Discovering Missional Life
Series: The Call – Part 5
October 7, 2007 – Brad Bailey
(Portions of this message were taken or adapted from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life message
“Made for a Mission.”)
As we begin this morning… let me ask another question to reflect on…
“What got you up this morning?”
I’m not talking about the kids or the coffee… but what if anything gave you a
reason for rising? What gives meaning to our everyday lives?
This morning as we continue our series entitled The Call… the nature of the call of
our Creator … that calls us out of our independence and isolation……
During these weeks we’ve noted the Call of God calls us into an ‘intimate
allegiance’ to the true king of life… calls us into divine community… and now we
come to the very purpose that defines such a community.
The first life which God ever called out was Abraham…. I will make you a
BLESSING to all nations of the earth.
> Core to their identity…
Jesus comes… and begins with a calling out… to ‘follow me and I will make you
‘FISHERS’ of men. Not a tag on… it’s imbedded in the call itself. Don’t miss the
reality here… this is the figure that prophets had spoken of for centuries… being
recognized as a rabbi whose authority was unlike any other … perhaps the
Messiah himself… and he is coming to fishermen… tax collectors… and
REDEFINING their lives…. Not their professions.. they still did some fishing… he
even went out with them… he was redefining their very existence.
The Call of God redefines life in relationship to blessing others. He
doesn’t remove us from the mundane… but rather infuses the
mundane with mission.
In John 17:18, Jesus said this –
"In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a
mission in the world."
> As Rick Warren so aptly put it – “You were made for a mission.”
We discover that more than man’s mission to the moon… more than any quest to
discover new worlds… you and I were made for a mission of eternal meaning.
In John 20:21, Jesus said,
"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Now, what are we being sent to do? What is our mission?
Luke 19:9 (NIV)
Jesus said...”the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
> It was mission that defined Christ’s life… drove him… a mission to seek and
save… to rescue and restore… and that is what he imparts to all who follow.
Paul
Acts 20:22
"the most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord
Jesus gave me to tell people the good news about God’s grace.”
So our lives are meant to be imbedded and infused with a mission…to
share the Good News.
Now, there’s a word for this, and just like all these other words we’ve looked at every
week, it is often misunderstood. It is the word "evangelism.”
Now, one thing Christians and non-Christians have in common is, neither of
them like that word because it makes you think of guys with really big hair who shout
real loud on TV and say [loud, Southern accent] "Send me your money!" But that’s not
what evangelism is at all, or an evangelist. Evangelism is just the Greek word for
“good news.” That’s all it means.
It means good news. And so the Bible says that once I know the Good News, that
God loves me, has a purpose and plan for my life and all the things we’ve talked
about, God wants me to pass it on, sharing the Good News with others.
Why does He say this? Because we go back to what we last week, God is building a
family. God is building a family of people who love and trust Him, that are going
to spend eternity with Him. That is the whole point of history.
The very issue Jesus had with religious leaders who had created that which served
themselves… and rather than bearing the work of liberation… it became one of
alienation.
Same challenge today…you probably feel the tension… If you consider yourself a
Christian today… you likely feel the tension between liberation and alienation.
How do we communicate the Good News?
If we’re sent by Jesus… we should share like Jesus shows us.
1. Personally – Simply sharing what God is doing in us… through
our weakness
We tend to carry the wrong perception and paradigm in our mind… we may think
we are suppose to be salesmen… or perhaps defense attorneys… but Jesus
simply told the lives he blessed to go share what he had done with others. Be a
‘witness’…
A witness is somebody who just tells what they have seen.
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
”…in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer
to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do
this with gentleness and respect.”
Notice… He does not describe ‘defending a propositional faith… or a set of truths… but our
PERSONAL HOPE.
“Christians have something to share with others, not because they are different
but precisely because they are no different. Their concerns and struggles are
the same as other people’s; the difference is that in the midst of struggle Jesus
is also present.” - Complete Book of Everyday Christianity
2. Commonly - Among everyday lives we know and meet… on their
turf
Jesus’ own way of engaging lives…
• The Story of Zaccheus from Luke 19
Jesus didn’t invite this tax collector to a special synagogue event… but rather, a simple
self-invitation to lunch. The result is conversion and repentance. The “crook” promises to
give to the poor and make restitution. Jesus declares that salvation has taken hold.
•
The Story of the Woman at the Well from John 4:5-30
Jesus just stops for water at the community well… Once again defies custom as he
associates with those with whom one does not associate. The result of his encounter with
the woman encourages her to spread the news in her community, she has found someone
who knows her inside and out.
