The Mission

are watching online, thanks for being with us today. We are starting a brand new series and we're going to be talking about how it all starts with one. This past week, I had a training that we did here with our staff. If you're new, we're one church, we meet in six different locations. We have staff at all the locations and we also have a central team, so lots of people work around here. Every once in a while, we get everybody together and we do some training. This past week, we were doing a communicator training. Some of our staff, right, they're up here doing what I'm doing right now. Some teach classes, some host, some teach our children, some teach our students, but we just had the training with all the communicators. I was standing there in the training and I was talking to everybody and I had this thought as I looked at everybody in the room. I thought, "I'm getting old." The older I get, the younger everybody else seems to get. Is that happening to anybody else? I was talking to this young man afterwards and he's a very gifted communicator and he's 21. I hopped in my truck and I was driving to the next place that I needed to be. I just thought about when I was 21 and I thought, "What was I doing?" I was 21 and so I thought back over the years and here's what I was doing. I had wrapped up at school, I went to school in Missouri at Southwest Baptist University and I knew some people, that knew some people here in Arizona and there was this church in Arizona that was looking for an interim youth pastor. The summer I turned 22, so I was 21 at the time. I got my little Honda Civic in Dallas, Texas from Dallas, went to school in Missouri. I'm in Dallas and I drove my little Honda Civic from Dallas to Chandler, Arizona and I was a youth ministry intern for the summer. It was a pretty good experience and I really liked Arizona and the end of the summer showed

up and the lead pastor came to me and he said, "Hey, we want to hire you on staff as our youth pastor." It was a summer I turned 22 and I thought, "I'm not ready for that." Y'all are probably making a mistake but I'm kind of open to it and I talked to some of my mentors about that, had friends from Texas, people who were older and this one particular guy, I'll never forget this conversation, he said, "Before you take this job and before you do this," he said, "I want to ask you, are you called to the ministry?" He was from Texas and it was a smaller church so he said it kind of weird. He said, "Are you called to the ministry?" I was like, "I think so. I went to school for it and I didn't go looking for a job." It came looking for me and actually all my jobs have been like that. I said, "I think the Lord's in it and I'm supposed to do it." He was like, "No, no, are you called to the ministry?" The answer is yes, I'm called to the ministry. You hear that and all of you go, "Yeah, you're a pastor," so that makes sense. By the way, being a pastor is weird. Have you ever thought about this? I put yourself in my boots for a minute, like I'm a professional Christian. Have you ever thought about it? It's just you and me talking today right now, but have you ever thought about that? Like I get paid to follow Jesus and everybody's watching me and at church our size, I can't go anywhere. Like I have to behave everywhere I go, especially lately, right? People are looking at me. We have this idea like pastors are called to the ministry, but let me let you in on something. All followers of Jesus are called to ministry. So over the next few minutes, here's what I want to talk to you about, and we'll do this over the next few weeks, we'll kind of build on it, is I want to talk to you about your calling, because you're not here by accident, and God knows your name.

In fact, He knew your name before the foundation of the world, the Bible says, and He knit you together in your mother's womb. You're not an accident. I'm going to say what I say, there are accidental parents, but there are no accidental children. and so he knows who you are and here's the deal. He's got a purpose and a plan for your life. Is there a calling on my life? Of course, there is, and there's also a calling on your life. It comes with the territory of following Jesus. You're called the ministry. There's a purpose and plan for you, and there's ministry that you have, and there's ministry that you were designed for that I could never do. There's people that you can reach that I could never reach because you have relational equity with them. You are in their presence, and just the fact that I'm a pastor would keep them from listening to me. All of us have a calling on our lives. Now, sometimes in church, people get weird about all of that, and they're like, you know, you gotta figure out God's specific plan for your life. How many of you, if you grew up in church, you felt pressure about that? Like, what is God's specific plan for your life, right? If you're a young adult, it applies to all of us. But if you're a young adult,

