Stay on mission
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Some years ago the London Transit Authority was receiving a lot of complaints because their buses were driving past customers who were standing at the bus stops. The Transit Authority put an explanation in the paper that has become infamous with public relations departments. The explanation said,
“It is impossible for us to maintain our schedule if we are always having to stop and pick up passengers.”
(Repeat the quote)
Huh? What is their main mission???? Why do they exist? Do they exist merely to drive their route? Or to transport passengers? They have CLEARLY lost sight of their mission!
Likewise….I wonder sometimes if we have lost sight of our mission, as a church
Read
Are we “On Mission”? What is the mission of the church?
In today’s text, we see that Paul has the mission of the Gospel FIRST and foremost in his mind. The message of forgiveness through Jesus being proclaimed to all comes before anything else –and it’s WHY he does what he does.
When we read this…we see a couple of things happen:
· Paul circumcised Timothy…..
o The obvious question is WHY would he do that?
o There’s a reason…and we’ll get to that.
· They then go and encourage the believers in the churches that they had planted.
o Why? Again….there’s a reason, and we’ll get to that.
· BOTH of these things were done for the same reason.
I. The mission of the church is to make disciples
I. The mission of the church is to make disciples
I. The mission of the church is to make disciples
a.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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.”
b. Ultimately, God is glorified when a sinner repents and turns to God
i.
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
ii. The message of the Gospel is that in Christ alone, we are saved
1. Only through him dying on the cross can we be forgiven….
2. ONLY THROUGH trusting in the sacrifice he made, are we made righteous before God…..
3. But what seems to happen is that we tend to be about everything BUT the Gospel.
4. Far too often…we concentrate on EVERYTHING else….
a. Examples:
i. Politics
ii. Social activities
iii. Social justice
b. But we need to realize that it’s the Gospel – not the things of the WORLD that we are called to.
c. We can worry about everything BUT the mission….
i. And we tend to forget about the main REASON of why Jesus left us here: to go and make disciples.
1. Yes---fellowship is fun
2. We are supposed to get along, and love each other
3. We SHOULD be a family
4. We SHOULD care for the needy, the poor, the hungry
5. But WHY do we do those things?
6. It’s to accomplish the mission.
a. Those are all MEANS to the end
b. By doing those things, we accomplish the mission of the taking the Gospel to the world
c. So here with Paul and Timothy…..we see that God is in charge of the mission
i. He will build his church
d. Remember what happened last chapter?
i. Paul and Barnabas had a bit of a falling out
ii. Barnabas took John Mark and went one way, Paul and Silas went another way
e. But God had a plan in all of this
i. I mentioned last week…..that instead of causing a split, and hurting the message of Christ…
1. There were now two teams doing ministry
2. TWO teams of people preaching the Gospel in the region.
ii. Paul went to Derbe and Lystra
1. He encounters Timothy….
a. Son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, Greek father
b. “was a Greek” – may indicate that he was dead, mom a single mother
c. He is “well-spoken of” by the brothers – the church
d. So, Timothy is a young man…probably late teens, early 20’s. He has a good reputation among the church
e. Paul recruited him for the journey
i. He circumcised Timothy – and THAT causes us to raise an eyebrow……
1. Wait a second….why would Paul DO THAT?
2. That seems kind of CURIOUS, doesn’t it?
3. WHY would he do that?
a. Remember where Paul and Barnabas had just gone last chapter?
b. There was a big argument about whether or not Christians first had to be Jews
i. The apostles in Jerusalem said “NO”……they don’t
ii. No—Christians do not have to be Jewish and follow the Jewish Law to be saved.
iii. We don’t have to keep the Law… BECAUSE…..
iv. The ONLY thing necessary for salvation is faith in Christ
c. That was something that a group known as the Judaizers taught
i. And we’re not saved by faith PLUS doing good works
ii. We’re saved by faith alone
iii.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
4. The decision AGAINST that idea was made, and they were given a letter to the churches, saying:
a. Don’t eat meat came from animals that had been sacrificed to idols – other false gods
b. Don’t engage in sexual immorality
c. Don’t eat meat from strangled animals
i. (the blood hadn’t been drained)
ii. Don’t eat the blood
d. So..we ask: Why? Why would Paul circumcise Timothy?
