Sent
John 20:21
August 13, 2023
This morning we come to our annual
“Back To School Commissioning Service”.
We are those who see the school as far more than
Just a means of education, we believe it to be our mission field.
• More than just asking for blessing…
• More than just asking for safety…
• More than just asking for a good year…
We believe that as the church it is our duty to see the school
As we see all other things and that is as a place
Where God has sovereignly placed individuals
To be light in the midst of darkness
And salt in the midst of that which has no flavor.
Every year we encourage those who are headed into the school system
• To see it as more than a job or more than a requirement,
• But to see it through the lens of scripture
• And to embrace it as a mission field.
And this morning the verse we’re going to focus in is John 20:21.
• At this point Jesus has already been crucified and has risen from the dead.
• His followers have locked themselves back in the upper room because they are
afraid of the Jews.
And that alone should cause you to take a little comfort.
These men were fearful too.
These men were confused too.
But Jesus enters that room with many things to say.
The statement we focus on is found in verse 21:
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
And more than any this morning I want us to consider the word “sent”.
This morning we could talk about the willingness of Jesus.
• We could talk about His willingness to leave heaven.
• We could talk about His willingness to take on human flesh.
• We could talk about His willingness to face temptation.
• We could talk about His willingness to fulfill the Law.
• We could talk about His willingness to bear our sin and shame.
And in all those things there is nothing wrong at all
With referring to Jesus as a tremendous volunteer.
After all Hebrews 12 says:
Hebrews 12:2-3 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross.
• He despised the shame (thought little of)
• He looked to the glory of heaven
• He loved so much that He laid down His life
You know the realities of Jesus as a volunteer; a willing Savior.
And yet, as Jesus stands in the upper room with His disciples
He refers to Himself as One who has been “sent”.
The very word brings with it a connotation of obeying an order.
• The very word brings with it the understanding that a Commander gave a
command and someone obeyed it.
God sent Jesus.
God commissioned Jesus.
And Jesus catapults off of that reality
To pass on the marching orders to His disciples saying, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
And what we first need to consider this morning is
The sovereign prerogative behind the evangelistic call to missions.
Now this morning we are NOT going to discuss God’s sovereignty over salvation.
• Things like foreknowledge and election and predestination;
• Things which are all absolutely biblical and true.
Rather, this morning we are going to talk about God’s sovereignty
In the aspect of His prerogative to send His church into the world.
In short, by the end of this sermon
• I hope you will not see yourself merely as one who has volunteered to enter the school,
• Or even as one who has a heart for the school,
• But I hope to show you that you have been divinely and sovereignly sent by God into your school.
So let’s start down that track this morning.
First I just want to remind you to some extent of what we mean by
“The sovereignty of God”.
It is a theme which saturates Scripture.
Early on in the book of Genesis,
• As Abram encountered the King/Priest named Melchizedek,
• Melchizedek described God to Abram like this:
Genesis 14:19 “He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”
Later
• When Abraham commissioned his servant to go and find a bride for Isaac,
• Abraham spoke of God like this:
Genesis 24:3a “and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth…”
When Moses described God to the Israelites:
Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”
When Moses then commissioned Joshua, He revealed God as:
Joshua 2:11b “… the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”
Hezekiah recognized the sovereign nature of God as he prayed while under Assyrian attack:
2 Kings 19:15 “Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
David certainly recognized God’s sovereignty over all things:
Psalms 75:6-7 “For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”
Psalms 115:2-3 “Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Psalms 135:5-6a “For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does…”
Isaiah saw it:
Isaiah 40:22-23 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.”
Jeremiah had the most famous illustration of it
• As he saw God as the Potter who does whatever He wants with the clay.
Jeremiah 18:6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
GOD IS SOVEREIGN.
And men even spoke of the PRACTICAL RAMIFICATIONS
Of God’s sovereignty over human affairs.
Hannah had a great prayer in which she said:
1 Samuel 2:6-8 “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. “The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. “He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He set the world on them.”
Job recognized the same:
Job 12:9-10 “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?”
God is not a passive sovereign, He is an active sovereign.
He is actively ordaining all things.
Even the things which we do not understand.
When God called Moses
• Moses hesitated because he felt unqualified as a man who stutters
• God said:
Exodus 4:10-13 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”
Even your supposed weaknesses and frailties are not mistakes.