I just wanna say a couple of things about that. Sometimes when somebody says about something about, you know, you're calling or God's specific plan for your life, we get this idea that like, there's a blueprint, and if we make a wrong decision, we're gonna mess it up. Have you ever thought that before? Like, you're trying to figure out your life, and what does God want me to do? And if I make the wrong decision here, all of God's plans for me are over. 'Cause I was headed this way and now I'm headed this way. And let me just tell you, you can make some decisions that would mess up your life. I mean, there are consequences to the decisions we make, but you are not big enough to mess up God's plan and purpose for your life. And it could be right now you're off track, but you can get on track today, and God knew that you would get off track. You are not big enough to mess up his plans and his designs. Now, you can live outside of his will and experience the consequences of that. You can also choose to repent and live according to his will, but he knows all of your life ahead of time. If you're sitting in a prison right now, I just wanna tell you God's not done with you, and there is a purpose and a plan for your life. If you're at one of our locations, or you're watching online this weekend, and you're in a prison of your own making,

because of the decisions that you've made, I just wanna tell you there is still a purpose and a plan for your life. No, you cannot regain time, but you can redeem the time that you still have. And I know for a fact, God is not done with you, and here's why. You are still breathing. And God has a call on your life. And I'm gonna tell you what the call is, you ready? It's to follow Jesus. That's it. That's God's plan for you. There are two primary things in the context of following Jesus, and I'm gonna give you the two today, and then we're gonna build on one of 'em over the next few weeks. 'Cause sometimes even we hear that. You know, follow Jesus, what does that mean? There's like two bedrocks to it. One is called the Great Commandment. And the Great Commandment is from Matthew 22, it's like 37 through 39, those verses. The Great Commandment is when Jesus is asked, what is the greatest commandment? And he says, it's to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Does that sound familiar to anybody?

That part of God's calling on your life is about who you are. We're to love God and we're to love people. So that's the Great Commandment. The other big part of what it means to follow Jesus and live out your calling is called the Great Commission. That's what we're gonna look at today. It's from Matthew 28. If you brought your Bible, you can turn there. But following Jesus is all about who you are, living out the Great Commandment, and what you do following through with the Great Commission. Now here's the thing. A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission leads to a great life. That's how you fulfill your calling. So I'm gonna say it again, ready? The Great Commandment, love God, love people. That's about who you are, how you interact in the world, 'cause how you interact is your relationships. This is a big, big deal to God. So a commitment to the Great Commandment, love God, love people, and a great commitment to the Great Commission, which we're gonna look at today. I'm gonna say it one more time. So a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission leads to a great life. It's how we fulfill our calling. So here's where we are in the scriptures. Matthew 28, we're gonna begin in verse 16.

If you're unfamiliar with the Bible, Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. It's one of the biographies of Jesus. There's four biographies of Jesus in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So we're at the end of the book of Matthew. It's the last chapter. If you look at a Bible, the big numbers of the chapters, the little numbers of the verses. And we're gonna look at the last thing that Jesus says, catch this before he ascends into heaven. So let me give you the timeline. Jesus has ministered for three years. He lived to be 33 years of age. He didn't start his ministry until he was 30. And so he's been ministering for three years. He has died on the cross to pay for all of our sin for all time, and he has risen again. On the third day, he rose again. And then the Bible says that he appeared to his followers at different times over the next 40 days. In Corinthians, the apostle Paul writes that at one moment, 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus. And what's cool about that when you read it is the apostle Paul says, actually you can go talk to some of those people and they'll tell you about it. Which means that the writings of the New Testament did not happen hundreds of years later. They happened within the span of a lifetime

following the life of Jesus. And the apostle Paul says, you wanna go talk to some of those witnesses you can as he writes to the church in Corinth. So Jesus has ministered for three years. He's died on the cross. He's risen again. This is the 40th day after the resurrection. And this is the last thing he's going to say before he ascends into heaven. Okay, so think about this for a minute. God has become flesh. He's walked among us. He's taught and healed and died on the cross. And he has risen again. This is the last thing he's gonna say, not in spirit form, but physical human form, the resurrected Jesus. This is the last thing he's going to say before he exits the planet. How many do you think this is probably pretty important? Like this is what he's going to leave us with. So pick up with me here. In your Bible or on the screen, Matthew chapter 28, beginning in verse 16. It says, "Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go." So the resurrected Jesus had given them some instructions to meet him on the mountain. By the way, if you're going,

I thought there were 12 disciples. There were, but one disciple betrayed Jesus. That was Judas, and so were down to 11th. And Jesus did things perfectly, and he led well, and he was still betrayed. And so the 11 are there. There are others there, and they're on the mountain. Verse 17. Look at these words. "When they saw him," the resurrected Jesus, "when they saw him, they worshiped him." But some, what's the last word there? Some what? Doubt it. Now I find that fascinating. Okay, so they're looking at him. When they saw him, did everybody see those words? Some worshiped and some what? Doubt it. That blows my mind. They're looking at him, and they doubt. You ever doubt? Yeah, me too. People always doubt. There are always naysayers in every situation. Especially when it comes to faith, and when it comes to obeying God, and what he wants us to do. There are always those that doubt. There are always those that distract.

