JESUS' MISSION AND OURS

Introduction

-The other day I read some mission statements of some companies. For some reason Burger King’s stuck out to me. Their mission statement says:

OFFERING REASONABLY PRICED QUALITY FOOD, SERVED QUICKLY, IN ATTRACTIVE, CLEAN SURROUNDINGS.

-Now, I like Burger King for the most part, but I have to admit that I was thinking to myself: I’m not overly sure if Burger King is fulfilling its mission, at least in the restaurants I’ve been in.

-And it got me to thinking about our mission. Two months ago I spoke about the mission of our church. As you see it in the back of the bulletin outline, to put it simply, we are called to:

Share the Good News…

Grow in Christlikeness…

Love God and Others

-But this mission is not just something that is made up out of the blue—it is based on Jesus’ own mission, and we are called to join Him in this mission as a church, but also as individual Christians.

-Burger King might not be hitting their mission, and it leads to the question ARE WE HITTING OURS? Are we joining Jesus in what it is He began for us 2000 years ago.

-As we look at the long passage today, we see there is a lot of confusion over Jesus’ identity and ministry—but for us biblical readers, Jesus’ mission comes into clearer focus, and our part in this mission is brought to light.

-And the clearer we see Jesus’ mission, the more urgent ours becomes. So today I want to focus our attention on Jesus’ mission and join Him in it as He has gifted us and called us.

John 7:25–52 ESV

25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?” 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

-What do we find in this passage about Jesus’ Mission and Ours

I) His heavenly origin leads to his divine destiny

-It is the Jewish Feast of Booths/Tabernacles, and after Jesus began teaching the people it restarted the debate over who He is.

-So, the crowd speculates that Jesus might be the Messiah/Christ, but there had been a lot of myths that were created around the Messiah. One of the myths was that the Messiah would kind of just pop up out of nowhere—like He mysteriously just appears on the scene.

-Then they reason that since they think they know where Jesus came, He couldn’t be the Messiah since they think He came from Galilee (not knowing He was born in Bethlehem as they later admit the Messiah comes from).

-I think Jesus responds to them maybe sarcastically in v. 28 as if saying: YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME AND YOU THINK YOU KNOW WHERE I CAME FROM.

-Then He straightens them out declaring that He was sent by God, and if they knew God the Father they would recognize the One sent by Him—Jesus claims a heavenly origin and He is on a heavenly mission to fulfill the work of the Father.

-The religious leaders didn’t like that one bit, so they seek to arrest Him, but it wasn’t time yet for Him to die. So, Jesus tells the officers and the crowd that where He is going they cannot come.

-Again, they are clueless about what He means by that, but Jesus was talking about the fulfillment of His mission. Jesus would be crucified and die, He would be buried, He would be raised from the dead, and He would ascend into heaven—no one else would be able to walk that path----no one else is able to fulfill that part of the mission that Jesus came to fulfill.

-No one is able to follow Jesus into crucifixion for only Jesus can die for the sins of mankind. Only a man who was more than a man, but was also God, could satisfy the wrath of God for sins.

-Only the God-Man (a man come down with a mission from God) could pay the ransom for the souls of humanity, for this was the plan of God, and the mission of Jesus from even before the world began

-The apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost that Jesus was crucified and killed according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. No one else could fulfill that mission.

-Jesus’ heavenly origin set Him up to fulfill His divine destiny—as the apostle Paul said in Galatians 4:4-5—

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

-No one else could follow Jesus on the road to Golgotha where He hung and suffered and died. Only Jesus could fulfill that mission—the mission of saving mankind from the penalty and power of sin====for as Paul admitted:

Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

-But then no one else is able to follow Him to heaven either unless they believe in Him. Jesus’ mission was to bring back lost sheep to the fold. By dying and rising again He fulfilled His mission of bringing man back to God. This is the most important mission that ever existed.

-Listen to what Billy Graham said about the mission of Jesus’ Christ—

Jesus Himself was the first missionary! He did not sit by passively and let those who happened to be interested in His teaching come to Him. He went out where the sick, the sorrowing, and the sad were, and expounded His message of joy, healing, and salvation. Even at a tender age, He went to the Temple and “taught” the doctors and lawyers who were entrenched in the old traditions. He found His way to the seaside and intruded upon the life of the commonest of laborers, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Wherever He went He challenged, uprooted, and changed men. And at length they nailed Him to a cross because He had upset their selfish, secure, smug way of life. Not only was Jesus a missionary, but He pledged His followers to be missionaries, too!

-Just because no one else could go to the cross for all of mankind doesn’t mean that we have no part in the mission of Jesus. Jesus bids us to join Him in His mission, not by dying physically, but by dying to ourselves, taking up our own crosses metaphorically and sending out the lifesaving message.

