Remember the Mission.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] All right, go ahead and have a seat. [0:02] Welcome to Village Church. [0:03] If this is your first time here, my name is Steve. [0:05] I’m one of the pastors here at Village. [0:07] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter 10. [0:11] We’re gonna camp out there for a while this morning.

[0:13] It’s a privilege to be with you. [0:15] Now last week we finished our series through the Book of Ruth, and if you looked on the [0:22] chair before you came in or before you sat down, there were cards there. [0:26] If you didn’t, you’re sitting on cards right now, so you might want to remedy that situation. [0:32] But those cards show that next Sunday we’re starting a series that’s gonna lead us all [0:38] the way up through Christmas Eve here as a church going through, you know, four different

[0:42] terms that are kind of synonymous with the season, kind of the themes of the Christmas [0:48] season. [0:48] And we’re gonna go through each one of those themes, one theme a week, until we get to [0:54] where we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. [0:58] But this week we kind of want to bridge the gap between our Ruth series and our Christmas [1:03] series, just kind of reminding us of why we exist as a church, reminding you of what

[1:11] it means to follow Jesus in this life, in this world, and just remind us all why it [1:17] we do everything that we do as a church, because there is a great tendency, just being [1:24] a human being, to really get apathetic, to fall into the rhythms of life and kind of [1:31] just begin to coast. [1:33] And when you begin to coast in the Christian life, as theologian D.A. Carson so wisely [1:39] said, no one drifts towards godliness.

[1:43] No one kind of drifts in life and becomes a more faithful follower of Jesus. [1:50] Nobody just kind of goes to bed one night, wakes up the next day totally apathetic about [1:54] the things of the Lord, not thinking through anything that you’re doing, and then weeks [1:58] later you wake up and you’re like, oh my goodness, I’m such a more faithful Christian than I [2:02] was. [2:02] That doesn’t happen.

[2:05] The Christian life takes great intentionality. [2:08] The Christian life is completely opposed to you earning your place with Jesus. [2:14] It’s completely opposed to you earning the favor of God, for you earning what you think [2:21] you have in Jesus. [2:22] But it is not opposed to effort. [2:25] Without effort, there is no Christian life.

[2:28] I think Jesus himself was abundantly clear about sacrifice, about denial, about what [2:34] it means to take up your cross and follow him. [2:38] That’s a great theme throughout the gospel accounts of Jesus and what his preaching [2:43] actually meant. [2:44] All of his parables contain this theme of going a different path than you normally [2:50] would and that’s what faith does.

[2:52] That’s what intention where God is concerned is all about. [2:56] That’s what worship and really just kind of the guts of worship in the original language [3:01] is all about. [3:03] That you are not going to coast towards Jesus. [3:07] You’re not just going to drift towards him. [3:10] You’re paying attention to all this other stuff.

[3:12] You’re saturating your life with all of this other stuff, with things that have nothing [3:15] to do with the Lord, with things that you think are kind of amoral. [3:19] And so they’re not really immoral or moral actions. [3:22] They’re just kind of this in between gray area. [3:25] But it’s what you’re saturating your life with and you’re convincing yourself that all [3:29] the while while there’s no commitment to Christ, you’re somehow going to wake up one

[3:34] day and you’re just going to be all about Jesus. [3:37] You just drifted that way. [3:39] That’s never going to happen. [3:40] So if that’s your hope, it is a false hope. [3:45] Right? [3:45] It’s futile.

[3:48] You are going to have to at some point realize that faith brings along with it a lifestyle [3:56] that reflects what you actually believe in. [3:59] You do what you want to do. [4:03] And the things that you aren’t doing, you’re not doing them because you don’t want to. [4:11] And that’s the thing that would be so liberating for so many lives, is if you would realize [4:16] that, when you aren’t following Jesus, when you’re not saturating your life with the word,

[4:21] when you’re not having a victorious prayer life, when you’re being disobedient to the [4:26] things that you know God has called you towards, when you can’t name anything that you’re sacrificing [4:30] for the sake of Christ, when just nothing is happening, you’re committed to nothing [4:34] that has to do with the Lord, but you’re so committed to all these other things that really [4:38] have nothing to do with Jesus. [4:41] When that’s your lifestyle, it’s because you don’t want to follow Jesus.

[4:48] And I so desperately want you to admit that, and you’re like, well I can’t admit that. [4:53] If you would, then it would probably be the biggest breakthrough your life in Christ would [4:59] ever have.

[5:02] You do exactly what you want to do. [5:05] And so this morning, what I hope to accomplish is two things. [5:09] First, I want to remind us of the mission that we all live for if we’re going to follow [5:16] Jesus with our lives. [5:20] But then secondly, I want to prepare us for something that’s coming on December the 18th, [5:24] and it’s so vital to what I think our first hope is, that we take a whole day every year

[5:32] to kind of just focus in on the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. [5:37] And so we take a whole day to really gear our generosity towards this thing, and then [5:43] I also try to take one sermon a year to unpack why it’s so vital to who we are as a church [5:49] and to us living the mission versus not living the mission that we say every Sunday from [5:56] this stage during the announcements, why we exist as a church, to worship God by connecting [6:03] as many people as possible to being fully devoted followers of Jesus.

