Cultivating Missional Living - As the Father Has Sent

As The Father Has Sent Me

In the first sermon of this series, we examined the missionary nature of God and the “sentness” of us, His church. Our God is a missionary God who sends a missionary church. We learned the word missional is the adjective used to describe the church as sent, it is a missionary entity. But, this is only half of the story.

I want to make you aware of something known as the “missional-incarnational pulse.” Here the word missional expresses the sending nature of the church, while the incarnational represents the embedding or implanting of the Gospel into a local context. So, in other words, missional speaks to our direction-we are sent, while incarnational is more about how we go.

The Incarnation

The word incarnation comes from a Latin word that literally means “in the flesh.” The Incarnation, refers to the incredible act of love and humility where God took it upon himself to enter into the depths of our world so that the reconciliation between God and humanity may be brought about. The Incarnation is God’s ultimate missional participation in creation. (John 3:16-17) When God entered into our world in and through the person of Jesus, He came to live among us. John 1:14 …The Word became flesh and dwelt among us….Might I offer you an alternative translation…The Word became flesh and blood just like us, and then moved into the neighborhood.

Incarnational Living

The Incarnation not only qualifies God’s acts in the world, but must also qualifies ours. Hear this, If God’s central way of reaching the world was to incarnate himself in Jesus, then our way of reaching the world should likewise be incarnational. Now let me just say that “The Incarnation” was a unique historical and theological event. There is absolutely no doubt that “The Incarnation” of Jesus was a special, unrepeatable event. And to be clear as we enter the world of others, we most certainly cannot take on another’s identity in the fully integrated way that Jesus did. But we most certainly can make a distinction between “The Incarnation” and incarnational ministry, the asking of believers to model their lives after the life of Jesus.

The Apostles did. They insisted that Jesus is to be the model for Christian living.

1 Peter 2:21 for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in His footsteps.

1 Corinthians 11:1 be imitators of me, (Follow my example) as I am of Christ, (as I follow Christ)

Peter makes clear that Jesus’ life is to be our example. And Paul states simply that we can follow his way of life because he is so closely following the way of Jesus.

Paul makes this point even more strongly in the letter to the Philippians. In Chapter 2 he tells us that our attitude should be the same as that of our Lord’s.

Phil. 2:5-7.

It is often assumed that this passage commends Jesus’ humility, which absolutely is clear in this text. But Jesus’ humility is commended insofar as it is expressed in his giving up of his identity as God, and of his divinity)

So first, to follow Jesus’ example means that we should share his profound humble identification with sinful humankind (v. 7b-8a) being born in the likeness of man, taking on the form of a servant, and being found in human form….

Second, those of us who wish to emulate Jesus should be aware of His equally humble willingness to empty himself and make himself nothing for the sake of God’s redemptive purposes (v. 6-7a) …who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…For us to embrace an incarnational ministry, we must then be willing to relinquish our own desire and interest in the service of others.

      So this speaks to two very important ideas related to incarnational ministry-the concepts of “proximity” and “presence”

Proximity

Incarnational ministry must involve living in close proximity with others. We cannot demonstrate Christlikeness at a distance from those whom we feel called to serve. So, just as Jesus took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood, we must do likewise. This for some requires moving geographically to be closer to those whom God has sent them. But at the very least, it demands that we create time and space to be directly and actively involved in the lives of the people we are seeking to reach.  (God entered into Time and Space and for 33 years Time and Space were constant for God, He got involved in a very real way, with the lives of those He created)

Presence

The Concept of presence moves beyond mere proximity to identification and surrender. Jesus identified with and advocated for those he was called to. As Paul says, He humbled himself. He literally emptied himself for the sake of others. This realization suggests an incarnational approach that calls us to relational identification with our neighbors that will lead to tangible acts of love and sacrifice.

It is helpful to recognize that Jesus’ words from John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” are most often used to emphasis the sending of the disciples, and subsequently the church. But we must not neglect the first half of the passage. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me.” The word translated as (Or in some cases just as) means “like” or in a similar manner.” In other words, we need to be sent “like” Jesus was sent. ….To whom, and in what manner was Jesus sent?....He was sent to the down and outers of society. ….He was with and for tax collectors, the oppressed, the poor, the diseased. Again, taking Jesus as our example, we are called to do “Likewise.”

