Church on a Mission - Brendan Hurley - 12th July 2026

Well, we've just finished our series on Proverbs

and we're starting next week our Ephesian series.

But this week I thought we'd just do a one -off

on the Great Commission and look at what it means

to be a church on a mission, a church with a

purpose. So let's pray, let's ask God to help

us as we do that now. Gracious Heavenly Father,

we thank you that your Word is living and active.

We ask that as we look at your word now that

it would grip us and change us and make us more

like Jesus and that it would help us to think

more like Jesus as well. And we ask this in his

name. Amen. Well just after Easter we had the

in -laws visit us and they came all the way from

Perth and took us to Green Island. and lots of

great things to see at Green Island. You can

imagine the fish and the reef and all of that

stuff. But one thing I'm weird, okay, I want

to admit that upfront, I'm weird. One thing I

enjoy at places like that is people watching.

I love sitting there with my cup of coffee and

just sitting there and observing what different

people are doing. And there's all sorts of different

people there with different purposes. So you've

got the families there who are all trying to

bond and give their kids new experiences but

really it's a case of no one is listening to

them and everyone's getting frustrated. You've

got the couples there who are just looking in

each other's eyes all ooey gooey because they're

on their romantic getaway. You've got the true

tourists there who are there to see the reef

and they've got their cameras out and they're

taking photos of absolutely everything. You've

got the tour guides and the vendors who are just

there, they're doing their job, they can't wait

to knock off and get home. And then you've got

the business owners and the managers who are

trying to extract as much money as possible out

of tourists who are coming, coming up with any

way they can to do that. It's the same place,

but different experiences, depending on your

purpose for being there. If you were to sit with

a cup of coffee here at church and just do a

bit of people watching, I think you'd see similar

things, wouldn't you? It's the same place but

different experience depending on your purpose

for being here. So some people come to church

and they love the community. You know, for them

it's all about, this is where I feel like I belong

and my friends are here and it's very social

for me. For some they come and they find it really

intellectually stimulating and it pushes their

thinking and they enjoy it for that. For some

they come for the free food and the babysitting.

I have been in churches where that is the reason

people come. It's not really about anything else.

The person sitting next to you, they might be

here for a very different reason than for why

you're here. I mean, can you even identify your

main reason or reasons for being here at church?

We each have our reasons for being here. We each

have a purpose for being here. And many churches

try to grow by being aware of that. Okay, like

we know what they want them. The mums, they want

this. And if we're aware and we can cater to

that, that'll help us grow. And that's not a

bad thing. But it can become a big problem. Because

we need to make sure we've got the right reasons

for why people are here, the main reasons for

why people are here. Because your reason for

being here, my reason for being here is not the

most important. Jesus has his reasons for why

we are here. And they're the ones that matter

most. He has things that he wants to see happen

each week at church. He has purposes for his

church. And if we're clear on what those purposes

are, it means we can be a healthy church full

of people living healthy Christian lives. Do

you know what these purposes are? Are we doing

them well here at Northern Hope? Well, today

I want to show you that the Great Commission

is actually a blueprint for the purposes of church

life and the purposes of the Christian life.

So here's the big thing we're going to see today

as we look at the Great Commission. Jesus' purposes

for his church must drive all that we do. Jesus'

purposes for his church must drive all that we

do. And as we're looking at the Great Commission,

we're going to see four alls. That's what the

Great Commission's centred around. But from that,

we're going to see five purposes that Jesus has

for his church. Four alls. five purposes. So

here are the four alls. Jesus is the glorious

Lord of all. Make disciples of all nations. Teach

all of Jesus commands. And Jesus is with us for

all time. So let's look at the first one. Jesus

is the glorious Lord of all. If you've got your

Bible there, come with me to verses 16 to 18.

Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the

mountain where Jesus had told them to go. So

just to situate things, remember Jesus has been

betrayed by Judas, that's why we're down to 11

disciples, and he has won. He's victorious. He

defeated death and sin and Satan at the cross.