e. Answer:
i. Because of the Jews there
ii. “The Gospel is offensive enough” (explain)
iii.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
iv. It takes humility to admit you need Christ
v. Adding to it is not necessary
iii. They went through the different cities where they had gone before
1. They delivered the decision that had been reached by the apostles and elders
a. The overall message was…..don’t add to the Gospel – don’t require more than faith alone to be saved
i. And don’t intentionally do something that was offensive to a non-Christian
b. Many of these churches had a mixture of Jews and Gentiles
i. Everyone know Paul was Jewish – no issue there
ii. People knew that Timothy’s father was a Greek
1. In the first century, Jews and Gentiles simply did not mix
2. A good Jew would not be around Gentiles
3. So...Paul decided to circumcise Timothy
a. And WOW! Talk about becoming all things to all people!
b. Let’s be honest, men…..that’s going to an extreme for the Gospel of Christ
i. Timothy was a grown man
ii. He wasn’t a baby having this done
iii. There was no anesthesia
iv. Timothy had a rather painful procedure done in order to be able to effectively reach out to non-Christians with the Gospel
c. There are a couple of lessons to be learned here, folks:
II. Be all things to all people
II. Be all things to all people
II. Be all things to all people
a. The apostle Paul believed that so much, that he was willing to do whatever it took
a. The apostle Paul believed that so much, that he was willing to do whatever it took
i. – 3 slides
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
b. Timothy realized this. He was willing to “be all things to all people”
c. Now….we can take this too far…..
i. Some things are ALWAYS GOING TO BE WRONG
1. Scripture CLEARLY defines some behavior as wrong.
2. It’s ALWAYS going to be wrong to do those things
ii. But other things are not necessarily sinful…but they can cause division.
1. Suppose we’re talking about……how we do church
2. Maybe one person likes contemporary music ONLY
a. Do we change music styles for HIM ALONE?
3. Maybe one person ONLY likes hymns
a. Do we change music styles for HER ALONE
4. How about……the Bible translation we use?
a. When I was in school I preached in a number of different churches as a fill-in pastor. (elaborate – just starting out—drove an hour….barely got enough gas money to cover my drive)
b. In one particular church, the preferred translation was the King James Version.
i. It was actually what would be referred to as a “KJV-ONLY” church.
ii. I’m not a huge fan of the KJV……but it’s not a BAD translation
iii. But I used it in that church….because that’s what they liked.
iv. Me taking a stance on that particular issue would get in the way of the bigger picture.
v. If me preaching from another translation was going to cause people to not listen to me preaching the Gospel….I was making that issue to be bigger than Jesus.
c. I was not going to let the choice of translation get in the way
iii. Maybe it’s not about the church service…but instead about something else
1. There are some things that simply are not beneficial to spreading the Gospel
a. How about the topic of alcohol?
b. The world seems to get this one……
i. I have a close family member that is an alcoholic…..
ii. Drinking around him CAN cause some issues for him
iii. We all realize that it’s simply smart to NOT drink in front of an alcoholic….right?
c. Now….does a Christian have freedom to drink? Yes.
d. BUT! But I must issue a word of caution here…..
i.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
ii. Abusing it is NEVER excused.
iii. Please don’t use your Christian freedom as an excuse to abuse it.
iv. And……if your drinking causes a problem for your Christian brother….maybe you ought not to be doing it
iv. Where am I going with this?
1. If you’re going to INSIST on exercising your freedom to the point that it offends someone else?
a. You’ve now placed yourself above the Gospel.
2. If that freedom is alcohol and it prevents someone from listening to the Gospel?
a. You’re saying your drink is more important than the Gospel.
3. If that freedom is a certain translation of the Bible?
a. You’re saying that it’s more important than the Gospel.
