Sermon Tone Analysis

“Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.

For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”[1]

Missions have fallen on hard times in this day; actually, mission has fallen on hard times.

There will be no */missions/* if Christians fail to embrace */the mission/* that is assigned.

This is not theological double-talk; it points out a vital truth that is frequently neglected.

Contemporary theology trains us to think of missions as the work that specially trained individuals do at a distance from our assemblies.

However, if there is no understanding of the mission assigned as individual believers in the Risen Son of God, we have no reason to either participate in or to support missions.

If we do not each accept responsibility to fulfil the charge of the Master where we live, we will not be concerned to support His mission at a distance.

Charles Spurgeon, the Baptist divine who ministered in London during the nineteenth century, illustrates the importance of understanding our mission in order to engage in missions.

In a sermon preached in 1863 Spurgeon said, “I regard Christ’s commission to his disciples as binding upon us to-day: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’

I cannot tell whether every creature to whom I preach is elect or not, but it is my business to preach the gospel to all whom I can reach, resting assured that all of them whom God has chosen unto eternal life will certainly accept it.

When a certain clergyman asked the Duke of Wellington, ‘Does your grace think it is any use preaching the gospel to the Hindoos?’ he simply replied, ‘What are your marching orders?’

As a soldier, he believed in obeying orders; and when the clergyman answered that, the orders were, ‘Preach the gospel to every creature,’ the duke said.

‘Then your duty is quite clear; obey your Master’s orders, and don’t you trouble, about anybody else’s opinions.’”[2]

What are our marching orders?

They are indeed clear.

As a congregation, as individuals, we have no excuse for disobedience.

Perhaps our failure to vigorously support missionary advance in this day is in part because as Christians we are no longer taught the necessity of missions; but more likely the reason is that we are no longer trained to understand the responsibility for each one to be on mission.

Perhaps we have become so focused on assigning the work of missionary advance to a few specialised workers, forgetting our individual responsibility that we are no longer capable of thinking of individual responsibility to advance of the cause of Christ.

Such thoughts prompt me to ask, “Who is a missionary?

What does a missionary do?”

The question is pertinent in great measure because of a paradigm shift in Christian attitudes toward missions in this generation.

The stories of missionary sacrifice to advance the cause of Christ that excited previous generations seem dated to modern churches, and are thus ignored.

Contemporary congregations are ignorant of the ideal of sacrifice for the sake of the Name.

Not that many years ago, the vast majority of missionaries served on a particular field for the duration of their life.

Today, overwhelmingly missionaries serve for a matter of months, or more likely, for a matter of weeks or even days.

I became aware of the changing nature of “missions” some years ago while pastoring in the city of New Westminster.

The congregation I pastored was reputed to be a mission-minded church.

For years, the congregation was reputed to be one of the leading mission-supporting churches in the Lower Mainland.

The congregation boasted that it supported over one hundred missionaries; however, most of the missionaries supported were supported with a few dollars each month.

Rather than developing a strategy that would provide congregational connection with the missionary supported and investing in missionaries to accomplish that goal, the church had drifted into a model that permitted boasting of their missionary outreach without requiring oversight.

They were literally impoverishing the congregation without accomplishing much.

At that time I noted that the demographics of missionaries supported were changing dramatically.

Reflecting the changing attitudes witnessed throughout the church world, the congregation was increasingly sponsoring “short-term” missionaries.

Ostensibly, this was because fewer Christians were committing themselves to a life of mission service.

Though there were several retired missionaries in the membership of the congregation, there had not been a lifer—a long-term missionary—sent out from that congregation in many years.

Inquiring about the missionary policy of the church, I was informed that there was none.

My assessment of the congregation undoubtedly appeared harsh to people who had grown complacent.

While the mission map with pins on every continent that was located in the foyer of the building looked impressive, and while there were flags on the platform representing the countries in which “their missionaries” served, and though there was a sign over the rear exit from the auditorium that declared, “You are now entering the mission field,” few in the assembly were able to tell what was being done by any of those missionaries whom they supported.

One “missionary” whom the congregation supported—more heavily than many—raised multiple red flags in my mind.

The deficit represented by this man was not unique to him, but he did stand out because of the lack of accountability, the lack of a plan for mission, and his failure to accomplish even part of the Great Commission.

This particular man was building a yacht in southern California, and he planned to sail through the Polynesian Islands to preach … someday.

The congregation was supporting him with a greater amount than most other missionaries.

When I asked for the rationale behind this support, I was told that he was an exciting speaker and the young people (all five of them) like his delivery.

The leading lights wanted their youth to be excited about missions, and so they initiated support for this man who had appeared in the church one time.