He rose again as Lord of all. He's there and

he's saying to his disciples, We need to catch

up. I'm going to tell you guys what to do next.

That's where we're at. And when they saw him,

they worshipped him. But some doubted. And that

word doubted literally means hesitated. So you've

got here some of Jesus' disciples, some worshipped

Jesus, but some paused. They weren't sure. They're

in two minds. Why would they be like that? I

mean, Jesus has just defeated sin and he's saved

his people from his sins. Why would people be

hesitant? Or maybe it's a self -defense mechanism.

I mean, their hopes have been dashed before.

You know, Jesus died on the cross. They expected

him to be the conquering Messiah. And it all

didn't go the way they thought. Maybe they're

just a little bit gun shy. Or maybe it's because

many of them ran away when Jesus was dying. Peter

even denied Jesus three times. Maybe they're

scared that their failures are going to be exposed

and Jesus is going to be really angry with them.

I mean, it could be those things. But most likely

it's probably because these guys were good Jews.

And so they said the Shema every day, which is

this. Hero Israel the Lord our God the Lord is

one You shall love the Lord your God with all

your heart and with all your soul and with all

your might How many gods are there? One and what

are you to do with that God you're to love and

worship him with everything you have So to worship

a man even though it's Jesus Probably feels a

little yuck. It feels a little like is this idolatry?

I'm not sure if we should. And so how does Jesus

respond to their hesitation? Well, look at verse

18. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority

in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

He's saying they are right to worship him because

he has won. He's triumphed over all. He defeated

sin and Satan and death by the cross. No power

can beat him. He reigns over everything in the

universe. Everything is under his feet. I think

he's trying to draw to mind what we read in Daniel

7. Do you remember this? In my vision at night

I looked and there before me was one like a son

of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached

the ancient of days and was led into his presence.

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.

All nations and peoples of every language worshipped

him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion

that will not pass away and his kingdom is one

that will never be destroyed. It's this divine

Son of Man who rules over all and gets worshipped.

That's what Jesus is getting at. See, Jesus rains

over everything. We've got school starting back

up again, and school holidays are over, but who's

counting? And, you know, one of the things we've

had to do every term when, you know, we get kids

new hats and new jumpers and new all bits and

pieces, is we sharpie everything. You've got

to sharpie their name on absolutely everything,

because they'll lose it otherwise. Well, I want

to ask you, if you had to sharpie Jesus' name

on what's His in the universe, what would you

sharpie it on? Everything. He made it all. He

redeemed it all. He rules it all. You'd see Jesus

sharpie everywhere all over the universe, wouldn't

you? Jesus is worthy of worship. He's the second

person of the Trinity. He's the Divine Son of

Man. He's the one who completed his mission to

save the world and defeat Satan, sin and death.

He deserves our worship. I remember years ago

my dad took me to see the Swans win the Premiership

in 2005 there in Melbourne. Four point win, 92

,000 people, first premiership the Swans had

won in 72 years. It went off. It was amazing.

I reckon you could even say that there were fans

there worshipping the players. Because in their

mind they went, their victory made them worthy

of adoration. You guys have done it, wow! You've

won! Well, how much more for us with Jesus? Jesus

created the universe. He saved us from sin. He

conquered death. He's worthy of our worship.

He deserves complete worship, love and devotion

for what He's done. There's no need to doubt

or to hesitate. He's worthy of limitless worship.

So why does the Church exist? What's its reason

for being here? What's the purpose of us doing

what we do? Well, one key reason is that we're

here to worship and magnify the Lord Jesus. We

magnify Him. Not like a magnifying glass. You

know, with a magnifying glass, it makes something

small bigger. That's not what we do when we magnify

Jesus. For us it's like a telescope. You know

how with a telescope you've got something great

that you're seeing and it makes it larger and

clearer to you? That's what we're doing with

Jesus. He's great, He's awesome and we want to

see Him clearly. That's what we're to do every

Sunday. We're to worship, adore and display the

greatness of Jesus. Actually, we do that in all

our ministries, but especially Sundays where

we preach, we pray, and we praise Jesus together.

