Made For Mission: We Are All Called

Well, good morning again, right? Today, we're starting a brand new series titled what?

Made for Mission, right? And I believe God, I really believe God is going to

use this series to transform each of us.

And we believe God has a mission for your life, for my life,

but we all have decisions of what we're going to do about it, right?

I mean, he has a mission.

So what are we going to do? Are we going to ignore it? Are we going to maybe consider it?

What are we going to do? Or are we going to actually live on mission?

Yeah, it can't be a bumpy ride sometimes, Brother James, right?

Careful, careful. Because when you're on mission, guess what?

It's not always safe, is it? It's not always safe. And, you know,

God hasn't called us to places that are what we would consider safe sometimes.

He's called us to be in his will because I found out, Brother Ronnie,

that the safest place that we can be and our kids can be is in the center of God's will.

It really is. So we have a decision to make today.

Are we going to live on mission? Are we going to do? Are we going to live our

lives in connection with how God has made us, how he's already working?

I mean, we're all seeking purpose in our lives. This is way bigger than just a Christian thing.

In fact, did you realize this, that people will work for a lot less money-wise

if they really believe in what they're doing.

Wealth doesn't always equal happiness, does it? In fact, people also want their

life to be about something good.

Stanford University recently did a study to find out if people truly desired happiness or meaning.

And they found out, you guessed it, people want both.

But ultimately, what people really want is a life of meaning.

We were made, Eastwood Baptist Church, we were made, every single one of us,

for a mission. And over the next

six weeks, we're going to spend time figuring out what our mission is.

And if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 9,

Matthew 9:9

verse 9, and we're going to read about Jesus's calling on Matthew's life.

Some of you may, this may be familiar from last week in Luke.

It didn't need how God just kind of coordinated all this to jump off right into this. It's so cool.

Well, we're going to look in verse 9 there of Matthew 9. And I believe that

this passage really has incredible significance for our lives today.

Listen to it. He says, as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew

sitting at the tax collector's booth.

Follow me, he told him. And Matthew got up and followed him.

Think about it for a moment. The God of the universe approached Matthew.

As you learned last week, tax collectors were seen in that culture as the worst of the worst.

Tax collectors were, you can think of it this way, were Jews who sold out their

own people in order to become wealthy.

People hated them. If we could go back in time and freeze this scene from this

passage of scripture and pick out of the hundreds of people there,

who would be the last person that Jesus would pick to train up and to send out

to change the world? It would be Matthew.

And here's why that's important. If Matthew is called Eastwood,

this means we are all called.

You get it? We are all called.

In fact, my brother, Pastor J.D. Greer says that there's this widespread myth

in the church that calling into ministry is a secondary experience that happens

only to a few Christians, right?

Their job is to do the ministry, he says, and everyone else's job is just to

show up and foot the bill.

Few lives, he said, cripple the mission more than that one.

Each believer is called to leverage his or her life for the spread of the gospel.

You see, the question is no longer whether they are called or whether we are

called, only where and how.

As this next slide tells us today, it reminds us you are called by God.

He has chosen you to be an active part of his mission.

Now, I'm telling you, that's a truth. I don't know how many of you believe it.

Do you believe you're called by God to be an active part of his mission?

And since you are called, you and I need to start asking some big questions, right?

Those in the business world, who all out here is in the business world,

okay? Why did God make you good at business?

Surely not just to fill up your life with your comfort so you can spend the

last 20 years of your life on vacation. he gave you your talents to bless others, right?

If you're a stay-at-home mom, ask yourself, what role do I play in the advancement

of the mission as I raise my kids?

The same question applies to you, no matter your life stage, whoever you are, right?

In fact, God might have you in a vocational, he might not have you in a vocational

pastor position, but he puts you, I want you to see this today,

he puts you on the front lines for mission.

Do you know the word vocation?

Y'all have heard that word, right? It actually comes from the Latin word voca,

which means, anybody know?

To call. To call. What if you started seeing your job as an actual calling from God?

