Praying for global impact

I'm thinking what a privilege it is for me to have the best job in the church,

to be the ministering in charge of mission,

and to have a whole month.

Like, we don't have a month of membership.

We could, but we're not.

But we got a whole month of global missions.

So, wow, you know, that's pretty privileged.

And as I sought to argue in that video,

that mission, a global mission, is a gospel imperative.

I urge you, if you're not convinced, to check it out,

even if you were convinced, to check it out in Luke 24.

Luke 24.

So the context is post-resurrection,

and Jesus was explaining to his disciples what just happened

and the meaning of it.

And he kind of said, well, you should know this

because the Old Testament has taught you this,

that the Christ must die, the Christ must rise,

and repentance of faith must be preached to all the nations

in the name of Jesus.

So global mission, gospel imperatives.

And again, you know, just to reiterate,

there are lots of things we can do without.

Okay?

And we still have the Christian faith, Christianity,

and you can still be a Christian.

We don't need this building.

Okay?

Unless it rains.

Christianity, we don't need this building to, you know.

We don't, God forbid, need a parish council.

If that disappears tomorrow, there's still Christianity.

You don't even need the ministers.

It's quite amazing.

We're not Roman Catholics.

We could all get, you know, the staff could die tomorrow

or horrible disease, and you could still be Christians.

That's one of them.

But you can't do without the death of Jesus,

the resurrection of Jesus, and the mission, global mission,

to proclaim.

What do I mean by mission?

I simply mean the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom of God.

It is as simple as that.

It is telling people about Jesus who's king of the kingdom.

So mission.

Simple enough.

What do we mean by global mission?

Global mission.

And that's quite easy.

Global means the world.

Okay?

Global mission involves preaching Jesus to all the world.

And I'm slowly coming to the conviction

that global mission is not just going from here to there.

I think that the world has changed, has moved on,

that the here and the there sort of distinction is no longer valid.

So if I can so tentatively and nervously suggest,

perhaps we should change local and global impact

to just global impact.

Just to help us to see that what we do here

is part of what's happening in the whole world.

I think nowadays, everyone goes from everywhere to everywhere.

What is, I think, most challenging in the task of mission

is crossing barriers, crossing cultural barriers

to different parts of the world,

perhaps to different type of people,

even in this part of the world.

I don't know whether you're convinced of this,

but ironically, I think globalisation and technology

are both making us even more homogenous.

You know, on Facebook, you might think,

wow, I've got a million friends,

but most of them are people just like you and me.

Well, maybe, no, I don't know.

But technology is making us into sort of siloing

with people just like us.

In fact, increasingly, I look at churches around in Sydney,

we are becoming more homogenous than ever before.

You might look, oh, you know, no, no, that's not true.

There's Chinese people and non-Chinese people and whatever.

But at some level, no, actually, we're all pretty similar.

We all live in the North Shore.

We have sort of vaguely similar sort of values.

They're not sort of, you know, really crazy people in our church,

except for Josh.

You know, but he's an exception.

But he's from Canada.

You know, it's...

We...

There was a book that I was reading

that was kind of saying that it makes a hard...

Like, we actually lost the skill

of relating to people who are just different to us.

We don't know how to talk to them.

We don't know how to disagree with them.

We just give up, you know.

They are not our Facebook friends.

And we just stick with people that we can talk to,

that we can agree with.

And church becomes a...

And this is why I think in global mission,

the biggest challenge to us is to cross those barriers,

to take Jesus to people who are just different to us.

And that's what we're talking about.

And it is imperative.

It is not an optional extra.

For those of us sitting here in the North Shore today,

we need to be taking Jesus to people not in the North Shore.

Why aren't we running missions in Mount Druid?

Why are we doing that?

Why aren't we...

I don't know.

Like, it's not an...

We need to take Jesus to all those people.

And we'll be looking at different elements of this global mission

in the course of the next few weeks.

But this week, just three things.

I want to focus your attention on the passage

that we're looking at tonight.

The first thing that I would say is the context of the passage

is very different to our own.

I want to say this because just in case you're really naughty

and you go beyond chapter 9 into chapter 10,

and you actually see Jesus sending off his disciples,

and he makes sort of funny statements and saying,

don't...

Whatever you do, like, go on this mission,

don't go to the Samaritans,

and don't go to the Gentiles.

Right?

And you might think, well, what's going on there?

Can I just ignore that part?

Or how can we be consistently saying global mission means evangelising everyone

when Jesus...

Well, it's a different context.

It's a different salvation historical context.

The Bible itself explains it.

