Living the Great Commission

One of the things at Watermark that we want to do is be a church which is also raising up other people to preach and to lead in different ways.

So today's going to be a little bit different from normal. There's going to be two of us preaching.

Don't worry, it's not going to go on until past your lunchtime.

But Ed and myself will be preaching this morning and just bringing God's word to us as we continue the series looking at mission.

But before we do that, I want to invite Gary and Iris to come and bring God's word to us in scripture reading.

The scripture reading comes from Matthew and 1 Peter.

Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.

In Matthew chapter 28, we read,

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

And when they saw him, they worshipped him.

But some doubted.

And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always,

to the end of the age.

And in 1 Peter chapter 3, we read,

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake,

you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.

But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord as holy,

always being prepared to make a defense to anyone

who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect,

having a good conscience,

so that when you are slandered,

those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good,

if that should be God's will,

than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered once for sins,

the righteous for the unrighteous,

that he might bring us to God,

being put to death in the flesh,

but made alive in the spirit.

This is the word of God.

God bless you.

Amen.

Hi, good morning, Watermark.

My name is Ed.

I'm one of the members here,

and also one of the elders here.

Now I just want to lead us into a time of pastoral prayer.

It's not me praying,

but it's Watermark praying to our sovereign and living God.

So if I could just invite you to pray with me.

Dear Heavenly Father,

as we enter into this Lenten season,

we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ,

who advocates for our righteousness and salvation.

We thank you for being a powerful and sovereign king,

and yet a gentle servant king,

who continues to pursue us individually.

We pray for your Holy Spirit to minister to those who are affected by the COVID-19 virus,

for those who are sick in Hubei and across the globe,

for the health workers who are strained and pushed to their limits.

We pray for those family who have experienced loss and are hurting.

Families in China who may have had their relative pass away in Hubei

and experience a scent of hopelessness because there's nothing they can do.

The city remains closed and they cannot visit them.

God, will you draw close to them.

We pray that the Holy Spirit be with those who suffer and mourn,

and now pouring of your grace and love upon them,

may you let them know that there is a Heavenly Father that deeply cares for them,

that they are not alone.

We pray that as the world tackles COVID-19,

we pray that you will use this time and situation for an awakening,

for the hearts to become receptive to receiving you as Lord and Savior,

as confidence in man-made things diminishes.

We pray that as you take away busyness from the lives of people in Hong Kong and globally,

that we will learn to be still and know to grow in all of you being God.

We pray against fear.

We pray against racism.

We pray against division.

We pray against bigotry.

We pray that we will see each other as inherently valuable as you do during this time.

We pray for unity among Hong Kong churches as you prepare your church for a new season.

We pray that your will be done, that you will prune the church as you will,

that you will bring unity to church as you will,

and that we will be a united church ready to be your hands and feet for the revival in Hong Kong,

that we pray that is to come.

We pray for Watermark Church, that will be a body of Christ that takes on the mission of Christ.

We pray that the missions, the value of missions, drops deep into every one of our hearts,

and that we will take up our cross for the sake of the cross.

We pray for an emboldening of our hearts.

We pray for testimonies, many, many testimonies, as we step out in faith and encounter Jesus in the mission fields.

We thank you, Heavenly Father, for who you are, for sustaining us and giving us this very day.

And all these things we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now, last week, Kevin preached that to be a people of God, we are also the mission of God,

that we were invited to take part of God's movement to restore a sinful and broken world to him.

Now, as in Acts, and as in Psalm 67, it reads,

May your ways and salvation be known among nations.

May all nations praise you.

Now, this week, as Chris just mentioned, we will continue in talking about missions,

and you get two for the price of one.

I guess there's a lot of bargains out there during the COVID virus, and you get one today.

Now, the Great Commission is a sermon passage that I think a lot of us are very familiar with,

probably heard a lot.

And for me, personally, as the sinner that I am, when I reflect on the Great Commission,

what I think of in my mind is my highlight reel of Ed's greatest evangelistic moments.

Top five, top ten.