In my life the concept of incarnational witness has always been relegated as a way of expounding on the character of Missions, specifically in the vocation or calling of being a missionary. And I accepted that because I lived much of my life with this idea that some are called to be missionaries. But hear me, in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God revealed himself as the One who is with and for his creation. And now, as the Risen Lord sends His Spirit to empower His church, I see that we, the church, not just some who are called to missions, but we the church, are called to become God’s People. People who are present, to have a presence, in the world, with and for the world. Like John the Baptist, pointing always to Jesus.

Incarnational witness is then, a way of describing not some calling. It is instead a way of describing Christianity in terms of Jesus Christ as the messenger, the message and the model for all, all, who follow Him. So, for us to speak of the incarnation missionally is then to link who Jesus was, what Jesus did, and how he did it, in one single great event that defines all that it means to be Christian.

Our Response

So, what does all this talk of identification, proximity, and presence have to do with our daily living?

Well I know you might get tired of me saying this, but it is all about relationships. It is about getting close enough to people to listen. Getting close enough to understand their hopes and dreams. And close enough to actually like and love them as individuals.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus was a friend of sinners…..a friend of sinners. What constitutes friendship? That is a good question. I do not have time to answer it. But let me just say. When a person invites you to meet and spend time with their friends, you can assume that that is what a friend is. A person whom you spend time with. There was a sense of quirky holiness about Jesus that drew people to him. It has been said that people who were not Like Jesus, liked him. ….So, as followers of Jesus, shouldn’t that also be true of us? Well, this will not happen in our life without our living among people.

So ? what is it going to take for us to incarnate the life of Jesus in our neighborhood? What is it going to take for us to really move into our neighborhood, maybe, for the very first time?

When I talked last year about our mission here at Ridgecrest and have shared on several occasions with individuals. I spoke about the DNA of who we are in Christ. I asked what should that be, I answered well a couple of things it should be is lovers and blessers of other people.

And From the very beginning, God’s way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through a blessing strategy…so how do we in a very practical way that’s theologically grounded explain to people how they could bless people in places they are incarnating?

B- Begin with prayer. We want to ask, ‘God’ how do you want me to bless the people in the places you’ve sent me to?’

L- Listen. Don’t talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God sends you.

E- Eat. You can’t just check this off. It’s not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships.

S- Serve. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you’ll know how to serve them.

S- Story. When the time is right, we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life.

Genesis 12:2-3 says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Look for the complete Sermon at rcbcdallas.org

LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

   For several years now, since learning about an incredible discipleship tool from Neil Cole, I have praised the effectiveness of Life Transformation Groups. I have never discovered a better method for implanting the DNA of Jesus within new disciples. But recently I have gotten only resistance when trying to pass on this method.Then I read this today in a post by a Pastor at Austin Stone....  I'm thankful; for the affirmation and validation.

Going Deep

“Where do we go deep?”

This is a common question when we start describing the MC practices. Most American Christians are used to weeknight Bible studies being the place where we try to dive deeply into the Bible together. There are a few serious limitations to this practice:

It’s easy to let this be our only time of Bible study and even allow others to do our Bible-thinking for us. We become overly dependent rather than becoming self-feeders in God’s Word.

In large groups, studying the Bible often feels like you've obeyed it. Knowledge is not necessarily obedience, however, and we need specific accountability to help our hands obey what our head and hearts know.

The group is too large for intimate confession and correction.

There isn't enough time to cover everything each person needs to hear and say.

The Bible, our personal holiness, and our mission are critically important and deserve much more attention. LTGs are where we go deep, raising the bar of personally following Jesus.

What is an LTG?

LTGs are simple. There are only three parts to remember:

Hear & Obey – Everyone shares what they have heard from God in the 15-30 chapters of Scripture we agreed to read together over the past week and how they obeyed.  We suggest using the REAP (Read, Examine, Apply, Pray) reading plan.

Repent & Believe – We each repent of our sin, sharing how you have sinned against God this past week. Don’t forget to spend time speaking out loud, to yourself and to one another, the good news of Jesus’ work for us; this enables us to believe.