What can be learned from these stories
God wants us to be available to share our selves, as well as his story.
> Lunch invitations and drinks of water are probably a good start.
“He did not invite people to come to places where he felt safe and they felt threatened.
He went to the beach, to the market, to the city streets. And he did not set up evangelistic
events when he got there. He was simply there, sharing in the life of whatever was
happening—and listening.”- - Complete Book of Everyday Christianity
3. Dependently – Sensitive to what God is doing and desires to do
The very proclamation of Christ to the world… is that God’s reign is breaking in… he
was pointing to the work of His Father.
It all begins with our recognition that God is at work in the world.
Jesus’ good news came with sharing and showing… not simply miracles to prove what he
said… but dynamic reflections of what God’s rule implies… signs of heaven breaking in.
4. Restoratively - Extending liberation through grace … over
condemnation
John 3:17 (CEV)
”God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save
them!”
John 3:17 (The Message)
”God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger,
telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”
1 Corinthians 5:12 (TEV)
“…it is none of my business to judge outsiders. God will judge them."
Ex feeding homeless… do you think those live will come closer to God
5. Holistically – showing love for the whole person
The Bible says one day Jesus is going to separate people into two groups: sheep and
goats. And He’s going to say to one group, you know what?
Mt. 25:35-36 (NLT)
“I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me a drink. I was a
stranger, and you invited Me into your home. I as naked, and you gave Me
clothing. I was sick, and you cared for Me. I was in prison, and you visited
Me.”
If you go back and read the rest of that verse, Matthew 25, people are going to say,
“When did we do that for you, Lord?” And He says, “When you have done it to
one of the least of my brothers or sisters, you’ve done it to Me.” When you give a
cup of cold water to somebody who is thirsty, when you give a shoe box of toys to a
child on the other side of the world who has never had anything, Jesus said, “It is just
like did you it for me.”
Who does our missional call extend to?
Acts 1:8, let’s read it together:
"You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to
the ends of the earth."
Now, when Jesus told this to his followers, do you know where they were? They were
in Jerusalem. So here’s the point. He is saying, first, I want you to start at home. I
want you to start with the people closest to you, right there in your own city, your own
community. Then he says I want you to go to Judea and Samaria, that’s like the
county next door, and Samaritans happen to be different culturally and different
racially. So He said, “I want you to go to people nearby, but they are different from
you.” Then He says, “I want you to go to the ends of the earth. I want you to go reach
everybody else.”
“Jerusalem” = the people closest to me
“Judea/Samaria” = people near but different from me
“Ends of the earth” = everybody else!
A dynamic of mission flows outward… it reminds us that the term ‘missionary’ has
some problems.
> Another reason I like the term ‘missional’… a quality that runs in all we do and
wherever we do it.
So what’s involved in discovering the missional life… knowing I’m completing the
mission of God?
First, to complete my God-given mission, I must share with those in my
world.
That’s the starting point. I must share with those in my world. There’s a guy who Jesus
healed. And after Jesus healed him, he wanted to travel with Jesus and Jesus said,
"No, I don’t want you to do that."
Luke 8:39, He said this, "’Go back home and tell people how much God has done
for you.’ So that man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for
him.”
Circle the phrase "go back home." Jesus says the same thing to you. You know
where your mission starts? Right at home, starts in your own neighborhood, in
your own community. It says he went all over town. That’s what God wants you to do.
He wants you to go to your friends, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors,
anybody who crosses your path, the person who delivers the paper, helps you with
gas or a clerk somewhere. God says, "I want you to share the Good News with the
people first in your Jerusalem, with the people in your home.”
Now, why don’t we do this?
One reason is because we believe the myth that people aren’t
interested in spiritual issues. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every
single poll and every single survey says Americans are more interested in spiritual
things now than they were ten years ago. Not less, but more interested in spiritual
issues. I read this week that George Gallup did a survey and discovered that 65
million Americans have no church home, but 34 million of them said they would attend
if somebody would just invite them. 34 million just waiting for an invitation!
> You see, opportunities to share the Good News really are all around you. They are
staring you in the face every single day.
It is the reason your heart is still beating. Why doesn’t God, the moment I say,
“Yep, I’m on your team,” instantly take me to heaven? Well, there are only two
things you cannot do in heaven. You can sing in heaven, pray in heaven, fellowship
in heaven, serve God in heaven, rest in heaven. There are only two things you can’t
do in heaven. One of them is sin and the other is tell people who don’t know it the
Good News about God’s love. Now, which of those two reasons do you think
you’re still alive for?
