Commission Smermission
Mark 16:15-20
What is missions?
Who are missionaries?
Why do we send them?
A mission by definition is an assignment, a task, a calling or purpose
Specifically missions is the task of reaching the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
So who are missionaries?
These are specific men and women we choose as an association to perform this task
Locally nationally and internationally
The BMAA currently has
22 American International Missionaries
21 North American Missionaries
680 National Missionaries
197 support workers and
140 CIS Missionaries
These are the people we read about in the Gleaner
Who come and speak at churches
Showing slides and asking for money right?
They are people like John David Smith whom I recently met one of our missionaries to Cape Verde
People like John Ladd, a medical missionary in Mexico
Whom I roomed with his son at CBC
People like Charles Costa in Lebanon who is witnessing a tremendous growth of the Gospel in the Middle East
My cousin Wade Allen in the Philippines
And it is Jason Burns at work in Colorado
And even Todd West building a church right here in Maumelle AR.
And why do we send these brave people out?
Because this world is dying and going to Hell
The world’s population is currently over 6.6 billion
And most of those people have never heard the Gospel
So this is a large task to reach these people
But do you know who else is a missionary?
YOU AND I!
We have the same calling as all these missionaries
We read the same Bible, and each and every Bible includes the verses we read in Mark 16:15-20
A well known authority on missions once said
“Christianity is the only religion that is missionary”
This call has come down through the ages and is ours today
I. The Need
The need is summed up in one word “World”
“Go into all the world”
First we must go into the world of
A. Sinful self within
This is the devil’s nursery/garden
Where every evil in the world is germinated
And then transplanted by our actual deeds, our sinful deeds
This is where it all begins within our own hearts
Of course the first step in our mission is to get our heart right with God
You must be born again
The prerequisite of all things is a true salvation experience
How many false teachers do we read about in the scriptures
These workers for Satan going about spreading a false Gospel
Doing nothing but hurting the truth
And we still see this today
Those claiming Christ without the authority given to them by Him
There is no telling how many preachers you can find on TV or the internet claiming to have a call from God
But not the slightest idea of truth behind them
But even those true Christians must fight this battle of sin within
Are we going to live perfect lives? No, we can’t
But into this world of sinful self the power of Christ must come
We must strive to live a life honorable and holy before God
In order to be a powerful and profitable witness for Him
This leads us into the world of
B. Fashion and pleasures around
This world ministers to the lust of the eye
The lust of the flesh
And the pride of life
That world of custom and habit and godless living
This is the world we must live in daily
The daily struggle we face around every turn
And in this world that seems to become more and more evil every day
This struggle becomes harder and harder
We are barraged with temptation from every direction
TV, movies, internet all of our entertainment venues are constantly trying to vie for our attention
And if we are not careful
If we don’t take precautions
We will fall victim to these traps
Those temptations will get the best of us
And again our sin will damage our witness
And will damage the name of Christianity
Many good Christian people have ruined the name of Christ by falling victim to the world around us
And then there is the world of
C. Heathen darkness beyond
A world perishing yet immortal souls
A world loved by God and for which Christ died (John 3:16)
The whole world lieth in wickedness
And they are watching
Watching you and me
They are looking for answers and we have them
The need is great
But where the need is great the Provision is greater
II. The Provision
The provision is the Gospel
“preach the Gospel to every creature”
Just like there are different elements in air and water
So are there in the Gospel
It contains good tidings of great joy
There is in it…
A. The Incarnation of the Son of God
God manifest in the flesh
We know His name shall be Emmanuel
God with us
Seeking to save the lost
In the form of a servant
This is the very foundation of the salvation experience
Of the Gospel
For when God became man in the form of Jesus Christ
He became like us
Lived like us
Was tempted like us
Died like us
All this without sin, without spot, without blemish
He had to become man to relate to us
And so we could relate to Him
What good news this is!
B. Propitiation by the Blood of God
(Act 20:28) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
(1Jn 2:2) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The blood of His Son is God’s great covering for sin
For without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin
All of those sacrifices spread out over the entire Old Testament
All the blood shed I challenge you this week to read Lev. 4 and 5
And try to imagine the amount of blood shed throughout the ages
By all those sacrificial animals
That blood that was a picture of the blood of Christ
And all that blood was never sufficient to cover all that sin
Only the blood shed on that cross that horrific day
Was sufficient to pay the debt in full
That blood has been provided this blood is offered
C. Regeneration by the Spirit of God
This is were we come in
We make our stage entrance
This is the recreation of the human spirit after the likeness of God
We become new creatures
(2Co 5:17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
We become a new creature regenerated
And verse 18 states all these things are from God
The very heart of the Gospel - salvation
This is where we receive
D. Justification by the Faith of God
In Mark 11:22 Jesus says “Have faith in God”
It seems a strong expression
But every one who exercises faith in Jesus Christ is putting complete trust in God
Such faith believes in God’s revealed truth, His power
And seeks to do His will
With complete faith in God with no doubt as it says in Matt. 21:21
Allows us to tap into the immeasurable power of God
Which is unleashed in the lives of those with true faith
And as we grow in Christ and in faith we experience
E. Sanctification by the Word of God
Only through the consumption of God’s Word can we be sanctified
Or grow more like Christ
God has given us exceedingly great and precious promises
That by these we might be made partakers of His Divine nature
All the promises of God are in Christ for the support of faith
And the strengthening and growing of the new life
We can never be completely sanctified while here on earth
For we will always have with us our sin nature
But we need to strive to grow closer to Christ and more like Him every day
For one day we will experience
F. Resurrection by the Power of God
He shall come in great power and glory
The dead in Christ shall rise first
And the mortal, those still alive
Shall put on immortality
We will be resurrected to Him and into His image
What a great day that will be, when at last my Savior’s face I shall see
There is our hope
The hope of the Gospel and finally
G. Glorification by the Presence of God
Our great God our Savior will appear and we will be like Him
For we shall see Him as He is
And so shall we ever be with the Lord
These seven elements of the glorious Gospel are why we nee to be telling others of Him
And only through His Gospel can a lost and dying world come to know Him
So what do we do with all this?