[6:09] So that’s our mission, that’s what we exist for, and the Lottie Moon Christmas offering [6:14] that’s going to happen on December the 18th is vital to that because it shows really [6:20] where our treasures are and where our hearts are geared towards. [6:26] And so some of you think that I’ve just said the name of a nursing home patient. [6:30] All right, you’re like, Lottie, gotta be at least 80. [6:34] All right, she’s not less than that.

[6:37] All right, well actually she’s dead, so she’s older than that. [6:41] But who is Lottie Moon? [6:43] So if you weren’t raised specifically a Southern Baptist, like I was not, I was not raised [6:48] a Southern Baptist. [6:49] So when I first heard her name, I laughed because I didn’t know what Lottie meant, [6:54] and mooning was a thing that I did that was inappropriate.

[6:56] So it made me kind of chuckle. [7:00] All right, so but now that I’ve been following this tribe for a while, I know who she is, [7:08] so I want to unpack who she is and why we would name a financial gift offering after [7:17] Lottie Moon. [7:18] So Lottie Moon matters because she was a missionary in China. [7:24] Just that’s kind of the simplest, most fundamental thing to know about who she was.

[7:30] But she was a missionary in a time when it was abundantly more difficult to go overseas [7:35] and do cross-cultural missions, okay? [7:37] So she was born in 1840 in Albemarle County, Virginia, so that’s just about an hour north [7:43] of here. [7:45] It’s kind of around, because our counties in Virginia are so huge, it’s kind of around [7:50] the Charlottesville area.

[7:52] I think space-wise, it’s much larger than that. [7:55] And so in December of 1858, she came to faith in Jesus while she was in college. [8:01] And then once she graduated from college, she spent her time as a teacher in female [8:06] schools because there were a lot of single-sex schools at that time, and so she dedicated [8:13] her life to teaching in the female schools during the 1860s. [8:17] In 1873, her sister was becoming a foreign missionary, and so she chose to follow her

[8:25] sister and become a missionary to China through what was then called the Foreign Mission [8:30] Board when she was 33 years old. [8:32] So it’s now called the International Mission Board. [8:36] Now what’s interesting is for the next 39 years of her life, she served as a missionary [8:42] in China’s Shantung Province. [8:46] It’s probably not how you pronounce it, but it’s how I pronounce it, so it’s what we’re

[8:49] going with, okay? [8:52] Now initially, many people in that province rejected her out of fear because they didn’t [9:00] know what this little bitty white woman was there for, but she persevered and adapted [9:06] to the culture around her, learned the dress, learned the customs, learned the language, [9:11] and she had almost four decades of fruitful missions work there in that province, and [9:17] throughout her time in China, she wrote convicting letters of vision to people back in the U.S.,

[9:23] sharing the need for people to come to China in order to reach those who had not been reached [9:28] with the gospel. [9:30] And so this is primarily why we remember her to this day, is because of the letters that [9:38] she wrote back, full of passion and really questioning, why isn’t anyone else following [9:46] the call to reach people who had not been reached? [9:49] Because at that point in history, there were 472 million Chinese people that needed the

[9:58] gospel, that had not heard the gospel, that did not know the gospel because it was such [10:03] a closed-off region of the world. [10:05] And over and over in her letters, she specifically asked one question, where are the men who [10:13] will serve God? [10:16] Greatest question was, why am I, a woman, so passionate about reaching people for Christ, [10:25] and yet there are no men, there are no men to be seen on the mission field that she knew

[10:29] of, and she’s wondering, what is it that the people who are supposed to lead the most [10:34] courageously, people that are to reject passivity, people who are to invest their lives in eternity, [10:41] what are they so distracted by that the hundreds of millions of people that don’t know the [10:49] name of Jesus are just kind of not something that they would trouble themselves with? [10:56] She would ask that over and over again, these letters. [11:00] And while she was in China, she started schools.

[11:02] She cared for people struggling with sickness and disease. [11:07] And she realized that those missionaries that did come were struggling and needed aid and [11:14] needed relationship. [11:16] She realized specifically that during her time, that loneliness on mission was a great [11:22] hindrance and appealed for more missionaries to come and to endure. [11:27] And her great battle cry for her life was, how many can I reach?

[11:34] Her letters home struck a chord among the leaders in churches that were reading those letters. [11:41] And it really began a missionary movement that has gone to this day through what’s [11:46] now called the International Mission Board that sends, supports, and cares for missionaries [11:52] as Lottie so greatly desired. [11:54] Her desire was not just for missionaries to go into the field, but her desire was for [11:59] people to care.

[12:02] Her desire was for people to realize that there are so many overseas in cultures that [12:09] are not their own, seeking to adapt, seeking to contextualize, seeking to endure in what [12:16] is a difficult mission, even in your own culture. [12:20] But then add to that, that you’re completely separated from your loved ones. [12:23] You’re completely separated from the culture that you’ve called your own your entire life. [12:27] And in that scenario, the discouragement, the depression, the emotional anguish that

[12:32] you can go through is tremendous.

[12:36] And so now, through the Cooperative Program and through the International Mission Board, [12:40] what we seek to do is to send missionaries overseas, but it is also with great effort [12:47] to let them know that they are not alone, to let them know that there are people praying [12:51] for them, to let them know that there are people to care for them, to send short-term [12:56] teams to go over there to just spend some time encouraging them, spend some time letting [13:01] them know that your work is not in vain.

