Missions
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors uh here this is a special day we're gonna take a break from Matthew uh because this is commissioning sunday like chet said earlier this is a joyous occasion it's also solemn uh and serious because we get to see a couple and a family that we love dearly leave us and go to make disciples in el progresso honduras so it feels a little bit like a wedding and we get to be the parents we have walked them down the aisle.
Today that we're going to watch them take their vows they're going to commit to doing mission work there and then they're going to depart from us so it's joyous and it's also it's also bittersweet because of how much we love the rockies so this morning we're going to sit in 1st thessalonians 2 and we're going to to glean from that a few years ago chris rocky showed up and he met with chet and he wanted to be a part of a Church that he wanted to either do Church planning or mission work he was discerning this and we said yes we love both of those we want to plant a Church we want to send.
Missionaries so he decided to join us and there were some bonuses that came with it first off there's an awesome family uh and then we found out that chris could play the drums and we never had a drummer and that was exciting and then also danielle could rock the bass and sing so it was awesome well yeah come on which by the way as we're praying this morning please pray for matt freeman because we're losing two key parts of our music team also.
If you want to serve our music team please talk to matt freeman because uh because we need some help all right so he joined us and then he started to to jump in and serve in a few different capacities he joined chet and anna phillips their community group and they were members and they became leaders in training with that process and then they became group leaders uh they've served in a lot of different things chris has gone through our pastor and training process and he's gotten to.
See the good parts of our leadership he's gotten to see the not so good parts of our leadership i've got to see him serve in other capacities he has been he led the charge on meeting felt needs in our in our community on our Church and also uh in in the greater community uh around our Church i've seen him serve in a lot of different ways he has he's gifted in in in counseling and i've seen him kind of operate in that mode he's served in a lot of different capacities.
But as they've been discerning this call they haven't they didn't have a where they just knew they wanted to to be uh missionaries and they wanted to go uh finally it was to latin america but they still were just faithful and as one missionary puts it he says serving God is not a matter of location but it's a matter of obedience and you guys were obedient as you discerned the call to where that was going to be then God finally put el progreso honduras on your hearts.
Now you get to go you get to fall in in the same vein as as william kerry as hudson taylor as jim and elizabeth elliott you guys get to go and leave the comforts of of your own culture and go and take the Gospel to a place that needs it so this sermon this morning is for you guys uh it's primarily for you guys uh it's meant to be an encouragement for y'all but as a Church family we get to listen with two sets of ears i love going to weddings especially.
When i like preaching weddings but i also like going to weddings and hearing uh this sermon because i get to have two sets of ears i get to listen because i know that the sermon is directed at the bride and the groom and it's teaching them all how the Gospel impacts marriage the covenant they're getting into all of that but every time i get to listen uh in those uh sermons i get to remember my vows i can remember what i'm called to as a husband and i get to re-up on my commitment in marriage and that's what we could do as a Church family this morning as we.
Listen you get to re-up on your commitment to be an everyday missionary here because the things i'm going to be encouraging them with are the things that we have to and need to apply here in order to be a Gospel center community on mission in casey and around this area so let's listen to that this morning we're going to be in first thessalonians 2 and as we walk through this there's going to be four encouragements that come out of this passage and and my hope is that they encourage you guys and us as.
Well so let me pray and then we'll jump into the passage father uh we thank you that you command us to go and make disciples and that we get to participate and that great commission that we get to go forth whether it's across the street or across the world God i pray this morning that you would make your mission so clear and so beautiful to us we ask this in Jesus name amen all right starting off in verse 1 4 you yourselves know brothers that our coming to you was not in vain.
But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at philippi as you know we had boldness in our God to declare to you the Gospel of God in the midst of much conflict all right so the first encouragement for you guys is to suffer for the Gospel suffer for the Gospel for two reasons firstly because the people of el progresso need the Gospel and the second reason we'll get into a moment it is ultimately for your comfort and joy so let's tackle that.
First part uh Paul and silas uh were missionaries they were planting churches all across uh europe they were in philippi and in philippi they were in imprisoned they suffered and they leave philippi and they uh show up to thessalonica this is in modern day greece they show up to this city and they also preach the Gospel and suffer there and then they get kicked out of this city for preaching the Gospel and then they go elsewhere and this is kind of what they what Paul does he preaches in one place he gets flawed he gets beaten preaches the next place he gets stoned he gets in prison he looks like a madman you often think.
Why does he keep doing this and there's one very clear reason why he keeps doing this because the people that do not know him that do not know Christ need the Gospel there are people dying and going to hell and they need to hear about Jesus and that's what motivates him as he goes from city to city in the midst of his suffering and in a broken world in a broken world that God is bringing about redemption he calls us as uh as his people to get our hands dirty to join him a level one missionary to somalia wrote his he's running on the pseudonym nick ripken.
