Note: I had to make many cuts as I preached this sermon. I normally preach for half an hour, but if I used all this material, I think I would have to preach 50 minutes or more. Hope you find something here helpful.
Thanks,
Ed
You Have Just Entered the Missions Zone
(Romans 15:14-33)
1. Many of you remember growing up watching the Twilight Zone.
2. Jerry Santen were talking about that show last week.
3. Many of the big stars played roles on that show, before they became famous.
4. Some of those stories were scary. Kids all over America were afraid to go to bed after watching the Zone. As a matter of fact, so were many adults!
5. When you entered the Twilight Zone, you entered another dimension.
6. The truth is that when a man, woman, teen, or child accepts Jesus Christ as Savior, he or she enters another dimension: a spiritual dimension, known as the Kingdom of God. The believer battles spiritual enemies: the devil and his demons, the resident traitor within – our sin nature, and the world.
7. Positively, he seeks to aid and strengthen other soldiers of the King and draft recruits to join the warfare. This drafting of recruits is a combination of evangelism (local recruits) and missions (recruits from different cultures or lands).
8. So if you know Christ, you have entered the “Missions Zone.”
9. Most Christians are not called to be missionaries, and thousands testify to the foolishness of entering full time ministry without a sense of calling.
10. But every Bible oriented church needs to be connected to missions. At HPC, about 20 per cent of our tithes and offerings go to Missions. We take this seriously. Three families from our church are on the mission field: the Moores, Aldridges, and Dawsons. Since the average American evangelical church sends out .11 missionaries or missionary families per congregation, we are 27 times higher than most…sovereignty of God
11. Paul already alluded to that in chapter 10, where he argued that to be saved, one must call upon Jesus Christ. To do this, one must know about Christ. To find out about Christ, others must communicate the message. For them to preach, they must be sent.
Main idea: A church is many things, including the Kingdom of God in action. A church is to propagate itself, multiply itself, and deepen its impact. This means a church must boldly enter the Missions Zone.
TS----There are three portals we must enter if we are to grasp this special dimension of God’s Kingdom work.
I. Training Believers to GROW (14)
A Christianity worth reproducing…
A. These verses describe how trained believers LOOK
1. character: filled with GOODNESS (agathosyne) kindness
One day, a church was having its normal 11 service. It was a good attendance day; there was not an empty seat in the whole church. Around 11:05 a young guy barefoot with a tie die shirt came in, looked around did not find a seat, so he wondered up about ¾ of the way and sat down in the isle. This was one of those churches where everyone dressed properly and say up straight in their pew
The head elder of the Church was always clean cut, well groomed, well dressed, and was a man of great dignity. He saw the kid sitting in the Isle, he got out of his seat and started heading down the isle, by this time the whole congregation was watching and wondering what was going to happen
As he slowly made his way down the isle, he got to the kid, everybody was watching, he lowered his body and sat down right beside the young kid
We need the kindness of that Elder, we need to be reaching people who need to here the good news (source: Dan Borchert, Sermon Central)
2. complete in KNOWLEDGE (educated)
One of my favorite books was written by Os Guiness titled, “Fit Bodies, Fat Minds.” He bemoans the reality that many evangelical Christians do not develop their minds, and they look down upon those who do as unspiritual…”I’m not into doctrine; just loving God from the heart.” They completely ignore Rom. 12:2
3. competent to TRAIN OTHERS
Once someone has character and knowledge, he needs practical direction. One thing to know the Bible, another to teach it….one thing to know the principles of resolving conflict, another to mediate…
Three steps to training:
• You watch what I do
• You help me do it
• You do it while I supervise you
B. The church gathers for TRAINING, a key element in edification
--we learn from one another; we do not always need official “programs”
--getting into the lifelong habit of learning from others is crucial
--I learn from people all the time; actually, if I look at our board of elders, each of those guys have taught me something…
1. John Ortberg: instead of trying harder, start TRAINING
2. As you initiate the process of getting to know God better, you will grow and have more SPIRITUAL SUCCESS
C. The church must guard the QUALITY of its product; mutant Christianity is not what we want to propagate…that is Satan’s strategy…
Vasicek thought: if most Christians were like you, would the church be better off or worse off?
If then end product of the church is mature believers who glorify God, where do the new churches in other regions come from?
A church is many things, including the Kingdom of God in action. A church is to propagate itself, multiply itself, and deepen its impact. This means a church must boldly enter the Missions Zone.
