The Ordinances: The Gospel Pictured

For the past two weeks, we have been learning about what or who is the church. Pastor Shaan has labored in teaching us through a definition of the church given by Collin Hanson and Jonathan Leeman in their book Rediscover Church.

That definition goes like this: A church is a group of Christians —> Who assemble as an earthly embassy of Christ’s heavenly kingdom —> to proclaim the good news and commands of Christ the King —> to affirm one another as his citizens through the ordinances —> and to display God’s own holiness and love —> through a unified and diverse people —> in all the world —> following the teaching and example of the elders.

What is Our Purpose and Mission

I want to streamline some of those statements for us to sharpen our focus on the topic today. We Christians assemble to proclaim the good news of Christ the King and display God’s holiness and love.

This is our purpose. This is our why - to proclaim and display, to exalt and magnify, to declare and to glorify Christ our King.

All creation exists, every mountain, every molehill, every molecule, every man, woman, and child, and especially and most triumphantly, every congregation of the blood-bought redeemed exists to worship God.

As Paul declared in Col 1:16 “16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.” And again, Romans 11:36 “from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” We have been made as a church for Him - for His pleasure and for His glory. We exist and we gather together for Him - to worship Him.

Proclaim To Whom?

But to whom do we proclaim? To whom do we declare the gospel and display the glories of the God of the gospel? The answer is our focus today and the answer is this: all the world.

To use a familiar term, that is our mission. Our purpose as the church is to worship God. And our mission as the church is to evangelize, baptize, disciple, and plant and grow churches among all the peoples of the earth so that all the peoples of the earth may worship God.

Main Point and Structure

So if this is our mission, what is our motivation? And the answer won’t surprise you, it is worship.

John Piper, in his book, Let the Nations Be Glad, said it much better than I, “worship is the fuel and the goal of missions. Worship is the goal of missions because in missions we aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory. It is the fuel of missions because we can’t commend what we don’t cherish. We can’t call out, “Let the nations be glad!” until we say, “I rejoice in the Lord.” Missions begins and ends in worship.”

And this is my aim today, to show you that the mission of the church and the primary and most foundational motivation for that mission is one and the same: it is worship.

The mission of the church and the motivation for that mission is worship.

I want to try to show you this by taking a 20,000 foot view of what the Bible says about Missions, looking from Genesis to Revelation. And this trip through the Bible that we will take has two parts: Mission Failed and Mission Accomplished.

Transition

So then we will begin this journey through the Bible in Genesis and work our way from there. I will entitle this section, Mission Failure.

Mission Failed

Fill the Earth With Worshipers - Creation

At the beginning of our Bibles, we read that God created the world in 6 days by the power of His word. On days 1-3, God formed the universe by creating light and darkness on day 1, the sky and the sea on day 2, and the dry land on day 3. On days 4-6, God filled the universe he made with the sun, moon, and stars on day 4, the birds in the sky and creatures in the sea on day 5, and the beasts of the earth culminating in the creation of man and woman who are to subdue the earth on day 6.

As theologian Jim Hamilton comments, “In days 1-3 God forms the canvas of creation and in days 4-6 God fills that canvas with His creatures. He built the world as a cosmic temple which is later represented by the tabernacle and the temple God gives to Israel. And in this cosmic temple, God puts the image of His own likeness, the living, breathing, worshipping, human being. And that being, mankind represents God’s power and authority and reign in God’s cosmic temple.”

And we see this role of representing or imaging forth God in the very first command that God gives to man. Genesis 1:28 “28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28 NASB95

28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

See that He commands the first man and woman to fill the earth by being fruitful and multiplying and to subdue it - or give it form.

Man and woman were made to fill and form the creation just as the Creator filled and formed the creation.

From the very beginning, we were made to be mirrors, to reflect the nature and character of our Maker. And thus bringing Him glory.

And one of the reasons God created the institution of marriage was to make more mirrors, to multiply His image-bearers. And He makes this command to fill the earth so that every corner of creation will be filled by His image-bearers who represent His character and bring Him praise and glory.

It is from this first chapter in our Bibles that we see two things. First, God created mankind for worship - to magnify Him by bearing forth His image. And secondly, God gave mankind the mission of filling the world with worshippers. This is mission is as old as creation itself.

