Your Mission

II Corinthians 4:1-16

Introduction

- privilege to be with you this morning.

-church planted in La Salle.

-have followed with interest the development of this church

-thankful to be able to find out more, to meet you and to share with you this morning.

-completed our ministry in Manitou in July

-Winnipeg and have found temporary labor jobs.

-unique opportunity to live our faith in a context that is quite different

-warehouse

-Mission Impossible.

-Remember the movie?

-“your mission, should you choose to accept it …”

-a mission that was nearly impossible to accomplish.

-Matthew 28:19,20, that we were to “go and make disciples of all nations…”

-“Mission Impossible.”

-“your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

-a decision not to accept it.

-II Corinthians 4:1-16.

-his struggles

-how he handles those struggles

-the results

I. We Have This Ministry

- mission statement

-“McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience.

-“At IBM, we strive to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies,

-“John Deere is committed to providing Genuine Value to the company's stakeholders,

-LaSalle church -  “To establish a community of believers who are committed to God and to sharing the gospel and their lives with the people around them.”

-what about you and me?

-Paul’s mission statement -  verse 1, “since through God’s mercy we have this ministry…”

                  -this and the previous chapter which may help us define our mission.

                -Ministry of reconciliation

-U.S. adults where asked in a survey what they most felt guilty about, fully 34

-“Ever feel that no matter what you do, or don't do, somehow, you did the wrong thing?”

-People are caught in their sin and devastated by their guilt

-2 Corinthians 3:9 - “ministry that brings righteousness!”

-message of forgiveness and acceptance with God through Jesus.

                -Message of Freedom

-Star Wars -  garbage pit

-many people in this world bondage to sin, death, fears

-II Corinthians 3:16, 17, “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

                -by God’s mercy

                - article in the religion section of the Free Press.

-4:1, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry…”.

-our mission? It is to proclaim the message of the way of righteousness that gives freedom and comes to us through the mercy of God. Some form of these ideas is the mission statement of every believer

-Do you and I live to make known the righteousness available in Christ? …proclaim freedom in Christ? …declare the mercy of God to those we meet?

II. We Do Not Lose Heart Doing the Mission

-mission impossible.

-Paul had the same struggle.

-verse 16, “we do not lose heart.”

-reasons why he sometimes became discouraged

-why he did not lose heart.

A. We lose heart because no one responds.

1.We Lose Heart

-do not know the gospel and have no interest in knowing it.

-know all the facts and yet do not accept God.

-To us the gospel is so obviously a wonderful thing

-2 Corinthians 4:3,4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

-tempted to sugar coat the gospel

-Paul speaks about this temptation when he says, “we renounce secret and shameful ways.”

-Deception

-“You have been chosen to win $1 million.”

-Do we ever try to deceive people into hearing and accepting the gospel?

-youth and children’s ministries

-distorting the word of God.

-election,

-water down the truth of the gospel in order to make it more palatable to others.

-health and wealth gospel

-Winnipeg public library and we saw a poster

-focus on external things

2. Overcoming Dark Hearts

a. Speaking Truth

-keep on proclaiming the truth.

-Anything else will be as disappointing as getting all excited about Publishers House Sweepstakes

 “setting forth the truth plainly.”

-The power of the gospel is not conveyed in our gimmicks or cleverness.

-Anything else actually conveys our doubt about the power of God’s truth.

-Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.

-The truth of God is like a fine dinner

-keep on saying that God is the creator

-keep on speaking about Jesus as the only

-keep on pointing to Christ’s finished work of salvation

b. Shining The Light of our Lives

- God is the one who created light. -  Genesis 1 when God said “let there be light”

-God met Paul on the Damascus road

-God has dispelled the darkness of sin from the hearts of people like Paul and you and me.

-God has given us, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

-I cannot dispel darkness, only God can do that, but my life is one of the lights He uses

-live with love, holiness and integrity so that the light of the knowledge of God always shines through me

-warehouse

B. We lose heart because we are inadequate.

1. We Lose Heart

-Live with integrity and speak the truth.

-embarrassed when I think of some of the things I have done and said.

-become angry

- hurt people with my words.

-failed to speak

-my life is far from a consistent light of the gospel. 

-“we have this treasure in jars of clay.”

-old crocks.”

-“cracked pots.”

-Roman triumphal procession

-The litany of inadequacy is long and frustrating and we understand it all too well.

2. We speak because we believe in the God of resurrection.

-the power of the gospel comes not because of our adequacy or our personal power, but from God.

-God has deliberately left the precious message of the gospel in our inadequate mouths to demonstrate that the power to change people is the power of God.

-Paul speaks about his experience of inadequacy and weakness.

-hard pressed on every side, being perplexed, being persecuted, and being struck down

-pressure on the outside and pressure within

-the power of the God of resurrection.

-hard pressed, he was not crushed, when he was perplexed, he was not in despair, when he was persecuted, he was not abandoned, and when he was struck down, he was not destroyed.

-2 Corinthians 4:10,  “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. “

-more than conquerors because of the power of the God of resurrection which is at work in us.

-keep on speaking and living our faith.

-Because we believe in the God of resurrection who has given us life we believe He will also empower us in our weakness to be able to proclaim his word faithfully and will bring life to those who are dead.

-we speak in faith

Conclusion

-Our mission is to make known the light of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the circles in which we move.

-“Your mission should you choose to accept it…”

-I hope we won’t do that. I hope we will be encouraged to be faithful.

-promise of verse 15 is that as we take up our mission more and more people will be reached.

                  -impressed when Billy Graham reaches millions

                -I want to encourage what I already know is the truth about this church

-not just for the Paul’s of this world or the Billy Grahams.

-Imagine what it would be like …