I Will Go: The Purpose Of Local Missions

Introduction

Alright, I need to jump back into where we left off last week.

Last time I spoke we started a new series called “I Will Go” as a response to our Sent series. In this one, we are focusing on the response. If Jesus is SENDING us, we need to respond by GOING. Why would we go? What’s the heart behind it? That’s what we looked at last week and this was one of the big takeaways - Jesus sends us out because he has compassion on the world.

Compassion should move us to action. That action is commonly called Local Missions. We are living a missional life, doing what God has asked of us.

Last time I ended by getting real practical. We hit three ways that local missionaries (all of us) impact their communities. The first is that Local Missionaries SERVE their communities. We talked about different ways we could do that like our food ministry, the offering a resume writing class, visiting nursing homes and many other things.

Next we talked about how Local Missionaries LOVE their communities by finding ways to love their neighbors like making your neighbors Christmas cookies or creating a ministry geared toward single moms.

Now, I want to finish this idea out with this…Local Missionaries Preach the Gospel. They share the Good News of Jesus dying for our sins. I want to be really clear right now, the two items we talked about last week are great, but if we never get to this point, the point where we are preaching the gospel, calling for repentance, then what we are doing is in vain.

The goal in loving and serving our neighbors is to open the door to see them come into relationship with Christ. What good is it to make your neighbors cookies if they are going to hell? What’s the point? Now, this doesn’t mean we do this and try to force results or do it with the wrong motivation (compassion is the motivation), but if we never actually preach the gospel, we’ve missed the point.

So let me tell you how to do that practically:

Five Finger Gospel

Three Circles

Now, you must ask for a decision. It’s ok if that decision is no or not right now, but don’t just say Jesus died for you and never ask them to repent and put their trust in Him! They need Jesus or they will die in their sins, don’t miss this. You must call them to repentance and faith in Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convert people (to change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh), but it’s our job to spread the good news.

Today we are going to talk about the Purpose of Local Missions and it’s simply this…to make disciples. Let’s look at what this means biblically and then we will get practical again.

Main Text

Matthew 4:18–20 ESV

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

We see in this passage Jesus calling some of his first disciples. This would have been early on in his ministry. In the book of Matthew, he places this as one of the very first things that Jesus did. He was baptized, he went into the wilderness to be tempted, he returns and starts his ministry. In that process he starts the process of calling his disciples to follow him.

The ordering of this should give us an idea into its importance. Jesus saw making disciples as of utmost importance. He would go on to speak to the crowds and what we might call “big church” ministry was important to him, but the core of his ministry was not to the crowds, it was to his disciples.

The core of every church’s ministry needs to be discipleship. There’s no other priority higher than seeing people converted and become mature believers in Christ.

Let’s define disciple. The word disciple is the Greek Word - Matt-Ayt-Yoo - which means “to be a pupil”

Disciples Are Called By Jesus

Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, they didn’t call him. Jesus saw them as he was walking by the sea, must have said to himself, something like, “Those guys will make great disciples” and he called them.

Now this calling was not just a random thing like it may appear in the text. In this time period it was fairly normal for a Rabbi (Teacher) to choose his students and invite them to follow him.

This following meant a journey in which the student would imitate the teacher. He would dedicate his life to following after his teacher and mimicking his ways. What the teacher did, the student would do.

Many of you may have heard this analogy, but in that time period a saying that was common was something along the lines of “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi”. The thought behind this saying was that in a dry and dusty land like Jerusalem, may you walk so closely behind him, doing exactly what he does, that you would be covered in the dust that he leaves behind him as he walks down the path.

Jesus is asking his disciples to follow him in that way. In a way in which they must be willing to commit their entire lives to Him, following him around and doing the things they see Him doing.

Jesus calls us too. Every Christian today is called by Jesus to be his disciple. He is saying to you, Follow Me.

It’s the same type of call. We are to commit ourselves to him in such a way that we would be covered in his dust. We would follow him so closely, doing exactly what we see Him doing, loving those that He loves.

This is a never-ending call. We don’t outgrow it. We are to be forever students of Jesus. We are to constantly learn his ways.

Disciples Must Leave Their Past Behind…But Not Forget It

Jesus didn’t change what they were doing, he changed the target. He found fisherman, and he said, I’m going to make you fishers of men. Jesus took what they knew (how to fish), and changed the target and the bait. They are now trying to catch men with the gospel.

In this change, we must be willing to leave our past behind. It says the disciples immediately left their nets. They put down the tools of the old trade.

We must be willing to forsake our life. We build our lives around money and the American dream. We build our lives around self-ish identity and achievement. Jesus is calling us to build our lives on him.

But He isn’t calling us to forget our past. He just redirects us to use our past for his benefit.

We serve from the place where God has planted us. You are making disciples while working in the tech industry. You might be asked to teach children in church while also working in finance.

Your work should be a means to ministry, not a distraction from it. There are 168 hours in a week. If you work 40 of them, you have 128 hours left. Let’s say you sleep for 56 of those, you still have 72 hours! Don’t say you don’t have enough time! You are wasting your time with so many things that don’t matter.

The Purpose of Local Missions is to Make Disciples

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This command is universal. It’s

How Do We Make Disciples?

Interactive -

How many of you are actively making disciples right now, outside of your home? Most of the parents in this room either realize or should realize, the primary disciples you will make over you lifetime are your own children.

What does it look like to make a disciple?

It must be intentional

It must involve modeling

I do and you watch. I do and you help. You do and I help. You do and I watch.

It must involve both information and application.

When would you know the process is complete? As in you have a fully mature disciple of Christ?

They are making disciples themselves.

Decision