miniscule compared to what is about to happen on the cross the next day.

It is so much bigger than they are. The mission He gives them is so much bigger than they are. It is a mission that is worth giving up everything.

It is the mission that takes the church into the next age.

It is the same mission we have today. The same bigger than us mission. To spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is not a calling card for the church, this is the mission of the church. This is the mission we need to take seriously.

It is a mission we can not and should not do on our own strength.

We need the Holy Spirit, but we need to understand

The Mission of the Holy Spirit

I am going to say this and it may hurt some of your feelings.

Jesus did not send the Holy Spirit for you to get what you want. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to complete the mission of spreading the Gospel.

Imagine an ancient king...

Exalting Jesus in John Their Mission Requires Supernatural Help (John 16:7–15)

Imagine an ancient king deciding to take a trip to visit one of his cities on the far side of the country. He sends his trusted lieutenant ahead of him to get everything ready for the trip. The day of the trip comes, and his caravan starts out. When he arrives at the city, nothing is prepared for him. No lodging, no food, no meetings, nothing. He calls his lieutenant and asks what happened. His lieutenant says, “I came to help them, and they wouldn’t listen to me. I told them what you wanted, and I offered to assist them. I assured them I had the authority and resources to accomplish it, but they ignored me. The few times they spoke to me, it was to ask me to do something for them. It wasn’t to do what you asked but to do what they wanted.” How would the king respond?

Jesus did not send the Holy Spirit so we can be comfortable. He was sent so He can be the help we need because we can not accomplish this mission without Him.

Let’s go back and look at what Christ said about the mission of the Holy Spirit.

John 16:8–11 CSB

When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

So the main mission of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world.

To convict the world of it’s sin. You know what the hardest thing a Christian has to hear...You are in the wrong. Most of the time when we hear that we have done wrong we reject it and look for someone else to agree with us.

The Holy Spirit is not playing favorites. He calls a spade a spade. And what normally happens, the world rejects Jesus because they do not believe what He says is sin.

The Holy Spirit convicts us about righteousness. We do not live under righteousness, we live under grace. We live because we believe in a living Savior. One that stands in the gap for us. The Holy Spirit shows us this, because we no longer have the physical Christ to stand before us.

He has risen and we no longer see Him but awaits for us with the Father.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of the judgement of the ruler of the world, Satan. Satan’s followers will also be judged. Christ has already defeated him and like a criminal sitting on Death Row, he is just for his sentence to be completed.

Now the next mission of the Holy Spirit is too

John 16:12–14 CSB

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus gives the disciples an impossible task...

Exalting Jesus in John The Holy Spirit Will Convict the World of Sin (16:8–11)

Jesus gives the disciples an impossible task. When they heard, they must have thought, There’s no way we can do that. People won’t listen to us. You said yourself they would throw us out of the synagogues. This is crazy! There’s no way we can make this work. They were right. There was no way they could make this work, but Jesus, through the Spirit’s power, would accomplish everything he promised and commanded. Everything good that has happened in Christianity is the result of the Holy Spirit’s power.

Maybe you don’t realize the Spirit’s power in your life because you aren’t busy doing things only he can accomplish.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can love people who are like you.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can give an hour and a half a week to sit in a service.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can attend a Sunday seminar or community group.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can put money in the offering plate.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can talk about the gospel.

But do you know what you can’t do without the Spirit’s help?

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t love someone who is antagonistic to you and your family.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t be on call 24–7 for a person in need.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t meet weekly with a brother or sister to bear each other’s burdens.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t give your hard-earned money when little is left.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t plead with your unbelieving friends and neighbors to repent and believe.

• Without the Spirit’s help you can’t move your family around the world for the sake of the gospel.

The Spirit works through the Word...

Exalting Jesus in John The Holy Spirit Will Guide the Disciples into Truth (16:12–15)

The Spirit works through the Word. The Word is his means of conveying the gospel and bringing conviction of sin. We should never look for spiritual truth apart from his Word.

We receive personal guidance from the Spirit as we read the Word he wrote. I wonder if the reason we don’t read the Bible more often is because we don’t want to be guided by the Spirit. Too often we want people to agree with us, to rubber-stamp the decisions we’ve already made. The Holy Spirit is no rubber stamp. He’s a sword-wielding, flame-throwing God. We need to come to him humbly and beg him to tell us what to do. Instead we often open our Bibles and treat the Spirit’s words like a buffet table, taking what we like and passing by the rest. He promises to guide us, but we must listen to everything he says. The truth can be hard to hear. Sometimes we’d rather be ignorant, even lied to, but the longer we listen to lies, the more painful the truth will be. The Spirit guides us into truth as we listen to him speak through his Word.