You Were Made For a Mission

We’ve got a really important event coming up following church. Today at our Mission and Ministry fair you’ll each have a chance to discover a bit more about where you can put your God-given SHAPE to use. I want you to be able to take some time with that, to look into every possible avenue of service here at Our Saviour, so let’s get right to the point today, shall we?
Your first purpose in life is what? Worship. Your second purpose in life is Fellowship. The third? Discipleship. The fourth is Ministry, and the fifth is evangelism. Evangelism: That’s what we mean when we say that you were made for a mission. Your fifth purpose in life is to share the Good News.
Now there are two types of Christians that I know of: those who have the gift of evangelism and those who have a mortal fear of it. If you have the gift of evangelism you are among those happy few who seem to be able to naturally turn any conversation into a discussion about Jesus Christ and having a personal relationship with Him. If you are not one of those people . . . well, let’s just say it’s probably true that you’d rather have a root canal than try to evangelize. You’d rather do just about anything in order to avoid having to . . . actually . . . tell . . . some total stranger about Jesus Christ. Right?
So what’s the point? Why take the risk of actually doing evangelism, anyway? If it causes us such emotional pain, such trauma, then why do it?
Can I give you an illustration for that? Take a look around . . . is there anyone here today you love? I mean, really now . . . someone that you look at and your heart just wells up a bit thinking of what that person means to you. There’s not much you wouldn’t be willing to do for that person, is there? You’d sacrifice a lot for that person, wouldn’t you? If you lost them somehow, it wouldn’t be acceptable. Not acceptable at all.
When you think of that person, you are thinking of them in the way Jesus thinks of them. That person you love: Jesus died for them so that they could have life. For Jesus, they were not an acceptable loss. See, even if you were the only person Jesus had died for, you’d have enough reason to tell His story to everyone you meet. But it’s more than that: Jesus paid the way for the ones you love, as well, and because of that, our joy in Christ can be made complete. For Jesus, the only life that was acceptable to lose was His own. Everyone you meet, from the bank teller to the guy at the gas station . . . they’re all precious to Jesus Christ. And you are God’s tool for reaching them.
There’s this story you might have heard on occasion. God is preparing to create mankind, He’s fashioning the earth together in what’s going to become Adam. An angel sees this strange-looking creature and asks God what’s going on. And God says, “This will be the pinnacle of my creation. There is no other creature that will be more precious to me than mankind.” And the angel says, “Wow . . . that guy must really be able to do some great stuff for you, huh?” And God says, “No. As a matter of fact, he will betray me. He and his wife will plunge all of my precious children into sin from which there can never be any escape. But I have a plan: I will send my Son to live as one of them. He will live the perfect life they cannot live, and those who put their trust in Him will have eternal life through Him. I will give the Good News to my children on earth, and I will ask them to share it with those who have not heard it, so that they too can be saved.”
And the angel says, “But God . . . what if they don’t? What’s Plan B?” And God says, “There is no Plan B.”
There is no Plan B. You are God’s tool for reaching the lost. Romans 10:12-14, says this, “‘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?”
How can the lost hear without someone—someone just like you—telling them the Good News? The answer is that they can’t. And if they’re never told, they’ll never believe . . . and they’ll die without Christ.
You are missionaries. You are on a mission. Your mission is to tell the Good News. Well, that’s simple enough . . . who do I tell it to? Look up at the top of your interactive sermon sheet. Read that verse with me. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Our Lord sent the Apostles on a three-fold mission. In the same fashion you, too, have a three-part mission. But we’re not in 1st Century Palestine, so let’s break down what that three-part mission means for us today.
Now, if you were a 1st century Jew, where is the one place you could go in all the world and be assured there would be people just like you? Right—Jerusalem! There would be people who talked like you, who looked like you, who shared similar experiences and tastes and likes and dislikes. That’s who our “Jerusalem” is for us today—those people who are most like us. The first part of my three-fold mission is to deliberately share with those in my world.
That’s really the easiest part of evangelism; sharing Christ with those whom we are most comfortable with. As you look for people to share the good news with—start with the people you know! Start with the people whom you share common experiences, with the people who like the things you like and live the way you live. That’s your Jerusalem.
