We Believe in Mission

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We Believe in Mission

Introduction

For the past 10-12 weeks we have been exploring what We Believe as Christians, because when we take on the title Christian we are not saying we are in a club or fraternity. We are saying we believe in a specific set of doctrines.

We are saying we believe that there is a God, that we believe in the Bible, that there we are sinners in a lost world. We are saying we believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, that he lived, died, and was raised again.

We are saying that there is a very real place called Hell and a very real place called Heaven and that faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation.

But all of these Christian beliefs really leads us to a specific question, what are we to do?

Because we believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Because we believe in the Bible as God’s Word, because we believe that Jesus is not just a man but the Christ who is our prophet, priest and king. Because we believe in Heaven and Hell. What are we to do?

Our believe, our faith, compels us to action. God doesn’t call us to just know Him, but to believe in Him and to live for Him.

This living for God is called Mission. That there is a purpose for our life. And this Mission has two parts: An overarching aspect and a specific aspect.

And God has given us, Christians, a very important task. In fact God is on a mission and He brings us along with it.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is the Mission?

Matthew 28:19-20

The Overarching Mission

The overarching mission is God’s Mission to save a perishing world.

- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

The World is perishing because of our sin and rebellion against God. Because of our sin there is death and suffering and separation from God. And it is God’s Mission to save us through the message of the gospel.

And this is the gospel is that whoever believes in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus will have eternal life.

When we believed in that-- we were not only saved by God’s mission but we were saved onto God’s mission.

We became a part of that mission of salvation.

Our lives are now a testimony of God’s saving mission.

We are walking billboards declaring that there is a savior and His name is Jesus.

When we gather together as a church we are saying we are God’s people

And it doesn’t matter if we are in our homes or at school or together as the church. If we are in Jesus, we are declaring that God has a mission for the world and it is a rescue mission.

But we are not only a part of God’s overarching mission, we are also given a very specific task in that mission.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” -

Key Truth: The Mission is not our mission it is God’s Mission

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16

Definition:

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Definition:

“The task and work of the church and individual Christians to participate in God’s redemptive activity and to make him known to others with the hope that all people would love and *worship God.”

Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 75.

Text:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

What this passage is saying is that the specific task every believer has, is to help others believe in Jesus and live for Jesus.

That is what it means to make disciples.

Knowing Jesus

To help someone believe in Jesus and live for Jesus.

And a key part of living for Jesus is to make disciples

Believing

That is the “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”

That is our task.

Did you know that discipleship begins with evangelism?

And we know that there is so much at stake if people do not believe.

What is at stake?

What is at stake?

ILLUSTRATION:

ILLUSTRATION:

Meg - grew up in the church, dad’s a chaplain, traveled around, desperately wanted friends, wanted to fit in, met a boy thought the only way she would be liked was to have sex. God showed her that He loves her not for who she wanted to be, but in her sin, and that He cleanses her of all the guilt

I have a friend Stevo - he was a popular guy in HS, athletic, star baseball player, got a scholarship to play at CofC. His life was summed up with baseball and his girlfriend. End of his freshman year (19) his girlfriend left him for another guy, he blew out his shoulder ending his baseball career. His entire identity was wrapped up in these two things which were now gone. He entered a time of severe depression and contemplated hurting himself.

Then random guy asked him if he believed in Jesus. Stevo responded yes of course, he grew up in church. The guy responded isn’t it great to know we eternal life because Jesus died in our place?! This stunned Stevo. Life? Eternal Life? because Jesus died in my place. Stevo realized he hadn’t believed in that, but the more he thought on it the more he realized that there was an offer of life of hope. His life wasn’t over, but that it was secure because the death he deserved was fulfilled by Jesus. He had a new identity, a new life that was in Jesus.

Life and Death is at stake when we are talking about God’s Mission.

Jesus tells a parable in that is fitting to this.

Give context, start in verse 22b

Luke 16:19–31 ESV

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Luke 16:19-

An Eternity of Punishment or an Eternity of Life is at stake for every single person

Eternity of Life

Every person is facing Hell, but Jesus is standing at the door saying trust in me.

God uses us to tell people in their brokenness, in their sin, that there is hope, there is a savior who takes away the sin of the world.

How do we accomplish it?

Illustration: Davis - loved the Lord, grew up in church, started having a desiring to tell others about Jesus but felt he wasn’t equipped, that he wasn’t gifted to do it.

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Davis was terrified to tell others about Jesus until he realized that:

We have received God’s Power - It is not us who leads people to salvation. We have no power to convince people to believe. It is only by the power of God that anyone believes.

To Be God’s Witnesses

To the Ends of the Earth

Application (3 questions)

What do you think happens to you when you die?

Do you believe in Jesus? What do you believe about Him? Why?

Would you like to learn more?

Meg - grew up in the church, dad’s a chaplain, traveled around, desperately wanted friends, wanted to fit in, met a boy thought the only way she would be liked was to have sex. God showed her that He loves her not for who she wanted to be, but in her sin, and that He cleanses her of all the guilt