What is our purpose in this life?

No, it would not. The primary purpose of any for profit business is to make money and the McDonald’s corporation does this by offering a food service that is fast and economical.

Transition: Successful business have clearly defined mission statements and specialize in a certain area: Ford and GM produce vehicles; Nike and UnderArmor produce athletic apparel; Microsoft and Apple produce software and cell phones. Whatever the business, there is a corresponding purpose for being.

What is the purpose of the Church? What is our reason for being? More specifically, what is the purpose of Smyrna Baptist Church? Why do we exist in this community in this time, and are we accomplishing our purpose?

Our starting point on this Sunday after Easter, is to begin by examining the biblical mandate that the Risen Christ has given to His Church.

READ the TEXT: Matt 28:16-20

Jesus is currently REIGNING as King of the Universe and has ALL power and authority (Matt 28:18)

Explanation: The Risen Christ IS the Lord of all Creation at the present time. This is NOT to say that Jesus became LORD after His Resurrection, but that the Scope of His pre-existing authority was broadened. During His Incarnation, the mission of Jesus was primarily to the Jews - His own people. Sadly, His own people did not accept Him as King - the Apostle John tells us that “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11).

After His resurrection Jesus remained 40 days on the earth before He ascended into Heaven. We don’t have biblical data for all that He did during that time, but we are told that Jesus showed Himself to some of the believers, gave commandments and taught the disciples further about the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3)

Argument: Jesus is ALREADY reigning as Lord. The picture of the Son of Man in Daniel 7 is that of Jesus being given dominion of His kingdom and the location is in Heaven, not on earth. This is most likely the return of Jesus into glory following His Ascension, not at His second coming to the earth. (cf Daniel 7:13-14).

Application: It is vital for us to understand the true nature of Jesus as He relates to His church. His Kingdom is already in existence, even though the full expression of His Kingdom awaits His return.

The first step in fulfilling our purpose is therefore to understand our relationship with Jesus as the King of His kingdom. Since He is the King, He is the One with the authority - not us. That means that we have to come to Him as He is: Lord and King. That means that He is not JUST a Savior; He is LORD.

The NT clearly presents what is commonly called “Lordship Salvation.” In contradiction to this, some Baptists have incorrectly taught that a person can accept Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. In this unbiblical model, a person who is saved at one point can later “make” Christ Lord, when he or she wants to get serious about following Jesus. No human has the authority or the ability to “make” Jesus Lord! He is already Lord, and all we can do is recognize His status and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.

The Great Commission has been given to all believers (Matt 28:19)

Explanation: Based on His authority as Lord, Jesus commands His followers to go into the lost world and make disciples. To teach them and to assimilate them into the Kingdom. The main force in the sentence structure is the making of disciples. As we go, we are to make disciples. This is dependent upon us actually going into the lost world with an intentional purpose to proclaim Christ as King and the need for the lost world to acknowledge Him as such.

Argument: Jesus gave His followers a mandate, not a suggestion. We refer to it as the Great Commission, but what it has become in the modern church is the Great Omission. Many of us simply omit it - we leave it out. And, if our understanding of biblical Christianity is based on the faulty model of easy believism, the idea persists that the “regular” Christians just leaves the discipleship stuff to the “super” or “mature” Christians. The reality is that the Great Commission has been issued to all genuine believers, and we are all responsible for how we carry it out in our generation.

What does it mean for us to carry out the Great Commission?

Explanation: The mandate Jesus issued was for us to make disciples as we regularly go into a lost and dying world. The commission carries an inherit sense of being intentional as opposed to just random living until we die or until Jesus returns. He told us to assimilate these new disciples into the life of the Church through the means of the Trinitarian Godhead and to do this through transmitting His teachings to this next generation.

Challenge: That is quite a sentence! Let’s unpack it and look at the Commission in smaller segments. The first challenge is to define what is meant by disciple.

We can go to a car lot and view cars / trucks that are available for purchase. We can evaluate a given brand (Ford, GM, Honda or Tesla) by their product. A given factory has successfully manufactured vehicles.

A local church is NOT a business. The Church is a living organism composed of regenerated believers. We are not in existence to “make a profit.” But we are called to make disciples. Question: How do we evaluate success?

We begin with proclaiming the whole counsel of God to the world. We CAN and should present the reality of what it means to be a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). Like Boenhoeffer before us, we must tell lost sinners that when Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die (cf Gal. 2:20; Mark 9:34)

With this foundation, a disciple is a Christian who is actively following Christ. He or she understands that Christ is transforming his or her entire life. When the Holy Spirit regenerates us and comes to dwell within us everything changes. The Spirit of the Risen Christ alters our viewing habits, our language, the way we think, the places we go, and the people who are our closest friends. A disciple understands (not perfectly - but with a growing sense as time goes by) that the Risen Christ IS King and as a subject, the disciple is to obey and follow the King.

Application: So, let us attempt to answer the question: Are we at Smyrna Baptist Church making disciples? Are we challenging believers with the expectations of Jesus? [NOTE: ensure that the expectations are those of Christ - not our own!] Are we equipping and preparing believers to take the next step

Conclusion: We have been given the privilege of taking light into the darkness. We are to remember, however, that those in darkness have been blinded by Satan and it is only the supernatural light of the biblical Gospel that they have hope (2 Cor. 4:1-6). That is why we are to share the whole Gospel and to challenge unbelievers to count the cost of surrendering their lives to Christ.

Consider the possibilities if we who are already IN Christ become more intentional in carrying out the Great Commission. May the Spirit of God give us the burden to accept our assignment from King Jesus!

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