There is a plan at play.

The Jews, the people of Israel,

is a beneficiary of the gospel,

of the work of the Messiah first,

and then the rest of us.

So there is a priority in the plan.

And Matthew 9 and 10

is kind of like an expression of that.

The plan is still continuing

and therefore is still relevant to us.

So I want to point out approximately four things

out of the passage that we're reading.

If you go to the passage,

Matthew 9, verse 35.

Matthew 9:35

Sorry, let me call up.

35.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages,

teaching in their synagogues,

preaching the good news of the kingdom

and healing every disease and sickness.

It's a summary statement of what Jesus has been doing.

If you look at chapter 8, chapter 9,

all of it,

you'll find that Jesus is doing exactly what that statement says.

He's going around preaching

and he's going around healing.

He might, you know,

he's rather restrictive.

Surely he was doing more than just preaching and healing.

Surely he was eating and chatting to people,

going to part.

But no, no, no.

The two activities

which Matthew focused on

are these two.

Preaching the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease.

Well, preaching.

It tells us something about

the central core of Christianity.

The core of Christianity,

the central message of Christianity

is not be a good person.

Okay?

And if that is what you think,

I want you to throw that away.

Okay?

The central message of the Bible of Christianity

is not be a good person.

Nor is it come and join a religion.

In a sense.

It's not, that is not,

the message,

the central core of the message of the Christianity

is a warning.

A warning.

It is like a sign on a highway.

If you're on your L's,

you dread to see the sign

because it says,

wrong way,

go back.

Okay?

That,

that is the message of Jesus.

Matthew chapter 4, 17.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Jesus says,

repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Repent.

Wrong way,

go the other way.

Turn, turn around.

Why?

Because the kingdom of heaven is near.

Because,

if you keep going the way that you do,

you will have a head-on collision with God.

And when his kingdom comes,

his judgment comes

to destroy evil and wickedness and rebellion.

And you are heading,

and you are heading face-to-face on a head-on collision with God.

So,

wrong way,

go back.

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is near.

The core of the Christian man.

Secondly,

we are told that Jesus was healing every sickness and disease.

And if you go back to chapter 9,

chapter 8,

what do you see?

Well,

chapter 9,

verse 1,

Jesus healed a paralytic man.

He forgave his sins.

Chapter 9,

verse 18,

there was a dead girl,

and Jesus gave life back to her.

In the same little passage,

we read of Jesus healing a woman who's been bleeding for 12 years.

Verse 27,

Jesus overcomes an evil spirit

and gives sight and speech back to a man.

What's that about?

It is about the world that we live in.

What is the world like

that is not the kingdom of God?

Where God is not,

as it were,

ruling in an absolute sense.

Where we are ruling.

Well,

that is the world that we live in.

And it is a world that is broken and cursed.

Long enough,

we all experience it.

It is a world of sickness and disease and tragedy and war and injustice

and self-serving ambition.

And above all,

it is a world of death.

Jesus has come

to preach

the news that God's kingdom is coming.

And what he does is he demonstrates what that kingdom is like.

And so he

went to the towns and villages

to heal every sickness and disease.

He freed people from evil and oppression.

He gave life

where there is death.

He

has come to bring a foretaste

of the kingdom

of heaven

where the good rule of God

reigns supreme.

So 35,

verse 35,

is a summary statement

of the work

of Jesus.

Jesus has come into the world

to do that.

Well,

what's that to do with

our mission?

Well,

there are three things to note.

Firstly,

the motivation

of mission.

Come with me

to have a look at

verse 36.

So a summary statement

of what Jesus has done.

36,

when he saw the crowds,

that is,

as he went around

to the towns

and the villages

and he saw the people,

what did he see?

He had compassion on them

because they were harassed

and helpless

like sheep

without a shepherd.

The motivation

for mission.

We

have inherited

this idea of God

from

the 19th century.

It's called deism,

for those of you

who are interested in this.

This idea of God

is,

we look at the world

around us

and it's a wonderful,

complex place.

It's a complex machine

like a supercomputer,

right,

with all the little bits

and,

and what we do in science

is that we discover

the intricacies

of the world

and,

and God is this genius

who kind of built

this amazing computer,

computer in his backyard.

You know,

he's that clever.

But the thing about

this genius,

inventor God

is that he's both

blind and indifferent.

You know,

he's built this machine,

he flipped the switch,

and the machine just,

you know,

it just churns.

It runs his routines

and sometimes things

happens in a routine

and,

you know,

he's,

and he doesn't do

anything about it.

He's blind

to whatever

happens to it.

