Well, we've just finished our series on Proverbs
and we're starting next week our Ephesian series.
But this week I thought we'd just do a one -off
on the Great Commission and look at what it means
to be a church on a mission, a church with a
purpose. So let's pray, let's ask God to help
us as we do that now. Gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank you that your Word is living and active.
We ask that as we look at your word now that
it would grip us and change us and make us more
like Jesus and that it would help us to think
more like Jesus as well. And we ask this in his
name. Amen. Well just after Easter we had the
in -laws visit us and they came all the way from
Perth and took us to Green Island. and lots of
great things to see at Green Island. You can
imagine the fish and the reef and all of that
stuff. But one thing I'm weird, okay, I want
to admit that upfront, I'm weird. One thing I
enjoy at places like that is people watching.
I love sitting there with my cup of coffee and
just sitting there and observing what different
people are doing. And there's all sorts of different
people there with different purposes. So you've
got the families there who are all trying to
bond and give their kids new experiences but
really it's a case of no one is listening to
them and everyone's getting frustrated. You've
got the couples there who are just looking in
each other's eyes all ooey gooey because they're
on their romantic getaway. You've got the true
tourists there who are there to see the reef
and they've got their cameras out and they're
taking photos of absolutely everything. You've
got the tour guides and the vendors who are just
there, they're doing their job, they can't wait
to knock off and get home. And then you've got
the business owners and the managers who are
trying to extract as much money as possible out
of tourists who are coming, coming up with any
way they can to do that. It's the same place,
but different experiences, depending on your
purpose for being there. If you were to sit with
a cup of coffee here at church and just do a
bit of people watching, I think you'd see similar
things, wouldn't you? It's the same place but
different experience depending on your purpose
for being here. So some people come to church
and they love the community. You know, for them
it's all about, this is where I feel like I belong
and my friends are here and it's very social
for me. For some they come and they find it really
intellectually stimulating and it pushes their
thinking and they enjoy it for that. For some
they come for the free food and the babysitting.
I have been in churches where that is the reason
people come. It's not really about anything else.
The person sitting next to you, they might be
here for a very different reason than for why
you're here. I mean, can you even identify your
main reason or reasons for being here at church?
We each have our reasons for being here. We each
have a purpose for being here. And many churches
try to grow by being aware of that. Okay, like
we know what they want them. The mums, they want
this. And if we're aware and we can cater to
that, that'll help us grow. And that's not a
bad thing. But it can become a big problem. Because
we need to make sure we've got the right reasons
for why people are here, the main reasons for
why people are here. Because your reason for
being here, my reason for being here is not the
most important. Jesus has his reasons for why
we are here. And they're the ones that matter
most. He has things that he wants to see happen
each week at church. He has purposes for his
church. And if we're clear on what those purposes
are, it means we can be a healthy church full
of people living healthy Christian lives. Do
you know what these purposes are? Are we doing
them well here at Northern Hope? Well, today
I want to show you that the Great Commission
is actually a blueprint for the purposes of church
life and the purposes of the Christian life.
So here's the big thing we're going to see today
as we look at the Great Commission. Jesus' purposes
for his church must drive all that we do. Jesus'
purposes for his church must drive all that we
do. And as we're looking at the Great Commission,
we're going to see four alls. That's what the
Great Commission's centred around. But from that,
we're going to see five purposes that Jesus has
for his church. Four alls. five purposes. So
here are the four alls. Jesus is the glorious
Lord of all. Make disciples of all nations. Teach
all of Jesus commands. And Jesus is with us for
all time. So let's look at the first one. Jesus
is the glorious Lord of all. If you've got your
Bible there, come with me to verses 16 to 18.
Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the
mountain where Jesus had told them to go. So
just to situate things, remember Jesus has been
betrayed by Judas, that's why we're down to 11
disciples, and he has won. He's victorious. He
defeated death and sin and Satan at the cross.
He rose again as Lord of all. He's there and
he's saying to his disciples, We need to catch
up. I'm going to tell you guys what to do next.