This is the way we typically do church here: with those who are most like us. I mean, look around, we all pretty much look like one another. But what would happen if we broke out of our mold? If we were to reach beyond our comfort zone?
Well then, we’d be fulfilling the second part of our mission. For a first-century Jew, to reach into Judea and Samaria would means we would have to courageously dare to reach those beyond our world.
This takes some initiative on our part! Christians are called to build bridges, not walls. In other words, I just don't spend all my time hanging out with people just like me. Paul put it to the church in Corinth this way in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, “19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
This is a question for you to answer: Who’s just outside your world? Who are the people that you occasionally come in contact with but have very little in common? Christ asks you to reach out to them. It may be the prisoners behind bars that need to hear the Gospel, but remember God doesn’t have a Plan B. It may be that person around town with the horrible reputation, someone that it just wouldn’t do to be seen with . . . but remember God doesn’t have a Plan B. It may be AIDS patients or young kids or single moms or people of a different color or language . . . but remember God doesn’t have a Plan B! You’re it. You’re the plan! And if you’re nervous or afraid, just ask God to let you see those people with His eyes. Once you see them as He sees them, you’ll be more than willing to cross the tracks, to reach beyond your world.
I deliberately share with those in my world. I courageously dare to reach those beyond my world, but all the while I consistently care for those in the whole world.
You have the highest impact in your world—your immediate circle of influence. That’s true. You also have the ability to reach just beyond your world and make a significant impact. But did you know you can also reach into the whole world and spread the Good News, leaving a legacy for Christ?
Repeatedly in the Bible told to reach out. Over and over again God says it in one word: "Go." I want you to go. You can't spell “God” without “go.” You can't spell “Good News” without “go.” You can't spell “gospel” without “go.” Somebody has to go!
But I once heard a wise preacher say that if you’re not called to go then you’re called to send. Not everyone is cut out to be a full-time foreign missionary . . . but there are a few whom God has equipped for the job, and it is our duty to care for the whole world by supporting the work of the Gospel in places where we could never reach. This is not the Synod’s job . . . this is not the church’s job . . . this is your job. If you’re not called to go, you’re called to send.
In Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth we have but one message to proclaim: 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 says, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
We preach Christ crucified. We preach it because nothing else satisfies. Rick Warren tells this story about a time when he was in China. His team of pastors was invited to come and dialogue with the professors at Peking University. Every communist leader in China is educated at Pekng University. About 50,000 students.
They went and had some great dialogue and talked with a number of faculty. And after it was over, Rick took the provost, the No. 2 man over the university, out to lunch, Professor Joe. He had been a professor there for 50 years in mathematics and economics or engineering. They began to talk and during that discussion Professor Joe told how he was dying of a brain tumor. At that time, Rick Warren’s dad was also of cancer. So Rick said, “Professor Joe, my dad is dying of cancer, but he's not afraid to die because he's made his peace with God. He knows where he's going when he dies.”
And Rick began to tell him a story. He said there was a man who took his son and his son's three best friends to the carnival. He bought a roll of tickets. And at each of the carnival stops, he would stop at the ride, give his son a free ticket and three best friends a ticket. They would ride the ride and go to the next ride. He would give his son a ticket and give his three friends he had brought with him another ticket. Next ride, do the same. He said on about the fifth ride, he looked down and there was a fourth little hand sticking out for every ticket. And he looked down at this little kid and said, "Who are you?" The kid said, "I’m your son's new best friend; and he said that if I was his friend, his father would give me a free ticket.” The dad said, “You think I gave him a ticket? You bet I did. I gave him a ticket.”
Rick told Professor Joe that his Heavenly Father, God, has a ticket for him to heaven. It is a free ticket. You can't earn it. You can't buy it. You'll never deserve it. It is free. The only way you'll get it is by being a friend of His Son, Jesus Christ. And this man, this man who had been the provost of the leading institution in China for 50 years, he looked over at Pastor Warren and with tears coming down his eyes and with trembling lips, he said, “I would like one of those tickets.”
We preach Christ crucified . . . a stumbling block and foolishness to the world, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because to God, there is no such thing as an acceptable loss. There is no Plan B. You were made for a mission.