Our Great Mission
Download MP3If you would open your bibles to Acts chapter 1 For a brief moment, I, you know, thought I wouldn't have to prepare a message for today. And ironically, if I had studied beforehand, you know, I would have read the text for tonight, which is that it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed. Listen carefully to the word of the Lord as we read from Acts chapter 1 verse 6. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you.
Jeffrey Heine:And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, 2 men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. This is the word of the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me, Lord, right now we ask that you would open up our hearts and our minds to receive your truth. Your truth is not a cold or callous truth. It is a life transforming truth. Right now we pray that you would breathe life into us, that you would crack open even the coldest of hearts, the hardest of minds. Lord, I pray that my word would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Jeffrey Heine:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. In a couple of weeks, we're going to celebrate Ascension Sunday, which is 40 days after Easter. It's when we celebrate Jesus ascending to his heavenly throne.
Jeffrey Heine:It actually is on a Thursday, but the following Sunday we call Ascension Sunday. I preached on this a year ago, about the Ascension. And and I mentioned then, and it's still true now, that most Christians don't really know what to do with the ascension. We're we're not really sure what we do with it. We're really good at understanding the cross.
Jeffrey Heine:We we love the cross. We preach the cross. We study the cross. We sing about the cross. We love the cross of Jesus because it's there that we find forgiveness for our sins.
Jeffrey Heine:It's at the cross where we see the love of God being so gloriously displayed for us. And so rightfully, the cross should have a central place in our lives. We should preach, sing, teach the cross. But we have to be careful not to stop there. Because if we if we only focus on the cross of Christ, this can actually turn into a form of self absorbed Christianity.
Jeffrey Heine:We we can begin focusing solely on our own personal deliverance, our own forgiveness, our own sanctification, our own salvation. And and this could lead us to believe that we are saved just to be saved. But our salvation is not an end to itself. That's not it. Our Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ, he didn't just save us to save us.
Jeffrey Heine:He has saved us for something. We are saved to something. And this is where Easter and this is where the Ascension come in, in which Christ Jesus has risen from the dead. He has broken the strangled hold of that that sin and death has had on this world. He has shattered it.
Jeffrey Heine:He has freed us from that. And he has revealed himself as Lord over all. And now he has ascended to heaven and he sits at the throne at the right hand of God and he is currently reigning. And he has revealed himself to us as Lord and as savior in order that we should declare his lordship to all the earth. Jesus saved us, not just to save us, but he saved us in order that we would be witnesses for him.
Jeffrey Heine:And so we we have been given a mission by our King, our risen King. And this mission is to go into the world and it's to declare that Jesus is alive and he is currently reigning as the King of King and the Lord of Lords. And he is making all things new. And we see here from this text that we are to first take this message to Jerusalem, then to Judea, and then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. You could think of those, those places a couple of ways.
Jeffrey Heine:You could think of them geographically, if you want to, or you could think of them spiritually if you want to. Geographically, Jerusalem is like your neighborhood. And Jerusalem is your neighborhood. It's where you live or it's the people that you work with. Spiritually there are people who are, would represent people who are somewhat similar to you.
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe people who may not be Christians, but they know the lingo. They grew up in church. They're sort of filled with a Christian ethic. Judea would be the outer fringes of this. Samaria is no longer geographically in your neighborhood.
Jeffrey Heine:It is outside of your neighborhood and spiritually it's people who maybe have heard a little bit about God, but greatly misunderstand him. And then he have the ends of the earth, which is geographically way away and it's to a people who have not heard the name of Jesus and they know nothing about him. And Jesus here is saying that the gospel is to go out into all of these areas to all of these people. You could think of these, if you want, is like these, these co centric circles of influence. And you know, you have Jerusalem, you have Judea, you have Samaria, and then you have the ends of the earth, and you're to work your way out here.
Jeffrey Heine:And you you spread out from your neighborhood all the way to those who, who don't know Jesus. But I want you to notice that there is no little co centric circle that just wraps around you. That's not where that's not where the circle begins. It's just wrapped around you. We're not to have this self absorbed Christianity in which, all we think about is our own walk with the Lord, our own holiness, our own struggles with sin, our own joys.
