Intro: (MI theme plays on video for a minute as I come up)
Good morning, Mr. Phelps… That’s how the tape would always begin in the old MI shows. (I guess it was always in the morning.) Then, the voice on the tape would explain to Peter Graves the impossible mission he was being challenged to accept. He was told what was at stake. He was told what would happen, should the mission fail. Then, he was told in concise terms exactly what the impossible mission was…should he decide to accept it. After all, it was impossible, and he was a part of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force).
In a lot of ways, we’re like Mr. Phelps. We’ve been given a challenging mission to fulfill. We should recognize just how impossible the mission of CCC is. On our own, we’ll never be able to do it. It has been put into a short statement, and we need to revisit that statement often to make sure we’re on task when it comes to what we’re all about here. It provides for us a litmus test for whatever we’re doing at CCC. It’s there to show your friend who wonders what we’re all about at this place:
Central Christian Church exists to Glorify God by
Reaching people for Jesus and
Growing them in the Holy Spirit,
Both locally and globally,
So that His Kingdom may expand
For a statement like that to mean anything, we have to keep using it. It can’t become just another item stuck on the refrigerator door that we don’t pay any attention to. So, every year, in different ways, I expect to visit our mission statement, encourage you to memorize it, and talk about how it’s going.
(Men start passing out handouts)
I’d like to do something with it this morning. I’d like you to take a couple minutes and use this mission statement to evaluate how we’re doing. In other words, to take each part of that statement and rate us on a scale from 1-5. When I say “US,” it means you. Take a look at our mission statement, line by line, ask yourself “How am I doing at fulfilling this part of CCC’s purpose for existing? How am I doing at making this happen here?” then rate yourself on a scale from 1-5. You see, when we ask the question, “How are we doing at fulfilling our mission as a congregation?” the answer to that really lies in “How are you doing at fulfilling our mission as member of this congregation?”
Our men are passing out these handouts right now. Just take 2 minutes, do some introspection, and rate how this church family is doing at each part of our mission statement by rating how you’re doing at it. We’ll refer back to this later on.
I want to get us into this subject this morning by visiting an important story from Acts 10-11. It’s really a story about the mission of the Church, and how the Church was doing at seeing what God had called them to do. But before we jump into that, there’s something about the Church we need to have in hand:
Ephesians 3:4-6 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
I’m so thankful this morning to know the mystery – to understand that God’s purpose was to bring all kinds of people, not just Jews, but Gentiles like me, under His rule and into His family. Rom. 4:16 says that Abraham is the father of us all through our faith in Jesus Christ. And I’m so thankful to know that the doorway into that family isn’t Judaism – that I don’t have to first become a good Jew in order to become a Christ-follower. There are certain things about Judaism that I wouldn’t be very good at. Now, I’d make a real good legalist. I’d be great at reducing my belief to just a list of do’s and don’t’s and trying to get to Heaven by keeping the Law. But there are other things I’d have a tough time with. I’m also glad that we don’t have to preach Judaism to win people to Jesus.
As it is now, we have a message to give to people. The message is that every one of them is a condemned sinner, stained by sin and bound for an eternity in hell unless they accept Jesus Christ – we call that the good news! Our job is already cut out for us. Imagine if we added to that what the brothers said in…
Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved."
We’re already up against enough challenges to getting people to meet Jesus without throwing that in! They were basically saying that in order to make it to Jesus, you have to first become a Jew. After all, before there was the church, there was Judaism. So, when Jesus introduces the new way to approach God, the way of grace, the way He introduces by His death on the cross, a lot of people struggle with what to do about the old way. And right in the middle of this story, is Peter…
Acts 11:1-3 (from The Message)
The news traveled fast and in no time the leaders and friends back in Jerusalem heard about it--heard that the non-Jewish "outsiders" were now "in." When Peter got back to Jerusalem, some of his old associates, concerned about circumcision, called him on the carpet: "What do you think you're doing rubbing shoulders with that crowd, eating what is prohibited and ruining our good name?"
What was it that caused people to turn against Peter so strongly? Here was a man well-known as a pillar of the church. Peter had been an outstanding leader in the church from its beginning. But he had done something that upset people. I want to point out to us all this morning that the area of contention had to do with the Church’s mission – understanding what the Church is supposed to be and do in its current situation. Those who were after Peter didn’t realize that Peter himself had just had his own eyes opened directly by God, and now he was going to share what he had learned:
I. God’s Mission is Always Better Than Our Own
I’ll let Peter retell the story himself:
Acts 11:4-15a (The Message)
So Peter, starting from the beginning, laid it out for them step-by-step: "Recently I was in the town of Joppa praying. I fell into a trance and saw a vision: Something like a huge blanket, lowered by ropes at its four corners, came down out of heaven and settled on the ground in front of me. Milling around on the blanket were farm animals, wild animals, reptiles, birds--you name it, it was there. Fascinated, I took it all in.