Because he's protecting his identity but he writes in his book the insanity of God he says suffering is one of God's ordained means of growth for his growth of his Church he brought salvation to the world through Christ our suffering savior and he now spread salvation in the world through Christians as suffering saints that redemption ultimately comes through the cross it comes through Christ suffering on the cross and therefore he calls us to join in him in a world that is broken in a world that uh that rejects the Gospel in a world that is has Satan ruling and opposing the work of Christ he calls us to join as suffering saints and delivering the.
Gospel which has a cost martin luther puts it pretty bluntly he says a religion that gives nothing costs nothing and suffers nothing is worth nothing suffering is a part of the mission in order to gain ground in the eternity he calls us to suffer in the temporary and that's what you guys are being called into now that's eternal perspective and that may be hard to to to remember in the in the short term may be hard to to grasp hold of that to to the suffering that he calls us to.
Because the reality is is that he's going to call you uh to suffer in a lot of different ways firstly and this is mostly for chris maggie and parker you guys are going to have to to learn the language which takes time danielle you're gonna have to learn the nuances of honduran spanish it takes time and there's going to be some suffering along with that there's some reality that you're probably going to maybe get a little sick ben johnson who was a missionary in lebanon.
For 10 years and his uh first year of being there he wasn't used to the food and the water and he lost 15 pounds from being sick and if you know ben he doesn't have 15 pounds to lose and that's that's a reality that you'll suffer sickness you might suffer homesickness because you're going to lose the normality of living in this culture and there's culture shock involved with that that's a process that takes time you're going to suffer the effects of spiritual warfare no doubt.
Because you're coming uh into a place where the enemy does not want you to succeed there will be unanticipated sufferings that you guys face but here's the deal the sufferings that you guys face ultimately get to be converted into eternal salvation and joy and hope and satisfaction in Christ for those who don't currently know him for the people of el progresso that that have not tasted and seen the lord is good your suffering ultimately gets to be for their good so that's the.
First reason why he calls us into suffering the second is that ultimately we get to experience comfort and joy we get experience comfort and joy that comes through Christ i've been teaching my older children to ride to ride bikes and and they asked me as they say what if we fall is it going to hurt and i could tell them no it's not that bad but if you've ever ridden bikes and you've fallen it hurts it does not feel good but i said yeah i tell them i'm honest with them like it's gonna hurt.
But when you finally learn to ride there's there's so much joy on the other side of this there's so much more the joy of riding a bike as a kid it's worth it the pain is going to be worth and that's a little bit of what we're called into as as missionaries laboring alongside each other being sent by Christ that there is suffering involved but on the other side of that suffering ultimately is joy because here's the deal in your suffering you will be stripped of the comforts of this rule you'll be stripped of the of the idols that we run to you'll be stripped of all of that and you'll be forced to find.
Your contentment and joy in Christ i love what john piper says he says this is God's universal purpose of all Christian suffering more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world i want you to hear that one more time this is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world that as you suffer as as you have things stripped away from you comfort stripped away from you you get to be forced into uh leaning into Christ the Gospel gets become more real as you find comfort and satisfaction and joy in Christ there's a missionary in the 19th century his name is john gibson patton he's a.
Scottish presbyterian missionary to the modern day island vanuatu it's in the pacific ocean near papua new guinea and indonesia and he like many people of his time in the modern kind of the beginnings of the modern mission movement he left with his wife and he when they arrived on the island the the natives did not like them they were hostile to him his wife ended up having a child and then she was killed by the natives and then ultimately their baby died as.
Well because she was a newborn did not have a mother so he suffered immensely there there were times where we had to hide in a tree for safety and fear for his uh life but in those moments well firstly he delivered the Gospel of the people of vanuatu and ultimately the whole island came to know Christ in fact to this day it's 93 percent Christian because of his sufferings uh where it turned into eternal hope for an island that did not know him.
But in the midst of all of his sufferings in the midst of everything he faced he said this i had my nearest and most intimate glimpses of the presence of my lord in those dread moments when musket club or spear was being leveled at my life that in the toughest moments you get to have intimacy with God and it's an intimacy that that you really wouldn't get to experience here an intimacy that gets forced through the trials of being a missionary abroad you'll get to experience.
God in some profound and beautiful ways now i don't know everything you're going to face but i know the people of el progresso need the Gospel and you guys are going to go there may be suffering involved but ultimately is for their eternal hope and in the temporary you get to have etern you get to have comfort and joy in Christ that comes through the gift that is suffering and that applies for all of us as a Church family as well the reality is we get a little bit too comfortable here.