That's where we're at. And when they saw him,
they worshipped him. But some doubted. And that
word doubted literally means hesitated. So you've
got here some of Jesus' disciples, some worshipped
Jesus, but some paused. They weren't sure. They're
in two minds. Why would they be like that? I
mean, Jesus has just defeated sin and he's saved
his people from his sins. Why would people be
hesitant? Or maybe it's a self -defense mechanism.
I mean, their hopes have been dashed before.
You know, Jesus died on the cross. They expected
him to be the conquering Messiah. And it all
didn't go the way they thought. Maybe they're
just a little bit gun shy. Or maybe it's because
many of them ran away when Jesus was dying. Peter
even denied Jesus three times. Maybe they're
scared that their failures are going to be exposed
and Jesus is going to be really angry with them.
I mean, it could be those things. But most likely
it's probably because these guys were good Jews.
And so they said the Shema every day, which is
this. Hero Israel the Lord our God the Lord is
one You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might How many gods are there? One and what
are you to do with that God you're to love and
worship him with everything you have So to worship
a man even though it's Jesus Probably feels a
little yuck. It feels a little like is this idolatry?
I'm not sure if we should. And so how does Jesus
respond to their hesitation? Well, look at verse
18. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
He's saying they are right to worship him because
he has won. He's triumphed over all. He defeated
sin and Satan and death by the cross. No power
can beat him. He reigns over everything in the
universe. Everything is under his feet. I think
he's trying to draw to mind what we read in Daniel
7. Do you remember this? In my vision at night
I looked and there before me was one like a son
of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached
the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.
All nations and peoples of every language worshipped
him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that will not pass away and his kingdom is one
that will never be destroyed. It's this divine
Son of Man who rules over all and gets worshipped.
That's what Jesus is getting at. See, Jesus rains
over everything. We've got school starting back
up again, and school holidays are over, but who's
counting? And, you know, one of the things we've
had to do every term when, you know, we get kids
new hats and new jumpers and new all bits and
pieces, is we sharpie everything. You've got
to sharpie their name on absolutely everything,
because they'll lose it otherwise. Well, I want
to ask you, if you had to sharpie Jesus' name
on what's His in the universe, what would you
sharpie it on? Everything. He made it all. He
redeemed it all. He rules it all. You'd see Jesus
sharpie everywhere all over the universe, wouldn't
you? Jesus is worthy of worship. He's the second
person of the Trinity. He's the Divine Son of
Man. He's the one who completed his mission to
save the world and defeat Satan, sin and death.
He deserves our worship. I remember years ago
my dad took me to see the Swans win the Premiership
in 2005 there in Melbourne. Four point win, 92
,000 people, first premiership the Swans had
won in 72 years. It went off. It was amazing.
I reckon you could even say that there were fans
there worshipping the players. Because in their
mind they went, their victory made them worthy
of adoration. You guys have done it, wow! You've
won! Well, how much more for us with Jesus? Jesus
created the universe. He saved us from sin. He
conquered death. He's worthy of our worship.
He deserves complete worship, love and devotion
for what He's done. There's no need to doubt
or to hesitate. He's worthy of limitless worship.
So why does the Church exist? What's its reason
for being here? What's the purpose of us doing
what we do? Well, one key reason is that we're
here to worship and magnify the Lord Jesus. We
magnify Him. Not like a magnifying glass. You
know, with a magnifying glass, it makes something
small bigger. That's not what we do when we magnify
Jesus. For us it's like a telescope. You know
how with a telescope you've got something great
that you're seeing and it makes it larger and
clearer to you? That's what we're doing with
Jesus. He's great, He's awesome and we want to
see Him clearly. That's what we're to do every
Sunday. We're to worship, adore and display the
greatness of Jesus. Actually, we do that in all
our ministries, but especially Sundays where
we preach, we pray, and we praise Jesus together.
