Introduction:
A. Life is full of choices, isn’t it?
1. I read a story about a family who was moving cross-country and decided to drive both of their cars in the move.
2. Their 8 year-old son became very worried about this.
3. He asked his father, “How will we keep from getting separated?”
4. His father reassured him, “We’ll drive slowly so that one car can follow the other.”
5. The boy persisted, “Yeah, but what if we DO get separated?”
6. His father, a little irritated quipped, “Well, then I guess we’ll never see each other again.”
7. “Okay,” the boy said, “I’m riding with Mom.”
B. See, life is all about choices and sticking to them.
1. Have you ever really gotten fired up about an idea only to find your enthusiasm fading when you realized the effort it would take to follow through on the idea?
2. We might get fired up about getting into shape until we realize it means going on a diet or getting up earlier to exercise. You ever been there?
3. We might get fired up about saving for retirement until we realize it means cutting out some of our entertainment spending in the present.
4. We might get fired up about approaching the boss to talk about a raise or about unfair things happening in the workplace until we realize that he or she might not appreciate our plea, or might even let us go because of it.
C. We could come up with many other examples, but I think the point is clear: We might have a very noble goal or idea, have a plan in place and sincere intentions to carry it out, but we often still end up not following through.
1. Why is that? What holds us back and keeps us from taking action?
2. Certainly many things may be the cause, but often what’s lacking is a clear understanding of the real costs and rewards.
3. Without this, the plan can sound good but lack the personal motivation to put it into action.
4. Businesses do cost and benefit analysis’s all the time, but in many ways we do to.
5. Each of us does something similar when making a tough choice about which way to turn.
6. Whether we do so on paper or just in our minds, we put all the pros on one side of the ledger and all the cons on the other.
7. This informal analysis helps us choose the course that makes the most sense, and keeps us from abandoning ship when we encounter the costs before we realize any of the benefits.
D. Jesus suggested a similar approach in Luke 14.
1. There he gave two illustrations – one involved constructing a building, and the other about going to war.
2. The lesson in both cases was the same: Before embarking on a project, add up what you’ll have to invest – “what it will cost” – to make sure it’s worth the effort, and to make sure you will be able to follow it through to completion.
E. Now let’s relate these concepts to the goal of Embracing Our Mission.
1. Last week we established the fact that People Matter To God and they ought to matter to us.
2. We also know that apart from Christ they are lost, but their inherent worth to God warrants an all-out search.
3. But has anybody bothered to check to see how much these all-out searches cost?
4. Periodically we hear about a hiker or a hunter who is lost in the woods, or a child or an elderly person who has wandered off, and the police with their helicopters, mounted policeman, and all kinds of volunteers will search for the lost person.
5. These kinds of search and rescue missions are not cheap; not in dollars, effort or time.
6. Apply that illustration to reaching out to the irreligious people around us.
7. Embracing our mission might sound good on the surface, but we don’t have to look very deeply before we realize the actual rescue effort is going to entail significant personal expense.
8. And if that’s true for just one lost person, just imagine the combined tab when we start trying to reach whole families, communities and countries!
F. Certainly, my goal here is not to try to talk us out of Embracing Our Mission, but my goal is that we will be ready to both pay the price and reap the benefits.
1. Understanding both the costs and benefits will go a long way toward helping us follow through with Embracing Our Mission.
2. Rather than beginning with the cost, let’s start with the benefits.
I. The Personal Benefits of Embracing Our Mission
A. It might surprise some that we would even talk about the personal benefits of sharing our faith, after all, it should be about us, right?
1. In truth, it shouldn’t be “all about us”, but we, personally, are part of the equation.
A. I have always liked the verse from Philemon that we had read as our Scripture reading.
1. The NIV reads, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” (Philemon :6)
2. As I studied for this lesson and read this verse in many translations, I learned that this verse is actually one that is difficult to translate and that’s why it reads so differently in the different translations.
3. William Barclay, in his commentary, gives three possible translations, but prefers the one that is most akin to the rendering of the NIV.
4. In his understanding, this verse should say something like, “It is my prayer that your way of generously sharing all that you have will lead you more and more deeply into the knowledge of the good things which lead to Christ.”
5. To put the verse in context, Paul is writing to his Christian friend, Philemon, asking him to forgive and receive back his runaway slave, Onesimus, who Paul has brought to Christ, and who has become very useful to Paul.
6. Paul praised Philemon the generosity which Philemon had given so often to people in the past, and now Paul was asking him to be even more generous to Onesimus.
7. If our interpretation of verse 6 is correct, then the grand thought of the verse is that the one who shares what they have in Christ is the one who benefits the most.
8. We learn the most about Christ by sharing Christ with others.
9. By emptying ourselves we are filled with Christ.
10. The surest way to learn more and more of the wealth of Christ is to be open-handed and generous toward others.
11. The person who best knows what they have in Christ is the one who shares Christ the most with others.
12. So, what are the benefits?
B. First, there is the Benefit of Adventure
1. Do we realize that endeavoring to share Christ with others will give our walk with God an exciting sense of the unexpected?
2. The more we make ourselves available to God the more He will send us on secret rescue missions.
3. Like Philip (Acts 16) was sent to the side of the chariot to share Christ with the Ethiopian eunuch, so God will cause us to cross paths with those with searching hearts, if we are ready.
4. What an adventure to think that our every encounter with others may be one of God’s special appointments.
5. Jesus lived that kind of adventure, whether it was the woman at the well, or the funeral procession he encountered. Jesus always looked for opportunities.
