🎙 The Sermon was first preached at Sutton Vineyard Church on the 23rd of July, 2023.
⚠️ The Main Idea: To identify the primary call to mission. The mission is the reason we exist and encapsulates what we are trying to achieve. We are to reach non-Christians and make disciples, teaching them the way of Christ.
🔑 The Key Point: We are called to reach and teach.
📖 Scriptures: Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 13:42-48
🎟️ Themes: Mission, Purpose, Cause
INTRO & BACKDROP
The cause of any and every church is its mission. What is it we are here to do?
The cause of our faith —the cause of Christianity is ‘The Great Commission’, found in Matthew 28:18-20.
So what is the commission, and what’s so great about it?
Jesus asked us to Reach people beyond our personal circles (go into all the world). And, to Teach people to obey the commandments of Jesus. There is a wealth of teaching for us in the OT and in the NT, but it’s this great commission that drives us. It’s not that we’re ignorant of the OT or wider church practices in the NT, it’s that Jesus’ own mandate is that we centre ourselves on Him – Christ as the foundation of our faith, and we do what he commanded us to do.
As we journey through this foundational teaching, we set out three core prayers for you to pray regularly, in your homes, with your family, in your small groups, and to have in mind as you go through your week.
The 3 Prayer points:
Live our faith
Lord, help me have the mind of Christ in all things.
Demonstrate our faith
Lord, help us be the body of Christ & be a light in our Borough.
Share our faith
Lord, help us be the light of Christ in reaching our community.
We pray these prayers because we’re hoping to see fruit —evidence of people being reached and changed as we fulfil the cause. Our Cause is the great commission, or to break it down, it is ‘the mission’[1].
THE MISSION
There is a seemingly never-ending movie franchise called ‘Mission Impossible’. Once a TV series in the 60s, they all start off with an intro of a fuse burning to fast-paced music, and the story that sets each instalment offon the journey is a mission. Usually an impossible one.
They lay out the problem, give a brief on what needs to be achieved – usually, there is very little detail, and then they are asked ‘the’ question. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to… infiltrate a zoo controlled by a billionaire genius madman who plans to take over the world with squirrels, your job is to stop them (or something like that but less unusual). This tape will self destruct in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”.
And then, off they go on the mission. Usually, stuff happens along the way that’s very unexpected. It goes well for a bit, not so well, and in the end, the mission usually gets done in a fashion.
It’s actually a lot like the Great Commission. In a mission, people are reached, and as a result, people are transformed.
Q: Can you recall a moment in your life when someone reaching out to you made a world of difference?
THE MISSION IS ABOUT WHO YOU KNOW
The story of Tad Lincoln & the soldier (This has become more legend than history – I still struggle locating the original source)[2].
During the Civil War, there was a soldier who lost both his brother and his dad on the same day. He wanted to see the president and plead his case. He was given a pass to do so.
He went to the White House but was told by the guard on duty, “You can’t see the president, young man! Don’t you know there’s a war going on? The president is a very busy man! Now go away, son! Get back out there on the battle lines where you belong!”
So the young soldier left, very disheartened, and was sitting on a little park bench not far from the White House when a little boy came up to him. The lad said, “Soldier, you look unhappy. What’s wrong?”
The soldier looked at the little boy and began to spill his heart to him. He told of his father and his brother being killed in the war, and of the desperate situation at home. He explained that his mother and sister had no one to help them with the farm. The little boy listened and said, “I can help you, soldier.”
He took the soldier by the hand and led him back to the front gate of the White House. Apparently, the guard didn’t notice them, because they weren’t stopped. They walked straight to the front door of the White House and walked right in. After they got inside, they walked right past Generals and high-ranking officials, and no one said a word. The soldier couldn’t understand this. Why didn’t anyone try to stop them?
They reached the Oval Office, where the president was working, and the little boy didn’t even knock on the door. He just walked right in and led the soldier in with him. Behind the desk was Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of State, looking over battle plans that were laid out on his desk.
The president looked at the boy and then at the soldier and said, “Good afternoon, Todd. Can you introduce me to your friend?”
