We have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to engage those who are far from Jesus...

At the church where I serve, we are spending four weeks in a sermon series entitled “Sent”. During this series our hope and our prayer is to answer four specific questions. Our hope and prayer is that we would answer the question “Who sent us?” “Who are we sent to?” “What are we sent to do?” and “Where are we sent to?”

Our hope and our prayer is to answer these questions in a way that enables and empowers us to live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus that have been sent on a mission to those that God has already placed in our spheres of influence who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

Today, I would like to answer the first question that we are going to look at, which is “Who sent us?”  In other words why do followers of Jesus seem to insist on wanting to tell people about Jesus? Who told followers of Jesus that they needed tell people who do not seem interested in Jesus about Jesus? And why is it that followers of Jesus seem to be so committed and so passionate sometimes when it comes to telling people about Jesus?

To answer these questions, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Now the gospel of John was written by the person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on earth, a man named John. John is referred to as the disciple Jesus loved. John was Jesus best friend. And it is in the gospel of John that we see John, as he was looking back in the rearview mirror of his life, record for what happened in history as he spent his life following his best friend Jesus.

For three and a half years, John faithfully followed Jesus. And over that three and a half year time, John developed a deep friendship and love for Jesus. For three and a half years, John followed Jesus and had a front row seat to all that Jesus taught and did. John watched Jesus do miraculous things that only God could do. John listened as Jesus taught unlike anyone who had ever taught.

Then after following Jesus for three and a half years, John and his fellow disciples watched as the Jewish religious leaders arrested Jesus and found Him guilty of blasphemy. John watched from a distance as the Romans agreed with the Jewish leaders and crucified Jesus. John watched as Jesus gave him the responsibility to care for His mother Mary. John spent that Friday night and Saturday overwhelmed with hurt, pain, and grief as a result of the death of his best friend.

 

However, early on Sunday, a woman named Mary came to the tomb to take care of Jesus body, only to find that the tomb was empty. In panic Mary went to the disciples to proclaim her discovery of the empty tomb. Confused and concerned, Peter and John responded to Mary’s report by heading to the tomb to discover what had happened. And as John took in the scene of the empty tomb all that Jesus had been saying to them suddenly clicked. John connected the dots and placed his confident trust in the fact that Jesus had been raised from the dead as their Lord and Leader.

However, while John trusted that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Jesus was nowhere to be seen.  And it is in this context, as Peter, John, and Mary, who had followed them back to the tomb, stood at the entrance to the tomb, that John brings us into this event from history in a section of an account of Jesus life that he wrote and that is recorded for us beginning in John 20:18:

 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

Now the reason Jesus says peace be with you, because the disciples had no peace. I mean imagine being one of the disciples. You are locked in a room and filled with fear of being arrested like Jesus was, when Jesus basically enters into the room that you are in by walking through the wall, like something out of a scene in the Matrix movies. Wouldn’t you be freaked out? John then reveals what happens next in verse 20:

And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

John tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples and gave them a kingdom mission that would forever change their lives. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you”. John then explains that Jesus breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”. But what does that mean?

Here we see that just as God the Father breathed the breath of life into Adam, Jesus breathed into His closest followers the Holy Spirit which gave the disciples new life as a new creation in the relationship with God that they were created for. 50 days later, the Holy Spirit would come in a way that would give birth to the church and launch the mission that they were given.

And it is here in Jesus statement to His closest followers, that we discover the timeless answer to the question “Who sent us?”  And that timeless answer is this: We have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to engage those who are far from Jesus. Just as it was for John and the rest of Jesus closest followers; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, we have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to engage those who are far from Jesus.

You see, just as Jesus was sent on a mission to be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the world, as followers of Jesus we are now given the mission to be the vehicle that He would use to reveal Himself around the world. If you do not buy the whole, Jesus Bible, church thing, this is why followers of Jesus seem to be so committed and so passionate sometimes when it comes to telling people about Jesus. This is why followers of Jesus seem to insist on wanting to tell people about Jesus.

The reason why followers of Jesus are to passionately and lovingly pursue and engage those who are far from Jesus with the message and teachings of Jesus is because they are following the example of Jesus. Jesus was sent to earth by God the Father to reveal and explain God to those who were far from God. Jesus was sent to earth by God the Father to engage those who were far from God in a way that would provide them the opportunity to experience the forgiveness of their selfishness and rebellion and the relationship with God that they were created for.

And as followers of Jesus we have been sent by Jesus to reveal and reflect the love of Jesus that drove Him to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live and to willingly allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. You see, Jesus never asks us to do something that He has not already done.

As followers of Jesus we are to be a sent people, who have been sent by a person, who was sent. We have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal and explain Himself to those who are far from God. We have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to be the vehicle that God uses to engage those who are far from God in a way that provides them the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus, who sent us just as He was sent. Because, when it comes to who sent us, we have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to engage those who are far from Jesus.

So here is a question to consider: Are you living like a person who has been sent by a person who was sent? Are you living in a way that has embraced the reality that you have been sent by Jesus, just as He was sent, to engage those who are far from Jesus? Are you passionately and lovingly pursuing and engaging those who are far from Jesus in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus? Are you praying for opportunities to invest and invite those in your area of influence and who are far from God to explore faith and follow Jesus?