HIS MISSION, MY MISSION, YOUR MISSION
LUKE 4:14-22
INTRODUCTION:
Life and how we live it sure can be pretty crazy sometimes, can’t it? Let me give you 3 illustrations of what I mean and how this is true.
1.)Dead Poet’s Society. Others “boxing” us in and determining our identity/roles for us.
2.)My pride and stubbornness in trying to do things myself, in my own power. Seriously throwing my back out moving the plank in Caroni.
3.)Sailing. Dependence of wind. Getting out there and finding no wind.
From these illustrations we can see 3 potential obstacles that we all most deal with in
our lives – including and especially in regard to how we do or do not live our lives as Christians and consistent with God’s calling and will for us.
1.)Role Confusion.
2.)The “Do-It-Yourself” Disease.
3.)An Empty Sail.
PROPOSITION: We can and will overcome these obstacles and fulfill our God-given role as Christians, when we do so in the power of the Spirit of the LORD and in accordance with the specific mission given first to Jesus and then extended to those who follow Him.
PRAY
THE QUESTION: What is our God-given role or mission in life?
I.)THE MISSION EXEMPLIFIED BY JESUS.
Background: Jesus’ baptism – wilderness temptation (can be summed as a series of temptations to get Jesus to accept a role and mission different than the one the Father sent Him to complete).
Scripture: Luke 4:14-22 (pg. 1008)
Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1-3. These verses are a part of Isaiah’s prophecy which follows a long, sometimes harsh call for the wicked to repent and turn from their sins (chaps. 56-59). Now, in this section (chaps. 60-62), Isaiah looks ahead at the future glory of a restored community of God’s people and then is followed again with one last warning of final judgement of the wicked and restoration of the repentant (chaps. 63-66).
6 Purposes (in One)
A.The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
What does that mean? He is endowed, covered and filled with the awesome power, authority, guidance and favor of the LORD God Almighty – creator of all that is, King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Why?
Because He has anointed Me
For What? Why?
To represent God, His glory, and His works of deliverance on this earth and to its people. Not only does “anointing” refer to a bestowal of authority, but also to the endowment of rich gifts. All of this, then, is to fulfill His mission and purpose on this earth. . .
B.To preach the gospel to the poor;
The “poor” are not just those with little financial means. There is a much broader application here. The poor refers to those who are “poor in spirit.” That is, those who are lacking in spiritual truth or power. It is all who are without an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus, all those who yet need to depend on God.
Is anyone here today poor?
C.To heal the brokenhearted,
To be a spiritual internist – to heal people’s deepest emotional and spiritual wounds.
To proclaim liberty to the captives
* Who are the captives? Again, all who are without Christ and thus without salvation from a life of sin and weakness. Captives to sin. Captives to the limitations, weaknesses and temptations of the flesh. Captives to the chaos and senselessness of this wicked, lost world. And captives to the Enemy, who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pt. 5:8). Captives to a past filled with pain and regrets and a future without hope.
D.And recovery of sight to the blind,
Oh, how much we take our own sight for granted!
Spiritually blind, because ALL are blind apart from Christ. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Co. 2:14).
And blind, not because their eyes don’t work, but because they live within the darkness rather than the light.
Hiking from the Gap in the pitch dark, and a storm.
Later in His mission, when referring to His future death on the Christ Jesus proclaimed to His disciples: A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light (John 12:35-36).
E.To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
Oppressed? Well, let’s see, if you were poor, brokenhearted, imprisoned in chains and blind I suppose you’d feel oppressed, don’t you think? I imagine many of us here today.
F.To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.
The Jewish audience in the synagogue would have clearly recognized this is a reference to the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), the one year in every fifty when God proclaimed that all debts be forgiven and slaves set free. The prophet Isaiah long ago and now Jesus, refer not to this 1-in-50 Jubilee, but to the final spiritually Jubilee – that time in history when God, in His sovereign grace will bring freedom from the debt and chains of sin to those who are His. Shockingly, Jesus then proclaims that that time is now!
My friends, do you realize that the time is still now? If you have not yet received your freedom, NOW is the time! Jesus has come to give you freedom, will you respond to His call? The time is now, but it will not remain forever. The time is coming when it will be too late. Perhaps tonight, perhaps tomorrow.
