Title: “The Mission”
*Jesus prays for his (jr.) partners in the mission of God, the Father.”
See also John 20:21 “as the father has sent me, I am sending you.”
Read Text Here... John 17
The context/background ? Jesus is soon to be arrested... (“the hour has come...”)
Lesslie Newbigin, the great missionary to India, writes:
When a man is going on a long journey, he will find time on the eve of his departure for a quiet talk with his family, and—if he is a man of God—will end by commending to God not only himself and his journey, but also the family whom he leaves behind. Very surely will this be so if his journey is the last journey.
Introduction
Church in Iran... (1) fastest growing (2) no buildings (3) mostly led by women (4) fearless in the face of persecution.
See CT...
“Iran is home to one of the fastest-growing churches in the world,” said Terry Ascott, founder and CEO of SAT-7, a Christian broadcasting network in the Middle East. It began a Farsi-language channel, PARS, in 2006.
“There seems to be a crisis of faith in Iran, perhaps because of the abuse of power by ‘religious’ leaders, the economic problems, and the violent oppression of any dissent.”
Church in Mongolia: virgin territory – after the fall of USSR (1990)? ... church moved in (along with cults...) services are held in schools/town halls/ abandoned theatres... one Sunday I had had the privilege of preaching there... before the service began I asked to use the washroom... I was guided down a couple of hallways ...then outside...then I tucked through a hole is an old fence and then to the out-house. (This is how we do church in Mongolia)... my friend Bozekhan has a vibrant ministry to orphans and the poor.
In Ukraine I’ve preached in a beautiful church that during soviet days was converted into a army depot... the soviets kept their trucks and artillery in this building dedicated to the gospel... after 80 years of oppression the soviet union collapsed and the building was fixed up and nowadays 600 plus people cram into that building every Sunday.
Like many of you ...I grew up in a modest church of approx. 100 people... in CBS.
We always envied Elim (at least I did) – it was church done the right way... even though to attend Elim back then was a little intimidating... when you’re a guest or you know people – it can be uncomfortable. ... but that little church has made an impact... it made a number of disciples... it sent out preachers and teachers of the word... as rick warren once said “the measure of a church is not it's seating capacity but it's sending capacity.” ... it has been a sending church.
Having said that... I don’t think it's ever reached it's potential – and it frustrates me deeply when churches fail to reach their potential... but maybe I’m thinking too logically and not thinking spiritually.
I mean how can any church reach it's potential when it's run by humans... yes, it's God’s way – yes, he’s making his appeal through us ... but he also says “we have this treasure in jars of clay(!) – why Lord?...so that the power may be of God and not of ourselves.”
When I finished seminary, I wanted to plant a church. I like the “Tim Hortons” approach to church planting – put a church in every neighbourhood.
So I wanted to plant a church in Toronto... a paoc “franchise” you might say.
The PAOC said “No” (I’m too young and inexperienced)...
but God said “Yes” and we did
... 8 years in a school... no on-site storage... a portable keyboard and an endless scrambling to find someone to play it.
No mother church... we were an orphan without knowing it.
No critical mass.
We started with a dozen or so mis-fits. Most of them didn’t stay long... but 3 couples did... we were like family.
One of those families had a pool and that’s where we did baptisms. Yes, full immersion baptisms. Except for one dead old lady – a former Hindu – she couldn’t make it in and out of the pool safely, so we went all liturgical and poured a pitcher of water over her head. It continues to be one of my favourite baptisms ever.
That church still isn’t “big” ... but it is beautiful.
It is a NT community. People come from all over the world and all over the neighbourhood.
A place where people take care of each other. Where the gospel is preached – and where people are working to reach their neighbours.
I love the church – it's Christ’s body and blood.
I want to be one of those people who works for the church – it's mission matters more than anything.
More than your time
More than your money
More than your recreation
More than your retirement...
More than your family?
More than our personal preferences.
You see as we learned from 2 cor 5 – “God is making his appeal through us.”
I believe God is still looking for people who have – in the words of Francis Chan – a “crazy love” for Christ and his church. We can’t separate Christ from his church – because you can’t separate a head from a body and expect anything good to happen.
We are a church on a mission!
We may ask ourselves this question...“Is the Christ of the gospels, admired in the ancient Mediterranean world, still capable of forming the center of our prodigiously expanding knowledge and technology ? Is our advancement in science and becoming more fascinating and more dazzling than the transcendent God described in the bible? Will this modern world burst our faith asunder and eclipse our God?...
Teilhard de Chardin ... Quoted in Reversed Thunder, page 26
Context: This is one of the few places in the Bible where can listen to the son addressing his Father. this passage is so precious to us. In fact, this passage is “ the Lord's Prayer.”
