Our Mission – If We Chose to Accept

Luke 4: 14-21 January 24, 2010

Well, this morning our epiphany is seeing Jesus declare who he is as he preached in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth.

Last week we saw him perform his first miracle as he turned the water into wine. After that miracle, people began to talk about him and the word quickly spread around the community that Jesus was special and he began to have a following of people…

But today, we see Jesus preaching in his hometown. And we are told that he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah… and that he looked through the scroll and found the place where Isaiah had written about the coming Messiah, the Savior of Israel…

And Jesus read the scripture as it was written saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And after he had read the scripture, he sat down to preach… and the Bible says that “all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him…” Everyone was anxiously waiting to hear what he was going to say… He could have talked about the past or he could have talked about the future, but he didn’t… He talked about the present… and he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing…”

In other words, Jesus was proclaiming that he was the Messiah, that he was the Savior that Isaiah had prophesied and written about.

Now we stopped reading at verse 21 but if we continue reading we’re told that the crowd became angry with Jesus for making such a claim… and they chased Jesus out of town and were going to throw him off a cliff… they were going to kill him right then and there… But the Bible says that Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way… and there is no record of him every returning to hometown.

Now you and I know that Jesus didn’t do anything wrong – for he was only stating facts about who he is (and some people seem to get upset about that…) But actually, Jesus was doing a little more than just proclaiming who he is; he was stating his mission and outlining his ministry…

Jesus was saying, “I have come as the anointed One of God to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives; to give sight to the blind; to set the oppressed free; and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He was saying, this is what I have come to do… this is my mission, this is my ministry…

From his baptism to his death upon the Cross of Calvary Jesus knew and understood what he was here for… The question is, do we? What is our purpose as a church and as a child of God? Do we understand what we’re here for – do we understand our mission?

If I went around the church this morning asking you to define the reason for our being – what would you say? How would you define the mission of the church? I can see on some of your faces that you haven’t given this question much thought – because you’re thinking to yourself, I hope he doesn’t ask me… You mean the church has a mission?

Illus: Did you know that the ocean is full of little microscopic vegetables which is food for many of the ocean’s smallest creatures. These little plants drift thousands of miles wherever the currents carry them, with no power of will of their own to direct their own destiny. The plants are named plankton, a Greek word that means “wondering” or “drifting.” Plankton describes the wandering plant life of the ocean.

Plankton may also be a good way to define the life of the church today… We are wandering adrift. What is our mission as a church? Why do we exist?

From my studies of Jesus’ ministry and teachings, I believe we exist for two reasons: one is to reach individual people with the good news of God’s love as revealed in Christ Jesus; the second is to influence our society and our community to the point that the kingdoms of this earth more closely resemble the kingdom of God…

Illus: I was reading a commentary by Dr. Ray Pritchard in which he tells about “The 2% Rule.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with the 2% concept or not, but it is based on the findings of long time sociologist and educator Robert Bellah from Princeton University.

In his studies, Bellah came to this educated conclusion: “We should NOT underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world… The governing values of a whole culture may be changed when 2% of its people have a new vision.”

Think about that! All you need is 2% of the people to change an entire culture… I wonder if we realize how powerful we could be if we had just 2% of our church define our mission and give us a vision.

The mission of the church is to carry on the ministry that Jesus began… Jesus came to share the good news with the poor… The poor being the poor in spirit, those who haven’t heard the good news of the gospel or those who have heard but don’t understand it and have not received it for themselves.

