We experience God’s presence when we engage in God’s kingdom mission in community with one another...

This week, we have been looking at a fairly familiar and famous statement of Jesus that is often referred to as the “Great Commission”. Jesus gave His followers a mission; and that mission is to make disciples of all nations. We have discovered that, 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.

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.

Second, we are to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 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 through Jesus and who publicly identify themselves as partner of the community of faith that is investing their time, talent, and treasure in God’s kingdom mission. 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, we are to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. As followers of Jesus and as a church, we are called to create environments where we are able to understand and embrace the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in our spiritual growth and spiritual good.

At the church where I serve, we summarize how we engage in God’s kingdom mission in the following way: “City Bible Church is a city within a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city”.  We are a community of believers that are located within Bullhead City that has been strategically placed here by God to engage our community with the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel in a way that reflects Christ. We are a community of believers that has been given a kingdom mission to love and serve our community in a way that reveals and reflects Christ in real and practical ways.

We desire to be a church that creates environments where we can love and serve our community in real and practical ways that provide an opportunity to share the love of Christ and the message of the gospel. And we desire to be a church of missionaries that are genuinely and authentically following the message and teachings of Jesus in our spheres of influence in a way that is investing and inviting those who are far from God to come to experience the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

And as we engage in God’s kingdom mission by creating environments where people can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience authentic community, we believe that God will work in and through these environments to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, who move from being consumers who are searching and shopping for answers when it comes to Jesus and the Bible, or who view the church as simply a place that provides spiritual goods and services, to owners who own a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus, to investors who are involved in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus and who invest their time, talents, and treasure in the kingdom mission that we have been given as a church.

As a church, we believe that followers of Jesus are fully engaged in the Great Commission when we are investing in that mission in three specific ways, 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 invite and ask every regular attender to invest their time, in addition to being a part of a Sunday worship gathering, to be a part of a community group.

Second, we have set as a goal for the future that every regular attender is investing their talents serving God by serving others as part of a ministry team. Third, we have set as a goal for the future that every regular attender is investing their treasure in a way that reveals and reflects the generosity of Jesus. We believe that the Bible teaches us that making disciples that are growing and maturing in their relationship with Jesus requires that we invest our time in a community group, our talents in a ministry, and our treasure through giving.

So here is a question to consider: where would you place yourself when it comes to a relationship with Jesus? Would you consider yourself a consumer who is still searching and shopping when it comes to Jesus? Would you consider yourself as an owner, who owns and embraces a genuine and authentic relationship with Jesus, but has not taken the step to invest deeper in that relationship or in the mission that He has given us? Or would you consider yourself and investor who is investing your time, talent, and treasure in a way that is resulting your spiritual growth and in the spiritual good of others?

With the answer to that question in mind, here is a second question to consider: What would you need to do to take that next step when it came to your relationship to Jesus? What would you have to do to move from a consumer to an owner? What would you have to do to move from an owner to an investor? And what is keeping you from taking that step?

And so often, most sermons on this event from history tend to end here. But that is not where this event from history ends. Jesus still has more to say. And as this event from history continues, Jesus makes an amazing statement that helps resolve the tension when it comes to the question of whether or not God’s presence is present. So let’s look at this statement together, which is at the end of Matthew 28:20:

and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Jesus grabs the attention of His disciples with what is translated in our Bibles today as lo. This would be like me saying “Yo, listen up!” Jesus wanted to have the disciples undivided attention because He was about to introduce something new; something previously unheard of; something that would have been viewed by the disciples as unusual. And what was so new and unusual was this: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.

Jesus here is promising His disciples, and followers of Jesus throughout history that He is fully present.  Just because God may seem silent, that does not mean that God is not present. Just because we cannot see God, that does not mean that God is not present. You see, God’s presence is evident when followers of Jesus are engaged in community with one another and on mission with one another.

When followers of Jesus gather together in community to worship, we experience God’s presence in powerful ways. When followers of Jesus gather together in community groups, we experience God’s presence in a powerful way as we support and encourage one another.  When followers of Jesus invest their talents serving God by serving others, we are used by God to reveal His presence to others. When followers of Jesus invest their treasure, we are used by God to reveal His presence to others as we create environments where people can explore faith, grow in their faith, and experience community.

And here we see revealed for us the timeless reality that we experience God’s presence when we engage in God’s kingdom mission in community with one another. We are never any closer to God’s presence here on earth than when followers of Jesus are engaged in God’s kingdom mission in community with one another, because God has divinely designed the church to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His presence to one another and the world.

God has promised us His presence will be present. And we experience God’s presence most powerfully in community with one another. And God has given us a mission. A mission to make disciples; to be used by God to bring followers of Jesus into relationship with Him and in community with one another that results in their spiritual growth and good. And what is so amazing is that this mission is not a solo mission; this mission is not simply a mission that followers of Jesus engage apart from God.

This is a mission that God partners with us as He equips and empowers us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His presence to the world. And Jesus makes it clear that His presence will be present among His followers as we experience God’s presence when we engage in God’s kingdom mission in community with one another...