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The Message for June 11, 2017Matthew 28:16-20Does Our Mission Matter?Rob Miller, Pastor

Last week we considered the question – Does the Church Matter? You can download that message on our webpage in video or written form. Check it out if you wish.

Does our mission matter? That’s our question for today. Some people say, “Yes - our mission matters?” Others say, “No – it doesn’t matter?” And others - really haven’t thought much about our mission?

Let me set the record straight - Our mission matters! Say that with me. Our mission matters! And… nothing else is more important.

Consider these cool quotes I found online regarding mission…

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Our mission comes directly from Jesus. It’s revealed in our assigned reading for today from Matthew 28:16-20.

Read Text Matthew 28:16-20

These were Jesus’ last words to his disciples before he ascended into heaven. They’re kind of important. Notice the disciples gathered together and worshipped Jesus. When the disciples were together they focused on Jesus – even though some of them doubted. They had their doubts… Who doesn’t?

Notice that as they worshipped - Jesus came to them. That’s kind of important too. Jesus always comes to us.

Notice too that Jesus says he has authority in heaven and on earth… We don’t. We don’t have any authority. Jesus has all the authority. He is Lord and Savior of all.

And… because he is our Lord and Savior he gives us a clear mission – a reason for being – a purpose for life. That mission is this: to be disciples who make more disciples. It’s that simple -- not always easy but certainly simple.

That’s the mission for every church -- and it’s the mission for everyone who claims to be a Christian.

This mission goes for all of us – personally. This text suggests that -- You and I are to go about living life in such a way that we make disciples for Jesus. The question is how? Thankfully -- Jesus tells us how in a three step process…

1. Baptize people. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A life of discipleship begins with baptism. In our Lutheran tribe - We baptize people of all ages in order to support one another in our life together and to surround ourselves with those who share the same mission. We grow into our baptism for the rest of our lives.

2. Teaching one another to do what Jesus taught.

Jesus doesn’t say – teach. He says “teaching.” It’s an on-going process. Jesus’ teachings involve two things -- love God and love others. It takes the shape of a cross. The cross is the ultimate sign of love.

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The best way to teach someone is to show them. I learned this by coaching my son’s baseball team over the years. You can tell someone how to do something but they don’t really get it until you show them. We are to go about living life showing people love. Discipleship = love

3. Remember, Jesus is with us wherever we go.

We are never alone. Jesus is with us wherever we go. We are to share Jesus and his love with others wherever we go. We need to be reminded weekly that Jesus is with us wherever we go. We forget things about every seven days or so… That’s why we gather for worship weekly to refocus our lives on Jesus and to worship him alone.

Our mission matters!

Churches will often develop a mission statement to give traction for their mission. A mission statement might change from time to time but the mission never changes.

Our leadership team has been in conversation for quite some time about a mission statement for us here at FLC to give traction to our mission of disciple making. At a meeting this last week we came up with this mission statement:

Whatever it takes to make disciples by sharing God’s grace

Let’s take a look at this statement in detail...

Whatever it takes – we are not going to let anything or anyone get in the way or distract us from our mission of discipleship.

to make disciples – that’s the mission Jesus gave to us – plain and simple.

by sharing – we are to share Jesus and his love with others in the church and outside the church. He is with us wherever we go.

God’s grace – this life of love that we share in and through the church is unconditional, undeserved, and unexpected. God graces us every day and by God’s grace life happens.

Whatever it takes to make disciples by sharing God’s grace

Ten words, ten powerful words, ten life-changing words, ten words to guide our thoughts and our words and our actions.

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Point of clarification… sometimes we confuse the method with the mission. It’s easy to mix them up. Here’s the difference…

The method is how we do what we do.

The mission is why we do what we do.

I am thankful to Carey Nieuwhof Lead Pastor at Connexus Community Church north of Toronto Canada. He wrote a blog on this matter.

He writes: It’s an epidemic in the church world to confuse these two. The mistake is easy to make. The problem is this -- people get very fond of their methods.

You get rewarded for great methods… like the kind of worship you offer, or the programming your church does, or whatever else you’ve become good at. You get rewarded by results and sometimes by becoming known for how well you do things.

Chances are the people love your methods. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there, which is why it’s so difficult to change them.

Change the music or the worship style you’re known for and prepare to be unpopular for a long time. Change the programming people love and get ready for the backlash.

That’s because when people confuse the method with the mission, they see the methods as sacred. Not the mission. But methods are never sacred - especially in the church. The mission–and only the mission—is sacred.

If you were actually transported back to the first century, you wouldn’t recognize how the church worshipped. Over the years we have changed our methods in the church in order to reach the current generation and adapt to the changing times.

Those who protest change in the church have confused the mission with the method. And when you refuse to change the method, you eventually kill the mission.

That’s why it is so important for us to clarify our mission of discipleship… With a clear mission we willingly change our methods to advance our mission.

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In order to reach more people, we will change our worship style and our ministries to advance our mission. We won’t stubbornly cling to ineffective methods.  We will gladly embrace new methods to advance our mission.

We will do whatever it takes to make disciples by sharing God’s grace…

Say that with me… we will do whatever it takes to make disciples by sharing God’s grace.

This past week Simon and I participated in 8 Days of Hope… Did anyone get a change to participate?

What an awesome experience. I have to tell you that experience changed my view of the church and what it means to be disciples who make more disciples. Here are some pictures I took…

This was Monday morning at the Cajun Dome… Around 2500 people gathered for breakfast and then worship then send out to serve others and then returned that evening for dinner and sharing stories of God’s grace being shared. Al (in the blue) was the preacher for that morning. He talked about how God blessed Abraham and that we are blessed by God to go and bless others…

This was orientation on Monday morning with Steve Tybor president of 8 Days of Hope - 250 people…

On Tuesday morning after breakfast -- worship started with ½ dozen youth coming out and hitting beach balls around into the crowd… Then Steve said “Today I hope you will

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be as flexible as Gumby…” As disciples we need to be flexible because our mission is all about working with people.

Worship on Tuesday morning was very inspiring. Here some 2500 people were singing – “Jesus I need you – every hour I need you.” You could feel the Spirit at work in the room. We were then sent out to help people experience Jesus through us. Sent out to be a blessing to the families and to those we worked with…

As part of this ministry we gave away $1,000,000 of free furniture to the families who lost everything in the flood. It was top of the line furniture. Those tables sell for $1,000 a piece I was told… All free… to the families…

Here’s another picture of the furniture…

There was also a tractor and trailer full of tools that any worker could sign out and use on the job for as long as needed…

We met people from all over the country (41 states) from various faith backgrounds. In the house where we

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worked there was a father and two sons from Ohio, a guy from Indiana, two guys from Alabama who didn’t know each other before coming here, a mother and daughter and aunt from Kansas. Along with Simon and me.

This is Dwight from Alabama…And Katharine from Kansas…

Dwight is Baptist. We spent the first day talking theology. We probably talked more theology than we did work but we were both better for it. We are now life-long friends…

Katharine just graduated high school. She, her mom, and aunt came down from Kansas to spend the week serving. This was her aunt’s fifth trip with 8 Days of Hope. Katharine did not want her picture taken… you can tell… She was not happy with me. She and Simon got along like brother and sister – teasing each other all day long.

As a matter of fact Simon put it this way. “We would come together as strangers in the morning and then by the end of the day we were like family.”

This was the church… there were no politics, no arguing, no drama, no issues, no problems… just a common mission to be disciples who shared God’s grace by serving…

Does our mission here at FLC matter? Indeed it does. And I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us next. Can you?

Next week we begin a Ten-Week Worship Series on Radical Discipleship.