Finding Our Mission
I’ve had busy days during this first week as pastor of First Baptist Church in Chariton, Iowa. I’ve met many of you, held meetings, put my office together, learned who to ask about what – and I’ve loved it all! I’m excited about being here and about what I see God doing already.
But the busyness and the activity are not what my job here actually is. We don’t exist as a church simply for me to get settled into an office. We have a much bigger purpose than that. On my first Sunday here with the actual title of Pastor, I think it is important to talk about our purpose as a church. What are we here to do? Why do we exist?
These are the big questions every person and every organization must answer. In the corporate world, the company’s purpose is often referred to as the Mission Statement. Companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on corporate consultants to help them identify their purpose and then Wordsmith it into something splendid.
For example, here’s the Mission Statement of a large corporation. After you read it, I want you to guess which company it is:
To create a shopping experience that pleases our customers; a workplace that creates opportunities and a great working environment for our associates; and a business that achieves financial success.
Any guesses? Pretty impossible, since they don’t actually say anything other than “Be a good store that shoppers and employees like … and that makes money.” Well – I think the grocery store Albertsons should fire whoever helped them form that statement.
The interesting thing is, many churches also follow this route and bring in consultants to craft their mission statements. I understand that churches are different flavors and have various nuances and doctrinal differences – but every church, at its core, has the same mission.
What is the mission of the church? And, specifically, our church? Why did God form First Baptist Church in Chariton, Iowa, over 160 years ago? And what are we supposed to be most clearly focused on? We find these answers at the end of Jesus’s time on this earth. After His resurrection, and right before He ascended to the right hand of the Father, He gave His disciples some important and famous instructions.
In Matthew 28:18-20 we read:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
Let’s focus on the primary mission Jesus clearly identifies for all His followers. After describing His authority to give these marching orders, He gives an imperative – a command – and He says “GO!”
“GO” is an action word. It requires that we get up and out of our comfort zones. We have to leave our pews to GO. We have to step outside our well-known ministries and classes in order to GO. GO can’t happen inside these walls!This command from Jesus requires us to leave our building, to get into the lives of those around us, to be active in our community, and to seek people with whom we can share the life-changing news of Jesus’s great love.
Then, after saying “GO”, Jesus says “and make disciples.” He doesn’t give us a vague command without telling us specifically what we are to do. The purpose of our going out is to make disciples.
Often when we think of making disciples, we think of teaching. We envision classrooms and reading books and memorizing Bible verses. All of this is important and can be a part of discipleship – but Jesus didn’t use any of it and He trained up eleven guys pretty well! He walked and He talked and He lived life with His disciples – and He completely shaped their hearts and their character. To Jesus, discipleship always meant moving people one step forward.
We tend to create what I believe is an artificial divide between evangelism and discipleship. We call everything before a person decides to follow Jesus “evangelism” and everything after that moment “discipleship.” However, evangelism and discipleship are really two phases of the same journey
When we look at Jesus’s ministry, we see He met hostile religious leaders and challenged their thinking. He spoke with the curious woman at the well and pointed her toward Himself. But he also told parables to help His disciples grow in their belief. He helped shape Peter’s leadership. And ultimately, at His departure, His disciples were ready to reproduce more disciples. All of this is discipleship. It is so much bigger than just learning what’s in the Bible. Discipleship is taking one step to the right, regardless of where you are. For some that might be as simple as trusting a Christian. For others it might mean being ready to become an elder at the church.
The third part of this loaded phrase Jesus spoke as a command to His disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations.
Jesus knew His message would spread far beyond the area in which He ministered. He stayed near Jerusalem and taught the Jews first. But God’s plan was always bigger than bringing salvation for only the Jewish people. Seven hundred years earlier, the prophet Isaiah spoke of God’s salvation reaching all people. Isaiah 49:6 says:
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Jesus is telling His disciples the time has come for them to take the message to people outside the Jewish faith. This was a big deal! Up until then the presence of God stayed in the center of the temple, and other nations had to travel to Jerusalem to worship God. But now Jesus is showing how everything has changed. Now, after the disciples are empowered by the Spirit of God inside each one of them, they are to go out to all the nations to reach people everywhere. I am very excited about the willingness of First Baptist’s member to give towards missions so people all over the world can hear about Jesus! That demonstrates your understanding of this important command.
Now I want to stretch your thinking a bit about what Jesus means when He says to go to all nations. When He says all nations He really means everyone. Jesus wants every person on this earth to hear about His love, His grace, His forgiveness, and the invitation to enter into the Kingdom of God. That also includes your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors. And it means people who look different from you, speak differently than you do, and might have beliefs or political ideals dramatically different from yours. Even people who absolutely drive you nuts – He wants you to go make disciples of them! Remember, this might mean just helping them take one step toward Jesus! It may not mean a salvation and a baptism, but to even get a person who is hostile toward Christians to open up to you – that’s discipleship.
Living Out Our Purpose
These are our marching orders: to go and make disciples of all nations. These orders come from no other than the One with “all authority in heaven and on earth.”
But, praise Jesus, He doesn’t expect us to do this all on our own. He didn’t give the command, fly up to heaven, and then watch to see if we fail or succeed. No, His final words were “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus wants you to succeed. He wants your family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors all to know the peace and joy that come from being a part of the family of God. So He empowers you to be His witness – to be His representative and His mouthpiece.
How do you view this command to go outside these walls? There are two ways to view Jesus’s great commission: as an obligation or as an opportunity.
If you see His command as an obligation, you probably see it as a “should” – another task on your list of things to do to make Jesus happy with you. And the truth is, if this is how you view the command to go outside these walls to connect people with God, then you will only begrudgingly try and likely will make very little impact.
But if you recognize the grace God has shown you, the life change you experience, the love in your heart that comes from God, Then you don’t have to TRY because Jesus will ooze from every part of your being.
And if you want to be passionate about Jesus and tell others, but you just don’t feel that in your heart – you feel tired and worn out – I encourage you to ask God for a refreshing of His Spirit. Go to God and ASK, SEEK, KNOCK until He fills you with a passion you haven’t felt for years, if ever.
Can you imagine what God could do with little First Baptist Church in Chariton, Iowa if all of us were filled with His Spirit and excitedly shared Jesus with people we encounter outside these walls? I think God could do more than we could even dream of. We have to understand that God’s purpose for our church goes beyond these walls. It reaches our city, our county, and all our missions partners. When we are willing to GO, God will do the rest!
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