Who Are We? Mission Minded

Introduction

A little more than 4 years ago, the CIA released nearly 1 million declassified documents online. Many of these documents discuss events that transpired several decades ago, but the fact that they have been released has captivated the eyes of many people to see what the CIA has been up to over the years. From building secret nuclear facilities in other countries to the spy games with the Soviet Union in the Cold War, many once secret missions are now making their way into the limelight. Think about the individuals who participated in these missions, though. You spend your whole life preparing your mind and body for this mission. Despite the odds or the difficulty that the mission presents to you, you’re going to give it everything that you have because that’s how you’ve trained yourself.

Sometimes the mission given to us isn’t the most fun or famous thing in the world. In fact, our mission might not even be the most important one in our minds. Take D-Day for example - the greatest amphibious assault in the history of the world as the allied forces stormed the Nazi occupied beaches of Normandy. All of the praise is given to those who participated in Operation Overlord as the invasion of Normandy was a success that changed the tide in World War II. This mission was a resounding success. We talk about it to this day and understandably so! However, there was a mission before Operation Overlord that was arguably just as important. The Germans knew that an invasion was coming but they didn’t know when and they didn’t know where. Enter in Operation Fortitude. This mission was designed to deceive the Germans regarding where the coming invasion would take place. From double agents to inflatable tanks and even fake paratroopers, this mission had it all and it accomplished its task of luring much of the German army away from Normandy so that the allied forces could storm those beaches.

What do you think would have happened on DDay if the people on Operation Fortitude threw a fit because they were upset with their mission and they didn’t do their job properly? Frankly, there’s a good chance that DDay goes completely differently and who knows what happens in that scenario. It took everyone looking at their mission and doing the absolute best they could do for everything to be successful.

In life, we all have different journeys and missions. Sometimes it can be easy to look around and wish that we had a different mission in front of us instead of the one that God has given to us. What we have to do in such moments is remember that we’re all a team. We’re a body! While we do have different missions, we have the same united mission as followers of Christ. We work together with one another to go about the process of proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. We keep our eyes on the Mission that Christ has called us to and we work with others to make Christ known! Rather than looking at someone else’s calling and being jealous or being embarrassed with our own, let us faithfully step up and be mission minded.

2 Timothy 1:8–14 CSB

8 So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 For this gospel I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher, 12 and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day. 13 Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

We believe in the Gospel

Just as the soldiers in World War II were tasked to believe in the plan and stay loyal to the mission, we know that we are called to believe in God’s plan and be obedient to His Word. We live in a world where people believe lots of different things for all sorts of reasons. Some people believe something because it’s what they have always been taught. Others believe things because it’s what their parents told them. Others believe things because it’s what makes sense in their brain. Others believe things because it’s what they experienced one time in the past. We believe things for all sorts of reasons and those reasons aren’t always the best indicator of if something is actually true or not. Think about how potentially dangerous this can be! What we believe will shape the way that we think and the way that we live. What we believe about God, especially, will shape everything about us.

What do you believe about God? For those who are mission minded, we believe that God created the world, the God is redeeming the world, and that God will restore His people and be with them for all eternity. Because we believe what the Bible says about God and His plan, we live for Him. We read about Jesus in the Gospels and we see that we are called, as Acts 1:8 says, to be His witnesses. As Charles Stanley says, “God’s plan for enlarging His Kingdom is so simple - one person telling another about the Savior. Yet we’re so busy and full of excuses.”

Friends, if we say that we believe the Gospel, that must lead to action. Those who are mission minded will proclaim the Gospel with others with words and with our actions. There’s a quote out there that goes like this, “Share the Gospel and if necessary, use words.” There is the positive side of this statement which is to share the Gospel with the way that you live your life, to walk the walk! But what is the dangerous aspect of this statement? Never telling people the Gospel with your words. We are living in a world of people who claim to be followers of Christ and they back that up by saying that they attend church on Sunday morning as if that’s all the evidence one needs! It can be so easy to say that our actions demonstrate that we are followers of Jesus Christ that we fail to actually tell other people about Him and what He has done. Do you see the problem with that? The Good news of Jesus Christ is to be verbally proclaimed to all. Do we share it with our actions? Absolutely. Does this give us a license to never actually talk about it with others? Absolutely not.

It’s not enough to hear it. It’s not enough to know it. It’s not enough to be able to explain it. We are called to believe in Jesus Christ and trust in Him as Lord of all. If we don’t believe in the Gospel message of ourselves being hopelessly lost and Christ living a perfect life and dying as our substitute on Calvary, then nothing else we look at today will matter. If you get the Gospel wrong - if you think that you’re so good that you don’t need saving or if you think that Jesus died so that you could be happy and healthy - then you will have the wrong mission. If you think that Jesus died so His followers could be rich then you will strive to help other Christians attain wealth because that’s what Jesus wants. If you think that every single human being is fundamentally good by nature and that we don’t need saving, then you will strive to promote a therapeutic Jesus who wants you to live your best life now. But, if you understand what Ephesians 2:4-5 says, then everything will change

Ephesians 2:4–5 CSB

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

If you believe the Gospel and you understand that it’s not about us at all - it’s all about Jesus Christ, then and only then will you understand what your mission is. It’s not primarily to draw a large crowd or social media following. It’s not even to be liked by other humans. It’s to point people to King Jesus. That is our mission!

