Jesus on Mission
Selected Scriptures
August 4, 2013
This morning we are not yet getting back into our study of the Holy Spirit.
Instead we are going to spend today in a time of thanking God
And honoring Him for all that He has done over the last couple of weeks.
For the past two weeks our church was on mission in Zimbabwe.
Ten actually traveled to Zim, but the entire church was on mission.
Everyone on our team was easily aware that you were praying for us.
I promised the team (who will be sharing return testimonies tonight) that I wouldn’t steal any of their thunder, so let me just say that we had some times where we definitely needed God to intervene, and He did, and we know that your prayers played a special part in that.
SO WE WERE ALL ON MISSION.
And instead of getting right back to the study on the Holy Spirit,
I just wanted to sort of savor that reality a little longer.
And this morning I want us to put our minds back on missions,
And the reality that it is all of our job, every day of the week.
During this trip we had a lot of ministry that kept us occupied until late at night
So we weren’t able to meet and fellowship at night as much as in previous trips.
But on three nights we were able to meet as a group
For times of devotion and worship.
AND DURING THOSE TIMES WE BEGAN TO STUDY WHY JESUS CAME.
We had come to Zimbabwe and were seeking what to do.
It only seemed logical to look at what Jesus did on His mission.
Now we only looked at three passages on our trip, and there are several more than that.
AND THIS MORNING I just want us to spend some time
Sort of scavenging through the word of God and trying to get an idea of
Exactly what Jesus came to do while He was on mission.
Can pretty easily sum it up in four categories
#1 JESUS CAME TO DO THE FATHER’S WILL
Now that is certainly not a surprising statement.
We all realize that ultimately we are not the ones who are on mission,
GOD IS THE ONE WHO IS ON MISSION.
God is the One who is working to reconcile the world back to Himself.
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Hopefully we all understand that God is the One
Who conceived this concept of reconciling the world.
It is God’s mission.
• It doesn’t start with our passion; it starts with God’s passion.
• It doesn’t start with our love; it starts with God’s love.
• It doesn’t start with our wisdom; it starts with God’s wisdom.
It is God’s mission, and yet in His sovereign power,
He chooses to use us to fulfill it.
That means that in every aspect of the mission we determine
That we are going to do things according to God’s will.
We have to do what we’re told, because it is God’s mission.
And I want you to understand that this was the mindset of Jesus.
He came to do the Father’s will.
John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
John 5:19 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”
Or who could forget the prayer of Jesus in the garden?
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
So we understand the priority of Jesus to make sure that He did not speak of move or act on His own initiative, but that He was very careful to do what the Father required.
TURN TO: JOHN 12:9
• In John 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, which was obviously no small miracle.
• In John 12 we begin to see the fallout of that miracle.
• What is occurring in John 12 is what I call “The Jesus Phenomenon”
The Jesus Phenomenon is the effect that hits people
Who become enamored with Jesus because they think
He will satisfy a felt need in their lives.
I shared with the team a few instances where you see the Jesus Phenomenon reveal itself.
In John 2 Jesus is working miracles and people become enamored.
John 2:23-25 “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
Those people were enamored with Jesus, but Jesus knew they weren’t real, as evidenced by the fact that He would not give Himself to them.
We see it again in John 6. There Jesus fed the five thousand and walked on water and the crowds are ready to make Him king.
John 6:15 “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
But Jesus again would not give Himself to them, and by the end of John 6 this enamored crowd showed their true colors.
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
We see it again in John 8, where Jesus preached a strong sermon and the people are enamored with Him again.
So Jesus says:
John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
But this statement irritated this so called believers and by the end of the chapter Jesus reveals that they were actually sons of Satan.
John 8:43-45 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”
And that is the type of phenomenon we see here in John 12.
It is people who are captivated by Jesus’ power or wisdom and are drawn to Him, not so that they can submit their lives to His authority.
Rather, they are drawn to Him because they think they can use Him to satisfy some craving or need they feel they have.
THE DANGER IS THAT JESUS LOSE FOCUS
It is very easy during times of popularity to assume that it is all about you!
But watch Jesus remember why He came
Now here in John 12 we see that Jesus Phenomenon in full swing.
(VERSES 12-19)
• It is obvious that Jesus is at the pinnacle of His popularity, in fact here the Pharisees even determine to give up. They think it’s over, because the world has gone after Jesus.
And that certainly appears true, especially in light of the next verses.
(VERSES 20-22)
Here you see the disciples acting more like the secret service than followers of Jesus.
They are now managing His publicity.
But Jesus was not about to fall into this trap,
He knew why He came and at the pinnacle of His popularity
He again reiterated His mission.
(VERSES 23-28)
• I’m sure all the disciples agreed with verse 23.
• They definitely thought it was time for glory.
But Jesus knew that glory wasn’t to come through parades,
But through sacrifice.
He reminded the disciples that
He is not headed for popularity, but for death,
And if they are going to follow Him, that is where they are headed as well.
And then Jesus makes the great statement.
(27-28) “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
And there it is.
• Jesus didn’t come to be popular.