There are always those that discourage. I was talking about that first ministry job, you know, in the summer I turned 22. At the end of the summer, the lead pastor came to me and said, you know, 'cause I was an interim, he said, "Do you wanna be the youth pastor here?" And I said, "Yeah, I think I'm supposed to do that." And back then it was a smaller church. What they would do is they would talk about you in a service like this, and you'd stand up front, and the lead pastor would stand here next to you and talk about you, and we wanna hire this person on staff, and this is how much we're gonna pay 'em. And so now they're going to leave the room, and we're all gonna vote on whether or not we want them. (laughs) That's how it worked. So it came to the end of the summer, and I'm standing up there, and the lead pastor is this Chad, and this is what we're gonna pay 'em, y'know, y'know, y'know. All right, so Chad, leave the room, and we're gonna vote on you. And so you're out there in the lobby going, I hope it goes well, y'know? And so somebody comes and gets you, and you walk back in, y'know, and if they clap, that's a good son. (audience laughs) And so I got voted in, and I was the new youth pastor at First Baptist Church, Chandler. Well, my first intern,

pastor there was a guy named Dr. Bill Bennett and every once in a while I will tell the Dr. Bennett story here at Sun Valley. How many of you have heard me tell the story of Dr. Bennett? Yeah, a few of you. So Dr. Bennett was a brilliant man. He was from South Carolina. Little in stature, very big and intellect. He was about five, four, five, five, probably 120 pounds, graduated from Duke University with a 4.0. Dr. Bennett had memorized word for word all of the New Testament. Matthew through Revelation. And he talked really funny because he was from South Carolina and oh he talked like this. And they had told me on staff that he had memorized the New Testament and so I was a youth ministry intern. I did all kinds of stuff and so like I would be up really late the night before at student ministry events and then like Dr. Bennett would want me to be at a Bible study at six o'clock in the morning. And so one particular morning at six o'clock in the morning I show up I'm supposed to lead the Bible study. I got bedhead, I woke up late, I'm rushing to get there and he's supposed to have the New Testament memorized. So I'm reading in the scriptures right out of the New Testament and he's sitting over there with no Bible listening and I'm like I'm gonna stump him. So I'm reading along and I skip a verse on purpose but I don't say anything about it. This guy interrupts me oh Chad. You skip verse 17 which clearly says and then he quoted it. He had memorized the New Testament. He was a brilliant guy. I love Dr. Bennett. He's with Jesus now but I get voted on in the service right and he calls me the next day to see how it went you know because he still cares about me. He's keeping in touch and he says oh Chad how did the vote go? And I said oh it went all right I got the job. Oh congratulations. You're the youth pastor at the prestigious First Baptist Church of Chandler. I'm so proud of you right. It was that kind of thing and I'm like thanks. He says you say I'm kind of damn what's the matter? And I said oh I didn't get a hundred percent vote. He said oh well what's the vote? I said 97 percent. Oh that's so great. That's so wonderful. I'm so proud. I said yeah but I'm wondering who are the three percent? You know because you wonder about that. And he said oh Chad you don't ever want a hundred percent vote. And I said what Dr. Bennett? He said you don't ever want a hundred percent vote. I said why is that? He goes ah that means the devil voted for you. That's true. And moments of leadership that were tough. I always remember that. There are always some that doubt right. And so there's a negative side to that but there's also a very normal side to doubt. And so if you've ever doubted if you've ever waffled instead of worshiped I'm going to tell you what you are. Are you ready? You're normal.

