Made for Mission
Purpose Driven Life #36
Montreal/Cornwall
May 22, 2004
Why are we here? That’s the common question of our generation and of our age, and reflects the deep quest, and yearning, of us all for meaning in and to our lives. We, who are baby boomers, are coming to a time in life when we’re finding that all the energy and effort toward gratifying ourselves has not given us what we want; so, my generation is beginning to look for meaning in different ways. The young, today, are looking for meaning, and the result is that we’re seeing more of an involvement in other people, and a turning away from questing so much for money and more of a looking for relationships and meaning there. Why are we here?
Over the past 35 messages in this series, we have come to understand how God wants to redeem human beings from Satan and reconcile them to himself so they, including we, can fulfill the five purposes he created us for. We’ve been created to love him, to be part of his family, to become like him, to serve him, and to be involved in his work of reaching others. We’ve come to see that once we are his, God uses us to reach others. He saves us and then sends us out. We are the messengers of God’s love and purposes to the world.
All of these five purposes have to do with relationships, and spring from the two great laws of Christ- that we are to love God with all our being and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. These two great laws have always been- from creation, they were in force. They were codified, in a special and temporary way, for a carnal people at Sinai. But contrary to what we used to say, the Ten Commandments were NOT in force from Adam. Something far greater was and we’ve come to understand that and the temporary nature of the Ten Commandments, and all the other laws of which they were the center.
Today, we begin our last five messages in this important series. (I’ve never in 30 years of ministry given or been involved in a 40-part series before- yet, the responses from it have been greater than I’ve heard, ever, so I believe we have all been helped.) These last five messages focus on the fact that we are made for a mission. We’re made, of course, for a wonderful relationship with God that has us joining in his family and belonging there (the church) and has us becoming more like God and Christ, as we mature spiritually. We are to minister to one another- we are to serve one another. But, we are not to simply stay here, loving God and loving each other forever, although that would be easy. The church, and the mission of our Father, is not about our just going to church together forever and ever and simply encouraging and helping one another. No! As comfortable as that might be, there’s a world out there in dire need for the one thing that will bring the solutions people need to the issues of their lives. That is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So, from the comfort and strength of the church and the family of God, we must go out on mission to other people and help them to experience what we are experiencing, but must not hold to ourselves. There is NOT only a limited amount of God’s goodness to go around. It’s unlimited, and there’s more than enough for everyone, so we don’t need to be chintzy and cheap about our reaching out to others. People around us are so very needy.
Do you see the needy people around you? How does it show around you? Let’s consider this together for a few moments. How do you see these needy people? (For my part, as I get to be in schools some, I see kids who, apparently, have money, but who are missing love, and who act out and disrupt classes because they’re desperate for attention. For them, bad attention and being sent to the office, for instance, is better than no attention at all.)
What about you? How do you see the needy people around you? (Get comments.)
Judith was telling us, over dinner a few days back, about the ongoing war in Pincourt. You knew about the war in Iraq, right? But you didn’t know there was a war in Pincourt, did you? There are tensions between English and French youth and, apparently, a week or so back, one came out the wrong door at the mall, which stirred a battle and a fight between the two sides.
We’ve a task to reach these people. One thing Gary Moore and I talked about is the floor our faith gives to us. Some people have to face some awful circumstances, like he and Tamara, but without hope, and that turns into despair that can go down and down and down. We have a floor and don’t have to move into despair. Doesn’t everyone need to know that and have that? I think so.
2 Cor.5.18- "Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also." That’s a tall order, isn’t it?
Do you recognize the importance of your mission? Think about these points.
1. Your mission continues Jesus’ mission on earth. He doesn’t only call us to come to him, but to go for him, too. We are to continue what Jesus began on earth, and he wants us to be so clear about this that he inspired this to be declared 5 times in 5 different books of the Bible. Now, on many matters, God has said something once, or even twice. When we look at the gospel accounts, some stories are told in different books, with some details being a little different. But this message is repeated five times in five books, so that says something about the importance.
Matt.28.19-20
Mk.16.15
Lk.24.47
Jn.20.21
Acts 1.8
Jesus tells us that he really wants us to understand this. I’m not sure we have and I hope we’re prepared to ’get it’ now. We have a cultural barrier to fight- you and me. We’re in a church where we could do this very passively in the past. We had a television program, radio program, and magazine, and people came that way. But that’s not the way it is now. We were actually told NOT to tell people about ’the truth’ because they would become responsible and if they’re not being called, they might not be able. NOW we understand that whoever is open to God’s working will ask spiritual questions or make comments indicating God is at work. Now we understand that God is a lot closer to more people than we knew before. But now we, also, understand that Jesus wants us on the front line of taking the message to people and helping them to fill the Jesus-sized hole in their hearts. None of us is exempt.
