Direct Hit! Getting our Mission Right.
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Good Morning, last week we started this series entitled 20/20 Vision… This mornings message is entitled “Direct Hit.. Getting our mission right.’.
In the 2004 Olympics...Matt Emmons had the gold medal in sight. He was one shot away from claiming victory in the 50-meter rifle event. All he needed was a score of 8.1 or more and he would have taken the gold medal...Which for an Olympic Athlete like Emmons would be relatively easy.
Emmons however, made a huge Mistake... Standing in lane two, he fired at the target in lane three. He had an excellent shot and hit the target perfectly, but it was at the wrong target... Instead of walking away with the Gold medal, Emmons ended up coming in eighth place.
What we learn from Emmons is that it doesn't matter how accurate you are if you are aiming at the wrong target... it still a miss.
If we want a direct Hit.....What we aim at really matters!
When we use the word mission we are using it as a verb… We asking what do we do with what we know?
Last week we talked about clarifying our vision and the book of Acts is the sequel the continuation of the ministry of Jesus… The Church was born on the day of Pentecost… and the Holy Spirit fueled the apostolic mission… The early church was an enthusiastic church… they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to meeting in homes, to breaking of bread and to prayers… and we told that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved… The church existed to make Known Jesus and His Kingdom… Mission asks what do we do with what we know?
Getting our mission right or wrong can be the difference between success and failure… it is the difference between a direct hit and a miss.
Several years ago, Church growth consultant Win Arn conducted a survey in which he interviewed the members of nearly one thousand churches in regard to what they perceived to be the mission of the church.
Eighty-nine percent said the church exists “to take care of my family’s and my needs.” Only 11 percent said it existed to win the world to Christ.
What happens when you have 90 percent of the church believing that the church exists for them? As soon as those needs are not met they loose their purpose...
T/S This morning we are going to be looking at the calling of the first disciples.
In Matt 4:18 we have the record of the initial calling of two sets of brothers… Peter and Andrew… James and John son’s of Zebadee…
Jesus begins his ministry in the region of Galilee…What is interesting is that Matthew mentions Isaiah prophesy that that a great light would shine upon the land of Zebulun and Naphtali… beyond the Jordan.. on the Galilee the land of the gentiles..
Even though Jesus ministry was primary to the Jews…we see the seeds of the great commission is planted that Gospel is going go from Jerusalem outward to the ends of the earth…
....One day Jesus is walking on the banks of the lake of Galilee…and He has plan and a purpose this particular day and that is find two sets of brothers and call them into ministry. He finds Peter and Andrew fishing close to the bank… in fact they are busy working when Jesus arrives… the scripture tells us that Andrew was casting a net into the sea… This was hard and laborious work… it entailed throwing this drag net with weights on the edges that would trap the fish and then hauling it in and repeating the process.
T/S Jesus calls both Peter and Andrew to leave their nets and follow him and be his disciples.
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Now, Jesus request of these men to follow him might seem strange to us in the 21 Century… but this was a common practice during the first Century… Rabbis often had disciples who followed them…it was primary method of train through mentoring and equipping spiritual leaders… The main differences was that Jesus is called Master not Rabbis… and instead of the students choosing whom they were going to apprentice under… Jesus elected or chose his disciples…
Jesus frames the invitation by using the image of fishing… He wanted to simply what he was calling them too… they were fishers of fish, but now he was calling them to be fishers of men… While fishing for fish is making living things dead… fishing for men is the reverse ....its making dead things alive...
We see that there is an immediate response to the call…
20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew tells us that after this.. Jesus continues to walk further down the shore where he finds another Pair of Brothers ---James and John the sons of Zebedee…and he ask them the exact same question… “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” and they also leave their nets and follow Jesus...
What amazing willingness we see in these disciples!!
This is not the first encounter between Jesus and these brothers.. Luke has already mentioned that Jesus had healed Simon Peter mother in law... and another contact with Simon and Andrew.. This is at least the third time that they have an encounter.. There is great willingness on their part… but at this point they don’t fully understand what is required....
JESUS is asking them to make a huge commitment… That was to leave their trade, their business, their lively hood.. and join him in this mission of making dead people live.. fishing for men ...
