On a Mission from God - Sacrifice Required
Mark 12:41-44; 2 Samuel 24:18-24
Series intro
Slide
“We’re on a mission from God”
Blues Brothers
If you grew up when I did, you remember those words from the movie, “The Blues Brothers.”
John Belushi’s character, Jake Blues, was in a church service with James Brown as the pastor and he saw the light and he sensed a mission from God to raise some money to pay the property taxes on the orphanage they grew up in.
The movie is about their escapades to raise the money and save the orphanage.
As they were seeking to do this, they would tell everyone, “We’re on a mission from God.”
We really are on a Mission from God
Now while Jake and Elwood may not have really been on a mission from God, God has given each of us who are Christians, who are part of the church of Jesus Christ, a mission, so the reality is if you are a Christian, you are on a mission from God.
This is not a solo mission however. God did not call us to be a one man band. He has called us to be a team, to be His body, to work together so we can accomplish this mission.
As we approach Easter, the time when we celebrate the victory that Christ has won for us, I think it is important to be reminded of what it is that we are here to do.
So, we are going to spend half of our time looking at what the mission is that Christ has given us, and then for the rest of our time and the next couple weeks, we are going to look at how we as individuals can be a part of accomplishing this mission.
So, to begin, I want to ask
What is the Mission?
Slide
Well the mission we are on as individuals united together by Christ as part of His body is found in the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
That is the mission of God for the church and for each of us who are a part of the church.
So in easy to understand terms, we as the people of the church are to
Make Disciples
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Help people know about Jesus and receive Him as Savior to become His disciple
Baptize Disciples
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Help people take their first steps of following Jesus to grow as His Disciples by encouraging them toward baptism as a believer.
Teach Disciples
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Help people to learn what God’s word has to say and encouraging them toward obedience to His word.
That is the commission we have. In fact that is the commission that every church has. Every church that claims the name of Jesus Christ has this as their mission. We can’t just be doing one of these, we must be doing all of these to accomplish the mission.
Well if this is the commission of every church, how come all churches aren’t exactly the same?
Philosophy of Ministry
Well, while our commission is all the same, how we accomplish the mission varies.
Each church, whether this is stated or not, has a certain philosophy of ministry.
By that I mean, how does the church accomplish its mission. It is kind of like the personality of the church.
You will find churches that are more formal, and less formal and everything in between. You will find some churches that keep to more traditional styles and other churches that are more contemporary.
Now just because a church is not your style, does not make it wrong. The question to ask is “Are they fulfilling the Mission from God?” Now, I would say that being in a church that is more reflective of your style is probably a good thing because you will most likely best be able to use your gifts and be part of accomplishing the mission from God.
Transition
Ok, so God has given us the mission which is found in the Great Commission. Individual churches have varying philosophies of ministry in regards to how they will best fulfill that commission, and individuals have been gifted in particular ways so as to be united with others as a body to fulfill God’s commission in local churches.
So, we know what we are supposed to do. Are we doing it? And are we doing it well?
I think this is a question that every church should be asking itself at regular times throughout the year and I think it is important that we as a church can see how we are all doing as a church so we can not only be reminded, but so we can better accomplish the Mission from God.
So,
How are we doing in accomplishing our mission?
Slide
Making Disciples?
In the last 12 months, we have had 60 people make professions of Christ as Savior that we know of. We have about 525 to 550 people that would call Hickory Creek home that attend here on a regular basis. So 60 is about 11%.
Is that good or bad? Compared to other churches it may look good, but compared to those who are in our community who need Christ, we have to continually strive to do better. We are going to talk more specifically about this in 2 weeks.
Next, how are we doing at
Baptizing Disciples?
Slide
In the past 12 months, we have baptized 18 people who have received Christ and wanted to be obedient to the Lord’s command to be baptized and we have at least 4 more who have expressed interest to be baptized since our last baptisms.
As we grow, this is a number that should be increasing all the time.
We had 5 people get baptized last month. By the end of this year, I would like to see Hickory Creek baptize 40 people. That would be a record number of baptisms in a year for us and something that I think is quite possible.
We need to continually encourage those who have trusted Christ as Savior to follow in obedience and this should be one of our first steps of obedience to the Lord.
That leads us to
Teaching Disciples?
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How about in teaching the disciples.
This is probably the hardest to measure for every church.
How do we know if people are being taught?
Well, as a church, we measure if our people are being involved in the opportunities we offer to be taught.