You know,

when tragedy

strikes in our life,

you know,

there's a terrible

car accident

that takes away

the life of somebody

who cares about,

the inventor,

God,

can't see it.

That's why

he's not there

to do anything.

He didn't do it

because he's blind

or he's indifferent

or he can't do

anything about it.

It's called deism.

You know,

another sort of

popular conception

of that is

God off the gaps.

You know,

if we can't explain

something,

it must be God.

Everything else

we can explain,

it can't be God.

this is not

the picture

of the God

of the Bible.

What happens

when Jesus saw

the suffering

of the people?

We are told

in verse 36

that he was

moved

by compassion.

Not unmoved.

Not just

a God of the gaps.

Not this blind,

indifferent,

genius,

computer maker,

designer person.

He sees

your pain

He sees

your trouble,

He sees

your suffering

that you are

experiencing

and it breaks

His heart.

And He

did something

about it.

He sent

His Son

into the world

to deal

once

and definitive

of all

our suffering.

You know,

global mission.

The word mission,

it comes from

a Latin word,

missio,

which means

sent.

The Father

sent the Son

as He sees

your suffering,

my suffering.

And the Son

has come

to heal

every disease

and sickness,

to give life

where there's death,

to overcome

evil,

to bring in

to announce

the kingdom

of God.

God.

And the first

thing that we

need to

understand

in our

global mission,

conception of

our global

mission is

as followers

of Jesus,

we need to

have the same

compassion

that He has.

He wanted

His disciples

to see

that the harvest

is plentiful

but not

enough workers

to be

motivated

by His

compassion.

I was reading

this week,

apparently a study

was done by

the University

of California,

Berkeley.

The report

of the study,

if you want

to look it up,

is published

in a journal,

Social,

Psychological

and Personality

Signs.

And apparently

this is the

result of this

study that

they've done.

Atheists

help people

because of

compassion.

Right?

They see a

child

on a TV

set

and they're

not unmoved.

This study

concludes

that religious

people,

that is people

like you and

me,

we help

people

because of

our doctrine,

because of

our communal

identity

and our

reputational

concerns.

Now,

I don't know

how,

you know,

the parameters

and scopes

of the study

and all,

but assuming

that it is

true for a

moment,

that would

be awful,

wouldn't it?

Imagine

if your

parents were

to treat

you like

that,

or your

boyfriend or

girlfriend or

your wife,

you know,

I noticed

that you

were sick,

so I'm

calling,

but please

note that

I'm calling

not because

I care,

I'm only

calling because

that's just

something that

I have to

do,

you know,

is that

so in my

royal description?

And I'm

calling because

that's what I've

been told that

I have to

do.

Worse still,

I'm only

calling because

that's what

people at

church would

do as well

too.

Not because

I care,

frankly I

don't.

Imagine

that.

Awful,

wouldn't it?

That is

not the

God of

the Bible,

that is

not the

Jesus whom

we worship,

Jesus cares.

He sees

people in

need and

it breaks

his heart.

And as

followers of

Jesus,

we are to

be like

Jesus.

Look

around you,

look at

the world,

look at

Sydney,

and see

the needs

of the

people.

Can you

see it?

The lost

and harassed

and helpless

people.

We are

meant to

see those

people and

that ought to

break our

heart.

And mind

you,

not the

staffing kid

on TV,

you know,

not the

sick person

in the

hospital.

Of course

that would

move us

to tears.

but the

sinful

person

around you

who is

acting

sinfully,

who because

of their

sinfulness

is offending

you,

who is

taking

advantage

of you,

who tramples

on your

values,

we are

to feel

compassion

for them.

When they

behave in

their self

destructive

way,

we are

to recognize

that that

is part

of their

lostness.

And that

ought to

break our

heart instead

of us

getting angry,

getting even,

putting our

foot down and

asserting our

rights.

No,

when Jesus

saw sinful

people in their

sinfulness,

he had compassion.

what did Jesus

do when he

had compassion

on the

crowd?

What did it

move him

to do?

Well,

eventually,

to the cross

to die for

them and to

save them.

But in this

particular context,

what did it

move him to

do?

Verse 38,

they looked

like sheep

without a

shepherd.

And he

said to his

disciples,

the harvest

is plentiful,

but the

workers are

few.

Therefore,

38,

ask the

Lord of

the harvest

therefore to

send out

workers into

his harvest

field.

What did

it move

Jesus to

do?

His

compassion.

It

moves him

to command

his followers

to pray,

to ask

the Lord

of the

harvest to

send out

workers.