[13:03] People do care. [13:05] People are praying for you. [13:06] People are caring for you. [13:09] And if you are not over there, if you are not going internationally, I want you to understand [13:16] that you are sending them. [13:19] You are someone whom God has called to be a sender, to care, to let them know that

[13:25] they’re prayed for, to care for them financially, to care for them materially, to care for [13:30] them spiritually, as well as emotionally. [13:34] And so on Christmas Eve in 1912, at the age of 72, Lottie grew ill, but did not want [13:41] to leave China and had shrunk to about 50 pounds. [13:46] So she finally agreed to return to America for treatment, but died as the ship was docked [13:51] in Japan.

[13:53] So, she is someone that literally gave the greater part of her life to living the mission [14:01] of Jesus, and even in the most gravest of circumstances where her health was concerned, [14:07] she struggled with the thought of returning back home, even to seek medical care. [14:13] Now, Lottie is a helpful example for why we exist. [14:17] As I said, we exist to worship God by helping as many people as possible become fully devoted [14:23] followers of Jesus, to ask ourselves the question, how many can I reach?

[14:29] And so that being our mission statement, it is the why behind the what of everything [14:35] that we do. [14:36] But there is a need to regularly be reminded of that mission. [14:40] So I want to take some time to look at our mission, what it is, how we should live it, [14:46] the message that we have to get across, the lifestyle that’s going to get that message [14:51] across, and then some examples of how we can live this mission, and why certain days,

[14:58] and my hope is that December 18th, if you’re a follower of Jesus, or if you’re going to [15:02] become a follower of Jesus, then why I think that can be a pivotal day that you look back [15:09] on, because really our lives are made up of a series of moments that we look back [15:13] on and say, that is the turning point to which everything that I’ve done since then has happened. [15:19] That was a catalytic moment to get me where I am right now. [15:24] So number one this morning, I want you to understand that God has called us to take

[15:28] the good news of Jesus to the world. [15:31] It’s very simple. [15:33] God has called us to take the good news of Jesus to the world. [15:38] That is fundamentally what following Jesus is all about, and it never gets past that. [15:46] In other words, following Jesus never graduates you to where you’re not doing this. [15:54] Following Jesus is always, always, always specifically about this, because all Christians

[16:02] are sent on a mission, every single one of us. [16:06] Now to know Jesus is to know his mission. [16:10] And so just briefly I want to remind you in just about two paragraphs what the gospel [16:14] of Jesus is. [16:16] Jesus came into the world in order to redeem people from sin. [16:20] That is why he lived a perfect life and then died on a cross.

[16:24] Since he had no sin of his own to die for, Jesus could substitute his life as a penalty, [16:31] or under the penalty, for the sin of others. [16:34] And that is exactly what he did. [16:36] He accomplished his mission by sacrificing his life under that penalty for my sin. [16:42] And he then rose from the dead to show his victory over the penalty of sin. [16:46] And that is why the gospel is good news.

[16:50] I think sometimes we use the term gospel so much that we forget what it means. [16:55] At its base level, it is the good news of Jesus. [17:00] And so it is not about us accomplishing something. [17:04] Rather, it is about receiving the news of Jesus’ victory and trusting that it is not [17:11] only historically true, but applies to your personal life. [17:16] Jesus is God.

[17:17] He died for your sin. [17:19] He rose from the dead in victory over sin and death. [17:23] Jesus is Lord. [17:24] Jesus is Savior. [17:26] Right? [17:26] And that’s just a brief explanation of the good news of Jesus.

[17:30] But then post-resurrection. [17:34] So if you trust in Jesus, okay, I received this good news. [17:39] I believe that it is true factually, but I also believe that it is true about me and [17:44] for me personally. [17:46] What then? [17:48] What’s my next step?

[17:50] Where does that belief take me? [17:53] Does it change anything? [17:54] Yes. [17:55] It changes a lot. [17:57] In Acts chapter 1-8, Jesus says this to those who are his followers. [18:02] He says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will

[18:07] be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. [18:15] So what Jesus is saying here is, is you’ve seen this, you’ve received this, you know [18:22] this, now you need to make others know this. [18:26] You need to proclaim the good news because that is what news is. [18:33] News is something that you receive and then news is something that you speak of. [18:39] As Jesus is saying when he says be witnesses, in other words, tell others, make

[18:45] others know about this. [18:46] So if you trust Jesus, he will save you and then he will change the mission of your life [18:55] through that salvation. [18:58] Here’s how the Apostle Paul explains what it looks like to be a witness in Romans chapter [19:02] 10. [19:03] Starting in verse 13, he tells us the benefit of the good news, he says, everyone who calls

[19:09] on the name of the Lord will be saved. [19:11] That’s a promise. [19:14] There’s nothing that you do in that. [19:17] It’s something that Jesus does for you, it’s something that Jesus does to you. [19:21] You see yourself sinking in sin, dead in sin, and you can’t do anything to remedy that [19:27] and you say, Jesus, I need you and Jesus saves you.

