Trinity and mission

Let me add my good morning. My name is Sam. If I don't know you, hopefully I know most of you.

I just wanted to, before I started, add two things quickly. I may have just not been paying

attention enough, but I wanted to let you know that tonight at five o'clock, because we are

joining you at 9.30 for church this morning, we thought, great, we have an opportunity to gather

for some prayer, particularly with mission coming up. So it would be fantastic for as many as

possible of us to gather tonight at five o'clock. It'll be in either this room or that room. If you

turn up, you won't be able to miss us. We're going to gather, and instead of having a service,

we're just going to pray, and we're going to praise God, and we're going to ask Him to work

mightily. So tonight, five o'clock, please come back. It will be very worth the trip for you,

and it'll be very encouraging for us as we cry out to God to work. The other thing I wanted to

share with you is a big encouragement, and perhaps a little challenge, as we prepare for mission.

I wanted to encourage you that our young people are leading the charge on this. On Friday night,

our young people brought 21 of their friends for the very first time to youth group to hear the

gospel. If you are not encouraged by that, you need the person next to you to slap you so you can

wake up. And if you are not challenged by that, you should be. That is exciting, but our young people,

I want them to keep going even harder, but we as the slightly older generation need to be modelling

to them what it looks like to be on mission for God. So that's an encouragement and challenge for

you to file away as we prepare for mission in a couple of weeks. But let me pray, and then we'll

get stuck into John 17. Father God, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You're a God who

wants to be known. We thank You for the opportunity we have had over this series to wrestle with what it

means to know You, with who You are, that we have a relationship with. And Lord, we pray that this

morning as we look again, that our knowledge of You, our relationship with You would begin to shape

what it means for us to call ourselves Your church, to call ourselves Your followers. God,

please soften our hearts now, strip away any hard edges or any just established routines that are not

in line with the God that we follow, the God that You are, and instead by Your Spirit,

shape us to reflect the love that You have shown us. Amen. I want to begin by asking you a question.

What is it that you think God wants from us as a church? Maybe more specifically, what is it that

you think God wants from you as an individual? We are preparing for a focused week of mission,

not a week of mission because we are always on mission. It's one of our core values to have local

and global impact, but as we approach this focused week of mission, what is it that you think God wants

from you? Now, before you get too far down answering that question, I want to confess, it's a trick question.

And yet it's a question that we ask. It's a trick question because if that is our starting point,

we are betraying that somewhere in our minds, somewhere deep down, we have a picture of God

that begins with Him wanting something from us, that begins with Him trying to take things from us.

God becomes almost like a leech to us. He's trying to suck out our energy or our time or our gifts.

But over the past five weeks, we have wrestled with what it means to know God, with how important it is

to know God because He is the defining reality. He is the center point for everything that exists.

He is the anchor. And without a right picture of Him, we get lost and we start to ask questions like

the one that I just asked you. As you reflect on the things that we have learned through the series

of knowing God, looking at God as Father, Son and Spirit, I wonder if you can recognize the part of

God's character that has come out louder than any other. The part of God's character that has come

out more than any other. We've looked at many aspects of Him as Father, Son and Spirit, but one thing is

true of Father, Son and Spirit. And I'll give you a clue. It comes in 1 John chapter 4. In 1 John chapter 4,

1 John 4 · chapter mention 1 John 4 · chapter mention

we are told God is love. That is the defining attribute. We've seen through the series the

mutual love that the Father and the Son share. We saw the way that the Spirit serves both the Father

and the Son out of love. We looked at the love that God has shown us in many ways. And yet still,

when it comes to something like mission or mission week, we revert back to this picture of God

who wants something from me, who is just about taking from me. I mean, it's no wonder that so

many of us balk at the extra commitment of a mission week. It's no wonder we have trouble finding

enough people to put up the students as billets, or we have trouble finding volunteers to help with

events, volunteers to walk up to people in the street and tell them about Jesus. If we feel like

we're doing it out of some duty or some obligation or something that God requires of us,

if mission is a burden we carry, then we shouldn't be surprised that mission week tends to not look

that different for most of us. It's a week where we talk about mission and we expect the students and

the staff to do a whole lot of it. When we have this vision of God as someone who takes,

it's not a surprise that we struggle with something like mission. But we need to be clear that that is

not the God who we follow. We need to look again at the vision that has been unpacked for us over the

last five weeks, and in fact every week when we open the Bible. That is nothing like the God that we

follow. We need to see Him clearly if we are to understand what it means for us to be on mission.