So as much as I'm coming at this and I'm talking about doubt and you don't want to be a naysayer you don't want to discourage and all of that other people in their faith. But seasons of doubt are normal. In fact doubt is a prerequisite for faith. You're going to have to think with me. Because faith is not about conclusive proof. You don't need faith if you've got conclusive proof. You can see it touch it, taste it. It's right there. It's conclusive proof. Faith is not about conclusive proof. Faith is about convincing evidence. So think about it. Somebody's on trial for something. And so they present the evidence. And the evidence leads you one way or the other. But whatever way you're led that's based on faith and the evidence you've seen. That's what faith is. Faith is not blind. It's based on convincing evidence. But within a journey of faith there's always going to be doubt. And what I like about these people on the mountain, even though it sounds negative right, is they still showed up. They're still there. And by the way right after we read what we're about to read and what Jesus says, Jesus ascends into heaven. Like he does a Peter Pan right there. So my guess is they doubt it and then they saw that and went well that's legit, you know. Like that's good. If you're in a season of waffling, let me first of all tell you I get it. I mean I'm a professional Christian and all but I'm also a human being. It's usually when life's not going my way. But what you do in times of doubt is you vote with your feet, not your feelings. You show up anyway. Being what God says diffuses doubt. Can you write that down if you want? Doing what God says diffuses doubt. Being a follower of Jesus is not about your feelings. The discipleship is about decisions. That's what discipleship is. A disciple is a disciplined follower of a master. If you're going to follow Jesus, it's not about how you feel. It's about what you do or don't do. And discipleship is about decisions. Discipleship is as simple as your next step of obedience.

So here he is on the mountainside. We're about to read the last thing he says before he ascends in heaven. And some worshiped and some waffled, but they were all there and they heard it. We're talking about a great commitment to the great commandment. We're going to love God. Love people. That's about who we are. But we also want to be committed to the great commission. That's what we're about to read. Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20 is where we find the great commission. It's the marching orders of Jesus given to his followers before he leaves the earth. Pick up with me here. We're going to begin in verse 18. So some doubted, verse 18, then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." And then here's the great commission verses 19 and 20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Now here's what we're going to do. We just read the great commission. We're going to read it again. As you follow along with me in your Bible or here on the screen, we're going to read it together. Pay attention, what do you think is the most important word in this command? So it's the last thing that Jesus says. It's the marching orders. He's about to ascend into heaven. This is really, really important. It's the great commission.

It's a huge part of what it actually means to be a follower of Jesus. And to miss this, it's to miss the primary mission of being his follower, right? It's the last thing he says. So I'm going to read it. I'm going to be here on the screen, follow along with me. What do you think the most important word is? Follow along. So Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." All right. I'm going to walk through it. Please lift your hand. Let's kind of play this game together, all locations, right? So what's the most important word in the commandment? How many of you think it's the word "go" is to show hands? All right. That's most of us. That's great. How many I'm going to give two words, make disciples. Maybe important part of the command, how many of you think it's all nations? How many of you think it's baptizing? Okay. How many of you think it's, I'll just put this all together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? All right. So nobody thought God was the most important part of the commandment. Okay. How many of you think it's the word "teaching"? Okay.

How many of you think it's obey, okay? More of us commanded you? Yeah, had one guy tell me the most important two words in it was, "I'm with you." Anybody? "I'm with you?" Okay. All right. Let me change the question because I'm playing a little trick on you. I said, "What do you think the most important word was?" in the commandment? Think with me. The most important word in those two verses is the subject, so it's the word them. So let that sink in for a second. Who are we going to? Who are we making disciples out of? Who are we baptizing? Who are we teaching to obey? Which begs the question, who are them? And the answer would be them is anybody that's not currently part of us, which is fascinating, right? Because Jesus could have said anything at this moment. But Jesus tells his followers, which if you're a follower of Jesus, right? That's like part of us now. And he says, "I want us to go reach who? Go to them, make disciples out of them, baptize them, teach them." Which is really hard for all of us, because, I mean, after all, who do you think about most? I mean, who's the most important person in your life? Let's play a little game. Let's say you're in a group picture. And somebody is taking the group picture with their iPhone. And they take the picture and you come over to see the picture. Who do you look for first? And if you don't look great, what do you say? Oh, I wasn't a good one. Let's take another. Let's take another. I won't pick on you. I'll pick on me. Do you want to know who the most important person in my life is? It's me. I'm the most important person in my life. Here's how I know that, because I'm thinking about me most of the time. When I wake up in the morning, my heart and my soul is singing a little theme song. And it's like the soloist warming up by the piano. My soul sings, me, me, me, me, me, me, especially before I had coffee, right? Especially before I prayed and talked to Jesus. My life's about me. When I'm driving down the road and you're in my way, in your Prius, I don't know where that came from. I'm thinking about me. I mean, right now, I live in South Gilbert, there's so much construction. And it's bothering,

