What it Means to be Sent

Dr. Ryan Rush | John 17:15-19

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In April of 1970, NASA launched the Apollo 11 or Apollo 13 mission. And two days after launch, an oxygen tank exploded, putting everybody's life in danger, and the whole mission changed. And all the scientists, all the engineers that were working on that project all of a sudden had one objective, and that was to bring the crew home safely. And all of a sudden, it crystallized everything. A thousand decisions that had to be made all had the same mission. And they got them home safely. You probably heard through the stories, the history, uh maybe the news, but at least the movie when you think about what happened. Because mission brings clarity. You know there's a difference between a goal and a mission, right? A goal is a plan that you make to accomplish something, a task or an objective. A mission is the reason that you have for carrying forward with your life. So you might have goals that lead to that, but you need to have a mission. And I have to tell you that if you're a Christian, if you follow Jesus, then we know what our mission is. You have been put here to be sent to share the hope of Jesus Christ. That's what I want to talk about today. On the night before Jesus went to the cross, he gathered in the upper room, he observed the Lord's Supper, the communion with his disciples, that Passover meal that became what we call the Last Supper, what could be called the first supper. We're going to close our time together by observing communion fittingly. But then he taught them that upper room discourse, and then he made his way down to the Garden of Gethsemane. And we get to John 17, and he preached, or rather, he prayed what we know as the high priestly prayer, because we got to listen in to the conversation between the Son and the Father. One of the things he preached about or he prayed about was this idea of mission. Would you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 17 right now? John 17, the high priestly prayer. As you're turning there, I want to thank some people who reached out to me this week by email after I sent out the email to our church family. Thank you to Eddie and Robin Campbell, Dennis and Nancy Wilbanks, and David and Kim Savage who raise their hand and say they're stepping up. And for the next eight weeks, they're going to be a part of either the 8 a.m. or 11.45 a.m. services, freeing up space for all of our guests and neighbors that we'll invite to be here on Sunday morning. So if you are willing and able to be a part of these wonderful hours on either side of those central hours, I want to invite you to join me for these great services that happen at 8 a.m. and 1145 a.m. All right. So just look at somebody next to you and say, we could do that, right? Not many people did, but I just hope that you will at some point. 1145, by the way, we also have something really exciting that's been going on since Easter. That's so cool to watch how God's working. As we kick off the fall uh season next week, it'd be a good time to invite friends and neighbors that you know who have Spanish as a primary language. That means their heart language uh is in Spanish. Many speak both languages, but we have Kingsland and Espanol that takes place at 11:45 a.m. uh. in the court. So while I'm preaching in here at 1145, uh Pastor Caesar and others are preaching across the way, and it's a glorious thing to see what God is doing. So if you have friends who primarily speak Spanish, invite them to be a part of that wonderful new work that's taking place. John chapter 17, verses 15 through 19. In the midst of this prayer, Jesus prays for his disciples and he prays for their mission. You look on as I read. I am not praying that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them, so that they may also be sanctified by the truth. The key word on which I want to focus today is that word sent. Sent. The next phase of Christ's ministry is coming. He's going to die on a cross, he's going to rise from the grave in victory, he's going to ascend to heaven, and he is then sending his people into the world to share the hope, the good news of what Christ has done so that all would come to Jesus would know. Hey, listen, if you're checking out the things of God today and you came, that's the good news. I just want you to know that's the invitation for you today is that Jesus has paid the price for our sin, and anyone who'd call in the name of Jesus can be forgiven, set free, saved, and live the life that they were called to live. And then for those who are saved, this prayer reminds us of something very important. Saved people are sent people. You were saved for a mission. And the good news is he didn't just save us for the mission and send us out, he equipped us for the mission. And in this prayer, we get three gifts that Christ has given us for the mission to which we've been sent. May I share those with you? Here's the first. Jesus has given us a pattern for the mission. If we want to know what the mission looks like that we're supposed to be living, we don't have to guess. We look at Jesus. You see, Jesus gives us a pattern for how to live on mission because he is the pattern for how to live on mission. He says in verse 18, as you sent me, Father, into the world, I also have sent them into the world. How did Jesus come into the world? He stepped away from his heavenly throne into the broken world of sin where we live. He went from light to darkness. Jesus came near with compassion. Jesus came near with truth. He came near with grace. He came not to be served, but to serve. Aren't you thankful that he moved toward us? And that's what he's inviting us to do. That's what he's praying that we would do on mission is move in the direction of other people who need to know about the love of Christ. That's our pattern. We go because he came, we love because he loved. We speak because he spoke. We serve because he served. Our mission is shaped by Jesus. But listen, what you need to understand in the context is to follow the pattern of Jesus is to be uncomfortable. It's to willingly place ourselves in an area of discomfort. That's what he's saying here. That's the whole purpose of the theme. Go beyond at home that we've been talking about for a year and a half. The idea is we go beyond. We go beyond our comfort zones into the far reaches of the globe to share the love of Christ. And we have to be willing to go beyond at home as well and go to the hard places or cross the street and share the love of Christ with somebody. It might be uncomfortable, or do whatever's necessary in order to do that. And so that's why we're building the new worship center out just to the south of us now, because we want to go beyond at home. Speaking of that, I want to clarify something from last week. I began the sermon. I was sharing with you the good news that we've gone over $10 million given toward that $18 million building. And Lord willing, we're moving in by Easter of next year. And I'd love for us to, we're so close now to moving in where the funding of the building matches the move-in of the building. And I said, let's think of the rest of that balance like uh just in terms of the chairs where the people will sit. And that means if you do the math, it's $4,500 a seat. And I had several people inquire whether our seats really cost $4,500. I want you to know that is not the case. Those would be some seats, right? They'd have the built-in massagers, they'd be leather with arm recliners. No, they do not. They don't come anywhere near that. What I'm saying is let's think as we pray about that movement. Let's each collectively, church family, think about what part we might play. So we're praying not just for a building, we're praying for the people who sit in those seats. So you pray with me as we move toward that. But listen, the idea of going beyond at home is not just for a building. We have to go beyond right now to come to Kingsland. I know that. There's other places that are more convenient to be. It's hard to come to Kingsland right now. You have to worry about somebody sitting in your seat right now. You know, you can't find a parking spot right now. And you say, oh man, I've got to go park over at the Taylor parking garage. I hope you'll join me over there. And now I have to ride that shuttle for a whore 45 seconds, you know, all the way to the doors. It's rough out here in these streets, right? No. Listen, it's supposed to be uncomfortable because we we are welcoming our neighbors. It's a good thing that the hallways are crowded. We don't want to pray, God, would you just send everybody away so I can drink my coffee in peace? That's not what we're doing. We're going beyond. And so we know this that our community is full of people who are longing to hear the hope that only Jesus Christ can offer. And that's why we go beyond. That's why we follow the pattern of Jesus and we stay the course. Listen, too often we turn mission into a technique instead of a relationship. That's what I love about this idea of a pattern. I think it's why so many people who are Christians loathe the idea of sharing their faith with somebody. It's also incidentally why some of you who are just exploring the things of God shrink back when you think about evangelism because you think of slick sales presentations as though somebody's not sharing Jesus, they're trying to sell you a juicer, you know, with apologies to those who sell juicers. You know, that's that's not what we're doing. That's not at all what we see here. Listen, it's important to be able to defend your faith, to be intelligent about it, and give a reason to answer for the hope that is within you. I understand that. But Jesus didn't call us to presentations, he called us to be a witness. That's the pattern. You move in the direction of people, you share life with them, you meet needs that they may have, and you you share what God's done in your own life. It's a testimony. It's a witness. Uh, our oldest daughter has type 1 diabetes. She became insulin dependent when she was five years old. And so through the years, there's been all sorts of different technologies that help uh equip those who are diabetic. And uh some have been great and some are are just okay, but we've always just been beholden to the customer service of that particular technology as well. And so uh it's only as good as the representatives there. So when she was in college, she got a new insulin pump, and we had the first problem. We thought, okay, here we go. Let's see if they're gonna be willing to help. And the representative that came to meet us was a young man. The first thing he did is lift up his shirt just a little bit and show us that he was wearing an insulin pump. So he wasn't just a guy who had a job as a representative, he was a man who lived it and he had experienced that technology. He was depending on it himself. And that was so much better than any training he could receive. We had immediately felt better about it because he wasn't just somebody trained in it. He was a man with experience. Do you see? That's what Jesus is calling us to do. He's praying here as we listen to this prayer to the Father, and he's praying that we would follow his pattern, that we would carry out a lifestyle of moving toward people who are hurting. That's the pattern Jesus has given, context conducting intentionally with those and impacting their lives. Saved people are sent people. Did you know it? He's given us the pattern for our mission. He's also given us a purpose for the mission. Now, by that I mean more than he's given us the why. You know, we know why we go because the world's longing to hear about the hope of Jesus. We know that. But what I mean when I say purpose, I mean you are actually shaped for this purpose. He has purposed you for this idea. You were designed to go. In fact, even if you don't know Jesus, you know you have that design in you because you're made in the image of God. If you look around the campus of Kingsland, you'll often see the four domains. We talk about it all the time. Four domains of true fulfillment are a mission statement, inviting all people to experience true fulfillment in Jesus one home at a time. And the idea of fulfillment is the fact is, we all have to experience fulfillment, long to experience fulfillment in four areas, whether you know Jesus or not. Everybody wants to be fulfilled in the heart, in the home, in community with others, and beyond. And when we say beyond, what we mean by that domain is the idea that every one of us has something deep within us that says, I want to be a part of something that's beyond me. I want to do something that's gonna outlive me. We all know that. That's because God has written that on your heart. He has designed you that way. And when you are saved, you've been set apart for that purpose. Look back at verse 17. He says, Sanctify them. He's talking about the disciples, and he's talking about us. Jesus says, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. That word sanctify simply means set apart. You could consider it meaning specialized. You have been designed for a special purpose. We have been set apart, designed for God's purpose of going on mission. I don't know about you, but sometimes at our house, if we have a household chore that needs to be accomplished, we just use not the tools that are supposed to be used, but just whatever's lying around. Have you ever had a nail that needed to be hammered? You didn't have a hammer right there, so you just grabbed a garlic press or a cell phone. Those are always good. Maybe a shoe, you know? And and or or the I think the worst victim in a household are usually the butter knives. You know, and I need to screw this in. I don't have a screwdriver. Let me just give this butter knife. And so you have these scarred butter knives because he used them for screwdrivers and wire cutters and whatever you needed to. Weapons, fly swatters. I don't know. But so right now you're going, if I ever go to Pastor's house, I'm not going to use the butter knife, right? No. Sometimes it works, right? It can be effective. The problem is you make that instrument less effective for the purpose that it was designed to be used for, right? That's the problem. So many Christians are living this way. You're involved in things. It might not be bad things, they're just far less important for the purpose than the purpose you were made to live. And so you're missing out on mission because you're distracted by all these other things. God has made you, shaped you to be set apart for the purpose of mission. And how does God shape us for that purpose? The passage says, uh, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. If you want to live on mission, you stay close to the word. Let scripture shape your heart, your conversations, your priorities, your courage, and your love for people. It's it's born and bound in the scripture. In fact, the more you know of God's word, the more you'll be ready to share the hope you have in Jesus. We have a vision here at Kingsland that we've been praying for for a few years. Some of you have heard. We're praying, the bold prayer, that God would allow us to see a million seven homes transformed by the power of the gospel through Kingsland. Not at Kingsland, but through the work of Kingsland and our mission partners around the world. We want to see homes transformed. And some of you may wonder why a million seven? Are you guys just trying to be cute instead of just a million? Why not just a million? Here's why. We know that a million households and all the people that represents are far beyond what any of us can do. Only God can do that. But we can invite the Lord for each of us to be engaged in seven households being transformed, beginning with our own, right? And so that's why we talk about seven. So I wonder how many times, how often or how recently you prayed about the seven homes for which you might be sent to bring the hope of the gospel and bring transformation through that incredible vision that God's put on our hearts. It's been said that there's only two kinds of people in the world missionaries and mission fields. And if we're missionaries, we have been sent. Saved people are sent people. And here's where it gets real practical. You know that somebody's eternity is going to intersect with your ordinary Monday morning tomorrow. And God has placed you providentially where He's placed you in that neighborhood, in that apartment complex, in that office, on that team, in that classroom, to share the hope of Jesus with those who are longing to know. Save people or send people. And he also sent us with a purpose. Then you ask a question. If you're really thinking about going, you probably ask the question, okay, what about when it gets hard? What about when it's dangerous? And that's what he prays for next. He has given us protection for the mission. If you're called to carry out a task, it sure is nice to know you'll be given power and protection to carry out that task. Corey Tin Boom was a Holocaust survivor and a Christian writer, and she once said, The safest place in all the world is in the center of God's will. How would your life look differently if you really believed that? Here's how Jesus prayed it in verse 15. I am not praying that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. Jesus doesn't ask us here to have an easy mission. We talked about that last week. He said we wouldn't have an easy mission. He knows there's going to be opposition. He prays instead, Lord, protect them from the evil one. And that means we're not hiding out, but we're advancing with the mission that we have because we know that the Lord is powerful enough to go before us and provide for us and protect us from the evil one while we're carrying those things out, even when it's uncomfortable. We carry out our mission because we're empowered, not because it's easy. Kingsland has mission partners all over the world. And it's just an incredible blessing to hear the stories of how God is working through those men and women in some very difficult places at times. I don't know that anyone knows those partners better than our missions partner, Pastor Omar Garcia. And I asked Omar if he'd share just a little bit about that. Would you welcome back up Pastor Omar Garcia? Hey oh. Hey, I just want to say I know you took a swipe at me over the power tools. So a lot of the places we go, they don't have electricity, so that's part of it, right? And besides, I know it wasn't a competition, but we we were cutting the ribbon with wood. Yes, and there had to be a winner and a loser. And I don't know if you saw the video that one of us clearly sawed through the wood first.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Anyway, this doesn't have anything to do with it.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

