Sermon – Easter and beyond - Embracing the Mission
Scripture: Matt 28:18-20 “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Acts 20:28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood[a]—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.”
Introduction: After the resurrection, Jesus showed alive to the disciples for forty days and bodily ascended into the heavens. Now the followers of Jesus must embrace His mission and care for his Church. The disciples were commanded to stay in Jerusalem until they received the Promise of the Father.
Ac 1:4 “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”
Ac 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”
The church, this new creation of God, founded and owned by Jesus Christ, energized by the Holy Spirit would be led by the faithful spirited-filled followers of Jesus Christ. These disciples were not left without a guide. They would have to figure it out for themselves. God, the Holy Spirit would explain His design for the church and His mission for it. God’s mission for the church proves to have several parts. I know the present demands that we have beautiful building, bright lights, the best entertainment like we see in many attractional models. Yet those things are mentioned in the Scriptures. Since Easter is over, what are we to do? How do we carry out the ministry Jesus began? Here several important parts of our assignment and every believer has a part to play.
1. The mission of the church is to make disciples. Just before Jesus returned to heaven, He commissioned His disciples this way: “Going into all the world, make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you” (literal translation of Matthew 28:19–20a). A disciple is a follower, someone who attaches himself to his leader. Therefore, we reason, Jesus sent the church on its mission to acquaint people in every place with Himself. As the church makes disciples, people can admire, worship, trust, follow, and obey Jesus as their Savior and Lord. The church’s members, having become enamored of Jesus Christ, assemble around Him as Master, Leader, Savior, and Friend. Our joyful mission is to put Christ on display to every nation.
2. The mission of the church is to glorify Christ. Paul wrote, “In Christ we were also chosen … in order that we … might be for the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:11–12). Part of God’s purpose for the church is to exalt Jesus Christ by the way that the church lives and by what it does. Christ designed His church to represent His supernatural, life-saving work to the world. In His church, Christ shows to the world what a freed and forgiven people can be—people who are satisfied with God as the result of Christ’s joyful, triumphant self-sacrifice. He has planned the church’s values to be His values. He expects its lifestyle to reflect His character. As the moon reflects the sun, so the church is to reflect the glory of God to a dark world.
Mt 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
3. The mission of the church is to build up the saints. The church is to encourage and comfort its individual members (1 Thessalonians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 13:11). “There should be no division in the body, but . . . its parts should have equal concern for each other” (1 Corinthians 12:25). Jesus is the chief cornerstone, and the church is likened to a building “joined together and [rising] to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19–22). Jesus Christ designed His Church to showcase God’s family on earth, so that the pagan world can see how God builds His family, on the foundation of Jesus Christ and how that family cares for one another in love.
Joh 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
The mission of the church is to know and love Christ so supremely, that we represent Him and His values accurately and vividly to the world and then serve people’s deepest needs in the way Christ Himself would meet them. As theologian, W. C. Robinson says, “Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sun about which the whole mission of the church revolves. Public worship is the encounter of the risen Redeemer with His people; evangelism is calling men to the Savior; publishing the law of God is proclaiming His lordship; Christian nurture is feeding His lambs and disciplining His flock; ministering to the needs of men is continuing the work of the Great Physician.” The church’s mission is to present Jesus Christ to the world, while He presents to the same world His rescuing work in and through His church.
Finally, like the early disciples, we must believe that God has empowered us to do this great work effectively. His power and presence is with us transforming us and causing us to be his transforming agents.
Joh 1:10-14 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
The power we received must first be experienced in personal transformation. We must allow the Holy Spirit to change us. Then He empowers us to be effective witnesses. Our best witness must be our Christ-like lifestyle. Our lifestyle full of grace and truth, offered with joy and love makes us attractive to the world. Credible Christian believers have what the world is seeking. We must join the mission of Christ.
John 3:16,17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Easter and beyond! How do we embrace the mission?
By going into all the world, making disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything Christ command.
By showing the world what a freed and forgiven people can be—people who are satisfied with God, living joyfully, triumphantly, embracing His values and reflecting His character.
By building up the body of Christ, allowing the Church to showcase God’s family on earth, and being an example to the world. They need to see how God’s family builds up one another and cares for one another in love. We have been equipped with His Holy Spirit to reflect His light in a dark world. We must brighten your corner! In the words of the old hymn,
1.“Brightly beams our Father’s mercy, From his lighthouse evermore, But to us he gives the keeping, Of the lights along the shore.
2. Dark the night of sin has settled; Loud the angry billows roar. Eager eyes are watching, longing, For the lights along the shore.
3. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother; Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed, Trying now to make the harbor, In the darkness may be lost.
[Chorus] Let the lower lights be burning; Send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman, You may rescue, you may save.