Was it the time that I got to minister to my colleague at work because he started dating a Christian girl?

Or was it the time that I brought my long-term high school friend, who I haven't met in a long time,

after a casual steak dinner and invited him to pray the repentance prayer, and he did.

At other times, I approached the Great Commission with this laissez-faire approach.

It's like, I treat it as, Great Commission is great, but it's for those who are called to the mission fields.

Someone like Amelia.

Amelia was called to minister to the Hakka people of Taiwan, so she dropped her things, decided to drop her life in Hong Kong,

moved to Taiwan, started learning Chinese for the past two or three years, and she's following that mission.

Great Commission is for her.

You know, people in the foreign mission fields, not for me.

But in both of these responses, whether I act as a performance Christian or a licensed Christian,

those, my heart is in the wrong place.

And today, we're going to be talking about what the Great Commission is really about.

Jesus.

It's all about Jesus.

In fact, the Great Commission begins because of Jesus, is a response to Jesus, and is sustained by the Spirit of Jesus.

When we read the passage of the Great Commission, it's very easy to focus on,

go and make disciples of all nations.

Because that's kind of probably the most famous phrase.

But, there is a radical claim that Jesus makes right before that,

that I would argue is probably even more important.

Because Jesus says,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

That is, when the resurrected Jesus makes the claim,

Jesus is claiming in no uncertain terms that his status is that of equal to God.

One who rules over kingdoms is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

I think we're just working.

There's some slides in the background that could pop up.

Now, to the Jewish people, the Gospel of Matthew was written for the Jewish people.

To the Jewish people, this would have been a radical, radical claim.

Very eye-popping.

Because to the Jewish people, there's only two authority.

There's Torah, the Word of God, and Yahweh, God himself.

And so, when Jesus makes this claim and challenges the authority and worship of the Jewish,

the paradigm of authority and worship,

Jesus is making a very bold claim.

And that's really the key point to the Gospel of Matthew.

That Jesus is Emmanuel, the fulfillment of the Messiah that is,

the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.

In fact, in Matthew chapter 1, Matthew begins with tracing the lineage of Jesus to Abraham.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

And as we learned last week, from Genesis 22, 18, it says,

through your offspring, this is God speaking to Abraham,

through your offspring, all nations would be blessed.

Every Jewish reader would know that the implied implication of that is that Jesus is the Messiah.

Twelve times Matthew mentions that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy and that prophecy.

And at the bookend of the Matthew of Jesus, it said,

Jesus, what does Jesus say?

Go and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Equality, but distinct.

Distinct, but equal.

The point is this.

It was always God's plan to bring salvation to this world.

And Jesus is the fulfillment of that.

Jesus is God's promised salvation to mankind.

Without Jesus, there is no Great Commission,

because there would be no path to salvation.

There is no way back to be with our Heavenly Father who is holy and righteous.

The Great Commission is a movement that begins because of Jesus,

because of who He is and what He has done.

Now, in the passage, the disciples are traveling to Galilee,

and they encounter Jesus, and they worship Him.

And that's a natural response for seeing a resurrected Messiah.

You just saw this guy die maybe like, you know, a couple weeks ago,

and here there he is, the resurrected Messiah standing there.

And of course, you're going to worship Him.

And then Jesus goes and commissions them and says,

go and make disciples.

Now, why is this sequence of events important?

The disciples first encounter, then the disciples worship,

and then the disciples get commissioned.

This is important because missions always starts with an encounter and worship of our Lord.

You have to be changed by the gospel to want to share the gospel.

You know, I believe everyone, I believe,

has a thing that they like to share with their friends or family.

You know, it could be your favorite book, your favorite restaurant.

I think most topical these days is we want to share the most latest COVID news, right?

Where to go to get toilet paper, where to go to get masks,

where not to go because there's infected people.

Well, my thing is sharing good deals.

I love to scour the, if you know me, you know me.

I love to scour the internet for good deals,

mostly with regards to good places to take Trish to a discounted date night dinner,

good places for a staycation, best value,

or also best ways to accumulate Asian miles for free flights.

