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[1454.90 --> 1462.38] pastor Chris as he brings the word to us may it bless us and touch us and guide us help us to gather |
[1462.38 --> 1466.48] grow and go in your name we pray amen |
[1477.40 --> 1500.06] as part of our launch season we have spent the last few weeks looking at our sort of mission statement |
[1500.06 --> 1529.56] that three word phrase gather grow go that we believe sort of sets out for us what it is that we do how we are called to be together in some ways the the idea of gather grow go is aspirational that is it's something we look towards and we pursue after together in some ways it's also inspirational in that it it it |
[1529.56 --> 1559.22] fills us with a sense of purpose that we share together and so two weeks ago we explored what the word gather means we developed a biblical theology for our gathering as a community of faith last week pastor Kevin led us as we explored what it means that we grow together that we mature as disciples in the faith again developing a sort of biblical theology for that and today |
[1559.22 --> 1589.20] today we look at the word go what does it mean that we look at the word go what does it mean that we are sent and what are the particulars of our shared identity together under the banner of and the idea of go and so there too we will look at a sort of brief biblical theology of sending and of being sent because of that we're going to look at a whole bunch of Bible |
[1589.20 --> 1619.18] texts and because the screen isn't working the way that we wanted to it might be a little bit more of a personal challenge for you to see the text and to follow along but there are Bibles at the back and if you're familiar enough with the Bible and you know where you can go back and forth to find these books that will be helpful to you if not just let the words come from me and wash over you hear them and maybe if you're a note taker just write down the |
[1619.18 --> 1649.16] text and then you can return to the text and then you can return to the text and then you can return to it later this week but the the banner sort of the starting place I want us to jump in is actually words of Jesus to his disciples from John 20 and really just one verse in 21 John 20 verse 21 this is after the resurrection Jesus has appeared to his disciples one time and he has appeared to Thomas |
[1649.18 --> 1679.18] and at the end of appearing or as part of appearing appearing to his disciples Jesus says peace be with you as the father has sent me I am sending you and with that he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit if you forgive anyone's sins their sins are forgiven if you do not forgive them they are not forgiven |
[1679.18 --> 1692.50] but in your brother's sins their sins are forgivenário啡 they are forgiven they are shaken |
[1692.62 --> 1700.28] and swear what covenant be ok may the verse 20 is that in high said a day of trial and was sent in high school but from the first time till |
[1700.28 --> 1715.10] beginning, God has been sending his people. In the book of Exodus, in chapter 3, Moses meets God in |
[1715.10 --> 1720.64] the burning bush. Maybe you're familiar with that story. Moses has fled Egypt. He's gone to the |
[1720.64 --> 1727.28] wilderness at Midian, and there God calls him to be a prophet for the people and to go and speak to |
[1727.28 --> 1735.18] Pharaoh. And God says in Exodus 3, verse 10, now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, |
[1735.34 --> 1743.18] the Israelites, out of Egypt. Fast forward a few hundred years and to the prophet Isaiah now, |
[1743.46 --> 1750.96] God calls Isaiah and commissions Isaiah to go be a voice to the king of Israel. And he says, this is |
[1750.96 --> 1756.96] what we read in Isaiah, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go |
[1756.96 --> 1765.80] for us? And then Isaiah says, here I am, send me. Similarly, a few hundred years after that, the |
[1765.80 --> 1772.88] prophet Jeremiah, right, is also sent. And then we read in Jeremiah 1, 7, but the Lord said to me, |
[1773.44 --> 1782.14] do not say I am too young. You must go to everyone I send to you and say whatever I command you. |
[1782.14 --> 1787.74] Now, in all of these examples, and there are more that we could pull out, this is an example of God |
[1787.74 --> 1797.14] sending a prophet to speak his word to the world and to reveal himself to the world through them and |