guess who? Me. It's like they sat around and thought, how can we make his life difficult? Let's just go 12 miles every block in every direction and work on it at the same time. I'm thinking me, me, me, me, me, me. And you're thinking about you, because this is the human condition. And when we come to church, we're thinking about us. And when we pray to God, we're praying about who? Us. And we're thinking about me, me, me, me, all the time. And yet, the church is not a building that you come and sit in. It's a movement that you choose to be part of to help people meet, know, and follow Jesus. By the way, that is the modern way of saying, make disciples. We help people meet, know, and follow Jesus. That's how we make disciples. That's what that is. But the church is not something that you come and sit and soak and just consume. It's something that you're part of. And the mission is actually not about us. Now, there are other purposes in the church. There's a family factor, and that's a beautiful, wonderful thing. And we sing, and that's part of how we worship with our lives as we worship with our voices. And that's a beautiful, wonderful thing. And we want to study the Bible. I mean, after all, we're supposed to learn when He's commanded us so we can follow through, right? All of that is part of it. But the mission is not about us. The mission is who? ever walked on the planet, knew that he had to leave us with a focused mission that it's not about us, it's about them, because the natural bent of our heart is inward. And yet the mission is outward. And so God's called us to give, to serve, to share our faith, and through our giving and serving and sharing we make a difference in the world. But we're laser focused thinking politics is going to do it. We're laser focused thinking some programs going to do it. But God's plan has always been changing the world one life at a time. That as we go, that's how it's written in the original language, as we go, as you go to work, as you go and watch your kid on whatever ball team they're on, or you know they're in gymnastics or whatever, you're just paying attention. And we're to be intentional about reaching them. Not a weirdo, not a salesman, just a witness to the goodness of God in our own lives. And so we give of our money, and we give of our time, and we give our faith away to others. This is what it means to follow Jesus. Two points, and one big question I want you to think about this week. First point, Jesus has given us our mission. We don't get to choose what the mission is. Jesus is the head of the church,

who's in charge at Sun Valley? Jesus is. And we submit ourselves under the authority of His teaching to the best of our ability. But I don't get to sit around and go, here's what our church is about. Jesus told us what the church is to be about. We're to reach them, we're to make disciples, we're to baptize, we're to teach. That's what we do. And again, of course, we're a church family. Of course, we sing. Of course, we study the Bible. I mean, all of that is part of it. But the mission, like the razor's edge, like the tip of the spear is we're to be outside our focus and we're to be reaching them. And just to let you in on this, you were once one of them. As was I. Second point, the mission of the church is, say it with me, them. Everybody, whether you're watching online or whether you're sitting on a campus right now, you're here, guess what? Because somebody gave their money. Because somebody served with their time and because somebody shared their faith and here you are. It's how it works. It's how the world changes for the good. We're sitting around waiting on government and God's waiting on the church. And here's the beautiful thing, a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission builds a great life. Maybe this sounds familiar. The words of Jesus. To find your life, you must lose it. And to live, you first must die. What does that mean? Your soul doesn't really start to live until you live for something bigger than you. To find your life, you got to lose your life. Forget it. To live, you first must die. Love God. Love people. Give, serve, share. Be part of the mission that Jesus has given you and you fulfill your calling. And there's a beauty that shows up with that. There's meaning to that. And when life rocks you and shakes you, you still have a north. Because this is what your life is about. So you just keep moving forward. And at the end of your days, when you look back all of your days, it is your commitment to the great commandment and the great commission that will satisfy your soul. It's why you're here. It's why I'm here. It's what life is about. what it means to be created by God loved by God and be used by God to change the world one life at a time so here's a question I want you to think about and we're gonna build on this over the next few weeks you're ready here's the big question who will be in heaven because of you because God has a purpose and a plan for your life and right now there's people all around you everywhere you go that's where you are and them is always there and so I want you to think about

that who's gonna be in heaven because of you be praying about it over the next few weeks and ask God to like bring a person to mind that's already in your life that you can begin to think about how to share your faith we're gonna build on this over the next few weeks and in that make a decision to fulfill our calling let's pray together will you guys pray with me Holy Spirit give us wisdom of these things on my very best day apart from you I am completely selfish and a selfish soul begins to self-destruct we were created for more and so for me and for all of us Holy Spirit which you give us wisdom of what it means to live out the great commandment and the great commission partly so that we may live full rich lives and mostly because it glorifies you and it's for the good of others and so teach us we pray and may we be a church that is committed to the great commandment and the great commission and in that we pray Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus which you do great things in us and through us so teach us we pray again may it be for your glory Jesus and also for our good it's in your name we pray in Jesus name amen