Now, some of you may say, well, Brother Judd, I'm retired. Well,

what if you started seeing your gift of retirement right now that you're on

mission and you're freed up to use your talents to live on mission. Amen.

But if you're working, look, seeing what God, the actual calling that he's given you.

Look, I'm talking about even a plumber, doctor, lawyer, businessman,

whatever it may be, you have a calling. I have a calling. We are on mission.

In fact, you could probably look at it this way. In the morning,

you get up, take a shower, hopefully at least a couple times a week. Get dressed.

Help the kids to get ready for school, possibly, and a family,

right? Go to work. Come home like the rest of the world.

Or you can live your life like you were made for mission.

In fact, imagine this. Imagine waking up expecting what God has in store for you that day.

Whether you're retired or at work, you can do this. First, you prepare yourself

by prayer, by Bible reading, by spending time in God's word and saturating in

his word, marinating in his word.

Then you prepare your kids to live on mission.

And lastly, you go to work with your eyes wide open and looking for opportunities

to join God in his mission.

Have you ever thought about it that way? Your calling in life?

I mean, look at Jesus's invitation. Look back here to Matthew.

He doesn't say, get in line, does he? or do what I do.

He simply says two words. What are they?

Follow me. And Jesus invites Matthew first and foremost into a relationship with him.

The relationship was not the byproduct of them doing ministry together.

The relationship was the assignment.

Do you get it, church? Our relationship with God as we grow,

as we pray, as we read his word, the ministry came from spending time together.

You see, as we see on this next slide, the Christian life is not about doing

stuff for God, but being with God, being with him. You see, from Matthew's point

of view, stop and think about it.

He's obviously shocked, right, by Jesus even approaching him.

But it's also remarkable how Matthew gets up immediately and follows,

is it not? I mean, why drop everything?

He had a good job, right? 90% of Israel was living underneath the poverty line at this point.

He seemingly didn't have to work too hard.

I mean, after all, he was just what? He was just sitting there,

right? And on top of that, Jesus' invitation was just a bit vague.

He just said, what? Follow me.

Matthew didn't ask, well, where are we going or what are we going to do?

And if you look at the first words there, verse 9 that we read earlier,

it says, as he was going from there.

And this was written by who?

Matthew himself. And those words are hugely significant.

Whatever just happened, Matthew saw it.

So what did he see? Some of you remember this from last week in Luke's account.

One of the things he saw was Jesus healed a paralyzed man.

Even more importantly, if you remember, he saw Jesus forgive this man of his sins.

I'm guessing that Matthew was probably thinking, could Jesus forgive me of my sin and shame?

You see, as we see on this next slide, Jesus's invitation is really from sitting

to following. What are y'all doing right now?

So you get the picture, like you can put yourself in Matthew's place, right?

His invitation, follow me. In order for you to follow him, what are you going to have to do?

Get up, right? And so if you replay that scene, we will again quickly,

Matthew's just sitting there, right? Jesus walks up.

And what does Jesus require of Matthew?

What? Get up or movement, right? He must get up.

Get up. He had to get up. He had to make a conscious decision to move.

He couldn't just stay in his seat and follow.

The moment, church, he took a step, he was on mission.

But a step of faith was required. What about you?

Is God calling you to get off the sidelines, so to speak, and get in the game?

To stop being a bench warmer and start playing in the game?

And by that, I mean being made for a mission.

It'll require you to consciously get up, even if, church, get this,

you may feel uncomfortable.

You know, I was getting on the stool already, standing on mission.

You saw a little bit, sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable or maybe a little shaky, right?

Maybe there's things that we're going to be doing this year that God has let

on the hearts of our mission team that may feel some people may feel really

uncomfortable. Like, I can't meet new people. I can't talk to people I don't know.

I don't know if I can serve. I don't know if I can do this this way.

But y'all, have you ever wondered sometimes why, if you just sit on the bench,

if we just have that bench warmer mentality, right?

Do you realize that you never really get to live on mission with God?

You never really get to break out of your comfort zone. You see,

Matthew could have stayed there, man. He was in comfort, man. He had it made.

Although everybody hated him, but hey, he was getting that money coming in,

right? I mean, his life was secure.