III. The Commission
“Go ye into all the world”
A. Who? - Ye
Ye who have believed
Ye who have experienced the saving knowledge of the Gospel
Ye who has and will experience each of these seven elements of the Gospel
And know the receiving power of His resurrection
(1Pe 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Who? YOU! You have received this commission
B. What?
Do what with this?
GO
Jesus said in John 17:18 “As my Father sent Me, so send I you”
GO! Don’t sit around and theorize about it
Do something with it
Go and make this the chief business of your life
The job of the church is not to impact the church, but to impact the world.
It’s like a huddle in a football game.
67,000 people don’t pay $50.00 a ticket to watch the World champion Giants huddle.
What if you went to a Giants game and for 2 ½ hours you watched 11 men stand in a circle and talk?
That’s not what you pay for!!
67,000 people bought a ticket to see what difference the huddle makes.
What they want to know is, having called the play in secret, does it work in public?
The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our Sunday morning huddle
But what we do when we break our huddle and head to our Sunday morning assignment.
When Satan lines up against us, what difference does it make that we are Christians?
We must go and do what we discuss in the huddle.
C. Where ?
“Into all the world”
This world loved by God
This world atoned for by the Son
This world that God gave His one and only Son for
God so loved the world
That is your mission field
We read where Jesus instructs His disciples to start at Jerusalem
And then Judea and to spread out from there
For forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed to all the nations
Where?
Start right here, what a great place to start
Violet Hill, then Izard County, North Central AR
And so on that is where we start
The world is your mission field
And it starts right here
And what is so great about this is
We don’t have to do this alone
This commission comes with a promise
IV. The Promise
“Lo, I am with you always”
Jesus says in Matthew’s account
His presence with us is the pledge of
A. Continual fellowship
He will be with us always
What a great comfort to these men that stood here on this mountain
About to witness His ascension into Heaven
And what a great comfort to you and me
That He continues to fellowship with us today
If His sanctifying soul soothing presence is not realized or enjoyed
It is not His fault
His promise hasn’t failed
But it is of our own self or sin that has diminished that fellowship
The fellowship if the Holy Spirit
He doesn’t back away from us
It is us that moves away from Him
Our sin separates us from God
And the reality of His presence and power
But He promises to always be there waiting for our return
Just like the father waiting for the prodigal son
His pledge also includes
B. Continual Victory
Moses said “If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.”
It is only in His presence we can have victory
If we go up against the enemy under our own power
We will surely fail
If we go out into this world with the Gospel with our own strength we will never have success
The examples used here are
Casting out demons
Picking up serpents
Drinking deadly poison
Healing the sick
If these things are to be done it must be by the power of His name
Demonstrate box of copperheads- volunteers
No we don’t do those things today, complete Gospel
Those signs are no longer needed
But to be victorious in our lives we must do all in His name
His name implies all that He is
And in His name we will have continual victory
V. The Fulfillment
Verse 20 “They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them”
A. They were obedient - they went forth
Jesus had ascended into Heaven and they immediately followed His instructions
They didn’t stand around saying “what wilt thou have me do”
They went forth leaning on His word
They followed His example He lived here on earth
They seen Jesus with all authority and power
In Heaven and earth, chose to serve others
He held children in His arms
Healed the sick
Washed the disciples feet
And died for the sins of the world
Following Jesus means receiving this same power to serve
As believers we are called to be servants of Christ
As Christ served, so we are to serve
We are to obey and do as He did
It is not What would Jesus do?
It is What did Jesus do?
We are to be obedient
This commission is for you and for me
And what happened once they were obedient?
B. They were successful
The Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following
If the Lord is not working with us our labor is in vain
These signs were the Father’s divine confirmation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
To prove the authenticity of it to those present and for us today
Of we go forth working with the Lord
In His name we will be successful as well
And we may be an example for future generations to look back and say
Look what the Lord accomplished through them
The need is great
6.6 billion souls need Jesus Christ
The provision is powerful
The Gospel is indeed the good news
The answer, the key to eternal life
The commission is there
God ye into all the world
Who? You
What? Go
Where? All the world
The promise if ours
He is with us always
And the fulfillment is eminent
We must go and preach everywhere
This church does a lot for missions
If my math is correct over the last 10 months
Fairview has given over $6100 to missions
But it is so much more than giving and praying
We YOU are commissioned to go
Are you answering this call to missions?
