Missional Perspective Part 1

Introduction

Mission Impossible is a series of American action spy films based on the television series of the same name created by Bruce Geller. The movies begin in 1996 and follow the IMFs central field team's missions under the leadership of Mr. Hunt, who is forced to take over after the unit is betrayed from within during the first film[1].

One of the most memorable parts of these movies is how the lead character receives his next mission. It is usually in some mysterious way, and the recorded message starts with the phrase “your mission should you choose to accept it[2]…” and then goes into a brief and concise explanation of what Mr. Hunt is asked to accomplish[3].”

I bring this movie up because the church of Jesus Christ has entered into a new chapter in its existence that may forever change how we have church and how the church functions in this world for many years to come. History will judge how the church was impacted and how the church responded in this critical and defining moment in history.

This is neither good nor bad but is the reality we are facing at this time. Just like Mr. Hunt in the Mission Impossible movies, I can hear the words, “your mission should you choose to accept it[4]…” is to remain faithful, be the church, and be the people God is calling us to be.

The challenge is that our missional context is changing, and we as a church are in unchartered territory. Therefore, advancing unprecedented ministry within an unprecedented context; is the mission presented to us, should we choose to accept it.

While the landscape the church has been called to function within has been changing for decades. The uncanny mixture of racial injustice and the Corona Virus brought these changes to the forefront in an accelerated manner. Tod Bolsinger, the author of the book Canoeing the Mountains, makes a statement that I want to use to frame our conversation.

“The mission or “sentness” of a congregation is its true and authentic organizing principle: Missional church is a community of God’s people that defines itself and organizes its life around its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world[5].”

(Go with me to the Gospel of Matthew 10:16.)

Matthew 10:16 (NASB) 16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

(For the next few moments, I would like to use as my subject the thought: Missional Perspective.)

I. The Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew is walking a tight rope in his presentation of the life and ministry of Jesus. Matthew is a Hebrew who has gone through a series of radical transformations. First, Matthew gave in to the pressure of oppression, rejected his heritage, and became a tax collector for the Roman Empire.

Later on in his journey through life, Matthew goes through another life-changing transformation when he encountered Jesus and chose to walk away from his livelihood and follow Jesus. Therefore Matthew's life experiences would have been both very Hebraic and Hellenistic.

In sum, Matthew first proves that Jesus was the Messiah. Secondly, Matthew shows that Jesus did not fail to establish his Kingdom. While also showing that the gospel was now open to the Gentiles because the nation was unable to respond appropriately.

Here is the tightrope Matthew had to walk, between giving his audience a rationale for the Gentile Mission while at the same time not offending their Hebrew neighbors by abandoning the law.

Our text is located in the second discourse of Jesus, known as the Missionary Discourse, as it documents the sending of twelve. Matthew begins at 9:35 by describing Jesus as being motivated by compassion because many people are distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. This perspective causes Jesus to say the harvest is plentiful, and the workers are few. Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest sends out workers into his harvest! It is this summary that sets the context for this Missionary Discourse.

(Let's move from this ancient context move toward our Modern Context.)

II. Ministry During Unprecedented Times.

Jesus is sending out the twelve to conduct unprecedented ministry during an unprecedented time in the history of humanity. It doesn’t matter if you view this text from a historical, theological, or prophetic perspective; there had never been a time such as this in the history of humankind.

They lived and experienced the fulfillment of thousands of years of Prophecy going back to when Adam and Eve sinned, and God made the compassionate decision to cover them. We find God saying:

Genesis 3:15 (NASB) 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."

We must understand that never before had God incarnate ever walked the earth in the manner taking place during the gospels.

Jesus emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant.

Jesus laid down his privilege in the service of the greater good of humankind!

Never before had the King of Kings and Lord of Lords wrapped himself in the flesh and began dwelling among humankind!

Never before had Jesus come to bind the strong man and destroy the works of the devil.