We suffer for the Gospel (8-12)

Sometimes, whenever we stand up for Jesus and what the Bible says, that will lead to suffering - again this is not a popular thing, but it’s the truth.

In the context of 2 Timothy, Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from prison. He would likely be killed in the near future and he wanted to address his pupil, Timothy, one final time. Paul believed that Timothy had a genuine faith in Christ and in the passage before our text this morning, Paul encouraged Timothy to fan the flame of the gift of God. Timothy, as a believer, was living in a time in which many people didn’t believe in God. The majority of people believed in some sort of god but not the God of the Bible. Even in the church there were heretical teachings that were not only being taught but believed by many in the church. Timothy, as a faithful leader, was facing persecution and challenges left and right. What is Paul’s encouragement to his friend an co-worker in the Gospel? Fan into the flame or rekindle the ember of God’s gift to you!

Paul begins in verse 8 by telling Timothy, “Don’t be ashamed.” This is in the aorist tense in the Greek, meaning that Paul wasn’t scolding Timothy for being ashamed presently, instead he was giving him courage to remain unashamed. Why would Paul do this? We all have a temptation to go with the flow. Maybe you think that you’re the outlier and that you march to the beat of your own drum! This might be true - but we are all impressionable by other people and by other things around us. In high school, I was apart of a large Sunday school class at FBC Ozark. We routinely had around 10 boys and around that many girls as well in our class and we grew spiritually together! Do you know what happened whenever we turned 16? Our numbers dropped a little bit because people had some freedom for the first time in their lives. Do you know what happened again during our senior year? Our numbers dropped to the point that we had roughly 50% of the numbers that we had our freshman year. What happened? Life happened. There were new relationships, responsibilities, and opportunities that had crept into our lives and for some people, this meant that church was the thing that had to go. This isn’t an isolated thing by any means, either! According to LifeWay research, nearly 7/10 youth drop out of church between ages 18-22. The good news is that of those who drop out, 1/3 come back regularly, but only 1/3 return occasionally and 1/3 never return. Why does this happen? For many reasons - they move away for school, they get a full-time job, they move out on their own, they have a family.

Thinking bigger, why does this happen? Because we buy into two lies as a family and as a church: We think that my kid will drop out and we think that we can be a Christian and have a relationship with God and not come to church. There is this idea that can exist that says that church is kind of important but not as important as other things out there. Vacationing is more important than church. Sports are more important than church. Friends are more important than church. These things are all important and we certainly can and should share the Gospel as we do these things, but church should take precedence. Paul encourages Timothy to not be ashamed of the Gospel. To stand up for it! To not go the way of the world. To not be the 70% of people who drop out. To be different. Part of being mission minded is staying grounded in the Word and having fellowship with others who will encourage you.

Paul continues to not just call Timothy to not be ashamed but to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. I love what Robert Yarbrough says in his commentary on this passage, “Join with me in suffering.” Paul isn’t asking Timothy to do something that he himself is unwilling to do! Paul is one who has been beaten, persecuted, mocked, and imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel multiple times. He says to not be ashamed of the Gospel - maybe we’re good with this part. We’re good with wearing a Christian t-shirt, listening to Christian music in public, telling people that we go to Morgan Baptist Church, and all of that jazz, but what do you do whenever your faith in God directly leads to opposition and suffering? For many people, they high tail it out of that situation because they don’t want anything to do with suffering. This is natural! Who in their right mind would choose suffering when there is an alternative that is easier?

Don’t think about that question too hard because you’re going to realize that this is what Jesus did. This is what Paul did. This is what Paul is calling Timothy to do. This is our call as well! In our world, suffering is seen as evil or at best, something very bad. Only the bad people deserve to suffer. A normal person looks at being picked on as a bad thing. A normal person looks at being killed for your faith a bad thing. Why do that whenever you can water down your message and go with the flow? Suffering = bad, therefore do whatever you can in order to avoid suffering.

