Matthew, page 3
You were
made for a mission Matthew
28.16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age."
Matthew
28.16-20
As
Rick Warren says this is the Great Commission, not the great suggestion. it is
a commandment rather than lifestyle choice for those who are into that kind of
thing
We began 40 Days of Purpose by
asking ‘What on earth am I here for?’
We have looked at the purposes of
God discovering that we were:
¨
Planned for God’s Pleasure
¨
Formed for God’s Family
¨
Created to be Like Christ
¨
Shaped for Serving God
And now we come to the fifth
purpose: you were made for a mission
Let’s look at those parting words
of the Lord Jesus, the last words he spoke on earth, more closely.
Firstly, we note that:
16
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus
had told them to go. 17 When they saw
him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me.
Rightly
the disciples worship him, because he is the Lord, because he is God in human
flesh. All authority has been given to him. All Christian mission activities
are backed by Jesus Royal & Divine authority. We have permission, we have
authority, we have a mandate for the work of mission.
2. The Risen Reigning Jesus Commissions His
Church to Go To All People everywhere
The story of the Old Testament is
the story of God’s particular concern for one nation. The story of the
New Testament is God’s particular concern for all every nation, for every
person on this planet, for every man, woman or child
A book
about mission written by the former head of the Church Mission Society was called
‘From everywhere to everywhere’. That’s a great title for a book about
mission. Missionaries have gone from here to all places all over the world but
missionaries from all over the world need to come here and in fact are starting
to do so
Revelation
7 has a vision of a church drawn from every tribe people and language and nation gathered round the
throne of God in worship. For that vision to become a reality God’s people have
to heed Jesus message to Go
For some
of us it will be about going to the ends of the world, for some - elsewhere in
this country, for others it will be about serving God’s mission here in Redhill
or where you work
The
important thing I have to remember is that when Jesus says ‘Go’ he’s talking to
me and not someone else. The important thing that you have to remember is that
when Jesus says ‘Go’ he is talking to you and not someone else. That Great
Commission applies to all of us
We were
made for a mission.
So, what
about you? Is God calling you today to some new area of service for him?
¨
To a long or short term mission
work overseas
¨
To offer your life for the
ordained ministry or some kind of other ministry in this country
¨
To serve God in some new way in
your church life or working life
¨
To commit yourself to supporting
one or more of our own mission partners
¨
To releasing funds for mission by
the selling goods or an over large house or by making a bequest to help God’s
mission after you depart this life
¨
To advance the work of mission
through prayer
If God
is calling, then we may respond obediently
3The Risen Reigning Jesus Commissions His
Church to Go To All People and Make Them His Disciples
What are
we actually do when we go. What is mission all about?
Its not
about making churchgoers, though we do want to see people become part of the
church,its not even about making converts, though we do want to see people
coming to Christ and believing in him, its about making disciples. Disciples
are followers of Jesus, who are committed to following him and obeying him
Its why ’40
Days of Purpose’ has been a valuable project, to remind us of God’s
purposes, of why we are here, and what he wants of us in our lives.
To remember that
¨
You were Planned for God’s Pleasure
¨
You were Formed for God’s Family
¨
You were Created to be Like Christ
¨
You were Shaped for Serving God
And finally
You were made for a mission
How to Deal
with Divorce Matthew
5.31-33 & 19.1-12
Today we come to one of the harder
more challenging parts of Jesus teaching. We come to his teaching on divorce:
It is hard because it affects so
many of us personally. Some of us have been divorced ourselves and we know the
pain and suffering that a broken marriage brings. Others of us have experienced
divorce at close hand. Our parents were divorced, our children have been
divorced, or a close friend or brother of a sister has been through this
experience. Others of us know people who are on the verge of divorce or
separation; some of us may fear we are on the verge of divorce or heading that
way. Sadly, few people are entirely unaffected by divorce, and we all know the
pain and suffering surrounding it
Jesus lived at a time, like ours,
where divorce rates were high and if anything divorce had become too easy. What
did he have to say about this great social problem?
In Jesus day there was two schools
of thought about divorce. One group interpreted the Old Testament to mean that
divorce was only allowed in the case of sexual indecency. The other group took
a much more lax line and said that a man could divorce his wife for anything
that displeased him - not just
adultery of some kind or serious sin, but just because she burnt the dinner or
he didn’t like the clothes she was wearing or the way she behaved around the
house or because he had got bored with her
Many people think the Pharisees
were trying to find out which side Jesus came down on, when they asked him: "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife for any and every reason?" (19.3)
Jesus doesn’t directly answer that
question but says in effect before you start thinking about what happens when a
marriage goes wrong, you’ve got to grasp what marriage is actually
supposed to be. And for that you have got to go to the maker’s instructions
When our central heating system
wasn’t working in our last house they had to get out the plans to see how the
man who had designed the system intended it to work. We need to for the same
with marriage. You need to go back to the designer’s plans.
