This week, we are asking and answering
the third question that we are going to ask during a sermon series entitled
sent, which is “What are we sent to do?” In other words, if we are to be a sent
people, who have been sent by a person, who was sent, then what are we supposed
to be doing? What exactly is the mission that we been sent to do?
To answer that question, we are going to look at a
section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called
the gospel of Matthew. As we discovered in the why Christmas series, the gospel
of Matthew was written to Jewish
people to explain and to show that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised
would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people.
Yesterday we began to look at an event from history
where some of the disciples responded to seeing Jesus after He was raised from
the dead with doubt. We talked about the reality that the disciples doubt flowed from two fundamental
questions. The first question was “What now? What are we supposed to do now?”
And the second question was this “How are you going to be present with us? If
you are in Heaven, and we are here on earth, how is your presence going to be
present in our lives?”
We looked on as Jesus took the
initiative so that His disciples would understand that He was Lord and Leader and
was the one whom God had granted the power to exercise control over the
universe and to guide God’s kingdom mission. And because of the universal
authority that Jesus possess; because Jesus is large and in charge of all of
creation; Jesus has the right to give His followers Divine direction when it
comes to the question “What are we sent to do?”
And as Jesus continued to take
the initiative with the disciples, He proceeded to give His disciples and
followers of Jesus throughout history a divine directive that answers the
question “What are we sent to do?” and that reveals God’s kingdom mission for followers of
Jesus throughout history. So let's look at that directive together in Matthew
28:19:
"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;
Now whether you regularly attend church or whether this
is your first Sunday in church; whether or not you regularly read the Bible,
you are probably at least somewhat familiar with what Jesus says here. You are
probably familiar with Jesus words here because this is one of the two sayings
of Jesus that are described with the adjective great. This statement is often
referred to as the “Great Commission”. Jesus here is giving His followers a
mission; and that mission is to make disciples of all nations.
The phrase “go and make disciples of all nations” in the
language that this letter was originally written in, literally reads “as you
are going, make disciples of all nations”. Jesus is not commanding us to go. Jesus
is commanding us to make disciples as we go. In other words, as followers of
Jesus, we are to strive to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, as we are
living our day to day lives in the spheres of influence that we have been
given.
Now a natural question that arises here is “well how are
we supposed to make disciples? And how do we know that we are actually being
successful in making disciples?” First, we are to make disciples by going to
those who are far from God. Whether at home, at school, at work, or in our
relationships; in whatever sphere of influence we have; we are commanded to
live our lives as missionaries that are engaging, investing, and inviting those
who are far from God to become followers of Jesus.
You do not need to go to a foreign country to be a
missionary. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be missionaries wherever we
are. And in your day to day life, God has already positioned you in areas of
influence where you can be a missionary to those who are far from God.
Second, we are to make disciples by baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we see baptisms
occurring in the Bible, we discover that baptism is an outward act that serves
to publicly identify one as being a follower of Jesus. A person who is being baptized is publicly
proclaiming “I am a follower of Jesus who desires to be a part of a community
of believers who will encourage me and hold me accountable”. So a major part of
discipleship is to be used by God to bring those who are far from God to a
place where they place their confident trust in God’s transformational activity
and publicly identify themselves as partner in the community of faith that is investing
their time, talent, and treasure in God’s kingdom mission.
You see, evangelism is not a separate activity from
discipleship. Evangelism is the first step of discipleship, where a person
responds to what God has done for them through Jesus life, death, and
resurrection by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And
baptism is a step of identification with Jesus as His follower and with the
kingdom mission that He has given us as His followers.
Third, Jesus explains that we are to make disciples by “teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you”. Now the word observe, in the
language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to persist
in obedience. In other words, a disciple of Jesus will naturally grow in their
faithfulness and obedience to Jesus over time. While there may be occasions
where a follower of Jesus acts out of selfishness and rebellion to commit sin,
a follower of Jesus, over time, will live a life that is becoming more like
Christ in character and conduct.
And as followers of Jesus and as a church, we are called
to create environments where people are able to understand and embrace the
message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in their spiritual growth
and spiritual good. That is why we are such huge proponents of community groups
here at City Bible Church. That is why we create environments such as the Adult
Bible Fellowship and Kids Konnection on Sunday mornings. That is why we create
environments like AWANA and Fusion student ministries. We desire to create
environments where followers of Jesus can explore faith, grow in their faith,
and experience and become a part of a genuine and authentic community of
followers of Jesus.
That is why that, as a church, we have three specific
goals for every attender here at City Bible Church. We do not have five goals;
we do not have ten goals. Instead we have three goals. And the reason why we
have three goals is because we believe that these three goals accomplish Jesus
command to make disciples in a way that fulfills the kingdom mission that we
have been given. As a church, we do not
ask for more than these three and we do not ask for less than these three,
because we believe that these are the three things that Jesus asks us to invest
in as a part of His great commission and His Great Commandment to love Him with
our total being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
First, we have as a goal that every regular attender
would be investing their time, in addition to being a part of a Sunday worship
gathering, to be a part of a community group. Community groups meet throughout
the week throughout the community and are smaller environments that are
designed to foster supportive and encouraging relationships that help you take
that next step when it comes to a relationship with God.
This goal matters when it comes to the question “What
are we sent to do?” because it is in circles, not in rows, people experience
lasting life change and transformation.
And community groups create those transformational environments where
people can develop loving and supportive relationships that challenge us to
take that next step when it comes to our relationship with Jesus.
Second, we have as a goal that every regular attender
would be investing their talents serving God by serving others on a ministry team.
Regardless of your age or stage of life, and regardless of the gifts, talents,
and abilities you have been given by God, there are opportunities to reveal and
reflect Christ by serving in a ministry. This goal matters when it comes to the
question “What are we sent to do?” because we
believe, and we have repeatedly seen, that transformational spiritual growth
occurs when we are leveraging the spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities that
God has given us in a selfless way that serves others.
Third, we invite and ask every follower of Jesus to
invest their treasure as an act of worship through weekly and proportional
giving. This goal matters when it comes to the question “What
are we sent to do?” because we believe, and we have repeatedly seen, that
transformational spiritual growth occurs when followers of Jesus display an
open-handed generous attitude toward the treasure that they have here on earth.
As
followers of Jesus, when we are generous, we reflect the generosity of God, who
demonstrated His generosity by giving what was closest to Himself to rescue
what was furthest away. And the
investment of your treasure enables us as a church to create environments where
people can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience authentic
community in a way that fulfills Jesus command to make disciples.
As a church, we believe that the Jesus teaches us that
making disciples that are growing and maturing in their relationship with Him
requires that we invest our time in a community group, our talents in a
ministry, and our treasure through giving. And so often, most sermons on this event
from history end tend to end here. But that is not where this event from
history ends. Jesus still has more to say.
And in what Jesus says next, we see Jesus make an amazing
statement that helps answer the question as to whether or not God’s presence is
present. Friday we will look at that statement…
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