Pray for Unbelievers – Talk about how you've been praying for your unbelieving friends and mention them by name. Explain your plan to weave them into your community.

Thinking Practically

LTGs are simple, but they’re also hard. They take discipline. LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

Keep the group size small for intimacy and time - two or three people of the same gender. Once it grows past three, you multiply. You should be able to finish your meeting within an hour or so. LTGs need to meet separately from your MC’s family meeting. As LTGs are taking off in many Missional Communities, we've found that our love for the gospel grows, and our obedience to Jesus in mission grows as well.

Capturing a Missionary Vision

Cultivating Missional Living

Sermon 1 Capturing a Missionary Vision April 6^th, 2014

Isaiah 6:1-8, Isa. 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19, John 20:21

When we hear the word missionary; what thought comes to mind? I use to think of people going into the jungles, Indiana Jones style and fighting lions and tigers to save people for Jesus. I thought of the lost as people in the jungles of Africa or the Amazon basin of South America. ...Well, in the dictionary for “missionary” it says it is a person undertaking or sent on a mission. Well that’s not very helpful, obvious but still not very defining. So then we look up mission and it says something like…the act of sending or being sent.

And this I think is very helpful. It is in fact very insightful. The idea of mission can relate to either sending or being sent. The problem for the church with this definition is that we tend to focus almost exclusively on the idea of sending rather than being sent. We tend to think primarily of sending and supporting missionaries in faraway places rather than seeing ourselves, both individually and collectively, as being sent. This reality leads us to the first essential that must strengthen and support all of our missional activity….the understanding that God by His very nature is a missionary God, and we as the church, are His missionary people.

The Missionary Nature of our God

Mission is the grand narrative of God’s Word. The entire Bible is generated by and is about God’s mission. The word mission comes from the Latin word ‘missio” meaning sending. It is the central Biblical theme describing God’s activity throughout history to restore and heal the creation. And while it is often over-looked, God’s word is full of sending language that speaks to the missionary nature of our God.

From the sending of Abram in Genesis 12 the sending of His angel in Revelation 22, there are hundreds of examples of God as a sending God. But, perhaps the most dramatic illustration of sending in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah 6. ….In this passage, we catch a glimpse of God’s sending nature. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Is 6:8.

Later in the book of Isiah there is a passage that is fascinating. It is where the prophet recognizes that God’s Spirit has anointed him to “proclaim good news to the poor” and “sent him to bind up the brokenhearted” (61:1).  In the larger passage of Isaiah 61:1-3 it is interesting to note that there are no fewer than six redemptive deeds that proceed from or are dependent on the verb “sent” or the phrase “he has sent me.” To emphasis the centrality of the sending theme, the passage could be rendered this way:

He has sent me, to bind up the brokenhearted;

He has sent me, to proclaim freedom for the captives;

He has sent me, to release from darkness the prisoners

He has sent me, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God;

He has sent me, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion;

He has sent me, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair. (61:1-3)

If this passage is familiar it may be because Jesus applies it to His own ministry in Luke 4:18-19 as He claims to be the fleshly embodiment of Isaiah 61:1-2. It becomes, in a sense, the closest thing to a personal mission statement for Jesus.

As we move through the New Testament, sending language is found throughout the Gospels, the book of Acts, and each of the Epistles. However, the most comprehensive collection of sending language is found in the Gospel of John, where the words “send’ or “sent” are used almost sixty times. The majority of uses refer to the title of God as “one who sends” and of Jesus as the “one who is sent”.

In the final climatic sending passage of John’s Gospel, Jesus makes clear that He is not only sent by His Father, but now He is the sender, John 20:21, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”

With this statement, Jesus is doing much more than drawing a vague parallel between his mission and ours. Deliberately and precisely he is making his mission the model for ours, saying “As the father has sent me, I am sending you.” So, our understanding of the church’s mission must flow from our understanding of Jesus’ mission.

