Mission Impossible

[The Great Commission]
    [16] Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. [17] And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. [18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
   
(Matthew 28:16-20 ESV)

I preached on the Mission we have as Christians last November and I recently listened to a sermon from Matt Chandler, Pastor at The Village Church in Dallas Texas. Currently, Matt is preaching through a series entitled "Village Identity" and this particular sermon was Part 2 of his series where he talked about "The Mission of the Curch." You can listen to the sermon here: http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/sermons

Pastor Matt got me thinking about mission again so I thought I'd share some notes from my sermon. Enjoy!

Mission Impossible - Matt. 28:16-20 - November 14, 2010 http://www.fsjalliance.ca/sunday-messages.html

Jesus' Authority (v. 18)

• Teaching (Matt. 7:28-29)
• Healing (Matt. 8)
• Forgiving Sins (Matt. 9:6)
• Over Satan (Matt. 10:1

Christianity is a missionary faith, our God is a missionary God and the church is a sent people.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
   
(2 Peter 3:9 ESV)

The Early Church

Acts 1

• Jesus promised the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5)
• Jesus ascends into Heaven (Acts 1:9)

Acts 2

• The Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost
• Believers spoke in tongues
• Peter preached the gospel
• People repented and were baptized

"and there were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:4b ESV)

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can one by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" - David Livingstone

The early church operated on the Lord's authority, ministered in His name and depended on His power and guidance. Not their own authority, not our own authority, the AUTHORITY OF JESUS CHRIST!

Activity (v. 19-20a)

• The Greek verb translated go is actually not a command but a present participle (going)
• The command here is "make disciples"
• Better translated: "While you are going, make disciples of all the nations"
• No matter where our location may be, we should be witnesses (Acts 11:19-21)
• Disciple
• Not merely a convert or church member
• Attached himself to a teacher
• Identified with him
• Learned from him
• Listening
• Doing
• Lived with him
• Jesus called His disciples and taught them so they could and would teach others (Mark 3:11ff)

"Follow the rabbi, drink in his words, and be covered with the dust of his feet." (Ancient Jewish Proverb)

Ability (v. 20b)

• Jesus is not only "in the midst" when His people gather (Matt. 18:20), but He is also present with them as they scatter in to the world to witness
• "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20b)
• "to the end of the age" indicates that our Lord has a plan
• Our ability comes from the Spirit
• It's not really our ability at all
• This makes the "Impossible Mission" possible!

Alone, we are:

• Inadequate
• Insufficient
• Unable
• Unqualified

But, Jesus is...

• Beyond adequate
• Totally sufficient
• Completely able
• Utterly qualified

Jesus commands us by His AUTHORITY
Jesus calls us to ACTIVITY (making disciples)
Jesus gives us the ABILITY (Holy Spirit)

THIS IS GOD'S MISSION FOR US!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Questions:

What are those things that stoke your love for Jesus? Pursue them passionately

What are those things that squelch your love for Jesus? Avoid them actively

What are you pursuing today? Jesus and His mission?

Does the gospel define you?

Question Everything

In our culture of post-modernity we are taught to question everything. "Question Authority" the bumper sticker reads. In Colleges and Universities across the world young minds are taught to be critical thinkers and to not always take things at face value. Being a critical thinker is helpful in many ways, but this idea that there is no such thing as truth has caused a revolution of circular reasoning and confusion in the minds of many.

This question, "What is truth?" is not a new question. In John 18, Jesus said "For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” To which Pontius Pilate replied and said to him, “What is truth?”

People have been asking this question for ages. Many people seek to know the truth, but many are content to muddy the issue and sit pretty without answers. In the nineties a television show aired called "The X-Files" in which FBI agent Fox Mulder teamed up with partner Dana Scully to investigate these so-called "X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena"(wikipedia). The show had multiple tag-lines such as: "The Truth Is Out There", "Trust No One" and "I Want to Believe." These FBI agents were always on the hunt for the truth, but there were all sorts of dead ends and conspiracy theories to be found on their trek and many times their questions were left unanswered. Mulder was a believer in extraterrestrials and paranormal activity, whereas Scully was a skeptic, originally partnered with Mulder to make scientific analyses of his discoveries. Truth and the search for it was the cornerstone to the series.

In life there are often many questions we have that are unanswered. Many times in our search for truth we run into road blocks and dead ends of all kinds, shapes and sizes. In the blogosphere and all over the internet you can find all sorts of opinions and ideas and thoughts on truth, but even there we won't find the answers. To know truth is to listen to Jesus' voice as He said in John 18.

The Bible has been around for over a couple thousand years and it's still the world's bestseller, it's still on top. No one has successfully refuted it, no one has debunked it or disproved it and no one ever will. God says in Isaiah 55:11, "so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." And in 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter talks about loving one another because of the truth of the gospel. He quotes another word from the Book of Isaiah, "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:22-25).