Repeat 6 Purposes. Oh, how wonderful!!! What if . . .
II.)THE MISSION EXTENDED TO US.
Jesus began this mission and did all of these things for some people during His earthly ministry. But the mission is not truly complete. So long as there remain those who are poor in spirit, brokenhearted, captive to deception, blind to God’s pure truth, and oppressed by the resultant hopelessness and attacks of the Enemy, the mission continues.
But how are we to fulfill this mission? How is that Jesus was able to preach the gospel to the poor? Proclaim liberty to the captives? Heal the brokenhearted? Give sight to the blind? Free the oppressed? As Jesus Himself answered, He did all of these things because The Spirit of the LORD was upon Him. And, according to Scripture, that same Spirit dwells in us and empowers each of us for His ministry (1 Co. 3:16). We – you and me - are the objects, the people, through whom Jesus desires to continue His ministry! As saved individuals and children of God, as a church and as a community of the Kingdom of God we are called to proclaim and live the Good News that Christ has come for us and wants to bring each one back into intimate, personal fellowship with Him. The bottom line is this: to be a disciple of Jesus means far more than saying a prayer, getting saved and going to church. Being a disciple of Jesus means bearing His message, representing His Person, and continuing His ministry on this earth – and nothing less will do!
It is significant that Jesus ended His reading of Isaiah 61:1-2 (pg. 730) just short of its full rendering. He stops there because He is proclaiming that His coming and the work He is to do on the cross represent “the acceptable year of the LORD.” But v.2 of Isaiah 61, continues with, “And the day of vengeance of our God.” That day is yet to come. When Jesus ascended to Heaven and sent His Helper, the Holy Spirit to abide with us, He also transferred the mission to our calling. Between then and the coming Day of Vengeance, it is the responsibility of individual Christians and the church to act as the Body of Christ and continue this great mission – but with and in His power!
John 14:12-18; 20:21-23 (pg. 1059)
Matthew 28:18—20 (pg. 979)
2 Corinthians 5:18-6:1 (pg. 1135)
III.)THE MISSION EXERCISED BY US TODAY: APPLICATION.
Illustration I: The Brick Layers
1.)“Just laying bricks.”
2.)“Earning $15/hr.”
3.)“Building a great Cathedral so that in 100 years from now, others will see and marvel at my work.”
4.)How ‘bout yu Tony? “Glorifying God!” Huh? “In attitude and character that salts the earth and lights the world. By this people see something they’re searching for and I get to point them to Jesus and give God the glory! Bricklaying is just an excuse to do that.”
Illustration II: The Ripples of Our Lives
Instead of being thwarted by the 3 obstacles I mentioned in the introduction (Role Confusion, The “Do-It-Yourself” Disease), and An Empty Sail), we must overcome these obstacles with 3 Truths in Christ:
1.)We have a clear God-given role: to be used by God to continue Jesus’ ministry of deliverance, reconciliation and discipleship.
2.)We are to fulfill this role through our dependence on God, not ourselves.
3.)The power and presence of the Holy Spirit is the ever-present and unlimited wind which will fills our sails.
CONCLUSION:
In our Wednesday night Bible class, we earlier spent three weeks exploring the miracle and significance of Jesus walking on the water. Too often we react to Him similar to Peter. We are quick to proclaim, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come . . .” (v. 28) and then take those first quick steps. But then, as soon as we notice the noise, winds and waves of challenge and resistance swirling around us we take our eyes off Jesus – we forget the presence and anointing of His Spirit – and we sink. And when we sink, my friends, the world sinks with us. Does Jesus forgive us at such times, does He give us other opportunities? Yes, but not without the same disappointment He expressed to Peter as He lifted him up: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:31).
Brothers and sisters, the question that we face every day and in every significant circumstance is this: Will we rise up, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the level of Jesus’ power and authority, or will we sink down with the weight of little faith?
How might our families be different if each of us was daily living this out in power? How might our church be different? What would happen in Essex County if we as individuals and as a church were boldly living this out, actively living and proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom?
Before I pray, I would like everyone who is able to stand up with a NKJV Bible and read aloud with me again from Luke 4:18-19 (pg. 1008 in the pew Bibles).
PRAYER