God is the creator, the designer,
the originator, the architect of marriage, so what are his original plans like?
Jesus takes us back to that very
important point
4
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning
the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become
one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined
together, let man not separate."
God’s plan for marriage is for a
lifelong union, for a couple who stay together and love each other for life, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. Divorce is never part of God’s plan, even though it sometimes is
necessary - because when a couple make their marriage vows to each other, they
are joined together by God (verse 6). And that’s how God intends them to stay
Every time a couple is married in
this church we say to them the words of verse 6:
Therefore
what God has joined together, let not man separate
But, if divorce is such a bad
thing, why does the Bible allow it? That was the question the Pharisees asked
of Jesus next:
7
"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man
give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Jesus reply was as follows
"Moses permitted you (NOTE: not
commanded) to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was
not this way from the beginning. (verse
8)
Divorce is like a speedbump: it is
only needed because human hearts are hard. Moses allowed divorce because human
hearts were hard – that is, they are sinful. If every man loved his wife as God
wants him to do, there would be no divorce, and if every wife loved her husband
according to God’s plan, there would be no divorce, but because people do not
always love their spouses as their should, because they sometimes beat them, or
abuse them, or treat them unreasonably, and because they are sometimes
unfaithful to them and desert them, there has to be such a thing as divorce.
Has Britain become too tolerant of
divorce? The Bible, in Malachi 2.16,
says that God hates divorce. It is never part of his plan, even if
sometimes it is the only way forward because of human sinfulness
BUT
WHAT ABOUT REMARRIAGE?
Here
we come to a question where Christians disagree.
Some
Christians believe remarriage is never permitted
When
Jesus speaks about divorce in Mark 10 remarriage seems to be ruled out
altogether
Some
Christians believe remarriage is sometimes permitted
Here
in Matthew 19, many people believe that remarriage is allowed for the innocent
victim of adultery or sexual sin, although some people think it is just divorce
and not divorce plus remarriage that is permitted when Jesus says:
9
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital
unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
There
are other parts of the Bible that need to considered as well and I don’t think
we can adequately deal with the issue fully now – please see see the Spectrum talk
on the church website for a fuller treatment of the issue
Personally,
I believe that in verse 9 Jesus permits remarriage at least for the injured
party where there has been adultery or sexual sin, but it is difficult to argue
from the Bible that any and every remarriage should be permitted and that is
why even members of the Royal Family have not been allowed to marry in church.
WHICH WAY NOW?
Divorce is
to be avoided at all costs
It’s a bit like amputating a limb.
Sometimes a doctor has to do so to save
life, but a doctor never wants to do it if he can possibly avoid it. So we must
avoid divorce at all costs. Its never the preferred option – reconciliation, healing,
& forgiveness is always the preferred option, but sometimes divorce, sadly,
is the only way through
A message
to the married
Let us strive to keep on loving
each other another and to keep our vows. if we hit problems in our marriage,
let us seek help
A message
to those thinking of being married or who one day might be married
Understand
that marriage is for life. Don’t go into marriage thinking there could be a way
out because that is disastrous (the danger of leaving the door slightly ajar is
that sooner or later someone will walk through it). Go into marriage determined
to make a success of your marriage, knowing that that is a lifelong commitment
And finally,
to the divorced
God knows that divorce might have
been the only way out for you, and that is why he has permitted divorce in
certain circumstances. God is the God of everlasting love and new beginnings:
he can take you on from where you are now to serve him in the future
How to Love
Your Enemy Matthew
5.38-48
Jesus teaching about loving your
enemies looks good at a distance, but the closer you get to it, the harder it becomes
Frankly I am inspired and moved
when I read heroic stories of persecuted believers reaching out in love to
their tormentors, but when someone crosses me, when I am personally
offended or put out, when my enemy becomes a reality, rather than a theoretical
responsibility, then the challenge of Jesus teaching really hits home, because,
if I’m honest, I don’t want to love my enemy
So let us look this morning at the
deepest, most powerful, hardest form of love there is: the love of your enemy
1. BEWARE THE TEMPTATION TO
RE-WRITE THE BIBLE
There’s one verse you won’t find in
the Old Testament and that is ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ Yet in
Jesus day people went around quoting those words as if it they were Gospel
truth.