How are our small group and discipleship opportunities doing at growing and helping people to be in God’s word?
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Well, last fall, we had 138 out of 241 of our adult regular attenders involved in one of our discipleship opportunities. That is about 57%.
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In January, we had 182 out of 263 of our adult regular attenders involved in one of our discipleship opportunities. That is about 69%!
Praise the Lord for that. That is a good number but there is still room for improvement.
If you are not in a small group or in a Bible study with others, then commit to getting involved in one.
Missions and serving
Another way that are recognizing that we need to assess how we are doing is if people being obedient to Christ’s teachings in serving in and out of the church.
We are going to talk more about this aspect next week, but this is another way to assess how we are doing at fulfilling the Mission of God that He has given us.
Attendance
One last area that we assess that you don’t find on your inserts, but that is implied by the Great Commission is growth in attendance.
If we are doing our job, in this community, we should see growth in attendance over time.
Now some will say, we don’t want to get too big because we lose that family feel. Our leadership understands that, but, at the same time, we do not have the authority to limit our growth. We can never shut our doors and say we have enough.
That being said, how we accommodate that growth is part of a philosophy of ministry. Some churches seek to grow bigger and bigger in a single or a few services to accommodate thousands at a time. That is a legitimate way to continue to accomplish the Mission from God.
Another way, the way we have chosen, to accommodate growth is by limiting our venue size so that we can accommodate about 350 at a single service in a particular location and multiply service times and then venue sites.
This is a choice that the leadership of Hickory Creek has made that we feel for us is being wise stewards of the site that we have and that will help us continue to maintain that family feel that we believe God has used to help us grow.
And we have been growing.
Slide
We have seen continually growth through the years which has allowed us to expand from one service to 2 services.
We are looking toward next year when we believe that we may be adding a third service if the Lord continues to use us to reach more and more people.
This is also why we have also taken steps to expand our parking, so that we can accommodate cars for about 350 people in a single service.
It is also why we will most likely in the future make some further building enhancements so we can expand our space to be able to minister to about 350 people in a single service.
But that is in the future. Right now, we are still seeking to finish up our site enhancements so that we are in the position to reach more people in obedience to the Lord’s Mission.
Ok, so God has been using Hickory Creek and each of who are apart of Hickory Creek to accomplish the Mission He has given us, but we all know that we are not done yet.
The questions we are going to seek to answer over these next few weeks are
How can I help accomplish the Mission?
Slide
One of the ways that each of us have been called to help accomplish this mission is through Sacrifice.
Sacrifice is about keeping our eyes on Christ and denying ourselves something for the good of others and for the glory of God.
There are many ways that an individual can sacrifice.
We can do that with our time, our service, and our resources.
I think the one that makes people the most uncomfortable is when we talk about sacrificing our resources, or our money.
At Hickory Creek we do not talk about money all the time. We don’t because there are those who claim a relationship with the Lord that have sought to swindle people out of their money claiming that if you give, then God will turn around and give you more money.
Now God can do that. And I believe that God will certainly provide for our needs as we are obedient to Him and seek after His Kingdom and Righteousness.
But even though there are those who misuse Scripture in talking about money, we still must talk about it because the Bible does talk about it. In fact, it talks about quite often.
So, today, we are going to briefly take a look at an example of sacrifice in the Bible and seek to learn a couple of things about Sacrifice so we can better understand it and do it for the glory of the Lord and for accomplishing our Mission from God.
Turn with me to Mark 12:41.
Slide
We are going to see this example of a widow who sacrificed for the Lord and learn a couple things about what sacrifice is.
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on."
First, we should understand that
Sacrifice is costly
Slide
This woman sacrificed all she had. It was not a lot in terms of amount of money. But it was very costly to her.
We need to realize that when we sacrifice it will cost us something.
If we are giving to the Lord’s work and we don’t feel it in some way, we are not really sacrificing.
You may think that you give more than everyone else, but it is less about how much you give and more about how much you sacrifice and your motive behind it.
Jesus said this woman put more into the treasury than all the others and yet it was less than a penny.
It was because she truly sacrificed for the glory of the Lord.
The second thing we should realize is that
Sacrifice is Worship
Slide
Notice this woman came to the temple.
People came to the temple to worship the Lord. It was part of worship to give to back to the Lord.
We see this throughout the Old Testament. Sacrifice was worship because it was a recognition that God was the giver of everything. He owns all that we have and we are just stewards of His resources.
