This morning, we officially begin a series we’re calling IMPACT. As we work through this series, we’re going to call your attention to different pages in this book. The very first you’ll see in this book is Acts 1:8, a Bible verse that reminds us that God has given us His Holy Spirit, so that we’ll have power, to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth.
When Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, they were in Jerusalem. We often assume we have to pick up everything, and move to the ends of the earth, for our lives to matter. But IMPACT begins where you already find yourself. If you cannot make an impact where you are, you shouldn’t assume you’ll make a greater impact far away. Your first mission field is your home, your neighborhood, your school, your workplace, your existing networks of relationships, your town/city. But don’t worry… when God is ready to nudge you out of the nest, he definitely will!
Make no mistake about it. You we’re born to make an IMPACT. Your life matters. It matters to God, you matter to this church… you’re life matters for those God has called you to touch. Don’t ever get to thinking down on yourself—that you don’t matter. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Our prayer is that you will discover God’s purpose for your life over these next few months.
A Challenge to Lakesiders
Our goal is that 100% of those of us who consider Lakeside our home, will invest our time, gifts, talents, money, heart/mind/body/soul into what God is doing among us. We’re asking you to make weekly worship a priority. We don’t want you to miss any part of the conversation we’ll be having about the future.
Let me say this. Lakeside Christian Church is not a building. “We” are Lakeside. “You and me” are Lakeside. Ephesians 2:22 says we are “being built together to become a dwelling by which God lives by his Spirit.” You can think of this building as our home base. This is simply the place where we gather to learn, grow and worship. When you look at the IMPACT book, you will see plans for converting this room into a sanctuary. We want to turn this room sideways, build a balcony, increase seating capacity, install a baptistery. Instead of worship being an afterthought for this space, we want to make the central purpose for this room, to be worship.
You’ll notice in the IMPACT booklet that once we begin averaging over 500 in worship, and can raise 25% of the renovation cost (250k), we will begin remodeling. We could begin remodeling as early as next Spring, or much later. It really depends on us!
When we talk about being a church of IMPACT, you understand, we’re walking a fine line. It is true, that home base matters. We need to take care of what’s needed to grow physically. But of course, we’re not saying, that a building is our only concern…
If you’ve been a part of Lakeside any amount of time you know how modest we are buildings, and stewardship campaigns, and generosity. We don’t ever want a project (like remodeling a sanctuary, expanding parking) to overshadow our purpose. This building is just a tool, and not even the most important tool, God uses to build his Church. So yes, we have a project in mind. An awesome project! But our focus is people, building lives in Christ. That is the only IMPACT that ultimately matters. We are witnesses of Christ. We’re God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
Let’s jump into our topic this morning. Consider this: A Church of Impact is Moved by Mission. In your IMPACT book, you will find space to write notes (p. 56), a scripture guide (p. 57), a summary of today’s message (p. 58), and study guide (p. 59). We have hundreds of adults starting small groups this week!
Jesus' Call to Impact
This idea of mission is rooted in the final words Jesus spoke to his disciples, in Matthew 28:16-20, after Jesus had been crucified, and risen from the grave. We’re told, “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 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.’”
There is so much I want to say about this passage. For example, what does it suggest that some of Jesus’ disciples worshipped, but others we’re filled with doubt? When I first started preaching, my sophomore year of college, at twenty years of age, I had just as many questions as convictions about Jesus Christ. Just because you have a lot of growing to do, doesn’t mean God cannot use you. When you offer your life to God, wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of doubt to worship… you will experience the reality of God more fully than if you’d chosen not to serve him.
In Matthew 28:20 Jesus promises, “Surely I am with you always, to very end of the age.” For me, serving Christ cured my doubts, because it’s in serving, that Christ becomes most real, and you see/experience/become conduit of his very power. Write this down in your book. If you most want to see Christ, serve Him. Offer your life to him. Be his witness. Do the works he’s prepared for you to do. The doubt melts away, and Christ becomes more present and real than you could ever imagine.
So what is this mission of Jesus? First and foremost, it isn’t just the mission of Jesus. It’s the mission of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and now the church. For God so loved the world, he sent his only Son Jesus into the world. As Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, He promised to send forth his Holy Spirit. And what does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit sends forth the Church into the world!
Our Mission is Relational
The first observation to make is the mission of Father, Son, Holy Spirit is relational… think people... We we’re created “by” God, and “for” God. We exist for God’s own pleasure, and the praise of His glory. What we need to understand is that through Christ Jesus, God is reconciling the whole world unto himself. Jesus’ prayer was that we all might be “one” just as the Father-Son are “one.”
But herein lies our missional dilemma: If mission is all about a restored relationship with God, how do we keep the main thing the main thing? We can spend a lot of time and energy on everything else without ever helping a person know God. We can build buildings, dig wells, fill backpacks, put on a great show Sunday, run programs, entertain folks. We can succeed in the eyes of the world, while failing horribly to bring people into relationship with Jesus! Our mission is relational.