We know these brothers don’t understand the full implication of this calling ing --- Because in Luke 5 we are given a totally different scene where these brothers are back on the lake fishing… There is often this gap.. space between unknown and the known… After the Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost the question was what does this mean? After Peter brings some clarity on the subject… this is the outpouring that Joel spoke about and the Spirit was testifying about Jesus whom they crucified… there is this moment of understanding and the question changes to what must we do? We need to understand that some time what God is calling us too… might take time… what we going see is that it is going to get clearer.
lets read out text together.
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,
2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
This section of scripture is about the Disciples rediscovering their mission… There are serveral lessons on discovering our mission in this text...
T/s If we going to have a direct hit we have to....
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
The power of light depends on focus. Light that is diffused does not make much of an impact, but if we put that light through a magnifying glass, we can set something on fire. If we concentrate and focus that light even more, it becomes a laser that will cut through sheet metal. As light becomes more powerful as it is brought into focus, so the church becomes more effective as it clearly defines whom it is trying to reach..
The story begins with the crowds pressing around Jesus eager to hear the Good News
Jesus is standing on the banks of Galilee teaching and the crowd is so large that it is pressing on Jesus and its becoming difficult to communicate…to the point where standing on the bank and teaching is not an option…Jesus climbs into Peters boat asks Peter to launch him a little way out... so he can teach the crowd…”
What we learn from Jesus ministry is that it is never limited to a place… Jesus spoke in the synagogue, he spoke in homes, here Peters boat becomes Jesus pulpit.. what a beautiful picture of Jesus sitting on the side of the boat…teaching the crowd… You can imagine that Jesus preaching was very engaging… You can imagine this back-and-forth dialogue, with questions, pauses.... speckled with object lessons, stories and parables.
Who is Jesus reaching through his ministry?
Who is Present in this Audience?
We don’t know exactly but we know that it is most probably a good cross section from those in the immediate geographical area…You had both the Elite and the poor… The religious, atheist and agnostic…also to those who were believers…
Jesus Christ was clear about whom he was reaching...
In Matt 9 the legalistic religious sect the Pharisees accuse Jesus of hanging around the wrong crowd… they challenge the disciples and ask, “Why does your teacher eat (fellowship) with tax collectors and sinners.” What kind of Rabbi does that??? Now, Jesus responds...
12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
When we talk about whom we are going to reach as a church...
There are basically 4 kinds of people we can focus reaching as a Church.
We can focus on BELIEVERS..
Believers are those who are already part of a church or is at best temporarily unchurched may be through a relocation. This person has already made a decision for Christ and is committed to church involvement. Most of the kind growth today is by transfer growth… people moving from one church to another...
A second type of person a church can target is the churched nonbeliever. This is the person who attends a church but has never given his or her life to Christ.
A third type is the unchurched believer. This seems to be a growing segment of people… these are people that have given up on the church for some reason… normally some conflict… but still believe in God and the bible.
The final type of person unchurched nonbeliever.
This is the person who is both outside the church and does not have a relationship with Christ.
When we think about our Mission we need to ask who is the Crowd.. Maybe there are Christians that don’t have a spiritual home… or those who have been hurt… Jesus clearly spoke about targeting unchurched nonbeliever. The acronym F.R.A.N.’S is going to help us… Who are our FRANS.. these are FRIENDS, RELATIVES, ASSOCIATES, AND NEIGHBORS...
Lifeway resources did research that showed that 82% of people will respond to an invitation by a friend or someone they know to attend a service…
82 percent of all unchurched people would come to church this weekend if invited by a friend. Lifeway Resources
How do we get a Direct hit when it comes to mission?
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
2. Know where to Expend our Resources and Energy
2. Know where to Expend our Resources and Energy
Max Depree is an author of many leadership books and sort after conference speaker… One time he was speaking at a conference and at one session somebody asked him - what the most difficult thing was that he personally had to work on. This was Max's response: "It's the interception of entropy."
Entropy is a term from physics that has something to do with the second law of thermodynamics and the availability of energy. It speaks to the fact that the universe is winding down.
