Why am I on Mission?
Made for Mission: Week 5
February 23rd, 2020
Scripture: John 13:1-17
Good morning. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve stood up here to bring the word.
We’re in week five of our Made for Mission Series.
To catch us up- We started out by saying “We are all called.” Calling is not for the spiritually elite but for everyone who calls Jesus Lord.
Week two we answered the question, “What’s my mission?” We said our mission is Jesus’ mission so we better find out what He’s about.
Week three we asked, “What’s my message?” We know we are made for a mission so we have to know what to say when we are on it. We learned our message is simple. We’re just supposed to share how God’s goodness has intersected with my life.
Finally, 3 weeks ago we talked about “Who’s my mission?” We said it’s simply those around us that God has strategically placed around us where we live work and play.
So here we are today- thinking about why we are on mission.
When I first came to this church, I was challenged to think of this place not as just a small country church in a small country town, and in a county whose name most people in this state can’t pronounce.
Instead- see this as a county-wide church that reaches far from this building.
When you start to think that way- it can seem overwhelming if we just think about just this building as being where we hold services. When we begin to realize that you are the church then all of a sudden we realize that we have opportunities to make an impact all over the place.
Today is a great example of that. The day I was going to bring this message, we got a major snowstorm. It shut down the roads into town and around the church.
But what if we have people who think “I’m on a mission. I have a home that can fit a few people, let me make a few phone calls of people that live close by and we can have church right here”
What if we have people all over the county thinking the same way.
Then we might have one church, in multiple locations.
Our former superintendent Larry Liebe said something about our district that always challenged me. He said we are not 200 churches- we are 1 church in 200 locations.
Isn’t that also what the church should be?
This thought starts to answer the question-“Why am I on Mission?”
I know from the start that sermons like this can bring up two reactions-
For some, you get pumped up and wanting to know and serve God in bigger and better ways.
Others, you may find yourself asking questions like
-Can’t I just be a normal person. Go to work, pay my taxes, raise my kids, and live my life like everyone else?
Do I really have to see my job or my school as a mission field? Can’t I just go to school like everyone else? Can’t I go shopping without asking how God might use me to reach people?
Let me illustrate how Jesus wants us to live - it’s important to understand that Jesus is inviting us into a Chicken Pot Pie relationship not TV Dinner one.
Let me explain
You know in a TV dinner the food comes it their own compartments.
So you could devour the steak but completely avoid the cauliflower because it’s from the devil.
In the same way we can easily break our lives into their own distinct compartments. You’ve got one titled family, one titled work, one titled friends, and one for spiritual beliefs.
It’s called compartmentalization. We all do this to some degree. WE have boxes- the spiritual box, the family box, the work box, the school box, one for that one special person in our lives box. For some-you are masters at compartmentation.
You never open one box while another box is also open. You first have to take that box, neatly close it up, put it back on it’s shelf, and the open the other box.
I you are like this- you could have Sunday Morning box- filled with strong spiritual beliefs that come out on Sundays- that’s the open box until around noon, then the Sunday afternoon relaxing box comes out.
The only problem with compartmentalization is that Jesus isn’t interested in just your spiritual box, he’s interested in all of your boxes, and all of your life.
That’s the TV dinner example, let’s look at Chicken Pot Pie
With Chicken Pot Pie all of the food is fixed in so there is no picking and choosing. The cauliflower or broccoli, chicken and carrots are all in every bite whether you like it or not. The same is true with our walk with God. He wants our relationship with Him to touch every part of our lives and for us to get rid of the compartments and the boxes.
Let’s look at this principle in God’s word
Read John 13:1-17 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
When you read the Gospels, often the most frequent response people had to Jesus was utter amazement.
Jesus did things that they simply did not see it coming.
Is that ever your response to Jesus?
Maybe it was before, but now we’ve been at this Christian thing for a while kind of know the drill.
When you are surrounded by the amazing, even the amazing can become commonplace.
Maybe that’s how the disciples felt after 3 ½ years of following Jesus.
Yawn—another blind guy can see.
Yawn—another paralyzed guy can walk.
