• No other Gods
• No idols
• Do not misuse the name of the LORD
• Take a Sabbath to the LORD your God

Tags: Worship, God, Mission, Purpose

• Big Idea: God has given us a mission and it is radical.

• Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers had a most interesting beginning to pre-season training. All the players knew that at the first team meeting, the coach would waste no time getting straight to the point. Many of the men, half Lombardi’s age and twice his size, were openly fearful, dreading the encounter. The coach did not disappoint them, and, in fact, delivered his message in one of the great one-liners of all time. Football in hand, Lombardi walked to the front of the room, took several seconds to look over the assemblage in silence, held out the pigskin in front of him, and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” In only five words, Lombardi communicated his point: We’re going to start with the basics and make sure we’re executing all the fundamentals.

• My very first words as your pastor were, “Why are you here?” It doesn’t get any more basic than that! Last week we said that we exist to glorify God, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

• We have also talked about the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

• The Great Commission summarizes Jesus’ final words to His followers some 2000 years ago.

• Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 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 28:18-20)

• The Great Commandment was Jesus’ response to the question of the greatest commandment.

• Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

• Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

• Sometime in the early 1900s our church was planted. Although we’ve been unable to uncover details of the once-new church, it was undoubtedly launched to fulfill the Great Commission and follow the Great Commandment.

• - Make disciples.
• - Love God.
• - Love people.

• Last month the elders gathered together to prayerfully consider where God was leading us. There were two exercises that were especially valuable:

• 1. We began to develop a mission statement. Mission statements do not achieve the mission, but they define it in order to make it achievable. I had spent months trying to find our mission statement and each person I asked gave me a different answer! If we had one, it was not clear or memorable.

• Many churches take the Great Commission from Matthew 28 and form a generic mission statement such as…

• “We exist to know God and make Him known” or
• “We exist to make disciples and glorify God.”

• Those are fine, but they are so broad that every church should adopt them. In fact, if they couldn’t agree to those statements, I would question whether or not they are a biblical church!

• 2. We did a SWOT analysis. Some of you are probably imagining a mosquito infestation while others recognize it as a review of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The one striking thing to me was the item viewed as our greatest weakness—geography.

• There are two things that are striking: a) many live far from our building and b) most live far from one another.

• We pondered the question, “What if our greatest weakness became our greatest strength?”

• We all agreed that we did not merely want to be a distributor of religious goods and services. We also agreed that God has a unique mission for our church that can complement neighboring churches as we partner together.

• Furthermore, we agreed that we have been on something of a treadmill for a while, engaging in good activity but not having a clear direction. It’s better to be on a treadmill than to go the wrong way!

• So this morning I’d like to present to you our mission statement…

• We exist to fulfill the Great Commission and follow the Great Commandment by 

• - serving our communities
• - sharing our story
• - sending disciples to bless the nations

• so that God is glorified.

• These words are not magic. They don’t accomplish anything on their own. They do define our purpose and set direction for our present and future. Now I’d like to take some time and unpack it for you.

• Make disciples. That’s our primary objective. Why? Those are our marching orders given to us by our Senior Pastor, Jesus Christ. He didn’t tell us to build buildings, gather on Sundays, sing songs, preach sermons, or have potlucks, though they can be part of the process. He said to make disciples. By doing so, we will glorify God since that is what He has called us to do.

• Love God and people. Again, this is very broad and generic, yet meaningful. It should be the benchmark for everything we do.

• Serving our communities. The most important part of this phrase is the plurality of the word community. As much as we may want to focus our efforts on Scio Township, there are two major obstacles to doing so. First, few of us live in Scio Township. Our greatest sphere of influence will naturally be our neighbors. Second, even if we all lived in Scio Township, Scio has no clear identity. It is a hunk of land between Dexter and Ann Arbor.

• In some ways, our building reminds me of the Detroit Lions’ football stadium Ford Field in Detroit, a destination where people from surrounding areas gather on Sundays for a few hours only to scatter and return to their communities until next Sunday.

• We will continue to gather on Sundays, but our focus is to equip and empower you to love and serve your neighbors in your respective communities. Rather than trying to get people to come to church, we want to take the church to the people across Washtenaw County and beyond. God has placed us in a very strategic region that causes ripples around the world.

