World Class Christians
Purpose Driven Life #38
Montreal
June 8, 2004
Have you shared your story, or do you have a story about talking with someone about Jesus in the past two weeks? (Sharing from the congregation).
This is good and represents some beginning, at least, to the process into which we have entered. The Great Commission is your commission. Sometimes people wonder about what they’re supposed to be doing and are looking for God to tell them. In reality, He has already spoken and you and I don’t need much more clarity than He has alredy given. You were saved to serve and you were made for a mission, and I hope you feel some excitement about the privilege of God’s using you- little old you! That’s right!!
I want you to be a world-class Christian. This is someone who has entered into God’s work and is about the task at hand. Many Christians are worldly Christians- only in Christianity for what they can get for themselves- salvation, comfort, blessings, healings, position, and the like. This is not becoming to God or to the professing Christian. God is glorified by our being what he made us to be- and this is to be on mission in the expanding of His family and kingdom. It is becoming to you, too, as you rise to the occasion that God has put before you as you fulfill what you were called to.
The potential for us to be involved in the work of God is so great and, in many ways, so much easier than it used to be. For the first disciples, they had to use just donkeys, feet, and boats, and they couldn’t go very far very fast. Amazingly, they went quite some distance, even in their day. Thomas went to India. John likely went up into France. Those weren’t just airplane flights, in that day. They had to walk a lot of the way. Today, though, we have rapid transportation, and rapid communication means. We can write letters. We can send email and we can ’chat’ with people far away. We can phone people and it doesn’t cost much. (Do you remember when long distance used to cost so much and we had to be really careful? Now we can be on the phone for 2 hours, in Canada, and it costs under $5 for all that time- it’s amazing and it’s not so bad for international calls, either.)
Do you think like a successful world-class Christian, who is fully involved in the work of your father? Does your thinking have to shift a bit in order for this to be true of you?
1. Shift from self-centred thinking to other-centred thinking.
1 Cor.14.20- tells us to think maturely, and we saw, some weeks back, that this has to do with thinking that is expressing concern for others. Naturally, we’re all concerned for and about ourselves. Naturally, we’re all concerned about our jobs, our families, our retirements, our cars, and the like. But we can make this important mental shift through moment-by-moment dependence on God. It might take a lot of internal talk but it’s well worth the effort.
1 Cor.2.12- we don’t think like the world anymore- we must not fall to that level. When you’re with unbelievers, you can ask God to guide you to understand what stands between that person and knowing God through Jesus. You can pray even while you’re talking with the person, and God promised to give you understanding and wisdom. He will help you to comprehend what will be best for the person you are with.
1 Cor.10.33- I don’t think about what would be good for me but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved.- this is profound and is the approach of the great Paul
2. Shift from local thinking to global thinking.
We are forced into a mold that has us thinking very locally sometimes, or even just about our own country. God, however, has always cared about the entire world. Remember that he loved the whole world so much that he gave Jesus to be everyone’s savior.
Acts 17.26f- God’s concern is with all. In Canada, we tend to think fairly globally, some of the time. We’re much more aware of many aspects of international affairs than some other nations are. However, do we think globally from the perspective of doing God’s work? We’ve done that before in our church and need to not lose that perspective.
What can you do to increase your global thinking? As part of prayer time, you can pray for a particular nation. Perhaps you can bring your globe down from the shelf and simply point to a nation and pray. Or you might pray based on something you hear happening in the news.
Psa.2.8- God tells us that he will give us the nations. Prayer is the most improtant tool for your mission in the world. Prayer can work with people in a way that nothing else can or will. I watched a video, this week, from Gospel for Asia and it told of one man who ministered to an area where he was not received. Sometimes, he was threatened with death, by drunk people. He went home and prayed and fasted for those particular people and was received differently when he returned to that village another time. Prayer has great power.
Pray for opportunities to witness to people, for courage to speak up, for those who will believe, for the rapid spread of the message, and for more workers. All of these are told us in the Bible. Prayer makes you a partner with what is happening around the world. Pray for those who are missionaries in other areas; some of these, you can become aware of through the Worldwide News- we don’t get it in our homes, but we can online.
As you watch the news, recognize that with increased upset in nations, people look for stability and that comes through Christ. Amazingly, people are coming to Christ, around the world. So, when you see a trouble spot, then pray for that area which is becoming open to hearing the Good News.
Acts 1.8- tells us to reach out to our community (Jerusalem), our country (Judea), other cultures (Samaria), and to other nations (everywhere in the world). This happens at the same time, not in some ordered line of events. Look for and plan ways to be involved in each of these over the next year. What can you/we do for/in our community? What can you/we do for/in our country- Quebec? What can you/we do for other cultures- there are lots of them around us? What can you/we do for other nations? I spoke of a mission to Haiti- that won’t happen for 2004- the situation there was so unstable- but the need is great. We’ve added the mission to Chibougamau. Have you ever considered going on a short-term mission trip? It’s not just for teens. There are many groups who will help with that, and this is something that will expand your feeling for others around the world very much. Maybe you can’t go somewhere for months or a year, but you could go somewhere, even with your children, for a week or two.
3. Shift from ’here and now’ thinking to eternal thinking.
Everything in our lives, it seems, is in the here and now, and we have a lot of concerns here an dnow. However, we really need to remind ourselves, frequently, of the reality that we live on the stage of eternity and, from that perspective, we need to look at the world and our lives.
2 Cor.4.18- is very important to us. "In the context of eternity, how important is….?", is a great question to ask ourselves, and very often we spend a lot of time on things that won’t matter in even a week or two, leave alone a year, or eternity.
1 Cor.7.31- we need to focus more on what is lasting. So, when you look at mission, what is standing in the way of your mission? Is there something you need to leave behind in order to be involved?
Heb.12.1- strip off what holds us back! We’re supposed to be storing wealth in heaven- we do that by investing in people who will be in the kingdom with us. This kind of perspective will give us excellent lives here, even as it prepares us for excellence for eternity.
1 Ti.6.19
4. Shift from thinking fo excuses to thinking of creative wasy to fulfill your commission.
If you are willing, there is a way to do it. I’m constantly inspired by the number of opportunities out there. I watched the video made from Judith’s trip and am inspired to want to participate in something that big.
I’m as much an excuse maker as anyone, but we have to appreciate, understanding our SHAPE, as we spoke of a few weeks back, that God will use our shape for His purpose. You might think the fact that you only speak English is a handicap- it isn’t- there are hundreds of places to teach English as a springboard to evangelism. Don’t think you don’t have something to offer people- remember your shape. Don’t believe you’re too old or young- there are mission trips available for seniors and for ’peanuts’, too. Remember Sarah thought she was too old for what God had in mind and Jeremiah thought he was too young- both were wrong!
Don’t think that you need some special ’call’, either- Christians think they ought to wait around, but God has given us all such a call and we don’t need more. We have experienced God in His Word, and aren’t meant to wait around, but are to be out there doing and being active. God has stated his purpose repeatedly- what more is necessary?
Conclusion
Jesus has a heart for the whole world, and so so we need to have. How will you be obedient to that reality? That’s to be determined, isn’t it?
Mk.8.35- "Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live!"
The Great Commission is your commission, and doing your part is the secret to living a life of significance.