[1797.14 --> 1804.78] for them. And this idea of sending continues right through into the New Testament identity of the |
[1804.78 --> 1811.54] church, right? Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Jesus also says in Matthew 10, |
[1812.00 --> 1818.18] I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. |
[1819.06 --> 1825.70] This idea of sending isn't just a commissioning for general work, but also commissioning for |
[1825.70 --> 1833.64] particular work. In Romans 10, we read there that, how then can they call on the one they have not |
[1833.64 --> 1838.20] believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear |
[1838.20 --> 1843.44] without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? |
[1845.34 --> 1853.78] We are a sent people with a prophetic message to proclaim to the world. And Jesus, knowing that |
[1853.78 --> 1862.06] we'll face challenges in this, he prays for us. In John 17, Jesus says in prayer to his Father, |
[1862.06 --> 1867.96] my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. |
[1868.80 --> 1874.98] They're not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. |
[1875.18 --> 1883.10] As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. So over and over and over again, |
[1883.18 --> 1891.04] in the Bible, we see that God's people, first in Israel and now in the church, are a sent people. |
[1892.06 --> 1898.60] But what does it mean to be sent? What does it mean to go? That's what we're exploring |
[1898.60 --> 1905.96] this morning. So our big idea is that the church is a sent community, and we will see |
[1905.96 --> 1914.40] that in four ways. That our going is for blessing, our going is for revealing, and our going is for |
[1914.40 --> 1917.74] showing and our going is for contrasting. |
[1921.06 --> 1928.56] Before we get too far into that, I also want to make a distinction. Because especially, especially |
[1928.56 --> 1936.80] if you've grown up in the Christian church in the Western world your whole life, it's really easy |
[1936.80 --> 1943.72] to think about this going, this mission of the church, as missions, with an S on the end. |
[1944.22 --> 1952.70] To think about sending as going far away. Or to think that some things that we do are |
[1952.70 --> 1957.12] like missionary activities, and other things we do are just not. |
[1957.12 --> 1963.96] Coming out of that, it's easy for some of us to think that some people do like sacred work, |
[1964.48 --> 1967.94] and the rest of us do like secular work. |
[1969.26 --> 1974.60] And because I'm a pastor paid by a church, that must mean that everything that I do is sacred. |
[1975.60 --> 1980.78] And because you're an engineer, that must mean everything you do is secular. |
[1980.78 --> 1988.72] But that's not actually the case. When we see that God has always called and sent people. In fact, |
[1988.86 --> 1994.96] what I hope that we'll begin to see is that it's not about where you go, or even it's not about what |
[1994.96 --> 2006.00] you do specifically, but it's more about how you be when you go and when you do. It's more about who |
[2006.00 --> 2013.16] you are as you are in the midst of life in these places. And so really, what I want us to do is |
[2013.16 --> 2022.18] to think more holistically, and you can hear in that, more biblically about our being sent, about our going |
[2022.18 --> 2032.10] together. This past week, I had a chance to gather with some of the committee leaders and coordinators |
[2032.10 --> 2037.52] from ministries and team leaders here. We gathered for an evening on Thursday of encouragement and |
[2037.52 --> 2041.40] celebration of God's work, and it was a beautiful night together. And one of the things that we |
[2041.40 --> 2050.06] discussed there was that our mission, as those who are called to gather, grow, and go, is ultimately |
[2050.06 --> 2056.64] indivisible, right? And so part of what we do is going to lean more heavily towards gather when we do |
[2056.64 --> 2061.04] that, like right now. Part of what we do is going to lean more towards grow when we do that, |
[2061.04 --> 2067.46] right? Lord willing, like right now. And part of what we do is going to lean more towards go. But in a |
[2067.46 --> 2075.26] big picture, ultimate sense, everything we do exists in the middle space of all three of those, |
[2076.72 --> 2083.10] right? This is ultimately this identity of gather, grow, go about who we are as a church, |