So that's

the second

thing.

The first

is the

motivation for

global mission

is to

compassion of

God.

Secondly,

the first

thing that

we do,

first activity

is prayer.

I think

when we

come to

global

mission,

if we

think that

it all

depends on

us,

you know,

when we

see a

needy

person or

an

unrighteous

person,

then what

we need

to do is

to,

you know,

organize

ourselves

and,

you know,

raise money,

social action,

change,

whatever it

is,

the last

thing that

we would

do is

to pray.

But the

first thing

that we

need to

recognize

is that

this is

not our

mission.

This

global

mission

that we

speak of

is not

our

mission.

In fact,

I'm going

to throw

something

theologically

controversial

out there

for you.

I want

to suggest

that St.

Paul's

has no

mission.

In fact,

no church

has a

mission.

Rather,

what we

have is

a God

who is

on a

mission.

Matter of

semantics,

yes,

yes,

yes,

yes,

yes,

but

important

distinction.

God

has a

mission.

We

don't.

He

invites

us

to take

part

in

his

mission.

It

is

his

mission.

The

workers

are

his.

The

world

is

his.

The

money

is

his.

The

harvest

is

his.

That

is

why

Jesus,

first

thing,

commands

his

followers

to pray.

We

may

subconsciously

have

adopted

this

thinking

that

praying,

yes,

is

important

for

mission,

but it's

the type

of thing

that you

do when

you can't

go to

Peter

Marisberg.

If you're

a

clean toss,

that's

where you

go.

If you

are

working

and you

earn a

decent

salary,

you can

give.

But if

you're not

a clean

toss and

you're not

working,

then maybe

you pray.

I want

to suggest

to you

that is

so far

from the

teaching of

scripture.

Prayer is

not something

that we

do when

we can't

do anything

else in

mission.

I want

to suggest

to you

that praying

is part

of the

mission,

that praying

is just

as important

as going.

Here's

something else

controversial,

that when

you're praying

your 30

days of

challenge,

that you

are engaging

in something

that is

just as

important

as what

the

Clint

Hosses

are

doing

in

Peter

Merisberg.

Every

Christian is

engaged in

this global

mission.

Mission

isn't just

for the

professional

missionary.

Going out

to Mount

Druid or

reaching out

to the

homeless people

in Chesswood

isn't just

for someone

who's gone

to Bible

college.

Global

mission is

for all

of us.

And you,

it doesn't

matter what

stage in

life, what

capacity, what

resources, you

can get

involved in

it.

And the

most important

thing that

you can

do is

to pray.

Move

by God's

compassion,

move to

prayer.

Well, what

do we pray

for, verse

38 again?

Jesus says,

pray for the

Lord of the

harvest to

send out

workers.

I have to

say that this

is actually

quite hard to

comprehend in

many respects.

It's kind of

like an odd

thing to pray

for.

You know, you

would have

expected Jesus

to say, no,

pray that

the harvest

is plentiful,

pray that the

harvest will be

harvested.

You know,

there's a

world of

needy people

out there,

pray that God

will meet

the needs of

people.

I mean, he

can do that,

can't he?

He's our

almighty God,

created

everything.

This is why

this prayer is

so odd,

that of all

the things that

we are to

pray for,

that his

disciples are

to pray for,

that we are

to pray that

God will send

out workers.

Yes, our

God can meet

human needs

directly, he

can rain down

manna from

heaven to

feed the

hungry, he

can rain down

fire to

devour the

wicked.

But here,

Jesus commands

his disciples

to pray, not

just to save

people, but

that God will

send out workers

into the

harvest field.

The harvest

is plentiful,

but more

workers is

needed.

just to skip

forward in

chapter 10,

you see that

Jesus then

immediately sent

out the

disciples into

the world.

The followers,

in fact, became

the answer to

their own

prayers.

It is true

that God could

fix the world

with a

snap of

finger.

That might be

our wisdom

and how we

might see

things, but

God in his

wisdom and

in his

might has

chosen to

save this

world to

meet the

needs of

people through

other people.

Proclaiming,

bringing the

kingdom of

his kingdom.

For global

mission is

just not a

task to be

done, not

just a

project to

undertake, but

relationships to

be formed.

When we pray,

when we engage

in mission,

we're forming

a fellowship.

We're being

involved in

the lives of

people far,

far away.

There's

relationship.

It is not

just superstition.

Somehow, if we

raise X dollars,

then things will

happen.

global mission

involves faith.

It's not just a

forming of

relationship with

other people, it

is a forming of

relationship with

God.

