Why
we do what we do
Unpacking
the Mission and Vision, Part 1
Sunday,
September 1st, 2013- MRWC
ILLUSTRATION- A few weeks ago, I had the
opportunity to attend the Leadership Summit held at Moncton Wesleyan Church.
For
those of you who are unfamiliar with the Leadership Summit, it is a gathering
that takes place at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago and is then
broadcast to venues all around the world with one major purpose: Leadership.
The
reason is simple: "when a leader gets
better everyone wins." (Bill Hybels)
I
had attended my first summit several years ago, but hadn’t been back until a
few weeks ago.
While
the event is similar to drinking from a fire-hose, two things jumped out at me
right from the very first message of the day.
Pastor
Bill Hybels talked about what I’m calling the Joshua principle. And his words
are still resonating in my soul.
Joshua
was Moses’ successor. Moses, you may remember, had led the people of Israel out
from under the ruthless hand of oppression of Pharaoh and led them on a 40 year
journey in the wilderness and brought the people up to the brink of the
Promised Land, the land God swore to give to the people.
Moses
was dead, and Joshua was stepping up to the plate as the new leader of God’s
people, and God gave Joshua some words that he would need to live by:
“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time
has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River
into the land I am giving them.
3 I promise you
what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given
you…”
Jumping down to verse 5: "No one will be able to stand against you as
long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail
you or abandon you.
6 “Be strong and courageous,
for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore
to their ancestors I would give them.
7 Be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from
them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful
in everything you do.
8 Study this Book
of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to
obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all
you do.
9 This is my
command—be strong and
courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is
with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:2-9, NLT2)
God promised to
be with Joshua just as He was with Moses. God promised that He would give Joshua
and the people the land He had said He would give them, but God also instructed
Joshua to do something else.
Did you pick up
on that? Three times God told Joshua to be strong and courageous as he led the
people into the Promised Land.
Why?
God knew that Joshua would be
tested in his role as the leader and it was vitally important for Joshua to
remain connected to the Vine.
Dear friend, no
matter what we do in life, God wants us to be strong and courageous. He wants us
to remain connected to Him, because apart from God we can do nothing. (John
15:5)
That truth
penetrated my heart that day. So much so that I have the Joshua principle taped
to the wall in my office.
God wants me,
above all else, to be strong and courageous, to not be afraid, because He is
with me and He will never forsake me!!
That’s the first
"take away" I took from the Leadership Summit.
The second take
away was what Bill Hybels had to say.
He said: “There comes a
time when you need to move from Vision to Values.” In other words, there comes a time when you
need to stop talking and start doing.
This got me
thinking about our church… what is it that we do around here, specifically
related to the Mission and the Vision?
Are they just
words on paper that only the pastoral staff can recite, or is there a
collection of people in the church who not only can recite them, but actually believe
them?
Beginning with
this Sunday, and concluding next Sunday, I want to look at why we do what we do at MRWC.
I want you to
know about our Mission and our Vision, because Bill Hybels is 100% correct: there comes a
time when you need to move from vision to values, so I want you to
hear it from the horse's mouth about what we are all about and why we do what
we do.
But before we do
that, I truly believe we
need to stop and pray
ILLUSTRATION- In July, I began my 4th
year as Lead Pastor of MRWC.
Since the day I started, I have been praying to God, the words that
Caleb said as Joshua was dividing up the Land: “…give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that
day…” (Joshua 14:12, NIV)
That day for
me, refers to the day I resigned my former church and received the call to
pastor this church.
Since that day, I have developed
a passion for this church and surrounding communities, and I believe that
Greater things are possible for this church. (We’ve already seen many of these
Greater things)
Since day one,
I have also been praying for a mission and a vision statement, something we
that would explain why we exist.
After
months of praying and searching the Scriptures, God birthed in my heart the
mission statement of our church: “To Know Christ and to Make Him known”
Should
someone ask you tomorrow morning what MRWC is all about you can tell them in
one sentence: “To
Know Christ and to Make Him known”
This
is why we exist. This is why we are here. We are not the church of Nick; nor
are we the church of Mike, we are the church of Jesus Christ and we exist “to Know Christ.”
One
day, an expert in the law approached Jesus and asked Him a question: “Teacher, which is
the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” (Matthew 22:36, NLT2)
J.
