Our Mission: Living By Faith (2nd Corinthians 5:1-10)
Sermon for Centenary UMC
[Slide] Our Mission:
Living By Faith
(2nd Corinthians 5:1-10)
Boom
Box: Duh duh duh duh… Mission Impossible Theme.
[Slide] We’ve all surely
seen Tom Cruise or Peter Graves receiving his next mission for IMF. “Good
evening, Mr. Hunt. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, blah blah blah.
This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” Shhh - Smoke!
There
are 8 Mission Impossible films, 171 episodes in the original television series,
and another 35 eps in the 1988 reboot. With so many missions, are they really
impossible?
Today
we are talking about our mission. What is a mission and why do we need one? [Slide] A mission
statement clarifies our purpose. It says what we are to do. It gives the reason
an organization exists.
[Slide] The term
"mission" originates from the Latin missio (meaning "act
of sending"), used by 16th century Jesuit priests to describe
overseas religious expeditions. For centuries, missions were strictly religious
or military in nature.
[Slide] Peter Drucker, the
father of modern management, popularized the use of a mission statement.
Businesses widely adopted mission statements in the ‘80s-90s. Here’s a few. Can
you guess the organization?
[Slide] Love All Serve All
- [Slide] Hard
Rock Café
[Slide] to entertain,
inform, and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled
storytelling. [Slide]
Disney
[Slide] Our Dream is to
bring people together for a better world. [Slide] (Anheuser-Busch) Beer, the
original social network, has been bringing people together for thousands of
years.
[Slide] What is the
mission of the church? Jesus gave us the Great Commission. I asked Google to
tell me the difference between mission and commission. [Slide] Here’s the answer I got.
A
mission is an overall purpose or long-term goal, while a commission is a
specific, authorized command or task given to carry out that purpose.
[Slide] The great
commission is to make disciples who follow Jesus. But for what purpose? [Slide] The United
Methodist Church says our purpose is to transform the world! Seems simple
enough: Make disciples - Transform the world.
[Slide] Centenary’s mission
has three actions: Live by Faith, Be Known by Love and Be a Voice of Hope. We
act upon faith, hope and love to make disciples who transform the world. [Slide] We are in
the business of Shaping World Changers.
[Slide] Today we are
talking about the first action in our mission statement, Live by Faith.
What
is faith? The bible actually gives us a definition. [Slide]
Faith
is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. (Hebrews
11:1, NET)
Faith
is being sure, convinced that what is believed and hoped for is true. We trust
even though we do not see God’s promises fully realized. Faith is being sure,
it’s going to happen just as God promised.
What
do we hope for? [Slide]
I think of the old hymn When We All Get to Heaven. (Eliza E. Hewitt
1898)
Onward
to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we'll behold.
Soon the pearly gates will open;
we shall tread the streets of gold.
When
we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
we'll sing and shout the victory!
[Slide] We hope for the
resurrection of our bodies and welcome into our eternal home.
2nd
Corinthians 5 has one of my favorite descriptions of Christian hope.
[Slide] “We know that if
our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a
building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the
heavens.” (2Co 5:1)
Notice
that Paul uses a tent to describe our bodies. Tents are temporary. I remember
tearing down tents after camping. We swept them clean of debris and let them
dry in the sun before rolling them up and storing them away. I was always
grateful to get home to my own house. Resurrection is an upgrade from a
temporary tent to an eternal house made by God. I wonder what the warranty is
like?
[Slide] Faith is being
convinced that you will be welcomed to your eternal home with the words, “Well
done, good and faithful servant!”
We
are somewhat separated from the Lord in these tents, these mortal bodies. It
requires trust to follow our compass heading to heaven. Paul says we walk by
faith, not by sight.
[Slide] We walk by faith
in the world, at home, at work and school. We live by faith in the grocery
store and Walmart. We live by faith everywhere we go.
How
do we live by faith? [Slide]
Living by faith is…
knowing
where you’re going.
showing
Who you’re owing.
going
where the Spirit’s blowing.
[Slide] Living by Faith means knowing
where you’re going.
Heaven
is where we are going.
[Slide] Richard Foster, author of Streams
of Living Water wrote, "The goal of the Christian life is not simply
to get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us!"
Faith
isn’t simply about the happy-ever-after. Living by faith is about getting
heaven into us. Faith is a relationship. When you are a friend of Jesus, He will
transform your life. Living by faith, you will begin to think like Jesus, sound
like Jesus, and act like Jesus.