[19:30] Then he says in verse 14, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? [19:35] How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? [19:39] And how are they to hear without someone preaching and how are they to preach unless [19:43] they are sent? [19:45] As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. [19:51] And so Paul, in talking about what it means to be a witness, asks a very important question.

[19:57] He says, how will people know they need to and can call on God to save them? [20:03] He just gives us kind of an exercise in logic here. [20:07] He’s like, how are they going to know they need Jesus? [20:09] How are they going to know they can call on Jesus to save them? [20:12] And he says, by us telling them. [20:16] That’s his ultimate conclusion.

[20:19] There’s no other way for you to know news unless someone tells you. [20:22] There’s only way for you to receive news unless it is communicated. [20:26] And how will they know if no one tells them? [20:32] They won’t. [20:33] How will they be told if no one sends anyone to tell them? [20:37] They won’t.

[20:40] That’s specifically why God is sending all who already believe to those who do not yet [20:47] believe. [20:48] So Paul’s telling us everything that we do as followers of Jesus serves to point people [20:54] to Jesus. [20:55] And that is the point of life. [20:56] And there is not another one for you to find.

[20:59] Some of you are so desperate to find deeper meaning for your life outside of this. [21:03] It can’t be found. [21:05] If you think you’ve found it, that’s idolatry. [21:08] If you think you found something greater than this, then that thing is what you’re [21:12] going to put your faith in at great detriment to yourself and a great detriment to your [21:16] life.

[21:17] If you think you’ve found a mission that’s more meaningful than the mission that Jesus [21:22] himself. [21:23] All right. [21:23] So if you rose from the dead, I think he has some authority to tell us what our mission [21:27] is. [21:27] Am I right?

[21:29] If he rose from the dead, he can tell us that. [21:32] So in this scenario, Jesus is saying, I rose from the dead. [21:37] Listen up. [21:38] If you believe that and you believe the application of that, go tell other people. [21:47] It’s that simple. [21:49] It’s not more complicated to that.

[21:51] That our lives are redeemed from sin, made new by that Holy Spirit that has come upon [21:57] us. [21:59] And then we get a mission to tell others that we can have a right relationship with [22:06] God. [22:08] And that means that you are to show the reconciliation that you have with God to other people. [22:15] And so it is literally about a changed life on display for the sake of changing other

[22:25] people’s lives. [22:26] So to be a Christian is to understand that you are a changed person, changing other [22:31] people through the power of the gospel of Jesus. [22:34] If you’re not doing that, if you’re not making your life about that, if that’s not the base [22:39] hope that you have for your life, then friend, I need you to understand something very specific. [22:46] You’re not following Jesus.

[22:49] Because that’s what Jesus is all about. [22:52] Because if you’re not all about that, then you might be all about something, but that [22:56] something that you’re all about is apart from Jesus. [23:00] And the only way that you can do that is if you take a sober-minded, all right, it’s not [23:05] just alcohol that gets you drunk. [23:07] All right.

[23:08] It’s not just drugs that get you intoxicated. [23:10] You can get intoxicated on all sorts of things that ruin your vision, that make it so that [23:15] you can’t see clearly what it is that your life is actually about. [23:20] Because I don’t think most people that think they’re Christians really wake up in the morning [23:24] and they’re like, well, all these other things mean so much more to me than Jesus, so I’m [23:27] not going to follow him today.

[23:29] I don’t think that. [23:30] What I think is, is that you have kind of your drunk goggles on, all right. [23:35] You’ve got the allegorical beer goggles on in this moment of your life. [23:40] You’re not thinking sober-mindedly about what your life is actually about. [23:44] So what you do is, is you kind of look at what you’re doing, and then it’s like adding [23:50] cilantro onto your burrito.

[23:52] You try to add a hint of Jesus on top of it. [23:56] All right. [23:57] You’re like, you know what, I know I’m a workaholic, and my greatest desire is to be CEO of the [24:04] company. [24:05] But once I get that, sprinkle some Jesus on it, that’s going to be my mode of mission. [24:13] I’m going to reach the world through power, fame, and financial success.

[24:18] And I’m not saying that those things are necessarily opposed to the gospel of Jesus. [24:23] There are many CEOs of great companies that are faithful followers of Jesus. [24:27] But they didn’t lie to themselves to get to the idol, the false god of success, to [24:33] get there.

[24:36] To do that, you’ve got to start with a motivation that I’m going to live for Jesus. [24:43] And everything that I add on top of that is scrutinized through the sober judgment of, [24:49] will this benefit me in following Jesus and living his mission, or will this distract [24:55] me from following Jesus? [24:56] I mean, be honest with yourself. [24:58] Are the things that you are investing your life in distracting you from Jesus, or are

[25:04] they making you more passionate about Jesus? [25:08] That’s how you know if you’re adding a sprinkle of Jesus on top of a pile of dung. [25:14] That’s how you can really know the truth of what you’re doing with your life. [25:17] Can we just be real about that? [25:20] He is not just kind of taking the alms of what you want to do and just accepting it [25:29] because you say so.

[25:31] He knows your motivations. [25:32] He knows your heart. [25:33] He knows what you’re really all about. [25:36] He knows. [25:37] And this is why the gospel of Jesus is so clear and so vital when it tells us that we [25:42] need to plan our lives around having a scent identity.