And so again, we're going to look at John chapter 17. I know we looked at this last week.

John 17 · chapter mention

Think of that as a gentle encouragement that there is always more. You can keep reading the same

passages, lots and lots and lots. We're going to look at John 17 and see what it means for the God

who is love to send us on mission. First thing I want to show you is that God is love,

and that love is a giving love, not a taking love. Look at the way in this passage that the Father's

love for Jesus is marked by generosity. Some of this is recap for where we've been.

Jesus is given the place of highest honour. It's Jesus who gets glorified by the Father

in the early verses there, verses 1 and 2. His life, death and resurrection are an opportunity

for the Son to be lifted up by the Father. And as Jesus reflects on the work that He has completed,

listened to His words from verse 6.

Jesus speaking,

I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me.

And they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you

sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those you have given me,

for they are yours. And then verse 10, one of the key statements,

all I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me,

so that they may be one as we are one. Everything from the disciples as Jesus followers,

to the words that Jesus speaks in His earthly mission, to the power He has,

to the specific tasks that He does, even the name that He carries is given to Jesus by the Father.

It's not something the Father requires from the Son. It's something the Father gives to Him. It's

something the Father provides. This is the opposite of divine child abuse. This is not the Father

forcing the Son to do something. This is abundant, generous love, as even in the cross,

the Father gives to Jesus. The Father loves the Son even as He dies. Even in the mission that Jesus

has of drawing people into a relationship with God is a gift from the Father. Sure, it's the Son who

draws them in and presents them to the Father and unites us with the Father, but it's not His duty.

It's not something He does out of burden. It's His delight out of love for His Father. It's not the

demand from the Father, but it is the gift from the Father to exalt the Son as the one who saves.

It is love from Father to Son which chooses Him for this specific role. If you flick back to John chapter 3,

John 3 · chapter mention

a very, very well-known verse, it says that the Father sends Jesus out of love. The loving and the sending

are actually connected action. Look at chapter 3, verse 16.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish

but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save Him.

It is love that sends Jesus, not duty, not obligation. The Father actually loves Jesus

by sending Him into the world. It's not that He loves Jesus and He sends Him. The sending is part of

His love for the Son. In sending Him, He has chosen Him and He has given Him the path towards ultimate

exaltation, the path to the name above every name. The Father sends Jesus. He loves Jesus by sending Him to

earth to reveal the giving love of God. He gives Him that highest of privileges to be the place

where the rest of us will discover the love of God. And He loves us at the same time.

In loving His Son, in sending His Son, He also loves us. It's not multiple actions. The love of the Father

flows to the Son, through the Son, and then outwards towards us. God's love for you is marked by giving.

It is marked by generosity. He has given Himself to us according to verse 3. That's why Jesus comes,

that we may know Him, the only true God. He's given us access to Him and He has drawn us

into the relationship of love that exists between the Father and the Son. Look at verse 23.

This is Jesus praying for us. We've been reminded of that multiple times. The bishop reminded us two

weeks ago. And He says this, start at verse 22.

I have given them the glory that you gave me. Again, the Father gives to the Son and the Son has given to us

that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity

to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

We are now loved like Jesus. The love that sent the Son now rests on us.

And Jesus continues to be generously loved by His Father throughout the whole process.

He sends His Son to die and to rise again so that we might know His love.

But even in that process, the Son continues to be the object of the Father's affection and delight.

God's love is so all-encompassing and powerful and outward focus that it flows to the Son

and through the Son to us without ever stopping the ultimate love that the Father has for the Son.

God's love is mind-blowingly generous.

It flows out. It pours out. It overflows.

And it cannot be contained.

God's love is missional love.

It is sending love.

The God who is love loves outwardly.

It's not just this contained circle of Father, Son and Spirit, this little ball of love.

That's not how it works.

God's love is outward.

It always was outward.

It is revealed as outward in Jesus and it will always be outward for all eternity.

The relationships we have seen between Father, Son and Spirit through this series continue on in heaven.

The Father will continue to rejoice in His Son who was sacrificed.

The Son will continue to delight in His Father and point to Him that all glory might go to Him.

And the Spirit will continue to testify to the glory of both Son and Father.

The outward love will continue to flow and overflow from God.

So the question we need to ask with that fresh reminder of the God who we follow is what does that mean for how we approach mission?

I guess in particular, our focused week of mission coming up.

But what does it mean for how we view the call to go in Matthew 28?

The call to make disciples.

Three things.

Firstly, the mission is God's, not ours.

The mission is God.