So, we have to educate ourselves and actively move out of our comfort zones toward people, as Jesus moves toward the world. There is not other answer. Do you want to disobey God? No, of course, not, yet to not reach to people in need is to disobey.
We have a wonderful church to invite people to, and a wonderful community that can support people, and we need to get better and better at doing that. God will give us as many, at a time, as we can support, and we need to be actively involved in this process. But, we have to, as well, remove all barriers to helping people to Jesus. (An issue we must face here is how to invite people to church, and with this is the issue of when we meet. In these parts, we are at a disadvantage, and we have a barrier to helping people to Christ in when we meet. Of our churches, in the US, that are growing, only one meets on Saturday and that church is located in a Jewish area of a city. We cannot claim or believe that we’ll grow and have any significant impact on this city as long as we’re out-of-step with historical Christianity on this issue. I’m being clearer on this than I’ve been before, and it’s because, since the Conference, I understand this more clearly than I have before. There is not biblical reason for us, under the New Covenant of grace, to meet on Saturday. We have to find a way to remove one more barrier to helping others to Jesus. Church is not for us- and we have to be prepared to move out of our personal comfort zones of schedule, tradition, and the like in order to help others to Jesus! This is an issue for our Councils to consider, and they have talked about it and we need to consider this with some urgency. This is not about us- it’s about them- those hurting people.) As for my house, and me we don’t want to be disobedient to God in the reaching to others.
2. Our mission is a wonderful privilege, too. Yes, it’s a big responsibility, but for God to invite us into His mission is an incredible privilege, too. When I was a child, Dad would go to farm auction sales, and I wanted to, but was too young for several years. But, then, I was old enough, and I enjoyed the privilege of going with Dad and enjoying the very special ambiance of those sales. It’s a privilege to get to go with our Heavenly Dad into His heavenly work on earth. We get to work with God and we get to represent God.
2 Cor.6.1- we work together with God.
2 Cor.5.20- we get to speak for Christ, himself.
3. Our mission has eternal significance. Everyone needs Jesus. What we do with this will impact the eternal destiny of other people, so what we do is more important than any job, achievement, or goal you will reach during your life on earth. The consequences of your mission will last forever; the consequences of your job will not.
John 9.4- there is a night coming.
Col.1.19, 20, 21- God is in a process of reconciling all things to Himself through Jesus. Some of this will happen in this life. Some of it will occur, somehow, after death. We don’t believe that if someone dies ’unsaved’ that that is the end, as some do. We understand the great God of incredible love and mercy and see passages that indicate there is work God will do in unusual ways, so none of us dare ’tell’ God that death is the end. If it is, then it is. But we need to be laboring diligently and carefully.
However, knowing this, we must not be complacent because of God’s mercy. We must not impose on that mercy. We may be the individuals God wants to use to help someone into a relationship with Him right now. We’d better not deny others that. Our lives ARE better because of this relationship with God now. How dare we prevent others from this now?
Pray for God to show you who is in need in your world. Pray for God to lead you where you need to be. Keith Roberts, and elder in Toronto, told of three different times, including two on the subway, where someone sat beside him and asked him is he was a minister, and that began a conversation. God will put people together. You need to lay your life before God each day and express your willingness. You need to be prepared to tell your story- we’ll discuss that next week. Your life is a testimony to Jesus- don’t you dare think you don’t have what it takes to lead someone to Christ, now! You and I do. God is at work in the world around each of us and is inviting people into a relationship with Him. We are, often, the tools to be used, and we dare not act as if someone else is supposed to do it. God has to scatter his Christians as salt and light and He has to use us strategically. He shouldn’t have to have another of us come back and do, a second time, what you or I should have done the first time.
Conclusion
We are called to be on mission with God. Mission has to do with our interaction with the world around us. Scripture tells us that we’re to be in the world but not of it.
John 17.11, 14- with confidence, we can live in the world knowing that Jesus, in us, will accomplish what He has in mind to accomplish through us. Go forward with that confidence.
In this next week, please pray each day for God to lead you to someone that you can talk with about hope in Jesus, and that He will enable you to do that. Next week, we need to share some of these stories of the week when we return to celebrate the church in the annual Pentecost celebration.