[25:47] So in other words, you’re going to wake up tomorrow morning, I think. [25:51] And that’s not a promise. [25:52] Now you might not make it. [25:53] I’ll be honest. [25:54] But if you, probably, statistically speaking, everyone in this room will probably make it [25:58] to tomorrow.

[25:59] So if you wake up tomorrow morning, you’re going to have what happens to all of us every [26:05] Monday. [26:05] It’s awful.

[26:08] It’s like, it’s that realization, unless you work a job where you work weekends, you’re [26:12] like, I gotta make it to Friday. [26:14] And that’s like Friday somewhere between three and six is the new hope. [26:19] Happens every Monday. [26:21] All right. [26:22] Don’t fool yourself.

[26:23] That’s you. [26:24] You’re like, I’m gunning for there. [26:27] So between tomorrow morning, somewhere between five and eight for most of you, if you’re [26:33] human, some of you weirdos get up at like three. [26:35] Stop it.

[26:39] But you get up and you got this outlook for the rest of the week. [26:42] Here’s what I’m saying. [26:43] When you get up tomorrow, it’s easy right now because we’re all Jesusy in this moment. [26:48] Tomorrow morning, you probably won’t be. [26:50] And you got the whole rest of your week to look forward to. [26:53] What you need to realize is that repentance is actually you saying, when I get to blank

[27:01] space, whatever your place of employment is, whatever your school is, whatever it is that [27:08] you’re going to do. [27:09] I mean, if you’re like 20 and you just sit in coffee shop all day. [27:11] Get a job, number one. [27:13] But number two, when I get to the coffee shop, all right, and just sit around for no reason.

[27:20] How am I going to redeem that for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ? [27:25] If you do that, two things are going to happen. [27:27] All right. [27:28] Going to be a more dedicated employee and your boss is going to like you more. [27:31] But then secondly, you’re actually going to think through what you do, how you do it, [27:36] what you say, how you say it in every moment.

[27:39] Where are my affections right now?

[27:43] Is my affection to be noticed to get a promotion to get more money or is my affection to be [27:49] noticed about by God’s grace, getting to a place where I have some influence for the [27:55] gospel of Jesus Christ and the lives of real people who are all around me all the time?

[28:02] That’s that’s that’s what the kind of lifestyle I’m talking about. [28:05] And some of you, if you start doing that, you’ll probably quit your job and go to China [28:09] and be a missionary. [28:11] All right. [28:12] But most of you. [28:15] For the great majority of you, what that looks like is you actually hunkering down and actually

[28:22] being a witness for Jesus at the place you’re at right now. [28:28] That’s what it looks like. [28:30] That’s what missional living is all about. [28:33] It’s doing, as Tim Keller says, ordinary things. [28:38] For extraordinary reasons.

[28:43] Because Jesus has your affections more than anything else in your life, has your affections [28:50] as a friend, understand that whatever it is that you are pouring your life into and spending [28:58] your time planning. [29:00] Is where you are finding your identity. [29:03] Right. It’s what you truly believe in. [29:07] And so tomorrow morning, that’s why it’s so important.

[29:10] That’s why Monday is so vital. [29:12] You’ve got the rest of the week. [29:13] It’s coming. [29:14] It’s a freight train heading right at you.

[29:18] And how are you going to deal with that? [29:20] Are you going to cope with the reality of life if you do it with renewed affections for [29:25] Jesus in every day and in every moment? [29:27] It will change the reason that you do everything that you do. [29:31] It’ll change parenthood for you if you’re a parent. [29:34] It’ll change your marital relationship if you’re married.

[29:39] It’ll change what your hopes about the future are for if you’re single. [29:44] It changes everything. [29:46] And so we may not want to admit it.

[29:52] But Jesus and the mission of Jesus are usually the cilantro on top of the dish rather than [29:59] the dish itself.

[30:02] And what I’m saying is, is that your life and the mission of Jesus needs to become the [30:06] main dish. [30:08] It needs to become what you get your sustenance from. [30:12] And it will revolutionize every moment of every other part of your life and everything [30:18] that you do for any reason. [30:20] And so how has the gospel changed your view of your family?

[30:24] How has it changed your view of your work? [30:26] How has it changed your view of your career, education, politics? [30:30] I mean, the mission of Jesus is all over all of those things.

[30:36] Your life needs to be planned around the mission of Jesus versus planning the mission [30:42] of Jesus around your life.

[30:45] That’s what most of us do. [30:47] And what usually gets kicked out because we ran out of time is the mission of Jesus. [30:54] Friend, there are two ways we talked about this in our core series. [30:59] There are two ways that you live the mission of Jesus in your life. [31:02] The first one is called kind of the apostolic band. [31:05] I mean, this is what the apostle Paul was about in the Bible.

[31:08] He was literally someone who would go kick open the doors of culture and seek to have [31:15] an audience to tell them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. [31:18] And there are many who are gifted with this ministry. [31:22] This is what I’ve made my life about is proclaiming boldly the good news of Jesus Christ [31:29] to as many people as I can. [31:31] But it is not what I think most people are gifted with.