Jesus came to release the captive from bondage… Those who are enslaved by sin, and being held captive by the devil… Jesus came to free us from our sins…

Jesus came to give sight to the blind… Those who are living in darkness… And of course he was talking about spiritual blindness… Many of us have eyes, we can physically see; but there are those who have eyes but can’t see because their eyes haven’t been opened to the truth…

And Jesus came to let the oppressed go free… To be oppressed is to have a force against you, something that is holding you down or holding you back… Many people are oppressed by an injustice… And whether you realize it or not, many times we are the ones that cause the injustice… and we are the Christians…

And Jesus came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… The year of the Lord is not to be confused with the day of the Lord… The day of the Lord is when God brings His revenge and His judgment against those who are unfaithful… But the year of the Lord’s favor is the time granted for those who are unfaithful to become faithful… It’s an open season for bringing the lost into the kingdom of God…

These are the things that Jesus came to do… This was his ministry and his mission… And he established the church to carry on his mission… So these things that Jesus has started are the things that now become our mission and the mission of the church… The mission of Jesus becomes OUR MISSION – IF WE CHOSE TO ACCEPT!

So how are we doing? Friends, I can’t understand why the church (in general) is not flourishing – why it’s not growing, and why it’s not filled to capacity whenever the doors are open. I can understand people being sick, or out of town, or sometimes due to a busy schedule even being too tired to come to church… But I can’t understand why people don’t want to be connected to the church and the church family… Unless, the church family is not acting and treating each other as the church family should…

Illus: Our epistle reading this week comes from 1 Corinthians 12 (a part of it was our call to worship) wherein the Apostle Paul speaks about the church as being made up of many members but one body – collectively we are the body of Christ…

And in this chapter, Paul talks about the different members of the church and the different gifts that God has given to each of the members… and he is trying to teach us that we are all important and it takes all of us to make the body of Christ complete… and without some of the members and some of the gifts the church will be incomplete… we won’t be as strong and as able as God would have us to be… So when the members of the church are NOT in church, not only is it bad for the members, but it’s bad for the whole body of Christ…

But there is something else about the body of Christ that is so important to the members… Paul says in verse 26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it…”

You see, not only is our mission to reach out to the least, the last, and the lost, but OUR MISSION IS TO REACH OUT TO EACH OTHER HERE IN THE CHURCH…

We have to have unity and fellowship with each other… and we have to be willing to share each other’s hurts and pains… When one suffers, we all suffer… But on the flip side, we also share each other’s joys… When one member is honored, we all rejoice together…

You see, I’m here for you but you need to be here for me… We are here for each other… Even geese know that…

Illus: Watch a large flock of Canadian geese winging their way in a V formation… We’re told that when a goose gets sick or hurt, it never falls from formation by itself… Two other geese will always follow the wounded goose down to the grown. And once on the ground the healthy birds help protect the wounded bird and care for it as much as possible… they stay with it until its either able to fly, or until its dead… Then, and only then, will they launch out on their own… In most cases, they wait for another group of geese to fly by and they join them, adding to the safety and flying efficiency of their numbers…

The body of Christ understands its mission in the world and at the same time caring for the members of its flock…

But there is one more thing I need to say about our mission… IT’S PERSONAL… WE ALL HAVE A JOB TO DO IN GOD’S KINGDOM…

Illus: Simon Peter was the rock of the church at Jerusalem… Yet there would have been no Simon Peter leading the church if there had been no Andrew to lead Simon to Christ…

The Apostle Paul was probably the second most influential person who ever lived, besides Christ himself… But without a Barnabas, Saul would have never been accepted in the Christian community as Paul…

How grateful I am that there are persons in our church family with the spirit of Andrew the spirit of evangelism, and Barnabas the spirit of encouragement…

You see, each of us has a gift that Christ can use for the building of His kingdom… Together, we are the body of Christ and we all have our personal part in it…

I am just one member of the body… my role is no greater than yours… and it’s only when we accept our role and our mission that we will see great things happen in the church.

Illus: In the great hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” we sing that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. We can become that church when we realize that we each have a part to play if we are to be God’s people in the world today.

Jesus began a mission, but he’s now counting on his church to carry out that mission…

Friends, we can make a difference in this world… But only when we understand Our Mission – And We Chose to Accept It…

Let’s Pray!