Mission: Possible
The Commission
Luke 9: 1 – 6
Do you remember the first time you rode a bike without training wheels? Or, do you remember your first day of school? Perhaps you remember your first date. Maybe you remember the time you left home for college, or the first time you moved into a place of your own or got your first real job. There’s always a first time for everything we do in our lives, and firsts are often met with awe and wonder, but also with challenge and anxiety. There are times in all our lives when we must learn to do things on our own. We can watch others do it. We can look and say, “That’s easy.” Yet, there is something in us that evokes just the least bit of fear, and fear brings nervousness in the midst of the excitement and anticipation. I wonder if that’s how the disciples felt the day Jesus called them and gave them the commission to launch out into ministry on their own. We said last week that Jesus went and then Jesus sent, and as he sent them, he gave the disciples a charge to keep. Before Christ stood on the mountaintop to extend to his disciples the Great Commission, he gathered them around himself in Galilee and commissioned them for service in his Kingdom. As we read these words we are tempted to think that this is a limited commission given to Jesus’ original disciples. Yet, there are eternal principles that we can discover here that will encourage and empower us to carry out the mission entrusted to us? I see three things to note as Jesus commissioned his disciples. Jesus commissioned the disciples with a message, a method and the means to fulfill the commission.
Jesus commissioned the disciples with a message to preach. The message Jesus gave the disciples was a simple one: preach the Kingdom of God. We, too, are commissioned to preach the Kingdom of God. Instruction about ministry is especially important today because of the misconceptions that exist about ministry. The greatest misconception is that the ministry is something that the preacher or the staff do, that ministry is for the ordained personnel of the church. When we use the word minister we usually mean the professional, the preacher. While it is true that God has called some to the ministry as a profession he has called all of us to be ministers. So, yes, as a disciple, we’re all called to preach! Didn’t know that did you?
What exactly do we preach? What is the Kingdom of God? For anyone who has been a Christian for even a small amount of the time the question “What is the kingdom of God?” may seem strange. Christians talk about the kingdom all the time, and we try to focus our lives on the kingdom and we even pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. “Kingdom” is probably one of the most commonly used words in the vocabulary of believers. That doesn’t make it any less hard to define does it? If you had an “elevator speech” could you tell someone what the Kingdom of God is? You know what an elevator speech is, right? You’re in an elevator for two minutes with another person. What can you say in two minutes that might change a person’s life? I’ve spent the past two days in interviews with this year’s candidates for bishop in the UM Church. In our session on Friday, each of the candidates was asked about their elevator speech. Did they even have one? Yeah, I think defining the Kingdom of God in a two minute elevator speech would be nearly impossible. Yet, Jesus had one. It comes from the prophet Isaiah, and he used it when he began his earthly ministry. We find it recorded in Luke’s Gospel:
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4: 16 – 20 NIV)
Talk about good, short sermons, Jesus proclaimed to his hearers (good Jewish folks, remember) that this idea of God’s reign was now among them. This is the message Christ has commissioned us to proclaim to the world. The simple message is that God’s salvation has come. That’s a whole other sermon. I’ll not preach it here. You’ll thank me that I don’t. Here’s the good news we proclaim: God has come in Jesus Christ to redeem that which sin has destroyed…in the creation, and in our lives. That’s the message Christ committed to his disciples. It’s the message he’s committed to us. And so, WE proclaim.
Yes, proclamation is the method Jesus chose. I hear you saying, “But, I’m no preacher, Preacher!” Ah! But, you are! As Jesus commissioned the disciples he says that proclamation was two-fold—words and deeds. It takes both to accomplish the mission. Remember, the mission is the transformation of the world. We hear the word “preach,” and the majority of us think, “Whew, I’m off the hook on that one! God didn’t call me to preach.” Oh, yes, he did! We’re all to proclaim the Kingdom, and it is as imperative to use words as it is to take action. When we act in love and charity without proclamation of the Gospel we leave the gospel half told. When we proclaim the Gospel without acts of mercy, we leave the gospel half told. That’s the reason we all need an “elevator speech,” but that speech need be nothing more than to share what Christ has done for each of us.
Let me issue you a challenge. Chris and I will be preaching a new sermon series after Easter entitled “Transformation: Possible.” We’re going to be sharing biblical examples of the transformative encounters people had with Jesus. We want to share your stories as part of that series. How has your encounter with Christ changed your life? Share with Chris and me your elevator story so we can incorporate that into our messages. Don’t worry! We won’t ask you to share it from the pulpit, but if you’re willing we might. Proclamation means sharing in word what Christ has done to save us. It also means sharing in deed. There’s no transformation in one without the other. Words are imperative. Action is imperative. What we do, we do in Jesus’ name. What we do, we do with a desire to see something different in our lives and in the lives of those we are in relationship with.