Now, I love to share this with my friends.

Why?

Because these are good things.

I mean, these are good experiences and good deals,

and I want to share good things with my friends.

And in the similar way, the motivation of missions comes from the worship of our Lord.

Mission begins with an encounter with Jesus that changes you.

Unless you encounter Jesus and see that he is a treasure above all earthly treasures,

you wouldn't naturally look to make disciples.

But where this analogy totally ends is that, you know,

Jesus is not merely a good thing.

Jesus is life-giving.

And so, if I'm so willing to share about good things and good experiences with my friends,

sometimes I always ask myself,

why am I not more bold in sharing about Jesus,

who gives life and is infinitely more valuable?

Now, the most integral part of this passage is make disciples.

Like, this is a really important instruction that you read in this passage.

And as such, it is imperative that we understand what discipleship looks like.

Now, discipleship, as it was meant in this, written in this text,

is defined in the context of the Jewish religion.

If a rabbi agreed to be a disciple of a younger boy and a man,

that disciple will agree to submit to the authority of the rabbi

in all areas of his life with regards to the interpretation of scripture for all of his life.

That's a very, very high bar for devotion.

The rabbi-disciple relationship is deep, is relational, and transparent.

The disciple would observe how the rabbi deals with things,

matters of the family, with marriage, with money,

and he would choose, he would seek to copy him, to emulate him.

And that's the role of the disciple.

And there's a story once told that a disciple so wanted to learn from the rabbi

that he hid in the rabbi's bedroom

so that he can learn from the rabbi how to be intimate with his future wife.

So that's how close there is.

It's total devotion, and there's total transparency, and it's very deep.

When we translate this rabbi-disciple relationship to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus,

it means that as a disciple of Jesus, we are to fully surrender to him

and take Jesus and his teachings as our only and ultimate authority.

Our love for Jesus versus the things of this world must be like in Luke 14, 26,

which says,

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,

yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple.

That is, on a relative basis,

versus our love for even the most dearest things to us in this world,

we must love Jesus infinitely more, many folds more.

A disciple then, therefore, if we read into all this context,

would naturally take on the mission and the purpose of Jesus.

As in the parable of the lost sheep,

where the good shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to seek that one sheep.

That is the heart of Jesus.

Jesus' heart is for that lost sheep.

His heart is so that he knows that everyone is so valuable

that he will go to the ends of the earth to go after every one lost sheep.

And if to be the disciple of Jesus means to take Jesus as the only authority

and ultimate authority,

and if Jesus' heart was about lost sheep,

then as disciples, we have to be about lost sheep as well.

To be the people of God is to be the mission of God.

And I think you heard that from Kevin yesterday.

But this is the key point.

You cannot be a true disciple of Jesus

and not be seeking to make disciples.

And I just repeat that because this really spoke to me.

Because being a disciple of Jesus,

this sermon really helped me define what my walk with Jesus should really be like.

You cannot be a true disciple of Jesus

and not be seeking to make disciples.

Because that is his heart.

Now, making disciples, that's a daunting task.

I mean, that's a daunting task.

And I think in our culture, you know, our DIY, do-it-yourself culture,

we, you know, we just think about, let's pull up our bootstraps

and let's just go out there.

Let's follow a formulaic plan.

You know, five steps to evangelize in the workplace,

ten steps to make a disciple, and let's go.

But the reality is, the Great Commission is not a movement that belongs to us.

It's God's movement.

And so making a disciple means changing the hearts of an individual.

And how can man, how can we change the hearts and affection of another person?

That is impossible.

Heart change is the work of the Holy Spirit.

And so this impossible task is only possible with the help of Jesus,

the Spirit of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is so important that in the movement,

that in Acts 1-4, it says,

Do not leave Jerusalem.

Jesus says to his disciples,

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,

which you have heard me speak about.

And in the same vein, Jesus reassures his disciples in verse 20,

Surely I am with you always to the very end of age.

And now he instructs them to go.