That loss of appreciation for the amazing can deaden our sense of the immediacy of Jesus’ mission in our lives.
For many of us-it’s easy to turn our sense of mission on and off but Jesus was always on mission.
One obvious difference was that he was God but I think it was more than that-
He knew Why He was on Mission and it was stronger than any of the reasons or excuses that could have gotten him off track.
Jesus could have had the same excuses many of us have not to wash the disciples feet-
• -He was having a nice meal with his friends. Jesus knew this would be the last meal he would have this side of the cross. Jesus could have said- “This is a party, can I not have to think about serving others for the next two hours. I get it if I’m on a mission trip or at church but can’t I just enjoy a Friday night with friends.
Maybe He could have looked forward in time, and thought-
• -The people at the meal didn’t deserve me humbling myself like this-
After all, Jesus knew that Peter would deny even knowing him later that night. Judas could betray Jesus in just a few hours and hand him over to be crucified.
All of them were going to abandon him.
It’s one thing when the people you’re serving are grateful but that wasn’t an excuse for Jesus to bail out. His servant’s heart was bigger than whether the person was deserving.
Jesus could have looked forward in time and seen there were no immediate results of his actions.
• Seemingly he was making no impact by washing their feet. They still spent the night arguing and trying to position themselves for the maximum reward when Jesus took control of Israel. He could have easily said, “What’s the point?”
Jesus also knew what was coming-
The cross. He knew that he was about to be arrested, beaten and crucified. We read that maybe just an hour later he is sweating blood because of the stress in his life
If there was ever a time to think about his own stuff this would certainly be one..
But here Jesus is again amazing those closest to him.
How does he do this?
How do I stay focused and passionate about the mission even when I don’t feel like it,
How about when I’m stressed,
Or what about when I have some serious and even legitimate anger towards the people I’m trying to reach out to?
How, how, how did Jesus do this?
Here is the key-
The Foundation of His Mission flowed from His Identity.
Lots of things shape how we see ourselves and how we think other people see us.
What if your identity was truly found in God?
This was definitely true for Jesus
He knew who he was. He was the Son of God. His mission was clear.
He knew whose he was -He was the Fathers. What was there to fear?
He knew what he was here for. –The time had come- he was preparing for the cross to pay for the sins of mankind
He knew where he was going. – He would leave this world and go to the Father in Heaven. His eyes were looking beyond the cross.
He knew where the power came from. – Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God
As followers of Jesus ALL OF these are true for us as well.
When our identity is wrapped up in God, He is infinitely bigger than the circumstances that surround us.
So Jesus’ identity was secure but that doesn’t answer the question of why that lead him to wash feet.
Let’s look at the why.
Read John 13: 6-11
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.
I often wondered about that response from Jesus- it seems harsh and out of place for what HE is doing here.
What a crazy response, “if I don’t do this then you have no part with me.”
I’ve found that Jesus is describing a principle of how our relationship to Him is supposed to look like.
Pour Out Pour In Pour Out
We begin by pouring out ourselves to God. We share with him the good, the bad and the ugly. Like a good parent, Jesus wants to hear us talk about our fears, stresses, passions and dreams. Then after we pour out to God, He then pours back into us.
This most often happens through the HOLY SPIRIT as we take in the WORD of God.
It can also come through the fellowship we have with one another as we meet here in church and with each other throughout the week.
GOD fills us up with encouragement, conviction, guidance and wisdom. Then from his overflow we then go pour ourselves out to others.
• Right after this scene Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where he pours out his heart to God (pour out)
• The passage says that God sends an angel to strengthen Him (pour in).
• Finally Jesus goes from there to give his life on the cross to forgive the sins of all mankind (ultimate pour out)
To the depth that I pour out to God is the depth that God pours into me. To the depth that God pours into me is the depth that I am able to pour into others.
That’s why we should follow Jesus’ example of pouring ourselves out to God, so HE can pour HIMSELF into us.
This is a big idea for us to follow- your friends, your family, your neighbors, your coworkers, or whoever else God puts in your path does NOT you- they need Jesus.