God calls us into suffering oftentimes that's the loss of reputation that may be looking like the kind of the weird Christian in the workplace or in school the reality is is that we're called to proclaim Christ no matter the cost because people desperately need the Gospel here but ultimately as we uh share the Gospel and our idols get exposed we don't run to those comforts we get to lean into the Gospel that is why is encouragement in missions so that's the.
First encouragement let's look at the second starting in verse three for our appeal does not spring from air or imperial or impurity or any attempt to deceive but just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel so we speak not to please ma'am but to please God who tests our hearts for we never came with words of flattery as you know nor with the pretext for greed God is witness nor do we seek glory from people whether from you or from others though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ the.
Second encouragement we get from this passage is to give the Gospel as obedience to God that sharing the Gospel and preaching Christ you can do it from bad motives that's what Paul's defending here he's saying i didn't come to you with bad motives i didn't come to you and preach Christ from impurity or for i'm an attempt to deceive he said i didn't do this to bring flatter to flatter you with words i didn't do this as a pretext for greed.
Because i wanted money from you i didn't do this for personal glory he lays out all these different reasons to help them see that he that he he came with different motives in mind because the reality is you can preach Christ from bad motives you can do it deceitfully that's what false teachers do now i don't think that's going to be a temptation for y'all we wouldn't be sending you out if we thought you are going to take a false Gospel to help progress him.
But the reality is that you've been there and you know that there's a false Gospel prevalent in that city the prosperity Gospel is all over that say the false Gospel that says that God is the mere giver of gifts in exchange for worship so you're gonna have to preach a Gospel that is different than that and guess what that's not gonna be flattering that's that's gonna that's gonna be jarring it's gonna be different than what many of them have heard and with that it's not gonna gain you personal glory you're going to face rejection you're going to be you might be you might be shunned.
For it you might be made to feel even more like an outsider because you are preaching a Gospel that some people do not want to hear and that is a real temptation is personal glory because it's not fun to not be light when you share that's not fun being rejected it's not fun now progressive it's certainly not fun here for any of us to be made to be looked at like you're weird so we don't do it for personal glory and Paul's thing i didn't do it.
For personal glory so what is the motivation he lays it out in verse four he says but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel so we speak not to please man but a please God who tests our hearts you are being sent as missionaries not to please ma'am but to please God your commission the great commission go therefore make disciples of all nations baptize them in the father and son teaching them deserve all they commanded it's from him it's not from man that commission comes from.
God and your ultimate motivation is obedience because that's what you're doing you are going and you're going to make disciples you're going to preach Christ that's the motivation is obeying God which means that evangelism is actually worship it's a response to what God has called you to as you are commanded to live out the Gospel and to share the Gospel with these people which means when you guys are rejected you don't have to feel the weight of that as Christ preaches the ultimate aim or the ultimate truth is that they're rejecting Christ they're not rejecting you you're just being obedient to what.
God has called you to as good soldiers that's what he said Paul says in 1st timothy or 2nd timothy 2 4 he says no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him your aim is to be obedient to please the God who enlisted you and if you sit in that in that truth you will have the power to stay you have the power to make it through all of the sufferings all of the rejection.
Because hear this ultimately ultimately success for you guys will not be uh measured in conversions without measured in the visible impact of what you do there your success will be measured in obedience and that is huge because listen we don't know what we don't know what is going to happen for you guys we don't you might not see a conversion for years the house churches that you want to raise up chris the leaders that you want to raise up we may not.
See that for quite some time you may be you may have times where you're putting together an email update where you have you're grasping at straws you've got nothing really to report but here's the deal you need to remember this in those moments success is not measured by what you report back to us what you report back to your supporters is it is measured by your obedience to declaring the Gospel you don't fail if you preach the Gospel no matter what happens down there be obedient stand in that truth don't let any other motives get in the way that's the.
Second encouragement for you guys and then we get the third here starting in verse seven but we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children so being affectionately desirous of you we're ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves because you had become very dear to us if you remember brothers our labor and toil we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.
While we proclaim to you the Gospel of God my third encouragement to you guys is share more than the Gospel share more than the Gospel Paul realized that they needed more than truth they needed to feel the love of Christ he recognized this his metaphor is like a nursing mother to her children he understand they needed to be cared for they needed to be loved they needed to be reminded of how good the Gospel is by them sharing more than more than just the Gospel they shared their own selves they showed their they shared their lives with them.
Because they had become very dear to them because he cared deeply for them Paul and silas leveraged everything so that they might experience Christ and here's the deal chris danielle maggie parker you guys will get the opportunity to share your own lives and i know you all are going to do this because you've done this so well here everyone who's been around you have seen you do this over and over again you've walked with the people in our Church you've loved the people in our Church chris i've watched you walk alongside people who are suffering and just caring.