Todd Lincoln, the son of the president, said, “Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you.” The soldier pleaded his case before Mr. Lincoln and immediately received the exemption he desired.
DOUBT & READINESS
We all need someone who can reach us, and teach us. The way is not always clear, and the path is not always easy.
We need reaching because we are lost, but perhaps we do not know we are lost. We need teaching because we do not know, what we don’t yet know. If you have never encountered Jesus, you neither know him or know how to follow him. We reach and teach so that people can know Him and grow in their walk with Him.
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This is a post-ascension, post-revelation message to all the followers who were gathered after Jesus’ death and resurrection, approximately 500 people. In this passage, Jesus gathers His original 11 disciples and gives them some final words.
Verse 16 ‘Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go’.
The 11 disciples (Judas now dead) meet Jesus on a mountain in Galilee. It’s interesting that they return to their first gathering place, which happens to be a region mostly filled with Gentiles. This mountainside meeting feels like a reflection of when God met with Moses to give him the Ten Commandments. In the same way, Jesus meets with His disciples on the mountain top as the embodiment of God revealed in Human form, giving direction to those who will now build the church[3].
Verse 17 ‘When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted‘.
All of the Disciples were martyred for their faith (save John, who was boiled alive and banished to the island of Patmos). The fact that having met the risen Christ, and being at the mountain commissioned by Jesus, some still doubted up until that point. The word being ἐδίστασα [ed-is-ta-sa] is having a sense of uncertainty, but more particularly in Matthew 28, it is considered to be meant as hesitation. Knowing now the sacrifice they would later give for Jesus, it’s profound that we are still commissioned to reach people for Jesus even when we carry doubts in our lives. I don’t always know how to hold that level of tension in my walk of faith. To know that doubt is not a hurdle to faith seems diametrically opposed to how we think following Jesus should work logically.
Kingsbury notes that ‘disciples live their lives between worship and doubt‘[4]. One of the greatest hesitancies in our walk of faith is located in fear and doubt. We can be immobilised by uncertainty, so it is incredibly comforting to know that ‘Christians are both believers and doubters, adoring and wondering, trusting and questioning’[5]. Doubt is not the same as unbelief, and even with doubt, we can find our way forward in trusting in Jesus. The Bible does not side-step the doubt of some of the eleven, yet each would later give their lives for the sake of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. That through Him, we can find forgiveness, reconciliation to our heavenly Father and everlasting life.
Verse 18 ‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”‘.
Authority is largely an uncomfortable word, particularly if you like to ‘do your own thing’, or wish to be seen as ‘renegade’. But the Kingdom of heaven is one where God’s will is carried out.
We often see authority as forceful, but there are many kinds of authority and many ways to use it. Authority taken by force is control, and, oppressively, an abuse of power. Authority given is a delegation of power. Jesus, having died on a cross and risen from the dead, now sits in the seat of authority. He has been given authority, and what He has, He now gives to us. It’s a passing of empowerment, like a torch or a race baton.
Now, as we who follow and are submitted to Jesus have been given heavenly authority, it’s from this foundation that we are now tasked with doing the mission – doing the stuff that Jesus asked us to do.
REACH
Verse 19 ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’,
Go – The commission to ‘go’ isn’t so much that we are bringing Jesus into the world, but we are joining with what the Holy Spirit is already doing in the lives of others. We are being brought to the work of Christ already at play in people’s lives. It’s not that God needs us to achieve His ends – He’s God! He can do what He likes. It just so happens that He chooses to partner with us to see His work made complete in the lives of others.
It seems in Verse 19 that Jesus doesn’t want an idle church, a self-edifying church or a holy huddle church – He wants a going church. GO! The word ‘go’ in the Greek means’go’ – actually, the sentiment is more to ‘move out’, spread what you have beyond where you are[6].
The Church does not import Jesus Christ into a situation, for he precedes every action of the Church and does not need the Church’s permission to be present[7].
Great, so what are we to do when we go?