Therefore, these details mustn't be lost on us, for when Jesus commissions and sends out the twelve, Jesus is sending them out amid an unprecedented context. This shows us that Jesus’ approach to ministry while facing uncharted territory was not only to manifest himself personally. But the strategy of Jesus also includes recruiting, partnering, and sending people out into the world to push his Kingdom agenda.

This engagement pattern flows throughout the New Testament, where Jesus is continuing to recruit, partner, and send people out on a mission. Additionally, the spreading of the gospel, the birthing, and advancing of the church is an example of unprecedented ministry in the face of unprecedented times! This reality has mostly gone unnoticed, but our current context is bringing this truth into view.

Here we are in 2021, faced with that same reality where Jesus is calling his people to do unprecedented ministry in the face of unprecedented circumstances. We continue to face a virus that has infected more than 2 million people, has killed over 300,000 and has brought the entire world to its’ knees. The economy is in disarray. According to Crain's, Ohio’s unemployment rate as of December was 5.7% [6]. This state of turmoil has anxiety, PTSD, and every kind of abuse is on the rise.

As we can see, just like believers, when Jesus walked the roads of Galilee, just like during the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles, the church is being pushed into unchartered territory. Or has Tod Bolsinger puts it in his book Canoeing the Mountains, “the world in front of you is nothing like the world behind you[7].”

Here is the context that caused Jesus to say:

Matthew 10:16 (NASB) 16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

(Let’s move to the universal nature of this text.)

III. The Universal Nature of This Text.

The unique nature of this teaching of Jesus is that it is both specific and universal. It gives detailed instructions to the situation of the twelve being sent out. While at the same time, there are instructions that are valid for every church of every age. The western church has missed this because it does not affirm the imperialist Christianity that has historically been practiced in the west.

Furthermore, when a person's privileged position creates a lens that causes them to read the Bible from the top down instead of from the bottom up. It makes the Great Commission more appealing than this first commission. Unfortunately, this appears to be the opposite way that Matthew intended for his audience to read this text.

This passage displays Matthews's gospel's timeless nature as he doesn’t show the disciples' return as Mark does. Matthew shows the reader that the mission is not fulfilled and only expanded after the resurrection of Jesus, which is the link showing the Great Commission flowing directly out of this first commission.

It appears this nuance was not lost on the early church; there is a belief among some scholars that this text was a liturgical text that was always read at certain times of the year. As the sending of the twelve is a model for all disciples at all times.

Consequently, the passage we are discussing functions as a fulcrum for this entire teaching, which is why it will serve as our point of application as we face a reality that caught the world off guard and unprepared.

(Here is where we find the foundation four our Missional Context.)

IV. Missional Context: Before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the recent manifestations of American’s systemic racism, many cultural shifts were brewing under the surface. Our current condition just brought these things to the surface, but one thing for sure is that the Corona Virus, racial unrest, and the economic demise has shown that the church has a mission to fulfill.

Bishop said during his sermon series on connecting Sunday worship with Monday work; the church is not a cruise ship, but it is a battleship where believers return for refueling and repair. To be dispatched again in the world on a mission for Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday and Wednesday service is supposed to function as a roll call for believers who are on the front line in Jesus’ work to destroy the works of the enemy. When we show up to the church, we are reporting for duty. We are receiving the healing and instructions that we need to grow personally in our relationship with God.

Then we are dispatched back into the city carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ to the space we have been assigned.

· We are dispatched back into the market place.

· We are dispatched back into the schools.

· We are dispatched back to various social service positions.

(Let’s drill down a little further in our missional perspective.)

V. Missional Perspective: “Behold I send you.”

I want to park and work with these first four words of Jesus. Notice how Jesus gets their attention. If you notice, this discourse of Jesus has been going on for several verses, but here seeming out of nowhere, Jesus says behold or look. I need you to pay special attention to what is about to come.

Jesus follows that with three seemingly simple yet profound and weighty words “I send you.” I have often said that Jesus has a way of making very profound statements in a straightforward and matter of fact way. Without hesitation or reservation, Jesus says, I send you!