"Then I heard a voice: "Go to it, Peter--kill and eat.' I said, "Oh, no, Master. I've never so much as tasted food that wasn't kosher.' The voice spoke again: "If God says it's okay, it's okay.' This happened three times, and then the blanket was pulled back up into the sky.
"Just then three men showed up at the house where I was staying, sent from Caesarea to get me. The Spirit told me to go with them, no questions asked. So I went with them, I and six friends, to the man who had sent for me. He told us how he had seen an angel right in his own house, real as his next-door neighbor, saying, "Send to Joppa and get Simon, the one they call Peter. He'll tell you something that will save your life--in fact, you and everyone you care for.'
"So I started in, talking…
God wanted the gospel taken to non-Jewish people in Caesarea. That was God’s plan for His church – to reach out to non-Jews. But Peter wasn’t ready to do that. He hadn’t understood the mission of the church in this thing. He needed to have a better understanding of the mission from God; of God’s desires in this Church of His. God’s mission was better. In fact, according to God, God’s mission is always better.
Isaiah 55:8-9
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Now, we might try to say that Peter was just new at all this – that no one with years of experience would have made such a mistake. But you have to remember that Peter already had an awful lot of experience at the side of Jesus. He was there when Jesus raised the dead. He was there to see Jesus minister to the woman by the well in Samaria. He was there to hear Jesus Himself give His great commission. He was there on the day of Pentecost to be the main spokesman for Jesus. But God knew that even someone like Peter didn’t have thoughts like God’s thoughts. Even someone like Peter couldn’t see the big picture like God sees it or wholly understand God’s intention for the Church.
One of the first items I gather from this story for us is that we always need to be humble enough to accept that God’s view of things is always bigger than our own – even if we’ve had a lot of experience at following Him. It’s true of you personally, and it’s true of our church family.
Maybe the way you rated yourself this morning concerning our mission statement points this out to you. Maybe there’s a way that God is planning to use you that you haven’t seen yet. Maybe there’s an opportunity laid out in front of you that you haven’t realized. Maybe there’s a gift that God has given you to use that you have yet to understand. And all along, while you haven’t been able to comprehend it or see it, God has.
Maybe there’s some way of reaching people that we haven’t tried yet. Maybe there’s some facet of ministry that CCC could do really effectively that we haven’t discovered yet – some window of opportunity opening up for us. We wouldn’t be the first church to be open to God’s leading and then finding that He had some great things planned for us to do!
No matter how much we may have it all figured out, let’s all be humble enough to take this first point home today: God’s mission is always better than our own. From there, let’s consider how…
II. God Seeks for Us To Own The Mission
Now, remember how Peter was called on the carpet in Jerusalem, and he explains how he had the vision on the rooftop and how he went to Caesarea with 6 other friends to see what God wanted him to do. Here’s this group of Gentiles all gathered together to listen, and Peter shares the good news about Jesus with them.
Acts 10:44-48 (The Message)
No sooner were these words out of Peter's mouth than the Holy Spirit came on the listeners. The believing Jews who had come with Peter couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on "outsider" Gentiles, but there it was--they heard them speaking in tongues, heard them praising God. Then Peter said, "Do I hear any objections to baptizing these friends with water? They've received the Holy Spirit exactly as we did." Hearing no objections, he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay on for a few days.
God’s point isn’t just to show His people that He knows more than they know. He wants His people to have their eyes opened more and more to what He wants done. That’s what Peter said in the middle of all of this:
Acts 10:28
He said to [the non-Jews]: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism”
Peter had learned something. His view had been expanded. People who weren’t reachable before were suddenly reachable! Places where he couldn’t go to take the gospel before were suddenly OK! Opportunities that Peter had never thought through were suddenly opened up right in front of Peter’s eyes – all with the goal of getting his eyes and the eyes of the Church open more widely.
There are a lot of things in our eyes that can keep us from clearly seeing God’s intentions for His Church.
• It might be the ease of doing things the same way over and over. You know, that’s true. It’s less work to never change the way we do things. But that’s also how someone has defined insanity: to do something the same and expect different results.
• It might be pursuing fads. Some people thrive on change. For them, as long as something is new and different, that makes it right. It’s easier to get a hold of the latest craze in the church world and try it without thinking it all through. But there are a lot of things new and different that are definitely not right.
• It might be selfishness. After all, if our eyes are fixed on ourselves, they’re never going to be looking outward to the fields. Jesus said, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
• It might be hypocrisy. It’s hard to clearly see how to meet the needs of others around us if we’re working hard at maintaining our image instead of just being genuine. Jesus said, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
You see, these are all matters of the heart. There is no one so blind as him who refuses to see. God wants us to be able to see better what He’s doing.
