United in Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel Together

Bible Passage: Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

Application: This sermon encourages Christians to actively engage within their communities, utilizing their collective strengths to spread the gospel, fostering strong relationships that mirror the love of Christ and reach those who may feel isolated or lost.

Teaching: The message illustrates that the Great Commission is not a solo endeavor but a collective mission for the church, demonstrating the importance of fellowship in fulfilling God’s call to make disciples. It emphasizes prayer, sharing, and living out faith in community.

Big Idea: The power of community in mission serves as a beacon of hope and a testament to the transformative message of the gospel, drawing individuals toward Christ as they witness the authentic love and unity among believers.

Over the next two weeks. We are going to look at the success in mission as exemplified by the early church.

Week: Today, we are going to look at what the church did internally

Week 2: Next week, David is going to lead us in looking what the early church did externally.

Now there is definitely going to be some overlap because we want you to see that these two ideas are inseparably linked together. In fact, there is no such thing as a fully effective mission without them.

For years, I have watched churches strategize and plan. We hire church consultants, We read books on the subject, We memorize systems, We go to seminars. We attempt to copy the plans of other churches all in the name of mission. The list goes on and on, But what if I told you that it was simpler than all of this.

1. Mission Begins with Unity

Listen to this prayer from our Savior

John 17:20–26 CSB

“I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”

What is the relationship standard by which we as God’s people are to aim for?

It is the unity that Christ shared with the Father.

Now I want you to think about this for a second. Christ Prayed that his people would have the same type of relationship with each other that he Enjoyed with the Father.

This Prayer wasn’t just for those who were with him in the moment, but rather for all believers in all times.

I mean if you think about it that’s incredible. It’s incredible on two accounts. One that Jesus prayed for us before we were born, before we were in Christ. So that should be an encouragement to you.

Secondly, that unity among believers is one of the primary things he asked for.

Why? because of what unity does according to this passage.

Unity is such

It bares witness to Christ’s divinity

It displays the love of the Father, The love of the father for the son which is the same love by which he loved us.

It spreads the fame of the name of Jesus.

you see church when we enter into this unity through a deep an meaningful relationship with Jesus and each other, we will bare witness for the cause of Christ and bring attention to him by our proclamation of the gospel and our acts of love.

And then in Acts 2 just after Christ’s Ascension into heaven, we see this very thing take place.

2. Acts of Togetherness

Acts 2:42–47 CSB

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

They were so excited by this new thing called the church. that they said hey were in this together come what may. we are not going to let anything stop us from having unity.

The first thing they did was found in Acts 2:4

Acts 2:42 CSB

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Without devotion to sound doctrine and devotion to prayer the mission of the church will not thrive. Two of our biggest and effective tools are obedience to sound doctrine and a prayer.

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.”

Notice that part of the Great commission is teaching people to observe or obey the commands of God.

But what about this devotion to fellowship and unity? These people were so eager for the unity that comes only through salvation in Christ that they were even willing to remove class distinction.

Now in this day the classes were everything. You had your wealthily or aristocratic class and then the poor. They were so eager to for Christ, his mission, and the church that nothing could stop them from achieving this unity in him.

So then what classes do churches need to eliminate today?

I am not suggesting we must sell all our possessions, but rather I have been in church my entire life and I have seen different classes that bring barriers to the type of unity that God wants us to achieve.

young/old

rich/poor

newer members/long-time members

white collar/blue collar

black/white

What’s holding you back from becoming unified with the church body that God has called you to?

You see the early church, they were ready and willing to do the hard thing, the uncomfortable thing in order that Christ might be glorified through both thier proclamation of the Gospel and then living it out.

So then what hard thing is God asking you to do in order that his bride, this church, would look like him in word and action?

Maybe for some, it’s finally getting out of your comfort zone and branching outward in your social circles.

But then look at the results of this type of living.

3. The Impact of Unity

1 Thessalonians 1:2–10 CSB

We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.