Look at verse 18.

As you sent me into the world, Jesus speaking, I have sent them into the world.

The sending of the disciples and by implication the sending of us is the Father's mission which is being carried out by the Son.

The mission that Jesus is on in His earthly ministry does not end as He is exalted to the throne.

It continues even as He leaves.

Jesus continues to be the place where we see the love of God ultimately displayed.

But now, He will display that love through His disciples and through us as His followers by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jesus' mission continues.

Jesus continues to point to the Father and His mission of proclaiming the love of God is and always will be God's mission.

Which by grace, He has included us in.

The Father gave it to the Son and according to verse 18, the Son now gives it to us by the power of His Spirit.

It's not so that Jesus can return to heaven and get into His recliner, put His feet up and start relaxing.

That's not how it works.

The reason Jesus gives it to us is for our sake.

It is out of love for us.

In the same way that the Father gives the mission to Jesus out of love, Jesus gives the mission to us out of love.

The Father doesn't need Jesus to accomplish His will.

He is God completely, fully, almighty.

But He includes Jesus out of love for Him.

He uses the Son out of love for Him.

And likewise, we have been included out of love for us.

It is something that God has given us.

Even the content of our mission is gifted by God.

We don't have to come up with a good story or a clever way of explaining the gospel.

Verse 6 tells us,

Verse 14 says,

I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

The Father has given us His word to speak.

We don't have to generate anything.

The Father has given us the word which testifies to Jesus.

But even more significant, I think,

God's mission is one of glorifying Himself.

One of revealing Himself.

And to empower us to do that,

He lives in us by His Spirit.

That's the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer.

That's the answer to verse 23.

I in them and you in me.

Father in the Son,

Son in us by the Spirit.

The power of God living in us is the provision of God to do the mission of God.

It's still His mission.

It is still something that only He can accomplish.

But He has provided His Spirit so that we may be a part of it.

This mission is God's mission.

And He has given,

He has gifted it to us out of love for our sake.

First thing, the mission is God's.

We need to grab that.

Second thing,

the mission is for our joy.

Let me show you what I mean.

The primary means of our mission

is God's love in us.

It's not what you do or don't do.

It is God's love in us.

You can see it in Jesus.

In spite of the opposition that He faces in His earthly ministry,

He describes in John's Gospel

that doing the Father's will is like His food.

The writer of the Hebrews expresses it.

It says,

For the joy set before Him,

He endured the cross.

The joy that was set before Jesus

was His glorification,

His exaltation,

to the glory of the Father.

The joy for Jesus was knowing

that He had been chosen for this incredible mission

that would ultimately glorify the Father.

and He knew that this was a gift to Him.

The Father includes the Son for the Son's sake.

Jesus delights in His mission

because central to it

is the love of the Father being displayed in His life.

Jesus' mission is to show God the Father

and the way He shows it

is by being loved by the Father.

It is by God's love being so obvious in Jesus' life

that people cannot deny it.

Now, it's worth acknowledging

that this doesn't mean Jesus' mission was easy.

There's plenty of examples in His life

that we can go to.

His family didn't understand Him.

He was rejected in His hometown.

He was strongly opposed.

He was ultimately tortured and murdered.

But through all of this,

He continued to delight

in the generous and abundant love of His Father.

He continued to delight in the fact

that the Father loved Him enough

to choose Him to be the Savior and King

for all creation.

Even though there was pain and difficulty

at its core,

for Jesus being on God's mission

meant being loved by His Father.

The mission that Jesus is sending us on

here in verse 18

is an opportunity for joy.

It is an opportunity for us

to so delight in the love of God

that it overflows

and spills into the lives

of those around us.

I mean, it's almost like bragging.

That is what God has called us to

in being a part of His mission.

I remember very distinctly

the Christmas Eve

about five and a half,

maybe six and a bit years ago now,

when my gorgeous wife said,

yes, she would marry me.

I can't tell you

how many people I annoyed

with that exciting news.

Every person that I went up to,

people who didn't even know me

or her that well,

I just needed them to know

that I was marrying

the most beautiful girl

that there was.

And I wanted to rub it in.

I wanted them to know

that there was nobody

who could bring more joy

to anybody else.

And I just bragged and bragged.

And I had a job in a church.

I was at the front.

People were stuck listening to me

all the time.

And I would just tell them

how fantastic my fiance was

because there was nobody

who brought me joy

like she did.

It's the same for us

as followers of Jesus.

The call to be on mission

is a call to rejoice

in the joy,

to celebrate,

to bask in the love

that God has shown us

in Jesus.

