40 Days of Presence (2)

If you have a bible, open with me to John, chapter 20. John chapter 20 and we’ll be looking at verses 19-21 this morning. . It’s on page 776 in the house bibles.

While you’re getting there, let me throw out a question this morning. How important is it to know your mission? How important is it for you to know your purpose?

Introduction

Story about Rudy.

It’s better to be in the

It’s always better to be in the game than on the bench.

So if you have a bible, why don’t you open with me to ’ll pray and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

Exposition

Context of Passage:

. Let me give us just a little bit of context. Chapter 20 takes place immediately after Jesus’ execution by the Roman authorities. And his followers are just beginning to process what’s happened. Over the last 3 days, they’ve seen Jesus put on trial, mocked, falsely accused, and then executed as a criminal. And on top of that, his closest followers, the disciples, have every reason to believe the same people who had Jesus executed are now looking for them.

And as we read chapter 20, we see the disciples gathered together in a room, hiding, because they don’t know what else to do next.

Look with me at v. 19, “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” In the midst of their fear and questions of ‘What now?’, Jesus—who has been resurrected from the dead—shows up in this room to meet them and give them his parting words.

And we see these in v. 21. Look with me there; Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Here’s what we need to see: Jesus is commissioning the disciples. He’s sending them out on a mission.

And what’s recorded here is not just Jesus words to a few of his closest followers, this is the commissioning of each and every follower of Jesus—it’s like he’s talking to us.

And the way he says this in v. 21 is quite profound because there are some obvious questions that come up. But as we answer them, it helps us know our mission as followers of Jesus. And like I said, knowing our mission helps us say YES and No so we can do what God has called us to HERE and NOW.

So here’s the way we’re going to use the rest of our time this morning. I want ask the two questions that naturally come up from what Jesus says here: What are we sent out to do? How are we sent out?

Sent to do what?

Alright, let’s take a look at our first question this morning: As followers of Jesus, What are we sent out to do? Or another way to say it: ‘As followers of Jesus, what is our mission? What are we sent out to do. It’s really the first question that comes to mind when you read v. 21, isn’t it? “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you…” It’s interesting, Jesus doesn’t go into much detail here on what he’s talking about. But this isn’t the only place where we have Jesus commissioning his followers in the New Testament. Let me show you to other places where Jesus is answering this same question that help us make sense of and understand our mission.

Two places. They’re on the screen behind me. and . Jesus says this in —after his resurrection from dead as he’s giving his parting words to his followers. He says this, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” and with same idea in Acts chapter 1, Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, AND to the end of the earth.” Really both of these two passages are saying the same thing—that Jesus calls his followers to go out into the world they live in and tell people about Him.

And I don’t want to over simplify this, but really this is what Jesus has called his followers to do: the Mission of the Church is to make Disciples. A Disciple is someone who follows Jesus. Our mission is to Make God Known to people who don’t know God! This is why Jesus has gathered a people together, this is why the church exists, to Make God Known to people who don’t know God.

And so go back to and ask, “What are we sent out to do?” When we look at the rest of the New Testament, it becomes clear—we are sent out to make disciples! We are sent out with the Good News of a restored relationship with God and the promise of eternal life because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus, proclaiming this news is our primary mission. It’s priority number one!

Now I want to be clear—if our mission is to make God known to people who don’t know God—that doesn’t therefore mean we neglect the real social issues around us. In fact there are many places in the Bible where Christians are called care for the widow, the orphan, the and poor among us. We're called to be agents of peace in the midst of people’s pain—working to alleviating suffering in whatever way we can. Those are good and right things for us to be involved in. But we need to get this—our care for others, our concern for and pursuit of Justice, our engagement in the world around us, are all important things, but they are the product of being a Follower of Jesus—of being a disciple. Social Justice is not what we’ve been commissioned by Jesus to do. Social Justice is what happens when the church takes seriously what it means to follow Jesus in every area of life! It doesn’t mean it’s not important…it just means that the best way we can get after this as a church is by committing to the work of making disciples.

