The Mission

The Mission

CCCAG, 11-13-22

Scripture: Romans 10:9-15

When I got saved in 1993, one of the biggest movies in the theaters was called Schindler’s List. If you aren’t familiar with that movie, it’s about a German industrialist named Oskar Schindler who bought a factory in Poland to sell things to the Nazi government that could be used to fight the Allies during World War II.

Most of the 1200 employees of that factory were Jews. If you don’t remember your history, Nazi’s don’t like Jews very much, and the factory that Schindler owned was very close to a concentration camp where they were killing Jews by the 10’s of thousands. Initially, Schindler didn’t care about the people who worked at the factory, he was in it for the money, but after time, his heart changed and he began to really care about them, spending much of his fortune bribing Nazi officials not to deport his workers. He even bought a munitions factory further away from the death camps and made it a necessary part of the German war machine so they would leave him and his Jews alone.

Ironically, Schindler made sure that the munitions factory never produced a single shell that worked, but with the chaos surrounding the allies advancing toward Germany, the Nazi’s never caught wind this munitions factory was deliberately making dud rounds.

As the Russians were pouring into Poland from the north they were pushing the Nazi’s back into Germany for a last stand. As the Nazi’s fled the areas where Schindler had his factories, he had only one choice. You see, you couldn’t do business in Germany unless you were a member of the Nazi party. Schindler was afraid they would only see that he was a member of the Nazi party and shoot him, so he was preparing to flee west toward the American lines where he could trade intelligence about the Nazi war machine for leniency. As he was getting into his car, the leaders of the Jewish people he saved met him on the way to his car.

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You may ask, what does this have to do with missions? Everything.

Someday we will stand before God to give an account of how we lived our lives. Like Oskar Schindler, when we see what we could have done but didn’t, or how we wasted our time or money on things that had no eternal value, that same kind of regret might fill our hearts.

Jesus did not leave us here to have our best life as the prosperity preachers say. I’m not saying we can’t enjoy our life, but that isn’t the main reason we are here. We are here to fulfill a mission.

Our mission orders are as follows-

Matt 28:19-20

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Point to missions banner-

Today being our missions Sunday, I want to focus on some of the how of this mission.

And that leads us to our central verse for this morning. In Roman’s 10 the Apostle Paul encapsulates the Gospel message and the Gospel mission in a few short verses-

Rom 10:9-15

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Prayer

The section we read is often used during ordination services for pastors. It was used when I was ordained by my first church before I became A/G.

But it is a not just something that is for pastors or missionaries. It’s a directive for all of us to follow. Paul is giving us a common sense, almost legal argument here.

I. The plan-

First, he presents the Gospel message-

He gives the minimum requirements to be saved-

Confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.