And that helps each of us. When we have thankful
worship in our lives, worship in response to
the mercy that Jesus has shown us, it fuels and
drives our Christian lives powerfully. See, a
big part of why we gather is filling up our worship
tank each week. And so I want to ask you, is
that your mindset when you come to church? It's
easy to be distracted, isn't it? To come to church
and you're thinking about the kids who are being
difficult or, you know, you're thinking about
lunch. You know, what are we having for lunch
today? Am I going to go to marshes and pick up
a steak? What am I doing? Or you're planning
the week ahead and you're going, I've got a big
week this week. It's easy to just get distracted
and in our own heads during church. Our lives
are so doo -doo -doo -doo -doo, aren't they?
But at church, it's our time to pause, stop,
and adore. At church, we get to soak our hearts
in the glory of Jesus and respond to him with
worship. It's so crucial that we do that because
it helps us stay in a good place spiritually.
So magnifying Jesus so we worship him is key
to what we do in church. But how do we express
our worship? Is it just that we hear how great
Jesus is and praise him? Well, it's more than
that. Our whole life is actually worship, which
includes making disciples of all nations. That's
the second thing we need to see. We're to make
disciples of all nations. That's our next all.
Have a look at what verse 19 says. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptising
them in the name of the Father and of the Son.
and of the Holy Spirit. Now, you know what you
do whenever you see a therefore in the Bible?
You go to ask, what's the therefore, therefore?
What's the therefore, therefore? Well, it's there
to show that the universal Lordship of Jesus
demands a universal mission. Jesus has won. He
reigns over everything. He's accomplished salvation.
And his worshippers are to share that with the
world. It's a bit like this. Imagine a group
of scientists in the lab grinding away, researching,
day after day, month after month, year after
year. And one day, throughout the lab, the words
Eureka! echo through the lab. One of the scientists
has discovered a cure for cancer. Huge breakthrough,
wouldn't it? Cancer beaten. Many can now be saved.
But it's no good if it just stays in the lab,
is it? It needs to be shared with the world.
And Jesus' victory over sin, Satan and death
is like that. It's a cure to eternal death. It
needs to be exported to every corner of the earth.
And that's what Christians do. We do so gladly
because Jesus saved us from spiritual cancer.
We share Jesus with the world because we want
others to know his salvation. That's our act
of worship. It's part of our worship. Christians
worship Jesus by making disciples wherever they
can. They seek to tell others of him so that
they'll worship Jesus and become his disciples.
We share what we love because we want others
to experience it. I love how John Piper puts
it. He says it like this. Worship is the goal
and the fuel of missions. Missions exist because
worship doesn't. Missions is our way of saying
the joy of knowing Christ is not a private or
tribal or national or ethnic privilege, it is
for all. And that's why we go. Because we've
tasted the joy of worshipping Jesus and we want
all the families of the earth included. So whether
it's proselytizing people around us or supporting
that elsewhere, Christians are to worship Jesus
by being on mission. But it's not just that we
make disciples and then leave them be. There's
another part to it. We also, did you see it,
we baptise them into the covenant community.
See, baptism is not just a public profession
of faith. It's an incorporation of someone into
the new community of faith. And it's a community
centred on the Trinitarian God, baptised them
in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. The community we're part of is a unified
diversity of love, just like the Trinity. And
we do this because it's no good saving people
if we just then leave them to fall away. We want
believers to stay saved. And they need a good
environment, a good community that will care
for them so that that's the case. When I was
a kid, we used to have a fish tank with goldfish
in it. And some of these goldfish would jump
out of the fish tank and die. You know, you'd
come home, you'd see there on the carpet, little
goldie just on the floor, cross eyes, that sort
of thing. Well imagine if I'm there at home and
I see one of the goldfish do the jump out they
go onto the floor If I was so committed to saving
that fish, you know, imagine if I sit there and
I do little fish CPR Blow in try and save that
fish's life Even if I did all that it's no good
if I do that and then just leave that fish on
the carpet is it? To stay saved That fish needs
to be put back in the water. And it's the same
with people. It's great when someone hears the
gospel and turns to Jesus. But if they're going
to stay saved, they need to join a community
of believers. It's like their water, it keeps
them alive. It keeps their faith alive. And so
in this verse we have two crucial purposes for
the church. Mission and membership. The church
is to reach the lost, that's mission, but then
it's to incorporate them into a loving and caring
community centred on the Trinitarian God. That's
membership. It's mission and membership. So that
people are saved and keep going in their salvation.