And that helps each of us. When we have thankful

worship in our lives, worship in response to

the mercy that Jesus has shown us, it fuels and

drives our Christian lives powerfully. See, a

big part of why we gather is filling up our worship

tank each week. And so I want to ask you, is

that your mindset when you come to church? It's

easy to be distracted, isn't it? To come to church

and you're thinking about the kids who are being

difficult or, you know, you're thinking about

lunch. You know, what are we having for lunch

today? Am I going to go to marshes and pick up

a steak? What am I doing? Or you're planning

the week ahead and you're going, I've got a big

week this week. It's easy to just get distracted

and in our own heads during church. Our lives

are so doo -doo -doo -doo -doo, aren't they?

But at church, it's our time to pause, stop,

and adore. At church, we get to soak our hearts

in the glory of Jesus and respond to him with

worship. It's so crucial that we do that because

it helps us stay in a good place spiritually.

So magnifying Jesus so we worship him is key

to what we do in church. But how do we express

our worship? Is it just that we hear how great

Jesus is and praise him? Well, it's more than

that. Our whole life is actually worship, which

includes making disciples of all nations. That's

the second thing we need to see. We're to make

disciples of all nations. That's our next all.

Have a look at what verse 19 says. Therefore

go and make disciples of all nations, baptising

them in the name of the Father and of the Son.

and of the Holy Spirit. Now, you know what you

do whenever you see a therefore in the Bible?

You go to ask, what's the therefore, therefore?

What's the therefore, therefore? Well, it's there

to show that the universal Lordship of Jesus

demands a universal mission. Jesus has won. He

reigns over everything. He's accomplished salvation.

And his worshippers are to share that with the

world. It's a bit like this. Imagine a group

of scientists in the lab grinding away, researching,

day after day, month after month, year after

year. And one day, throughout the lab, the words

Eureka! echo through the lab. One of the scientists

has discovered a cure for cancer. Huge breakthrough,

wouldn't it? Cancer beaten. Many can now be saved.

But it's no good if it just stays in the lab,

is it? It needs to be shared with the world.

And Jesus' victory over sin, Satan and death

is like that. It's a cure to eternal death. It

needs to be exported to every corner of the earth.

And that's what Christians do. We do so gladly

because Jesus saved us from spiritual cancer.

We share Jesus with the world because we want

others to know his salvation. That's our act

of worship. It's part of our worship. Christians

worship Jesus by making disciples wherever they

can. They seek to tell others of him so that

they'll worship Jesus and become his disciples.

We share what we love because we want others

to experience it. I love how John Piper puts

it. He says it like this. Worship is the goal

and the fuel of missions. Missions exist because

worship doesn't. Missions is our way of saying

the joy of knowing Christ is not a private or

tribal or national or ethnic privilege, it is

for all. And that's why we go. Because we've

tasted the joy of worshipping Jesus and we want

all the families of the earth included. So whether

it's proselytizing people around us or supporting

that elsewhere, Christians are to worship Jesus

by being on mission. But it's not just that we

make disciples and then leave them be. There's

another part to it. We also, did you see it,

we baptise them into the covenant community.

See, baptism is not just a public profession

of faith. It's an incorporation of someone into

the new community of faith. And it's a community

centred on the Trinitarian God, baptised them

in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy

Spirit. The community we're part of is a unified

diversity of love, just like the Trinity. And

we do this because it's no good saving people

if we just then leave them to fall away. We want

believers to stay saved. And they need a good

environment, a good community that will care

for them so that that's the case. When I was

a kid, we used to have a fish tank with goldfish

in it. And some of these goldfish would jump

out of the fish tank and die. You know, you'd

come home, you'd see there on the carpet, little

goldie just on the floor, cross eyes, that sort

of thing. Well imagine if I'm there at home and

I see one of the goldfish do the jump out they

go onto the floor If I was so committed to saving

that fish, you know, imagine if I sit there and

I do little fish CPR Blow in try and save that

fish's life Even if I did all that it's no good

if I do that and then just leave that fish on

the carpet is it? To stay saved That fish needs

to be put back in the water. And it's the same

with people. It's great when someone hears the

gospel and turns to Jesus. But if they're going

to stay saved, they need to join a community

of believers. It's like their water, it keeps

them alive. It keeps their faith alive. And so

in this verse we have two crucial purposes for

the church. Mission and membership. The church

is to reach the lost, that's mission, but then

it's to incorporate them into a loving and caring

community centred on the Trinitarian God. That's

membership. It's mission and membership. So that

people are saved and keep going in their salvation.