Make – Go and ‘MAKE’ disciples. The way we make disciples is by each of us being disciples and discipling others. Notice it’s the disciples who are making disciples. In speaking of Gnilka, Bruner notes that the Jesus model seems more particular about replicating small groups of people who are devoting themselves to following Him[8]. The mission is one where we build. Not buildings, not great organisations. Not a platform for ourselves. One where we build people. We build followers of Jesus. The making part is active!
Baptise – Baptising them is one of the foundational ways in which we demonstrate this following of Jesus. A person has now committed their lives to following Christ, submitting their lives to His ways, and so much so, they make this public declaration called a sacrament that is Baptism. This is now what they are baptised ‘into’.
TEACH
Verse 20“and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”’
Teach Jesus – So what we teach people are the teachings of Jesus. More particularly, how we live them, how we understand them, how we experience them as we bring all of our faith-filled, sometimes doubtful, sometimes confident and sometimes broken selves to following Jesus.
Walk in Faith – The walk of faith is exactly that. It’s a walk. On this walk we sometimes stumble. We sometimes bang our feet. We sometimes walk into a wall. We sometimes walk off path. Jesus’ final words to us were a promise – that He is with us always, the very end of the age. He says this to His disciples….and then (since we have the benefit of the other Gospels, we know) He ascends and leaves them.
I. Am. With. You. And then, He’s gone!
Although we are told by Jesus that He is with us, always, until the end of the age, we sometimes feel as though we ‘walk the lonely streets on the boulevard of broken dreams’ – to quote that famous theologian, Billy Joe. But there is an element of doubt to face as we step towards teaching others to follow Jesus. In pursuing discipleship and the discipleship of others (which really just means learners) we find our faith in Jesus being made active.
It’s as though we are bump-starting an old petrol car. It’s in the process of discipleship that we discover Jesus. Just like the two men who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, they slowly realised who He was, so too do we find our footing in our faith as we walk with and guide others towards the teachings of Christ.
IF TIME ALLOWS – here are some extra thoughts
Going to all nations was always the command, yet somewhere along the way, the disciples got a little lost. Often we want to go to those we are sure fit the criteria. We want to speak with those who have a foot half in the door. Paul and Barnabas do that. Peter did that. Yet, several times on the way, Jesus showed them, or reminded them, that we are to go to all kinds of people.
Be Missional
Acts 13:42-48
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. **43** When the congregation was
dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. So, we are not to just shuffle the deck and see transfer growth, but new disciples, returning disciples. We are to go to the unlikely. Those who are far off and beyond our circles.
So, the command ‘go’ from Jesus means that we are all on mission. Mission is not something you do abroad, or a project we support (although it can and does include those things), it is something we have all been tasked with.
The means you are missional in all things. We are a missional church. You are missional in your workplace, in your families, in your school and beyond.
Our mission is the thing we are here to do, and that ‘thing’ is to follow Jesus and draw others along for the journey. Be disciples who make disciples.
So, your mission, should you choose to accept it (cheesy, I know), is to go. We must look outward while drawing strength from the inward. We must put our time, efforts and resources in helping others grow, giving them their first and next possibility of encountering Jesus.
Some personal challenges for you to reflect on: Who are you discipling? Are you being discipled? Who are you reaching? When you think about reaching others, is it for a genuine love and desire to want them to know and encounter Jesus, or is it just because we want lots of people to join us?
Some public challenges for us all: What might damage the mission? What might distract us from the mission?
What might derail the mission?
What would it look like to be a missional church? What if we were the kind of place that became a powerhouse of people development? The kind of church that taught at all levels the close personal and wider community shape of having the mind of Christ? What if we could pass this on? What if we grew closer to
Jesus and each other because we took responsibility for helping others walk in the way of Christ? What if we discovered more of Jesus as we carried His good news to those who are so in need of hearing it?
If you are walking with the Lord, following Jesus and devoted to Him, then it’s likely someone once prayed for your future. Someone once sought to share their lives and their faith with you. Someone was willing to walk with you, and in turn, you discovered more of Jesus. What if we, all as the church, did the same?
END
End Notes:
