Moving Forward: Our Mission Statement
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34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
Intro: No fish under the ice
In fishing, you don’t fish where there are no fish right? No you go where the fish are. When I take my kids fishing, I make sure we have all the tackle we need, the fishing poles, and a good location to fish, because our purpose is to catch some fish. Well today’s message is also focused on catching some fish, but by focusing specifically on what our purpose at FBC is. This mission statement is a statement of our purpose, and it’s crucial for us to always remember who we are, and what our purpose is, if we lose site of that, then we will begin to overreach as a church. What do I mean?
Some churches and their leadership try to be like other churches. That’s dangerous, God has a purpose for FBC, and His purpose is always good enough.
Some churches try to make their own rules, or go against the direction of God’s Word, this is also dangerous as His guidance in the Word of God is provided to keep us from stepping off spiritual cliffs.
So today, let’s focus on why we are here, or what our purpose at FBC is.
FBC Mission Statement (“Why we are here”): “The purpose of the First Baptist Church of Clinton is to love God and to share God’s love in this community and the world.”
Our church Mission Statement is our family’s expression of both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It grows out of our firm conviction that Biblical Christianity is:
not a religion but a relationship
with the Living God through His Son, Jesus Christ! Consequently, our Mission and Ministry Goals are relational in nature as well
Now a religion would be, oh I have to have perfect church attendance or else, I gotta give exactly what I am supposed to, I gotta be involved in so many activities from the church, and if I do all of this, then I’m a good little Christian.
NO! That’s a religion, not a relationship. Joyce Meyer once had said, when I wake up in the morning, and my feat hit the ground, Satan should be trembling in fear because of what God is going to do through me today. That my friends, is a relationship. A relationship to God through Jesus Christ is one that says, ok Lord, here I am, what would you have me do today, my life is yours, what I have is yours, you are Lord of my life, send me. That is a relationship.
moving on to our text today:
Jesus was asked what is the greatest command in the law, this coming from an expert in the law, clearly not out of curiosity because he respected Jesus, but because he was trying to trip Jesus up, which was impossible.
Nevertheless they tried, you see these religious leaders knew the law, they had compiled 613 commandments to prioritize by importance. They must have assumed that if He were to answer this question, He’d be tripped up because if you select any command over the other, they could surely argue against Him.
But Jesus doesn’t give just one answer, He gives two, but He shows us that they are interconnected.
1. Love God
Jesus quoted the most recited scripture amongst the Jews, one they would surely know well from Deuteronomy 6:5. In the book of Mark, he adds the word strength to it. The purpose of this passage and the clear statement that Jesus was giving here was the absolute all encompassing completeness of the kind of love distributed to God. Just a verse before this passage in Deuteronomy, God had made it quiet clear He is the only God, therefore the only one worthy of worship, even though many claim to be Gods existed.
Love for a new car: The second vehicle I ever owned, I bought out right for $7000. It was a 98 Grand Prix GTX, with a supercharger, a sun roof, heated seats that were leather. I “loved” that car. I would park it at the end of parking lots so that no one would come close to it, I was careful about never going down the gravel road near our house. I babied it. But after several years, meh, I stopped caring about what roads I went down, or where I parked, it became just another car. That wasn’t a complete all encompassing love, it was a temporary infatuation.
Love for a new child: however, when our second, and third children were born, I remember being nervous, thinking do I have enough love to distribute out. I love my children so much, but as my family grows, will that love grow thinner, and thinner, and thinner..... Heh I very quickly found the answer to that to be a hardy, NO. My love only grew more and more. With each child, my love expanded to love the ones I had, with the ones that the Lord added. My completeness of love for my family doesn’t run dry, Nor should our love for God. That is the kind of Love He seeks from us.
So how do you Love God completely?
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother. 1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey His commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden,
a. Love each other
Pillar New Testament Commentary.
The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46
Wholehearted love for God means coming in some measure to see other people as God sees them, and all people as the objects of God’s love. Therefore anyone who truly loves God with all his being must and will love others, and this is expressed in the commandment,
Leviticus 19:18 (HCSB)
18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
b. Obey His commands
a true love for God, and for the Lord is acted out in our obedience to the Lord.
In fact the level at which we love, can be identified within the level in which we obey Him.
Jesus had said it, if you love me, obey my commands. (ref John 14:15)
The Gospel according to Matthew 1. Attempts to Trap Jesus, 22:15–46
40. Jesus rounds this discussion off with the point that, rightly observed, these two commandments involve the whole law. Not only the law, but the prophets as well hang on these two commandments. Anyone who loves God and people wholeheartedly is not going to come short in religious observances, nor in doing what is proper to other people.
So instead of trying to check the good little Christian boxes that make what we do into a religion, we need to focus on these two commandments.
2. Share God’s Love
To love others the way God loves them is to recognize the need to share His love. Certainly with those within the community of FBC, but also beyond this church into our public community and this world. Our mission statement affirms the need to go into the world and make disciples of all nations.
18 Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is the Great Commission. Some have falsely tried to chalk this passage up to pertaining only to the apostles, as if it was their job for a season, and when they passed, it was no longer a commission.
This commission is to encompass all disciples to the end of the age. Most commentators argue that it was unlikely that only the 11 apostles where present at this meeting, because vs 17 says “some doubted” it would be unlikely that the 11 would have doubted Jesus returned, as Mark accounts that Jesus appeared to them while they were eating and rebuked their lack of faith. (ref mark 16:14)
Anyway our mission then is to share the love of God with others, which requires our investment into reaching out to those that don’t know God, teaching them the Word of God, and continuing the commission set forth for all disciples, which is to make disciples, that then make disciples.
So how do we share Gods Love?
a. Don’t be conditional
We have a book of prayers that we read to Grace, and one prayer in particular I just don’t like. The wording is fun, but the purpose is lacking. It says, bless those who I love, and those that love me, and those that love those that I love, and those that love those that love me. Sounds neat, but our love can’t be conditioned to only those that will love us back. That’s not how God operates, and so our love for others needs to be through the eyes of God. Just like the pillar new testament commentary said it, see other people as God sees them.
b. Be kind
The greatest expressions of love that I feel, have always been centered on the kindness of others. Those are actually the things I remember greatest in people, are their acts of kindness. Kindness is something that breaks down a hardened heart, it tears down walls, and it frees others to be open and honest. What you will be greatest remembered for, will be the acts of kindness that you distributed to others.
Closing: Without remembering who we are, and what our purpose is, we can easily get off track, and one day find ourselves fishing in a spot where there are NO FISH UNDER THE ICE! FBC has a purpose and a mission statement that focuses on that purpose, Love God, and share that love with others.
So let us commit ourselves to a love for God with all that we are, a love that views others through the eyes of God, so that we may share God’s love with others.