God has sovereignly crafted you into the exact tool He desires
In order that He may be glorified through you.
Psalms 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
There are no mistakes here.
And we could go on and on and on in this realm.
GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL THINGS.
Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”
He does whatever He pleases with all men.
• Their existence is not a coincidence…
• Their location is not a coincidence…
• Their occupation is not a coincidence…
• God has sovereignly ordained it all.
And certainly this includes our understanding of missions.
Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
You see the sovereignty of God there.
• “all these things are from God”
• He “reconciled us”
• He “gave us the ministry of reconciliation”
• “God was in Christ reconciling the world”
• “He has committed to us the word or reconciliation”
Nothing about that is coincidental.
The sovereign God of the universe is behind it all.
In short, it is God who divinely places and sovereignly sends
His people into the world for the proclamation of the gospel.
IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT
• When they find themselves where they find themselves.
IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT
• Or a coincidence that you are in the school you are in.
We know that God is sovereign over all things
And all circumstances and all men.
And we know that God sends His people into the world
FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCLAIMING HIS WORD.
That is clearly seen throughout Scripture.
Now I want to ILLUSTRATE that a little. (And I’m going to work you a little)
I want you to see the reality of God sovereignly sending people.
Let’s start with one we have recently seen.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 6:8-10
Of course you remember this story.
• It is Isaiah’s commissioning.
• Isaiah saw the Lord and it should have killed him, but God had mercy on him.
• And when God asked, “Whom shall I send?”
• Isaiah said, “Send me”
Now in one sense that looks like a clear case of Isaiah volunteering
(And to an extent it is).
However, are we going to overlook the reality of what happened before that?
• That God appeared to Isaiah…
• That God convicted Isaiah…
• That God cleansed Isaiah…
Obviously, it was God who initiated all of this.
And then God sent him.
(9) “He said, “Go, and tell this people…”
God took a sinful man of unclean lips…
God pardoned Him…
God commissioned him to carry His word to the people of Israel.
GOD DID THAT.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 1:4-10
That one is unmistakable.
• God knew Jeremiah in the womb.
• We would say, “You were created for this.”
It didn’t matter that he was a youth.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know how to speak.
But just like with Isaiah, God touched His mouth and told him to go.
• He was created
• He was consecrated
• He was chosen
• He was commissioned
GOD SENT HIM.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 2:1-3:11
(my personal favorite)
Ezekiel, much like Isaiah had seen a vision of the glory of God
And it put him on his face. Which is why God first told him to stand up.
And God sovereignly sent him.
• (3) “Son of man, I am sending you…”
• (4) “I am sending you…”
• (3:4) “Son of man, go…”
Ezekiel was confronted by God.
Ezekiel was consecrated by God.
Ezekiel was commissioned by God.
And God even uniquely created Ezekiel for the people he was sent to.
(3:8) “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.”
This is not a mistake.
This is not a coincidence.
Ezekiel was sovereignly sent.
TURN TO: DANIEL 1:8-21
• We think of all the kings Daniel had a chance to speak to.
• We think of sermons preached and dreams interpreted.
• Daniel had a tremendous platform from God to speak to the most powerful men in the world in his day.
That segment ended with the statement:
(21) “And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.”
• That would be a ministry of 69 years.
• God placed him in Babylon and placed him there to stay.
Do you see that?
Or even in that time period we think of Esther who was placed there “for such a time as this.”
IT’S ALL GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY.
TURN TO: HOSEA 1:2
• If you keep reading Hosea did what God said and had children.
• The 3rd he named “Lo-ammi” which meant “Not mine”
But he did it because God commissioned him to it.
It was a job God called him to, and obviously not even a pleasant one.
But God called him to it none the less.
TURN TO: AMOS 7:14-15
• Amos lived in the Southern Kingdom,
• He was called by God to go to the Northern Kingdom
• They hated him for it.
When they rebuked him, this is what he said.
“I’m a farmer, not a preacher, but God called me here.”
Just a regular guy whom God sent with a word to His people.
TURN TO: JONAH 1:1-2
• You know that story and the man who was sent to a people he didn’t even like
• And who he didn’t think deserved salvation.