Filled with Violence – The Fall

But as we know, Adam and Eve failed. They sinned by eating the forbidden fruit and were cast out of God’s presence in the garden. Instead of mirroring God’s character and nature, they desired to rule and reign over their own lives. And instead of filling the earth with worshippers of God, they filled the world with sinners who did not worship God but instead, worshipped idols, the chief among them being the pridful idol of the self.

In the days of Noah, Moses the author of Genesis records that God, Genesis 6:5, 11, “5 saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence”

Genesis 6:5 NASB95

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 6:11 NASB95

11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

Every intent of the thoughts of man’s heart was not to worship but to do evil continually. Instead of the image of God being multiplied and the worship of God filling the earth, the image of God was being murdered left and right and man’s wickedness and violence filled the earth.

And so, God judged the earth by destroying it with the flood.

But His mission did not end then. He spared Noah and his family on the ark and after God caused the flood to subside and brought the ark to rest, we see in Genesis 9:1 that God gives the same blessing and command he gave Adam, “1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

Failure to Fill The Earth - Babel

But just two chapters later in the book of Genesis, we see that instead of filling the earth, all the peoples of the earth settled in one spot. And they decided to build a tower there up to heaven. Listen to what they said, Genesis 11:4 ““Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Genesis 11:4 NASB95

4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Notice that they expressly rebel against God’s command to fill the earth. Instead, they want to build a tower to heaven and make a name for themselves thus demonstrate their independence from God and their power to rule over themselves. They bought into the same satanic lie that was whispered into the ear of Eve, that they could be like God and sovereignly reign over their own lives.

But God was not to be defeated by such a dumb plan. Listen as I read Genesis 11:5, “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” God had to come down to see that “huge” tower they were building to reach heaven. The irony of the original Hebrew is very much preserved here.

Genesis 11:5 NASB95

5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

And when God came down from His throne that is high and lifted up, He accomplished His will and thwarted their plans by doing one simple thing, confusing their speech by introducing languages. This introduction caused mankind to halt their building project and spread over the face of the earth, establishing the world’s tribes and nations with their separate languages.

However, even though mankind was dispersed in the world, they were still utterly depraved in their hearts.

Blessing to All The Earth – Abraham

And so, God continued His plan of redeeming His worshippers for Himself by calling a man out of all the peoples of the earth by the name of Abraham.

He commanded Abraham to take his wife and leave his father’s family and journey to a land that God would show him. And then God promised to make Abraham’s name great, that he would be blessed, that he would be made into a great nation, and that in Him all the families of the earth would be blessed as well.

Genesis 12:3 NASB95

3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

You see, all of those rebellious families in all of those rebellious nations with all of those new languages that were just scattered throughout the earth would one day be blessed through Abraham and His offspring.

Eventually, Abraham’s family grew from 2 people to 3 and from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 18, and from 18 to 70 people in the family of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. Those 70 individuals in that now large family traveled down to Egypt during a famine that Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham, saved them and all the surrounding nations from. Hmmm.

Moses writes in Exodus 1:7 that It was in Egypt, that “the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty so that the land was filled with them.”

Exodus 1:7 NASB95

7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

They were fruitful, they multiplied, and they filled the land of Egypt. But instead of subduing that land, they were subdued into slavery.

They filled Egypt so much so that the ruler of that land, the most powerful ruler the world had ever known, Pharoah himself feared this nation of Israel and enslaved them.

Delivered to Be a Kingdom of Priests – Israel’s Mission

And so, God raised up another man, Moses, who would lead the nation of Israel, all 600,000 men plus women and children out of their slavery to Egypt. And this was done after God systematically dismantled the idols and the ruler of Egypt with 10 separate plagues from heaven.

After leading His delivered people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and up to the base of Mount Sinai, God covenants with His people and declares to them that Exodus 19:5-6 “if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

Exodus 19:5–6 NASB95

5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

They were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God delivered them out of Egypt so that they would become an entire kingdom made up of priests, who would mediate between Him and the world which He made.