[31:34] In the Bible, most people didn’t do what Paul did. [31:38] If they did, no one would have ever stayed home. [31:42] Most people are gifted with the power of the Holy Spirit changing their lives to the [31:47] extent where you live what is called a questionable life. [31:51] And this is the emphasis that most Christians need to learn to live. [31:55] It means that you live in such a way with such a faithfulness to Jesus, with such a

[32:01] sacrificial attitude about your life, that Jesus invades every space that people look [32:07] to you and they literally say, why are you living so differently than me? [32:12] And your response is the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news that I know about him. [32:18] That’s most of it. [32:19] But the problem is, is that most of us live very normal lives. [32:22] We live just like our pagan neighbors live.

[32:25] We do the same things for education. [32:27] We do the same things for dinner, cut our grass at the same time, seal our driveways, [32:32] you know, power wash our houses, go play golf. [32:35] And we’re wondering, it’s like, why is no one asking me why I’m so darn normal?

[32:42] Because you just like them. [32:43] What’s there to be questioned in there? [32:46] But when you’re actually scrutinizing every moment of every day, every choice that you [32:50] make, where your lifestyle is concerned, every moment that you’re investing in, [32:53] everything that you’re having invested in you, when you scrutinize that under the [32:57] gospel of Jesus, what happens is when the Holy Spirit comes in, he tends to change

[33:01] things, he tends to change the root of all behavior. [33:05] And then once the root is changed, then the behavior itself will change and you will [33:11] begin to do different things. [33:13] This is one of those different things. [33:15] What do you go to church for? [33:18] Oh, I don’t.

[33:21] It’s because my mom wants me to. [33:22] My grandma, she went there. [33:24] You know, you know, we start to talk around things because we’re desperately afraid [33:27] when someone actually does ask us a question about why we do something that’s different, [33:31] because, you know, it’s quote unquote, a religious thing. [33:34] We’re afraid to get into the gospel.

[33:36] What’s actually happening in those moments is that when your different life is questioned, [33:40] the Father is actually giving you an opportunity to speak truth into someone’s life. [33:44] We must seize upon that.

[33:48] So either A, you’re not doing anything different, you’re not entering into environments [33:52] that are different, you’re not raising your life any differently than the other people [33:56] are, or B, when people do question the different things that you do, the different ways that [34:01] you invest your time, the different ways that you allow yourself to be saturated within [34:05] this culture, you actually avoid the reasons. [34:08] You don’t want to talk about it.

[34:09] That’s faux pas. [34:11] That’s not something that we do. [34:13] But you are called to live that type of life. [34:19] Life should be lived in such a way that it provokes questions from those around us. [34:24] This is specifically what the apostle Peter addresses in 1 Peter 3.15. [34:29] He says, in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.

[34:32] OK, so what he’s saying is there’s the root, your heart, then honoring him. [34:40] Is the behavior that comes off of the root. [34:44] And so Peter, in that sentence, he’s talking about the change that the gospel has for [34:49] you. Would you be doing all of the things that you’re doing if you truly were honoring [34:55] Christ as holy? [34:57] But then let know what he says.

[34:58] Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the [35:03] hope that is in you. [35:04] Yet do it with gentleness and respect. [35:08] See, this is why you can’t just kind of sprinkle a little Jesus on everything that [35:12] you’re already doing.

[35:15] Because when you started doing those things or when you made the decision to do those [35:19] things, you probably weren’t thinking through how is this honoring Christ as holy. [35:25] But if you’re following Jesus, you are asking that question. [35:28] And so it will necessarily have to change the things that you do and the way that you [35:33] do them and the reason that you do them for. [35:35] And when that happens.

[35:38] Those who are the closest to you.

[35:43] We’ll begin to take notice. [35:45] Something’s changing, something’s different. [35:48] And so if no one’s asking, there’s one of two possibilities. [35:53] A, you really need to change something.

[35:57] There’s not enough change going on in your life. [35:59] Or B, you don’t know anyone. [36:02] And our culture, see, used to be a silly thing to say. [36:06] And our culture, that happens.

[36:10] And that’s why you need to start living a questionable life. [36:12] You say, what do you mean? [36:14] Well, people need to ask you, why are you so all of a sudden so much friendlier than [36:17] you used to be?

[36:21] That’s a questionable life.

[36:24] Number two, this morning, if we believe the gospel, we will leverage our lives for it. [36:31] If we believe the gospel, we will leverage our lives for it. [36:36] Friend, you need to sacrifice for something that is more valuable than everything else [36:41] that you have in your life. [36:42] That’s the only reason you would ever sacrifice. [36:45] Let’s not kid ourselves.

[36:46] No one sacrifices for less than. [36:49] If you do, that’s really bad investing. [36:53] That’s a bad strategy.

[36:56] You sacrifice something that you have so that you can gain something that you believe [37:02] is better. [37:03] I mean, that’s how the cross of Jesus is explained in the Book of Hebrews. [37:06] So that Jesus endured the shame of the cross because of the joy that was set on the other [37:13] side of the cross. [37:15] He sacrificed to gain something that was greater, the glory of God.

[37:21] And so you need to learn that following Jesus is about sacrificing lesser joys for the greater [37:28] joy, ultimately, of the glory of God. [37:31] And so am I telling you that you need to do the same thing that the lighting moon did? [37:36] Maybe, but probably not for most of you. [37:40] Now, I believe in a crowd like this. [37:41] There’s there’s someone.