And so there's lots of things that we need to
do as a church so that that can happen. On Sundays
we try and preach evangelistically in a service
that's welcoming for new people. We try and do
coffees with people who want to know more about
Jesus. I just did one this week where I met up
with someone. They brought a friend along and
we talked about Jesus. It was fantastic. You
know, one day I hope we can do an evangelistic
course. That's the mission side of it. There's
the membership side too. We have pastoral care.
You know, we've got a pastoral care team that
Karen and Jen run. They do an amazing job with
that. We have welcoming. We have socials. There's
all sorts of things we're trying to do so that
people not only get saved but incorporated into
our community of believers. But there's also
things individually that each of us can do. And
I want to mention one today. It's to develop
your radar. Develop your radar. Because there's
lost people and struggling people all around
us. And it's easy to miss, isn't it? It's easy
to be so distracted that we're thinking about
20 other things. But developing that radar so
that when you're there at Smithfield shops and
you're walking through, you see people differently,
you go, wow. there's a lot of lost people here
who need Jesus. Lord please save many of these
people or you're there at church and you walk
through the door and you know you're thinking
now am I on the roster today I probably should
have checked before okay you know and you come
in the door and you're distracted by 20 things
rather than going There's someone who really
needs, they're struggling. I know they've had
a really hard week. I'm going to talk to them
and see how they're doing and try to encourage
them. We need to develop our individual radars
to see those who are lost and those who are struggling.
But we shouldn't just be seeking to reach new
people who we add to our community. We also want
to strive to see our community grow maturity
and that's the next all we see we teach all of
Jesus commands we teach all of Jesus commands
which is what we see in verse 20 Jesus says you
know make disciples and teaching them to obey
everything literally all I have commanded you
so Jesus is Lord of all And so not only do we
make disciples of all nations, we bring Jesus'
Word to bear on every aspect of our lives. That's
joyful for us, but it's also how we can be salt
and light in the world. And so Jesus is Lord
of all, so no aspect of our lives is off -limits
to Him in His Word. Our sexuality, our spending,
our speech, our time, our relationships, our
thoughts, All that we do must be subject to Jesus'
teachings. And because we're hearing all of Jesus'
words, we don't cherry -pick bits that we like.
Well, you know, I really like Romans, but I'm
not a fan of Leviticus, you know. We take all
of it in. All of it is Jesus' word. And it must
shape every aspect of our lives. It's a bit like
this. Years ago Laura and I bought our first
house in Perth and it was a little three by two
shoe boxy kind of house and at the time we only
had Ethan and so the house was pretty neat and
tidy. It's a lot neater and tidier when you don't
have five kids and just the one. But for us there
was one room that we did just kind of leave as
the junk room. That's partly why it was neat
and tidy because what we could do was we'd go,
all the things that were too hard to sort out,
we'll put in that room, and when people come
over, we'll shut the door. That was a good, that
was my strategy. I think I probably drove Laura
nuts with my strategy, but, and in there it did
stay a little bit messy for quite a while, but
it felt fine for me, because people would come
over and just shut the door. It's like it doesn't
exist. Well, I want you to imagine the different
parts of your life are like rooms in a house.
So there's your sexuality, there's your thoughts,
there's your spending, there's your relationships,
whatever it might be. You've got different rooms
in a house. If you're persistently closing doors
to Jesus, saying, yeah, that's a mess, but Jesus,
you don't come in there. You've got to question
if Jesus is actually your Lord if you're doing
that. Even if the rest of the house is super
tidy. Oh, your Christian life's going great,
but there's this one room that's shut off. No.