But God sent him, even if it meant using a fish to do it.
We could go into the New Testament and see Jesus calling those fishermen to lay down their nets and be fishers of men.
We certainly read the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It is God’s sovereign prerogative to send people.
Romans 10:13-15 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
GOD SENDS PEOPLE.
And what I hope you glean from those prophets is that
God was sovereign over all of it.
Was it an accident Isaiah saw Jesus in the temple?
Of course not – your salvation wasn’t an accident either.
Was it an accident Ezekiel beheld the glory of God?
No – neither is God revealing Himself to you.
Was it an accident that Ezekiel was hard-headed?
No, God uniquely designed him for the people he was going to preach to.
Was it an accident that Daniel was in Babylon?
No, and neither is the location of your ministry.
I think it is fascinating that our church will have representatives
In schools in Matador, Guthrie, Lorenzo, Spur, and Jayton.
Do you suppose that to be a mistake or a coincidence?
Certainly not.
You are where you are for a reason.
Was it an accident that Hosea had a hard calling to marry a prostitute?
No – and your hard job isn’t an accident either.
God may have purposely placed you in that darkness
To be the brightest of lights.
Was it an accident that Amos and Jonah were sent to foreign lands?
No, and if God just moved you from one place to another that’s not an accident either.
Was it an accident that Jeremiah found himself in Jerusalem at the very time God appointed the fall of Jerusalem?
No, and your setting isn’t a coincidence either.
You are not accidentally in your school,
You have been sovereignly placed there by God.
He saved you and He has sent you into that school.
If you think you are in that school
• Because you decided to move here…
• Or because your parents made a decision to put you there…
You greatly overestimate your sovereignty
And greatly underestimate God’s.
It is God who is sovereign.
• He controls not only opportunities, but also desires.
• He is at work in all these situations.
And I just want you to see that this morning.
YOU HAVE BEEN SENT
It is not an accident…
It is not by your doing (even if you think it is)…
It is not a coincidence…
God is Lord of heaven and earth.
• He sovereignly controls all things.
• He is the potter who is molding the clay.
• He is the One who ordained your days.
You are where you are by His sovereign plan.
You have been sent to your school.
So I hope you see that first.
But secondly I want you to ask the question – WHY?
Why has God sent me to the school He sent me to.
Well back to John 20:21
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Jesus said, that He is sending us
For the same reason that the Father sent Him.
• Did you think it was to make money?
• Did you think it was for an education?
• Did you think it was opportunities to do things you like?
• Did you think it was to meet a specific person?
Indeed, those things my indeed occur as byproducts
Of where God has placed you.
But none of those are the primary reason why God sent you there.
He sent you to your school for the same basic reasons He sent Christ to earth: THE SALVATION OF HIS CHILDREN.
But take it from the lips of Jesus.
Let me show you 5 reasons Jesus said He was sent to earth.
This will help you understand why He is sending you.
1) TO SUBMIT
This is sort of generic, but it is a good reminder.
Jesus came to this earth to obey His Father.
John 12:23-28 “And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. “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.”
He came to do His Father’s will.
And that is a great place to start when I ask you: Why you are in the school?
Are you there to do the Father’s will?
There is really no gray area in this one.
• You either go there to serve Him or you don’t.
• You are either there on His mission or you aren’t.
Jesus did not come to earth as a vacation…
• He did not come to earth for furthering education…
• He did not come to earth just for the fun of it…
• He did not come for the purpose of making money…
Jesus came to obey and glorify His Father,
And that is our calling as well.
Matthew 5:16 “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.”
God is sending you into that school,
You have to determine if you will acknowledge that
And go for the purposes that He has sent you.
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
2) TO SPEAK
Mark 1:35-39 “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Simon and his companions searched for Him; they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”
What you may not know about that setting is that it was Sunday.
• On the day before, the Sabbath, Jesus had cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue and really irritated the religious leaders.
• He left the synagogue and went to Simon’s house where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever.
• That night crowds showed up with all kinds of sick and crippled and demon possessed people and Jesus healed them all.
• And the next morning His popularity was surging.
If He had ever had the intention of opening up a healing center
Or a deliverance center, He was well on His way.
BUT INSTEAD HE LEAVES.
WHY?
“Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
He was sent to preach the gospel.
He was sent to proclaim the good news.
He was sent to preach.
And Jesus said:
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Someone in the 90’s coined the erroneous phrase,
“Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words.”
And because people are more sentimental than they are discerning,
People loved the phrase.
But as Allistair Begg pointed out, that’s like saying, “Go forth and feed the poor, if necessary use food.”
Preaching is necessary.
And God has sent us into the world to do it.
What did Paul say in the text we read earlier?
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
He does the saving, but part of His process is
To entrust the word of salvation to us.
Paul said:
Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Do you want to know why God has placed you in that school?
• To proclaim His word.
• To preach His gospel.
The opportunities are absolutely endless.
And look, the arguments against it are growing tiresome…
• “Well the ACLU says we can’t”
• “There is a separation of church and state”
• “Well I wouldn’t want a Muslim doing it, so I won’t either”
Do you suppose any of those excuses would wash in the book of Acts?
Do you ever hear anything like that from the lips of Jesus?
He was sent to preach, and now He has sent you to do the same.
3) TO SHOW
Or maybe we might say, “to expose”.
Jesus said:
John 9:39 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
Which shows us that His purpose was to expose the hearts of men.
Certainly He did that through preaching
But also simply through righteous living.
His very life was a conviction of the world.
And we think of how deep His exposing of men would go.
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.”
He would bring truth to a boiling point
And it would cut to the hearts of men.
He would expose men like light exposes the darkness.
• And the change that He would create in man runs the risk of separating even the most intimate of relationships.
• He didn’t come to overlook sin.
• He didn’t come to tolerate sin.
• He didn’t come to empower sin.
He came to expose it.
Ask the woman at the well about the time Jesus told her she’d been married 5 times and was now living with a man she wasn’t married to.
Ask Nicodemus about how Jesus told him his only hope was to be born again.
Ask one of the Pharisees whom Jesus called sons of the devil.
I’m not saying we should be mean, or rude;
Jesus was none of those things, but He did lay down the truth,
Even if it exposed and cut and convicted.
If the church is the light then she must be willing to shine.
Do you think that unredeemed teaching colleague is going to give students an accurate understanding of what is sin?
Do you think the other boys in the locker room are going to point out what is sinful?
Jesus sends His followers into the world
To shine the light and expose the darkness.
Matthew 10:12-15 “As you enter the house, give it your greeting. “If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
4) TO SEEK
Who did Jesus seek?
The lost.
We remember the story of Jesus eating at the house of Zaccheus and how the religious elite balked at it.
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Seeking the lost is important.
• This is why you are in the school.
• This is why God sent you there.
You do realize that most of the unredeemed people in your school
Are not going to come here, at least not on their own.
For a lost man to hear the gospel one of two things has to happen.
• Either the lost man has to seek a saved man and ask him for the truth,
• Or a saved man has to seek a lost man and tell him the truth.
Which do you suppose to be more likely?
Jesus was sent to the lost.
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
5) TO SERVE
Clearly from Jesus we read:
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Jesus came to serve.
God sent Jesus to serve.
But when Jesus says serve,
He does not mean simply do kind deeds for people.
Certainly He did, but the Christian mission is far more than staying behind to clean up the mess or helping to unload the trailer.
Certainly a Christian should do those things
for they are acts of love and they open doors to the gospel.
But Jesus spells out for us what service was to Him.
It was “to give His life”
No, we do not die for the atonement of sinners,
Only Jesus does that,
But we do lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel.
It reminds us that the mission is elevated above every other thing.
It reminds us that we are committed to the mission at all cost.
John 13:13-17 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
We are called to do what He did.
So you see that you have been sent,
And if I ask you why you were sent, it is simple.
You were sent to be the presence of Jesus in your school.
Go and do what He did.
• Submit to God.
• Speak the Gospel.
• Show what is true and what is false.
• Seek the lost to tell them.
• Serve by laying down your life to do it.
You are not there by accident.
You are not there by coincidence.
The sovereignty of God does not allow for such anomalies.
• You were created…
• You were chosen…
• You were called…
• You are commissioned…
• For this very task.
And this morning, we the church charge you to the fulfillment of that task.
And we will conclude this morning,
With a commitment to pray for you as you carry it out.