And so there's lots of things that we need to

do as a church so that that can happen. On Sundays

we try and preach evangelistically in a service

that's welcoming for new people. We try and do

coffees with people who want to know more about

Jesus. I just did one this week where I met up

with someone. They brought a friend along and

we talked about Jesus. It was fantastic. You

know, one day I hope we can do an evangelistic

course. That's the mission side of it. There's

the membership side too. We have pastoral care.

You know, we've got a pastoral care team that

Karen and Jen run. They do an amazing job with

that. We have welcoming. We have socials. There's

all sorts of things we're trying to do so that

people not only get saved but incorporated into

our community of believers. But there's also

things individually that each of us can do. And

I want to mention one today. It's to develop

your radar. Develop your radar. Because there's

lost people and struggling people all around

us. And it's easy to miss, isn't it? It's easy

to be so distracted that we're thinking about

20 other things. But developing that radar so

that when you're there at Smithfield shops and

you're walking through, you see people differently,

you go, wow. there's a lot of lost people here

who need Jesus. Lord please save many of these

people or you're there at church and you walk

through the door and you know you're thinking

now am I on the roster today I probably should

have checked before okay you know and you come

in the door and you're distracted by 20 things

rather than going There's someone who really

needs, they're struggling. I know they've had

a really hard week. I'm going to talk to them

and see how they're doing and try to encourage

them. We need to develop our individual radars

to see those who are lost and those who are struggling.

But we shouldn't just be seeking to reach new

people who we add to our community. We also want

to strive to see our community grow maturity

and that's the next all we see we teach all of

Jesus commands we teach all of Jesus commands

which is what we see in verse 20 Jesus says you

know make disciples and teaching them to obey

everything literally all I have commanded you

so Jesus is Lord of all And so not only do we

make disciples of all nations, we bring Jesus'

Word to bear on every aspect of our lives. That's

joyful for us, but it's also how we can be salt

and light in the world. And so Jesus is Lord

of all, so no aspect of our lives is off -limits

to Him in His Word. Our sexuality, our spending,

our speech, our time, our relationships, our

thoughts, All that we do must be subject to Jesus'

teachings. And because we're hearing all of Jesus'

words, we don't cherry -pick bits that we like.

Well, you know, I really like Romans, but I'm

not a fan of Leviticus, you know. We take all

of it in. All of it is Jesus' word. And it must

shape every aspect of our lives. It's a bit like

this. Years ago Laura and I bought our first

house in Perth and it was a little three by two

shoe boxy kind of house and at the time we only

had Ethan and so the house was pretty neat and

tidy. It's a lot neater and tidier when you don't

have five kids and just the one. But for us there

was one room that we did just kind of leave as

the junk room. That's partly why it was neat

and tidy because what we could do was we'd go,

all the things that were too hard to sort out,

we'll put in that room, and when people come

over, we'll shut the door. That was a good, that

was my strategy. I think I probably drove Laura

nuts with my strategy, but, and in there it did

stay a little bit messy for quite a while, but

it felt fine for me, because people would come

over and just shut the door. It's like it doesn't

exist. Well, I want you to imagine the different

parts of your life are like rooms in a house.

So there's your sexuality, there's your thoughts,

there's your spending, there's your relationships,

whatever it might be. You've got different rooms

in a house. If you're persistently closing doors

to Jesus, saying, yeah, that's a mess, but Jesus,

you don't come in there. You've got to question

if Jesus is actually your Lord if you're doing

that. Even if the rest of the house is super

tidy. Oh, your Christian life's going great,

but there's this one room that's shut off. No.

