A Missional Community.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. [0:01] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:03] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church, [0:04] and as always, I’m thankful and grateful [0:07] to see each and every one of you. [0:08] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them

[0:10] to 2 Corinthians chapter five. [0:12] We’re gonna be starting in verse 14 this morning. [0:16] Before we get into that, this is our last week [0:19] in our sermon series on the Gospel-centered community. [0:23] Next week, we’re gonna be starting a series [0:25] on the cross of Christ that’s going to take us through

[0:28] to Easter Sunday, where we celebrate the resurrection. [0:31] So what we’re gonna be doing in that series [0:33] is we’re going to be taking a look [0:34] at the different reasons for the cross, [0:37] why we needed Jesus to die on the cross, [0:39] as well as what was accomplished on the cross for us,

[0:44] leading up to what was accomplished [0:46] through the resurrection for us, [0:48] as well as we celebrate the resurrection on Easter together. [0:52] But the final week here [0:54] on the Gospel-centered community is fitting, [0:56] because we’re talking about the fact

[0:58] that we need to be a missional community this morning. [1:01] It’s been said by many people [1:04] that our souls will shrink [1:07] to the level of our chief concerns. [1:10] So what it is that we are the most concerned about [1:14] with life is going to dictate

[1:16] the health of ourselves spiritually. [1:19] What we are focused on is what our lives [1:22] are going to be about. [1:24] And so that’s why I think it’s very imperative [1:27] that we kind of cap this whole series off [1:30] with a focus on what the mission of Jesus is for us

[1:35] as a community seeking to live out [1:38] the reality of that our community is founded in Him [1:42] and all that He has promised and accomplished [1:44] through His life, through His death, [1:46] and through His resurrection. [1:48] As we follow Jesus, we will form a community

[1:52] that is about Him. [1:54] But the key there is that we’re following Jesus, [1:57] because we can form a community [1:59] about a great number of things. [2:01] We can form a community around a great number [2:04] of things that we might have in common.

[2:06] But unless we are following Jesus, [2:09] we will not form a community that is about Jesus. [2:14] From the forgiveness and the reconciliation [2:16] that the Gospel gives us to a church that is founded [2:20] and has traits of joy, humility, honesty, and grace, [2:25] those character traits are good.

[2:27] They come at us from the Gospel. [2:30] But there’s also a temptation and kind of a way [2:34] that we can drift away from the Gospel [2:38] to where we can even point to little snapshots [2:41] of joy, of humility, of honesty. [2:45] We can have some snapshots of that,

[2:47] but unless the mission is what is coming from that, [2:53] then it’s not about the Gospel. [2:55] And so in a very real sense, [2:57] my hope for you to understand this morning [2:59] is that the mission of Jesus is what defines [3:03] who we are as a community at Village Church.

[3:06] And the community that Jesus wants to form [3:09] is not like a pond, but sometimes it can become like a pond. [3:13] Most people don’t drink pond water, [3:15] and there’s a very good reason for that. [3:18] It’s disgusting. [3:19] It doesn’t move, so it just sits there, it stagnates,

[3:24] bad bacteria begins to form in it. [3:26] So if you drink from pond water, [3:28] you will necessarily run a great risk of getting sick. [3:34] The community that Jesus wants to form in us [3:36] is more like a river, is that it’s moving, it’s flowing, [3:40] it’s forming, and it’s moving towards something

[3:43] that is larger than itself. [3:47] And so the community that Jesus wants us to build [3:49] is something that must constantly be taking part [3:52] in the missional movement that Jesus himself was a part of. [3:58] The last words that Jesus had to say to his followers [4:01] as he was ascending to heaven after the resurrection

[4:04] was very clear. [4:06] He said, go make disciples. [4:09] And I happen to think that if these are the last words [4:11] that Jesus had to say to his people, [4:14] they are something that we need to focus on. [4:17] These are the words that he wanted to stay

[4:19] with his followers in complete certainty [4:23] that once he was gone, he wanted his people [4:27] to be about this very thing. [4:30] And the call to make disciples [4:32] is what the mission of the church is to be about. [4:37] We must be about living his mission in this world.

[4:41] And when we do that, we will ensure that our community [4:47] is living and being known as a community [4:50] that’s for and is making disciples of Jesus Christ. [4:55] And so understand this morning that my entire point [4:58] is that mission is the key trait [5:01] that will build a gospel-centered community.

[5:04] If it does not have mission, [5:06] then it is not a gospel-centered community. [5:11] And here’s the way the apostle Paul put it [5:13] in 2 Corinthians 5, starting in 14. [5:15] And I love the fact that our study is taking us here [5:18] because this is the section of scripture

[5:20] that propelled my life into planting village church. [5:25] Here’s what the apostle Paul says. [5:27] He says, for the love of Christ controls us. [5:31] And I want you to stop right there. [5:33] And I want to make a very clear point [5:35] as we go to the rest of it.

[5:37] What he’s saying is that if you are a follower of Jesus, [5:41] if you’re a Christian, [5:43] if you’re someone who’s placed your faith in Jesus Christ, [5:46] you are no longer the God of your life. [5:49] You are no longer in control. [5:53] When you submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,

[5:57] you ceded control of your life to him. [6:03] That’s what it means to be Lord, [6:07] is that he is the one that controls your life. [6:09] He is the one that has say. [6:12] So he continues. [6:14] This is because we have concluded this,

[6:17] that one has died for all, therefore all have died. [6:20] And he died for all that those who live [6:23] might no longer live for themselves, [6:25] but for him who for their sake died and was raised. [6:29] From now on, therefore, we regard no one [6:31] according to the flesh,

[6:32] even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. [6:36] We regard him thus no longer. [6:38] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. [6:42] The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. [6:45] All this is from God, [6:47] who through Christ reconciled us to himself

[6:49] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. [6:52] That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world [6:55] to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. [6:58] And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. [7:03] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, [7:05] God making his appeal through us.

[7:07] We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [7:12] For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, [7:15] so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. [7:20] Pray with me. [7:22] Father, we are so grateful for your mission. [7:27] Lord, you have moved to save us.

[7:30] You have moved to redeem us. [7:33] You have moved that we could have a new life [7:36] in relationship with you, [7:37] where our sin is no longer the burden on our shoulders, [7:41] but instead, our burden is light because of you. [7:45] We can live your mission.

[7:48] And Lord, I pray this morning that you would enable us [7:50] to catch a vision for your mission [7:52] that would propel us to reach people [7:55] with the good news that Jesus saves. [7:58] Be merciful to me, a sinner. [8:00] In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

[8:03] Just jumping right into it this morning, [8:05] number one, a gospel-centered community [8:07] is a missional community. [8:10] A gospel-centered community is a missional community. [8:15] If you are a Christian, you are sent on mission. [8:21] Everything connected to the gospel of Jesus

[8:24] is about mission by nature. [8:27] If you followed him and if you’ve trusted in him [8:29] as your savior, it is who we are. [8:32] And this goes to the very foundation [8:34] of our identity in Christ. [8:36] To be saved requires a posture of submission to Jesus.

[8:42] It requires you to take a posture [8:44] that I have done this life wrong. [8:48] So if you don’t have that as your understanding, [8:52] then you have not trusted in Jesus. [8:55] You have not submitted to his Lordship. [8:58] There’s a requirement of that posture.

[9:00] Why do you know you haven’t gotten life right? [9:02] Sin. [9:04] You have offended God. [9:05] And if you need God to save you, [9:09] that means you’ve done something wrong. [9:11] It’s like falling over the ledge of a cliff

[9:14] and grabbing onto a tree branch [9:16] and having someone with a ladder [9:18] that will reach you and say, I’m good, [9:19] I haven’t done anything wrong. [9:21] I’m okay. [9:22] When we act as though we can both need salvation from God

[9:27] while not admitting that we’ve been doing something wrong [9:31] and need a course correction, [9:32] that doesn’t make any reasonable sense. [9:35] And so that’s fairly unreasonable. [9:37] And so when we take that posture of submission, [9:42] that is where Paul is starting there in verse 14.

[9:45] He’s saying the love of Christ controls us. [9:49] Your identity changes. [9:51] Your purpose is transformed. [9:54] And now the very love that brought about [9:57] the mission of redemption [9:59] is to become the guiding focus of your life.

[10:05] So he says it is the love of Christ that controls us. [10:08] So the love that Jesus gives into you [10:12] when he saves you is what goes through your life [10:15] and out of your life into the lives of others [10:19] because it is Jesus’s love that has changed you. [10:23] Therefore, your definition of what it is to love someone

[10:26] must come directly from Jesus. [10:29] Your definition is inadequate now. [10:31] Because of salvation, you have a new definition [10:35] for everything in your life. [10:38] And in John chapter 20, Jesus himself says [10:42] to his disciples, he says, peace be with you.

[10:46] As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. [10:53] Do you see the missional connotation there? [10:56] Do you see where Jesus says, [10:57] I’ve been sent by my Father on a mission to save. [11:02] And this is directly connected [11:05] to the cross and the resurrection.

[11:07] He looks to his disciples, his mission accomplished. [11:10] I’ve done what needed to be done. [11:12] Now you take the news of what I have done. [11:18] Take the news of what I have accomplished [11:20] and may my love propel you into a life of mission. [11:28] And so the work that Jesus did on this earth

[11:31] was the work of someone sent on a mission. [11:35] Everything that he was sent to do [11:37] was about the mission to save from the bondage of sin. [11:42] I mean, this is the example [11:43] that Christ would give his people to live by. [11:46] Every healing that he had was a mission to save.

[11:50] Every teaching that he gave was a mission to save. [11:54] Every work that Jesus did on this earth [11:58] was leading us to an understanding and comprehension [12:01] of what it was all about. [12:03] And we saw that on the cross. [12:07] We see that in the resurrection of Jesus.

[12:10] That, oh, you have come to make the wrong things right. [12:16] And so when we receive that from Jesus, [12:19] we are propelled to live his mission. [12:23] Because mission is the expression of who we are in Christ. [12:29] So that means that mission isn’t just something [12:33] that we do.

[12:35] Mission is an expression of who we are in Jesus. [12:41] You see, when mission is just something that you do, [12:43] it’s not connected to your identity. [12:46] It can be as simple as a game of cards. [12:49] Well, I’m not finding my identity in those cards. [12:51] I’m just doing something right now.

[12:53] I’m just playing cards. [12:55] And oftentimes, that’s how we treat the mission of Jesus. [12:57] Well, it’s something that I’m going to do on Saturday. [12:59] I’m going to go live the mission of Jesus. [13:01] You’ve got it all wrong. [13:03] If you define it as something that you do,

[13:06] then you then can separate the rest of your life [13:09] away from it. [13:11] But the mission of Jesus isn’t something [13:12] that you can separate your life away from. [13:14] The mission of Jesus is something that you wake up to. [13:17] The mission of Jesus is something that you go to sleep to.

[13:19] The mission of Jesus is to control every aspect [13:24] of your life all the time, every single day. [13:30] And the reason that we struggle with that [13:32] is one of two things. [13:33] The first one is that we have misdefined [13:35] what it means to be a missionary.

[13:38] You see, oftentimes, we have a definition of a missionary [13:41] and that that is for a person that leaves [13:43] the comforts of home, goes off to a far land [13:46] to preach the gospel in a different country. [13:49] Now, understand that this is a special calling of mission. [13:54] So there are some people that are going to be called

[13:56] to leave their current place and to go to a different place [14:00] that’s far off, usually a different culture altogether [14:03] and proclaim the gospel to those people. [14:06] But being a missionary is something that all Christians [14:10] are called to be in their current context. [14:13] And so when you consider your neighborhood,

[14:16] when you consider your family, [14:18] when you consider your jobs, when you consider your hobbies, [14:21] you are called to live the mission of Jesus [14:24] in every one of those contexts. [14:27] You are sent by God on the same mission [14:32] that Jesus was sent on.

[14:35] That is who you are in Jesus. [14:40] But there’s another problem. [14:41] It’s not just about misdefinition. [14:43] It’s about misunderstood commitment. [14:46] And what you actually try to do more often than not [14:49] is you just simply try to add Jesus

[14:52] to an already overbearing and overcommitted life. [14:58] So it’s like you’re at the all you can eat buffet. [15:00] Let’s say you’re at Golden Corral. [15:02] And you’ve only got one trip, bro. [15:05] One plate, one trip. [15:06] Now I’m looking at this crowd

[15:07] and some of you are like challenge accepted. [15:09] I’m gonna defy the law of physics here. [15:12] You are going to see a pile of food [15:14] that you never imagined I would make it back to the table. [15:18] I mean, you’re balancing it. [15:19] Oh, no, gonna lose a roll.

[15:21] Gonna, oh, I’m gonna. [15:22] And you’re walking like that. [15:23] Well, that’s what we do with Jesus sometimes. [15:27] We take everything that we have built from our life [15:31] and we leave it on the plate. [15:33] And we say, oh, man, Jesus, heaven, forgiveness.

[15:36] I want that. [15:37] And so we just take Jesus. [15:40] I think he’ll fit here. [15:43] All right, I’m gonna make it. [15:44] I’m gonna make it. [15:44] I’m gonna make it.

[15:47] Friend, you’ve misdefined what it means to submit to Jesus [15:51] because Jesus isn’t something that you can add to [15:54] an already overcommitted, overburdened life [15:58] where you have put everything that you are passionate about, [16:02] everything that you think you need to do, [16:04] everything that you’ve got going on onto the plate.

[16:07] No, Jesus says that plate belongs to me, the whole thing. [16:14] You cannot hope to even have a life of worship [16:17] if you add Jesus on top of what you’ve already got going on. [16:21] And so sometimes we try to play this game. [16:24] We say, oh, I’m gonna live the mission of Jesus. [16:26] But here’s what the mission of Jesus is for me.

[16:30] You’ve already gone wrong. [16:32] That’s stupid. [16:34] Don’t say that. [16:35] The mission of Jesus is the same for everyone. [16:38] It is to make disciples of Jesus. [16:40] There’s no other mission.

[16:42] There’s no other calling. [16:44] That’s what you are called to do. [16:45] So what you do is you say, okay, [16:47] here’s something that I’ve been passionate [16:49] about my whole life. [16:50] I mean, I love this thing.

[16:53] I love doing this thing. [16:55] And so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna baptize it [16:57] in Jesus’ name, and now I can say that’s my mission, [17:00] but I’m doing it for Jesus. [17:02] And so that’s where we get yodelers for Christ, all right? [17:05] That’s where we just get all these crazy things

[17:08] all over the place, and you’re like, [17:10] well, see, my mission is yodeling, all right? [17:14] I’m using that because to use anything else [17:16] would be offensive. [17:16] If you’re a yodeler, I’m not sorry. [17:19] But that’s weird.

[17:21] I’ve never met one in Virginia.

[17:24] But you’re like, okay, we’re yodelers for Christ. [17:26] No, what you’ve done is you say, I like to yodel, [17:30] and since I wanna go to heaven, [17:32] I gotta make it Christian yodeling. [17:35] You’re like, that’s my mission.

[17:38] Insert anything that you’ve got. [17:41] You can’t do that. [17:43] That’s not what God’s calling is. [17:45] See, that’s called idolatry. [17:48] What you’re doing is you are taking the God [17:51] that you want to worship, and you’re just renaming it

[17:55] in Jesus’ name. [17:56] You can have an idol with the name Jesus on it, [18:01] because it’s not Jesus just because you call it Jesus. [18:05] Jesus is who he says he is, and he is about [18:08] what he says he is about. [18:09] And so what Jesus says is clear the plate.

[18:14] You’ve gotta rebuild. [18:16] You put the Lord in the center of that plate, [18:20] and then you begin to build the rest of your life [18:23] around him. [18:25] Why? [18:26] Because he is the Lord of the whole plate.

[18:28] He is not just looking for a place on your plate.

[18:34] There’s a completely different motivation there [18:36] where you submit to him in everything [18:39] rather than trying to keep control of your own life. [18:45] And that is why, oftentimes, when we begin to talk [18:49] about the mission of Jesus, we begin to talk [18:52] about five different things.

[18:54] And so I want to clear your plates this morning. [18:57] I want you to understand that when we talk [18:59] about the mission of Jesus here at Village Church, [19:01] we are talking simply about making disciples [19:06] of Jesus Christ. [19:09] And so what happens oftentimes is when we begin

[19:11] to do this, we get confused then about what it means [19:15] to make disciples of Jesus Christ. [19:18] We get confused about what it means to actually tell people [19:21] about faith in Jesus Christ. [19:23] And so we will say, oh, what does it mean [19:26] when you tell people about Jesus?

[19:27] Well, it’s evangelism. [19:28] Let’s go and let’s do evangelism. [19:30] So instead of just doing it, we act like evangelism [19:33] is a special program that the church has to host, [19:36] or it’s not going to happen. [19:38] Friend, understand, evangelism is not a special program

[19:42] hosted by the church to engage in outreach. [19:46] Evangelism is your mission, to make disciples [19:49] in every part of your life. [19:52] Therefore, understand, if you are a Christian, [19:56] you are sent on mission. [20:00] You cannot say something like, well,

[20:03] mission is not my gifting. [20:06] Friend, if you’re a Christian, mission is your calling. [20:11] Because number two this morning, [20:12] without mission, community fails. [20:15] Without mission, community fails. [20:17] Mission trumps community every time.

[20:21] What do I mean by that? [20:22] What I mean by that is that community is not everything. [20:25] It’s not. [20:27] If you get community wrong, it’s unhealthy. [20:29] If you get community wrong, it can be very hurtful. [20:32] If the gospel is forming our church,

[20:34] then it will be driven by mission. [20:37] If the church is not driven by the mission of Jesus, [20:41] then it is some other vision that will form the community. [20:44] So for a community to be gospel-centered, [20:47] it must be driven by mission. [20:50] The only other alternative that we will have

[20:52] is that our mission is driven by community. [20:57] And if community drives our mission, [20:59] then it can become a different mission. [21:02] It can become about the people in the community [21:05] rather than about Jesus. [21:08] It can very quickly become about self-help

[21:11] rather than gospel proclamation. [21:14] And this is a temptation for every community. [21:20] This is something that every single one of us struggle with. [21:23] I don’t care how many different community groups you have, [21:25] I don’t care how many different ways that you do it. [21:27] I’ve been in many over the years in the church.

[21:30] And every single one of them has to struggle [21:34] to maintain the missional path [21:36] instead of really just starting to drift over [21:39] into this self-help mentality [21:42] where the community groups and the community life [21:45] become about nothing more than just fixing your problems.

[21:50] And so what you do is, [21:51] is I’ve got all these problems in my life [21:53] and I’m gonna take them to group every week [21:55] and I’m just gonna bear my soul. [21:57] And everybody, you gotta fix me, fix me. [22:00] I got all these problems.

[22:01] And so everybody starts bringing their problems into group [22:03] and everybody’s looking for somebody to fix them. [22:08] When your group becomes about that, [22:12] it’s no longer about the mission of Jesus. [22:15] It’s self-centered, it’s self-serving, it’s self-help. [22:21] So eventually community group is more,

[22:23] you may even make it through the curriculum [22:25] that’s given to you [22:25] and hopefully the curriculum will be mission driven [22:27] and you may go through the curriculum at the end of it [22:30] and you’re like, okay, tell me some missional stories. [22:33] How are you living the mission of Jesus?

[22:36] Crickets.

[22:38] Then somebody raises their hand and they say, [22:40] can you pray for my grandfather’s brother Joe? [22:43] He stubbed his toe.

[22:46] And that’s the level of our main concerns. [22:51] It’s not the mission. [22:53] It’s fix me. [22:55] It’s not the mission, it’s self-help. [22:57] It’s not the mission. [22:59] It’s just that the greatest concern of your life

[23:03] is your life. [23:07] And that is not what Jesus wants us to have in him. [23:10] Jesus wants us to have the greatest vision in the world. [23:14] He wants the greatest concern about our lives [23:18] to be his life, to be his mission, [23:23] to be his journey of following him.

[23:26] And if Jesus is going anywhere, [23:28] it certainly is a life of mission. [23:31] Mission is greater than the community [23:33] because the mission is what builds the community. [23:38] The mission is what drives the community. [23:41] And here’s the big key.

[23:42] Understand that the mission is what disciples the community. [23:48] And if we lose this, we lose our very identity. [23:53] And in the text, in 2 Corinthians 5 [23:55] and verse 16 through 18, we see a very clear picture [23:58] that we are on a mission of reconciliation, [24:02] which is how we get the community.

[24:05] And then in that community, we are ambassadors for Christ [24:09] seeking to see more people reconciled. [24:13] And then we struggle right there [24:15] because we say, okay, I’m supposed to make disciples. [24:19] I don’t know what a disciple of me would possibly look like. [24:25] I mean, when you consider again that our mission is there,

[24:28] it is to make disciples. [24:30] We look in Matthew 28 and Jesus says very clearly, [24:34] he says, go make disciples. [24:38] He’s not saying go get a pastor to make disciples.

[24:44] He’s saying you, you, you are the disciples. [24:49] Are you a follower of Jesus? [24:51] If you are a follower of Jesus, go make disciples.

[24:58] He’s talking to you and I know the fear that comes in. [25:01] I’ll live it. [25:03] Because if I’ve got to make disciples, [25:07] that means I need to be a disciple.

[25:13] That puts some responsibility on my life. [25:15] Because the only thing that I can see replicated [25:18] is what I’ve got going on in my life. [25:21] So for me to make a disciple of Christ, [25:24] I need to have discipleship going on in my life [25:27] to replicate into the lives of others.

[25:29] So if you are an everyday person, [25:32] your struggle is you say, [25:33] if I replicate what I’ve got going on in my life, [25:36] this will not be a healthy church.

[25:41] And to that Jesus says, fix your vision.

[25:46] Fix it. [25:47] That means that you’re looking in the wrong place. [25:50] That means you’re going in the wrong direction. [25:52] That means you’ve got the wrong thing going on. [25:54] Because when he looks to discipleship, [25:57] he doesn’t look to the church officers.

[26:01] He doesn’t look to the pastoral staff. [26:04] He looks to the church body. [26:06] And you say, what do you mean?

[26:09] Every time, well, many times, I’m not gonna say every time, [26:12] many times when people come [26:13] and they talk to me about discipleship, [26:15] they say, you know, we gotta start a new program. [26:19] We gotta start a new meeting. [26:21] We gotta start a new class.

[26:25] And what you subconsciously don’t realize [26:27] what you’re saying is, [26:28] is I don’t wanna take responsibility for it, [26:30] so you need to.

[26:33] You need to. [26:34] See, but the key is that in the book of Ephesians, [26:38] the gospel doesn’t say, pastors make disciples. [26:41] It says, pastors equip the saints for the work of ministry.

[26:49] So he says, that the role of a pastor [26:51] is to create an environment and to create a church body [26:54] in such a way that the people of the church [26:57] take responsibility for their God-given calling [27:02] to be and make disciples. [27:05] And so I must ask you, are you making disciples

[27:09] or are you waiting for someone else to make disciples? [27:13] Because the calling is yours. [27:15] Some of you lay awake at night thinking to yourself, [27:19] what is the will of God for my life? [27:21] You ever lost sleep over that? [27:23] You ever, you know, had that mentality,

[27:25] am I in the center of God’s will? [27:28] Or am I like, out there, not centered?

[27:32] Guys, I want you to have a good night’s sleep tonight, [27:35] so I’m gonna give you some holy unisom, okay?

[27:39] I’ve got the will of God for your life. [27:43] I know what it is. [27:45] It is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. [27:50] It’s that simple.

[27:53] You don’t need to lay awake at night, [27:54] you’re like, Steve, how do you know that? [27:58] Because Jesus said it. [28:00] He didn’t muddy the waters, he cleared them. [28:03] He said, go make disciples of all nations. [28:07] He said, do that, make your life about that.

[28:10] So when you’re thinking about the will of God, [28:12] don’t think about it wrong. [28:13] Don’t think about it, what job can I have? [28:15] Don’t think about it, what career should I do? [28:17] Think about it in a sense of, [28:18] I’m going to make my life about making disciples.

[28:21] And here’s the key, when you find out [28:24] and when you find rest in the reality [28:26] that the will of God for the life of every follower of Jesus [28:30] is to make disciples of Jesus, [28:33] you will realize that in your time with making disciples, [28:37] when you’re about that, you can do whatever you want to

[28:40] the rest of the time. [28:42] You could be a lawyer, you could be a doctor, [28:45] businessman, teacher, dog catcher, [28:47] do they have those anymore? [28:49] I don’t know, host of other things. [28:50] You can do whatever you want to

[28:53] as long as what you are doing starts [28:57] in the center of that plate. [29:00] The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, [29:01] he’s called me to make disciples. [29:03] And so whatever I’m going to be about, [29:06] I’m going to be about making disciples while I’m doing it.

[29:11] That is the sweet spot. [29:14] That is the center of God’s will [29:17] for the life of every follower of Jesus, [29:21] because God is not forming a stagnant community.

[29:26] God does not look at his church and say, [29:28] I hope it looks like a pond. [29:31] All that messiness on top, algae starts to form, [29:36] people drink out of it, fall over dead. [29:40] Man, that’s what I want to see in my community, [29:42] be like, no, the father looks to his community,

[29:46] the father looks to his church. [29:49] And he says, I’m forming a river.

[29:53] Because friends, if we’re not running water, [29:56] then we’re not healthy water. [29:57] If we’re not running water, we’re not moving with God. [30:01] And if we’re not moving with God, [30:03] we are not building towards something [30:06] that is bigger than you and me.

[30:10] But when we are self-centered, [30:14] that will keep us from mission. [30:17] And sometimes it’s hard to see it. [30:20] But because the less we follow Jesus, [30:24] the more reasons why we can’t be missional [30:28] will pile up all around us.

[30:31] But in the missional movement that God is on, [30:35] he looks to us and he says, move with me. [30:38] I’m already on the mission. [30:40] Join in, follow me, because it’s where I’m going [30:44] and I will use you because I want running water [30:47] that people are willing to drink out of.

[30:51] And number three this morning, [30:53] understand that mission means moving toward others [30:56] as God has moved towards us. [31:00] So where do we start? [31:02] What do we do? [31:03] Well, we start by getting our vision right.

[31:06] We start by looking where we need to look [31:08] and we need to look to Jesus. [31:11] In 2 Corinthians 5.19 there, [31:13] the text starts by saying, in Christ, [31:16] God was reconciling the world to himself. [31:19] See, one of the problems that we have

[31:20] is when we start talking about mission, [31:22] we ask, what do I do? [31:24] Don’t start with what you do, [31:25] start with where you look. [31:27] You look to God. [31:29] Reconciliation is his work.

[31:31] You did not save yourself. [31:35] And if you don’t know Jesus, friend, [31:37] I want you to know one key truth. [31:39] You cannot save yourself. [31:41] You are not the power of the gospel. [31:45] It is God who moved towards us.

[31:47] It is not we who moved towards God. [31:50] It is God who worked. [31:52] It is by God’s hand that any of us are saved. [31:57] In the gospel, God not only saves though, [32:01] but puts us in a posture of mission. [32:04] Look at what it says about Jesus in John 1.14.

[32:08] You see, the book of John starts with a different narrative [32:10] of the birth of Jesus than any of the other gospels. [32:13] He takes what you can call a theological look at. [32:16] In other words, what did God envision [32:19] at the birth of Jesus? [32:20] What was it like from his view?

[32:22] And it says in verse 14, [32:23] the word Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us. [32:28] And we have seen his glory, [32:31] glory as of the only son from the Father [32:33] full of grace and truth. [32:35] I want you to focus in on three words, dwelt among us.

[32:39] The term in the original language that’s used there [32:42] can also be translated into the word tabernacle. [32:46] And in the Old Testament, [32:47] while Israel was marching towards the promised land, [32:51] the tabernacle is what they set up to worship God. [32:54] And in the center of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies

[32:58] where the presence of God was. [33:01] And so what he’s saying here [33:02] is Jesus didn’t just come to earth on vacation. [33:06] Jesus didn’t just come to earth to take a stroll. [33:09] Jesus came to tabernacle. [33:12] He came to be the presence of God in our midst.

[33:19] He came and dwelt among us. [33:23] Friends, when we think about the ramifications [33:25] of the presence of God moving towards us [33:29] on a mission of salvation, [33:32] I mean, think about it. [33:33] We weren’t seeking God.

[33:36] We were living in a rebellious movement away from God. [33:39] And he took the initiative to become part of his creation [33:45] in order to save his people. [33:49] And this is how God has always done. [33:52] You look at the Old Testament. [33:54] God has always moved to save his people

[33:56] from Adam and Eve forward. [33:59] Look at Adam and Eve, he saves. [34:01] You look at Abraham, he saves. [34:03] You look at Isaac and Jacob, saves. [34:05] Joseph saves. [34:06] Nation of Israel saves.

[34:08] King David, he saves. [34:10] In Isaiah, he saves Jeremiah, Ezekiel, [34:14] on through the prophets. [34:15] Every book in the Old Testament has this mentality [34:19] that God’s people are in need [34:21] and God is on a mission to save his people.

[34:26] Sometimes we read the Bible so horribly [34:28] and we think to ourselves that God was just sitting [34:30] in heaven sometime between Malachi and Matthew [34:33] and he’s like, man, I’ve really taken [34:34] a lot of people out here. [34:36] I gotta start doing something better.

[34:38] Oh, I know, I’ll start saving people.

[34:42] That’s not the story of the Bible. [34:44] Jesus wasn’t the beginning of God’s saving movement. [34:48] The entire record of scripture is a record [34:51] of God moving on behalf of his people to save them. [34:57] And so God continuously moves towards us. [35:03] But friend, understand that as God moved,

[35:07] so we must take his example. [35:10] And when we take the posture of submitting to God, [35:15] we will see a God who says, act as I have. [35:20] You are on a mission to save. [35:24] And so I ask you, are you stagnant?

[35:28] Are you misunderstanding faith [35:30] by becoming self-absorbed in your vision [35:34] of growth and community? [35:36] Do you have a vision that it needs to be more about you? [35:41] Are your problems mounting and becoming the reason [35:44] why you aren’t growing?

[35:47] Friend, I tell you, the answer is for you [35:50] to embrace an identity of mission. [35:54] You need to move with God. [35:58] In Romans chapter 10, we see this great vision [36:01] poured out on a very practical level, [36:03] and the apostle Paul gives this picture

[36:05] that we are to live a plan of life [36:09] where we tell people the gospel of Jesus. [36:13] That’s why it’s good news. [36:15] Because it’s not something that I’m going to do for someone [36:19] because I didn’t do it, Jesus did. [36:21] It’s something that I’m going to tell someone about.

[36:24] We are called to be heralds of good news, [36:28] the original language tells us. [36:30] We live to proclaim that Jesus died [36:32] and rose to save people from sin [36:35] and to give them a new life and following him. [36:38] That is our mission.

[36:40] That is what we are called by God to build our lives around. [36:46] And God has entrusted his message to you, [36:50] as 2 Corinthians 5 tells us. [36:51] He wants to make his appeal to others through you, [36:58] be reconciled to God. [37:00] And I want you to understand very clearly,

[37:02] there are two options in that. [37:05] That appeal is either being made through you to someone, [37:10] or it is being made by someone to you.

[37:16] You see, friend, when you build a life [37:19] around something other than mission, [37:21] and if you fall for the folly and idolatry [37:24] of just attaching the name of Jesus [37:27] to everything that you’ve already been doing, [37:30] and then you ask yourself the question,

[37:32] why does it feel like I don’t have the new things [37:36] or the new life that chapter 5 verse 17 told us about? [37:42] Well friends, for some of you, [37:43] it’s because you’ve never truly trusted in Jesus. [37:46] You’ve never truly submitted to his reign over your life. [37:50] And because you’ve never done that,

[37:52] all that you have is the old. [37:55] You can’t embrace the new until you submit to Jesus [38:00] as your Lord and your Savior. [38:04] And when you do that, well friends, I tell you, [38:08] you have something that is worth building [38:10] a community around.

[38:12] Here at Village Church, I tell you, [38:14] our community must be marked by reconciliation with God. [38:18] We must form our mission around God [38:21] making his appeal through us, [38:24] because he has made that appeal to us.

[38:30] Are you living to make Jesus known to others?

[38:36] Are you? [38:38] So what then, where’s the hope? [38:40] Verse 21 tells us the story of the gospel. [38:44] He tells us, he who knew no sin became sin [38:47] so that we might become the righteousness of God. [38:51] That’s the hope.

[38:53] That’s the foundation of our mission. [38:55] He has dealt with our sins so that we can turn away [38:59] from sin and towards him. [39:01] And when we do that, he promises reconciliation. [39:07] Because I know there’s some of you sitting in here, [39:09] you say to yourself, how can I live the mission

[39:10] when I have so much sin? [39:13] How can I live the mission when I feel so far from God? [39:17] How can I live the mission when I feel like [39:19] I cannot get my life together even on a human level, [39:25] much less a God-centered level?

[39:29] Well friend, to you, I look back to the promise. [39:33] The text says that he who knew no sin became sin. [39:38] Why would he do that? [39:40] Why would he do that? [39:42] You see friend, your sin doesn’t have to be an anchor. [39:49] It doesn’t have to be the thing that’s holding you back

[39:51] from the life that God has for you. [39:54] Because Jesus has taken your sin onto himself [39:58] and it is dealt with. [40:01] And you say, I know about the sins of the past, [40:03] they’re dealt with. [40:04] But I’m talking about what I have going on right now.

[40:06] And here’s what I wanna tell you, [40:07] the beauty of the gospel is, [40:09] it is not just talking about what was back there. [40:12] It’s talking about what is right now. [40:15] It’s talking about the sin [40:17] you’re going to deal with tomorrow.

[40:19] Jesus took it all. [40:21] He who knew no sin was so saturated [40:25] with the text as he became it. [40:27] He says, that’s a horrific picture. [40:29] Yeah it is. [40:30] That’s the point.

[40:33] Stop holding on to your sin. [40:36] Jesus has dealt with it. [40:37] Stop letting it hold you back. [40:39] Walk away from it and embrace the hope of Jesus. [40:46] But he goes further. [40:47] He doesn’t just take it away and give me a hole in my life.

[40:51] He takes the sin away [40:53] so that we might become the righteousness of God. [40:59] He says, friend you don’t have to be wrong anymore. [41:02] You can be right. [41:05] You can be made new. [41:07] You can be made holy.

[41:09] You can walk in the very footsteps of Jesus Christ [41:12] following him on his mission. [41:14] You say, I don’t deserve that. [41:15] You’re right, you do not deserve that. [41:17] None of us do. [41:18] But Jesus says, come on.

[41:19] I died for your sin. [41:21] I’ve invited you on my path. [41:23] Come be with me. [41:27] You say, okay. [41:29] But I’m not smart enough. [41:31] I need to sit back for about two years,

[41:34] go to school, learn about it. [41:37] I love school and if you wanna do that, fantastic. [41:39] But live the mission while you’re there. [41:41] And the reason I think you can do that [41:42] is because one of my favorite stories in the Bible, [41:44] I have a lot of favorites by the way,

[41:47] is the Samaritan woman at the well.

[41:50] One of the most theologically ignorant people [41:52] you’ll ever meet in your life [41:53] was the Samaritan woman at the well. [41:56] And Jesus sits there and confronts her with her sin. [42:00] Then she goes and lives the mission of Jesus [42:03] with the only theological truth that she knew.

[42:07] She went and she said, friends, come. [42:11] See the man who told me all that I have ever done.

[42:17] And she was living the mission. [42:19] Wherever you are, whatever you are dealing with, [42:23] whatever you know or you don’t know, [42:26] know this, it’s not about you. [42:30] It’s all about Jesus. [42:34] As the band comes up, friend, my call and my plea

[42:37] for us today as a church is that we would live [42:40] the mission of Jesus. [42:44] Friend, there was a time when I was the target [42:46] of the mission of Jesus. [42:48] When I was dead in my sin, I owed a debt to God [42:53] that I can never repay.

[42:57] And somebody told me the good news. [43:00] Steve, you don’t have to pay for your sin. [43:03] Steve, you don’t have to live with the weight of sin [43:06] around your neck choking you. [43:08] Jesus has died for your sin and he rose from the dead [43:12] to give you a new life.

[43:13] And the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me [43:15] in all of my life is I believed. [43:18] I trusted. [43:19] And now with my life, I’m seeking to follow. [43:23] Yeah, sometimes I get it wrong. [43:26] Sometimes I lose it a little bit.

[43:28] Sometimes I disobey here. [43:30] I misunderstand there. [43:33] But even in that moment, there’s a moment of mission [43:35] because it gives me an opportunity to say, [43:36] well, it’s a good thing it’s not about me. [43:39] It’s about Jesus, he still saves.

[43:42] This morning, I’m calling you as a church [43:46] to follow Jesus into a life of mission. [43:49] Calling you as a church to help me and the other pastors [43:53] to build a gospel-centered community [43:57] that’s on the mission of Jesus. [43:59] May we never lose sight of that.

[44:02] The bread on the tables represents [44:04] the broken body of Jesus. [44:06] The cup represents his shed blood. [44:09] When we eat and when we drink, [44:11] what we proclaim to everyone around us [44:13] is that Jesus has saved me.

[44:16] And then when we walk away, [44:17] we walk away with this reality, this picture [44:20] that the life of Christ is in my life. [44:24] And wherever you go when you leave here, [44:26] wherever you go tomorrow morning, [44:28] understand that if you’re a follower of Jesus,

[44:31] you’re going there with a mission from Jesus. [44:36] If you’re a Christian, live it. [44:39] And if you’re a believer, I call you, [44:41] come, celebrate the death of our King.