Israel was not to be like a coul de sac where God’s blessings would just reign down exclusively on them. Now, their land - the Promised Land - was sovereignly set right in the middle of the most trafficked trade highway in the ancient world. And so instead of a coul de sac, Israel was meant to be a boulevard so that the families of the earth would be blessed through them.

The Psalmists Exhortation

And we can see that this priestly function of God’s people fills the book of Psalms. In far too many of the psalms to read today, the psalmists exhort God’s people and the nations themselves to worship Him by declaring His glory and His majesty and His dominion. Let me highlight a few.

David called Israel in Psalm 9:11, to “11 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds.”

Psalm 9:11 NASB95

11 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion; Declare among the peoples His deeds.

The Psalmists exhorted the nations in Psalm 47:1-2 “1 O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. 2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.”

Psalm 47:1–2 NASB95

1 O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. 2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.

And in Psalm 96 God’s people are called to Psalm 96:3-5, 7, 10 “3 Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens…for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness…7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength...10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.”

Psalm 96:3–5 NASB95

3 Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.

Psalm 96:7 NASB95

7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Psalm 96:10 NASB95

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.”

Attract the Nations with Wisdom

Israel was also to carry out this priestly function by being a Holy nation. They were set apart to live holy lives that demonstrated their complete and undivided devotion and love to their Holy God. And they were to do so by obeying the law of Moses.

Moses writes in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 that if they obeyed their God and lived in holiness, the peoples of the earth would see their obedience and glorify God for their wisdom and understanding.

We see this very thing happen during the rule of Solomon the son of David. It was during his reign that Israel’s borders expanded to their largest size. It was during his reign that he built the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

And in the book of 1 Kings, you can read of how Solomon was blessed with the gift of wisdom from God. His wisdom was so renowned that, 1 Kings 4:34, “34 Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.” And this included the queen of Sheba who was the most distinguished of all of Solomon’s visitors.

In 1 Kings 10 we see that this queen came from more than 1,200 miles away because she, “heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions.”

She had to verify Solomon’s reputation for wisdom and devotion to God by inquiring of him. And his answers left her breathless, amazed, and filled with worship for God. As she declared in 1 Kings 10:9 “9 “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

1 Kings 10:9 NASB95

9 “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

The nations were coming to Israel to behold the wisdom of Israel’s King and their lungs were void of breath, their minds were filled with awe, and from their mouths sprung forth praise.

Failure to Worship - Idolatry and Exile

And then everything went south.

As you know Solomon was led into sin and idolatry by his hundreds of wives and concubines. And with each successive king after Solomon, the kings and the people fell further and further into idol worship.

Instead of ascribing glory and honor to God and praising Him for His blessings, they ascribed glory and honor to the idols of the nations around them, thanking and praying to them for blessing and favor. In the eyes of God this was tantamount to the sin of adultery. And what we see at the end of kingdom of Israel is that God’s land and God’s people were filled with wickedness, evil, and idol worship as in the days of Noah.

Because they devoted themselves to the gods of the nations God gave them over to be scattered and conquered by the nations whose gods they worshipped. Thus they were exiled and dispersed out of the promised land and sent back to the land of Babel as captives once again.

You see, Israel was to attract the nations to God by their obedience, and they failed in this mission to the nations because they became just like them in their disobedience. So then, their sin prevented them from fulfilling their purpose to worship God and their mission to spread His worship to all the world.

The Hope of the Prophets

And yet despite all of this failure, despite all of this sin, the prophets and psalmists spoke of a day in which Israel’s mission of bringing blessing to all the world would be accomplished. And it would be accomplished in and through the Messiah.

The Prophet Isaiah wrote that in the kingdom of the Messiah, Isaiah 11:9 “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.”

Isaiah 11:9 NASB95

9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.

And later in the book of Isaiah, in chapter 59, the prophet records that for YHWH, the salvation of Israel through the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, would not be enough, “6 YHWH says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)”

Isaiah 49:6 NASB95

6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters of the sea because the salvation of the Suffering Servant of the Messiah would extend from the tribes of Jacob to all the ends of the earth.