If there's rooms that are shut off to Jesus,

that's a very dangerous place to be. Now, don't

mishear me. We all have many messy rooms in our

lives. That's normal. And the key is to let Jesus

into those rooms. Because when he comes in, he's

like Marie Kondo, you know? He comes in, cleans

it, sorts it out. And that might take time. That's

normal submission to the Lordship of Jesus. But

to say, Jesus, that room is off limits? That's

when we're hardening our hearts. That's where

we need to stop and let him in. And in the same

way, it's crucial that here as a church, no part

of the Bible, no topic be taboo in this pulpit.

We need to make sure that, whether it's the pulpit,

growth groups, whatever we're doing, that we're

listening to all of Jesus' words. Otherwise our

growth will be stunted. Loving all of Jesus'

Word, letting it speak into all aspects of our

lives is part of our worship and it's a crucial

purpose of our church and of the Christian life.

Are there any rooms in your life where the door

is closed or maybe closing a bit? But there's

one more all and one more purpose we need to

see. Here's our last all. Jesus is with us for

all time. Jesus is with us for all time. And

this is where Jesus says, and surely I'm with

you always to the very end of the age. And we've

got to take these words on board. They are wonderful,

aren't they? Comforting words. They reflect what

was said at the start of Matthew about Jesus'

birth. Remember, The angel says of Jesus, behold

the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and

they shall call his name Immanuel, which means

God with us. It's referencing Isaiah and the

promises that God made there. God is with us

in Jesus. And so we're not alone in this world

as we do mission, as we seek to be here for Jesus.

Jesus is sustaining us by his presence. through

his spirit. He may no longer be with his people

bodily, but he's with all his disciples spiritually.

But this verse has another important implication

for the church. Remember Jesus says this to his

first disciples, the eleven. What happened to

the eleven? They're dead. Bit of a waste, isn't

it? Well, no, these words weren't just for them.

If they were just for them, Jesus wouldn't say,

and behold, I'm with you always to the very end

of the age. This commission is not just for them,

it's for us. These words are telling us that

all generations of Christians have Jesus with

them. And actually, It implies that all generations

of Christians need to pass the baton of service

and leadership to others. So that gospel ministry

continues in every generation. It's not just

that we're trying to reach all nations, it's

that we're trying to reach people throughout

all ages. Now I'm wise enough to not talk about

the groans of Marones fans on Wednesday night.

I'm not that brave. Better that I stick with

what I know. I'm an AFL fan. I love my Swannies

and they lost on Thursday night. So I'll talk

about that. But it's easy to love my Swannies

because they have sustained success. I sort of

think the other day that in the last 20 years

they've only missed the finals four times. It's

pretty good. And part of the reason is that they're

great at blooding new players. So this year,

they're sitting at second, they're going for

glory again, and they've got this new guy, Will

Edwards, who's this awesome fullback. He's like

a man mountain like this. He's amazing. I'm loving

watching him. But it's just great. They keep

doing that every year. find these guys, they

value them, they empower them, they train them,

they raise them up into these new great players.

And that's why the Swannies have done so well

for so long. But churches need to do that with

leaders and volunteers too. Every church should

be thinking into where will the next generation

of servant -hearted Christians and pastors come

from. We can't always import them from Sydney.

We have to be striving to raise up people ourselves,

train up people ourselves, maybe even one day

export people somewhere else. We want to be intentional

at tapping people on the shoulder, at equipping

people, at empowering people to lead and grow.

to keep developing systems and pipelines that

will see who's capable and train them up. It's

also why Kids Church is so important as well.

Why is Kids Church so important? There's a whole

range of reasons, but one of them is you don't

know if the next Spurgeon or Billy Graham is

in there in Kids Church, do you? Could be. So

will we be the sort of church that equips and

empowers people? Will each of us seek to do our

bit to serve one another so that the gospel continues

to go out? All right, let's draw some threads

together We started by asking What the purposes

of a healthy church are what what things Jesus

wants his people to be doing and focused on?