For them i've seen you respond to felt needs you get to do exactly what you've done here and you get to bring it to el progresso and i love that the life of life discipleship that you've lived out here you get to apply there and it's gonna it's gonna take some time to contextualize that right like you're gonna have to learn the language it matters for them to hear uh that their conversation their own native tongue that's gonna that's gonna mean the world and it's going to take time.
But once you once you get to do that you get to go and do what you've done here you get to go and share and eat meals with them you get to taste all the different ways that you can make rice and beans that you never thought was possible and then guess what you might even get to to bring your own rice and beans and it's probably going to be pretty bland because as i've been told uh by carlos who's a part of our churches on durham uh we we have pretty bland food sometimes.
So it might take a few attempts right but you might actually get good at it and then one day you might bring a dish they're like actually this is pretty good and it's going to mean a lot of them because you learn their culture you learn their food so you get to share meals with them and spend long evenings with them because their hospitality is is bigger than ours you're gonna be tired you get to share these long meals with them you gotta take things that you love here uh to them take pandemic the game not not coveted i know you'll love the game pandemic take pandemic take all the board games that you love.
And teach them board games and spend time playing those with them you get to learn soccer and enjoy uh soccer you you get to pull forth the second best player in the world ronaldo because they seem to really like him down there that was a shot at exactly two people in our Church and i'm completely okay with them you get to share life with them and you get to to live out the Gospel with them you get to love them i'm.
So excited y'all get to do this with them it's going to take time it's going to take investment but it's worth it because here's the deal the way you live out the Gospel and the way that you love them adds seasoning and flavor to the Gospel and makes it beautiful it makes it more palatable for them to hear and believe so take that with you as an encouragement and we have our final encouragement here starting in verse 10. you are witnesses.
God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers for you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each of you and encourage you and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his glory into his kingdom his own kingdom and glory so the fourth encouragement i have for you is to make the Gospel look good make the Gospel look good in the military when you are commissioned in the military it is expected that he or she is commissioned it's expected to uphold a certain level of conduct that's expected as they're commissioned soldiers and as commissioned missionaries as as Christians we have.
A higher code of conduct that we're called to to walk in a way that's above reproach to walk in a way that is blameless he makes this clear to the Church that him and silas uh they lived in a way that was uh that was holy and righteous and blameless he says like a father he exhorted them to do the same to walk in a manner worthy of the one who calls you into the kingdom because here's the deal one of the easiest way to to discredit your message is discredit the messenger.
If you don't live above approach if you don't walk in a way that is blameless people will write you off and guess who knows that the enemy the devil knows this you are going down with a target on your back he wants to destroy the work that you guys are going to do because his aim is to roll over el progresso and take as many people to hell with them and your arrival is an affront to that it is in direct opposition to that.
So in war one of the easiest ways you can take down uh uh uh take someone down into battles you can take out the general take out the commanding officer it you can take out a private but that's not gonna cause more chaos so you have a target on your back and he's gonna want to come for you so how do you uh defend against this how do you protect yourselves and ultimately protect the message that you are leaving to go and preach you do it in the same ways that you've done it here.
For so many years as you follow Jesus in everyday life you come back to the basics of the Gospel you practice what we have taught Gospel fluency applied the Gospel and everyday life you walk in the light in accountability with your team with one another as a family you read and love the Bible regularly take time to to sit and read and enjoy God to pray to live out the disciplines that take care of your own soul so that you will stand firm against the evil one in all of his flaming darts as ephesians 6 says it is doing the basics that you've been doing here and applying them down there and that is why.
For each of these as we walk through them i see that you guys are have been doing these and you are going to continue to do all of these which means that you guys are ready to go you're ready to go and suffer for the sake of the Gospel you're ready to go and and and be obedient to God and proclaiming Christ you're you're ready to share more than the Gospel you're ready to share your own lives you're ready to walk in a way that is blameless in making the Gospel.
Look good you are ready to go and we are mostly ready to send you because this is a bittersweet moment for us your Church family is going to miss you and i just want you to know that we are with you and it is time for you guys to go so go and make an impact for the kingdom go with the knowledge that God is is with you and we are praying for you go knowing that the work that you do resounds into eternity there's a famous missionary ct stud he was a missionary he said only.
When life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last that's the hope guys that what you do down there would resound into eternity so go knowing that you get to make an impact we are with you we love you and we're going to pray for you this morning and we're going to send you out and may God bless you as you go and make disciples there let me pray God i'm so thankful for this family and what they have meant to our Church.
God i pray that you would send them we know that suffering is involved but we also know that you that we can pray for protection we pray that we pray for protection from the from the evil one we pray for protection from all of of of some of the things that may face them but ultimately God i pray they would persevere i pray that you would use them and some profound ways there God i pray that el progresso would never be the same.
Because they were obedient and they heard the call and they went God we love you we are thankful that we get to go and take the Gospel may you bless the obedience of this family in Jesus name amen.