• Jesus didn’t come to stroke His own ego.
• Jesus came with a specific purpose and that was to die for sinners.
That was the mission His Father gave Him,
And He came to do the Father’s will.
Let me give you another quick example.
TURN TO MARK 10:32-45
Here Jesus is headed to Jerusalem, where He is about to be crucified.
One can only imagine the torment running through His mind.
And in verse 32 you see again that the crowd is mesmerized by Him.
So Jesus again declares to the disciples what is about to happen.
(VERSES 32-34)
Jesus knew what the mission was.
And yet, the disciples had once again missed the point.
Apparently they heard nothing of what Jesus said about death and sacrifice.
(VERSES 35-41)
They just didn’t get it.
• See, for them the mission was all about how they could get glory.
• The mission was all about what they could get for themselves.
• The mission was all about their own honor.
They wanted it done their way so they could be glorified.
And that is not at all why we are on mission.
And so Jesus reminded them again:
(VERSES 42-45)
He reminded the disciples that He was here to do the Father’s will,
Even if that meant being a servant, submissive to death on a cross.
Jesus did not come to do His own will.
He came to do the Father’s will.
AND THIS IS A GREAT REMINDER FOR YOU AND I.
We are also here to do the Father’s will.
• This life is not about how we can gain comfort
• This life is not about how we can gain power
• This life is not about how we can gain prestige
Those things can even be a temptation
To keep us from doing what God has called us to do.
We are here to do the Father’s will.
He has a mission to reconcile the world to Himself.
He has chosen to use us, and we simply do what He calls us to do.
Jesus fully understood that, that is why He came.
#2 JESUS CAME TO REVEAL THE FATHER’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
Now, at this point we are getting a little more specific
With the task our mission takes.
Obviously we are here to do God’s will, but let’s get more specific.
As we go on mission in this world, rather that is Spur or Africa,
We have to understand what that mission looks like.
And Jesus makes it very clear exactly what He was out to do.
His first priority was to reveal the Father’s righteousness.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 5:17-20
We have studied this before, I hope you remember the point.
• But the Jews had already figured out that the Law of God was too intense.
• There was no possible way that anyone could fulfill all the commands of God.
• We even have the Rich Young Ruler asking Jesus “which ones?” really
mattered.
And so the common thought was that when the Messiah came
He would reveal which commands really matter.
You know, He would sort of grade us on the curve and help us see which commands are really more of the optional nature.
Man is always looking for a way to make salvation self-attainable.
But imagine their surprise when Jesus matter of factly stated
That He wasn’t nullifying any of it.
(VERSES 17-20)
• He didn’t come to lower the standard in the least.
• He didn’t come to make it easier at all.
• He didn’t come to widen the gate one centimeter.
In fact He states explicitly in Matthew 5:48
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Jesus came to hold high the standard of God’s perfect righteousness.
And at this point I suppose it would be good for you and I to ask WHY.
And that reason is easy.
Jesus elevated the righteousness of God
Because He was the only One who effectively lived it.
That is what He means by, “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
And if He is the only man who possesses God’s righteousness
Then He is the only place you can go to get it.
And this is so important, and yet so overlooked today.
We think we are doing people in the world a favor
When we condone or tolerate sin.
• We think we are showing the love of God when we tell sinners that their sin is no big deal, or that God loves them anyway.
• We think it is to be God-like when we throw open the doors and tell people to come just as they are with no fear of punishment, because our God is an understanding God.
(I’ve certainly been accused of being un-godly for not doing it)
But listen very closely to me here.
• If you start lowering God’s standard of righteousness…
• If you start abolishing God’s commands…
• If you start telling people that God is OK with their sin…
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
You are in effect giving people reasons why they don’t need Jesus.
• If righteousness doesn’t matter…
• If the bar is low enough for anyone to get over…
THEN WHY DO YOU NEED JESUS?
The only reason you need Jesus is if God demands perfect righteousness
Jesus has the market cornered on righteousness.
That is why He said, “Come to Me”
They will never get men to run to Jesus, unless they realize that only in Jesus can they get the righteousness that they need.
ON YOUR MISSION you must follow the example of Jesus
And elevate righteousness.
TURN TO: MARK 1:21-39
Now first you will notice that Jesus starts out by preaching,
And yet it quickly turns into displays of miraculous power.
(VERSES 21-37)
The healing ministry is working full force.
But notice what Jesus says next:
(VERSES 38-39)
Jesus knew what the people needed.
They didn’t need healing, they needed the righteous standard of God.
That is not to say that Jesus wasn’t compassionate,
He healed disease, He cast out demons, but He knew why He was there.
He was there to lift high the standard of God’s righteousness
So that the world would be drawn to Him for it.
On our mission we do the same.
We live this life to do the Father’s will, and that includes lifting high the righteous standard of God. Only then will sinners realize their truest need for Jesus.
Jesus Came to Do the Father’s Will
Jesus Came to Reveal the Father’s Righteousness
#3 JESUS CAME TO EXPOSE THE FATHER’S ENEMIES
Now this is a harsh one.
