Who Is My Mission? Series

Who is my Mission?

Made for Mission: Week 4

February 2nd, 2020

Scripture: John 4

Good morning everybody. We are in week 4 of our Made for Mission series. If you’re here for the first time or missed some of the past three weeks, I’d encourage you to listen to the podcast and catch up, but for now let’s do a quick review to get us all on the same page.

Week 1 we said that we are all called. If you are a follower of Jesus then he has put you on the planet for a reason. He’s strategically placed you where you live, where you work and where you play to join him in his mission.

So week 2 we asked the question—“What’s my mission?” In a nutshell, your mission is Jesus’ mission. It’s to grow in relationship with God and to introduce him to others.

Week 3 we unpacked how you actually introduce Him. We answered the question, “What’s my Message?” We learned that it’s simply sharing with others how the goodness of God has intersected and changed your life.”

Today we are answering the question, “Who is my mission?”

You may be thinking- I get it that I’m supposed to share how God’s goodness has intersected with my life, but do I just walk up to random people and start talking?

Another question you may be thinking is-

If God has uniquely placed me in some people’s lives to share about Him how do I practically go about identifying that?

Let me say- I get it. It’s very awkward at times to talk about our faith. We are trained to not discuss religion and politics with people we don’t know, and it can even cause fights with people we do know and love.

I get the hesitation.

What we are going to talk about is still very applicable to you because as you study the life of Jesus you need to know that today’s topic is a MAJOR theme in his life.

I’m going to say something very strong right now, but everyone needs to accept this as fact-

It’s impossible to truly be a follower of Jesus and ignore what we’re talking about today.

I’m going to set up a comparison this morning from the bible.

In John 3, Jesus has a conversation with a very religious man named Nicodemus. We’re not going to study that conversation today except to say that the author John very deliberately placed it before the scene we are going to read.

Jesus has a spiritual conversation with someone you’d expect to have it all figured out (think like a pastor of a church or a presbyter in a denomination- religious upper crust)

Jesus still ends up correcting some basic beliefs that Nicodemus was holding.

I mentioned this conversation this morning to say this-

Just because someone appears to be a “super Christian” doesn’t mean that they are not still struggling with questions about their faith.

A Christian band named Sidewalk Prophets has a line in one of their songs that sums this up-

“I’m the pastor at your church

For all these years you’ve listened to my words

You think I know all the answers

But I’ve got doubts and questions too

Behind this smile I’m really just like you”

Jesus didn’t assume Nicodemus had it all together because of his title and position, but still spent time teaching and talking with him.

Now the other extreme- we go from religious leader to lost woman.

Jesus leaves there after having a high level discussion with one of the most learned religious men of his time, and travels to the complete other side of the tracks where no good Hebrew would ever go, and speaks to a woman that no good Hebrew would ever speak to.

Jesus is setting an example for us. Jesus wasn’t sent to just those who look the most healthy, but to those dying of this sickness called sin.

What our Lord and our example is showing us here is that no one is off limits when talking about Jesus.

Rich, poor, white, black, Hispanic or native, Asian and even German’s and Norwegians get to hear about God’s love for them.

Read John 4:1-6

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.