Live A Mission Driven Life Series

Introduction

In John’s Gospel the seventeenth chapter verse eighteen, Jesus says this:

John 17:18 (NKJV)

18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Jesus says that the Father sent Him into this world. That word “sent” did not mean go on down to earth and check out the places You would like to see; it did not mean go down to earth and do some of things that You might enjoy doing down there.

The word “sent” implied more the idea that Jesus was a man on a mission that must be accomplished. He came from heaven to earth for a specific purpose. And we know, if we are students of the Bible, that mission was to die for our sins and through His resurrection to open the door for us to gain entrance into heaven to spend eternity with Him and the Father forever.

But that is only half of the verse. The other half is about us. Jesus says that He has sent us into the world. If God sent Jesus into the world implied a mission to be accomplished then Jesus sending us into the world implies that we have a mission to be accomplished.

So, what is that mission? You and I know from the beginning God desired Adam and Eve and all the mankind that followed to have a relationship with Him but with the fall in the Garden of Eden that relationship was broken but God through Jesus’ mission made a way to renew that relationship.

And so, Jesus gave us a mission to bring people to Him. For that reason, the Apostle Peter calls us a holy priesthood. What was the job of the priest in the Old Testament if it was not to bring people closer to Jesus. The Apostle Paul calls us ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is someone who provides a link between one country and another. As citizens of heaven, we provide a link to those who live on earth that don’t know Jesus and know little about our country.

Our mission is to bring a lost world to a Savior that loves them. And all those things that we do to lead a person to Christ is our mission activity.

The reality is all Christians don’t do what Jesus sent us into the world to with the same level of effort. Some Christians are more successful in doing the mission than others. And why is that the case. This is what we are going to look at today.

Point #1

Those who are successful doing what Jesus sent us to do are not blind or deaf to the needs of the people around us.

Daniel Gokey ( he is a Christian singer that you hear often on Sirius radio the Message) sings a song “We all need Jesus”. I want you to listen to some of the words.

Everybody needs a Savior

Even the ones who think they don't

We've got stuff we hide, deep down inside

There's so much that we don't show

Yeah, it's just a wounded world we live in

It's really not the way it's supposed to be

Isn't that the beauty of redemption?

It changes everything

We're all broken people, don't we all need Jesus? Yeah

Every moment of our lives, twenty-four, three-six-five

Our human is equal, don't we all have our weakness? Hey

Everybody makes mistakes,

everybody needs that grace

We all need Jesus

Don't we all need Jesus?

There are family members in your own family that are lost and need Jesus? Do you see it?

There are people who you work side by side with who are lost and need Jesus? Do you see it?

There are friends who you are close with who are lost and need Jesus? Do you see it?

There are neighbors next to you or down the road who are lost and need Jesus. Do you see it?

Jesus says it this way:

John 4:35 (NKJV)

35 ... Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Those are who successful doing mission don’t see them just as a family member, a co-worker, a friend, or a neighbor, they see them as a person needing Jesus.

Let me tell you as plainly as possible: if you don’t see them as needing Jesus, you will never successfully do the mission that Jesus sent us to do.

Point #2

Those who are successful doing what Jesus sent us to do not only see the need but they are moved out of compassion to do something about it.

Listen to the words of this psalm written by King Solomon about how the Savior to come would be moved out of compassion.