What Jesus was trying to explain and teach to Peter is the same for everyone who calls Jesus LORD
Jesus’ primary call on Peter’s or our lives is not ministry.
Jesus’ call on Peter’s life and our lives is and always will be intimacy.
And no matter what your position, your job, your past- Jesus’ primary call on your life is not just ministry- it is first and foremost intimacy with HIM.
Jesus told Peter on day one, “Follow me.”
Not do what I do or get in line—Jesus invited him first and foremost into a relationship.
THEN- Jesus says “I will make you a fisher of man.” Notice Peter’s job was not to become a fisher of men but simply follow Jesus and allow him to make Peter into whatever he wanted.”
We can get so wound up wondering what God wants to do in our lives, or who he wants us to be.
Stop that.
He wants to be your God. It’s very simple. Everything else will flow from that.
Otherwise We get all this stuff in our lives that makes us forget that our real identity is God given. God wants to cleanse us and remind us who we really are.
The two can’t ever be separated or we will fade over time. The exciting thing is that then out of our identity of being cleansed by God and refilled by His Spirit, He calls us to join him.
Listen to the last thing he tells Peter and the other disciples to do.
Read John 13: 13-17
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
He tells them to go do the same for others. As I’ve poured into you now you pour into others.
This story has multiple layers. Not only do we see where Jesus puts his foundation so that he’s able to stay on mission even when everyone else would give up or walk away.
We also find, as God pours more of himself into us, He will lead us to a greater level of service and sacrifice.
Everyone else in our world is about upward mobility. Get a better car, better house, better job, better paycheck.
God actually leads us to downward mobility. It’s so foreign to our culture but it’s His way. He exchanged a throne in heaven for a cross on earth.
Jesus tells us.
Read John 13:16-17
Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Notice He doesn’t say serve and sacrifice for others so that God will give you spiritual brownie points. Instead He says, “you’ll be BLESSED if you do them.” Meaning, you’re the fortunate one.
I think there are two main reasons he says we will be blessed.
1) The more you serve and sacrifice out of an overflowing cup, the more you are like Christ.
2) The more you serve and sacrifice the more you are with Christ. The deeper you go down the more you get immersed in God’s love.
It’s only here that you truly learn that Jesus is enough. If you have Him you have all that you need.
The challenge for us today-
Pour out all your stuff to Jesus and then allow Him to pour himself back into you.
Some of you might think it’s too late for that, and if that’s you, I would say this-
Don’t give up on a God who has never given up on you.
Let that soak for a minute
Satan is the one that might be whispering in your ear right now “you can’t do it. Don’t stretch yourself. You’ll fail”.
You need to say- Shut up devil.
God pours in His whispers---I still believe in you. I’m not done with you. The best is still to come.
1 Corinthians 2:9 New International Version (NIV)
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
You have no idea what is behind the curtain of complete surrender to God.
Just trust God and His word.
Get back up. Give Him one more day. Let God be strong in your weakness. The omnipotent ruler of all creation has got you.
You’re not alone.
One final thought and we will be done.
For all of you who think that God can’t use you because you’ve messed up way too much in life.
Did you know the Gospel of Mark is Peter’s testimony of Jesus.
Mark was the author, but many believe that he dictated it from Peter.
You know what is so cool about that. It was written about 64 AD, 30 years after the events it records.
What we see 30 years later is that Peter’s identity in Christ is so sure that he includes all his mistakes.
Can’t you just picture Peter---“oh and that’s when I really messed up and cut the dudes ear off, and that’s when I fell asleep, that’s when I denied Jesus to His face and that’s when I took my eyes off Jesus and started sinking.”
Peter had learned that God can even work through our weakness, our mistakes, and even our sin. God wants it all.
What would happen if we trusted God in everything?
Even with our mistakes and empty all that before HIM, so that Jesus can fill us up with HIS identity, His nature, His power, and His presence?
Who knows—if you could be transparent about your worst moments, God may use it to help others when they feel like they are failing.
The Foundation of Peter’s Mission flowed from His Identity in Christ and the same must be true for you as well.
Let’s pray.