In the famous Messianic Psalm, Psalm 2, the Lord declares that the Messiah, His Son, the King shall receive the nations as His birthright, Psalm 2:8 “8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”

Psalm 2:8 NASB95

8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

In another famous Messianic Psalm 22, which envisions the execution of the Messiah, David prophesied a future victory of the executed and resurrected Messiah where He declares the glory and praise of the Father who heard His plea for salvation. And this message of praise for God’s salvation will spread to all the world causing the nations to repent and worship, Psalm 22:27, “27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.”

Psalm 22:27 NASB95

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.

Application: Flee Idolatry

So then, where Adam and Israel failed, the Messiah will succeed. But before we move on to look at the success of the Savior, I want us to draw one important application from this mission failure we just looked at and it is this: Flee idolatry.

There is no greater deterrent to the fulfillment of and passion for missions than idolatry. Just look at Solomon. One moment He’s building God a Temple and attracting the nations of the earth to come worship and see the goodness and glory of God. And then, with the flip of a page, he’s plunged his life and the kingdom and the mission into ruin because of idolatry.

The most famous quote from Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be Glad is that, “missions exist because worship doesn’t.” And one way to look at that, is that the mission making disciples of all the nations has not been completed is because our worship of God is distracted by our worship of the modern day idols of success, pleasure, and ease.

Let’s face it, we live in the land of distraction and the home of the depraved. In this country Vanity Fair is not just a stop on the road of our pilgrim’s progress. It’s where we live. It’s our home town. Everywhere we look we are tempted with distractions of a plethora of evils as well as good things that can become little gods in of themselves.

With that being the case, dear church, flee idolatry. Our purpose is to worship the one true God. Our mission is to spread this worship to every corner of the earth. And our primary motivation for this mission is our worship of the one true God and Him alone. Keep yourselves from idols. As the Apostle John wrote in his epistle, 1 John 5:21 “21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

1 John 5:21 NASB95

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Mission Accomplished

Setting the Scene - Revelation 4

After starting our sermon today at the beginning of the Bible, let’s now look to the end of our Bibles. Turn with me to Revelation 5.

It is in this part of the book, that the writer of Revelation, the Apostle John, is given a vision of the throne room of heaven.

John witnesses the angelic hosts singing praises to God who sits on His throne singing day and night without end, Revelation 4:8, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

Revelation 4:8 NASB95

8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

This song would cause the 24 elders to respond with a song of their own, Revelation 4:11“11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:11 NASB95

11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

See here that there is no failure in the created hosts of heaven in fulfilling their purpose of worshiping their creator and they do so continually. And this should inform the prayer, “your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

Worthy is the Lamb - Revelation 5

In Revelation 5, John sees that God is holding a scroll in His right hand. This scroll is nothing more than the title deed to all the world, which when opened will bring about the conclusion of all of history.

John weeps because for a time no one is found worthy enough to take the scroll and open its seals.

That is, until verse 5, read with me. Revelation 5:5-6, “5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” 6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”

Revelation 5:5–6 NASB95

5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” 6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

When Jesus, the Lion of Judah, and the Lamb of God takes that scroll, the heavenly host, for the first time in all of time, began to sing a new song

Look down to verse 8, Revelation 5:8-10 “8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

Revelation 5:8–10 NASB95

8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

Look back to verse 9 and highlight the reason why Jesus declared to be worthy to take the scroll from the Father.

He is worthy because He was slain to ransom and redeem a people for God with Hs blood, a people that includes you if you believe in Christ today. Christ accomplished the mission. He purchased a people for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. This is to say that the redeemed of God encompasses people from all the ends of the earth. Just as God promised to Abraham a people from all the nations of the earth receive the blessing of salvation in Christ Jesus.

His blood purchased our freedom from our slavery to sin. He ransomed us, as the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:18-19 “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

1 Peter 1:18–19 NASB95

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

This is what we have been learning in Romans for the past year now, the penalty of death and the wrath of God for our sin was paid by Christ’s death so that we who believe in Him are justified – declared righteous by God.

