Teamwork
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Famous last words. Every story is the same, the leader isn’t going to there physically anymore. The people you love are being left behind. Will their lives continue along the right path? Last words are usually the most important words spoken by a great leader. Whether it’s ____ or _______.
Just a bit more significant than ____ was Jesus. Just before he ascended into heaven, to be with the Father, he left us some very significant parting thoughts. So significant, in fact, that we can’t cover them in just one regular message. So, we either need to stay two extra hours today, or we could stretch it out over three Sundays. What do you want to do? Let’s take a vote.
Okay, so this Sunday we’ll discuss what Jesus’ ascension means for us. Next Sunday, we’ll talk about Pentecost and Jesus sending the Holy Spirit. Then the next Sunday we’ll look at how these last words reveal God as Trinity and what that means for our relationships.
This year we’ve been following the general church calendar, followed by churches all across the world. Which means that we’re joining other churches in talking about different aspects of God during the different times of the year. This Sunday is actually Ascension Sunday, which is why we’re discussing the ascension. Next Sunday is Pentecost and the next Sunday is Trinity Sunday. So, that vote we just took was rigged. I’d planned on spreading it out over 3 weeks.
We’ll look at the same passage from Matthew each of these 3 Sundays and then jump over into other passages that relate to this one. Matthew 28:16-20
Jesus’ last words are that we (his followers) are to take his message all over the place. Teaching people to live the way Jesus taught us to live. Jesus knew that his way of life would become a reality in this world through local communities of his followers, called a church. Weird coincidence, the mission statement of TF sounds a lot like Jesus’ words here.
We believe that there are five patterns of living that Jesus taught us to follow, so we focus upon them as a church. The 5 slide WG – Jesus knew that we were created with the need to worship something, so we’d be better off worshipping our Creator. So we gather every Sunday morning to worship God. But we also do this during the week as well, which is what your SOAP readings on the back of your weekly are all about.
CB – While you can hold to certain theological beliefs in your own mind, you can’t really follow Jesus on your own. We need each other. And we need more than sitting together in worship, we need to do life together. Which is what our small groups are all about.
SO – On the night before he was crucified, Jesus washed his disciples dirty and smelly feet. That was an act reserved for the lowest of the low. Right after doing it, Jesus said, “I’ve set you an example that you’re to serve each other.” We serve through our ministry teams.
GS – Jesus talked more about money than any other topic. He knew the controlling power of money. He knew the best way to keep money from controlling you is to give it away. He also knew that if we truly valued his work on this earth, we’d be support it financially. We’d put our money where our mouth is, so to speak.
IFCF – Jesus once said that his entire life was about seeking and saving the lost. It’s not just about us getting our lives right with God, it’s not just about our family being in church. Jesus transforms us so we can be a part of helping others transform. Which is why we’re praying for our Fave Five Fave Five image this year.
What we say around here is that as we live out these 5, we’ll be a part of transforming our little corner of the world, which is just a different take on what Jesus said here.
While he was on earth, Jesus lived and taught these things. And it made a huge impact on his corner of the world. But Jesus also knew that his one body wasn’t enough, that he needed to multiply, so to speak.
You see, when Jesus ascended into heaven and then later sent his Holy Spirit to his followers (next week) he went from having just one physical body to having a zillion bodies. Because of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives (next week) every single one of his followers are the body of Jesus in this world. Jesus was limited to
In order to multiply, Jesus had to ascend. It’s not explained in this passage, but we’re told in Luke’s Gospel that right after Jesus said those words, he ascended into heaven.
The ascension points to Jesus’ power. It shows that He is God. He’s conquered death and ascended into heaven, which means he has the power to enable us to live by his teachings and to help other people live that way, too.
In the NT book of Ephesians, we read some teaching about what Christ’s ascension means to the church, this community of people committed to following Jesus. As I studied this passage, I saw a picture of a team, people working together for the common mission. Because of the ascension, God has given us the necessary gifts to work together as a healthy team.