Go to all nations.

Now remember in verse 17,

when the disciples encountered Jesus,

it says,

They worshipped him, but some still doubted.

Well, Jesus' disciples weren't the crackerjack, hot shots, faithful men

that we all put them out to be.

They were actually still very much sinners.

And they still struggled to trust in Jesus.

But yet, Jesus still entrusts his mission to them.

The thing that is going to make you successful is not how well you speak,

or how well you argue.

It's that Jesus is with you.

And practically speaking, that means we need less of us and more of him.

It means that we pray for heart change more than try to change hearts.

It means that we are bold in impossible situations,

because it's not about us.

And it means that we can be bold in missions,

because nothing is impossible with him.

This is God's movement, and not our movement.

And I think John 15, 5 summarizes best.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

If you remain in me, and I in you,

you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

So when I reflect back at how I respond to the Great Commission,

whether it be Ed Choi's greatest evangelistic highlight reel,

or passing the buck to missionaries like Amelia,

I am led to repentance.

I repent that I fall short of being a true disciple of Jesus,

where someone who takes Jesus as my only authority,

and ultimate authority in my life.

How many voices do I have

commenting to me on this and that,

about how to live life?

And how many times do I listen to those voices instead of Jesus?

I repent that there still exists a large gap

between my heart and the heart of Jesus,

especially with regards to lost sheep.

And I repent that oftentimes I choose to glorify myself

than to bear the cost of missions.

I want to invite Chris now to share about 1 Peter

and the cost of missions.

Great. Thanks, Ed.

That was really helpful.

So I want to just really follow on from what Ed was talking about

and having a look at the 1 Peter passage,

which is written about 30 years or so after the Great Commission.

And you're getting to see where this Great Commission flows out in practice

in people's lives.

Because many of us,

if you're a Christian and you've been in church for a while,

you know that we're supposed to share the gospel

and be bringing Jesus' love to people.

Most of us are not unaware of the information.

But actually, most of us struggle in reality with that.

And it's not because we don't know the information.

It's because mission will always cost us.

You see, it costs Jesus everything.

His whole life.

And if we are following as his disciples,

it's also going to cost us too.

You know, I read a story of a family in the U.S.

who befriended this guy in their neighborhood

who is a very private, kind of lonely, reclusive kind of guy.

And their relationship started off

as they just got to walk their dog with him.

And they built up a friendship.

And eventually, they invited him into their home.

And they were beginning to share the gospel.

He was hanging out with their family.

And then one day, they woke up to see over in his house,

the police had cordoned off the whole of his house.

And they were bringing out drug-making equipment

from his property.

And they discovered that he'd actually been making crystal meth

and producing it in his basement.

And then all the neighbors around them,

suddenly, because this family had associated with him,

they began to start, like, rumors started going around.

Everyone started kind of backing off and backing away from,

like, are you involved?

Like, how could you do this?

How could you encourage this in our neighborhood?

And people, they would walk down the street,

and people would just walk the other way from them.

Because they had associated with this guy.

And their reputation became linked to this guy's reputation.

Now, when we are following Jesus as God,

as the Lord of our life,

Jesus isn't a drug dealer.

He's not actually even just a nice teacher.

If you really see who Jesus actually is,

for many people,

he's really somebody who's actually quite weird and dangerous.

If you really see what he's actually saying in our lives.

You see, in Peter's day,

who's writing this,

no one had a problem with worshiping Jesus.

They had a problem with worshiping only Jesus.

Because that was too exclusive.

Because the pagans around them,

all their gods required worship.

And if you weren't worshiping them,

then you could bring the anger of the gods on your community.

And that was going to be dangerous for you.

And so Christians at that time,

were treated either indifferently,

or they were mocked,

or just treated as a threat.

You know, when I was in the UK,

actually, there was Franklin Graham,

who was the son of Billy Graham,

was actually coming to just,

do some sharing of the gospel with people.

But he was banned from speaking,

because of some of his views on gay marriage.

And there was actually,

when I was there in the city,

there was a massive campaign against him.