John Ortberg discribes it like this..\
If you have ever bought a new car and driven it off the lot, you've witnessed entropy. You lose several thousand dollars as soon as it goes off the lot, because things have a way of deteriorating on their own. If you've ever seen a group of kids on summer vacation, you've noticed that by late August, when they're sitting around somebody's house and one of them says, "What do you want to do?" everybody else says, "I don't know; what do you want to do?" That's entropy. Everything when left on its own—when not given attention and energy—has a tendency to deteriorate. That's the way it works in human life. When you become apathetic or complacent or settle for the path of least resistance in some area of life, entropy sets in and dreams die and hopes fade. Then a terrible thing happens: you learn you can live with mediocrity. It's not a great life, but you can tolerate it.
In Luke 5....
Jesus is speaking to the crowd but he is also speaking to these to pairs of brothers.. We need to know that it is no coincidence that Jesus is preaching next to the “Zebadee Sons and Co Fishing enterprises” …
Jesus has called them to join him on the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God… but they have not fully grasped their calling and mission... Here they are on the side of the banks of the Jordan .. cleaning their nets after a long hard night of unproductive fishing… They are ready to pack away the nets and call it a day… Jesus makes another Request of these disciples that is going to take faith is going to stretch them..
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
One of the problems that we have when we miss our target in mission… Is that takes more resources and energy to miss your target than to get a direct hit..
Lets take a moment to consider the resources and the energy that these disciples had expended… They had been on the water all night… Fishing with a circular dragnet was a tireless job of casting and retrieving…and repeating… This is back breaking work… and to add insult to injury they had to clean their nets of all the sea weed and debris before they started the process again… When we miss our target it costs us in resources and in energy… We get burned out and having nothing to show for our work… these disciples were fighting the law of entropy..
What Jesus does is Resets the mission..
Jesus says to Peter... Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." As you can imagine.... Peter is totally unmotivated... Simon says Master/teacher... we have been out all night toiling and the fish aren't biting... message says we haven’t even caught a minnow… I think every fisherman in the room can feel the disappointment… get the boat out the water it time to go home...
Jesus is using this fishing trip to teach some spirtual lessons.. The first is that we only grow when we are stretched.. the other is that it take Faith to be a follower of Jesus..
It is to take more energy and resources to get back on the water… they have to take the nets that they have just cleaned and push out again and go into the deep..
These are seasoned fisherman…We can imagine what is going through their minds…Jesus is amazing Spiritual leader and miracle worker.. He may be able give some advice of carpentry…… but what does Jesus know about fishing ? It is a little like a pastor telling a CEO how to run technical aspects of his business!
First of all the best time to fish was at night…and this was the worst time of the day to be out fishing.. Also, if your were fish at this time of the day… the fish would not be found in the deep waters.... Galilee was a very deep lake and the nets they were using would go no further than twenty feet or so. . Every little detail that Jesus gave spelled failure,
Peter expresses his concerns and doubts... Don’t you know Jesus we have been out all night toiling and we caught nothing......we used every trick in the book… nothing… But according to your word we will do it...
… You almost get the sense that they are humoring Jesus…
Have you ever felt that way—that Jesus knows about spiritual things, the kingdom of heaven, God, prayer, but when it comes to practical affairs, running your business or your home, that’s where you’re the expert? Peter had that problem. He was skeptical about Jesus’ helpfulness on a fishing trip. But there is this element of belief… faith.. maybe minimal but its present.
Peter says , But at your word...
A word is a command a sentence understood as one word… But at your command we will let down your nets… and so these brother reluctantly follow the instructions of Jesus… they throw in their nets…another observation.... Jesus doesn’t say cast your net… just drop them where you at… There is definitely less energy and resources being used…
This fishing crew are not ready for what is about to happen… No sooner thad they thrown in their nets a huge haul of fish captured and imprisioned in the nets to point of breaking the nets...
When we trust God with our mission he will do more than we could ever hope or imagine.. Jesus often used parables and objects to teach deeper truth...
