Mission
The scene was the little lane off
“Cut!”
“How was it that time?”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to do another take. Touch up those scratches and
we’ll start again!”
And the amazed bystanders watched as the production team touched up the
vehicles, repositioned the cameras, set up the garbage bin and prepared the
courtyard scene for a small segment of another episode of Mission Impossible.
Mission
But the mission of Jesus was different. True, he came into history as
the Son of God, knowing the divine plan, having a role to fulfil
and knowing that God and truth would win in the end. And yet – in his coming he
had “emptied himself” (Phil. 2.5-11). He lived out his life without the benefit
of the storyline and knowing that the conclusion depended on what he would do
(and what others would do to him) in the struggle against evil.
These are the things he was wrestling with in his temptation in the
desert (Mt. 4.1-11). He had come “to save his people from their sins” (Mt.
1.21), “to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk. 19.10). Just how do you go
about that?
Well, here are some suggestions, Jesus. First, you must look after
Number One! If it’s true that you are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become bread!
Come up here, Jesus, right up onto the highest point of the temple. See
all the crowds down there? They’re looking up at you. Now, jump down! God will
protect you and you will have an instant following!
Look, Jesus I’m in charge of things down here. So you want the world?
Then bow down and worship me!
No, Satan! No! Never your way! Away from me!
Simon and Andrew! “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”
(Mt. 1.19). James and John too! Philip! Nathanael (Jn 1.43ff)! Leave your
tax-collecting, Matthew, and “follow me” (Mt. 9.9).
Soon there were twelve of them – following him, going where he went,
observing what he said and did, getting the feel of
his personality. But – what an unpromising bunch! Maybe one person can’t do it
all, but – this lot?
In the end we find one of them betraying him and then going out to hang himself! The others ran away under pressure, left him to
face the opposition alone! Peter did try to follow – at a distance – but ended
up cursing and denying that he even knew Jesus! What a fine set of friends he
had acquired!
It seemed as if the other side had the upper hand. Their will was going
to prevail. Jesus was ridiculed, flogged and sent out to die on a cross. So
much for idealism! The mission looked impossible after all! And at the cross it
looked that way too! The people nearby heard Jesus cry out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – words from the
Hebrew of Ps. 22.1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27.46). And the final “It is finished” (Jn 19.28)
sounded like a concession of defeat!
But it wasn’t the end. Jesus, the sinless one who had lived in
fellowship with the Father throughout eternity, had experienced the awful
separation from God caused by sin. He experienced it for us. He was dying to
save us from our sins. The penalty for sin had been paid in full – it is
finished! And on the third day he rose from death!
But there was still a problem. In this “mission impossible” Jesus could
do little more than die on the cross – unless he was going to reveal himself
simultaneously throughout the world in power and glory. And he had rejected
that kind of plan when the devil proposed it. One day he would come again in
power and glory, but meantime the mission itself must be accomplished with all
the human limitations he had accepted.
The
baton is passed
So we find the risen Christ saying to the eleven remaining disciples,
“This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the
third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name
to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am
going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you
have been clothed with power from on high.”
The athletic types among us (former or present) know well the feeling
when the previous runner in a relay passes the baton to you. Excitement and
tension were mixed together as you watched the approaching runner and made
yourself ready. But now it is in your grasp (don’t drop it!) and for the moment
the outcome is all up to you! So the supporters are there cheering from the
sidelines and the next runner is up ahead, but – it’s your race!
Imagine their feelings as they heard Jesus saying to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptising 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. And surely I am with you always to the very
end of the age” (Lk. 24.46-49 and Mt. 28.18-20).
“Lord! They treated you brutally and put you to death! You came through
it and, yes, we can see that your death means good news. But, Lord, don’t you
remember how we reacted under pressure? We thought we loved you but – we
weren’t with you at all! Surely you don’t mean us, Lord?...
Yes, Lord, you do mean us! And you will be with us? And send the Holy Spirit so
that we will be clothed in power? Amazing!” Without
Pentecost there would have been no church!
There is another way of looking at the Lord’s commission. Paul calls
Christ “the head of the church, which is his body” (Eph. 2.22-23). A body
consists of a whole variety of parts, different from but all dependent on one
another and working together for the will of the head. The presence of Christ
and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit make the group of believers his Body. As
individuals we have our race to run (as in Heb. 12.1-2), but the baton is
carried by the whole Body.
Understanding
our mission
We all know the situation (whether from our own childhood or our
children) where someone has been sent with a specific mission – to make a bed,
tidy a room – but is later found doing something entirely different.
“You forgot what you were supposed to be doing!”
Too often the Body of Christ has been unresponsive to the directions of
the Head, has forgotten our mission, has become
side-tracked onto other issues. “Lord, what is your task for us? Just what is
this baton you have passed to us?”
The life
of the Body centres on God himself - Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. So – worship to our central activity.
The task of the Body is to make disciples – the “fishers of men”
bit! The Head still wants “to seek and to save what was lost”. But it’s not
just a matter of gathering them in. They are to become new characters in
Christ, gifted by the Holy Spirit to take their place within the Body, part of
the means of fulfilling the mission!
People outside the Church need to hear our loving Lord calling to them,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt.
11.28). They experience this in the caring service of God’s people. And they
hear it when the good news - of Christ, forgiveness, salvation, new life – is
shared with them (evangelising) and they have
the opportunity to respond to Christ by faith. They have begun to “come”
and now continue to need love and nurture so that faith will grow, so
that spiritual gifts will be discovered, so that Christian character will be
unfolded. They will be gathered into the worship of God.
But nurturing doesn’t end there, for being part of the Body commits us
to the mission. Jesus didn’t say, “Come and be comfortable!” In fact, after
inviting the people to come to him, he said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me...” (Mt. 11.29). A yoke is a means of carrying
a burden. It suggests that the Lord has work for us to do! The same Lord who
said “Come!” also says “Go!” (Mt. 28.19).
Sometimes we have assumed that the minister (plus a
few helpers) are meant to do all the evangelising,
nurturing and serving for us! But Paul, writing to the Ephesians, emphasised that the purpose of special ministries within
the Body is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of
Christ may be built up” (4.12).
So our nurturing needs to include equipping – getting ready to do
something, discovering and developing gifts that will minister to others in the
Body and reach out beyond the Body. All of us – every one of us – is meant to be involved in some way in building up the Body,
in making disciples.
The doctor says to his patient, “I’m sorry! You are carrying too much
weight!” He is concerned about the load on our whole system caused by passenger
fat that we may have taken on board!
All of us, by the grace of God and according to the gifts he has given us,
are on active service, prayerfully and lovingly ministering to others within
the Body and reaching out to others beyond the Body. Our service is evangelism
in practice – so vital before the right time comes to express the good news
(the evangel) in words.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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. And surely I am with you always to the
very end of the age.”
The baton has been passed! Yet Jesus is still with us! We are his Body!
Let’s keep moving with him!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you are
my Saviour and my Lord. Thank you that you have forgiven and welcomed me as
part of your family. Stamp your character in my life. By your Spirit enable me
to see and exercise within your Body the gifts I have from you.
Lord Jesus, help us all to be responsive to you in loving and serving others, so that they too will hear and accept your good news and become part of your Body. Help us to keep moving with you! Amen.
© Peter J. Blackburn, Halifax &
Ingham, 30 August 2009
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture
quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible
Society, 1984.
Back to Sermons