01.22.2012 - Turning Our Focus Outward - becoming a Missional Community

We are doing part 3 (and probably part 4) – in 2012, how we as a church and a community and as individuals, – how to move forward in our service to Christ. We first turned our focus upward – becoming a more spiritual community – last week, inward - and this week, turning our focus OUTWARD – one sermon a year, I have to use the alliteration titles. First, Spiritual, Transformational, and now becoming a missional community. I’ll never do it again this year. So let’s read the primary passage in Matthew 28:18-20 – because it is so familiar – please stand up.
Matthew 28: 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Let’s pray:
Lord, as we look at Your word now – this command, this call – we ask that You would allow us to see this with fresh eyes – to see it in a new way that energizes us to obey You – to discover how we might be able to partake in this process, this command You’ve given – this call. Fulfill Your will here on earth – give us ears to hear, help me to have a broken heart that I might speak Your word clearly. Thank You for James and his service to our country – for protecting him – and give him safe travels back and protect him while he is there. May we turn our focus to You to become a better community here in 2012.
This is commonly called The Great Commission – it is part of Jesus’ last instructions to the disciples. It is, of course, a mission call, and is used at mission conferences and by people going on the mission field. But this is a verse for every Christian – that we can follow and obey this call. You can do this in your current situation and circumstances. You might say, well, I have a job, I can’t just go off wherever – but I am saying – wherever you are, you can start obeying this passage.
First – this is often missed – in context, this is a resurrection passage – that is what this passage is about – it is FIRST about the resurrection. When Jesus appeared to the women earlier, He said, tell the disciples to meet me at the mountain. And when they got there – it says some believed, but some doubted. Yes, this is a call to mission work – but if you miss the context of the passage being about the resurrection – you miss this victory passage. You might look at this and say, This is undoable. – but when you combine it with the power of the resurrection – you realize it is something we can all take part in.
Next – ALL AUTHORITY. Before He even starts the commission – He tells them – All authority – not just on earth, but in heaven too – and in Matthew’s story – this is the first they have seen Jesus after the resurrection – Look, this is proof that I have conquered! The powers of this world have been defeated! The things that will keep you from accomplishing this mission – all of those powers that will try to stop you and get you to give up – because Jesus rose from the dead – all of these things have been conquered. He is saying – there is a new Lord. It is no longer Caesar. It is no longer Satan! But Jesus rules in heaven and earth. The heavenly kingdom has invaded and conquered through the death and resurrection of Jesus. So as we look at this task – we are looking at how to serve that king and to bring about His reign on earth as it is done in heaven.
When we looked at the life of Christ in the fall, there is this kingdom theology of Jesus bringing His Kingdom to earth. Think of the Lord’s prayer – Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. It is repeated in Matthew 28 – the authority I have in heaven I now have on earth. Matthew 28 is really the fulfillment of Matthew 6:9 – and our job is to live it out.
We do this – by living like Kingdom disciples – we live the Sermon on the Mount. We actually attempted to live this radical ethic – the upside down nature of things – we are to live that way in our circumstances and contexts, naturally, but we are to live like that – to learn to live like Jesus lived – we are to love our enemies. Part of that – bringing the kingdom to earth – is by giving ourselves to fulfilling this great commission.
Now, like we saw last fall – there is a thread that runs through the entire gospel that speaks to this – it begins in Matthew 1 – that leads us to Matthew 28 and continuously comes up in this gospel.
19
We often focus on that big scary first word – GO! But there is one primary verb in this sentence, and it is not GO. It is make disciples. You could translate it – Make Disciples – by going, baptizing, teaching. This would be an accurate way to write this verse. And that tells us – whatever circumstance you are in – you can begin making disciples. Do you think of yourself that way?
In the Men’s Barnstorming session – talking about things we could do – a primary thing was evangelism. That is a part of this. You can begin- we need to view ourselves as disciple makers and evangelists. That doesn’t mean to start television shows and crusades, but leading people to Christ in our context and circumstances. Then we all have the job of helping those who come to Christ to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
What is a disciple? Someone who wants to live the way Jesus said to live. We don’t need a lot of complication to that. For a person to get to that point, he or she must first come into a relationship with Christ… to live as a citizen of this heavenly kingdom. A disciple is someone whose entire existence relates to following Christ. This cannot just be a church thing – a weekend thing – but something that consumes us – that we see as the essence of our existence. That is not church activity. Church activity should not consume our lives – but following Christ should – in your job, in your family. That doesn’t mean walking into work and proclaiming I am a Christian everyday – but in your job, it should be known that you are. We should be living and talking in such a way that people catch on. It should be that following Christ is such an important part of your life that it can’t be missed. A lot of times, it doesn’t happen in our lives – we need to allow that to come out. Obviously, it starts in our actions and behaviors and relationships – but at some point, it must move into our communication. We need to learn to do that in a winsome manner – with intelligence and gentleness. The concern is that it never makes it into the communication aspect of things.
The Great Commission is this – it is converting people! That sounds terrible – but to obey The Great Commission means leading people to Christ that they are converted. Now I use the word converted because that is what it really is. It relates directly to baptism. It is not just about being dunked in water or a symbol of what has already happened in one’s heart. While that is true – to them, it meant changing allegiances, communities, kingdoms. For many – they had to leave their family – to enter a new family. Many had to leave their jobs because they did not go together. In our world – you can keep working your job – well, most of us can. But what happens is we lose what conversion is. It is not an add-on.
In order for the Great Commission to happen – if people are changing communities – then the only way to fulfill the Great Commission is to go to the outsider. Our lives must be engaged with outsiders. One of our guys– his prayer request – that he would be able to find a non-Christian friend to do stuff with that is not a student that he is working with. He wants to be an example to his students of engaging outsiders. What outsiders are you engaging? It is hard for me! It was easier when we had kids around.
Finally – obedience to the teaching – transformation through following Christ.
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
This is post-Pentecostal – this is a promise that took place at Pentecost. So this is saying that the Great Commission is not just a strategy or cause, but something that is accomplished by The Holy Spirit. This is only accomplished through Him in our lives. Jesus takes the responsibility for accomplishing this job off of us and places it on Himself. So this says to me – at any season of life you can be engaged in this task.
As a church – in closing – to become a church that is missional – we need to view all of our activities as disciple making activities. So, for instance, Sunday School class is not just for children to receive information – but making them disciples. As a small group leader – we are engaged with that. It must go beyond the activity.
As a church – we need to make room and a place for outsiders in all that we do. We do what we do – we follow Christ – and outsiders need to see people bringing heaven to earth – and when they come into our places – they need to see that.
We need to be a community on mission to our community – reaching people where they are – in their need. We need to learn to do that effectively within our community.
We must never forget the power of existing relationships. – First – family – that is an existing relationship! The beginning of disciple making occurs in your family – there is a tremendous opportunity there. It is easy to forget – as parents – your job is to disciple your children – to make them disciples. We all agree with that – but it is easy to forget.
Friendships – there is power in the existing relationships that you have. Even as a church – our city, schools – neighborhoods. Jeremiah wrote a letter when they went into exile – saying – it is over – get up and go – you will be taken to Babylon – BUT – when you get to the city you are taken – PRAY for the prosperity of that city – buy houses! Plant vineyards! And that is in exile. In one sense, we are all exiles – but we live in this city – in this part of the world – so we are to pray and live for the benefit – the good of the places in the world God has placed us.
Let’s pray – Lord, this is a big task – we know that. I ask You in Your grace to help us fulfill this faithfully – to being right now to see ourselves as disciple makers – we have that task given by You and You in us to fulfill it – in Your name we pray - amen