You're supposed to let the tool do the work.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Right, okay. But anyway. Well, Omar, there is a spirit of missions at Kingsland that far predates me. God called me to Kingsland 12 years ago, and I know you're a big part of that. And and and it goes something like this when we talk about go beyond. Listen, there are easy places to do missions, and I'm not picking on people who do them. You know, I'm glad that we go to even the places that are easy to get to. But Kingsland has made a decision somewhere along the way that we're going to go to the hard places. We do go locally to places like the hangar where we can have a trade center and share the gospel in a difficult area. We go to the far corners of the earth, some of the darkest places, the least reached places on the globe. Uh, what was the philosophy behind that decision?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Well, before I came to Kingsland in 2005, I had already traveled extensively uh in an area of the world known as the 1040 window. Messiologists have uh defined the 1040 window as an area uh defined by 10 to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator, starting in West Africa, sweeping across uh North Africa, the Middle East, South, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Pacific Rim. That rectangular-shaped area is home to 95% of the world's remaining unreached people groups, and yet they receive only 5% of the world's missions resources. So that's just out of balance. And uh I think it was 1997, 98, I can't remember. I was traveling across the Gobi Desert. I was on a 26-hour train ride from Ulambader, Mongolia to Beijing, China, and on that train ride, God deeply convicted me about the plight of those who have not yet had an opportunity to hear about Jesus. And uh he spoke deeply to me about going to hard places first, the the the the farther, the wetter, the drier, the the you know, the colder the better. Go to those places where people have very little access to the gospel and start there. And so coming to Kingsland, Kingsland just immediately embraced that. And uh, you know, the very first team I led from Kingsland was to Northern Mongolia. So we've been we've been at it ever since.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Wow. So Omar, we have met so many people through the years. You've introduced me to some of them. But when we think about some of those heroes of the faith that have stayed the course in very, very hard places. When we say dangerous, we don't just mean figuratively, like dangerous places. Tell us who comes to mind when you think about those guys.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah, there's so many. I mean, I I I could take hours telling stories, but uh people that you and I both know. Uh one of our earliest partners was Shamir. Shamir's from Bangladesh. In my estimation, in all of my years, probably the best guy at evangelizing the Islamic world of anybody I've known. We brought him to Houston a couple of times, uh, rented an apartment for him in Southeast Houston, put him put him among the mosques there. Uh I remember one year he led so many people to Christ that they shut down a new mosque. Uh and amazing guy. But when he was in Bangladesh, uh Kevin Greason, who was then the International Mission Board Strategy Coordinator for Work Among Bengali Muslims, one of the world's largest uh unreached people groups, 165, 170 million strong. Uh Kevin called me and said, Shamir has been arrested and thrown into jail for sharing the gospel. And I thought, oh my goodness. You know, my mind went to all kinds of dark places. They're gonna hurt them. What's gonna happen to Shamir? And I said, Kevin, you you you you gotta go, you gotta go see what's up. You know, let me know how much money it's gonna cost. I raised the money. We gotta get Shamir out of jail. And so he said, give me a couple of days. So he traveled down to where he was imprisoned. Uh, and then he called me a couple of days later. I he said, Well, I visited Shamir. I said, How is he? He said, Well, he he's he's actually doing okay. I said, What's it gonna cost to get him out of jail? He said, He doesn't want to get out of jail. He said, Leave him there. He said, He's already led several people to Christ, and he said, Kevin, they can't go anywhere. Uh and uh he said, just brother, he said, Let's trust God. God has put me here. Let me use this as an opportunity to tell people about Jesus that are captive. And uh and so he did that for the next couple of weeks, and then the judge at threw him in jail realized he'd put God's fox into the devil's hen house. And uh this guy was leading so many people to Christ that the judge uh issued an order to kick them out. Kicked him out of jail. Kicked him out of jail. It didn't cost us any money to get them out, and I think we had uh a couple of dozen decisions and but 24 people came to faith in Christ. But but but these guys for them, it's just it's just is is uh it's just a part of doing doing gospel business for them.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

