Making the Most of Your Life: Values Jesus Lived By
12/15/2002 - The Value of Mission
This week I received a letter from a good friend of mine named Don. Don and I met about twenty years ago when I was teaching and coaching swimming at Drexel University and he was leading a campus ministry up the street at the University of Pennsylvania. We met almost every week for about a year and encouraged each other in our walk with Christ. Those were rich times together.
Don's not a flashy guy, just a faithful guy. He's been a model to me of consistent, faithful service for Christ over the years and he continues to minister with the Navigators organization. And in his letter this week he pointed out that America is a mission field. By that I mean that America needs to be reached all over again with the truth of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
In the year 2000, the United States sent out 118,200 missionaries from various Christian denominations. But that same year America received 33,200 missionaries. Which means that we are both the largest missionary sending nation in the world and the largest missionary receiving country as well. Ninety percent of all Americans believe in God or some form of Higher Power, but only 40 percent attend church in a typical weekend.
According to researcher George Barna, "America has more unchurched people than the entire populations of all but 11 of the world's 194 countries."
Evangelist Leighton Ford has said, "North America is the largest mission field in the English-speaking world .... In a real sense, we are back in apostolic times. We are in a missionary situation in our own country."
America is a mission field. That reality is what ignited Valley View Community Church . This church started nine years ago because the Giesslers and the Carters along with five other families felt called in some way to become missionaries to their very own culture.
This week I was talking to the husband of one of those five dedicated families who sold their house, restarted their business and moved from Morrisville to Malvern to be part of this church. They made huge life altering sacrifices. And I asked him if he had any regrets. And he said, "None. My wife and I couldn't imagine doing anything else with our lives. This is where we want to be." This afternoon they're hosting a Christmas open house to reach out once again to their neighbors.
They, along with a lot of others at Valley View , are on a mission, the mission to help seekers become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. That's the mission of Valley View Community Church . It's not always easy to accomplish. Sometimes it demands a lot, but they're loving it.
Are you on the mission? The mission of reaching others with the good news about Jesus. This morning we conclude our series called Making the Most of Your Life: Values That Jesus Lived By. And the value we want to unpack today is the value of mission.
We were all made for a mission. God's on a mission in this world and he wants us to join him in his mission. Jesus stated the mission five times, in five different ways, in five different books of the Bible so that we'd really get it. Perhaps his most well known statement is found in Matthew 28:19-20 (CEV) where he said, Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you.
That's God's mission and the mission he's given to each of us as Christ followers. God wants us to have both a ministry and a mission. Our ministry is our service to believers and our mission is our service to those who are not yet believers. And fulfilling that mission is how we make the most of our life.
The philosopher William James once said, "The best use of our life is to spend it for something that outlasts it." And the truth is that only what we do for the kingdom of God is going to last forever. Everything else will eventually fade away.
Jesus understood his mission in life. At the age of twelve he said, "I must be about my Father's business." And twenty-one years later, at the age of thirty, while he was dying on the cross, he said, "It is finished." Like two bookends, those two statements frame a life well lived, a purpose-driven life. Jesus completed the mission that the Father had given him.
But it wasn't easy. It cost him something. It cost him his life. You see if we're going to make the most our lives by embracing God's mission, it will cost us something too. It cost the families who started this church a great deal. But they have no regrets and would do it all over again.
If we're going join God on his mission it will cost us time and energy to invest in relationships with people who don't Jesus, to stretch ourselves to show compassion and care, to pray consistently for the needs of others who don't even know we're praying for them. It will cost us emotionally because sometimes we'll feel rejected, misunderstood, talked about, left out and all alone because of our allegiance to Christ.
It will cost us financially too. Reaching out to people can be costly. Making meals for neighbors in need, giving rides, having lunches and dinners, making phone calls, buying books, cards, tapes and gifts to communicate the love of Christ. It can get a little expensive.
At times the mission will complicate our life, invade our privacy, take up family time, add details to an already overloaded schedule. Sometimes we'll find ourselves all tangled up in the stress of somebody else's life and wonder, "Is this all worth it?" So why get on the mission?
Let me give you two reasons why we all need to be on this mission. And the first reason is because lost people matter to God and he wants them to matter to us. If you have a Bible turn with me to Luke 15:1.
One day Jesus was hanging out with a large crowd of unchurched people. Luke describes them as tax collectors and "sinners" in Luke 15:1. These were the folks that the religious system of that day had no time for. They were the undesirables, the unconvinced, the spiritually confused, the morally bankrupt, the no counts. They were the men and women who couldn't jump through all the religious hoops of the established church. So they didn't go to church.