They started off with part of a
verse that is in the Bible Leviticus 19.18, love your neighbour as
yourself. But that seemed to be a bit strong – ‘surely we can’t be expected
to love any and every one’ they reasoned. So they did what you must always do
with Lemon Squash but you should never do with the Bible: they diluted it to
taste
They made God’s law more palatable
by watering it down. So they said to themselves, neighbour, can’t really mean ‘everyone’
it must just mean a fellow Jew, or someone from our town, or perhaps just
someone from their own family. And then by a twisted bit of reasoning the
Jewish teachers decided if our neighbours are our fellow Israelites; then
everyone else the enemies of God’s people, and they should be hated
In the end they had taken a piece
of the Bible and made it mean the exact opposite of what God intended. A verse
that had meant to encourage people to love everyone became a charter for hating
everyone except your own kith and kin.
Beware the temptation to re-write
the Bible, instead face up to the real challenge of God’s word:
2. LOVE YOUR ENEMIES - JUST LIKE
YOUR FATHER DOES
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love
your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in
heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on
the righteous and the unrighteous.
Far
from hating our enemies, we are to love them. Far from hitting back at our
persecutors we are to pray for them
But
why? Because God is like that. God’s love through the creation is
indiscriminate:
He
causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous. (verse 45)
There
are certain blessings that come to everyone without exception. Even those most
violently opposed to God receive the benefit of the sun and rain and all the
other blessings of the creation. So to love everyone, including your enemy, is
to be like your Father. You are being a son of your Father (v 45), because you
are reflecting his character.
But
its not just God’s love in creation that shows his love for his enemies, God’s
love in salvation shows it even more. Why? Because the Bible tells us that
before we turn from our sins and believe in Christ we are all God’s enemies.
Christ’s death on the cross the greatest display in the history of the world of
enemy-love.
We
were God’s enemies, but thanks to Jesus, we become his friends
Its
important to say also that in this very important matter, Jesus practised what
he preached. When his enemies surrounded him, nailed him to the cross, and
cruelly taunted him, he could have called down judgment from heaven. But
instead he prayed ‘Father, forgive them, for they not what they are doing.’
Nineteen
centuries later that prayer was the inspiration for the Coventry cross, when in
the smoking ruins of the bomb Cathedral, Jesus prayer of forgiveness was
inscribed on the east wall of the building.
But,
what does it mean in practise to love our enemies? For a start I don’t think it
means to experience warm cuddly feelings towards them of the kind that you and I
might have when we look at our children or loved ones – I don’t think Jesus was
experiencing warm cuddly feelings towards those who were nailing his hands to
the cross.
But
he did pray for them. And that perhaps is the very first and most
important thing we can do. And the very act of doing that can dramatically
affect how we feel about them. It can defuse some of our anger, rage, and
bitterness.
And
that might help us to begin to love them, to be kind to them, to do good to
them, and to bless them, which is the next stage. When we do that it is a very
powerful act
When
VIPS from all over the world came for Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as the
first black president of South Africa, alongside the princes and presidents,
ambassadors, & prime ministers, sat three prison guards from his long years
of captivity. Their presence as the new president’s personal guests of honour
was a powerful statement of forgiveness and love for his enemies
Later
Mandela described the day he left prison ‘as I walked out of the door toward
the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew that if I didn’t leave my
bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.’
My
God help us to leave our bitterness and hatred behind, and to love our
enemies as he loves them. First by praying for them, and second, by doing good
to them
That
brings us to our third and final point, let us:
3.
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
46 If you love those who love you, what reward
will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what
are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
To love
those who love you, to greet only your family members and friends, that’s doing
no more than a tax collector, or a pagan. Even Adolf Hitler was very kind to
the staff of his private office. Everyone loves someone, but the
Christian must love everyone
We are be different
The key verse here is verse 47
47
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than
others?
and the key phrase is what are you
doing more than others?
A Christian’s love should go
further than a non-Christian’s. It should include ones family, ones friends,
and ones friends at church, but it should go beyond it to the unloved, the
unlovely, and even those who hate us,
revile us and persecute us
Over forty years ago, the great
Baptist pastor, and civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, preached these
words to his congregation:
‘So this morning, as I look into
your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over
America and over the world, I say to you, "I love you. I would rather die
than hate you." And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power
of this love somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed.
And then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the
university of eternal life because we had the power to love our enemies, to
bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons
who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who despitefully used us’. Martin
Luther King
When we realise how much our
Fathers in heaven has loved us, who were once his enemies, but are now his
friends, then we shall want to love as he loves us. We shall want to be like
ever more like our Father and we shall heed the challenge of verse 48:
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
May God help us to embrace the kind
of love that enables us to pray for our persecutors and love our enemies