TEXT: Luke 9:51; 15:1, 2
“As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, NLT).
"Now when the time drew near for Him to be received up again into Heaven, He proceeded with fixed purpose towards, Jerusalem, and sent mennengers before Him" (NT in Modern Speech - Weymouth).
“…a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. 2 The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." 3 Their grumbling triggered this story” (Luke 15:1b-3, MSG).
"Now the tax-gatherers and the notorious sinners were everywhere in the habit of coming close to Him to listen to Him; and this led the Pharisees and the Scribes indignantly to complain, saying, 'He gives a welcome to notorious sinners, and joins them at their meals!" {NT in Modern Speech - Weymouth}
The two words that defined Jesus’ life
1. Missional (on a mission – God’s mission)
2. Incarnational (God in the flesh)
John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We are called to live our life like this today. We are called to be a picture of Christ.
The heart of the gospel is that God became a man in order to rescue and redeem His creation. Among the religions of the world, only Christianity makes the incredible claim of God seeking the fallen race, rather than humanity looking for God. Instead of the hungry seeking for the Bread of Life, the Bread of Life came searching for the hungry, John 6:33 – “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
The essence of the gospel is that the Son of God became the Son of Man, so those who were sons of men could become sons of God (1 John 3:2). He became poor so people through His poverty might be rich, 2 Corinthians 8:9 – “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
These two words should define our lives.
What does it mean to be a missional, incarnational follower of Christ?
1. Is clear about the mission
John 5:30 – “I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.”
Matthew 28:19-20 – “19Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
John 4:34 – Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Over 150,000 people die every day. That translates into:
• 1.78 deaths per second
• 107 deaths per minute
• 6,390 deaths per hour
• 153,000 deaths per day
• 56.0 million deaths per year
• 3.9 billion deaths per average lifetime (70 years)
The church needs to be missional.
As believers we are to be on a mission from God in our respective communities. We are called upon to be a visible representation of who Jesus is. To do this may require a new vision, new ways of thinking, and new patterns of behavior (Matthew 9:16, 17).
We are called to be missionaries where we live, the place where God has planted us. It is not by accident that you work where you work; it is not by accident you live where you live; it is not an accident your children go to the school they go to. God has strategically placed you there to be His missionary.
Since we are in Christ, we have a missionary identity. We are adopted into a missionary family. We serve a missionary God. Mission becomes part of our identity, because our Father is a missionary God and we resemble Him as a child of God. So the church is a missionary church, with missionary people, that do missionary things. It is who we are, and it is also what we do. Mission is not something we tack on to the list of options as a Christian. To be Christian is to be on mission. It's who we are, and it is what we do.
It was the will of God that Jesus go to Jerusalem; it was the will of God that Jesus die.
“I have been crucified” is the missional Christian.
He came to die on a cross; He came to save sinners. He came to destroy the works of the devil.
Luke 19:10 – “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
1 John 3:8-9 – “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
In every land where man is found,
Let us make known the story
Of love divine; its praises sound
And give to Jesus glory.
Give to Jesus glory,
Give to Jesus glory,
Proclaim redemption's wondrous plan
And give to Jesus glory.
If we are going to be a church on a mission we must understand that we have been sent by God as missionaries in our own culture.
The missional church is more than a gathering of people with a missions program (considering itself "mission's minded") or that has a financial commitment to mission works or a missions committee. The missional church is vested in God's mission to a specific place, people, and a particular time in history (Acts 17:15).
2. Is in touch with the culture.
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. {Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)}
When Jesus became popular He did not become disconnected from people.
To learn the culture: listen to radio, listen to people, watch the kids or cruise the internet.
We say we want to reach the younger generation but we have no idea what they are even into.
He was in touch with people, politics, etc.
He ate with sinners. God places us where we are.
If we are going to reach the people around us we need to hear what the Lord told the disciples in John chapter 21. They had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. I don’t know about you but when I fish I like to catch something. The one thing we cannot be faulted for is our labor or toil. We are casting the net, or throwing the line out in an attempt to try and catch the fish, but we just are not catching anything.
Then Jesus comes along side of them and offers some advice to what they need to do in order to catch the fish. Think about it for a moment, these are professional fishermen and here is a carpenter trying to tell them that they are doing it all wrong. They didn’t realize He was really a master fisherman. The Master fisherman said don’t do it like that but do it like this, cast it on the right side.
I believe the Spirit of the Lord wants to put something inside of us today; He wants to download in us an “other side” strategy so we can catch some fish. You see the master is more excited about you getting a great catch than you are. They could have said we have always done it this way. He wants to deposit in us an “other side” the boat mentality, a right side mentality; a do it a different way mentality.
3. Live in the culture without being shaped by the culture.
“Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” (Romans 12:2, MSG).
Speak the language, sing the songs but don’t compromise the truth for culture. Jesus never crossed the line into sin. He was in the culture but not shaped by it.
Let me give you an example as to how we let culture shape us: In the early stages of our history we were not predominantly a white church. We were more racially diverse. If you will notice that today most of our churches are predominantly white. In 1913 we allowed culture to shape the Pentecostal Holiness Church. Because restaurants and motels had problems with blacks meeting together with whites we separated from our black brothers. We allowed the culture of the time to shape what we were doing.
4. Is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.” Luke 4:14 (NIV)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Listen to the words of Gabriel as Mary is pondering how she is going to have a child and she hasn't had sexual relations with anyone up to this point: "34 Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I don not know a man?' 35 And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you...'" {Luke 1:34, 35}
The activity of the Holy Spirit should be visible; this is normal.
We should believe every spiritual gift in the Bible should be operational today.
The only way that we will be able to reach our respective generations for the Lord will be through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank God for education, we need it; Thank God for church workers, we need them; thank God for organization, we need it, but more than all this we need the mighty power of God to reach lost people.