Jesus loved spending time with these people. There was something refreshingly authentic about them. They were real. They weren't afraid to admit that they didn't have it all together, didn't have it all figured out, and that they needed some help with life.
Off on the sidelines was a huddle of religious types, who thought they did have it all together. And shaking their heads in disgust they muttered in verse 2, This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them. How can he claim to be the Son of God and hang out with those kinds of people? They're not good like us.
Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus decided to have some fun. He moved his whole gang a little closer to the holy huddle, cleared his throat, raised his voice a decibel or two, and told three powerful, pointed stories that reveal the heart of God to those who don't know him. One story is about a sheep. One is about a coin. And one is about a son. I'll paraphrase them for you.
In the first one Jesus says, There once was a man who owned a hundred sheep. And while he was tending his sheep, one of those wooly critters got away. So he left the 99 in good hands and went after the one that was lost. He kept searching and searching until he finally found it. Then he tenderly cradled it in his arms, put it around his shoulders, and carried it back home and had a blow out party to celebrate!
Jesus stopped, looked around, the crowd was right with him. So he told another one. There was a woman who had ten coins. These weren't just any coins. They weren't pennies. They were valuable coins, vital to her survival. They could have been her life savings. And she lost one. So she lit a lamp, swept the straw floor of her house, moved all the furniture, looked under the cushions of the couch, found paperclips and popcorn, and finally the coin. Yes! And when she found it, she got so excited that she got on the telephone and invited her neighbors over to celebrate!
Jesus stopped again. Nobody moved. They were riveted. He knew he had a teachable moment going. So he told a third story.
There was a man who had two boys. The younger one got a little cocky. He wanted to live life on the wild side. So he cashed in on his inheritance early, left his dad's estate, and started living in the fast lane. But pretty soon he found out that those he thought were his friends didn't hang with him after his money ran out.
So he got a job feeding pigs and thought to himself, "This is nuts. I've blown it big time. I need to go back to dad and start over ... if he'll take me back! I'd be better off home feeding his pigs."
So he headed for home. Rehearsed his apology over and over again. But before he could even get it out of his mouth, his dad saw him coming up the long, winding driveway. He ran to greet him, threw his arms around him, and said, "Son, I'm so glad you're home. I'm so glad you're finally home. Let's get a new set clothes on you, kill the calf, have a prime rib dinner, and throw a party!"
Jesus stopped, looked at his audience, and thought, "There ... three stories ... back to back to back. That ought to clear up any confusion about how much lost people matter to God." This is the only time that Jesus ever did a three peat. Telling three parables in row. Usually he would tell one, then interpret it. Tell another one, then interpret that.
But not this time. That's how ticked he was at the mentality of the religious leaders who thought only certain people mattered to God and other people didn't. And they decided who they were. The ones who matter to God are people just like us. And the ones who don't matter to God are people not like us. Jesus says, "WRONG!"
In all three stories something incredibly valuable is missing. Each story ups the ante a bit-first it's a sheep, then it's an investment, then it's a person. And in each one, there's a party when that which was lost is found.
Why should we get on board with God's mission? Because lost people matter to him. There's not a person on this planet that God doesn't love and that Jesus didn't die for. We've never locked eyes with a person that isn't valuable to God, with a person that God isn't seeking, that God isn't longing to embrace and welcome home. That person maybe your neighbor, your boss, a co-worker, maybe a friend you workout with, a classmate, a parent, a child, a brother or sister. It maybe someone you can't stand to be around. But they matter to God and they better matter to us too.
If we're going to make the most of our life we need to link arms with a God who's on a mission to reach lost people. Our heart needs to connect with God's heart, which breaks for those who don't know him.
I resonate with how a well known Christian leader describes his church, "We're a mission first, and a church second. And I hope we never change that perspective. I believe any church can grow if it's willing to die as a church and be born again as a mission. To balance that I also believe that a mission fails unless it becomes a church. It's a perpetual tension, a delicate one to maintain ."
Biblical community is a wonderful thing. We talk a lot about it around here. I love to be with my Christian friends sharing our hearts, our dreams, our struggles, our joys. They are my most valued relationships. It can be so wonderful some times that I want to stay in my own holy huddle because it's safe. And I know how to move in those circles comfortably. But if we get too comfortable in biblical community, then we don't have biblical community anymore. We have a cliché, or a club, or an institution. And pretty soon we're like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law wondering, "Who are these people? They're not like us! They're not welcome here!"
Biblical community is only biblical community if it's on a mission. Because the Lord wants to add to his church those who are being rescued, those who are being found. One of our five core values is that in a biblical community people reach out to others with the good news of Jesus Christ. Lost people matter to God and they must matter to us. That's the first reason to be on a mission.
And the second reason to be on this mission with God is because of the benefits are great. We've already considered some of the costs. But what about the benes? Are there any? Absolutely. Those of us who've been on the mission for a while know that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Let me just give you three. First, there's the adventure. There's nothing more thrilling in life than knowing that you're teaming up with the God of the universe on a mission that counts for eternity! God loves to stretch us beyond our comfort zone and challenge us to take risks to advance his kingdom. He loves when we step on the edge and are forced to cling to him with white knuckled faith.
All of us who've come to Christ have a story to tell. And in that story there's usually one person, maybe more, who was instrumental in our coming to faith. I can fill my mother's name in that blank along with a young man who made the gospel clear to me in a backyard Bible club. What a thrill it is to be that person in someone else's story, to be the name in their blank, to know that God used you in some way to change the trajectory of their life.
On our recent trip to Las Vegas we had about an hour lay over in Dallas, Texas. And during that hour we met up with some friends in the airport and ate chips and salsa in the terminal while we waited for our connecting flight. Keith & Patti and their three kids moved to Dallas two years ago when Keith entered seminary there. Now he's in the master's program studying to be a pastor.
But when I first met Keith back in 1991 he was far from God, the youngest of two sons firmly entrenched in a family appliance business. That's where he planned to spend the rest of his life. He had a comfortable home, new cars, a good income, a healthy family, a loving wife, a new baby, and big fat hole in his life that he didn't know how to fill. He no time for church and no time for God. In fact, he viewed God as a strict disciplinarian who meant life to be hard and loved to dish out trials and tribulations to people.
That's how he felt when we went out to lunch one day and I had the chance to share the gospel with Keith and answer some of his basic questions. Before we finished our pizza he agreed to think about it and he accepted my invitation to a come to a special meeting at our church. And at that meeting, just a few days later, Keith trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior. And right away he got on the adventure. God started to deal with his anxiety, his temper, his language, and helped him to overcome some very unhealthy habits.
Jennifer and I met regularly with Keith and Patti after that and developed a close friendship with them. And over the years we've had the thrill of seeing Keith develop into a leader in his church, leave the family business, make life changing decisions, move across the country, and now prepare to become a pastor. There's nothing like the joy of knowing you had a small part in somebody's spiritual story. You want adventure, you want purpose, you want fulfillment. Get on board with God's mission to reach lost people and your life will never be boring!
Second, there's the excitement. Being on the mission will radically change your spiritual life. It'll rev your engine. It'll fire you up. If your spiritual life has flat lined, if reading the Bible is a chore, if praying is a drill and going to church is a routine then you might not want to tell anybody about Jesus. Just keep it to yourself!
But when you start mixing it up with seekers and getting into high-stakes conversations, something incredible happens. Suddenly you start reading your Bible to find answers to some hard questions. Your prayers begin to sound more like pleas than platitudes. You start thinking about how to leverage your small group to help you reach out. Your desire to worship God grows, because you appreciate his grace that rescued you and can rescue your friends. You're more motivated to live a life of personal purity because now it's no secret that you call yourself a Christ follower. And you want to be a good representative of him. Getting on the mission is what keeps our faith alive and growing!
Finally, there are the rewards. Getting on the mission will pay dividends that last forever. I love what Jesus said in Luke 16:9, I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Use your resources to reach people for Christ so that when you finally go home to heaven they'll be a crowd waiting to welcome you because of the impact that you've had on their lives.
Someone has said, "The only thing you can take to heaven is a friend." That's absolutely true. Everything else in this life will either rust, rot, or get ripped off. Jesus says use your resources--your money, your time, your energy--to win friends for the kingdom. So that when all that is gone, you'll be welcomed into your eternal neighborhood by those you've impacted for Christ. The rewards are eternal.
Why should we get on the mission? Because lost people matter to God and because the benefits are enormous, the adventure, the excitement, the rewards.
So that's how we make the most of our lives. By arranging them around the values that drove Jesus. Are you ready? I am.