It's amazing when you think about Bangladesh. I think about our trip there three or four years ago, and we were having dinner in Jatish's home. Yeah, and Jatish is talking about uh the mission, and uh he casually mentions when he was in the Maldives and he was in prison. And wait, what? What you can't just move on from that pass the tea or whatever. Like, what's that about? And he said, Yeah, we went to uh the Maldives and he and I think one other person he was meeting there to share the gospel in a place where they don't uh they don't know Jesus, they don't allow it. And uh he had some Bibles in his pack, they went through customs and they they imprisoned him for smuggling Bibles because he had he had Bibles with him. So he ends up in jail. Same thing. We were able to help him get out, but he was there for 26 days in some of the most horrible conditions you can possibly imagine. And he said, God place me here, and so I'm gonna share the good news of Jesus. And what was it? I think nine people came to faith in Christ during those 26 days and went on from there to share the hope of Jesus all through the Maldives. And um, and then more people wanted these Bibles that were supposed to be so forbidden, they must be really important.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

That must be good.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

That's what God does.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

That's what he does, and the devil's so dumb, he puts he puts, you know, God's champions in in places where they're gonna preach the gospel, you know. Put a dumb Christian in there, you know, that's not gonna say anything, right? You know, but the old devil, you know, well, gosh, gee, let me get this guy. He's he's just a wild man for Christ. I'll put him in prison, you know. And you know, it reminds me of Paul's words in in Philippians 1, where Paul said, uh, now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. And that's what these guys live out. It's just it's as normal as you and I going to the grocery store, uh, they expect opposition, they expect persecution, they expect pushback, and it's just normal for them.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yeah, and we could go on and on thinking about the men and women who are uh standing in the precipice of darkness and sharing love of Christ. Many of them can't come here. Some have been able to travel to Kingsland and we've introduced them. But if if one of one of those those uh heroes, one of those champions who's standing in the fire right now, we're sitting here with the people of Kingsland. What do you think they'd say to us?

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Yeah, I think unquestionably they'd say, think about the people who live at the other end of your fear. Think about what will happen to them, what they will face for eternity if you don't deal with your fear, if you don't, if you don't have the courage to enter the habitation of dragons and move in their direction to make the gospel known to them. Think about what will happen to them. Uh, fear by nature creates distance. That's what it's designed to do. And so so I believe they would say, get over your fear, find a way, you know, to trust the Lord, to, you know, but think about the fact that there's another guy living on the other side of your fear that that may never hear the gospel unless you deal with your fear. Uh so deal with your fear, go beyond. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

You want to thank Omar Garcia one more time? So, in just a few moments, we're gonna do what the disciples did that night. We're gonna observe the table of communion together. Uh just two chapters before while we're reading, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Why do we do that? Well, they did it so that they could understand more fully that he was about to go to the cross and be a sacrifice. We do it to look back so that we never forget what Jesus did. Do you see how that changes everything? So listen, if you've never trusted Jesus, you're not here today by accident. I want you to know there is no greater choice that you could make than to receive the grace that he offers today. Nobody can do that for you, but that grace is available to you to anyone who call on the name of the Lord Jesus and believe that he died and paid the price for you. But for all of us, do you understand we look back and we recognize what Jesus has done? It changes everything because we're sent because Jesus has already paid it all. He already did everything on our behalf. It's incredible when you think about it. So let's let's make a deal. In light of that, we just make a deal together, church family. Let's not settle. Let's just refuse to settle for the ordinary, mundane, suburban black and white instead of living color life that the world wants to sell us when we get to go on mission and share the hope of Jesus with the people around us, many of whom come from all over the world to our little town, so that we can share the light of Christ that can go right back to the far reaches of the earth. Let's do that because saved people are sent people. I'm gonna pray for us and then we'll have a chance to observe the table, the communion together. Father, thank you for your word and for this reminder. Lord, stir in our hearts that we are a sent people called to a mission that has eternal ramifications. Thank you, Lord. As we observe this time of communion, Father, I pray that you draw us back to the incredible act of love that Christ has given us. We'd recognize the gift that was given. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Hey, Pastor Ryan Rush here, and I just want to thank you for being with us at Kingsland Online today. What an honor. But I'll tell you what would be even better. We'd love to see you get connected with the physical church in the days ahead if you haven't already. And that means maybe if you're local in the West Houston area, we'd love to see you at Kingsland. Otherwise, regardless, we'd love to help you facilitate uh jumping into a local church near you, and we can do that together. You can go to kingsland.org slash online connect. Kingsland.org slash online connect to find out the next steps on your journey. Listen, thanks again for being with us today at Kingsland.