[37:43] There’s somebody that needs to go overseas and spend their lives there. [37:46] I mean, one of our members, Christie Willis, she heard the call. [37:49] She heard the cry. [37:50] Now she’s investing her life in southern Mexico. [37:53] Full time.

[37:57] As there’s someone, but for most of you, what this means is is rewiring your life to give [38:04] greater affection to Jesus in everything that you do. [38:06] And that will require sacrifice. [38:10] You need to look at the mindset and the story of Lottie Moon to realize that her mindset [38:16] should be the normal Christian life. [38:18] That’s what it is.

[38:20] Here’s what the Christian life looks like apart from scripture in Second Corinthians [38:25] four, 17 through 18. [38:26] It looks like losing what we can’t keep for what we can’t lose. [38:32] This momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all [38:37] comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen [38:41] for the things that are seen are transient or temporary, but the things that are unseen

[38:46] are eternal. [38:48] I mean, that that’s. [38:51] Promises and lives that come off of those promises. [38:54] But secondly, looks like you can’t die. [38:58] I mean, if you believe in Jesus, you believe that Luke 21, 16 through 19. [39:04] You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and

[39:10] some of you will be put to death. [39:12] You will be hated by all for my name’s sake, but not a hair on your head will perish. [39:17] By your endurance, you will gain your lives. [39:20] I mean, Jesus says the most interesting, just almost contradictory thing. [39:24] But if you understand what the gospel does for you, it’s not contradictory at all. [39:27] He says some of you are going to die, but you’ll never perish.

[39:31] It’s like what? [39:33] It’s kind of what dying looks like to me. [39:35] Looks like perishing. [39:36] She’s saying no. [39:39] And how could he say that? [39:40] Because Jesus died, but then he got back up.

[39:43] Christians have a strange way of resurrecting from the dead into the kingdom of God. [39:48] And the joy forevermore. [39:51] Jesus is saying death is not to be feared. [39:54] It’s the greatest sacrifice you can make as a sacrifice of your life. [39:56] And Jesus treats it as though, duh, don’t fear that.

[40:03] We must join a great history of risk for the gospel. [40:09] I mean, look, it is the risk of faith. [40:12] Second Samuel 10, 12, the author says, he says, be of good courage. [40:16] Let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God. [40:20] And may the Lord do what seems good to him. [40:22] Context of that verse.

[40:24] It’s Joab and Abishai surrounded by enemies. [40:29] He says, hey, brother, the brothers, you take half the army that way. [40:32] I’ll take half the army this way. [40:35] And God’s going to do what God’s going to do. [40:37] Let’s risk it.

[40:41] The gospel of Jesus is greater and surer than anything else we can strive for or [40:48] attain.

[40:51] Romans eight. [40:52] Starting in verse 35, says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [40:56] So tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? [41:01] As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. [41:05] We’re regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. [41:07] No.

[41:09] Love that word.

[41:12] Snow and all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [41:19] For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present [41:24] nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation [41:29] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. [41:34] The text assumes that knowing and following Jesus is greater than anything else that [41:40] you can invest your life in for any other reason.

[41:43] It also declares that life without Jesus is the greatest tragedy. [41:49] Because if you are separated from Christ and the only things that are true of you, [41:53] our peril, our distress, our tribulation is the impending doom of the end of this life, [42:00] no matter what you do.

[42:04] So what do we need to do?

[42:07] There’s three things I want to talk to you about.

[42:10] First, you need to inter missional environments with your life. [42:15] This is something that we harp on all the time. [42:18] Build the local church by making disciples.

[42:22] That needs to be the mission of your life. [42:24] Our mission statement here as a church needs to become your mission statement as a person.

[42:29] You need to enter a biblical community. [42:31] This is what village groups and discipleship groups are all about. [42:35] We have three environments here. [42:37] Sunday morning, worship gathering of the corporate body, village groups, which is [42:41] where we build community and talk about, begin the conversation of how to live the [42:45] Christian life, and then discipleship groups where we get even more intimate with people

[42:49] that we actually want to be friends with. [42:51] And we begin to go through the word together and say, what does this mean and how does [42:55] it change my life?

[42:59] Go on a mission trip. [43:02] May hear the story of Lottie Moon and I’m like, man, I live in a really small world. [43:07] I need to see the need. [43:10] I want to do something. [43:11] I want to help people. [43:14] And we take a few mission trips every year to other countries.

[43:18] And we have one coming up. [43:19] We’re going to take a team to East Asia.

[43:24] You have the opportunity for just a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little [43:26] bit of a little over a thousand dollars and you can fundraise a lot of that.

[43:31] Usually, by the time people go on this trip, they’re like a hundred bucks.

[43:35] You have the opportunity today to fill out an application, to go with a team from [43:42] Village Church to East Asia and see the need, talk to the missionaries on the ground [43:47] and actually be able to tell the gospel to people who maybe have never heard it in their [43:52] lives. I’ve done that amazing experience changes your life.

[43:58] Today, there are people in this audience right now. [44:02] Today, you need to fill out the application. [44:04] You need to in the four year after the service, grab Pastor Nate, need to grab Mike Little. [44:08] You need to fill out an application and you need to take a step of faith and you need [44:12] to go overseas. You need to do it today. [44:13] Don’t wait till you’ve had time to think about it.