We can say, “I love you,” but what do we do to show a person that love? Words are great. Words are necessary, but the acts that back up the love solidify the proposition. A person needs to hear they are loved. Dr. Les Parrot says a relationship cannot survive without verbal expressions of love. A relationship also cannot survive without visible signs of that love. Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a book in 1995 entitled The Five Love Languages. His premise is that every one of us has a primary and a secondary love language…ways we feel the emotion of love. They are: 1) physical touch, 2) words of affirmation, 3) gift giving, 4) acts of service and 5) quality time. I have perceived, after 34 years of marriage, that my wife has three love languages: quality time, acts of service and gift giving. Which one is primary depends on what time of the year it is! I can say “I love you,” all day long, but she doesn’t feel loved until I show her in one of those three ways. It’s the same for me. My love languages are physical touch and words of affirmation. She can say “I love you,” but to feel loved takes physical touch and words of affirmation. My point is we need both words and action. So it is in the world when we show and share the love of Christ. We can say, “God loves you and I love you,” and it’s true, but until we put feet to that faith, lives lack transformation. We can say to a hungry person, “God loves you,” but unless we give the hungry man a piece of bread, the words are hollow. He’s deaf to the message. That’s exactly what the Apostle John, who was sitting at the feet of Jesus on the day he sent the apostles out, said in 1 John 3: 17 – 18: “17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Wesley believed that, too. Wesley went into the coal mines and industrial towns of England and “preached” the good news…was often pelted with fruit…was jeered and derided, by those both inside and outside the church. But Wesley also took actions that sought to change the lives of the poor and destitute of England. Wesley saw three stages of giving: charity which relieves immediate pain (give the man a fish); philanthropy which seeks to cure the diseases of society (teach the man to fish); and social justice, which recognizes that all people have rights to the good things of God's earth without being made objects of either charity or philanthropy (give the man access to a pond).
The same apostle John, who was with the other disciples that day, also reminds us in compelling ways of this idea of words and action. John, in his gospel, tells us the Word became flesh…word became action…and dwelt among us. John also tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God sent the Son, the Son sent the disciples. It’s a continuing commission. And, it’s in John’s Gospel where we hear these words from Jesus: “12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 12 – 13). It is also John who issues the challenge to us: “16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3: 16). Proclaiming the Gospel takes both words and actions to change a person’s life.
In his book, Building a Contagious Church, Mark Mittleberg shares this story: Walking up to the large arena in Grand Rapids, MI, we see a mass of young people in line for a concert. The headline act is shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, who bills himself as the “Anti-Christ Superstar.” The crowd is noisy and energetic, ready to see a show that most, if not all of us would never consider attending.
Drawing closer, we notice a group of people engaging the concertgoers in lively discussion. The protesters are Christians with signs expressing their disapproval of Marilyn Manson and all those who would attend the concert. These zealous protesters are yelling at the crowd, and the Manson fans are shouting back with equal intensity. Though no physical blows are exchanged across the battle lines, a steady barrage of verbal missiles and assaults are launched back and forth. Obviously there is a significant disconnect between the two groups.
Soon another group of Christians enter the mix. It’s a band of 19-29 year olds from a ministry called “the gro-ups”, sponsored by Corinth Reformed Church in Byron Center, Michigan. They unload bags of ice, coolers, and cases of Mountain Dew. They walk up to the pulsating crowd of anxious rockers and begin giving away soft drinks. No signs condemning anyone, no strings attached—just free drinks, a smile and a sincere, “Have a good evening.”
Some of the people going to the concert simply accepted the free drink and moved on. Others say thank you and asked “Why are you doing this?” The answer was simple with no shame or guilt attached, “We love God and we love you!” Some snickered and walked away. Others lingered and talked a bit. One young man begins to interact more deeply and even decides to throw away his ticket and help the members of “gro-ups” hand out more drinks! Out of this simple act of service, lives were touched and the love of Jesus was communicated to people who might have no other positive contact with Christians. There was an obvious connection between the two groups.
That only leaves the “how,” doesn’t it? Jesus also gave the disciples the means to fulfill the mission—through his power and authority. I’m not going to spend a lot of time here unpacking his power and authority. We’ll do that next week as we explore the catalyst for the mission. Suffice it to say that as Jesus told his disciples to “take nothing for the journey,” that it was a call to trust fully in his ability to provide for their needs. Jesus was saying, “All you need is me! I’ll be with you.” All we need to fulfill the mission is faith in Jesus. If we depend on our own strength, we’ll fail. Heck, most of us won’t even have the energy to try. When we “go” into the world with trust in Christ, we’ll discover doors open we never saw before. We’ll see people transformed. We’ll see communities transformed. We’ll be transformed. We’ll see God’s creation transformed. We’ll see the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven…and that’s the mission, right? Don’t we believe that it’s possible?