To be daily overwhelmed

and excited

and to need to just tell somebody

how good your God is.

that is a gift.

That's not a burden.

Real joy like that

just comes out.

I couldn't have kept a secret.

I remember when I found out

that Sal was pregnant

with Bailey.

It was the hardest thing

in the world

not to tell you.

I found out

at the four week mark

and it is a miracle,

it is an act of the Holy Spirit

that I kept that secret

till the 12 week mark.

If I'm really honest,

I let it out

to one or two people.

But even that

is an act

of the Holy Spirit

because I was just

busting with joy

at this gift

that I had been given.

God is infinitely

better

than bay,

than Sal,

than anything

that He

has given us.

And mission

is an opportunity

for us

to delight in God

and to let it

run out of us.

To let it

spill over.

When we lose

this vision of God,

when we lose

this understanding

of the gift

that He has given us,

the gift that He is

to us,

mission becomes

the duty of the few

rather than

the delight

of the many.

When we have

this leech view

of God,

mission becomes

something we avoid

at all costs,

something we outsource,

something we get a team

to come in and do

for us

rather than something

we all rejoice in.

But when we feel

like that,

we need to come back

to who God

actually is.

We need to come back

to the vision

that He has shown us,

back to the loving,

giving God

who has revealed

Himself as sovereign

and supreme,

the God who loves us

so much that He

includes us

for our sake

and not because

He needs us.

There is an amazing

testimony

in the example

of the Ephesian church.

If you have time

later on,

have a flick through

Acts 19,

I think it is.

Ephesus is a

significant city.

It is a port,

it is a trade centre

and there are many

pagan gods there.

There are temples,

there is lots going on

and Paul arrives

and starts preaching

Jesus

and what we see

is that

mission happens

so effectively

that many of the

temples

start to almost

go out of business.

The temple of Artemis

suddenly is concerned

because they are

losing the money.

The silversmiths

aren't able to keep

making the little

idols to be worshipped

or to be carried around

because people aren't

following Artemis anymore.

The mission is so

effective and so

explosive

that there is,

you know,

they try and kill Paul.

They try and get rid of him,

they try and have him

removed.

The port starts

to struggle

because the emphasis

is no longer

on the things

that made the city

rich and powerful

and the question

we need to ask

is what is it

that made their mission

so effective

when we look at

so many other churches

that have zero

influence on the world

around them.

Let me read to you

from Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

This is obviously

at the end.

It says,

These are the words

of him who holds

the seven stars

in his right hand

and walks among

the seven golden lampstands.

This is a letter

to the church

at Ephesians.

I know your deeds,

your hard work

and your perseverance.

I know that you cannot

tolerate wicked men.

You've tested those

who claim to be apostles

but are not

and have found them false.

You've persevered

and have endured

hardships for my name

and have not grown weary.

There's this list

of things that are

going fantastically.

They're testing

false teaching.

They are persevering.

They're not tolerating

wickedness amongst them.

They're enduring hardship.

They're not growing weary

but something is missing

and it comes in verse 4

of Revelation 2.

Yet I hold this against you.

You have forsaken

your first love.

Remember the height

from which you have fallen.

Repent and do the things

you did at first.

What was it that saw

the Ephesian church

explode with the love of God?

It was love for God.

What was it that saw

the Ephesian church

grow so quickly

that it was a threat

to the government

and the organisations

around it?

It was their love for God.

And sadly,

somewhere along the way

they got so caught up

in all these other things

that they were required to do

that they lost

that first love.

That first sense

of gift from God.

God's mission

is a gift for our joy.

The Ephesian church

at the beginning

didn't need to be told

to do anything.

They were just so

in love with Jesus

that people were drawn in.

God's mission

is a gift

for our joy.

One last thing.

Missional

is who we are.

Mission

is not something

that we do

as God's church,

as God's people.

Missional

is who we are.

It's part of who

we've been created to be.

Mission is not a hobby.

It's not a pastime.

It's not something

we do on the side.

It's what it means

to love God

is to be missional.

We learnt last week

we've been drawn

into the mutual relationship

of love

that is in God.

Verse 20,

back in John 17,

John 17:20

verse 20 says,

my prayer is not

for them alone.

I pray also

for those

who will believe

in me

through their message

that all of them

may be one Father

just as you are in me

and I am in you.

May they also be in us

so that the world

may believe

that you have sent me.

So I said this last week

but I'll say it again

because it is amazing.

The Father in the Son

and the Son in the Father

that is the relationship

we have been drawn into.