Jesus said to the disciples launch into the deep… If you are going to catch you have to go to where the fish are at .… Now these fisherman assumed that the fish were close to the bank.. but Jesus says go out further…
Missolisgists and mission thinkers have this view of the movement of mission in the OT and NT… They look at the movement of the mission of the church as two different forces… in the OT there is a centripetal mission… meaning that there is this inward drawing force towards of God’s people together as a nation… When the look at the mission in the NT it is viewed as centrifugal force… meaning that is an out ward movement in mission…
So Israel having a centripetal mission by its attractive life drawing the nations in, but that the early church having centrifugal mission by going out
In nature these two forces actually work together… the reasons that the planets go around the sun is because of two forces: centrifugal—that’s taking the planet away—and centripetal—that is drawing it with gravity toward the sun. In the early church we actually see both these forces at work..
Richard Bauckham there is “permanent value of the image of two directions of movement—centrifugal and centripetal.” He continues, “The church’s mission requires both the individuals and groups who, authorized by God to communicate His message, go out from the community to others near or far, and also the community that manifests God’s presence in its midst by its life together and its relationships to others.”
Jesus to the disciples go into the deep... let down your nets..... net speaks about approach... That's our part... God's part is to provide the fish.... partnership in evangelism... God's part our part....
How do we get a Direct hit when it comes to mission?
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
2. Know where to Expend our Resources and Energy
3. Identify the right Partnerships.
3. Identify the right Partnerships.
Having the right partnerships make all the difference… We always have a greater impact when we work together than when we work by ourselves… It has been said that...
Two men working as a team will produce more than three men working as individuals.
Mission is about Partnerships....and not just any partnership but the right partnerships… Sometimes being partnered with the wrong person can be detrimental… Paul and Barnabas got along well… Paul and John Mark struggled together...
It is interesting that Jesus first disciples are are already a cohesive team that worked well together… They already had this join venture in the fishing industry… There is already a level of trust and relationship that had been tried and tested…
Jesus builds on a functioning team…
These partners are about to sign a contract for a new fishing business never before contemplated on planet Earth..
When Jesus asks Peter to Launch out into the deep its not just one boat but both are launched onto the water....the whole team is on board… and it is a good thing because if they hadn’t they would have gone under...
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
When they hit that miraculous school of fish… the nets begin to fill up and it was such a big haul that they couldn’t handle it on their own… they had to call their partners in the other boat to come and help them.... Peter signals over to James and John… The signal was some sort of nod… or gesture… When you have been working with someone a long time.... you begin to synchronize with them… If you have been married a while you begin to complete sentences.... or something happens and you can just look at each other and find the humor....
The catch was so large that both boats struggled under the weight of the fish.... but they together bought in the catch..but because they were together… they rescued the boat and brought in the catch.
When it comes to ministry… and Reaching Out… it is all about partnership…together… Jesus empowered teams of people to work together in ministry… Jesus never sent out individuals… he sent them out in twos…
Jesus shows this group of Fisherman that He indeed is huge part of the partnership… We see this in the response of Peter...
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Something amazing happens when Peter sees the catch of fish…Peter recognizes the Person of Jesus is not Just a Rabbi this the Lord… God himself..… The first time Jesus responds to Jesus he uses the word Master or Epistates.. which means a person of high rank.. respected leader… but when Peter sees the catch.. He falls down before Jesus.... he recognizes the Holiness of Jesus…Depart from me… The title he uses for Jesus is the Kyros.. which is used as a title for the God of Israel....
The commentator Gooding says that Peter He saw that Jesus belonged to a sphere to which he did not belong. “Here was the Lord of fish and fishermen, the Lord of nature, the Lord of men and of their daily work”
This scene is reminiscent of the calling of Isaiah the prophet....when he sees the Glory of God fills the temple… and the vision of the holiness of God… Isaiah…responds...
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
The Niv says I am ruined… because every word that I have spoken is unclean and I dwell among people of unclean lips… The message says every word I have spoken is tainted blasphemous even?
Peter had been brought personally into the sphere of Jesus’ mighty kingdom power. Faced with Christ’s authority and power, his soul flooded with a sense of his own evil and hollowness, and with a trembling realization of the personal consequences of his sin.