Because people think that Christians,

and some of their beliefs,

it's not just old-fashioned any longer.

It's even dangerous.

And isn't that what we fear?

We fear a sense of social rejection by people.

Don't we?

That was the situation for them.

And Peter here,

he says this in the passage.

He says,

even if you should suffer for righteousness sake,

you will be blessed.

Don't have no fear of them,

nor be troubled,

but in your hearts,

honor Christ the Lord as holy.

You see, when Christ is Lord,

it challenges our idols and our fears.

Do you know that word,

honor Christ as Lord?

It's actually one word in Greek,

which is sanctify Christ as Lord.

That means set him apart as Lord.

He is Lord.

He has all authority.

But actually,

we can sing about Jesus as Lord,

and we worship him on a Sunday,

but actually we can go out in the rest of our weeks

and worship somebody else as Lord

or something else as Lord in our weeks.

Because in our hearts,

we fear other people more than we fear him.

In our hearts,

we want to please other people

more than we want to please him.

We fear awkward conversations

more than we fear dishonoring him.

And you know,

the mission of God puts in crystal clear focus

whether Jesus is not just Lord of our mouths,

but is Lord of our hearts too,

because it's uncomfortable.

And I'm really challenged by this,

but actually I think it's true

that the only reason,

the only reason that stops me

from boldly proclaiming Jesus as Lord

and shaping my life around his mission

is because functionally,

I'm making something else in my heart

Lord and not him.

I'm worshiping something else and not Jesus.

Because if,

like Ed was saying,

if Jesus is filling my heart,

he's got to overthrow flow

in the way that I live my life

and the words that I speak.

You know,

last week I was in a cafe

and I got talking to the server

behind the counter

and we started having a great conversation.

We were talking about,

we talked about sin,

we talked about death,

we talked about church,

and then I knew I needed to come on

and talk about Jesus.

And suddenly I was like,

I felt weird.

I was kind of,

and Jesus,

it's kind of mumbling.

And I thought to myself,

why do I do that?

And I do that because,

you know,

you see that look?

Here's a religious nut kind of look.

You know that?

Right?

And I don't like awkward conversations

and I don't like making other people

feel awkward either.

I'd like just life to be fairly smooth

for you to like me.

You know,

you can have your faith,

but I want nothing much

to disturb my life.

Anyone like me?

One person at the back.

Good.

Everyone else is sorted.

I'll just talk to you,

Tiff.

But I've got this friend in Shanghai

and he's a lawyer.

And at board meetings

or client meetings,

he would come in

and he'd bring his Bible with him

and put it straight on the table.

And then people would look at it

and go,

what's that?

And he'd go,

well,

just very briefly,

he'd say,

well,

I'm a Christian

and Jesus is the most important thing to me

and I just want to rely on his words.

That's risky,

right?

That's like,

he could lose clients

because of that.

That's like somebody

who's actually saying,

Jesus is really Lord.

Because for him,

he knows

that actually,

even though someone thinks I'm weird,

and actually,

I can tell you,

he's had so many conversations

where people have then gone to him,

huh,

so what is it that you believe?

And what Peter says is,

be prepared to give a reason

for the hope that you have.

And because he's been living in a way

where he's honoring Jesus as Lord,

so it's actually enabled him

to have opportunities

to then go,

and here's why I believe this.

This is what Peter is talking about.

But in mission,

if Jesus is Lord,

then my reputation isn't.

And so we don't play it safe any longer.

We're willing to put our reputations

on the line.

So,

you know,

Peter says here,

have no fear.

Have no fear.

Have no fear.

Why?

Because I've got this.

You can trust me.

But actually,

we often justify

our idolatries,

the things we put before God,

with excuses.

Some of the excuses we go,

I'm not very good at arguments.

Right?

I'm not very smart.

I always seem to kind of mess up conversations.

Things always seem to go badly.

Has anyone ever thought like that?

But if Jesus is Lord,

do you know what he says?

He says,

why are you relying on your ability?