God's Word is truth and you will find the truth in it. I do not know everything and I don't claim to have a lot of answers to the many problems and questions we have in this world, but I do know one thing: Jesus is the answer.

Whatever we face, whatever comes our way, whatever we have to deal with in this life, Jesus and the truth of the gospel, the good news about Him is the answer. This doesn't mean that life is all of a sudden easy with Jesus, but it is better. Politics, social reform, Science and whatever other man-made means you can think of will not solve the problems of this world, it is only through Jesus. I know there are many arrogant people that throw Jesus' name around and do harm in His name and I'm not claiming that I know all the answers because I don't, but I do know THE answer, and His name is Jesus.

Dwell Richly

I like to read. It's weird to read those first four words I just typed, because I definitely did not enjoy reading in the past. As a kid growing up I found pleasure in hockey and hockey and... hockey. That was about it. Every day as I rode the school bus from my farm into the city where I attended school I daydreamed about hockey. When I was at school I daydreamed about hockey and when given reading assignments I read hockey books and when given writing assignments I wrote about hockey and when given art assignments I drew or painted pictures that mainly had to do with you guessed it, hockey. When it came to Math, Social Studies and Science I couldn't really tweak my assigenments in any way to deal with hockey but you get the picture. If I were to list my hobbies as a young boy they wouldn't comprise of a list because a list can't really be only one item.

But, now as a young man I am glad to say that I have a list and that hockey isn't even at the top. So with all that said, I like to read. But, the funny thing is, my reading list is a lot like that hobby list I had as a kid, it isn't much of a list either because it comprises of one subject: Jesus. I like to read about Jesus. I read the Bible, I read books about Theology, Christian Living, Religion, Spiritual Growth, Ministy, Discipleship, Missions, Christian Poetry, Preaching, Biographies, the Church and the list goes on; but they all sit under the major heading of Jesus and/or the Gospel (the good news).

Because of the Gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ and the impact and transformation that has happened in my life I don't want to be caught up in anything other than what has to do with Him. This doesn't mean that I don't occasionally read other things because I do. This doesn't mean that I don't watch hockey anymore, because I do. This just means, that my desire is not to be distracted to the point where Jesus is not preeminent or number one in my life. When God gave Moses the ten commandments on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20, the first thing he said to Moses and the first thing on that list that He said to His people and the first thing He tells us is this: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."

Right now I am reading a few different books and included in those books is an awesome book called "Big God" by Britt Merrick. I got this book for Christmas from my cousins and I have just gotten to it recently, but it is a gem. Britt Merrick is a pastor in California, he's a great Preacher, author and self-proclaimed "surf-board shaper" as he states on his twitter page. In the first chapter of his book he talks about a tragedy that struck his family, his little girl Daisy Love was diagnosed with Cancer at the age of five. In this first chapter he talks about the fact that it is so important to have God's Word hidden in your heart and to be saturated in it because that is the foundation to draw from and the comfort when the storms of life and the hard times come your way.

I love how even in just the first chapter, Britt mentions so much Scripture and why it is so important. It is such an encouragement to press on get in God's Word and study and know it. He mentions an awesome verse found in Colossians 3:16 and you can read a portion of it at the top of this blog. It says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." I love that, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly," those are powerful and sweet words.

So what does "dwell richly" mean?

I sometimes look at "The Message" by Eugene Peterson just to see how has translated certain verses into contemporary language. Now, "The Message" isn't a literal translation, but it is still sometimes helpful to look at. There are some passages that I don't enjoy in The Message, but there are some that just speak well to me in the language I speak in. Peterson translates Colossians 3:16 like this:

"Let the Word of Christ - the Message - have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives."

I like that, I think he puts it well. In John Calvin's commentary on this passage he says this: "He would have the doctrine of the gospel be familiarly known by them... For, unquestionably, Paul here addresses men and women of all ranks; nor would he simply have them take a slight taste merely of the word of Christ, but exhorts that it should dwell in them; that is, that it should have a settled abode, and that largely, that they may make it their aim to advance and increase more and more every day."

"Wuest's Word Studies in the Greek New Testament" states this about Paul's words:  “Dwell in” is enoikeō (ἐνοικεω). The word oikos (οἰκος) means “a home.” Oikeō (Ὀικεω) means “to live in a home.” The exhortation is to the effect that the Christian is to so yield himself to the Word that there is a certain at-homenes of the Word in his being. The Word should be able to feel al home in his heart. The saint should give it unrestricted liberty in his life. “Richly” is plousiōs (πλουσιως), “abundantly.” Not only must the saint be yielded to the Word, but he must have a good knowledge of it. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God that we know as He talks to us and guides our lives. He can efficiently talk to us to the extent to which know the Word. That is the language He uses."

So, that gives some insight as to what Paul meant when he said "dwell richly." Paul was telling us to be at home in the Word and that the Word should be at home in us and that we should give ourselves to the study of God's Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what I give my life to and what I strive for. I enjoy playing and watching and talking hockey, but I am at home in God's Word.