What does Jesus pray for...? (as he faces the cross and the end of his work...)
1. First Of All...Jesus Prays For His Father To Be Glorified: V 1-5, 10, 22
a. I have brought you glory by finishing the (redemptive) work
i. The cross is not a place of shame – but of honor and glory!
ii. Likewise Paul... “phil 3:10 “ to suffer for the gospel is to participate in the sufferings of Christ.”**
b. Glorify me... which will glorify you – we are one.
c. In 17:5 and v. 24 Jesus acknowledges divine glory before the world was made. This ties the prayer directly to 1:1–3 ... No clearer language of preexistence is possible!
d. V. 10 ... glory has come to me through them.
e. V. 22 ... I have given them the glory you gave me.”
f. We also are “for his glory” ...
g. V. 22 -- “I have given them the glory that you gave me...”
h. Paul says in romans 16:4 “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
**God is glorified through his Son (17:1, 4, 5) and the Son is glorified through his disciples (17:10, 22).
2. Jesus Prays For His Disciples To Be Joyful On The Mission: V. 13-17
a. Jesus prays for joy – while engaged in dangerous work
i. Joy while engaged in hard work and often slow progress
How about you... do you have that joy? ... or are you tired and disillusioned?
Sunday morning is a time to celebrate... celebrate God and celebrate his mercy toward us.
Celebrate the church
Celebrate “the goodness of God”
That’s why singing is so central to our gatherings
Remember church... Jesus is praying us through!
“Christians are people in transit by train, with passports in hand, speeding through the countryside, talking to bystanders at every village stop inviting them to get on board.”
3. Jesus Prays For Holiness ...Because The Absence Of Holiness Is A Contradiction Of The Message And ... “Sanctify Them”; v.17-18-19.
i. The presence of holiness brings peace – the absence of holiness brings turmoil – because sin is always destructive.
ii. Sanctify = “set apart” (apart from the world)
iii. There will always be pressure to accommodate & compromise... many times we do...more than we like to admit.
Note: “I sanctify myself says Jesus....***Jesus is recommitting himself to the mission assigned by the Father!!!
Holiness is an attitude.
Holiness is a matter of the heart
Holiness brings humility – not self-righteousness or judgmentalism.
Holiness is an idea that gets associated with petty habits/customs... and we tire of this shallow definition of holiness – but holiness isn’t to be assumed. It requires serious reflection.
The word of God sanctifies... the HS works sanctification in the people of God.
***Jesus was the bearer of God’s glory, and now the church bears that glory alone. “I have given them the glory that you gave me.” (v. 22)
4. Jesus Prays For the Mission to Continue: (the sent one sends...)
a. V. 18 “as you sent me into the world I have sent them...”
b. Jesus prays for protection for his people from the evil one – as hated. (v. 11-12 and 15)
c. We have an enemy... this is dangerous work!!!
d. Many are persecuted...
e. Many are martyred
f. Church in Iran...China...
IDOP -prayer for the persecuted church -- November 3.
5. Jesus Prays For His Disciples To Be United In Mission; V. 11, 21-22-23
a. “Complete unity” is an aspiration...
b. V. 11 – “so that they may be one as we are one.” (Unity in the trinity)
c. V. 21 “that all of them may be one.”
d. Unity is a powerful witness – “then the world will know...” (v. 23)
e. Locally... in this community we affirm the high value of unity
I encourage you to make things right with one another ...especially at the communion table
Hold no grudges
Judge no one
Bless one another
Biblical NT Community is special... is more than be nice to each other... it's more than tolerating each other... it's love that overflows from the love God has poured into our hearts.
i. Unity is not uniformity
ii. Unity with our diversity
iii. Unity of the message and united in Christ our head.
6. Jesus Promises To Lead The Mission - Working In Us And Through Us: V. 26
a. Jesus prays for successful completion of the mission.
b. We have the word – v. 17 “truth”
c. Jesus continues to reveal the Father
d. We have the Spirit – 14:26
e. I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known: v 26
Conclusion; “This is the essence of Jesus’ vision for the church. It is not a community that heals people just so that they will be whole (though healing is important); it is not a community that teaches so that people will be gratified by knowledge (though wisdom is valuable); it is not a community that evangelizes so that it will grow its ranks (though its mission to the world is crucial).
The church is a community that invites people to touch the glory of God, to be changed by it, and to bear it to the world.
“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (15:8). Spiritual fruit is essentially that which glorifies God.”
Last word on the church...Revelation 5:6 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. ...7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
We are a church on a mission... the mission of God.