Dwight Pentecost explains the significance of this question: “The Pharisees
had codified the Law into 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions.
These 613 precepts were imposed by the Pharisees on their followers as
their obligation.” (Pentecost,
1981, 390)
Because
there were so many “laws”, people were confused as to which law they were to
follow and what to do if one law came into conflict with another law they were
supposed to follow.
Knowing
the Law inside and out, “Jesus replied,“‘You must love the Lord your God with all
your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew
22:37-38, NLT2)
The
most important thing that followers of Jesus Christ can do is “to know Christ”;
to love Him with our heart, mind and soul. To Love Him with our everything.
Just
because He knew we’d ask, Jesus continued on by telling us: “A second is
equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The entire law and
all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:39-40, NLT2)
If Loving God and loving people
are the greatest things that we can and should do; if loving God and loving
people summarise the entire Law and all the prophets, shouldn’t we be focused
on doing just that?
ILLUSTRATION- I recently began a new book
called Vertical Church, by Pastor James MacDonald.
If you listen to Joy FM, you may have heard of Pastor James. He is the
host of teh Walk in the word Bible program.
In this book, Pastor James suggests that the business of the Chruch
gathering is to reflect the Glory of God.
We have no other business but to Seek God's face when we come to church.
I agree with him 100%. We’re not here for me, we’re not here for you,
we’re here for Jesus, we’re here to Know Christ!
The
Psalmist said it the best when He wrote: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the
glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 115:1, NLT2)
As
followers of Jesus, we’ve got a job to do, and that is to Know Christ. So do
you?
Has the Son of God gripped your heart?
Is He the first person you talk to in the morning and the last person you talk
to before going to sleep?
The
first and greatest commandment is to Know Christ; but this is only half of our
church’s mission statement.
We also exist “to make Him known.”
After
His death and Resurrection, and just before He ascended to heaven, Jesus gave
His disciples one last command: “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
20 Teach these new
disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT2)
Jesus instructed
His followers to go into the highways and bi-ways to preach the life
transforming Good News.
To baptize and
teach new believers in the ways of Jesusà In other words, we are to make HIM known!
ILLUSTRATION- I’ve heard from many of you telling
me how you are seeking to Make Christ known in your world:
Some
are speaking truth in your work-place;
Some
are going to the Legion to make friends with people who are far from God;
Some
are talking about what God is doing at our church with people in the community.
Many
people in our church are reaching out and seeking to make Christ known!
Thank-you
for fulfilling the command of Jesus Christ! Thank-you for being a light in this
dark world!
We need more
people who are willing to step up and share the hope and holiness of Jesus
Christ.
It’s
not too late to get in on the Great Commission. God is doing some really cool
things here at our church, and we need everyone working together to reach our
corner of the world for Jesus Christ.
The
mission of our church is to Know Christ and to make Him known. So,
who’s in?
Who is willing
to acknowledge this mission statement, not only as the statement of the church,
but as your mission as well: "To Know Christ and to Make Him known?
Before
you answer that, let’s go back to the Joshua principle for just a moment.
If
we’re going to accept this mission statement, we’re going to need to remember
the words of Joshua 1:9 which says:
“This is my
command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.” (NLT2)
We’re going to
need the Joshua principle to fulfill the mission statement as the Church of
Jesus Christ.
Some people we
talk to will have nothing to do with God; we must be strong and courageous and
love them anyway.
Some people will
call you narrow minded if you begin talking about Jesus: we must be strong and
courageous and love them anyway.
But some people will
enter into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ because we are
willing to adopt this Mission statement.
I’m praying that
several of you are getting excited about this; several of you are wanting to Know Christ
and to Make Him known, if this is the case, you’re going to need a
reminder, so I have placed cards on the altar.
One side of this
card has the Joshua principle on it, and the other side has the mission of the
church.
I would like for
you to take this card and look it over, and make it your own.
John Wesley once
said: “Give
me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I
care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates
of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.” (http://blog.logos.com/2011/04/ten_thought-provoking_john_wesley_quotes/)
Are you willing
to know Christ and to make him known?
Beth is going to
play a song as a reminder of our task, and I want you to come on up and grab a
card off the altar and begin praying for God to help you “Know Christ and to Make Him known”
No comments:
Post a Comment