Jeffrey Heine:And this is difficult for us because some of us were super selfish before we came to know the Lord. I mean, we were as self centered as they come. We were super selfish, and then the Lord came, he revealed himself to us, he saved us, and then we were still just as selfish after he saved us. We we might be saved now, but we we're still self absorbed. And we can only think of Christianity in terms of how it affects me.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't think of it in in terms of how it affects others, and we and we forget that Christ has actually called us out of self absorption and into this mission. And some of us here, I'm sure, have never known the joy of actually being able to forget about themselves, which is what God calls us to do. This this joy of forgetting about yourselves and being caught up in his mission. This glorious mission of Jesus Christ. And yet, that is our calling.
Jeffrey Heine:That is our purpose as a church. And we see here that our mission could not be any clearer. I mean, we have in the last words of Jesus, before he ascends in the book of acts, He says that we are to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be witnesses. The last words that Jesus says in the book of the gospel of Matthew before he ascended, we know them as the great commission, as go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the earth. We we know the great commandment there or the great commission.
Jeffrey Heine:And if you were to put the gospel of Matthew's account of Jesus's last words and you were to put Luke's account of Jesus's last words together, you you get this command from Jesus saying, listen disciples, you are to be filled with the spirit of God. In order that you might have power to testify about me and make disciples here and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the world. And as you are going and doing this, I will be with you. That's the command. That was Christ's last command and and I would say that his last command should be our first concern.
Jeffrey Heine:This command should shape the entire way we live. It should shape how we spend our money, how we use our free time. It should shape the jobs we pursue, the neighborhoods that we seek to live in. As a church, it should shape the way that we spend our money. It should shape the type of building we have, the type of building we pursue.
Jeffrey Heine:It should shape how we do missions, and it should shape how we do things like even buying chairs. It affects everything. There's not an area in our life that Jesus's last command does not touch. And the disciples understood this. They understood this.
Jeffrey Heine:They understood that they were receiving this baptism of the spirit, not just for them. It was not just to save them. It was not just to give them, you know, goosebumps as they they sang their favorite songs. It was not just so they would, you know, feel that inner peace and forgiveness. That wasn't, that wasn't it.
Jeffrey Heine:That was there, but it was for so much more. They understood that it was given, the spirit of God was given to them to equip them and to clothe them with power for the mission that is ahead. And they boldly did this even at the expense of their lives. You have Peter, Andrew, Bartholomew, Philip, all crucified for their mission, for boldly proclaiming Jesus. You have other disciples stoned, others decapitated for boldly proclaiming Jesus is Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:You have James, the brother of the brother of Jesus, who in Jesus's life here on earth, mocked Jesus, said he was crazy. Didn't did not believe him at all, but you know, that changes when all of a sudden you see your resurrected brother there. And he came to to believe and acknowledge that Jesus was Lord and now he's filled with the spirit. And then James just, I mean, the man could not be stopped in his proclamation of Jesus as Lord. And he was killed this way.
Jeffrey Heine:He was taken up into the temple mount by the Pharisees, and the Pharisees said, James, we respect you. You're always at the temple praying. You live such a godly life. Now, please clarify this about your brother. And they took him up to the temple mount so everybody could hear him, and they said, just just explain to people how Jesus is not the Messiah.
Jeffrey Heine:And he said, Jesus is Lord. He he reigns. He currently sits at the right hand of God in all power. And so they threw him off the temple mount. And when he landed, he actually didn't die.
Jeffrey Heine:And Clement of Alexandria says that he began to preach, even in an injured state as he landed. And so they had to come and surround him and stone him as he continued to proclaim Jesus as Lord. He was given a boldness that could not be explained other than being clothed with power from on high. This is the boldness that we are to seek. This same spirit who was given to the disciples has been given to us in order to make disciples.
Jeffrey Heine:Okay. The same Spirit that was given to the disciples has been given to us to make disciples. The Holy Spirit has been poured on us to make us proclaimers. And you see this in Jesus's life. If you want to turn to Luke chapter 4 and look at Jesus's very first sermon, Luke 4 verse 16.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, and Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Jeffrey Heine:And then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now when Christ called us to himself and Christ saved us, he has given us this same spirit. The same spirit we see here in Luke chapter 4.