And we sought to answer that by looking at the

Great Commission and the four alls Jesus gives

us Jesus is the glorious Lord of all make disciples

of all nations, teach all of Jesus' commands,

and Jesus is with us for all time. And I tried

to show you that Jesus' purposes for his church

must drive all that we do. And I said to you,

there's four alls, but five purposes. And I don't

know if you picked them up. They each start with

M. You can actually read about them in our vision

booklet here. If you haven't got one, there's

a bunch up the back. We've got the five M's.

in our vision booklet and here's what they are.

Magnification, membership, maturity, ministry

and mission. These are the five purposes that

Jesus has for his church and we saw all of them

in the Great Commission. You could put it like

this even. I love diagrams they're easier to

read. So we've got our five M's, magnification,

membership, mission, ministry, maturity, worship,

community, reach, service, depth. That's what

the church is meant to be doing. You know, when

we went to Green Island with Laura's parents,

we didn't just do people watching, we did do

some snorkeling too. And I tell you what, seeing

all the fish and the coral was stunning. Seeing

that ecosystem at work was amazing. All the sea

plants and creatures in harmony so that life

thrives, it was amazing. And that's what church

life is meant to be like as well. These five

purposes are like an ecosystem. And when they're

working together, it creates a healthy church.

full of healthy Christians. I hope you've seen

that today. But what's all that mean for each

of us? Well, there will be some people here who

are new to Christian things. And you've heard

a big claim today. You've heard that Jesus is

Lord of all, that he's the only one who can save

us from our sins. If that's you, I'm so glad

you're here. I want to encourage you to have

an open mind and read Mark's Gospel. We've got

free copies of Mark up the back on the back table.

Grab one of these, have a read of it. Write down

any questions you have and come chat with me.

I'd love to have a coffee with you and talk you

through it all. And keep coming to church and

experiencing this community of love which is

really incredible. But if you're here and you're

a Christian, These five purposes aren't just

what makes a healthy church, but they are what

makes a healthy Christian life as well. So it's

good to once in a while check in with yourself.

How am I going with these purposes that Jesus

has for me? Am I magnifying Jesus? Do I worship

Jesus with my time, with my life, with all that

I am? Do I love the Lord my God? Am I in a community?

Am I caring for people? Are they caring for me?

Am I connected with the folk here at church?

Am I on a mission? And am I trying to reach people

for Jesus? Do I want to share Jesus with others?

Am I inviting people to church, sharing the gospel

with them, praying for others? Am I doing ministry?

Am I serving others? Am I trying to love others

with the gifts that God has given me? And am

I growing in maturity? Is there depth in my Christian

life? Am I getting to know the Bible deeply?

Is my godliness growing? It's good to check in

and ask, how am I going with all of these things?

But there might be some here today who are leaders

of our church. And I want to encourage you, these

five key things are the things Jesus wants his

church to be doing. And for us, we need to make

sure that we're strong in all of these. I hope

you'll work prayerfully with me in trying to

do that. It's good for us as leaders to ask now

and again, which one do you think we're weak

in? Which one are we really strong in? And we

want to try and get strong in all of them, because

if we are weak in one, we end up with a lopsided

ecosystem. I won't go into cane toads and all

of that, but you can imagine. So we don't want

to be a church that's strong on maturity but

not on evangelism and mission. We've got to make

sure we're balanced. But whatever reason you

have for being here today, I hope you've seen

that Jesus' purposes for the church make the

sort of church that you'd probably want to come

to. and that others would want to come to too.

So let's keep working together to be that sort

of church, trying to do what Jesus has told us

to do in the Great Commission. Let's pray. Heavenly

Father, we thank you so much for Jesus' words

to us. Thank you that he saved us from our sin.

through his death on the cross. Thank you that

he's Lord of all and reigning over everything.

And thank you that his spirit is with us. Thank

you that he is with us till the end of the age.

And as we wait for his return, help us to strive

to do these things, to do these purposes, both

individually and as a church together. And we

ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.