ADVANCE in Mission

WELCOME

PASTORAL PRAYER

COMMUNITY CHURCH—TED WOOD

INTRO

Perhaps you’re wondering why there’s a globe sitting at the pulpit this morning…

I’d like to begin today with an example from my wife Stephanie’s family. To many, he was Brother Biram, to others he was Pastor, others still he was the superintendent of the state of KY for the AG - to us, he was simply Papaw.

I only saw Jim preach one time, a sermon on the Great Commission holding a Bible in one hand and this very globe in the other. It now sits in a place of honor in my office at the corner of my desk.

It was a wonderfully powerful sermon, but his life proclaimed so much more than his preaching did.

Through his yearly missions trips, to replanting a church after the age of 70.

He lived out our great commission. Not just in faraway places, but everywhere he went. His life was on mission.

That picture captures our whole ADVANCE series:

Presence: we move only because God is with us.

Generosity: we invest what we cannot keep for what we cannot lose.

Ministry: every believer is Spirit-filled to serve.

Legacy: faithfulness today shapes tomorrow.

All of that converges here: Mission.

Not a program, but a people whose lives make Jesus impossible to ignore.

John 13:31–38 (ESV)

A New Commandment

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

The Cross Changes Everything

Jesus announces three seismic shifts on the night before the cross:

A. The Cross and the Glory of God (vv. 31–32)

“Now is the Son of Man glorified.” Judas has left. The arrest is set in motion.

Jesus doesn’t say, “Now I die,” but “Now I am glorified.”

The cross is not God’s defeat; it is God’s display… the spectacular revelation of His holiness and love, justice and mercy, all meeting in the crucified Son.

If you want to see God clearly, look at the cross.

The worst thing sinners ever did in crucifying God’s only son, is the best thing God ever did in redeeming those very sinners.

The cross shows us what our sin really costs. It isn’t small.

Our pride, greed, lust, and self-reliance are so serious that only the death of the Son of God could pay for them.

Every lie, every selfish motive, every hidden resentment nailed Him there.

But the cross also shows us how deep God’s mercy runs.

He took our worst rebellion and made it the means of our redemption.

If you’ve never trusted Him, this is what salvation means: turning from sin and trusting the One who died in your place.

And for the believer, every glance at the cross calls us again to repent of the sins we’ve grown comfortable with.

B. The Cross and the Disciples’ Future (vv. 33–35)

When Jesus says, ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’ He confronts everything in us that resists love—our jealousy, our need to be right, our impatience with people who drain us.

Some of us need to confess that our lack of love has misrepresented the Savior we claim to follow.

Christ’s redeeming love frees us to repent—to go to the person we’ve avoided, to forgive as we’ve been forgiven.

This is what makes the new command new; His love now enables what our hearts could never manufacture.

“Little children…” With tenderness, Jesus says He is leaving. They cannot go with Him to Calvary. Only Jesus can bear our sin, satisfy justice, and secure redemption.

Before going to the cross, He forms them into a new community with a new command: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

This isn’t new because love is new (Lev. 19:18); it’s new because the measure and motive are new… His finished work.

The greatness of Jesus’ love for us becomes the engine of our love for others.

The good news of the gospel produces people who are radically humble (we’re sinners saved by grace) and radically bold (we’re loved and sent).

Our love, for God and for others, isn’t a badge proving our commitment to Jesus; it’s the beauty of Jesus’ commitment to us on display.

sometimes we read Jesus’ words about loving one another and forget that this wasn’t said in a vacuum.

He’s not introducing a brand-new idea here; He’s fulfilling something ancient.

God’s story of love didn’t start in the upper room; it started in the heart of God Himself.

What Jesus says in John 13 is the hinge between every command that came before and every mission that comes after.

From Genesis to Revelation, God’s mission has always been propelled by love—His love for His glory and His love for His people. And if you trace that love through Scripture, you see a clear pattern.

The Great Commandment in Matthew 22 calls us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s where mission begins. A love for God that spills over into love for people made in His image.

But then, in John 13, Jesus doesn’t just repeat that command… He redefines it. He says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you.

The word He uses for love means sacrificial, covenantal, self-giving love.

It’s not emotion-based; it’s action-based.

This love is measured not by sentiment, but by sacrifice.

The newness of this command isn’t that we’re called to love, but how we’re called to love. Jesus sets Himself as the standard: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

🔑 In other words, the Great Commandment finds its power in the New Commandment.

together, they find their purpose in the Great Commission.