Jeffrey Heine:The spirit of the Lord is given to us and the spirit has been given for the same purpose, to make us proclaimers. Proclaimers of good news. We're to go and proclaim liberty to the captives, liberty to all of the world, and say there's been a change of regime and now the Lord is currently reigning and he is bringing liberty. He is making all things new and we proclaim this message. The same Spirit is inside of us.
Jeffrey Heine:My wife, years years ago, she actually painted these verses from Luke chapter 4 on a piece of wood about this big. And, I had them for the longest time on on my desk. And it was to remind me of my calling, That I was to be a proclaimer. But hear me, it was not to remind me of my calling as a preacher. It was to remind me of my calling as a follower of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright? I hope you get that. Because this is a calling for all those who follow Jesus. It's your calling just as well as mine. It's not just for the professional ministers, the professional preachers, you know, I I love it.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, if I go to family reunions or something and, you know, there's the whole food spread poured out there, you just know what's gonna happen. I mean, you know and it's everybody's kinda standing around awkwardly, and then they all look at you. And they're like, let's let's let the professional pray. Like, yeah, the prof you know, because I got the red phone right there. You know, I just go straight to God here, and I'm the profession.
Jeffrey Heine:Can we take an offering afterwards if I'm gonna if I am professional? But they always say, I'm the professional prayer. And we we have this this mindset that that this is something professionals do, but but not just, you know, people will go to church. One time a lady called me up, to let me know that she was bringing her neighbor to church. And she just wanted me to know that she was bringing him and that he wasn't a Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, I'm on the phone with him, I said, okay. Thanks for telling me that. And she goes, well, the reason I tell you that is, I well, I just want you to be aware of that as you were writing your message. Okay, I'll try to remember the gospel, you know, and and bring that. And she's like, I I just wanted you to have him in mind.
Jeffrey Heine:I was like, are are are you hoping do you want me to just, like, stare at this person the whole time? You know, so afterwards, they they think, I thought you were preaching at me the whole time. It's like, I was. And they're like, and this lady said, well, I'm hoping that afterwards you could even talk with him. And finally I asked her, I said, well you know him.
Jeffrey Heine:Have you shared the gospel with him? And she said, well, you know, he's my neighbor. I've been trying to live a really good life. He's certainly seen that I live differently. And I said, but have you shared with him?
Jeffrey Heine:She said, well I've told him a lot about our church. I've told him a lot about you. I was like, yeah, but tell him about Jesus. Tell him about Jesus. This would be humorous if it didn't happen so often, but this has actually happened several times, in which people have emailed me or called me to let me know that they are bringing somebody, I guess in the hopes that I would save them.
Jeffrey Heine:And I think this is how a lot of Western Christianity operates. In which we we have the the professionals. And we think that this is evangelism. Evangelism is asking someone to church. That's that's how we share our faith, is we just say, hey, would would you come to church with me?
Jeffrey Heine:And then once I can get you to church, then I can hand you off to the people on the stage and they'll know what to do with you and how to introduce you to Christ and all that. And so if I could just get people to church, that is not evangelism. That is not mission. I saw this so clearly, a few weeks ago in Pratt City. I went up there to to help serve meals after the tornado.
Jeffrey Heine:And it was so great. It was seeing all these these Christians up there and they were serving, and we're making meals for 1,000. And you have all of these devastated people coming, who have lost everything. Some of them have lost family members. And they're coming and they're broken people.
Jeffrey Heine:And this is such a fantastic opportunity to to hand them a warm meal, and to tell them that, hey, there's hope in Jesus. There's hope in Jesus. Jesus can be your rock that gets you through this. There's such great opportunity for that. And so so all day I'm there, and let me tell you, I never once heard the name of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Never. But what I heard over and over and over ad nauseam was, you know what? You need to come to my church. You really need to come to my church. You you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:You know, we we have help for you at my church. You you need to come visit my church. My church is not like the other churches. And it was our church, church, church. Never did I hear Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me tell you, Jesus is the one who could give them hope. Jesus is is who they need to be calling out to, and are we just so scared that even just saying the name Jesus is awkward on our lips now? Are we are we that scared of sharing our faith that it feels awkward to testify to somebody who's coming to you broken and hurt, and simply say, Jesus can help you. Or do we just feel like, nah, I just got to get them to church and hand them off to a pastor. Let me tell you, this is our calling.