If there's rooms that are shut off to Jesus,
that's a very dangerous place to be. Now, don't
mishear me. We all have many messy rooms in our
lives. That's normal. And the key is to let Jesus
into those rooms. Because when he comes in, he's
like Marie Kondo, you know? He comes in, cleans
it, sorts it out. And that might take time. That's
normal submission to the Lordship of Jesus. But
to say, Jesus, that room is off limits? That's
when we're hardening our hearts. That's where
we need to stop and let him in. And in the same
way, it's crucial that here as a church, no part
of the Bible, no topic be taboo in this pulpit.
We need to make sure that, whether it's the pulpit,
growth groups, whatever we're doing, that we're
listening to all of Jesus' words. Otherwise our
growth will be stunted. Loving all of Jesus'
Word, letting it speak into all aspects of our
lives is part of our worship and it's a crucial
purpose of our church and of the Christian life.
Are there any rooms in your life where the door
is closed or maybe closing a bit? But there's
one more all and one more purpose we need to
see. Here's our last all. Jesus is with us for
all time. Jesus is with us for all time. And
this is where Jesus says, and surely I'm with
you always to the very end of the age. And we've
got to take these words on board. They are wonderful,
aren't they? Comforting words. They reflect what
was said at the start of Matthew about Jesus'
birth. Remember, The angel says of Jesus, behold
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and
they shall call his name Immanuel, which means
God with us. It's referencing Isaiah and the
promises that God made there. God is with us
in Jesus. And so we're not alone in this world
as we do mission, as we seek to be here for Jesus.
Jesus is sustaining us by his presence. through
his spirit. He may no longer be with his people
bodily, but he's with all his disciples spiritually.
But this verse has another important implication
for the church. Remember Jesus says this to his
first disciples, the eleven. What happened to
the eleven? They're dead. Bit of a waste, isn't
it? Well, no, these words weren't just for them.
If they were just for them, Jesus wouldn't say,
and behold, I'm with you always to the very end
of the age. This commission is not just for them,
it's for us. These words are telling us that
all generations of Christians have Jesus with
them. And actually, It implies that all generations
of Christians need to pass the baton of service
and leadership to others. So that gospel ministry
continues in every generation. It's not just
that we're trying to reach all nations, it's
that we're trying to reach people throughout
all ages. Now I'm wise enough to not talk about
the groans of Marones fans on Wednesday night.
I'm not that brave. Better that I stick with
what I know. I'm an AFL fan. I love my Swannies
and they lost on Thursday night. So I'll talk
about that. But it's easy to love my Swannies
because they have sustained success. I sort of
think the other day that in the last 20 years
they've only missed the finals four times. It's
pretty good. And part of the reason is that they're
great at blooding new players. So this year,
they're sitting at second, they're going for
glory again, and they've got this new guy, Will
Edwards, who's this awesome fullback. He's like
a man mountain like this. He's amazing. I'm loving
watching him. But it's just great. They keep
doing that every year. find these guys, they
value them, they empower them, they train them,
they raise them up into these new great players.
And that's why the Swannies have done so well
for so long. But churches need to do that with
leaders and volunteers too. Every church should
be thinking into where will the next generation
of servant -hearted Christians and pastors come
from. We can't always import them from Sydney.
We have to be striving to raise up people ourselves,
train up people ourselves, maybe even one day
export people somewhere else. We want to be intentional
at tapping people on the shoulder, at equipping
people, at empowering people to lead and grow.
to keep developing systems and pipelines that
will see who's capable and train them up. It's
also why Kids Church is so important as well.
Why is Kids Church so important? There's a whole
range of reasons, but one of them is you don't
know if the next Spurgeon or Billy Graham is
in there in Kids Church, do you? Could be. So
will we be the sort of church that equips and
empowers people? Will each of us seek to do our
bit to serve one another so that the gospel continues
to go out? All right, let's draw some threads
together We started by asking What the purposes
of a healthy church are what what things Jesus
wants his people to be doing and focused on?