But no, he consciously made a decision that he was going to do what Jesus asked him to do.

So we got to ask ourselves the question today, how do we live on mission?

Check out what takes place next.

As we're going to see here, we are transformed as we look at this next slide

in several different ways. But let's break it down.

Matthew chapter 9, look back at chapter 9, verse 10.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners

came and ate with him and his disciples.

The first thing I want us to see as we look on this slide here that we're on

is God will transform how I use my resources.

He'll transform how you use your resources. Look at this real quick.

God blessed each of us with things that can be used for his mission, right?

Matthew, look at this passage. Matthew used his what?

His house and food, this party that was thrown, right? To live on mission.

The same is true for us, Eastwood. We should all look at our finances and possessions differently.

But not only that, God will transform how I and how you see your relationships.

He'll transform how I see my relationships. I'm sure, y'all,

Matthew had meals with his tax collector buddies before.

But this time he had religious leaders join too.

How do you think Matthew introduced these two groups, by the way?

I mean, maybe my sins were forgiven today.

You could have that happen too, right? I don't know. What do you think the conversations

look like between those two groups?

What did Matthew hope would happen?

I mean, I want y'all to get this today, Eastwood. He was faced,

Matthew was faced with the reality that he was probably the best chance that

his friends would ever have in meeting Jesus.

And he refused to waste his opportunity.

He refused to waste it. And let me just say this.

Don't waste your life. If you've never read the book by John Piper,

Don't Waste Your Life, I recommend you read it.

Now, I don't agree with every little thing that John Piper, I can't even say

his name right, that every little thing, his viewpoints on every little thing.

But I will tell you, this Don't Waste Your Life just drives home the point,

y'all, that our lives are not about just stacking up retirement funds.

It just seems like that's the American dream, right? You stack up retirement

funds so one day you can retire. and like he says in the book,

go collect seashells on the seashore, right? Always be on a constant vacation.

Always be where you don't have to do this and this and the other.

Instead of leveraging your life as we're talking about today for the mission of God,

Don't waste your life. Don't waste your life now, y'all.

Our lives are just a vapor, right? They only appear for a little time,

scripture says, and they vanish away. Don't waste your life.

When you join God in his mission, you begin to realize that none of your friendships,

even acquaintances are coincidental, right?

Newsflash, God has placed them in your life. At some point, think about it,

church. At some point, all of us had somebody tell us about God, didn't we?

And so we get to do the same thing for other people.

Just ask yourself these questions today. Are you investing your time and resources,

talents, whatever that may be, into people who can pay you back?

Or are your eyes on something more eternal, on the calling that God has given

you to be on mission with him? them.

Look at verse 11 of the same chapter, chapter 9 of Matthew, verse 11.

When the Pharisees saw this, we saw this last week in Luke, they asked his disciples,

why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Y'all, they must be blown away by what they see. And if you want to hear more

in depth about that, listen to last week's message. But boy, they were, right?

But here's a third way that God begins to transform us that we see in this verse.

God will transform how I respond, how you respond to ridicule.

The Pharisees were the rule keepers, right?

They were also, look at it this way, kind of like the cool kids at school, right?

The tax collectors knew that they were at the bottom of the totem pole,

but it still didn't change the fact that they wanted to be in good with the

popular Pharisees, right?

But one afternoon of following Jesus, it all changes, church. It all changes.

Guess what? Now they didn't care about the approval of the Pharisees because

they were too busy celebrating their new friendship with who? Jesus.

You see, I want y'all to get this today, man. You were not made to fit in.

You were made to stand out.

Come on. You were not made to fit in, church. You were made to stand out.

You see, if we see on this next slide, when you're on mission,

you're not living for the approval of man, but of God.

Do you want to be on mission today? Look at Galatians chapter one,

verse 10, or listen to it.

Either one, Galatians 1.10 says, am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God?

Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people,

I would not be a servant of Christ.

See, Jesus faced all kinds of ridicule. So wouldn't you expect,

when you think about how much ridicule he faced, wouldn't you expect that if

you're following him, that you'd experience some persecution and ridicule too?

Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 5, verses 10 and 11. Listen to this.

Matthew 5:10

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds

of evil of you because of me.

For Matthew, church, maybe some of his tax collector friends had no interest

in Jesus, and that stung a little bit.

But imagine, just imagine, if one of his friends stayed after the party.

What if this friend told Matthew he wanted a relationship with Jesus too?

How awesome would that be?

Look at how the passage ends. Look at verse 12 of Matthew 9.

On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but who?

The sick. What is Jesus's mission?

Church, he's a spiritual doctor healing physically and spiritually wounded and sick people.

That means good news. He came for you and me.

He didn't come to judge or pile on rules we could never attain.

You know who wrote the book of Matthew?

This guy. He was sick, church, and God saved him.

How many millions have been saved through Matthew's writings?

You have no idea the impact God might want to make through your life.

I'm just telling you, you have no idea the impact God may want to make through your life.

The one soul, maybe that you are trembling, as Paul says about his ministry.

I did it with fear and trembling, right? That's when you can be used by God.

When things seem a little shaky, when you're a little bit uncomfortable because

you know who you got to rely on, don't you?

That's it, the Holy Ghost, right? The power of the Spirit in you.

And I'm going to tell you just that one act of obedience, man,

the impact you can make by living your life on mission when there are people

all over this world that are spiritually dead.

To close today, I want to show you one of the most impactful clips from a movie I've ever seen.

This comes from a movie called Hacksaw Ridge. It takes place in World War II,

and the main character here is a medic who actually refuses to carry a weapon

because of his spiritual beliefs.

And his battalion is pretty much left for dead on the ridge.

Everybody else, I want you all to get this, church. Everybody else retreats

except for this one medic.

And he stays behind throughout the entire night.

Check it out. You have been called by God and made for mission.

What if every one of us simply had the attitude of one more?

Help me get one more. Lord, please help me get one more.

If we all had that perspective, Brother Ronnie, I think we'd double as a church immediately.

And so many lives would be impacted.

Y'all, we have an opportunity, many opportunities. You have opportunities this

week where God has placed you on mission.

As you see this world, y'all, it is a battlefield for the enemy.

He seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

But there are people who are there, who are spiritually dead,

but you and I living on mission for Christ have the opportunity through the power of the spirit.

As he opens their blind eyes to see, as he helps us through the power of the

spirit to communicate the gospel.

Y'all, you never know the impact,

as we said earlier, of one life who surrendered to the mission of God.

One person who says, yes, Lord, I'm going to get out of my comfort zone.

Some of you immediately, when you heard that we were going to be going to the

local college community campus and serving a meal next Sunday night,

you may have immediately just checked out and said, that's not me.

You may have thought, well, man, if I'm not serving food or something,

I'm sure I'm scared to death. I don't think I could just even be friendly to a college student.

I don't know. Maybe that's not your cup of tea, but I want to challenge you.

There's going to be a lot of things in the future besides this,

but don't sit there and think that God has called you to just come to church

and to warm bench and to not stand up and follow him.

Y'all, I know it's scary. I know it can be scary. But there are people,

just like this movie shows, and by the way, this is a true story,

who are up on this ridge out in the world, right? Just like that.

Who, without the gospel of Christ, are going to die in their sins.

You see, nobody else cares. We're here because we're the salt and the light

in the world. This is why we're here, church.

Why didn't God just, all of a sudden, when we came to faith in Christ,

Why didn't he just say, boom, take us to heaven? Why are we here? This is why.

To reach people for Christ, to reach our community for Christ.

And next week, we're going to talk about the mission that God has specifically

and uniquely invited each of us into. I can't wait for that.

But I tell you today, just get this.

We are all called unless you don't know Christ.

And even then today, I want you to know God extends a call to you to be saved,

for you to enter into relationship with him.

I don't know what God may have spoken to your heart about today.

It may have just been the simple little thing of getting up and saying,

yes, Lord, I'll follow you. No questions asked, God.

Lord, help me and help me get one more. Help me get one more. Let's stand.