If I,

as the great king

of the whole universe,

have entrusted you

and you're representing

with a message

of the king

whose love is so expansive

and great

that the universe

cannot contain it,

how on earth do you think

that you can possibly

adequately

communicate that

by yourself?

That's actually arrogance.

Why are you making

all about you?

Because he says,

no,

the gospel

humbles us to go,

Jesus doesn't choose

adequate people.

He chooses you

if you're completely inadequate.

In fact,

if you think you're adequate,

then you're going to

screw it all up.

He chooses people

who fumble

and are clumsy

and, you know,

just make mistakes

and just,

we're sinful.

So that's why

he gets the glory,

which is what Ed was saying.

That's why he says,

when I am with you,

he's the only one

who can guarantee

this mission will succeed.

Isn't that encouraging?

I'm encouraged.

Maybe three of you are,

but I...

But the things,

there's this great passage

in Acts 4.

I don't know if you've read it,

the disciples

come before

the most powerful

religious leaders

of the time

and they're grilling them

about their faith in Jesus.

These are the most

intimidating intellectuals

of the time.

You know,

we always have some people

who are intimidators,

right?

These guys are intimidating

and it says in Acts 4,

they knew that

the disciples

were uneducated

common people.

Okay?

Intellectuals,

uneducated.

They hadn't even got

through grade three

at school.

But it says here,

and I love this,

this is beautiful,

it says,

and...

But these religious leaders,

they were astonished

because they saw

that these people

had been with Jesus.

That's our qualification

for mission.

Have we been with Jesus?

Have you been with him?

Have you experienced him?

Let the fact

that most other powerful people

in the world

only want to be with you

if you've got something

to offer them.

But Jesus,

who already has all power

and you have nothing

to offer him,

wants to be with you.

Today,

tomorrow,

every day this week

in your family,

in your workplace,

wherever you are,

he's going to be with you.

And he's Lord.

That's encouraging.

So if Jesus is Lord,

it strips and challenges

our idols

and our fears.

Practically,

if he's also Lord

in your hearts,

it means we're going

to prepare

for his mission.

He says this,

always being prepared

to make a defense

to anyone

who asks you

for a reason

for the hope

that is in you.

Many of us go,

but I don't know

how to share.

And Peter would go,

have you prepared?

Like,

have you actually

even thought about

how to share

the gospel with people?

because,

you know,

if something's

really important to you,

you prepare for it.

Right?

Like,

you've got a presentation,

you're not just going to,

like a really major presentation,

you're not going to just go,

I'm going to wing it today.

No,

but if the mission of God

is that crucial

to who we are

and what Jesus calls us to be,

then we're going to prepare for it.

We're going to go,

okay,

in our CG's,

like,

if someone comes to you

and says,

why are you a Christian?

Do you know how to answer that?

If someone says to you,

like,

what's happened in your life?

Are you able to just

share your testimony

in two minutes?

I want to encourage

every one of us

in our community groups

to actually take the time

to just

prepare.

You know,

my mom,

whenever we'd have people

around at our house,

sometimes we had people

who are not Christians,

and at the end of the meal,

they'd be leaving,

and she'd just kind of go,

oh,

I've got a great book

I'd love to hand to you.

And I'd be going,

God,

that's just really awkward.

But not because

Jesus was Lord,

more important than just

whether it was awkward or not.

And actually,

for some of us,

if you're looking for,

like,

resources to help you

or to give,

this is a great book.

It's called

Confronting Christianity

by Rebecca Glocken.

I highly recommend it.

It's great for you

to read,

to prepare yourself.

It's great to give

to other people to read.

I really encourage us

to have some resources

and tools

just so that you can be ready

and prepared.

Is that clear?

Yeah?

Because if Jesus is Lord,

it's going to strip us

of our idols.

It's going to help us

to actually prepare.

Last thing,

if Jesus is Lord,

it's going to help us

to be courageously gentle.

Peter says this.

He says,

you know,

if you get into this conversation

about Jesus

with people

who might be pushing back

against you,

do it with gentleness

and respect.