Jeffrey Heine:That's our calling. If you feel inadequate for the task, you probably are. It's not a big deal. I mean, Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was an accountant.
Jeffrey Heine:God used them to change the world. Do you feel that you don't know enough of the Bible, maybe, to share your faith? That's a common thing I hear. You know, I just really, what if they ask a question? I mean, you know what?
Jeffrey Heine:Share your story. Hopefully, you know that Jesus is Lord. He died for your sins. He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven and He's reigning, He's coming back again. You got the basics, okay?
Jeffrey Heine:Share how Jesus has changed your life. You can do that. It's time for some of us, you know, to, to quit spending all of our time studying the playbook. You know, and actually get into the game and actually do something. Some of us have been going to church for years.
Jeffrey Heine:We've been part of countless Bible studies. We've been involved in so many home groups, so many accountability groups. We have had so many prayer partners, and yet we have never shared our faith. We've never been proclaimers. I mean, what what are you waiting for?
Jeffrey Heine:Do you need one more Beth Moore Bible study? Is that what it is? You know, just you you gotta have one more, and then you're qualified? Read one more Piper book, and then finally, yes. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:I got it now. Power. Clothe and power. I'm gonna go out. What are you waiting for?
Jeffrey Heine:God has given you a mission. And the thing is, he is uniquely qualified each one of you for this mission. In a very unique way, in a way that, that I'm not qualified for. You can reach people that I cannot. Each of us have this certain sphere of influence around us.
Jeffrey Heine:We all have certain neighbors, certain coworkers. God has put you in that position for a reason. We've got such diversity here. I mean, I look around and, you know, you have your accountants, you, you have your teachers, you have your doctors, you have your artsy types. You have your not artsy types.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, those who wear the skinny jeans. Those who wear baggy jeans. I mean, we got we got we got everybody here. People who live in different communities, and we have all these different personalities, we have people who live in all these different communities, so we can reach all different types of people. No one person can reach everyone.
Jeffrey Heine:But, but if all of us were to get on board and to embrace the mission, the calling of our lives, the impact would be huge. Our church actually reminds me somewhat of, you don't have to hang with me here. This is gonna be an odd illustration, but reminds me of a mystery box. I've got at our house a mystery box that I keep in the laundry room. And I put random things in it.
Jeffrey Heine:I find a piece of scrap metal, put it in there. I find a odd shaped stick, I put it in there. You know, scrap pieces of wood, I put in there. Styrofoam peanuts, I put in there. String, I put in like all this random assortment of things I put in the mystery box.
Jeffrey Heine:And the reason I do that is because I have 3 little girls who get bored despite a 1,000 toys. And so they all, you know, inevitably it's going to come, especially in the summer, Daddy, I'm bored. They're so dramatic. There's nothing to do. Nothing.
Jeffrey Heine:And usually I say, well, let's just throw away all your toys in, if there's nothing to do. No, I'll play with it. But but, you know, eventually they're like, just just tell me what to do. I want something to do. And that's when I bring out the mystery box.
Jeffrey Heine:And and I get it out of the laundry room and I put it down and I say, behold the mystery box. They love it. They love it. And so I open it up and it's all this random assortment of things and I tell them to build something. I'll say, I want you out of this to build a robot.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, yeah. You know, and they just, you know, or I want you to build a squirrel trap. You know, and they're like building this squirrel trap. And they just get all into it. Just using all these random bits and pieces and they work together to do something glorious here.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what the church should be like. We're this random assortment of pieces. We're a mystery box, You know, that we can make something glorious, we could do something amazing if we just were given the mission, which we have been, and we realize it, and we embrace it. This is our mission. We will make it work with this group of people right here.
Jeffrey Heine:We'll make it work. We'll make it work. Each of us need to be contributing, And if you do this, I promise you, you will not be bored. You will not be bored. And when I look around at a lot of churches, I see bored churches full of bored people.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I see see people in churches and they're bored of their programs. They're bored with their endless Christian activities that they have to go to every single night. They're just they're just bored. And do you know what bored churches do? They do the exact same thing that bored people do.