Now, you fill in the blanks on this one. Ask yourself, “In what way has God opened my eyes to better see His plan and to accept His desires for His Church in the past year?” If He hasn’t, why not?
Peter, with all his experience, and all of his desire to serve the Lord, learned something. That’s what he said about himself. He learned that he shouldn’t call any person unclean. He learned that, sure enough, God doesn’t play favorites. He also would learn later that even once you know it, you have to work at consistently applying this truth. Here’s one more thing he learned…
III. God’s Mission is Ultimately to Grow His Kingdom
Even in the midst of having our view of things adjusted, we still need to remind one another that God is seeking to grow His Kingdom. His Kingdom, not ours. His agenda, not ours. His mission, not ours – a mission that’s always going to be bigger than our own.
Even though Peter had his view broadened, even though he retold the story of how God did it, sometime later, he still messed up. Even once you know it, you still have to work at consistently applying this truth.
Some time after all of this, Peter managed to forget that God had called him to help build His Kingdom.
Galatians 2:11-12
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
How could Peter make such a big mistake? The same way whole Churches make such big mistakes. All it takes is for the people of God to take their eyes off of God’s plans – to forget for a while that the Church is His Church, and that He is interested in building that Church. You can bet that Satan will supply a million ways for us to forget that if we’ll just take one up.
Ill - A church had a sign in front: JESUS ONLY. One night a storm blew out the first three letters and left US ONLY. Too many churches have come to that.
Take another look at that last line of our vision statement: …so that His Kingdom may expand.
That’s really the bottom line. The reason CCC exists, the reason you and I are here today, and at small groups and SS classes and Wed PM’s, and in ministry teams, and working on projects together, is because God wants His Kingdom to grow. Church, how are we doing at that?
The moment the church ceases to be a mobile army surgical hospital for the lost and becomes instead a museum where members make weekly visits is the moment we’ve forgotten that God is seeking to grow His Kingdom.
The moment the church makes its goal just to get by or to keep the doors of a building open for another week rather than to bring lost people to Jesus, it has lost sight of its mission.
We have been given a mission to grow – to make disciples of people who aren’t; to add members to the family; to help people from the outside to come in.
Satan already puts enough obstacles in the way without us adding the obstacle of a church that forgets its mission.
We need to allow the Lord to be the One who shapes our viewpoint, and we need to find a way to help each other to consistently apply this truth. If the Church needed it from very early on, then I have no doubt we need it today.
Now, if you’re not already a follower of Jesus today, let me give you this good news. Can you fit in here? Can you be accepted here? Will you be welcomed here? Is this for you? YES, Yes, Yes! That’s the purpose of the Church – to invite people like yourself into a brand new life in Jesus, where you totally belong. That’s the purpose for which He created every one of us, and that includes you! Yes you’re welcomed here! Yes you totally belong here. Yes, you will be accepted here. And we want more than anything to introduce you to Jesus and the life He has for you.
Conclusion:
Story - I ran across the story of a man who missed a great opportunity. His friend took him for a ride one day way out in the country. They drove off the main road and drove through groves of trees to a large uninhabited expanse of land. A few horses were grazing, and a couple of old shacks remained. The driver, Walter, stopped the car, got out, and started to describe with great detail the wonderful things he was going to build. He wanted his friend Arthur to buy some of the land surrounding his project to get in on the ground floor.
But Arthur thought to himself, “Who in the world is going to drive 25 miles to this crazy project? The logistics of the venture are staggering.”
And so Walter explained to his friend Arthur, "I can handle the main project myself. But it will take all my money. But the land bordering it, where we're standing now, will in just a couple of years be jammed with hotels and restaurants and convention halls to accommodate the people who will come to spend their entire vacation here at my park." He said, "I want you to have the first chance at this surrounding acreage, because in the next five years it will increase in value several hundred times."
"What could I say? I knew he was wrong," Arthur tells the story. "I knew that he had let this dream get the best of his common sense, so I mumbled something about a tight-money situation and promised that I would look into the whole thing a little later on."
Walter cautioned Arthur as they walked back to the car, "Later on will be too late. You'd better move on it right now."
And so Art Linkletter turned down the opportunity to buy up all the land that surrounded what would become Disneyland. His friend Walt Disney tried to talk him into it, but Art thought he was crazy
There are plenty of stories of people on a mission. But no one’s way of seeing things has ever gone beyond God’s way. What God wants to do is bigger than we’re able to picture on our own. That’s true of this Church family; that’s true of you personally.
It’s certainly true of the way God has planned for you to live forever with Him…