It's really interesting.

You know,

I don't know,

I have many conversations

with people

who are atheists

or call themselves agnostics.

And often what happens

in the conversation,

it goes something like this.

Christianity is stupid

and unscientific.

And I just go,

atheism is stupid

and irrational.

And then we just kind of start

attacking each other

and trading blows.

And then it just,

the temperature goes up

and afterwards,

I never want to do that again.

That is not gentleness,

by the way.

Because when you're attacked,

we naturally want to feel

like we want to attack back.

But if we're disciples of Jesus,

how does Jesus respond

when he is attacked,

what does he respond with?

Grace, gentleness.

It's not weak gentleness,

it's courageous gentleness.

Someone once said,

gentleness is strength

under control.

I love that.

Strength under control.

Doesn't that typify

Jesus on the cross?

Strength under control.

Everyone's throwing things at him.

Strength under control.

And if Jesus is Lord,

we're secure because

we're under his control.

So whether someone laughs at me

or, you know,

I lose the argument.

Sometimes you can win an argument

and lose a person.

Right?

But actually he says here,

the way that you bring Jesus

to people is not just

with your words,

it's also how you respond

to people.

There are many people here

that I know,

you have said to me,

I was just like obnoxious

to every Christian

that came to me

for like a long time,

but they were so patient

with me

and gentle with me

that actually after a while

God just did something

in my heart

and now I'm a believer.

Anyone else

seen that?

What would it be

if we have a community

of courageously gentle people

who know Jesus is Lord?

And the thing is,

sometimes we want to attack

because we feel insecure

and if we lose the argument

we feel like we're defeated.

But if Jesus is Lord,

then I'm not a failure

for trying to obey him

because his verdict over me

is more important

than somebody else's verdict over me

or what I think of me.

And what he says is,

if you're a Christian,

you're his child.

He delights in you.

And do you know

when you see a child

learning to speak

and they go like,

da-da here

or something,

da-da here.

The father doesn't go,

you stupid child,

get your grammar correct.

He doesn't,

he goes,

yes,

woohoo,

he said da-da.

That's how Jesus

looks at us

when we try and share

the gospel with people.

Not in a kind of like,

and you know,

it's fumbling,

we're like,

oh,

I just should have said that.

He's going,

yes.

Because he loves us

as his children

and he loves us

to respond to him.

And the thing is,

if someone laughs at me

or mocks me

or rejects me,

it's okay

because Jesus is my savior

and I have laughed at him.

I have mocked at him

with my life

in so many ways

and yet he's so patient with me.

He's so gracious to me.

He's so forgiving of me.

And if that gets into my heart,

it doesn't matter.

And I need to hear this

again and again,

right?

It doesn't matter

because Christ is Lord

and that gives me

the courage

and patience

and gentleness

to be able to respond

in that way to others.

I'm going to

finish with two things.

One is,

I love Simon here.

If you don't know Simon,

you've got to get to know Simon.

He's great.

You know,

ever since I've known Simon,

I've known him for years.

He's always been telling me

about him trying to share

the gospel with his brother.

And quite often,

over the last time,

he's come back to me

just feeling very discouraged.

It's kind of like,

it felt like talking to a brick rule.

He thinks everyone

who believes this is stupid.

All that kind of stuff,

right?

For years.

But Simon has just been

trying to share the gospel.

And recently,

I can't remember when,

but God's done a miracle

in your brother's life,

hasn't he?

You can talk to him later.

But what he's done,

he said this,

and Simon told me this

just on Tuesday.

He said,

his brother told him,

I think last week,

was it?

That actually,

you're the only person

I know who would ever

keep on telling me

this message for so long.

Now,

I don't think he was just

beating him into the ground

into submission.

But there's something

that actually just

that persistent,

courageous,

gentleness,

but kindness,

just continually saying,

I just want this person

to come to know Jesus.

That is actually

what Jesus does.

And he said,

like,

he's gone from being

this worry-driven,

fret-filled man

to suddenly have

this lightness and joy

in his life.