Listen as I read Romans 5:8-10, “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Romans 5:8–10 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

His bride, the church, made up of men and women from every tribe and tongue and people and nation have been ransomed by His blood, have been set free by His blood, have been justified by His blood, have been saved from wrath and reconciled with God through His death and saved by His life. So that Romans 8:1 “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:1 NASB95

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

As John, the Baptist declared when he beheld Jesus coming down to the shores of the river Jordan, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29 NASB95

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

So then, just the prophets and the psalmists predicted, Christ Jesus the Messiah succeeded where Adam and Israel failed. He is worthy for He is the slain lamb who ransomed a people for God’s own possession from all the earth thus filling the earth with the knowledge and the glory of God as the waters fill the sea. He has accomplished the mission

Kingdom of Priests

And yet, even though the redemption of God’s people was accomplished at the cross, this redemption has yet to be applied to all of God’s people. And this is a wonderful mystery. God has chosen to use His church to participate in this plan of redemption of men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation through missions.

I want you to look back at verse 10 of Revelation 5 with me again, I’ll start reading in verse 9, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” verse 10 “10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

Christ purchased us for God and made us to be a kingdom and priests to God. This was the calling of Israel. They were to be a royal priesthood to the nations around them, drawing the peoples in so that they might behold the wisdom of God and worship Him. And as we saw, they failed to do so.

But here we see that Christ has succeeded and at the same time, He has made us priests.

And yet there is a distinction to be made between our role as the Priesthood of Christ and Israel. Israel dwelled in a land, with the worship of God centralized in the Temple at Jerusalem. The practical outworking of their priesthood was that of come and see. Israel was to attract the nations to them, as Solomon did with the Queen of Sheba.

On the other hand, with the church, the worship of God is not centralized to one place in the world, but instead, He has made us the Temple and the Holy Spirit indwells each of us saints. And surely, there is a come-and-see element to our mission to the world. As Christ instructed us in Matthew 5:16, “16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Priests who Proclaim

And yet our chief function as the Priesthood of Believers is to proclaim a message. In 1 Peter 2:9 The Apostle Peter teaches this truth, “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

1 Peter 2:9 NASB95

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Here we see that our role as the royal priesthood of believers is to proclaim the excellencies of Christ. We proclaim Him. We exalt His excellency. We magnify His mercy. We proclaim His power to save us out of the darkness of our deadness in sin into the life of His marvelous light.

And we do so that our hearers may hear our testimony, may hear the gospel of God which is the power of salvation, and be saved. As Paul says in Romans 10:17, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” And we proclaim Christ so that those whom Christ was slain for, whom He ransomed, might confess with their mouth that He is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead.

Romans 10:17 NASB95

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Our Motivation

This is our mission as the royal priesthood of believers. And our motivation, according to the text we read from Peter is worship. Peter uses the word excellencies which carries the idea of merit, of praiseworthiness. He is worthy for He has called us out of darkness and into the light. As He did when He stood before the tomb of his friend crying Lazarus come out. The Good Shepherd Called us to Himself.

As the heavenly hosts proclaimed in revelation 5, He who was slain is worthy to be praised because He was slain on our behalf. He accomplished our redemption, because He reconciled us to God, and because He made us once dead sinners into a kingdom and priests who will rule with Him. His worthiness to be praised should move our hearts and our mouths to do just that - to praise Him.

Dear Saints, have you tasted and seen that God is good? Then let that tasting and seeing of the excellencies of Christ move you to invite men and women, old and young, near and far to come and taste and see how worthy and excellent is the Lamb, our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our first and most foundational motivation for missions is worship.

Commissioned by Christ

Not only do we have the privilege of proclaiming the excellencies of Christ, but we have also been commanded by Christ to go to all the nations.

Turn with me, briefly in your Bibles to Matthew 28 and read with me starting in verse 18. Matthew 28:18-20, “18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The first thing that we must see is that Jesus bookends his command in verses 19 and 20 with two statements about Himself. He declares in verse 18 that all authority has been given to Him. He is our King. He is our Lord. He is our Master and His instruction in verses 19 and 20 is a binding command.

Then at the end of verse 20, He promises that He is always with His disciples so that no matter where they go following His command, or what befalls them, He is there with them. And this promise doesn’t just last until the end of their lives. This command applies to all of Christ’s disciples, to you and me today, and to all who come after until the end of the age.