Ephesians 4:1-16
We’re going to walk through this passage and discuss what it shows us about being a healthy team. How we’re we’ve been put together as a team to fulfill our mission of pointing people toward Christ. We can get a glimpse of the importance of this passage by the tone of the author’s voice, vs. 1. This is the leader of the church literally begging the people to work together in this mission. I know how the guy feels. Man, if you could know how I’ve pleaded before God, asking that TF would be a place that honors him.
So the author then gives us a picture of a healthy church, vs. 2. Imagine a community marked by humility, patience, forgiveness. That’s what the church is to be about. But it doesn’t just happen. Vs. 3 “Make every effort,” “bind yourselves together.” I don’t feel like forgiving, but I will. I’m not like you, we don’t see things the same way, but I’m choosing to live at peace with you.
When we make this effort to live in peace, we realize that Jesus has brought us together as one. Vs. 4-6 There are actually 7 “ones” in this passage. Last summer, I talked about how the number 7 was used in scripture to point to perfection. We’re not perfect people, we’ll never be a perfect church, but we can perfect in our commitment to unity. We’re not perfect in our performance, but we’re sold out in our commitment.
I don’t know about you but I’ll admit that at times I get completely overwhelmed by this mission of pointing people toward Jesus. “How in the world can I ever do that?” But that’s what the Resurrection and Ascension is all about. It’s not about our ability, it’s about Jesus’ power. And Jesus gives us gifts, to be used in our church, to point people toward Jesus. Vs. 7-8 In bible times, when a king conquered, he demanded gifts from those he just conquered. Here we see Jesus, the one who has just conquered death, sin and evil, giving gifts to his followers. He knows those gifts will help them conquer evil, too. Before those gifts are explained, we get one more glimpse into Jesus’ power. Vs. 9-10 Parabola image What you see here is a parabola. It starts high, dips down low, then rises back up. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He’s God, so his natural position is on the throne of the universe, so to speak. But he chose to leave his natural position and be born in this world as a Galilean peasant. The bottom point is the cross, he went all the way down to a brutal death. But he didn’t stay dead. CHRIST IS RISEN! He rose up from the grave and then rose up from the earth. Vs. 10 is one of my favorite bible verses, vs. 10. That blows my mind. I don’t really understand what it means to “fill the entire universe” but I’m pretty sure it means Jesus is really powerful!
The one who filled the universe gave gifts to the church. Vs. 11 Jesus kicked butt and he spread these gifts among the church so the church could kick butt, too. Apostle – this word literally means “the sent-out one.” It refers to any person who takes the love of Jesus into a place that isn’t yet experiencing it. It could refer to a missionary going to a far-off country. It could refer to my wife taking the love of Jesus to the people who work at the local strip clubs. An apostle goes and starts something.
Prophet – this is taking God’s eternal truth and speaking it into a particular time and place to a particular group of people. Preaching is a form of prophecy. Prophets tend to make people mad sometimes. You can think of a time in which someone said something to you and you thought, “how dare they” but you knew it was true. There’s a reason prophets in the OT got killed. There’s a reason it freaks me out to preach on Sundays.
Evangelist – Contrary to what you might think, this does not refer to a guy in a pink suit with a pink-haired wife telling you to call with your credit card number while tears are running down his face. Evangelist was a military term, evangelists were those who went from city to city proclaiming their king’s victory. When you share (over a coffee) what Jesus has conquered in your life, you’re an evangelist. Some evangelists are great with their words, telling people about Jesus. Some are great at inviting, “come hear about Jesus.” In fact, a lot of you are here because someone invited you to come hear about Jesus at TF.
The next two gifts are actually linked together, Pastor and teacher – This one’s obvious, right? Me and Andy, a pastor is only a person on paid staff. Nope, not even close. We’ve got a lot of other pastors. All of our small group leaders are pastors. The word “pastor” referred to a shepherd. It’s this picture of one who walks alongside their flock, comforting them, taking care of them, leading them. The pastor also teaches people what it means to follow Jesus. While I may be the lead pastor, I’m certainly not the only pastor. In fact, our church is too big for me to pastor everyone. That’s why we break down into smaller groups. You know who’s one of the best pastors in our church? Joe Kumor. Joe has a gift for walking with people, teaching people. He did it while stationed oversees with the military and he’s doing it now as an incredible small group leader.