When Jesus later says in Matthew 28, “Go and make disciples of all nations,”

He’s not adding a new task. He’s showing where this kind of love leads.

Love for God becomes love for others, which becomes a passion for the nations.

Jesus is giving shape to a new community so transformed by His sacrificial love that they can’t help but take that love to the ends of the earth.

The Great Commandment tells us who to love.

The New Commandment shows us how to love.

The Great Commission tells us where that love must go… to the ends of the earth.

This is what makes John 13 so powerful; it’s not a call to be kind; it’s a call to be conformed.

The love Jesus commands is the love Jesus supplies, and the love Jesus supplies becomes the mission Jesus sends.

This is the heartbeat of ADVANCE in Mission. Not driven by guilt, but by grace. By a love that moves outward from our hearts, to our city, to the nations.

So before we talk about proclaiming and participating, we have to start here: by beholding His love, receiving His love, and letting that love define everything we do.

C. The Cross and Empowered Following (vv. 36–38)

Peter pledges, “I’ll lay down my life for you.” (v.37)

Jesus promises, “You’ll deny me before dawn.” (v.38)

But He also promises, “You will follow later.” (v.36)

After the cross and resurrection, the risen Christ will send the Spirit.

Disciples who can’t follow in their strength will follow in His.

Discipleship is not a sign-up; it’s a raised-up life… born again by grace and empowered by the Spirit.

Mission From One Text

John 13 shows how our individual mission flows directly from the cross:

Too many of us proclaim other saviors; success, politics, comfort.

We talk more about what we’re against than about who saved us. That’s sin, church. I say this because of how it violates Jesus’ new commandment to us, how it distorts the gospel witness we’re compelled to, and rejects the sufficiency of the cross.

The sin of unbelief that can lead to unforgiveness, division and pride, or hypocricy.

And the good news is that Jesus can redeem even our silence.

He forgives cowardice, restores zeal, and sends fearful people out as faithful witnesses.

A. We PROCLAIM the love of Christ

Sin has shattered our world, separating us from God and one another.

The cross is God’s remedy.

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We don’t announce self-improvement, we announce substitution.

We speak of a Savior who took our place and rose again to make enemies family.

This is grace-motivated mission: we don’t go to earn God’s favor; we go because we already have it.

For Metro Life Church:

Locally (Casselberry): see your street, school, and office as your mission field.

Regionally (Central Florida): live distinctly among colleagues and classmates; create rhythms of prayer, hospitality, and witness.

Globally: partner to see the gospel go forth throughout the world.

This is why we celebrate our member Rachel Agheyisi, engaged in Bible translation in Nigeria, so people meet Jesus in their heart-language.

B. We PARTICIPATE as a priestly people

Exodus 19:6 calls God’s people a “kingdom of priests.”

Now, in Christ, that calling is ours (1 Pet. 2:9).

Think of it this way; Priests carry God’s presence and intercede for others.

Some go, some send, all pray, and everyone bears witness.

No one is a spectators; we’re all ambassadors.

When we talk about participating in God’s mission, this isn’t theory. It’s people. It’s generations shaped by faithfulness. I want you to hear from two of our own, Caleb and Anna Stafford. They’ve grown up in this church and are now helping lead and disciple the next generation through our Alive Youth ministry. Their story captures what it means to be Strengthened in faith and to help others grow in Christ.

(Cue video)

I love what Caleb and Anna said: that being part of this church taught them ownership, taught them that work and worship aren’t separate. Serving the Lord is about blessing people, and that we’re stronger when we do it together.

That’s the heart of ‘Strengthen’ in our ADVANCE Vision. We’re not just maintaining programs; we’re building people. Disciples who love God deeply, serve faithfully, and lead others boldly. When we invest in the next generation, when we create spaces to equip and unify the body, we’re strengthening the whole church to fulfill God’s mission together.”

“That’s what Paul meant in Ephesians 4:12 when he said that leaders exist ‘to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.’ It’s what ADVANCE is all about; strengthening the body so that we can serve the world.

Next step: Join our Missions Lunch-N-Learn after service on Sunday, December 14, led by me and our pastoral intern Edwin Flores. We’re working to outline a biblical basis for missions and how Metro Life can be locally focused, regionally deployed, and globally engaged.

when we live this out… when the love and unity Caleb and Anna described become visible, the world begins to see the truth of the gospel.