The first portal we must walk through is Training Believers to Grow; zeal without knowledge and maturity will not make the grade. But there is a second portal:
II. Recognizing Those Called to GO (15-19)
Paul’s calling…
1. to the GENTILES (16a)
Although the church is open to all believers, it is legitimate to target outreach…if you aim for everyone, you will probably hit no one…
2. to evangelize as an act of WORSHIP, an offering (16b)
• OT imagery: serving as a priest, offering a sacrifice (the gentiles he has won to Christ), pleasing God with the sacrifice because it is set apart “sanctified” by the Holy Spirit…
• Modern trends are to equate Worship with music; but Worship occurs whenever God’s Person or works are given attention…as in witnessing…when you explain salvation to someone, you are highlighting God’s holiness, His love, and His grace…and His act of sending His Son as a sin sacrifice…
3. to let Christ work THROUGH Him (17-19)
John Stott points out that sometimes ministry is presented as collaboration between us and God (We are God’s fellow workers I Cor. 3:9) other times we are pictured as instruments He uses….either way, the bottom line is availability….
Are we available to God? Can He change our schedule?
4. obvious to all (in his case by apostolic MIRACLES) (19)
Vasicek thought: the relationship of miracles to missions
Although the original Apostles were unique, God still calls some of His children to minister cross-culturally. The local church must support and encourage men and women who sense that call, which leads us to our third portal….
A church is many things, including the Kingdom of God in action. A church is to propagate itself, multiply itself, and deepen its impact. This means a church must boldly enter the Missions Zone.
The second portal is recognizing those called to go. But there is a third portal we must walk through.
III. Partnering to Help the Gospel FLOW (20-33)
A. Missions priorities (20-22)
1. the UNREACHED (20-21)
2. ABOVE visiting supporters (22)
Vasicek thought: short term vs. career missions
B. The FELLOWSHIP between missionaries and church families (23-33)
--what does “koinonia” mean? Fellowship, sharing, partnering, joining
1. a warm sense of ATTACHMENT, not a cold strategy (23)
2. fellowship by financial support of both INDIVIDUALS (24) and MINISTRIES (25-29) not directly benefiting ones local church)
“assist me on my journey” Greek word, propempo
“accompany, escort, help on one’s journey with food, money, by arranging for companions, means of travel, etc.
*although those called make great sacrifices, those of us who stay at home have to make some sacrifices too…
3. fellowship by prayer (30-33) in four areass:
SAFETY,
EFFECTIVENESS,
RENEWAL, and
MUTUALITY (missionaries should care about us, too)
4. All dependent upon the will of God…
Paul’s 3 requests:
His gift probably was well received by the Jewish believers, despite the tensions between Jewish believers and their gentile brothers…
But what about the other two? John Stott writes:
“Both received a qualified ‘yes’[; the first, ‘Yes and No’, the second, ‘Yes, but.” Was Paul delivered from unbelievers in Jerusalem? No, in the sense that he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned, but also a ‘yes’ because he was three times rescued from lynching, once from flogging, and once from a plot to kill him. Then did he reach Rome? Yes indeed, as Jesus had promised him he would (Acts 23:11), but neither when nor how he had expected, for he arrived about three years later, as a prisoner, and after an almost fatal shipwreck.
“So prayer is an essential Christian activity, and it is good to ask people to pray for us and with us, as Paul did. But there is nothing automatic about prayer. Prayer is not like using a coin-operated machine or a cash dispenser. The struggle involved in prayer lies in the process of coming to discern God’s will and to desire it above everything else.” (The Message of Romans, page 390).
5. Prayer here is described as a “struggle.” The struggle is not just developing a pattern of prayer, the struggle is against the Kingdom of Darkness. When missionaries invade Satan’s monopoly, he doesn’t take kindly to it; our missionaries need our prayer support.
A church is many things, including the Kingdom of God in action. A church is to propagate itself, multiply itself, and deepen its impact. This means a church must boldly enter the Missions Zone.
We must train believers to Grow, Recognize those whom God has called to GO, and Partner to help the Gospel FLOW.
CONCLUSION
1. Participating in God’s Kingdom work may not seem as pressing as saving up for that new car or paying a tuition bill.
2. It is one of the most relevant things we can do.
3. Thank you for supporting missions by supporting this church; thank you for being here when our missionaries come back on furlough; they need a sense of a church home.
Thank you for praying, for additional contributions you make, for housing them, hosting them in your homes, sending them or their children magazines and things in our mailings, and for showing them love and support in countless ways.
4. And if you are new to this partnership, pray for some of them. Glance at the updates on our bulletin board, the Body Builder, and our e-mail updates.
5. They’re sharing Christ as part of our team. We are partners.
