Sermon Cloud

OPEN: In the opening verses of Jesus’ Sermon on Mission we’ve been exploring the sources of the missional church.  The first is the heart of Jesus for people.  The second is the prayer of his disciples for more laborers. The third is the gift of spiritual authority (exousía); and the fourth is the reality of Christian community.  FOCUS: Christ formed a community of followers to help, rather than hinder, his work.  The first step toward becoming a missional community is to confess how we’ve tried to do both… 

I.   The missional community is marked by closeness. “These are the names of the twelve apostles.” 

    A. The gospels are careful to tell us that Jesus called 12 men. Why?  In Scripture, 12 is a family number.  Abraham > Isaac > Jacob (Israel) > 12 sons…and those 12 became the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.  When the N. Kingdom was destroyed in 721 BC, ten tribes were lost.  The remaining 2 formed the S. Kingdom, the ancestors of today’s Jews.  When Jesus called 12 to follow him, it signified Jesus’ hope for the restoration of a scattered and broken family. 

        1. In addition to these 12 men, the gospels name at least 3 women who followed Jesus: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Suzanna, “and many others who provided for them out of their resources” (Luke 8: 1-3).   

        2. All this is to say that when Jesus called his followers he intended to form a family (Matt. 12: 46-50). Jesus formed a family (not a corporation, not a mortgage investment company, not a political party, not a religious institution) but a close knit group of brothers and sisters with whom he ate, slept and shared his life; and that “family closeness” is a mark of Jesus’ community.

    B. Hear me: the community of Jesus’ followers is not just a group of people that are supposed to act like a family.  We are a family. 

        1. We are an extended family in the sense that we can have many members in our family that we do not know personally (like the hundred relatives I met at our family reunion last year…. some of whom I hadn’t seen for 30 years!!)

        2. We are also a nuclear family in the sense that we are each called by Jesus to be part of a more intimate group of people with whom we share fellowship.  Now I want you to think about that nuclear family for a moment….

            a. (Time) Could your family survive long if they limited contact to 1 hour/week and maybe brunch?  (Communication) Does your family shakes hands and smile at the entrance of your home, but never have meaningful conversation? 

            b. (Chores) Does your family share responsibility for chores around the house – or does it fall to one or two? (Play) Does your family spend all its time in meetings (or doing chores) without any time to have fun together? 

            c. (Hospitality) Does your family welcome new additions, or do they pretty much ignore that new baby or son-in-law? (Problems) If one family member is mad, does s/he leave the house and join another family down the street?  

            d. These things happen…but it’s SAD when they do.  We know in our hearts that families need to spend time together, talk about their lives, share the load, laugh and cry, welcome new additions, go after the runaways; get mad but hang in there when things get tough.

    C. When Jesus called his disciples he called them into an intimate fellowship in which real life was shared; where they laughed and cried together, welcomed new additions, went after the run-aways, and (yes) had their share of problems – but that’s a family for you.   

        1. Illus. Perhaps you enjoy watching the kingfishers down at the beach.  They dive into the water at just the right moment, grab a fish, enjoy their meal and them fly off.  They’re magnificent…but not a great model of Christian community.  It’s tempting to dive in every Sunday, grab a fish, and then fly off.  If that’s your experience of church, I want to challenge you to go deeper – to be part of a Lifegroup or ministry group; to dive in and stay awhile; to join the wonderful and sometimes exasperating family of God’s people (which leads me to point #2).

II. The missional community is marked by forgiveness. “first, Simon, also known as Peter…and Judas Iscariot the one who betrayed him.”   

    A. When we consider the names of Jesus’ new family and the stories behind those names, we’re reminded of Jesus’ forgiveness in the face of our failures. 

        1. Peter, is named “first” because he was first in faith and failure…denying he even knew the Lord three times!  James and John, the sons of  Zebedee, nicknamed sons of Thunder because of their fiery tempers. 

        2. Bartholomew (Nathanael) spoke whatever was on his mind. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:47) Matthew was a tax collector (whom his fellow Jews would have considered a ‘sinner.’  Thomas, was a pessimist and skeptic.  Judas (the dishonest treasurer, and betrayer). 

    B. On the night of his arrest, Jesus says to those whom he poured his life into for three years, “You shall all be deserters because of me this night…but after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee” (Matt. 26: 31-35).  In one sentence Jesus condemns and forgives.  He tells his followers that they will fail him; and he tells them that he will forgive them.  Can we do less?

        1. Failure and forgiveness will always be the twin companions of Jesus’ church.  There will never be a time when we do not need them; never a time this side of heaven when we are free from failure or the need to forgive. 

        2. Imagine a football game in which there was never a fumble, never a missed field goal, never anyone injured.  We don’t expect to see a game like that.  We know our families are not like that.  Why do we expect the church to be like that?  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick….I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (Matt. 9: 12).   