But Jesus was determined to show the world true righteousness
The problem was that they world had seen a great deal
Of what true righteousness was not.
They had seen the scribes and Pharisees who had successfully managed to make righteousness nothing more than a religious show.
And so the people thought being righteous was equal to being religious.
And there are many people in the world who still think that way.
So in order to reveal God’s true righteousness
Jesus also had to expose those enemies of God’s righteousness
Who were deceiving the people.
And did He ever do that!
TURN TO JOHN 9:39-41
This was immediately following Jesus restoring the sight of a blind man.
At the end of the story Jesus reveals Himself to the blind man and the man worships Him, and then Jesus makes this statement.
(VERSES 39-41)
What did Jesus mean by that?
“For judgment I came into this world…”
• We know He came to save the world, not condemn it.
• If He wanted the world condemned, all He had to do was nothing.
So what does He mean?
What Jesus is saying is that I came to SEPARATE, I came to EXPOSE,
I came to REVEAL.
I came to show a man’s true colors.
Remember what Simeon said to Mary about the baby Jesus?
Luke 2:34-35 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Jesus was the light and He would reveal what a man truly was.
And He revealed that the Pharisees were nothing more than blind men
Who claimed to have sight.
After the parable of the soils Jesus said:
Matthew 13:13-15 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’”
That is what Jesus did.
His preaching, His ministry, it forced man on one side or the other.
Jesus was not about to let the unrighteous think they were righteous.
He came to expose those enemies who perverted the righteous standard of God by replacing it with religious works.
And that is why Jesus speaks so often of division.
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”
Luke 12:49-53 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. “They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
I’m not coming to make everyone get along.
I’m not coming to try and be popular with everyone.
I’m coming to lift high the righteous standard of God,
And that is going to make a few people angry.
And friends we have to learn that reality about Jesus’ mission
So that we will follow Him.
I don’t know how it happened,
But the American church has become terrified of negative responses to the gospel.
Somewhere along the lines people started to think if they presented the truth of God and people didn’t accept it, that they must have done it wrong.
No, Jesus plainly told us not everyone would receive it.
He told us there would be hard soil and rocky soil and weedy soil.
And the fact is there are some people
Who just don’t like hearing about the righteous standard of God.
But you can’t lower God’s standard just to make them happy.
Jesus didn’t.
Instead Jesus exposed them.
Remember Matthew 23?
8 times Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.
He wasn’t about to let the world think that their religion was anywhere close to the righteousness God required.
And that is our mission.
• We are here to do the Father’s will and that means that we reveal the Father’s righteousness to the world.
• And in doing this we know that there will be some backlash, for not all the world is interested in God’s righteousness.
• But we do it anyway and thus expose that some men just don’t have it.
That is our mission.
To show sinners the righteousness of God, thus exposing their sin.
He came to do the Father’s will
He came to reveal the Father’s righteousness
He came to expose the Father’s enemies
#4 JESUS CAME TO SAVE THE FATHER’S CHILDREN
See this was the ultimate purpose of His mission.
He came revealing righteousness which would draw the lost to Him.
For He alone would pay their sin debt on the cross
And impute His righteousness to them.
• If He didn’t submit to the Father’s will…
• If He didn’t reveal the Father’s righteousness…
• If He didn’t expose the Father’s enemies…
He could have never saved those He came to save.
All of those previous points were to lead to this end.
JESUS CAME TO SAVE SINNERS.
1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
John 12:47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Matthew 18:11 [“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”]
Luke 9:56 “for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.”
I mean we get that.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 9:9-13
What a tremendous story.
And incidentally we see all the previous components wrapped up in this story.
• There is Jesus lifting high the standard of righteousness and thus calling
sinners to follow Him as the only answer.
• There are the enemies of God who rebel against what He is saying.
• But Jesus reveals that all of this is necessary to fulfill His mission.
Jesus came to call sinners to salvation and to provide the means for it.
TURN TO: LUKE 19:1-10
There again is a tremendous story of Jesus calling the lost to Himself.
And this really caps the whole story doesn’t it?
Jesus was very focused as to why He came.
• It wasn’t to be comfortable in this life…
• It wasn’t to gain fame or fortune…
• It wasn’t really even to get some sort of “rock icon” following…
• Jesus came to do the Father’s will, which included service to the point of death.
• Jesus came to lift high the standard of God’s righteousness, even to the point of offending all those who preached a lesser standard.
• And He did that, because only through revealing the righteousness of God would men turn to Him for that righteousness and be saved.
I hope that helps you understand what your mission is here on earth,
For each of us also on mission.
We are here to do God’s will, which is to elevate His righteousness, exposing false righteousness, and thus pointing men to the only One who can grant the true salvation of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
That is our mission.
That was Jesus’ mission.
Now tonight I invite you to come back tonight
And listen as this mission team shares how they did just that
(I saw them do it)
And how they saw God work in their midst.
In the mean time I want to encourage you to recognize
That you also are on mission and to encourage you
To endeavor to do it like Jesus did.
John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