Look at the personal tone in these words. As if Jesus personally looked at all that is going on in the world in one swift moment in time, Jesus took inventory of the poverty, the broken homes, the deception, the pain, and the turmoil. Then in his assessment of the situation, Jesus said I send you!

Jesus isn’t just speaking the disciples here, although they are right in front of him. The witness of scripture shows us that Jesus was speaking to every believer from that moment in time going forward and said, I send you. I understand the situations and circumstances that people face and will be meeting, and I have not left myself without a witness in the world, for I am sending you.

This morning I stand here not with any profound theological message, not with any innovative approach to scripture. But I stand relaying the message God has sent me to tell The House of the Lord, and that message is Behold, I send you!

First and foremost, we have to understand that we are being sent, which means that we don’t choose where God is calling us to go. We are all being sent somewhere on a mission for Jesus.

This also means that we are not to go until we are sent. Sometimes we confuse God, sending us with our desire to flee from an uncomfortable situation or circumstance. Sometimes we confuse God, sending us with our need to feel significant and needed.

When the truth of the matter is, going without being sent is disobedience, just like being sent and not going is disobedience. People are quick to leave a church without being sent from the church and then wonder why they have been bouncing from church to church and can’t find a church to call home. The issue might be that the person went without being sent!

People are quick to jump into a ministry and then wonder why they are hurting people more than helping people. Or they are wondering why there isn’t any power behind their ministry. The issue could be that they went without being sent!

There is a story in the book of Acts about the Sons of Sceva. These gentlemen were the sons of a High Priest who got caught up in the emotions of Paul’s ministry and decided to go out and start casting our demons. The Bible says:

Acts 19:13–16 (NASB95)

13. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14. Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

16. And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

In this passage from Acts, we see that the anointing follows those who are sent. But the anointing does not follow those who go on their own. But it follows those to whom Jesus spoke the words I send you!

I want to talk to some people that know you have been sent. I want to talk to some people who know that God has given you an assignment. It doesn’t matter if your assignment is on the stage or behind the scenes. What is important is that Jesus spoke into your life the words I send you!

Herein is the missional perspective that we need to embrace as we move further into 2021. These words provide the foundational understanding that will produce a missional perspective, knowing that Jesus said I send you!

I send you the nursing home and the homeless shelter.

I send you to the prisons and the orphanage.

I send you to the boardroom to advocate for equity and equal opportunity.

I send you into finance to advocate for equal access to capital.

I send you into real estate to advocate for fair housing.

I send you into law to help provide people with equal protection under the law.

I send you to the hurting, the hungry, and the helpless.

I send you to the addict and the con-artist.

I send you, to be a friend the friendless.

I send you, to father the fatherless.

Behold I send you!

[1] Wikipidia, Mission: Impossible (film series), retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible_(film_series) on May 24, 2020.

[2] Quotes: the worlds largest resource for quotes and sayings, Mission Impossible II 2000. Retrieved from https://www.quotes.net/mquote/62927 on May 24, 2020.

[3] Quotes: the worlds largest resource for quotes and sayings, Mission Impossible II 2000. Retrieved from https://www.quotes.net/mquote/62927 on May 24, 2020.

[4] Quotes: the worlds largest resource for quotes and sayings, Mission Impossible II 2000. Retrieved from https://www.quotes.net/mquote/62927 on May 24, 2020

[5] Bolsinger, Tod E. Canoeing the mountains: Christian leadership in uncharted territory. InverVarsity Press Downers, Grove, IL pg. 30.

[6] Suttell, Scott. Ohio’s unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent. December 18, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.crainscleveland.com/economic-outlook/ohios-unemployment-rate-falls-57 retrieved on January 28, 2021.

[7] Bolsinger, Tod E. Canoeing the mountains: Christian leadership in uncharted territory. InverVarsity Press Downers, Grove, IL pg.15.