That's what the gospel

does in people.

That's why we want

to share it with people.

And if Jesus is truly

Lord of our lives,

we can trust him.

We can trust him.

So how do we respond?

How do we respond?

I think the first response

we need to do

is to get real.

Our problem with mission

and sharing the gospel

is not a lack of skill.

It's a problem

of our priorities.

And we just need

to be honest about that.

We need to remove

any excuses that we have

and just come before God

and just repent before him

and say,

God,

I've placed so many

other things before you.

I get distracted

by so many other things.

I fear other people

more than I fear you.

change my heart.

We repent of making it

about ourselves,

about our performance.

And we start praying.

You know,

what would it be

if 150,

100,

150 people

in Watermark,

and this is something

I'm just really praying,

that we get on our knees

and ask God

to do such a work

in our heart

that his spirit

takes us

from being chickens,

cowards

who just,

we kind of,

you know,

we like fumble over Jesus.

He takes us

from chickens

to lions.

He takes us

from cowards

to courageous

gospel warriors

for him

who are willing

to put in the work

to prepare

for the mission

that he's called us to,

knowing that

we are inadequate,

completely inadequate.

But if we're

an adequate people

who are Jesus-loving,

spirit-filled,

humble,

gentle,

yet irresistibly fearless,

because we know

that Jesus is Lord,

and he's Lord

not just in our mouths,

but he's Lord

in our hearts,

and we know

that he loves us,

then I think

from this week,

Satan is going

to be trembling

in his boots.

As we launch out

from here

for the rest

of this week,

every day,

every morning,

why don't you

start by saying,

today I'm not my own.

I'm yours.

Spirit,

would you just

lead me today?

Give me that courage

to put you

as Lord in my life.

And I think

he's going to do something,

because God loves

answering prayers

like that.

If you are not

a Christian,

Jesus is calling

you today,

because if he truly

is Lord,

that means anything

else in your life

is going to be

always lesser

than him,

and one day

you will come

before him,

and you'll have

to give an account

of your life.

And Jesus says

to you,

I have given

my entire life

to die for you

so that you

could come

to know me.

Now lay down

your own sense

of wanting

to live your life

your way.

and say,

Jesus,

I want to accept

the gift

of your salvation

to me.

And right now

to recognize

you're a sinner

who is in desperate

need of saving,

but you have an amazing

Savior in Christ.

And come to him

today.

Come and see me.

Come and see one

of the other elders,

because we want

you to come

to know him.

So let me just

stop here.

I want you to pray.

And I want you

just to get real

with God.

Let me just

stop and just

think,

where has my

heart been

as I think

about the

mission that

God has called

me to?

Is Jesus

really Lord

of my heart?

And let's just

do some business

with him.

Maybe the musicians

can come up.

Maybe the prayer

team can come up.

If you like prayer,

and you just know

actually,

this is an area

you just struggle

with.

Jesus is not

bringing condemnation

to you.

He's bringing

challenge to you,

but he wants you

to come and run

to him.

So come and

just spend some

time.

Get right with

God right now.

Pray that

before him.

Lord,

I'm not my own.

Help me to live

this week

not as my own,

but for the one

who died for me,

gave his life for me,

so that I might

no longer live for

myself,

but him who loves

me outrageously.

You might just want to ask yourself,

do I ever prepare?

Or am I so wrapped up with fear

that I don't see the people around me,

so wrapped up with my circumstances,

with the things I want to do,

I want to get on and do,

but I don't think,

well, God, what do you want me to do?

Father, I pray for us as a church,

we desperately need you.

I know in my own heart, Lord,

so many other things compete with you

as Lord.

I don't want that to be the case, Lord.

Pray for us as a church

that we would see that you are more beautiful

than anything else,

and we may take gospel risks

because of the fact that we're utterly,

utterly secure in you.

give us that courage this week

not to play it safe any longer,

but to really want to seek your face

and love you with all of our being

and that other people might come to know you.

in Jesus' name,

in Jesus' name,

Amen.