-So this leads us:

II) His living Spirit leads to empowered disciples

-According to scholars, there was a tradition during the Feast of Booths where a golden container filled with water from the pool of Siloam was carried in procession by the High-Priest back to the temple. As the procession came to the Water Gate on the south side of the inner temple court, 3 trumpet blasts were made to mark the joy of the occasion and the people recited Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

~At the temple, while onlookers watched, the priests would march around the altar with the water container while the temple choir sang. The water was offered in sacrifice to God at the time of the morning sacrifice. The use of the water symbolized both the provision of water for Israel in the wilderness, as well as a petition to God for adequate rainfall for crops.

~Jesus used this event as an object lesson and opportunity to make a very public invitation on the last day of the feast for His people to accept Him as the living water and to join Him on mission.

-With this background in mind, look at vv. 37-39—

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

-Everyone is born spiritually thirsty and wanting. Jesus is the living water who gives eternal life to all those who believe in Him.

~When a person believes on Jesus, the Holy Spirit is the one to apply Jesus’ salvation, and then the Holy Spirit indwells that person and empowers that person to join Jesus on mission.

-So, the Spirit applies the life of Jesus to the believer. But did you notice how Jesus described it—He says OUT OF THE HEART WILL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER

-After a person is saved and filled by the Holy Spirit, that same life then flows out of that person to other people so that others will be touched by the life of Jesus

-We get the living water in us, so that the living water flows out from us to others—that is us joining Jesus in His mission and continuing the mission that He began.

-While Jesus was on the earth as a human being, He limited Himself—He wasn’t everywhere at once fulfilling His mission. But through every believer on earth, Jesus is present in that believer continuing what He started—spreading the good news that Jesus saves.

-That is why I believe Jesus said what He did in John 14:12—

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

-Now, by ‘greater works’ Jesus didn’t mean that His disciples would do bigger and flashier works. Jesus meant that Spirit-empowered believers would be all over the world fulfilling the mission He started of bringing people the good news that Jesus died, rose, and rules and reigns.

-If you’re a Christian, does that define you? Are you so overflowing with the Spirit that it floods over others and they too partake of the living water? Or are you so wrapped up in your own little life that not even a trickle of Spirit comes out of you much less a whole river of living water.

-During this last election period the political pundits kept talking about a Blue Wave coming and a Red Wave coming, and neither one came.

~But what this world needs instead is a Spirit wave coming at them—millions of Spirit-filled believers so full of Jesus that they just overflow in power and might fulfilling the mission of Jesus.

-But it is our decision to partake of the living water and it is our decision to overflow with the living water and it is our decision to be on mission with Jesus…

III) His bold claims lead to informed decisions

-There was just pure chaos among the Jewish religious leaders about what to do with Jesus. Finally, Nicodemus (the one who came to Jesus and Jesus told him he had to be born again) had some wisdom

-In v. 51 Nicodemus tells the religious leaders that you cannot judge Jesus (good or bad) without first checking Him out—you have to go to Jesus yourself and check out His claims and make the determination of whether or not what He says is true, and then make your decision.

-First, you have to decide if Jesus is from heaven, if He died on the cross, if He rose again, and if He ascended back to heaven. If He did, then you have to decide if you will believe in Him for eternal life by faith and repentance, or if you will turn away from Him to your own harm.

-If you do believe in Jesus, then you have to decide if you are going to join Him on mission, because Jesus doesn’t want converts, He wants disciples who will fulfill what He began.

-Jesus made bold claims for Himself, and once you know those claims you have to do something with them. He is either Savior and Lord or He is just an obscure Jew from the 1st century.

-But if you have trusted Him as Savior and Lord, are you personally joining Him on mission? Sure, maybe your life is filled with good stuff or even churchy stuff, but that’s not the same as being on mission.

-Why aren’t churches in America growing? Why is there constant tragedy in the land? Why is there pure chaos in the government? Why is there such a divide among the people?

-It’s because the people who go by the name of Christ aren’t fulfilling the mission of Christ.

~We’re too busy copping attitudes and bickering over silly little stuff than joining together in harmony to advance the gospel.

~We are too engrossed in our pet sins to have the freedom to share the love and joy of Jesus with others.

~We are too focused on our own goals and dreams to care about a lost, dying world around us.

~We are too greedy and selfish to give of ourselves and our money and our resources to advance the Kingdom of God.

Conclusion

-What about you sitting all comfy in that pew? Are you on mission with Jesus?

-We are the mission of Jesus—sinners in need of a Savior. Jesus died for you. Jesus rose for you. Jesus made the only way to God. Maybe today you need to come forward and believe and be saved. Jesus’ mission was to save you from the rightful judgment of a Holy God. Believe!!!

-Christian—maybe you tuned me out a long time ago, but we as disciples our called to this mission, and if we aren’t fulfilling this mission, then we need to repent. Instead of copping an attitude, surrender your heart. Instead of arguing with me in your mind, submit your thoughts to God. Come to the altar and pray and find out where He wants you to fulfill mission.

-Maybe you are looking for a church home to join and get on mission. Join us so we can go out and Share the good news, Grow in Christlikeness, and Love God and Others