The Missionary Nature of the Church

So, the purpose of this brief survey of sending language is not merely to emphasize the missionary nature of our God, but to highlight the importance of understanding the church as a sent missionary entity. God is a missionary God who sends a missionary church. This is why the word “missional” when properly applied is helpful. The word is simply the adjective form of the noun “missionary.” It is used to describe the church as those who operate as missionaries in their local context. So, at the core of the missional conversation is the idea that a “genuine missional impulse is a sending rather than an attraction one. ..In other words, we should be sending people of the church out among the people of the world rather than attempting to attract people of the world in among the people of the church. This is so helpful because most people do not think of the church in sending, missionary terms.

Let me offer to you 3 ways is seems people view the nature of the church in our day. First comes from our heritage in having been birthed out of the Protestant Reformation. We have inherited a particular view of church that emphasizes:

the proper preaching of the Word,

the proper administration of church ordinances,

and proper church discipline.

This view tends to give us the impression that the church is a place where things happen at. So the church is thought of as a place a person goes to, to hear the Bible taught, to participate in the Lords Supper and baptism, and in some cases, though rare today, to experience church discipline.

    A second view is our Contemporary Variation on the first. While we are not far removed from this first view as a place where certain things happen, a more accurate description of the way people view the church today would be as a vendor of religious goods and services. Members are viewed more as customers for whom the religious goods and services are produced. Churchgoers expect the church to provide them with a range of services. These might include great worship music, dynamic children’s programs, small groups, seminars on parenting and marriage, and so on.

     One of the major problems with both of the first two is that the church is seen as an institution that exists for the benefit of its members.

A third view of the nature of church we might call the “Missionary Vision of the Church”… a body of people sent on a mission. Central to this view is understanding the church as a people called and sent by God, to participate in His mission for the world. The church still gathers together, but the difference is that we don’t gather for our own sake, but instead for the sake of others, or…better yet, for the sake of God’s mission. We come together as a collective body of believers to be equipped through prayer, worship, and the preaching of and study of God’s Word in order to be sent.

So why does all this matter:

Well for one reason, consider the concept of cultural distance. What is cultural distance; it is how far a person in our neighborhoods and communities is from a meaningful engagement with the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Let me explain. Our cities have changed so much in the past few years culturally.  And there are four distinct levels; we might say barriers to engagement with our community.

Level 1- Contains those with some concept of Christianity who also speak the same language, have similar interests, most likely share the same nationality. And are from a similar class grouping as us and our church. Most of our friends would probably fit into this group.

Level 2- Contains the average non-Christian in our context. A person who has little real awareness of, or interest in, Christianity and is somewhat suspicious of the church. This category might also include those previously offended by a bad experience with church or Christians. We call them de-churched.  We encounter these people every day in our extended relationships, school, work, the park or mall….

Level 3- contains people who have absolutely no idea about Christianity. Or they might be part of a fringe subculture or ethnic group with another religious impulse. We might include those marginalized by Christianity, the gay community, drug abusers and alcoholics, ex-inmates from prisons or even people with mental disorders. This would also include people with an agnostic approach to Christianity. (I do not believe personally in God, but admit He might exist.)

Level 4- contains ethnic and religious groups with a bad history of the church. Muslims and Jews. The fact that they are even here in the west, might help reduce the distance between us and them and sharing the Gospel. But just about everything else gets in the way of a meaningful conversation about Jesus.

Why this matters is that our church has operated almost exclusively in the first level. And doing church the attractional way where we do things to get them to come to us works pretty good at the first level.  Although churches around are operating at this level so it becomes more about who is the most attractive church.

But the population in Dallas Texas is increasingly defined by descriptions of those in the level 2, 3, and 4 category. So, more and more people who call Dallas home find themselves further and further away from the influence of our church.

This means that if we remain in our attractional posture, those outside the church, and outside our reach, will have to do the cross-cultural work to find Jesus. What? ….What I’m saying is that those who are far away from God are being asked to become like missionaries and cross over the cultural barriers to come to us. We are asking lost and de-churched people to become missional when we are the sent ones.

It would be like Isaiah answering back to God, don’t worry, if we wait long enough those disobedient Israelites will see their own way back to you God.

But I believe this is a pivotal moment Ridgecrest, a moment when we as followers of Christ will rediscover the heart God gave us for himself, one that loves our neighbors and communities. One that longs for the journey of Going, as the church, instead of just coming to the church!

Complete Sermon Video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDWTjOK24Es