If you have these gifts, are you using them? Are you teaching? Are you sharing about Jesus? Is there a new ministry God’s calling you to start?
If you don’t have these particular gifts, you’re not off the hook. In 1 Corinthians 12, we’re given another list of gifts in the church. It includes these leadership gifts as well as behind the scenes gifts; prayer, healing, and the gift that encompasses a wide area – serving. Some people hate to be up front, but they’ll work their tails off behind the scenes.
These gifts of leadership are given so the leaders can rally everyone together to fulfill our mission, vs. 12.
As I’ve been studying this passage this week, it seems like the whole thing peaks in verse 13. Jesus ascended, Jesus gave us gifts, so this could be true of us. Vs. 13
Three things our risen Jesus wants for us: Unity, Knowledge and Maturity. We already discussed unity; it’s this commitment to living in peace together. Unity doesn’t mean we’re best friends with everyone, but it does mean we extend peace to each other. Knowledge is knowing stuff about Jesus. So when you hear someone say, “Jesus wants us to ____” you’ll know that isn’t true. And maturity is a big one. Maturity has NOTHING to do with how long you’ve been a Christian. I’ve known people that have been following Jesus for less than a year that are very mature and those who have been Christians for decades that still act like babies. And for the right price, I’ll release those names…
We get a picture of Christian maturity by just thinking about children maturing. How do you know a child is maturing, when they’re learning to feed themselves. There is this terrible belief a lot of people have, that it’s the pastors job to feed everyone. While I try to preach scripture every Sunday, it’s not enough for your spiritual development. One meal, no matter how good, isn’t enough. Which is why we have our SOAP readings.
You can also know a child is maturing when they’re able to consistently do adult things, like walk, use the potty, use big people words they’re growing up. When you’re able to overcome base temptations and make God-honoring decisions on a regular basis, you’re maturing as a Christ-follower. Is your life marked by maturity?
And according to the last part of this verse, when we’re moving toward unity, knowledge and maturity, we’ll be living up to Christ’s standard. We will be like Jesus in this world. Let me tell you, a group of people being like Jesus will get the world’s attention.
Some of you have already heard this story, but I talked with Dan Weinbauhm of channel 9 and he really wanted to do a story on our Love Wins ministry. They’d just done a story about Christians protesting a strip club and he couldn’t believe Christians would take gift bags into a strip club. I explained how we try to follow Jesus’ example of love. We talked with the clubs and they didn’t want the publicity, so I told channel 9 ‘no.’ Which was hard, I wanted to be on the news. But the fact that Dan Weinbauhm was so blown away by what Love Wins is all about, shows just how many churches and Christians fail to love like Jesus.
Which is why our unity is so important. You can go to any workplace and find backbiting, gossip, jealousy. But the church is to be a refuge from what’s ‘normal’ in our world. ‘
We’re going to have conflict, we’re going to have disagreements. We’re human. But the desire to be like Jesus compels us to go to the person who offended us and say, “hey, I don’t understand where you’re coming from” or “what you did hurt me.” And we speak the truth to each other in love. It wasn’t like that when I worked at Fed Ex, you complained to everyone but the person who offended you. We’re all tempted to do that, but we’re called to a higher standard. And when I personally offend you (if it somehow hasn’t happened yet, just wait) please come to me about it. To talk to other people, rather than me, destroys our church.
When we’re working together as a healthy, Christ-like team, here’s what happens, vs. 16 Jesus gave you a different gift than he gave me. When we use our gifts together, we help each other grow. Which as this verse tells us, we’ll have a healthy and growing church.
You know that last Sunday was one of our biggest non-Easter crowds ever? I should be gone more often. You know that since September, we’ve had 10 families that weren’t a part of a church connect at TFC? A healthy church is a growing church. Which makes this a good time to remind you that we’re moving in the fall. Labor Day weekend, we’ll be moving into PRMS. Auditorium picture
It’s all about helping more and more people know Jesus. And Jesus’ one earthly body wasn’t enough to do that, he’s chosen to work through all of ours. So, are you using your skills, your resources, your body to make TF a healthy team?
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