Introduction
I. As I was preparing this weeks message, a thought came to me.
II. I cannot remember hearing very many, if any sermons preached from 2nd Corinthians.
A. I have heard verses quoted here and there.
B. I am sure, I must have heard at least one or two messages based on some text, BUT
III. I really don’t remember ever hearing a message, much less a series of messages from2nd Corinthians.
IV. After reading our passage for today, I then looked at one of my commentaries, and I found the author to say this,
A. “Although the second letter to the Corinthians is full of profound theological truths, it is one of the least studied books that Paul wrote. One reason is that in contrast to 1 Corinthians, ... this book seems to be dominated by the discussion of Paul’s ministry and his authority–a sort of “preachers discussion.”
B. Second Corinthians is also difficult to understand because, in its function as a letter, it alludes to people and events with which the readers were quite familiar, but which we know little or nothing about. Paul also makes assumptions about the knowledge of his readers, often leaving us in the dark. For instance, it is likely that nearly everyone who read this letter knew about Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’. But the many different theories that scholars have advanced concerning it are prof that we do not know what it was.” (Rev. Kenneth Chapin, The Communicators Commentary, pg. 197. Copyrite 1985)
C. But more about 2 Corinthians 3:16 next week.
V. I read that quote because this morning, but, I am not going to be speaking from 2nd Corinthians 3, but rather I want to speak about the missions program at Newtown Community Church.
A. Last Sunday I referred to the fact that Jose and Pam Munoz will be speaking here on 22 October.
1. I referred to them as the Munoz’s
2. I later was informed that our church knows the Munoz’s as Jose and Pam, and therefore when I said Munoz some were left wondering to whom I was referring.
B. What occurred to me as a result of this was that,
1. Had I said “Jose and Pam” some would have known to whom I was referring, AND
2. When I said “Munoz” some, most especially those on the Mission Committee SHOULD have known to whom I was referring, BUT
3. Regardless of what name I said, most of us probably had no idea at all to whom I was referring, WHY
4. Because we don’t discuss our mission’s effort very often.
C. This morning, I would like to make and attempt to increase our collective awareness concerning the missions in general, and specifically the missions effort of our church family.
VI. As in every other facet of church life, there are a variety of opinions surrounding the importance of a church missions program.
A. Some believe a church is extremely lacking without a vital missions program.
B. Some feel missions is important, but not vital.
C. Some don’t consider missions at all.
VII. As for me, I believe that missions is the entire reason for the existence of the church.
A. Perhaps not in the sense that you might think.
B. But missions, the idea of seeing the lost come to faith, and the found mature in their faith, is the reason for our very existence.
VIII. The purpose of the church is missions, but I also believe that missions is more than what happens in Africa or any other nation you can think of.
IX. Missions is the very foundation of the church.
The Foundation of Missions
I. What is missions?
A. The dictionary that I often use defines missions as “the vocation of a religious organization to spread its faith.”
B. That is probably a pretty good definition.
C. Missions then is the employment of sharing what we believe to be true concerning God with those that do not yet believe, but where does the idea of doing missions come from!
II. Would anyone like to venture a guess as to how many times the word “missions” or “missionary” is found in the Bible?
A. If missions is so important, the word must be there right.
B. Actually the word is not found in scripture even one time, except perhaps the words, “Paul’s first missionary journey” or “second missionary journey” or even “Paul’s third missionary journey” which are added as headings, but are not scripture.
C. The actual word “missionary” is from the Latin word “missio” which means “sending” and the Greek word “apostelo” which means “messenger.”
D. For Christians then, a missionary is a person that has been sent to carry forth the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
III. Where did missions begin?
A. Some look to Matthew 28:19 and 20 as Christ’ directive to make missions a priority.
1. That verse reads “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
B. Still others look at Acts 2, with Peter’s first public sermon and the founding of the first church.
C. Some say it was with God’s promise to Abraham to give him offspring that could not be counted.
D. For me, I believe possibly the first instance of biblical teaching concerning the grace of God occurred in the Garden of Eden.
1. Adam and Eve sinned; God expelled them from the garden, YET he allowed them to live, knowing that there was a place of perfection and bliss that they had once been a part of.
2. Cain murdered Able, and again God demonstrated grace by allowing him to live, knowing God was watching.
E. I think Solomon understood God’s desire to have the entire world hear of God.
1. Listen to part of what Solomon said at the dedication of the temple, in 1st Kings 8, verses 41-43.
2. “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Thy people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Thy name’s sake 42 (for they will hear of Thy great name and Thy mighty hand, and of Thine outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, 43 hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to Thee, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name.” (NASB)
IV. Missions; “the vocation of a religious organization to spread it’s faith.”
V. Missions; the carrying forth of God’s message of redemption toward mankind.
VI. Missions; must be at the heart of every church, and every Christian.
VII. But how should missions be carried out? The Formation of Missions
I. What should missions look like in the local church?
II. For many, when we think of missions what comes to our mind is foreign missions.
A. A Foreign missionary could be defined as “anyone that moves from their home culture with the specific goal of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with another culture.”