And we sought to answer that by looking at the
Great Commission and the four alls Jesus gives
us Jesus is the glorious Lord of all make disciples
of all nations, teach all of Jesus' commands,
and Jesus is with us for all time. And I tried
to show you that Jesus' purposes for his church
must drive all that we do. And I said to you,
there's four alls, but five purposes. And I don't
know if you picked them up. They each start with
M. You can actually read about them in our vision
booklet here. If you haven't got one, there's
a bunch up the back. We've got the five M's.
in our vision booklet and here's what they are.
Magnification, membership, maturity, ministry
and mission. These are the five purposes that
Jesus has for his church and we saw all of them
in the Great Commission. You could put it like
this even. I love diagrams they're easier to
read. So we've got our five M's, magnification,
membership, mission, ministry, maturity, worship,
community, reach, service, depth. That's what
the church is meant to be doing. You know, when
we went to Green Island with Laura's parents,
we didn't just do people watching, we did do
some snorkeling too. And I tell you what, seeing
all the fish and the coral was stunning. Seeing
that ecosystem at work was amazing. All the sea
plants and creatures in harmony so that life
thrives, it was amazing. And that's what church
life is meant to be like as well. These five
purposes are like an ecosystem. And when they're
working together, it creates a healthy church.
full of healthy Christians. I hope you've seen
that today. But what's all that mean for each
of us? Well, there will be some people here who
are new to Christian things. And you've heard
a big claim today. You've heard that Jesus is
Lord of all, that he's the only one who can save
us from our sins. If that's you, I'm so glad
you're here. I want to encourage you to have
an open mind and read Mark's Gospel. We've got
free copies of Mark up the back on the back table.
Grab one of these, have a read of it. Write down
any questions you have and come chat with me.
I'd love to have a coffee with you and talk you
through it all. And keep coming to church and
experiencing this community of love which is
really incredible. But if you're here and you're
a Christian, These five purposes aren't just
what makes a healthy church, but they are what
makes a healthy Christian life as well. So it's
good to once in a while check in with yourself.
How am I going with these purposes that Jesus
has for me? Am I magnifying Jesus? Do I worship
Jesus with my time, with my life, with all that
I am? Do I love the Lord my God? Am I in a community?
Am I caring for people? Are they caring for me?
Am I connected with the folk here at church?
Am I on a mission? And am I trying to reach people
for Jesus? Do I want to share Jesus with others?
Am I inviting people to church, sharing the gospel
with them, praying for others? Am I doing ministry?
Am I serving others? Am I trying to love others
with the gifts that God has given me? And am
I growing in maturity? Is there depth in my Christian
life? Am I getting to know the Bible deeply?
Is my godliness growing? It's good to check in
and ask, how am I going with all of these things?
But there might be some here today who are leaders
of our church. And I want to encourage you, these
five key things are the things Jesus wants his
church to be doing. And for us, we need to make
sure that we're strong in all of these. I hope
you'll work prayerfully with me in trying to
do that. It's good for us as leaders to ask now
and again, which one do you think we're weak
in? Which one are we really strong in? And we
want to try and get strong in all of them, because
if we are weak in one, we end up with a lopsided
ecosystem. I won't go into cane toads and all
of that, but you can imagine. So we don't want
to be a church that's strong on maturity but
not on evangelism and mission. We've got to make
sure we're balanced. But whatever reason you
have for being here today, I hope you've seen
that Jesus' purposes for the church make the
sort of church that you'd probably want to come
to. and that others would want to come to too.
So let's keep working together to be that sort
of church, trying to do what Jesus has told us
to do in the Great Commission. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we thank you so much for Jesus' words
to us. Thank you that he saved us from our sin.
through his death on the cross. Thank you that
he's Lord of all and reigning over everything.
And thank you that his spirit is with us. Thank
you that he is with us till the end of the age.
And as we wait for his return, help us to strive
to do these things, to do these purposes, both
individually and as a church together. And we
ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.