[2083.84 --> 2090.22] right? We gather and grow so that our going will be fueled by the Holy Spirit and God's transformation |
[2090.22 --> 2098.32] in our lives. We go so that others may be gathered up into our growing. We grow so that our going can |
[2098.32 --> 2105.18] be with confidence and the Holy Spirit capabilities. And so our gathering may bring more and more praises |
[2105.18 --> 2113.82] to the one who grows us, right? Our gathering is for going and we gather to scatter. |
[2113.82 --> 2122.08] Or to put it another way, and this is language that I'm borrowing from Michael Goheen, who's a |
[2122.08 --> 2126.22] missiologist, who's a professor of mine. A number of you might know him. He lives here in the area. |
[2127.60 --> 2136.80] To put it another way, the communal life of the church comes together for the going apart |
[2136.80 --> 2147.08] in order that we might come together again. Right? Even our going out is gathered because we do it as |
[2147.08 --> 2157.30] one in our unique but individual places. And so, seeing all of these threads tied together as one, |
[2157.56 --> 2163.96] what I'd like to do is spend the rest of our time looking at these four ideas about how it is that we |
[2163.96 --> 2173.30] go. How it is that we are sent. To begin, I want to start in Genesis 12. Genesis 12 is the beginning |
[2173.30 --> 2181.76] of the Bible, first book of the Bible. It's the call of Abram. And so God reaches out and comes to the |
[2181.76 --> 2191.54] world and he calls a particular man. And this is those first few verses. Genesis 12, 1 to 3, we read, |
[2191.54 --> 2221.52] Now notice the trajectory there, the through, |
[2221.52 --> 2229.14] Abraham is the through line. Abraham is gathered up to God and God grows a family around him so that |
[2229.14 --> 2238.42] the gathered and grown family can be a blessing to all peoples on earth. Our going is for blessing. |
[2240.20 --> 2246.46] And this pattern continues over and over and over again. God gathers up a community |
[2246.46 --> 2253.50] and grows them into a new kind of family, the body of Christ, brothers and sisters in faith. And then |
[2253.50 --> 2259.46] he sends us out to be a blessing to our neighbors and our neighborhoods, to be a blessing to our city |
[2259.46 --> 2267.52] and our region and our country and the world. Notice in this text, |
[2267.52 --> 2278.54] God calls Abraham to go to a place he doesn't yet know and thus begins the journey of his going. |
[2279.46 --> 2286.78] This is the story of our faith, the journey of our going into those places that God calls us. And along |
[2286.78 --> 2297.70] the way, we're called to bless those around us. Now, I want to offer just a brief admission at this point, |
[2297.78 --> 2305.22] because there's a danger and there's a difficulty here. And Abraham faced it and we face it the same. |
[2305.22 --> 2313.58] Because the reality is that most of the world doesn't actually know what's good for it. |
[2316.38 --> 2323.12] Most of us don't actually know what's best for us. We have some pretty significant ideas, |
[2323.72 --> 2326.82] right? And we would make some pretty significant claims about that. |
[2326.82 --> 2337.40] But the truth is, right, in our world and in our own hearts and lives, if we reject God, we reject goodness. |
[2338.70 --> 2346.02] And so then what is actually a blessing for you might seem outlandish or crazy to those people who |
[2346.02 --> 2349.78] don't know this God who calls you onto a journey with him. |
[2349.78 --> 2359.42] The truth is that this good news, this calling and journeying with God, will bring opposition |
[2359.42 --> 2368.24] as the church goes and challenges the deep convictions of the culture that surrounds it, |
[2368.26 --> 2374.02] the culture that doesn't yet know God. And this is going to happen particularly and deeply |
[2374.02 --> 2381.42] when we become involved in the institutions of our culture, when we become involved in the everyday |
[2381.42 --> 2389.48] life of creation and celebration in the world that we live in, right? The church is charged with a |
[2389.48 --> 2399.94] mission that goes out from this place into public life, into our culture. And as disciples of Jesus, |
[2399.94 --> 2408.28] we participate and are involved in the ongoing cultural task of the world and the welfare of our |
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