David understood that Sacrifice was costly and that it was in worship to the Lord.
When David sinned by numbering his fighting men, and a plague came upon Israel, David cried out to the Lord asking that the consequence fall upon him, but the Lord had mercy on Him and upon Israel. The Lord told him to go and build an altar to worship Him.
Slide
2 Samuel 24:18-24
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped."
Slide
22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you."
24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
Sacrifice that does not cost us something is not worship.
This widow sacrificed everything she had.
Now, I am certain that this woman’s needs were met by the Lord.
I am certain of that because we know that Jesus thought enough of this act of worship to point it out to the disciples and we also know that God has a heart for widows and orphans and wants us to have a heart for them too.
And I know and believe God’s promise in his word that, as we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, he will provide for our needs.
Application
Are you worshiping through your sacrifices?
Is your sacrifice to the Lord costing you something?
I want you to ask yourself that, because as we all, as part of the body of Christ, sacrifice together, we are better able to fulfill our mission from God.
Paving the Way
Slide
Last year before Easter, we began a campaign called paving the way that was designed to help us in fulfilling our Mission from God.
We talked about how we worship the Lord and fulfill our mission as we grow in faith, as we sacrifice and as we serve.
We are going to look at Serving next week, but I want to update you this week on some of the financial sacrifices that were made and where we stand in our site improvements.
Rt. 30 expansion – Unmountable Median
If you were here last year, you’ll recall that as they began the Rt. 30 rebuilding, we discovered that they had planned an unmountable median that went from 108th ave to Butternut Creek trail cutting off completely access for cars coming from the west. They would have to make a u turn at butternut creek to come to the church.
IDOT was unwilling to budge on this, but through prayer, God worked to change some of the minds of those at IDOT so that we could get a turn lane if we paid for it.
Initially the turn lane was estimated to cost $120,000! But God saw fit to reduce that to $70,000 through a more competitive economy.
We also seized the opportunity to tap on to city sewer and water since we had to bring it over from the other side of Rt. 30. That allowed us to expand our parking over where our septic field used to be.
For the glory of God & fulfilling our Mission
We undertook these things not for the purpose of having a bigger or better place to come on Sunday. Yes, it does do those things, but the purpose is to be able to effectively use this site the Lord has blessed us with to continue to move forward in fulfilling our Mission from God.
That is the reason that we do the things we do.
And we believe that we glorify the Lord by pursuing our mission together as a body.
All totaled the work to connect to sewer and water, to expand our parking lot and to move our entrance and to pay for our left turn lane will cost about $375,000.
Last year in our campaign, we raised commitments of about $275,000 to be collected over and above our regular offerings during the next 2 years. So far we have collected about $150,000 of that and we have 1 year to go to collect the other $125,000 that has been committed.
But that still leaves us about $100,000 shy of being able to pay for all of this without carrying a loan on that work. We have taken a short term loan so we could do these things while we collected the campaign commitments over these 2 years.
But between a year ago and now, we have continued to grow and there are people here today that have not yet had the opportunity to be part of this aspect of being the church and moving forward in fulfilling our mission from God so that His Kingdom can continue to expand!
If you have not yet had a chance to make a sacrifice to worship the Lord in this way, in your bulletins is a form that we would like you to use. We would ask that by Easter, those of you who have not had a chance yet, to help us accomplish these essential aspects to our site so we can continue to fulfill the Mission of God for the glory of God by praying about and making a commitment to give toward this work over the next 13 months, until the end of April 2013.
Join with those of us who have sacrificed and are sacrificing to see God’s Mission fulfilled.
No matter if can give $5 per week more than you currently do or $100 per week more, or a one-time sacrifice of a portion of your tax refund, it doesn’t matter, as long as it costs you something and it is as an act of worship to the Lord.
Pray about what you and your family can sacrifice and worship the Lord in this way.
When we all do our part as individuals as part of the church we glorify the Lord and continue to move forward in fulfilling our Mission from God.
Worship team come up
I am going to have the worship team come up and we are going to take our offering now as an act of worship.
Now don’t fill out those forms now. Take them home and pray about it and bring it back in the next few weeks and include it as part of your offering to the Lord.
But we also worship Him as we sacrifice through our regular tithes and offerings.
Let us remember that as the ushers come and we worship through our sacrifice and as we give a sacrifice of praise as we worship Him in song.
