“What is mission? From Everywhere to Everywhere”
Matthew 10. 5-13 and 28. 16-20
Matthew brings his Jesus-story to an end by recording a mountain-top encounter. It’s the third in the book. Near the beginning of the story Jesus explains what God’s Kingdom is meant to be like (Matthew 5). In the middle Jesus reveals who he really is (Matthew 17) and here Jesus meets them for the big hand-over, to those who have been following him. So who were these guys?
Imperfect people. “They worshipped, but some doubted”. The same two words are used in Mt 14. 31-33, where Peter walks on the water, then seeing the waves he begins to sink, and Jesus says “Why did you doubt?” but then the disciples worshipped Jesus. They haven’t come very far by chapter 28. They have been taught and trained, by the best mentor ever to walk this planet. They had been warned about his death, promised that he would rise again. But when they were told about the resurrection by the women who were the first to find out, they didn’t believe them. It had taken a long time for the penny to drop. And here, on the mountain, with the teaching of the Sermon ringing in their ears, and the experience of the mountain of transfiguration coming back to them, they worship – but some doubted. The word “doubted” literally means “Stood in two different places.” Some were unsure, even at this stage, if they were really seeing Jesus; or if they were right actually to worship Him. Some doubted. But Jesus still sent them. That should encourage us with all our imperfections and weaknesses.
People with Authority. Authority is a key theme in Matthew. Jesus shows authority ...
in the way he teaches. Mt 7. 28f says “the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law”.
By healing the sick. In Mt 8 esp v 9 a Roman officer who has come to Jesus for healing for his servant shows he understands this as he says: “I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.”
By forgiving sin. When a man is let down to him through the roof Jesus says the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (Mt 9. 6).
He shared with the twelve in chapter 10, and by the end of the story he has and proved that authority in the resurrection. Now Jesus says Jesus says "all authority is given to me". He delegates that authority to the eleven. To the people of God. To the Church. To you & me. He authorises us. We have external authority from him; we also need internal authority: the quality of our lives that makes people want to listen to us. Illustration: when the headteacher of a school walks into the classroom and introduces a new teacher, she is giving that teacher external authority. The class knows that this new teacher has the right to teach them and the backup of the head. But when he opens his mouth and begins to teach and the class realise that this teacher has internalised that authority. He believes in it; he keeps the rules and enforces the rules. He doesn’t beg for the class to listen when he is talking, he demands it. He knows his subject, he can talk about the Battle of Bannockburn as though he was there, And he genuinely cares about them as people. All of that together adds up to internal authority. For us external authority comes from knowing that Jesus has sent us. Internal authority comes from knowing Jesus personally; from living in submission to him and being transformed by him; and from the way we live our lives among people, living the life of the kingdom and being a gracious presence among them: it’s as we mix with people, build relationships, that we earn the right to talk to them about Jesus. (Chapter 10 v 9-12)
Go! We often prefer to open our doors and say ”come to our church”. When I was a kid my Aunts had 78 rpm records (made of shellac: if you dropped them they shattered) records of Tennessee Ernie Ford, including the song “Come, Come, Come Come, Come to the Church in the wildwood, O come to the Church in the vale”. Jesus says “Go Go Go Go!” The words is repeated five or six times in Matthew 28. 7, 10, 16. In Greek it’s four different words. One means march or carry, one means go in advance, one means to lead or bring and one mean depart. We are called to have a simple outward trajectory. Jesus says ”go” and mission happens out there in other places. We love things to be neat and tidy but Jesus doesn't do neat and tidy. Mission is the call of the Church. Mission brings people to the church: but the way that works may not be predictable. Steve Aysthorpe, who works for the Church of Scotland as evangelism advisor for the Highlands, talks about people who have come to faith through Christianity explored or Alpha and have then not joined the church but continued to explore their faith and worship together in the same small group that did Alpha together. We go. We carry the Gospel with us. We accept that the results are not always about building our church but about building God’s church and seeking his kingdom.
Disciples. As we go we make disciples. It is not enough to get people to make decisions: we need to make disciples. That involves two things:
Bringing people to an initial point of repentance and faith expressed in baptism. Baptism (done properly!) is decisive and dramatic. I have never slightly baptised anyone. So there’s a decisive element in Baptism. But it’s not just a decision. In the Gospels and Acts, when Jesus and the Church told the Good news they told them to “Repent and Believe”. That means the “decision” was not just to “ask Jesus into your heart” (something we never read about in the Bible!) but to “hand your life over to God for him to be in charge” and trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross. And the Bible’s way of expressing that is through baptism.
Travelling with them on an ongoing journey of learning and growing in commitment to Jesus as Lord and King. We’ve already noticed that Matthew was very consciously writing the climax to his story, and referencing earlier stuff in the life of Jesus. So all that Jesus commanded, is to be taught. And we are not simply teaching them to know what the Bible says but to observe, to take care to keep what Jesus commanded. To be disciple makers we have to be disciples.
And where do we go? Where do we find the raw materials for making disciples. These times that “going” is repeated (verses 7, 10, 16) it is always “going to Galilee.” That evokes the idea of “Galilee of the Gentiles” where Jesus began his ministry in Matthew 4 verse 15. Jesus is for all nations. He sends us to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1. 8). To all Nations. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of going only to the Lost sheep of the House of Israel (Chapter 10: That was a temporary arrangement). Only going to People Like Us with whom we have a natural affinity. People we like. People we want to hang around with. There are less and less People Like Us even in our community and we must be reaching people who are not like us. People don’t need to be like us in order to become disciples. And the majority of the people of this world live in Asia and Africa not in Scotland. We have an immense privilege to be a sending church for partners in the Islamic World, to have Direct contact with people who are working in Europe and to be invited to partner through BMS with people working in Peru.
And Jesus is with us always. Look! I am with you!. There are three words for see, that imply three levels of seeing: first is noticing, second is considering, third is realising. That’s the word that is used here. It’s the same word that is used in John 20. 9, when after the women noticed that the stone was rolled away, Peter pondered on the grave clothes inside, John saw and believed. He realised it was true. We need to wake up, people, and realise that Jesus is with us. Believe it! He has given us his Holy Spirit. And he is with us every day, until the close of the age, when he comes back and there is a new age, a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus is with us by his Holy Spirit. This empowering makes it possible for us to fulfil this great commission. And it leaves us with no excuse for making the great commission into the great suggestion or the great omission!
So Mission is from everywhere to everywhere. Those who brought the gospel to Scotland came from Ireland in the 6th century and then Scottish Missionaries went to pagan Northumbria with the gospel. John Knox brought back the reformation from Switzerland. The first English Baptist, John Smyth, was baptised in Amsterdam. And the people who formed Rosyth Baptist Church came here from Chatham in Kent. The church is International. It is all over the world and mission is from everywhere to everywhere. It may seem sometimes like we're not much but mission is from everywhere so mission is from us. Mission is from Heaven to Earth. Mission is the mission of God in Christ. Mission is the work of Jesus, the work of the Kingdom today.
© Gilmour Lilly October 2017
