Mission from God
Noel K. Anderson First Presbyterian Church of Upland
Text: Ephesians 4: 11-16
Head, Heart, & Hands
The Ways We Experience God
As we kickoff our Fall Quarter series, Why We’re Here, I want us to be clear about our spiritual diversity. I mean that we do not all process information in the same way—neither do we all experience God in the same way.
We tend to experience God in one of three ways: intellectually, emotionally, or volitionally. We’ll be talking about this as head, heart, and hands. In terms of head, we experience God through Bible study and feel enriched and closer to God through instruction in the faith. For heart, we experience God in deep relationship with him—feeling his power and presence in prayer, praise, or connecting with others in fellowship. And as for hands, we know God volitionally—through activity and real events of this life—be it acts of mission or mercy.
All this to say that the sermons through this series will all be arranged in three sections: head, heart, and hands. My prayer is that there will be something for you to hear no matter how you tend to experience God.
[Read Ephesians 4: 11-16]
Our Mission from God
Meaningful Mission Statements
You’ve probably been part of an organization that has a mission statement. The best ones are short, pithy, and rightly capture the organization’s raison d’etre, which (for you young folk) is French for “reason for being.” In short, a mission statement answers the question of Why We are Here.
It’s good to have a mission statement because it can keep an institution focused—prevent it from going off the rails—and constantly remind its patron and employees what matters most.
The list of of poor mission statements is longer than I could read, but they tend to be long, wordy, and say little-to-nothing about why the organization exists. There some that are very easy to remember. It was said that Google’s original mission statement was simply “Don’t be evil,” but it turns out that this was their code of conduct. It has since been replaced by the phrase, “Do the right thing,” which words it more positively.
Some years ago, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream brought in a consultant to help them with their mission statement. At first, all the typical things about producing quality ice cream and making a profit for the stockholders left everyone cold. They changed it to two words: “Spread Joy,” because ice cream is essentially about joy and Ben and Jerry’s wanted to be in the business of spreading joy.
Mission statements are clearly only useful if they are purposeful and memorable. Here at First Pres, our mission statement is:
Growing in Christ, making Him known
The lodestar verse comes from our text, verse 13:
…until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
Notice that it is equally true to say “growing into Christ” as it is “growing in Christ.” When we grow in Christ, we are in fact growing into Christ—growing into his likeness, nature, character and will.
Truth-Telling
Head-work that Fails to Flatter
The head-work of our mission is seen in verse 14:
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
It’s critical that we all know our mission and be capable of pruning or sloughing off the things which are not part of our mission. Part of the “trickery” and “craftiness” of which Paul warns the Ephesians is sophistry—seemingly clever arguments that subtly change the substance of the gospel message entrusted to the Church.
We we need to understand Scripture, which means we must be continuously reading and studying the Bible. For First Pres, this has typically taken place partly in Sunday sermons, but also in Lifegroups, Midweek classes, and Sunday School classes. Part of Christian maturity is characterized by a endless hunger for God’s Word found when we read Scripture.
Another chief aspect of maturity is found in verse 15, wherein we’re told to “speak the truth in love.” This may be harder than we think, for the truth can sometimes be painful to hear—especially the kind of truth that challenges us and transforms us—because the truth never bends to accommodate us. Rather we must be bent—or unbent—in order to align with the truth about ourselves and the world. It can hurt our pride—usually does—and upset our dignity before our minds are rightly renewed. Telling the truth can sound critical because the truth never flatters, which is why telling the truth in love is the necessary modifier. We tell the truth—even the hard truths—not to break others down but to build them up. Love seeks the very best for others.
We tend to avoid truth-telling because we want to be nice and wish to avoid hurting others’ feelings. In avoiding such truth-telling, we contribute to whatever falsehoods that may be holding our brothers and sisters captive.
Emotional Maturity
When Commitment Becomes Easy
Emotional maturity of faith comes as the truths take root in our hearts. It is one thing to have information, but another to have faith. One thing to have head knowledge, but another—and finer thing—to have conviction in one’s heart.
Felt conviction is a matter of heart, not head. The head feeds it, but real faith lives in our depths. When the Bible uses the word “heart,” it may be one of several other organs—the intestines or “gut”—but it means something close to soul—that core place where mind, feeling, and soul all come together as one.
Growing into Christ, in terms of our hearts, means that our feelings come to reflect the affections of God—that we feel as God feels (as we come to know through Scripture). Our hearts should be so steeped in love and devotion for God that we can’t help but reflect his will in our whole lives.
We grow our hearts in many ways, but particularly through prayer and worship. It is that relationship with God that we experience in worship, prayer, and praise that shapes our affections.
The evidence of a mature spiritual heart is commitment. This is the one who has seen the treasure in the field and sells all he has to buy it, or has found the pearl of great price, compared to which nothing else matters.
The mature heart commits itself, and does so easily, pleasurably. For the mature soul, committing oneself to Christ is like coming home at the end of a difficult work day. It is the only place we want to be—in Christ’s service.
To Be Used By God
Why We’re Here in the Flesh
To answer how it is that our hands grow in Christ and make him known, I’ll just say that this whole series will articulate ways of acting it out and following through.
In short, no matter how much you know or how deeply you feel about it, it all means very little if you never do anything about it.
As Jesus came as the incarnation—in the fleshness—of God, so we, his church, are his hands and feet today, continuing his mission of redemption and salvation.
We do what the Spirit of God would do through us. We know what God would do through us by knowing his Word and will through Scripture, prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. If our hearts are not steeped in prayer, we can’t trust our leading; we can have no confidence or conviction.
All the training and equipping are for our deployment. Imagine studying swimming—every different stroke and breathing pattern—but never getting into the water. We train, equip ourselves and grow in order that we can function as the Body of Christ in the world.
Yesterday was the 20th of 9/11. I spent the afternoon watching documentaries about that day. We remember the heroism of first responders who were trained to go into the dust and fire, despite the dangers. They knew their role and commitment, and though many lost their lives, many more lives were saved as a result of their work.
But there’s even better news, in my opinion, for those who are inadequate to such tasks and completely untrained. There are the stories of those who, though un-trained and unknowledgeable, just did what is right and good in the moment. The unconscious—even reluctant—heroes.
The good news is this: for whatever preparation we do, we will be blessed to put it to use, but it is not about us at all. The Holy Spirit chooses whomever it wills. As we seek to grow into Christ, we can’t help but make him known. It’s just about being present and willing to be led in any given moment. So we can always say that the good work was God’s work, not ours. Growing into Christ makes him known. That is how we return glory back to glory. It is the picture of purpose, fulfillment—of growing into the image of Christ and making him known by revealing him to others.
Jesus Christ changes lives, transforming them from pointless wandering to purposeful mission.
That is what we are all about. †
Questions
1. Why is a mission statement needed?
2. What makes a mission statement useful?
3. Discuss differences between Growing IN Christ and Growing INTO Christ.
4. Why is “speaking the truth in love” the key to Christian maturity?
5. Do we see false “truth-telling” in our world today?
6. Name some of the major obstacles to speaking the truth in love.
7. How is speaking the truth in love the best kind of evangelism?
8. Is there truth-telling (in love) that you have withheld or neglected? Why? How would it feel to follow-through in truth telling?
9. How does growing in/into Christ automatically make Him known?