B. But is that all there is to missions?
1. Can I say that if I am not called to go to Africa, then I am not called to missions?
2. If I am not called, then I don’t have to concern myself with missions? Or
3. If I am not called to go, my responsibility is to “GIVE” to those that do go?
III. Acts 1:8 reads “...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
A. On a map, Acts 1:8 looks something like this.
B. In words the picture is like this.
1. Upon receiving salvation, YOU shall be my witnesses, in your home community, in the area to the north of you, in the area to the south of you; and even to the entire world.
2. Missions is important to God, and it must be important to us, ALTHOUGH as I said last Sunday,
C. Diversity of Method, Unity of Purpose.
D. Not every person is going to have the same passion for every area of missions, but every Christian should, maybe I can even say MUST have a passion for some area of seeing the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
IV. When Christ spoke Acts 1:8, the location was Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was considered as the “home base” of God’s operations.
A. Essentially what Christ was saying was this,
1. You will be my witnesses in this local community, AND
2. You will also be my witness in the surrounding communities, AND
3. You will even be my witnesses throughout the entire world.
B. We call this,
1. Local Missions
2. National Missions
3. International Missions,
4. And our church is involved in all of these to some extent.
V. What is local missions?
A. Local missions is us reaching our community with the gospel
B. Local missions is our attempts to reach our neighbors, co-workers, friends and even strangers with the fact that God loves them, and sent Jesus Christ to the cross, so that they could have eternal life.
C. Local missions is our effort to reach our Jerusalem.
VI. What are national missions?
A. National missions are our endeavors to reach beyond our local community.
B. In National Missions, we are endeavoring to reach beyond the boundaries of Langhorne, Newtown, Levittown into the nation in which we live.
VII. International Missions is our efforts to fill the directive of Christ to be a witness to the remotest parts of the earth.
VIII. But you say,
A. “I’m not a missionary
B. I haven’t been called.
C. A missionary is a person that leaves their home culture in order to share the gospel with a foreign culture.
D. That’s not me.”
IX. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3:20 - . “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”
A. Paul says,
1. We do not belong to this world.
2. Our citizenship is not Pennsylvania, or even the United States
3. “Our citizenship, our home is in heaven,:
B. Every Christian is called to live in a culture to which they do not belong.
C. Therefore, every Christian is called to be a missionary.
D. Every Christian is called to be involved in missions.
E. That is a command of Christ, not me.
X. Your particular passion may be to reach the community in which you live; Jerusalem
XI. Your passion may reach beyond your local community, Judea and Samaria even to China, or someplace in between.
XII. You may be called to go, or maybe God has blessed you with an income that will allow others to go, or God has given you the time to become a prayer warrior.
XIII. Diversity of method, unity of purpose.
XIV. Missions is the desire to see the lost come to faith in Jesus Christ, and to do that which God has called and equipped you to do; for most of us, specifically within the context of the local church.
XV. In order to serve, you must be informed concerning our churches vision, and methodology for missions. The Function of Missions
First, you need to understand how we fund our missions program.
Ten percent of all general offerings are committed to missions.
That is to say, 10 percent of our regular weekly giving is designated to missions, and our treasurer, Ed Pfender writes a check that gets deposited in our mission’s account.
I have included in the bulletin this week a list of the missionaries, and missions organizations that we support.
I have also put the amount of our regular monthly financial commitment to those individuals and organizations.
If you look close, you will probably determine that our regular giving does not really meet our commitment, so we also augment that fund.
Part of our three year vision is to see our financial missions commitment raised to at least 15% of giving.
Every month, you will find an extra envelope for giving, that is labeled as “missions”.
The second Sunday of each month, some folks will give a special gift that is designated to missions.
Those funds go to the general support commitment.
On the list of missionaries, you will see that in some cases it states that they are “individual supported.”
Those missionaries, plus a couple others on the list receive support not from our general fund but rather from those designated gifts that come in.
Perhaps you are really interested in the work going on in a specific area, or by a specific individual.
If that is the case, you are more than welcome to make a designated gift on Sunday morning, that you can count on going to that work.
We also have some special areas, like the Extreme Life Café, or other outreach events that may receive some financial support from our church funds, but also receive some support that does not directly go through the church system.
We have a Missions Committee the meets regularly to make decisions concerning potential missionary support, amounts of our financial commitment, body missions awareness and other factors.
Currently Maryann Murphy leads this group.
Other members are Ron Dye, Paula Cole, Joyce Rowan, Ron Maisto and myself.
You too can be involved; HOW?
You can serve on the Missions Committee. If you are interested, see Maryann.
You can pray; choose at least one missionary, or agency and add them to your prayer concerns.
You can give;
Use that monthly envelope to make a special gift to the general missions fund, or a specific missionary or agency.
If you designate it, it will go there, regardless of any other financial consideration of the church.
You can help support our local efforts by giving some time or financial support to the Café.
You can ask questions,
Maybe you don’t know what the Pocono Mountain Bible Conference is; ASK.
Maybe you’d like to know why we support so many missionary efforts in Guatemala, and have no one in Turkey; ASK.
You can invite.
Invite a guest to hear Jose and Pam Munoz on the 22nd of October.
Invite a guest to the Café or to the Ladies Tea, or to the Men’s breakfast, or other special church events.
You can witness.
Tell someone the good news of salvation through faith in Christ.
Make sure your work habits and home life reflect your faith, and then be prepared to tell why your life is different.
Be involved, we are co-laborers with Jesus Christ.