The only reason your heart is still beating after you come to Christ is because God
wants you to share it with people who haven’t heard. If somebody hadn’t shared it with
you, you’d be lost. So God wants you to pass it on.
My immediate sphere of influence
Who might God have in my immediate sphere of life that I could bless in this
season… someone God may have me take an interest in… or want to give me a
heart and word for. A co-worker, neighbor, or relationship from some group I’m
a part of?
It is not enough to just care about the people who are around you.
2. I must dare to reach beyond my world.
1 Cor. 9:22b (LB)
“Whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that
he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him.”
In other words, Christians are called to build bridges, not walls. And repeatedly in this
book, the Bible, we’re told to reach out. …over and over again God says it in one
word: "Go." I want you to go. It’s helpful to remember that you can’t spell the word
“God” “Good News” or “gospel” without “go.” You have to go!
James 1:27 (Msg)
“Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this:
Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight...”
You know, when you read this book and you read about Jesus, you read that Jesus
always rooted for the underdog that people in that society wanted to ignore; the
powerless, the poor, the left behind, the imprisoned, the orphaned, the widowed, the
aged, the mentally ill, the social outcasts, sick, the lepers. If Jesus were alive today,
do you know who He would be hanging out with -- AIDS patients. He’d probably be at
an AIDS hospice, caring for those that everybody else wants to kind of turn their back
on.
Now here at Westside Vineyard, fortunately, there are many who are reaching
beyond themselves. They are not just telling their friends, they are reaching out to
people who are different from themselves to show God’s love to the needy.
Various ways we as the Westside Vineyard have gathered to touch lives…
Homeless / Sunday lunch for the homeless
Thanksgiving Dinner
Harvest Home
Convalescent Home Ministry… caring for those often most alone
Neighborhood groups…. Councils, Rec Parks, …
> Vision of Missional Lives in Community
If you get involved in your mission in the world, it is going to cost you. It is going to
break you out of self-centeredness and comfortable things, and it is going to cost you
time and energy and effort and money and maybe even your privacy sometimes;
…but God has promised eternal rewards.
Mark 10:29 (LB)
Jesus replied, "Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything...
for love of Me and to tell others the Good News, who won’t be given back, a
hundred times over...”
That’s 10,000% interest on your investment. You’re not going to get those rates
anywhere in the world, God says, “Whatever you do for me is not in vain.”
How can I serve my community? Making lunches for those who are
homeless and hungry? Visiting those who are in convalescent facilities…
often left with little family or friends? Supporting women in crisis pregnancy
at Harvest Home? Explore a neighborhood association I could join in. Seek
opportunities in the local school or parks could I get involved with to further
be a neighbor in my community.
It is not enough to just share with those in my world; it is not even enough to reach
beyond my world, to dare to reach beyond it. If I am going to be like Jesus Christ,
3. I must care about the whole world.
I share with my world. I dare to reach beyond my world. And then I care about the
whole world. And we have to care because God cares about the whole world.
Mark 16: 15
“Jesus said to His followers, ‘Go everywhere in the world and tell the
Good News to everyone.’”
Was Jesus talking to pastors there? No. Was he talking to missionaries there?
No. He’s talking to just normal followers. If you’re a Christian, Jesus said, “Follow
Me, and I’ll make you a fisher of men.” If you’re not fishing, you’re not following. He
says to His followers, go everywhere, because everybody deserves to hear the Good
News.
Now, listen, that used to be impossible. When He said it to His disciples, they didn’t
even have the ships to get across to other continents. In those days, they had two
means of transportation, walk or donkey, maybe a camel. That was it. Now, today, we
have ships, and planes and trains and automobiles and buses; and with the internet,
the world has even gotten smaller.
How can I join God’s heart for reaching the world?
• Learning …of the partnerships that I am a part of supporting as a
member of the Westside Vineyard.
• Praying
• Going …abroad / partnerships in Asia through Ethnos Asia Ministries…INDIA with
Vineyard church plants…
Closing: I believe if we are all missionaries… designed to discover a missional life that
infuses the very core of our being.
This morning many of us need to have our old perspectives crushed… missionaries as
the super spiritual… only in certain places… to work as salesmen and women.
God wants I grew up around a family business… “The Bailey Hat Company”
…Started by my grandfather… my father’s father… my father took it up… became
president… and with the years passing… there was I … the only son of the family.
When it became clear that it wasn’t my cup or calling… something special seemed
lost… the name was sold… hat were still made… but it was simply that we didn’t share
in a family business. Within a few years I discovered something… I did inherit the
family business… an so did my dad.. and so have you… when Jesus said… “As the
father sent me… so I send you.”