Faith
is knowing where you’re going. We are going with Jesus toward heaven and heaven
is coming into us as we live by faith each day. Pray, study the Bible, meditate
on Jesus, and serve others in love, and you become a heaven-filled person who
embodies Jesus.
[Slide] Living by Faith is showing Who you’re
owing.
[Slide] Paul tells us that we all must
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. (2Co 5:10) We owe our very lives to
Jesus. We have a court appearance to make at the end. I will stand before the
Sinless Judge for the good and the evil I’ve done. I entrust myself the mercy
of the One who died for me. I owe Him my life.
[Slide] James Dobson, Founder of Focus on the
Family, said that God will ask you three questions when you stand in the
Judgement. 1) Who did you love? 2) Who loved you? 3) What did you do for
Christ?
I
don’t know how he knew that, but how would you answer those questions? Prepare
for judgment by living a life that is showing who you’re owing. You know who
You owe. Make it count.
[Slide] Paul told the Church in his first
letter, “…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you… you are not
your own. For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your
body. (1Co 6:19-20)
These
fleshy mortal bodies we inhabit do not belong to us. There were purchased,
redeemed, by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We once were in slavery to the
power of sin, and the cravings of the flesh. Jesus paid the redemption price
with His own life to set us free.
Paul
discusses freedom in Christ in his letter to the Galatians.
…do
not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through
love serve one another… [Slide]
live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the
flesh. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the
Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh… (Gal 5:13, 16-17)
[Slide] Paul says to make
it our goal to please Jesus, the Righteous Judge. Show Who you owe! Jesus makes
it possible to stand before God without blemish by washing us clean of all
guilt in His precious blood. Since you are free in Christ, live in the Spirit
of Christ.
[Slide] Faith is going
where the Spirit’s blowing.
Living
by faith involves spirituality. Faith is not just believing the promises of
God. It’s not just living in obedient gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice.
Living
by faith means nurturing our friendship with God through spiritual practices
like prayer, meditation, fasting, journaling and reflection.
[Slide] When we serve at
Shalom House, go into it with the eyes of your heart open. Ask yourself,
· How will I live by
faith today?
· How will I let
heaven into my heart?
· How does Jesus
want to transform me?
· How ready am I to
listen to the Spirit’s guidance?
Pray,
serve and reflect. See what fruit spiritual preparation will yield for you and
those you serve.
[Slide] Faith is going
where the Spirit is blowing. Jesus said that’s how it is to be born again. We
can’t see where the wind comes from or where it’s going. So it is with the
Spirit. (John 3:7-8) The Spirit moves us toward a future that we cannot yet see.
To follow the guidance of the Spirit is to walk by faith and not by sight. You
have to trust your guide.
[Slide] When you get on a
jet airliner, you have to trust the pilots to get you to your destination
safely. You are putting your life in their hands. We trust they know how to fly
the plane and can meet any and all problems in flight. You have trust that the
airline mechanics have triple-checked the condition of the plane and performed
the necessary preventative maintenance. In the same way, to go where the Spirit
blows is to trust your guide. You must trust that the Lord has your best in
mind when the way gets difficult. You must trust that the Lord knows what is
needed. Follow the wind of the Spirit.
[Slide] There’s a story of
a mother shopping for groceries. She stood in the diary section, and she had a
strong urge to buy 2 gallons of milk. She only needed one. She obeyed the nudge
and bought two gallons.
[Slide] On her way home
she felt guided to drive down a street she usually would not take. Following
the mysterious inclination, she turned down the street and was guided to stop
at a certain home. A voice told her to go to the door. The home was modest, to
say the least. She felt like a fool going up to a stranger’s home. [Slide] But she
went ahead and knocked holding a gallon of milk in her arm. The door opened. A
small in stature woman opened the door. Her eyes went wide when she saw the
milk. She grabbed the jug and went running in to the kitchen speaking excitedly
in Spanish and weeping! [Slide]
Inside the mother could hear a very hungry baby crying. She realized that
God had just used her to answer a desperate prayer.
[Slide] Faith is knowing
where you’re going – Heaven beyond/within
Faith
is showing Who you’re owing – Live a life worthy of Christ
Faith
goes where the Spirit blows. We walk by faith not by sight.
[Slide] We aspire to be
the church that lives by faith. Do what disciples do.
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