6. We all know that the Christian life is supposed to be one of faith, where we routinely find ourselves overdriving our headlights, but by faith we know it’s okay because God is in control and he has a purpose for us. It is an adventure.
C. Second, there is the Benefit of Purpose
1. As we begin to experience the adventures God can create out of everyday situations, we will find ourselves facing daily tasks with a whole new sense of purpose.
2. Trips to the workplace, grocery store or the muffler shop take on a whole new meaning.
3. We should be asking ourselves, “Just what might God be up to in this situation?”
4. My purpose for each day and each moment, then, is to respond to the opportunities God gives me to share the love of Christ with others.
D. Third, there is the Benefit of Fulfillment
1. As we begin to throw ourselves into rescuing lost people and looking for purpose in everyday events, we start to feel a sense of fulfillment that transcends the realm of common human experience.
2. As a preacher, I have had this sense of fulfillment in my life and ministry, but this kind of fulfillment isn’t reserved for preachers alone, it is a benefit for every Christian who embraces God’s mission.
3. This sense of fulfillment comes from knowing that what we are engaged in will make a difference for eternity.
4. What a tragic mistake and waste to invest so much time and energy in things that won’t last.
5. Paul often wrote about the fact that the people he had brought to salvation and had ministered to were his joy and crown. They would be with him for eternity.
6. Let me mention one more benefit…
E. Finally, there is the Benefit of Spiritual Growth
1. As we share our faith with others and have opportunity to answer their questions, or study with them, there is no way that we won’t grow.
2. Our faith grows; knowledge grows; our peace and joy grows.
3. Our Scripture reading and prayer life become revitalized.
4. The need for worship and fellowship takes on a whole new meaning.
5. It’s like the difference between watching a football game and being one of the players.
6. The viewer has no need to get into shape or learn the plays, he or she just sits idly by, and is often board.
7. The player, on the other hand, has so much to learn and is forced to exercise every muscle in the body which becomes a finely tuned machine.
8. Elevating our efforts to reach others is a great catalyst for personal growth.
F. Are those enough personal benefits to whet our appetites?
1. Of course, we haven’t even talked about all the benefits that the recipients of our efforts will gain.
2. Things like eternal life, and all the other benefits we just mentioned for ourselves can be their as well.
3. On top of all that, God benefits, too.
4. He has the reward of watching His children emulate His love for lost souls, a kind of joy any parent can really understand.
5. John 15:8 says, “This is to my Father’s glory,, that you bear much fruit.”
6. So when we become active and strategic in trying to reach people for Christ, we will find that we benefit, others certainly benefit, and even God benefits.
7. But one question remains: Just what will it cost us?
II. The Personal Costs of Embracing Our Mission
A. First, there is the Cost of Time and Energy
1. You and I know that reaching lost people will not be easy.
2. It will involve the expending of time and energy in order to build relationships, and in order to show Christian care and compassion.
3. It may involve explaining and re-explaining the gospel message, waiting patiently while they try to absorb it.
4. It may involve trying to answer a myriad of challenging questions.
5. Individuals we work long and hard with may still reject the message of Christ.
6. All this sounds like a formula for frustration, but let me ask this: How better could we expend our time and energy than investing it in people?
7. What other investment will reap so high a reward?
B. Second, there is the Cost of Study and Preparation
1. Certainly none of us know it all, and we will never know it all.
2. Part of the adventure is the new questions that need answering, and the new aspects of Scripture that need discovering.
3. In some respects its not fair to list Bible study on the cost side of the equation when we’ve already listed it on the benefit side.
4. But it will require ongoing study and preparation.
C. Third, there is the Cost of Embarrassment, Rejection, or Persecution
1. While the likelihood of suffering overt persecution is low, we will likely experience lesser forms of resistance.
2. We might be teased, we might be excluded from certain social gatherings, or we might even be discriminated against or harassed because of our faith.
3. None of these things are pleasant or easy, but God encourages us to endure this cost with these comforting words, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Mt. 5:11-12).
Conclusion:
A. For most of us, the primary cost of reaching others is that it entangles us in the concerns and activities of the lives of others.
1. It encroaches upon our independence.
2. It adds details to our overloaded schedules.
3. Simply stated, it complicates our already complicated lives.
4. But so does getting married. So does having children. So does buying a house.
5. Most of the things that are important complicate our lives, but aren’t they worth it?
6. Ask any new mother, like Julie or Angie whether her baby requires time and energy?
7. Ask if there are any other costs, and they will talk about sleepless nights and pampers and laundry.
8. But then inquire whether, in light of all these costs, she regrets having the baby.
9. She will probably says something like, “Are you crazy? Having this baby has been one of the highlights of my life. I love my baby. I’d give my life for my baby.”
B. So when it comes to Embracing Our Mission, certainly there are costs, risks and complications involved, but it’s worth it.
1. The closer we look, the more we see that the rewards are high and the costs relatively low, especially when we see that the costs really are investments that pay permanent dividends.
2. So when we see the scales tip decisively toward the rewards in our cost/benefit analysis, it should fire us up to get on with the adventure and mission at hand. Amen!
C. Next week, Lord willing we will explore the formula for impacting our world.
1. In the meantime, let’s remember that people matter to God.
2. And that the benefits far outweigh the costs of trying to reach the people who matter so much.
3. Let’s ready ourselves to pay the price and experience the blessings.
(Note: Much from this sermon is taken from Becoming a Contagious Christian, chapter 2)