That’s what Jesus meant when He said, ‘By this all people will know you are My disciples.’

We don’t just proclaim or participate; we prove God’s power by how we love.

C. We PROVE the reality of the gospel by love

“By this all people will know…”

Love is our apologetic.

Not glossy branding, but sacrificial community.

The Spirit forms a people who forgive quickly, serve gladly, reconcile honestly, and persevere humbly.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that “we are not ignorant of Satan’s designs.” The enemy knows that nothing derails the witness of the Church faster than division and unforgiveness.

In his commentary, Jason Meyer calls this “avoiding the devil’s ditches.” The Corinthians fell into two opposite errors

refusing to correct sin; later,

refusing to forgive it.

Satan doesn’t care which ditch you fall into, as long as you don’t walk the gospel road.

C. S. Lewis said it well: “He always sends errors into the world in pairs… relying on your dislike of one to draw you into the other.”

The enemy uses extremes; truth without grace or grace without truth, to pull us away from the gospel center.

That’s why the mission of God must be sustained by the mercy of God. Unforgiveness is unbelief in disguise. It acts as if someone else’s sin is bigger than Christ’s sacrifice. But faith takes the reconciliation accomplished at the cross and applies it to real life.

When a church holds grudges, the gospel loses credibility. But when a church forgives freely, the gospel gains visibility.

So, if we want to prove the reality of the gospel to a watching world, we must walk the narrow road between the devil’s ditches. Keep your eyes on the cross. Live in the joy of reconciliation. Let the love that saved you overflow to others.

Men and women of Metro Life Church, if there’s a door of bitterness, close it today.

If there’s someone you’ve withheld forgiveness from, let Christ’s mercy free you.

The world will know we are His disciples when they see in us the forgiveness that only Jesus can produce.

That is credible witness in an age of outrage.

The new command births a new community that makes Jesus visible.

Unforgiveness says someone else’s sin is greater than Christ’s sacrifice.

Gossip and resentment are what we might call the devil’s footholds. Not submission to him by influenced by his schemes.

But repentance slams the door.

If you’re harboring anger, let the cross disarm you.

Jesus shed His blood to reconcile enemies… how can we now withhold grace from one another?

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

This is how mission really works… you become like what you behold.

The more clearly we see Jesus, the more completely we show Jesus.

Transformation always precedes multiplication.

The Spirit’s work in us isn’t behavior modification; it’s Christ-formation. Romans 8 says God predestined us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” That’s the family resemblance of every child of God… Christlikeness.

We watch what we love, and as we watch we become like what we watch.

The same way a kid on a basketball court mimics his hero, believers mirror the Savior they love most.

If we fix our gaze on the world, we reflect the world; if we fix our gaze on Christ, we reflect His glory into the world.

Mission, then, is not primarily about strategy… it’s about sight. We look at Jesus until others can see Him in us. That’s how the Church proves the power of the gospel: ordinary people beholding an extraordinary Savior and being changed by His glory.

Christ Connection

(band comes out - ushers begin distribution of elements)

When we think about what Jesus does the very next day, we understand how He loved us to the end.

He went where we could not go, to the cross, to bear our sin and break our chains.

He rose to defeat death and poured out the Spirit so we could become what we cannot become on our own… a people who proclaim His mercy, participate in His mission, and prove His grace through love.

If you’ve never turned from sin and trusted this Savior, do that now.

He went to the cross for you… not to make you religious but to make you new.

Confess your sin, call on His name, and receive the mercy He purchased with His own blood.

And for those who already belong to Him, don’t waste another day living half-hearted.

Repent of what dulls your love and return to your first love.

If you are weary or ashamed, the cross says, “It is finished.”

If you are fearful or apathetic, the empty tomb says, “I am with you.”

The gospel does not say, “Try harder.”

It says, “Behold the Lamb,” and in beholding, be transformed.

Paul says we should examine ourselves before we eat and drink.

Is there unconfessed sin that dulls your joy? Bring it to Jesus.

His body and blood are the proof that grace is stronger than guilt.

Communion

We come to the Table because mission runs on mercy.

The bread reminds us of His body given for the world.

The cup reminds us of His blood shed for the nations.

This meal looks back to the cross and forward to the feast; when a multitude from every tribe and tongue will worship the Lamb.

What we do now will echo forever.

Today, we hold the bread and cup… and then we open our hands.

Church, let’s proclaim Christ, participate as priests, and prove the gospel by love — until His name is known and His mercy is received.