Yet, this is antithetical to the Gospel. Paul says to rely on the power of God and share in suffering! How are we to look at suffering, then? Paul says this in Romans 8

Romans 8:28 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

We see that God has a plan and He works all things for our good. Does this mean that all things that happen to us are good? Absolutely not! But, we do have the comfort of knowing that, even in times of suffering, God is at work and working things for our ultimate good! Paul says in our text that we are saved not by our own works but because of the work of Jesus Christ that was set in motion before time began! Why can we have hope and continue to share the good news of Jesus with others even in difficult times? Because of what our message is: Jesus Christ saves sinners! We see that He abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. The idea of immortality has fascinated many people because death is a scary subject for most. If your idea of existence is what you have during these 70+ years on this planet, then of course, death will seem like a horrifying reality that you’d rather not face. Paul says that Christ brings immortality through the Gospel. Does this mean that Christians don’t die? Of course not! The hope of the Gospel is not, “Believe in Jesus and He’ll make your life easier, better, and longer.” The hope of the Gospel is that you have a savior who paid the punishment you owed and you have the hope of spending eternity with Him. As the popular saying goes, “Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.” For those who are born again, we have the hope of immortality and eternity spent with Christ.

What is our call to action at the conclusion of this passage? Paul says that because of this, because of the Gospel and what Jesus has done, He has been called to proclaim it with others and that is why He suffers these things. Paul is saying that He has been set apart by God to teach and preach this good news and that the reason that he suffers is because of the message that he is preaching.

Acts 9:15 CSB

15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

2 Corinthians 12:10 CSB

10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul is not ashamed because He knows Christ and he knows that God is faithful. As one commentator put it, “God does not let down those who look up to Him.” Even with certain death looming over him as he was writing this, Paul took time to encourage Timothy to be obedient to share the good news with others. To keep his eyes on his mission that God had called him to do. He reminds him that it isn’t his own power or message that he shares, he is to rely on the Holy Spirit and share what Christ has done. Even if persecution comes, he calls his friend to not be ashamed of the Gospel.

Consider, have you ever been ashamed of the Gospel? If we’re being honest, we’ve all had moments of weakness where we have been to some extent. Times where we could have reached out and witnessed with someone around us. Times where we could have been the hands and feet of Jesus but we turned our eyes inward rather than outward. We fall short each and every day in some capacity and I don’t want to make us all feel badly about that. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the process. The process of dying to our self, picking up our cross and following Jesus. The process of surrendering our all to Him, regardless of what that means. The process of going through suffering for the sake of the Gospel.

We cling to the Gospel (13-14)

In times of suffering, we are left with a couple different options. Suffering and adversity can seem to hit us like wave after wave. If you’ve ever been to the ocean whenever there’s a storm, ocean waves can be violent and destructive. Likewise, these seasons in our life can cause damage and hurt like nothing we’ve ever encountered before. In such times of suffering and opposition, we can either sink or swim. We can give into the waves and let them take us where culture would like for us to be, or we can fight against them as we cling to the Gospel.

Spurgeon put it like this, “I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”

In a world that is confused and divided, we need sound teaching like never before. We must, as individuals and as a church, hold onto the Gospel and guard it. As Christians, we know that we belong to God and His Spirit lives in us. We are sealed, as Paul talks about in Romans 8, and we are instructed to live a changed life. What does clinging to the Gospel look like, though?

Paul says that Timothy has received sound teaching from him in the “faith and love” that are in Christ Jesus. Faith and love. Clinging to the Gospel includes having faith in Jesus Christ, even in uncertain times, and sharing the love of Christ with others, even when they don’t reciprocate it to us. It means that you’ve understood the most important thing in life is not who you are, but whose you are! Whenever you figure this out, whenever you understand that Christ died for YOUR sins and has saved YOUR soul, you cling to Him because He truly is all that you need. As we do this, we hold on to what is right and we guard our faith from those who try to deceive us.

This is similar to what Paul says in Ephesians 4

Ephesians 4:15 CSB

15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.

We cannot do this by ourselves. Speaking the truth in love is hard. We require the Holy Spirit’s guidance to do this effectively.

Conclusion

As Christians we believe in Jesus Christ and we live for Him. Part of doing that means that we stay the course in difficult times and complete our mission. The important thing for us to realize is that while we all have different callings, strengths, abilities, and giftings, our mission remains the same: to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples. How can you go about this process? Is there someone in your sphere of influence who does not know Christ? Is there someone you know who does not have a church home? There is work for us to do because it’s not enough to accept Christ as Lord, we are called to work each and every day of our lives to become more like Christ. To hold onto the pattern of sound teaching. To not be ashamed of the Gospel. To suffer for the Gospel. To go and make disciples of all nations and teaching them to obey all that the Bible says - even if our world says that there are certain parts that are wrong, the Bible gets the last word.

Where is your focus today? Think of the soldiers apart of Operation Fortitude and how they were setting up a decoy army to distract the Germans - I’m sure that they would’ve rather been apart of Operation Overlord and storm the beaches of Normandy. Yet, without their hard work, things would have likely gone differently June 6th, 1944. Maybe you’re stuck in neutral or you look at someone else and you think that you really wish that you could do whatever they’re doing instead of what God has called you to do. Understand that God has you placed exactly where you’re at for a specific reason. Understand that apart of your mission is figuring out what God is doing and your responsibility is to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples. Like a tree, you grow where you are planted. Keep your eyes on His mission today.