4. How about THIS ONE?
a. Picture of a cow?
b. In India…cows are considered sacred.
i. (elaborate – Betty never ate beef)
c. Now..I love me a bacon double cheeseburger.
d. But…..would I go to India and INSIST that I should eat beef?
i. And the sight of me eating beef caused my testimony of Christ to be compromised?
1. If so…..I’ve sinned – I’ve now placed BEEF in a spot more important to me than seeing my Indian friend saved.
d. Paul knew that it was important to establish a relationship with people in order to preach the Gospel
i. It was common knowledge to people that Timothy was of Greek heritage…which meant that as a Gentile, he was not circumcised…..
ii. He knew that if the fact that Timothy was uncircumcised was going to hurt his message…..he’d better remove that roadblock
iii. And Paul knew that in order for people to receive Christ…they had to hear him
1. -- We are saved by hearing the Gospel only
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
a. He knew he had to first earn the privilege to speak to them first
b. If your audience won’t even give you the TIME OF DAY…..then you need to do something to correct that.
2. -- Jesus ONLY saves
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
III. Disciple making involves getting personally involved
III. Disciple making involves getting personally involved
III. Disciple making involves getting personally involved
a. Paul understood this
a. Paul understood this
i. Besides going on these journeys to preach the Gospel….he became personally involved
ii. Here, we see him taking a young man under his wing
1. Timothy was mentioned in 6 of Paul’s epistles
2. He referred to Timothy as his “Spiritual son” –
To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
a. They were THAT close
3. He called him a “fellow worker” --
Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
iii. Timothy was eventually placed in charge of the church in Ephesus
1. Paul truly poured his life into Timothy
a. They both benefited from the relationship they had with each other
b. The church benefited from this relationship.
c. Read 16:4-5
2. The churches were strengthened in the faith
3. They increased in numbers daily
a. As a result of relationships like this one
b. You may be sitting here thinking…..
i. “I’ll never be a missionary to india”
ii. “I’ll never go into vocational ministry..”
iii. But as the sign above our front door says….
1. When you leave here, you are entering your mission field.
2. How will God use you?
iv. Let me ask you …have you considered how you would benefit from being involved in the lives of others?
1. If you’re an older person….how would you benefit from becoming involved in the life of a younger person?
a. Scripture says older women should mentor younger women
b. Older men should mentor younger men
2. If you’re a younger person….how would you benefit from becoming involved in an older person’s life?
3. But it’s not JUST the formal relationship with a fellow member….
i. Ever heard of the 80/20 rule: It states that 80% of the work in a church is often done by 20% of the people
ii. I’m thinking that we’re probably a normal church in that regard…..
iii. The fact of the matter is….we’ve got lots of places to serve…..
1. If you’d like to make a difference for Jesus RIGHT here…there’s things we can use you for.
iv. There are ways to get involved…..
c. How else did Paul “get involved”?
i. By visiting the churches.
ii. Paul wrote almost half of the NT…..but he did more than just sit and write letters.
1. See what they did in vv 4-5?
2. He and Timothy went church hopping.
3. They traveled around and encouraged the churches – by encouraging the apostles and elders to keep up what they were doing.
d. How can you be an encouragement to other Christians?
i. What can you say, or what can you do to encourage a Christian brother or sister?
ii. Too often we get caught up in our own lives…we don’t stop to realize that the person next to us might be struggling
iii. That person might need a helping hand
iv. That person MIGHT need something to encourage them in their faith
v. When you see someone struggling, give them a hug, or pray with them
vi. Look for ways that God might use you to help them
Let’s recap:
Let’s recap:
I. The mission of the church is to make disciples
II. We should be willing to be all things to all people
III. Sometimes making disciples involves getting involved personally
What is God leading you to do RIGHT NOW?
What can YOU do to advance the Gospel of Christ?
Is there anything in your life that is holding back your witness for Jesus?
Is there anything in your life that gets in the way?
When we walk out of here today, we should be asking ourselves how God will use us to reach others. What can we do to have a very real impact in the world today?
May we live Great Commission lives to reach the world for Jesus
May we live Great Commission lives to reach the world for Jesus
May we live Great Commission lives to reach the world for Jesus