        3. That being said, Jesus did intend for us to stay in the hospital indefinitely.  After the transplant nearly two weeks, Tiffany and John are both up and walking around, praise God!  That’s the way it’s supposed to be.  When Jesus called his motley crew of disciples, he meant to transform them into saints…and that would mean lots of mistakes, and slow but steady improvement. 

        4. For he called them to be his disciples (lit. his apprentices) men and women who are learning, studying, and practicing to be like their master.  That’s hard work…and like learning to play the piano, or basketball, or algebra…it takes effort, commitment, mutual encouragement, and the power of God.

III.  The missional community is marked by an ‘unlikely oneness’.

 “Matthew the tax collector…Simon the Cananaean”

    A. The variety of people who followed Jesus in his original band of twelve is truly astounding.  As just one example we have Matthew a tax collector & Simon the Cananaean (elsewhere called ‘the Zealot’).  Friends, you could not put two more different people together in the first century.

        1. A tax collector was considered by the Jews to be the lowest form of traitor, because they collaborated with the Roman occupiers by collecting taxes from their own countrymen for profit.  They did not merely collect taxes, they were permitted to extort money for their own selfish gain.  To any first century Jew, Matthew would have been considered the opposite of a patriot and a sinner.   

        2. On the other hand you have Simon, the Zealot.  The zealot party was a group of 1^st c. Jews who were willing to die, sacrifice their loved ones, or be party to an assassination in order to rid themselves of Roman rule – and many did.  They were the ultimate Jewish patriots – the nationalists among the nationalists.  

        3. If Simon had met Matthew anywhere else but in the company of Jesus – he would have stabbed him with a dagger.  It kind of makes this little gathering of Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, seem tame by comparison.

    B. One of the signs to me that St. John’s is an authentic community of Christ’s followers is our “unlikely oneness.”  It’s the fact that we come from such diverse backgrounds.  What can explain that unity?  Only Jesus. 

        1. Illus. In the 1980’s, the Church Growth Movement predicted that the fastest way to grow a church was to target people for outreach who voted the same, looked the same, and lived at the same income level. 

        2. That premise was eventually set aside, not because “birds of a feather don’t flock together” – they often do, but because we recognize that God’s vision for the kingdom of God is a vision of many nations, tribes and tongues…as diverse a group as Jesus’ original disciples, a community that is more committed to Jesus Christ than they are to their cherished differences. 

IV. The missional community is marked by sent-ness. “These twelve Jesus sent out….”

    A. We’ve spoken about missional community as one marked by closeness, by forgiveness, and by an unlikely oneness.  In all honesty, when I describe these characteristics, I see many similarities with St. John’s.  I see a growing intimacy between members, I see a commitment to reconciliation that knows from experience what happens when there is no forgiveness.  I see a fascinating inter-generational, multi-ethnic community from a variety of backgrounds, united by the lordship of Jesus. 

    B. It’s been described by many people as an extended family where relationships are deep, where we know one another and are known, where we show true care and concern for each other.  That being said, I want to suggest that the very thing we cherish about St. John’s…the closeness, the honesty and forgiveness, the variety of peoples assembled here…can actually be a hindrance to the mission of Christ….if we hold them too tightly.   

        1.  Have you ever said to yourself or to someone else, “You know, I just love St. John’s because because people know my name and I know other people.  If the church grew any larger…I’m afraid we would lose the closeness that we cherish.”  Friends, I want to applaud the fact that many of us would say, “I love this community, or those ten or one hundred people who know my name” -- but I also want to warn us that we must not make it into an idol.  

        2.  For Jesus called the twelve and then sent them out; a “community without a cause” is not what Jesus intended when he called his original disciples or us.  We have to beware of the “us four and no more” attitude that quick freezes our hearts, closes us off from the outside world, and creates a private club which is ours to enjoy at the expense of the lost and hurting people outside.  

CLOSE: There are lots of creative ways that we can be that missional community in our own circles of influence – opening the door, serving, loving, and welcoming into our circle those who are seeking God or may be but don’t know it.  Testimony: I’d like Tom Donnelly to come and share with you how he and Moira have been cultivating missional community in their own home. 

    A. I began by saying that when Jesus called his disciples he formed a family.  Can you imagine a family without a future, a family without a heart for its children, or future generations, a family closed to the outside world?  Jesus called us to be an ever-expanding fellowship of God’s forever family – a family that expands through adoption.  

    B. The missional community is a family that knows they’ve been sent to be in relationship with those who don’t know God; who take the time to serve them, love them, listen to them, laugh and cry with them, pray with them, and – when the opportunity comes, and it always does – to speak openly about God’s love for them; and invite them into the family of Jesus’ followers.  [PRAYER]