Not the Father

and the Son

and then us next to it.

But Jesus' prayer

is that we would be

in them.

That we would know

the Father's giving love.

That we would know

the Son's obedience,

sacrificial service

and love.

The same unity

which is a unity

of love.

A unity of outward love.

A unity of missional love.

A unity of sending love.

To love God

is to glorify Him.

To love God

is to point to Him

as the most delightful thing

because you can't help it

because you delight in Him.

That's what the Father

and the Son do.

That's how they love each other.

And their love for each other

flows out

and draws us in.

There is nothing

one directional

about the love

that is in God.

Even if we just focus

on the Father's love

for the Son

it's not just this.

it's this

and this

and this

and we are drawn

into that sort of love.

So when we call ourselves

Christians who love God

our love for God

is not like this.

Our love of God

is the same

as the Son's love

for the Father.

Love that loves the Father

in such a way

that it flows out

to those around.

Loves the Father

in such a way

that it reveals

the glory of the Father

to anyone

who is there to see.

Our love needs to be

outward and overwhelming.

Look at verse 16

in John 17

talking about the disciples.

They are not of the world

even as I am not of it.

Sanctify them

by the truth

your word is truth.

As you sent me

into the world

I have sent them

into the world.

The same love

that draws us

out of our sin

and out of the world

that is rejecting God

and into the relationship

between Father,

Son and Spirit

sends us

straight back

into the world.

It says it

Jesus says

they are not of the world.

They have been rescued

they have been sanctified

they have been drawn

into the relationship

with God

but then in verse 18

in the same breath

Jesus says

as you sent me

I have sent them.

Jesus' prayer is

don't take them

out of the world.

If you take them

out of the world

they won't be able

to practice the love

that we have.

They won't be able

to have that outward love.

Part of what it means

to love God

is to share

his love.

It's not two things.

It is the one action.

We as a church

must not be

just a love club.

We must not be

just a place

where we all love

one another

inside these walls

or in this property

or in our relationships.

If that is all we are

we have failed

as God's church

because that is not

who God is.

God's love

is outward.

For us to love

one another

and to love him

as he loves us

is to love outwardly.

For this to be

a love club

that spills

and flows

and runs

into Chatswood community

and throughout the world

for people

to see people

who love God

and delight in him.

Part of what it means

to love God

is for that love

to flow outward.

God's mission

of loving people

by revealing himself

is for our joy.

It's part of who

he has made us to be.

So really quickly

the last question

I have is

in light of that

how do we go

from the point

we are at

and I know

it's not for all of us

but how do we go

from that point

of feeling like

we have to do

mission

to delighting

in mission?

Remember the Ephesians

remember our first love.

Go back to the beginning.

Remember what it was like

to see the cross

for the first time.

To understand

that Jesus hung there

in your place

paid your price

offered you life.

Do you remember

what it was like

to be so overwhelmed

with gratitude

and joy

that you just

had to start

following him?

That there was

nothing else

you could do

but fall on your knees

in thankfulness?

We need to go back

to the beginning.

If it has become

a later

or a burden

for us

the call

is the same

as the call

to the Ephesian church.

Remember your first love.

Remember the joy

that is only available

for those

who belong

to the Father

for all eternity

and let that joy

and love

flow out.

Let it overflow.

The way you prepare

to live a life

of mission

is by basking

in the love of God.

It's by reminding yourself

daily

of the love of God

and allowing that love

to touch the lives

around you.

what a gift

God has given us.

His love

His Son

and now

His mission.

Let's pray.

Father God

again

we are overwhelmed

with your majesty.

we are humbled

with the depths

and extent

of your love.

We acknowledge

that we fall

so far short

of the privilege

you have called us to

in loving

in loving you

and in loving your world.

Father

where we feel burden

may you lift that

and replace it

with gratitude

and thankfulness.

God

where there are things

that distract us

may you shine brightest.

Strip away things

that we lean on

and that we take

pleasure from

instead of you

and enable us

to grab the fullness

of joy

that Jesus speaks about.

God

we pray

that we would not

be a closed

community

but that we would be

a beacon

for your love.

That the way

we love one another

the way we love you

would be outward

would be the same

as the way

that you've loved us.

God

strengthen us

by your spirit.

give us hearts

that can grasp

your majesty

that can love you

as you deserve

and Father

please

draw other people

in to know

that love.

Please use us

to show

the delight

and joy

that comes

from calling you

Father.

Please glorify

yourself in us

and through us.

Amen.