We often see this pattern in Calling in the Bible where there is this moment of intersection with the Holiness of God— Whether it is Moses at the Burning Bush…Jacob at Bethel.... Paul on the Damascus road… Here it’s Peter and the disciples with a net full of fish....
And Jesus said to Simon Peter…From this point onwards you are going to be about the business of catching men…
I believe that it is significant… that these men pulled their boats out of the water and set them on the land...
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
.... What a significant scene...What did these boats represent?? represented their lively hoods.... represented their very ambitions… business owners....
Jesus says there is something much more valuable.... worthier pursuit… Heavenly vision… they left everything and followed him...
It was a remarkable response to such an open-ended call. There was no time limit. Were they to follow Him for a week, a month, a year? They left everything
How do we get a Direct hit when it comes to mission?
How do we get a Direct hit when it comes to mission?
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
2. Know where to Expend our Resources and Energy
3. Identify the right Partnerships.
4. Continue Realign Our Mission.
4. Continue Realign Our Mission.
… It is always interesting at the beginning of the year, because everyone is buying Gym memberships… There is a surge of people who have made new years resolutions… but you get to around March and April there there is a notable drop…
Why is it that we struggle to do things that are good for us?? It is called mission drift… we loose sight of certain values… Mission drift can also be costly when it comes to our time and effort...
Towards the end of Jesus ministry, we have the scene of the last supper where Jesus tell Peter that he would deny him three times before the cock crows… Peter rejects this idea and says that he would rather die than deny Jesus… When Jesus is taken into custody, Peter follows and is spotted and identified as a disciple… Peter denies Jesus and he is gutted… After Jesus resurrection --- The first person that Jesus wants to see is Peter…
What we find in John 21 is that Peter is once again off mission....Peter is back on the shores of Galilee…he is in a boat with Thomas and Nathanael.... and John and James.. sons of Zebedee.. the old crew together.. When Peter tern to them… Im going fishing!!
2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
Peter and the gang go fishing... So they go out into the boat. It’s dark—early morning. They catch exactly nada. Nothing do they catch.
There’s somebody standing on the shore, and the dawn is coming.. It’s Jesus, but they don’t yet know this. The disciples don’t realize it’s Jesus. He calls out to them, “Lads, have you any fish?” “No,” they say. “We’ve caught nothing”—exasperated. He says, “Throw your nets on the other side of the boat and you’ll find some.” Here we have repeat performance... Once again they’re unable to haul the net in because of such a large number of fish. It’s then that the disciple whom Jesus loves says to Peter, “It’s the Lord!”
When Simon Peter hears this, he impetuously dives right into the water—wrapping his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off—and starts swimming for shore, leaving the other disciples behind, stranded, with a net too full of fish…
Jesus has prepared breakfast for the disciples… they eat together.... When they had finished eating, Jesus had some restoration work to do with Simon Peter.... Peter had denied Jesus three times… Jesus asks Peter 3 times do you love me more that these… could mean do you love them more than me? or do you love me more ant you them? or Do you love me more than fishing?… The fist two time Jesus asks do you Agape me… Do you love me with unconditional live.. Peter replies I Philo you…love you as a brother…Jesus feed my lambs.. Jesus asks again do you agape (unconditional love) yes lord I Philo (brotherly love) you.. last time Jesus say… Peter do you PHILO ME… DO YOU LOVE ME WITH BROTHERLY LOVE… YES LORD I AGAPE YOU… FEED MY SHEEP.
Do you at least love me like a brother?” Now it really hits home. There was a threefold denial; there’s this threefold restoration. Peter’s deeply hurt and says, “Lord, you know everything. You know me. You know I love you. You know that I do.” Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.”
You see, this is not just about the personal restoration of the relationship between Peter and Jesus, although it certainly is about that. It’s also about the task of mission that He’s sending them out to do.
CONCLUSION:
The goal of this series is Clarity as we go into 2020 we will have clearer understanding what we are about… Our Purpose --- To make Jesus known…
How do we get a Direct hit when it comes to mission?
1. Clearly Define whom we are Reaching.
2. Know where to Expend our Resources and Energy
3. Identify the right Partnerships.
4. Continue Realign Our Mission