• People often analyze the teaching of Jesus. Even atheists and agnostics glean from His wise words, viewing Him as something of a sage. It wasn’t merely His words that attracted people, however. It was the way He served people. He spent time with children. He fed the crowds. He healed the sick. He gave away His life in every conceivable way. He commands us to do likewise.

• People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. We are committed to loving and serving our communities. How? We will present some church-wide opportunities such as serving at the Ann Arbor-Dexter Run or supporting our ministry partner Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti. The rest is ultimately up to you. Most of us can’t even begin to serve our neighbors because we don’t know our neighbors. We’re going to encourage you to throw parties, have barbecues, volunteer in your communities, and be missionaries to your neighborhoods.

• Sharing our story. Once people earn our trust, they will be willing to listen to our story. One of the great problems with street preachers on soapboxes is the absence of relationships. We have a story. We shared some earlier this year during 2WordStory and the EACH campaign. It’s ultimately not our story but His. We are about both works and words.

• Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15b)

• Your story coupled with your service are more powerful than any sermon, revival meeting, or crusade. You have a personal story but we also have a common story. Each Christ-follower can testify that “I once was lost/but now I’m found/Was blind but now I see.”

• Our world is dying to hear our story—literally. Every day I read the tragic stories of people who have breathed their last breath, many unaware of the God who so loved them that He gave His only Son for them.

• Sending disciples to bless the nations. The ultimate result of our deeds and words will be disciples, fully-devoted followers of Jesus, people that know Jesus, love Jesus, and look like Jesus. The real test of our effectiveness is not merely how good the band sounds, how much fun the kids have, or how many people like the sermon. The question is are we making disciples and blessing the world.

• Jesus said to make disciples “of all nations” and we can do this through relationships with internationals in our communities, through the Internet, and through short and long-term mission trips. One of the greatest things about our denomination—our tribe—the Christian & Missionary Alliance—is their passion for the nations. Missions is not something to be done one week each fall, but 24/7/365. Some of you may never need a passport, but many of you—especially our youth—are being prepared to GO. Jesus’ commission literally means to make disciples of all nations “as you are going” and that will often require travel. One dream of mine is to have a group next year travel to Peru to partner with Great Commission Air, our church’s global missions partner.

• So that God is glorified. We end where we began, with God. We are His Church. We are His people. It’s all about Him.

• That is our mission: serve our communities, share our story, and send disciples.

• So what’s our theme for the year? It’s all about fulfilling our mission and it is simply called Radical. Over the next few weeks and throughout this ministry year we’re going to look at some of the most challenging teachings of Jesus and analyzing what it means to be a Christian in USAmerica.

• Blessed Assurance. In 1873, blind composer Fanny Crosby wrote the words to the popular hymn, Blessed Assurance. As we sing about our story, praise our awesome God for allowing us to be a part of His story and giving us a mission to serve, share, and send.

• A note about youth. God has blessed with a uniquely gifted leader in Karl Koenig. I have been mentoring him weekly for several months and will continue to invest heavily in his life and ministry. He is taking a long-term approach to developing a dynamic youth group that will not merely entertain students but will challenge them to live their lives for something that matters, not the American dream but fulfilling God’s dream.

• We are serious about not only making adult disciples but also disciples of our children and youth. A lock-in and retreat this fall are just the beginning of a comprehensive commitment to develop the next generation of leaders.

• Baptism. I’m very excited about these five young people. Each of them desires to be fully-devoted followers of Christ. They want to be disciples and unlike a child dedication or baptism, we practice believer’s baptism where today they publicly declare their faith in Jesus.

• Just as a wedding ring doesn’t make a person married but declares their commitment to their spouse, so baptism itself doesn’t make a person a disciple of Jesus but declares their commitment to Christ.

• As we saw in the Great Commission, Jesus commands us to baptize disciples. The symbolism of baptism by immersion is rich. It depicts a water grave where we enter the water, die of ourselves and our sins, and come out of the water resurrected through new life in Christ.

• Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)

• David Platt writes, “Baptism is the clear, public, symbolic picture of the new life we have in Christ. As illustrated in baptism, we have died with Christ—died to our sin and died to ourselves—and we have been raised to life with him. Baptism also pictures our identification with one another in the church. Baptism unites us as brothers and sisters who share the life of Christ with one another. Disciple making involves inviting people into a larger community of faith where they will see the life of Christ in action and experience the love of Christ in person.”

• You can listen to the podcast here.

Tags: Annual Theme, Mission, Vision