Our Mission is Inclusive
The second observation to make is the mission of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is inclusive… think culture… When Jesus began his earthly ministry, Satan took him to a Mountain and showed him every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth. “All rule and authority can be yours,” Satan promised, “If you’ll bow down and worship me.” Satan understood the desire of Jesus, the Son of God, more than most people do! God yearns for the worship, and affection of all people, everywhere.
The scope of God’s mission isn’t limited to any one time, or place, or people group. His mission transcends time… to the very end of the age. His mission transcends place… not just Jerusalem, but Judea, Samaria and the Ends of the Earth. His mission transcends ethnicity. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus announces, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all the nations/all cultures/all ethnicities…”
God didn’t choose Israel in spite of the nations; God chose Israel for the sake of the nations—that they would know Israel’s God, and seek the salvation only God can provide. Again, herein lies our missional dilemma: If the mission is about all cultures, how do we keep the mission from becoming only about us? People like think like me, look like me, behave like me… People who have share my attitudes, my beliefs, my religion, my socio-economic status, my gender, my geography, my skin color, my ____.
We tend to draw tiny circles, that exclude, and right off the majority of people in the world. We imagine God loves us, but not “the others.” But God has just as much a heart for us as he does for people scattered to the ends of the earth. In the Church, we’re not talking about diversity for diversity’s sake. We’re talking about a diversity that reflects the heart of God. There ought to be a whole lot of “different” in the church. “Sameness” reflects the decay, the death, of mission.
Our Mission is Invitational
A third observation to make about mission is that it is invitational… think baptism… In Matthew 28 Jesus speaks of baptizing people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When Satan tempted Jesus, he offered to give Jesus rule, power, and authority over every nation. This constituted a short cut for Jesus. Satan was telling Jesus, “You want to rule? You want to be Lord? You want people to obey God? You don’t have to live and walk, suffer and die, and go through all that agony of the cross… to govern the earth.
Here, I’ll just give it to you… I’ll subject… I’ll subjugate the world under you…but you have to be under me…”
God’s ways, are not our ways. There isn’t anything coercive about our mission whatsoever. The Christian life, beginning with baptism, is one grand invitation. Come and see. Come, follow me. Be with me. Remain in me. Believe on me. Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.”
How do we make disciples? Before anything else, we invite them, by faith into the waters of baptism. The pastor or priest doesn’t, or their own will, pledge a person. The parent doesn’t, of their own will, pledge and decide for a child. No in baptism, a person hears Christ’s invitation, and of their own will, pledges their heart to God. Given the choice between taking a soul of another’s volition/will, or receiving a person in baptism of that own person’s volition/will, our Lord and Savior will always take the second offer.
Our mission is entirely invitational, which means we can expect that people will decline Christ’s baptism, and decline God’s offer in Christ. Our mission is entirely invitational, which means no matter how bad we want others to receive Christ, we can’t coerce, manipulate, subjugate, nor force, nor make people’s decision for them. This is why at Lakeside we ask for a person to make baptism their own decision. It’s because this life can only ever be an individual’s choice to receive.
Our Mission is Transformative
A fourth observation to make about our mission is that it is transformative… think obedience. Once a person’s pledges their life to Christ in baptism, the really ahrd work of transformation begins. Jesus says, “teach people to obey everything I’ve commanded you.” Baptism isn’t a destination, it’s a dedication. But once you dedicate your life to Christ, what does God do with you? Baptism is your dedication, but your destination (your destiny) is complete maturity in Christ… complete conformity to his character and love and obedience. It’s John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.”
I have some thoughts about this. Be careful what you do in the name of love, especially in the name of God’s love. In the name of love, we often excuse people’s disobedience. We assume that because a sinful attitude, or sinful behavior doesn’t matter to us, it doesn’t matter to God. Who do we think we are to suggest any of Christ’s commandments don’t matter? If we love God, we should want to please God in every way he’s revealed, and we should want others to please God too. Our mission isn’t just about loving and reaching a whole bunch of people… it’s also seeing to their transformation. It’s not just about quantity, its about quality. It’s not just about evangelism, it’s about discipleship. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about health.
I would argue that we’re not really loving people if we’re not teaching them to what and how to obey God. Now there are effective and ineffective ways to teach someone to obey. We’re certainly not talking about coercing behavior. Like Christ, we want to be sure we’re always captivating the heart and mind, and not just behavior, and not just people’s lip service. But just as God’s mission is relational, inclusive, and invitational… it’s necessarily transformative. God’s love is not without affect. The whole trajectory of a person’s life changes, coming out of the waters of baptism, coming out of faith, repentance, and confession.
What does it mean to be a Church of Impact… a church moved by mission? Well, it means we’re moved by the same things that move God. We’re moved to love people. We’re moved to embrace “other.” We humbly invite people to this life in Christ. We don’t just baptize and move one… but we see to one another’s transformation.
This is just the tip of the iceberg folks! Please take some time this week and deep dive into our IMPACT books. We’re inviting you to pray, to participate generously/sacrificially in what God is doing here.