Fundamentally, at

a theological

level, we see

here that global

mission, the

underlying

theology, that

God uses

people, that

almighty God

who can use

anything that he

wants, use

you and me, to

save people.

That is why

Jesus commands

his followers to

pray for God to

set out workers.

The context of

the passage is

different to

ours in terms of

its salvation

historical context,

but the plan

continues.

There are

still things

relevant for

us today, and

I want to draw

four conclusions

from this

passage.

The first

thing is,

God's kingdom

is still

coming.

As Jesus

went around

the towns and

the villages

proclaiming the

kingdom of God,

saying, you're on a

collision course, so

repent and believe

in the good news,

that is still

true.

The kingdom of

God is still

coming.

The judgment of

God on this

world is still

coming.

This is still

the time to

repent and

believe the

good news.

If you haven't

done that, let

me invite you to

take the

opportunity, for

the window of

opportunity is

getting smaller.

That is still

true.

The kingdom of

God is still

coming, the

opportunity,

to escape the

judgment of God

is still there.

Secondly, what

is still true is

the compassion of

Jesus.

Don't prove

this Berkeley

study to be

true.

As a religious

person, don't

be motivated by

simply your

doctrine.

Let your

doctrine move

your heart.

Don't do

things because

you have to,

or because

everybody else

is doing it.

lift your

eyes.

See the

needs.

As you

experience and

see sin in

this world, let

that break

your heart.

Don't be

unmoved.

Do something.

Well, what to

do?

Pray.

Pray.

Pray.

Take that

challenge.

Take the 30-day

challenge.

Every day, not

asking you to

wake up at 4 in

the morning, not

asking you to

spend 6 hours

praying, although

if you want to

do that, go for

it.

How hard is it, do

you think, to pray

for the

Goskins?

How long do you

think they will

take you?

I don't

know, 10

seconds?

30 seconds?

It might take you

a little while

longer to find

out where they

are and what

they're doing, but

that wouldn't

take more than

two minutes or

five minutes.

Spend five

minutes every

day just

praying for the

work of God in

this world.

Think about all

the lost tribes,

even in

Chastwood.

Do you know

there are

Napoles in

Chastwood?

I met a

few.

I didn't

know that.

Is there a

Napoles church

in Chastwood?

I don't think

so.

Pray for them.

Where are the

lost tribes?

Where are the

cultural barriers

that we refuse to

cross?

Who are the

lost people in

our midst?

Is it a certain

age group of

people?

Certain

lifestyle of

people?

Certain

professions?

I mean, how

many people

working in

restaurants could

go to church

on a Sunday?

Who reach out

to them?

Pray for

them.

Lastly, so

God's kingdom

is coming.

Be filled with

God's compassion.

Pray.

And lastly, pray

that the Lord of

the harvest will

send out workers.

workers.

Okay?

This is not an

imprimatur to

think of the

person you

dislike the

most and say,

God sent him

out to

Afghanistan.

Okay?

It's not, you

know, pray that

God will send out

workers.

I mean, God has

already sent out

workers.

Look at all

these columns.

God has sent

out people.

Pray for them.

Not just pray for

them.

It's a whole

world that

still does not

know Jesus.

Pray that God

will send out

workers, not

just from out

there somewhere.

Pray that he

might send out

workers from

in here.

But it could

be you.

How about

that?

So when you

pray and God

answers your

prayer, be

prepared to go

as well too.

We'll come to

that.

in a few

weeks' time.

But for the

moment, God's

kingdom is

coming.

Be filled with

God's compassion.

Pray.

And finally, pray

that God will

send.

Shall we

pray?

Gracious

God and

Father, we

thank you that

as you see

our needs, as

you saw our

needs, you

did not remain

unmoved, but

you sent your

Son, our

Lord Jesus

Christ, to

come into the

world to deal

with our sin

and suffering.

Thank you

that you

have promised

that you

bring an

end to

evil and

death and

sickness in

the world.

And we

pray, Father,

that Lord Jesus

will come

soon.

And we

pray in the

meantime that

you will, in

your great

mercy, continue

to send

people out

into Chesford,

into Sydney,

into Australia,

into the

world.

It is a

world that is

desperately lost

without you.

Break our

heart, we

pray, Father

God.

Help us to

see those

needs as you

do.

Help us to

react emotionally

the way that

you do.

We pray not

only that you

will send

people out,

that you will

send us out,

that we will

meet those

needs, that we

will proclaim

the kingdom.

And we pray,

Father, that

through this,

that you might

save many.

And we pray

this in Jesus'

name.

Amen.