He had no sponsoring church and he had no concrete plan for missionary work.

However, the congregation was quite proud of their support for this particular man.

I was especially concerned by the fact that the erstwhile missionary had neither a sponsoring church nor a missionary organisation overseeing his proposed missionary efforts.

Surprisingly, I was unable to find a home congregation for this man.

Perhaps he was attending a congregation, but there was no accountability to a congregation that could be demonstrated.

I phoned him and obtained enough information to cause even greater reservation about his character and proposed labour.

Upon making discrete inquiries, I discovered that he had briefly served under a respected mission board in … the Polynesian Islands.

I wondered what would have led him to cease serving under that board and why he had made no mention of his previous relationship in the literature he had presented the church.

Moreover, no one in the congregation could remember him mentioning a home church during a past visit to the church.

Phoning the board under which he had previously served, I was able to speak with the president who informed me of some unwise decisions this man had made that had resulted in disgrace to the cause of Christ and threat of death for a young convert to the Christian Faith.

Because of his arrogant and self-promoting actions, the work of the mission was hindered in Polynesia.

His arrogance toward his colleagues and his refusal to submit to those appointed to superintend his missionary work, gave sufficient cause for the mission board to question his suitability for missionary service, and ultimately compelled them to dismiss him.

The cause of Christ is bigger than any one church.

For the Kingdom to advance, all who are called by the Name of the Master must see that they are called to participate in that advance.

This means that this congregation is responsible to have a missionary purpose, to understand our mission, and to formulate a plan for participation in the advance of Christ’s Kingdom.

This is the message today—a call for us to find our place in the work of the Kingdom and to do what we should be doing.

The message is nothing less than a call to mission for this congregation.

*Missions Begin with Mission* — “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.” Let’s return to consideration of a point that I made during my introductory remarks: */missions begin with mission/*.

Let’s distinguish once more between missions and mission.

“Missions” speak of the ongoing efforts conducted by and sponsored by churches as they extend the cause of Christ.

“Mission” is the particular responsibility that is imposed upon each Christian by the Great Commission.

It will be beneficial to review that Great Commission firmly fixing it in our minds.

The charge is given in various places throughout the New Testament; perhaps the best-known statement of the Great Commission is that which is found at the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [*Matthew 28:19, 20*].

When John Mark wrote Peter’s account of the Good News, it came to us in this fashion, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” [*Mark 16:15, 16*].

Doctor Luke, having learned the Gospel from Mary and others who were witnesses to the life of Jesus the Messiah, he recounted how Jesus appeared to the disciples and charged them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things” [*Luke 24:46-48*].

Writing the account of the growth of the apostolic missionary thrust, Luke told of Jesus’ ascension, at which time the Master said to the disciples assembled on a mountain outside of Jerusalem, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” [*Acts 1:8*].

The mission of every Christian, the mission of every congregation, is to make disciples.

This is so fundamental to the Faith, and perhaps heard so often, that we tend to take the charge for granted.

However, let’s admit an uncomfortable truth: few churches are making disciples!

Perhaps there are some few churches that are gathering a crowd, but a crowd is not a church.

Many churches attempt to generate attendance through using musical innovation, attempting to provide entertainment and avoiding controversy.

Certainly, many church leaders avoid saying anything that will make attendees uncomfortable.

However, none of this makes disciples!

The mission assigned to each Christian is to unite in discipling others.

Discipleship begins with ourselves—each of us accepting responsibility for our own families, and then accepting responsibility to disciple the influx of people brought into the congregation.

Listen to Matthew’s presentation of the Great Commission as translated by Doctor Kenneth Wuest.

“Having gone on your way therefore, teach all the nations, making them your pupils, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to be attending to carefully, holding firmly to, and observing all, whatever things I enjoined upon you.

And behold, as for myself, with you I am all the days until the consummation of the age” [*Matthew 28:19, 20*].[3]

Doctor Wuest was not attempting a smooth translation, but rather he endeavoured to bring out the force of the Greek so that we could capture the emphasis provided in that original language.

Notice several matters of significance for us if we will understand the mission assigned by our Great Commander.

First, it is assumed that we who follow Him will go beyond the walls of the church.

It is assumed that we will be interacting with people living in the world, and that as we interact with them we will be discipling people.

The scope of our assignment is “all the nations.”

How else shall we account for the scene that John describes before the Throne of God and in the presence of the Lamb of God? “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen!

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever!

Amen’” [*Revelation 7:9-12*].

Certainly, there is a basis for missionary outreach, and it begins with the mission we have been assigned—discipling.