Why I Am On Mission Series

Why am I on Mission?

Made for Mission: Week 5

February 23rd, 2020

Scripture: John 13:1-17

Good morning. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve stood up here to bring the word.

We’re in week five of our Made for Mission Series.

To catch us up- We started out by saying “We are all called.” Calling is not for the spiritually elite but for everyone who calls Jesus Lord.

Week two we answered the question, “What’s my mission?” We said our mission is Jesus’ mission so we better find out what He’s about.

Week three we asked, “What’s my message?” We know we are made for a mission so we have to know what to say when we are on it. We learned our message is simple. We’re just supposed to share how God’s goodness has intersected with my life.

Finally, 3 weeks ago we talked about “Who’s my mission?” We said it’s simply those around us that God has strategically placed around us where we live work and play.

So here we are today- thinking about why we are on mission.

When I first came to this church, I was challenged to think of this place not as just a small country church in a small country town, and in a county whose name most people in this state can’t pronounce.

Instead- see this as a county-wide church that reaches far from this building.

When you start to think that way- it can seem overwhelming if we just think about just this building as being where we hold services. When we begin to realize that you are the church then all of a sudden we realize that we have opportunities to make an impact all over the place.

Today is a great example of that. The day I was going to bring this message, we got a major snowstorm. It shut down the roads into town and around the church.

But what if we have people who think “I’m on a mission. I have a home that can fit a few people, let me make a few phone calls of people that live close by and we can have church right here”

What if we have people all over the county thinking the same way.

Then we might have one church, in multiple locations.

Our former superintendent Larry Liebe said something about our district that always challenged me. He said we are not 200 churches- we are 1 church in 200 locations.

Isn’t that also what the church should be?

This thought starts to answer the question-“Why am I on Mission?”

I know from the start that sermons like this can bring up two reactions-

For some, you get pumped up and wanting to know and serve God in bigger and better ways.

Others, you may find yourself asking questions like

-Can’t I just be a normal person. Go to work, pay my taxes, raise my kids, and live my life like everyone else?

Do I really have to see my job or my school as a mission field? Can’t I just go to school like everyone else? Can’t I go shopping without asking how God might use me to reach people?

Let me illustrate how Jesus wants us to live - it’s important to understand that Jesus is inviting us into a Chicken Pot Pie relationship not TV Dinner one.

Let me explain

You know in a TV dinner the food comes it their own compartments.

So you could devour the steak but completely avoid the cauliflower because it’s from the devil.

In the same way we can easily break our lives into their own distinct compartments. You’ve got one titled family, one titled work, one titled friends, and one for spiritual beliefs.

It’s called compartmentalization. We all do this to some degree. WE have boxes- the spiritual box, the family box, the work box, the school box, one for that one special person in our lives box. For some-you are masters at compartmentation.

You never open one box while another box is also open. You first have to take that box, neatly close it up, put it back on it’s shelf, and the open the other box.

I you are like this- you could have Sunday Morning box- filled with strong spiritual beliefs that come out on Sundays- that’s the open box until around noon, then the Sunday afternoon relaxing box comes out.

The only problem with compartmentalization is that Jesus isn’t interested in just your spiritual box, he’s interested in all of your boxes, and all of your life.

That’s the TV dinner example, let’s look at Chicken Pot Pie

With Chicken Pot Pie all of the food is fixed in so there is no picking and choosing. The cauliflower or broccoli, chicken and carrots are all in every bite whether you like it or not. The same is true with our walk with God. He wants our relationship with Him to touch every part of our lives and for us to get rid of the compartments and the boxes.