And these two realities of Christ’s supreme authority and His shepherding presence act us the grounds for his command, “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.”

The second thing I want us to see is that this command to go to all the nations and make disciples is inextricably linked to the command given to Adam at Creation to be fruitful and multiple and fill the earth. Adam was to fill the earth with God’s image-bearers so that the worship and the glory of the God whose image they bore would spread throughout the earth. At its most fundamental level, discipleship is teaching new believers, new creations in Christ, how to follow Christ so that they are conformed more and more into the image of Christ.

Discipleship is guiding believers to grow into conformity with the image of Christ.

And here in Matthew, Christ instructs His disciples to go to all the earth and make disciples who will in turn make more disciples. The command is essentially to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth with disciples – with image-bearers of Christ.

And like a stone thrown into a body of water causing the spread of ripples and waves to radiate outward, this process of making disciples must start within our own homes, with our children and families. And then eventually radiate outward to our neighbors, our friends, our classmates, our workplaces, our city, our nation, our region, and the most remote parts of the earth.

So then, our obedience to Christ’s command in the great commission leads to the accomplishment of our mission which is the worship of all the nations of the earth.

Our church’s statement on missions reflects this truth, “In obedience to God, we strive to be used in His plan of redemption through the efforts of biblical missions. Biblical missions is an endeavor to glorify and obey the one true God by evangelizing, baptizing, making disciples, establishing churches, and maturing those churches by preaching, teaching, strengthening believers, and assisting communities of believers to become biblically conformed churches by the guidance and power of God, so that all peoples may worship Him.”

Worship is the end goal of our obedience to God in the great Commission. In obedience to God, we strive to be used in His plan of redemption through the efforts of biblical missions so that all peoples may worship Him.

Conclusion

So then, The mission of the church and the motivation for that mission is worship.

Worship should drive all that we do in missions at Heritage.

Application: Worship should prompt and guide our prayers and plans for our missionaries.

I asked Connie Kelly to make these bookmarks for your Bibles with brief summaries of our missionaries and outreaches so that we can pray for them together throughout our week, that God would work through them to bring about the loving of God above all else that is lovely.

We should also lift up our sister Haely Katt in North Africa, that Christ use her and her team to boldly proclaim His excellencies in North Africa, so that the people there would love value God above all else that is valuable.

We should pray for our sister in Christ, Jordan, who has been visiting us with Nick and Claire Hunt. She is going on a mission to Uzbekistan in less than 2 weeks. Pray that God would grant the gift of faith to those whom she unashamedly preaches the gospel to so that they would savor God above all that is sweet.

And pray for wisdom and effectiveness for our Missions Counsel who evaluate and plan where our support for missions and outreach goes.

Application: Worship should be the source of our support for those we send

God has called some of the saints to be sent out and most of the saints to send and support. And so for most if not all of us here, as you give, give unto the Lord from a heart of worship. We are familiar with the text that God loves a cheerful giver. That cheer, that joy is one that flows from a heart of worship. As you orientate your heart toward God, prizing Him above all that is precious in this world, your cheer, your joy in giving toward His mission will increase.

Let the same be true for the earning of that which you give as well. Work and budget and financial plan with the mission of God in mind, with the worship of God among all the peoples in mind.

Application: Worship should be the origin of the desire to go out into the mission field.

The last application I have is this: pray that God would raise up missionaries within this very church who have a burning passion to plant a worshipping community of Christians in a place that has no access to the gospel. Pray that the longing for the completion of the mission would fill our hearts so much so that if God does call an individual or a family to go, we would be able to sufficiently send and support them.

May our hearts be ever gripped by the glory of God so that we worship Him and Him alone. And may that produce a desire for the gospel of God to be proclaimed among the globe, so that the glory and the knowledge of God would fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. And may God use us mightily to accomplish this mission through our sending of missionaries and Lord willing even our going of some of you to all the ends of the earth.

Let’s Pray for that right now.

Prayer

Benediction

The mission of the church and the motivation for that mission is worship.

Worship should prompt and guide our prayers and plans for our missionaries. It should be the source of our support for those we send. And it should be the origin of the desire to go out into the mission field.

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