[44:15] It’s not the Holy Spirit that needs to think about it. [44:17] It’s your flesh that needs to think about it. [44:18] Holy Spirit is talking to you right now. [44:20] He’s like, go. [44:22] And I know that he’s a personal friend of mine.

[44:25] We also have future trips. [44:28] We’ll go to more places in the coming years. [44:30] We’re already mapping them out. [44:31] We’re already planning them out. [44:33] We go on mission to aid missionaries and catch a vision of what God can do through us.

[44:39] When people come back from these trips, almost without fail, they always come back with [44:44] an enlarged vision of what God can actually do through them. [44:46] I’ve never and I’ve never had someone come back and be like, well, I was right. [44:50] He can’t use me.

[44:54] That doesn’t happen.

[44:58] Secondly, missional generosity. [44:59] You need to be more generous with your time. [45:02] You need to be more generous with your abilities and you need to be more generous with the [45:06] material wealth that you have to further the mission of Jesus. [45:09] This isn’t about one offering. [45:12] This is about all of life, time, talent and treasure, as Dr.

[45:16] Falwell used to tell me. [45:18] But on December 18th, that could be the day that changes things for you. [45:23] Changes things. [45:24] This is a day where 100 percent of our offering will go directly to the International Mission [45:28] Board to aid them as an organization, to aid missionaries that are overseas and to [45:33] be able to send more missionaries overseas.

[45:37] There’s not a person in here. [45:40] Probably over the age of 12. [45:42] I couldn’t give at least 50 bucks. [45:44] I believe that I’m talking and some of you are going to try to be be be kind of cute [45:48] and like, well, I usually give once a month anyway. [45:51] I’ll just wait till the 18th.

[45:52] Don’t do that. [45:55] All right. [45:55] For personal reasons and more. [45:56] All right.

[45:59] But the reality is, is that God has called you to be more generous with all of your [46:02] life. [46:03] He hasn’t called you to hoard your time, your abilities and your treasure. [46:08] He hasn’t called you to hoard that. [46:10] So on December the 18th, you have an opportunity to actually look at your lifestyle and say [46:15] between the end of November and December the 18th, what can I sacrifice so that I can

[46:22] give specifically for getting the gospel to people who’ve never heard it? [46:30] You have that opportunity on December the 18th. [46:32] And so I don’t want you to go home and pray if you should give. [46:38] I want you to between now and December the 18th, I want you to go home and pray. [46:41] How much should I give? [46:43] What can I go without?

[46:45] How many lattes can I go without between here and there? [46:51] How many drive-thrus can I avoid?

[46:55] What’s one thing that I can do without between here and there? [46:59] I know some of you have tight budgets, very low margin. [47:03] And so I’m actually telling you that you’re going to need to do without something between [47:08] here and there. [47:08] I have no doubt that as a church, we can raise over $20,000. [47:15] I have no doubt.

[47:15] I’ve not talked to anyone else about that number. [47:17] And so there’s somebody back there like, why did you say that? [47:19] All right. [47:20] But I have no doubt that we can do that if we want to live the mission, if we want to [47:27] be generous.

[47:29] What part will you play?

[47:32] But then thirdly, begin to plan your life around mission.

[47:38] Plan it. [47:39] You’re not going to drift there. [47:42] Romans 10 at the end, verse 17, he says, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach [47:51] the good news?

[47:54] Then he says in verse 17, faith follows it up with a promise, comes from hearing, hearing [48:02] through the word of Christ.

[48:07] What part is your life going to play? [48:14] And people hearing the good news of Jesus Christ so that they can respond in faith. [48:22] Part of you gonna play? [48:24] You all have a part.

[48:27] Let’s begin to believe the gospel and remember the mission. [48:32] As the band comes up, let’s pray. [48:35] Father, I love you. [48:40] Help me to love you more.

[48:45] Lord, we have lives that are so chaotic, lives that are so loud around us, lives in [48:52] which it is so easy to forget. [48:54] It is so easy to grow apathetic. [48:57] Lord, my prayer is that today you will begin to minister to us, Holy Spirit, that you [49:06] will begin to well something up within us to where we will begin to live the mission [49:11] in new ways, where our lives will begin to change so that those who are in our lives

[49:16] are going to ask us, why are you living differently? [49:19] Why do you seem to love Jesus more than you used to?

[49:25] Lord, help us to repent. [49:27] Lord, help us to be generous with our lives. [49:30] Help us to stop hoarding things to build our kingdom and help us to relinquish the [49:35] grip that we have on things so that we can build your kingdom.

[49:40] Help us to begin to sacrifice. [49:42] And Lord, in that I pray, maybe more than anything, that you would help us to find more joy through [49:50] it, that it would become the joy of our lives to love you, serve you, and follow you.

[49:59] Amen.

[50:01] The bread is the broken body of Christ, the cup is his shed blood. [50:07] When we eat and drink, what we do is we proclaim to everyone around us, I believe that Jesus [50:13] died for me, that he saved me, that he rose for me, and that he’s called me to follow [50:19] him. [50:20] If you believe that, come proclaim the death of our king.