Kingwood United: missio Dei
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· 15 viewsGod is accomplishing His redemptive mission and we are a small part of that.
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Introduction
Introduction
Kingwood United up to this point
Missions is something I care deeply for. It is one of the many reasons I was so drawn to KUMC. Remember, there was a time when I was considering coming to join you here. I was still in seminary and outside of the appointment process so I was not called and told I was headed to KUMC. Set the record straight not interview for other churches.
Back on track, this church is so mission minded. I have had the opportunities to lead trips to D.R., Haiti, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Regional trips. One of the reasons I have grown to love the international aspect of missions is to learn from others around the world. But over the years God has really challenged my small perspective of missions. Too often we see missions as something we do when circumstances are just right. Missions director, we have a missions section of the website.
Foundation for the mission
Foundation for the mission
Before we talk about joining God in the work we need to understand where mission begins. It begins in the heart of God. This prayer is so rich. We have preached on it before and you can spend so much time in these verses. Today we look at it through the lens of mission and the way that Jesus is preparing them for what comes next.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
No one knows the father....
First, let’s start with the man doing the praying in this text, Jesus. The gospel of John is communicating to us with urgency throughout the gospel that Jesus is more than a man. He is more than God’s anointed missionary. Jesus is God himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
then John has these words:
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Made him known = exegete. This word means to interpret, reveal, expound. In our prayer today, Jesus uses that word again and says “I have made you known to them.”
Paul, says it this way:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Meaning if you want to know what God is like then look at Jesus. So the identity, the message, the purpose, the redemption of God is found in Jesus. This is so important. The redemption of God through the history of creation is exegeted in Jesus.
Make them one
Then, the revelation of God in flesh, the embodiment of the mission of God, Jesus prays that the disciples and all that follow would be one. One with each other, one with God, one with Christ:
John 17:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Forever the Jews have prayed the shema, that there is only one God and Jesus has demonstrated how He is caught up in this One God. Now he prays that the disciples would be a part of the unity found in the Father and Son.
Complete Unity:
A unity that compares to the unity of the Father and son. Then, the world will know that God has sent Christ.
Notice that it is in our complete unity with
Sent Ones
Out of there unity with the Son, they are sent into the world. Just a few verses earlier....
I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
John
They will be an advertisement, inviting people to join in this union with God. The love of God evident in the church is a revelation that there is a welcome awaiting those who will quit the rebellion and return home. Here is the missionary strategy of this Gospel—the community of disciples, indwelt with God’s life and light and love, witnessing to the Father in the Son by the Spirit by word and deed, continuing to bear witness as the Son has done.
Whitacre, R. A. (1999). John (Vol. 4, p. 420). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Missio Dei
Missio Dei
Definition: God’s redemptive, historical initiative on behalf of his creation. To put it plainly: mission is far more about God and who He is than about us and what we do.
We do this in the most subtle ways as we reduce mission to something that we are doing when we are in certain circumstances. We compartmentalize mission like God takes days off when we are busy or lazy or whatever.
Lesslie Newbigin (Open Secret).
Proclaiming the Kingdom of the Father: Mission as Faith in Action
“God’s reign is indeed at hand. God is indeed active in history. But his action is hidden within what seems to be the opposite— suffering and tribulation for his people. The secret has been entrusted to those whom God chose. They are to be witnesses of it to all the nations....Their task is to remain faithful to the end. By faith they know that the reign of God has conquered the powers of evil. Their calling is to proclaim that fact to all the nations.”
Joining God in the missio Dei is about witnessing to the world that the kingdom is here. That even in the midst of difficulty we live by faith as citizens of heaven…already broken through.
“Mission seen from this angle, is faith in action. It is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: “Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”
“Mission seen from this angle, is faith in action. It is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: “Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”
“Mission seen from this angle, is faith in action. It is the acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God has drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: “Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”
Example: Oasis Foster and adoptive parents.
Example: Oasis Foster and adoptive parents.
Sharing in the life of the Son: Mission as Love in Action
“If we say— as we must — that the reign of God was present in Jesus, that it was present in his living, his dying, and his risen life, we have to go on to say that in a secondary, derivative, but nonetheless real sense the reign of God is present (hidden yet revealed to eyes of faith) in the community that bears his name, lives by faith in his person and work, is anointed by his Spirit, and lives through history the dying and rising of Jesus. It is a sinful community. It is, during most of its history, a weak, divided, and unsuccessful community. But because it is the community that lives by and bears witness to the risen life of the crucified Lord, it is the place where the reign of God is actually present and at work in the midst of history, and where the mission of Jesus is being accomplished.”
We share in the missio Dei by sharing in the life of the Son. As we “put on love” and live sacrificially we are living as an extension of the ministry of Jesus.
Example: prison ministry last week, well last Saturday we went and saw my brother Logan. Luke loved him like Jesus did.
Bearing the witness of the Spirit: Mission as Hope in Action
“The Spirit brings the reality of the new world to come into the midst of the old world that is. It is the firstfruit of the coming harvest. It is the proof that we are heirs of the coming kingdom. And it is thus that the Spirit is witness— the recognizable presence of a future that has been promised but is not yet in sight. It is thus, also, that the Spirit us the source of hope— not just hope for ourselves, but for hope for the completion of God’s whole cosmic work. In this hope we are saved ().
It is in the Spirit that we go into the world proclaiming the kingdom. The Spirit is the source and the power.
Source: the Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God. It is by the Spirit that our eyes are opened. It is by the Spirit that we as a community get it right and point to the kingdom. God is the sending God, other wise we are just philanthropists with not much money....
Power: and the Spirit is the power. We are sent into the world in the Spirit. God’s redemptive plan using and working through us.
Example?
What does this look like?
Well take UM Army for example.
Last summer there was this moment during share night. All the students and adults have a chance to share their intimate growth moments of the week. Where they saw God at work. And a student began sharing about different things. And there came a moment where he looked at me and said, “I am sorry John Wayne (everyone slowly turns to look at me as he says this next part)....didn’t really get much out of the preaching. I just see God more in serving people.”
Hahaha right on bro.
There is a sense that even in our showing up we are faith, love, and hope in action. Just serving can be that way. But now think about this from a trinitarian movement. Joining God in his work. What if now with our words and actions we see ourselves witnessing to a kingdom that completely other than what people are experiencing? What if we believe that Christ is in our fellowship and become an extension of his love? What if we ask the Holy Spirit to witness to our hearts so that we might witness to others?
Easy enough, throw out a job....give me some career. Can be yours or something made up.
We do this as a community. United.
Faith in action, love in action, hope in action.
Closing:
I just want to close with these words from Jesus from the same gospel of John we have been in all morning.
“This passage demonstrates the continuity between the Father’s mission and Jesus’ mission and the ongoing mission of the Holy Spirit in the life and witness of the church.” (Tennent 67)
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
John 20:21-22