I like how John Piper, a pastor and author in Minneapolis puts it, “We seek to relieve suffering of all types—[but] ESPECIALLY eternal suffering for those who have a broken relationship with Christ”.

And when we really believe this is our mission, we begin reorienting our lives around seeing this mission accomplished! We rethink how we’re utilizing our Time—our Resources—our Vocations—our Influence—as we’re looking to use these things, not for our own benefit, but for the sake of the mission! With new job opportunities or big family decisions, we begin to ask the question, “Will this help me better live on mission--how can I use this for greater opportunities to Make God known?” Because knowing our mission helps us say YES and NO to what God has called us to HERE and NOW.

So, what are we sent out to do? As followers of Jesus we are sent out…commissioned…to make God known to people who don’t know God.

Transition: But what does this look like? And this bring up our second question this morning.

How are we sent?

How are we sent out?

Look with me again at v. 21. “And Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me…so I am sending you. Jesus tells us in the first half of v. 21 that we are sent, just like HE was first sent by the Father.

This means for us to understand what it looks like to live on mission, we look at how Jesus was sent!

There’s probably no more clear picture of how Jesus was sent than what John says at the beginning of his book, in 1:14.

Flip over a couple pages with me. It’s on page 758 in the house bibles.

, it says this, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

This is what is often called the Incarnation. It’s a word that essentially means “In the flesh”. We know from the context that this passage is talking about Jesus. But what’s so amazing about this is that it’s describing Jesus as God in the flesh!

Now there's a lot I could say about the Incarnation, but we don't have time to get into all of it this morning. But what I want to focus on these first two phrases in verse 14, that “...the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Because if we get this, we’ll see how how he was sent and how we’re sent into the world we live in today.

Flesh

Alright, look at is this word flesh. It's an interesting word for John to use! I mean, he could have said the word became a body,a person or human, but he doesn’t. He says the word became flesh. What I love about that is that all throughout the bible, the idea of flesh usually has this idea of frailness and vulnerability. And when we’re looking at how Jesus was sent, the first thing we see is that he entered into the world, taking on the same kind of frailness and vulnerability that we have.

Dwelt

But John also says the Word “…dwelt among us…” Look at this word ‘dwelt’. It’s not a word we use a lot. And the problem with it is that it doesn’t quite get the right idea for us. This is actually a unique word for John to use because it really only shows up one more time in the bible...this word for dwelt shows up in the book of Exodus talking about the Tabernacle--the place where God resided with Israel in the Wilderness of the Old Testament! Before the temple was built in Jerusalem, the Tabernacle is where God would meet with his people. So when John to says Jesus ‘Dwelt’ among us, he really means something more like, Jesus “Pitched his tent” among us!

I like how one author puts it, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. I LOVE that because it really gets after this heart behind the incarnation It’s an INCREDIBLE picture of how God engages with us, isn’t it? God shows up in the person of Jesus and steps into OUR world.

And what we see in the incarnation, is that God makes a choice to be with his people. He makes a choice to give us his status, his power. He makes a choice to become flesh and take on the same frailness and vulnerability we have as he moves into our neighborhood.

And this is one of the most unique aspects of the Christian story because in the incarnation, God refuses to lean back and look down on what's happening to his people but so that He can demonstrate his deep and compassionate love for us, he ‘moves into the neighborhood’...he walks into the experience of his people as he ‘becomes flesh’. No other religion even comes close to this idea!

Why am I telling you all this?

See, as we look at the incarnation of Jesus, we see what living on mission is supposed to look like where we’re at, HERE and NOW.

Because when you come back to what Jesus says in , we see WE ARE SENT IN THE SAME WAY!

So if this is how Jesus was sent out--to ‘move into the neighborhood’...that’s how we’re sent out!

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