Jeffrey Heine:When people get bored, they go shopping. That's what you do when you get bored. I don't know what to do. Let's just go shopping. Or let's pick a hobby.
Jeffrey Heine:Or let's go eat. You know, that's what churches do. They're like, you know, they're bored. They don't understand their mission. And so what they're gonna do?
Jeffrey Heine:Let's go shopping. Let's buy things we don't need. Let's keep building bigger things, better things. Let's keep just just spending money like crazy. Let's get a fancier building.
Jeffrey Heine:All the bells and whistles, let's just keep spending money on things that have absolutely no Kingdom Association whatsoever. They don't advance the kingdom of God whatsoever, but let's buy it because we're bored. Or they might say, you know what, they might go another route. Let's just, let's get a hobby. And by that I mean we need to find a way to entertain ourselves because we're bored.
Jeffrey Heine:So let's get some edgier music. Let's let's do some, you know, really hip new program, let's let's do something that's gonna be a flash in the pan for about a month or 2, and then they're gonna get bored again. Or they're gonna say, let's let's go eat. And by that I mean, let's just add another Bible study. Let's let's add another book study.
Jeffrey Heine:And they'll keep eating and eating and eating, all the while the world is starving because they're not going out and sharing any of it. And they're just bored. And you see that in all the churches around here. You see that, this boredom. But the cure for boredom, it's not shopping.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not, you know, a new hobby or doing exciting things, it's it's not just taking on more studies. It's simply for the church to understand her mission and to embrace it. This is our mission. Let's embrace it. This is the mission that was given to Abram, and it's been true all the way from Abram to the disciples.
Jeffrey Heine:And it is now part of our calling now, and that's to go and to be lights into the world, for us to testify about the grace of God in our lives, to point people to Jesus. You've been called to be part of of this incredible movement of God. So it's time for some of us, I mean just to be blunt, to shake off our apathy. To shake off our laziness. Get rid of your boredom, and embrace your calling.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a glorious calling. Let me just ask a few questions before we take time to pray. What if every Christian was as committed to the great commission as you were? What if every Christian was as committed to the great commission as you were? What would the church look like?
Jeffrey Heine:What would Christianity look like? If, if everyone shared their faith, like you share your faith, What would Christianity look like if everyone gave like you gave, serve like you serve? Just before the Holy Spirit asks, asks these in a bit, If there's something in you that he needs to change, needs to transform. I feel like so many of us are like these disciples here in verse 11. You know, they're, verse 10 says, they're gazing into heaven, and they think that is what church is for.
Jeffrey Heine:Just gonna gaze into heaven. You know, chill bumps. Come on. That's why I'm here. I could stay here all day.
Jeffrey Heine:Then you you know, you have these 2 angels, you're like, he's he's coming back. He's coming back. And it gives them a mild rebuke. Why are you just standing here? In other words, didn't you hear what Jesus just said?
Jeffrey Heine:Did did you get it? Did you hear what Jesus just said? Why are you just standing here? You guys have a mission. You have a mission to do until he comes again.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that we are saved by grace and not by what we do. Jesus, you have lived the life that we could never live. Died to death that we should have died. And it is through your blood that we are forgiven.
Jeffrey Heine:And Lord, we thank you that you have called us to be your children, that you have sent us your spirit. You have changed our hearts, you have given us such joy. Lord, I pray that you would release us now from our self absorption. Forgive this church of the times where we have just circled our wagons and we have focused so inwardly. Forgive us for all the times where we think of our our walk with you and our relationship with you only in our own personal terms, our own holiness, our own forgiveness, our own worship.
Jeffrey Heine:God, you're calling us out. You have called us to have the glorious freedom of being able to forget about ourselves, and to be caught up in your glorious mission, And I pray that we would embrace that, that you would give us a renewed excitement and energy in this church to reach people for you. So, God, I do ask that you would clothe us with power on high, that you would equip us for your work that you are doing in our immediate circle of our neighbors and our coworkers. Moving a little beyond to, to those we somewhat know in the city. Moving beyond that to, to, to maybe those who have heard of your name, but don't have really any understanding of you.
Jeffrey Heine:And then ultimately to the ends of the earth, to those who don't know you or have heard of you at all. May that be the passion of our hearts. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
