A Missionary People

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. Let's pray again. Lord, as

we prayed over our children who are now with

us, Lord, we ask that you would give us faith,

that you would speak to us from your word and

that we would know you more, that we'd love you

more, that our faith would increase, that it

would be our greatest desire to follow you and

to go where you would have us go, that we would

be those who make disciples. eagerly mirror our

Lord who goes and makes disciples, who brings

good news. Lord, use me now. May the words in

my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts

be pleasing in your sight. The Lord, our rock

and our Redeemer. Amen. All right. What happened

to the apostles? Don't ever wonder that Maybe

some of you know some of the answer to that last

week we were looking at John chapter 21 and near

John 21 · chapter mention

the end of that we talked about how You know,

we got a little glimpse Jesus talks about the

end of Peter's life and how John himself actually

spoke about the end of his life and how Jesus

wasn't speaking about the end of his life but

the end of of Peter's life, and we remembered

Aslan's wise words to Erebus at the end of the

great Narnian book, the horse and his boy, child,

I'm telling you your story, not hers. No one

has told any story but their own. And yet as

different as Peter and John's stories were, and

as different as all the apostles' stories were,

There were themes that ran through them that

sort of marked actually every single one of the

apostles. Their themes were this, that ran together.

All their life, all their deaths, were on mission

with God and the world, for the mission of God

and the world. So let me give you a few examples,

okay? Peter, like we saw last week, he was crucified

We have good reason to believe and the accounts

are fairly early on. He was crucified upside

down because he did not want to be crucified

like his Lord under the persecution in Rome under

Nero around the mid 60s AD, likely 66. John,

who we had looked at last week, as far as we

know, he's actually the only apostle who was

not put to death for the sake of the gospel.

He lived until his old age, but he likely lived

not there in Israel and Jerusalem of course after

AD 70 when the Romans took over almost all the

Christians fled But he lived near the end of

his life around what would be modern -day Turkey

and the city of Ephesus We know this from actually

the letters that we have those little letters

that we have in the book of Revelation and the

churches that he wrote to Right there at the

book of Revelation near the end of his life John

the brother of James Was the first sorry James

the brother of John was the first to be put to

death Does anybody know who killed James, the

brother of John, in Acts chapter 12? Kids, do

Acts 12 · chapter mention

any of you know? Sorry, adults, do any of you

know? Herod, I heard somebody say Herod, I think.

A couple of you said Herod. Herod, right there

in Acts chapter 12, for the sake of his faith.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Andrew traveled north. Many people believe that

he made it to what would be modern day Russia,

but then he was martyred. in what would be, again,

modern day Turkey, Greece, around that area.

Philip went to North Africa. In fact, the tradition

has it that Philip was preaching and the wife

of one of the Roman procouncils gave her life

to following Jesus. She responded to his preaching

and the procouncil was so enraged that he had

Philip put to death because of his preaching

and someone coming to faith, his own wife coming

to faith in Jesus. Thomas, the twin who we know

as Doubting Thomas. By the way, I need to say

this because it doesn't fit as much in the rest

of my sermon, but this is important. Did you

notice this little detail in our text that said,

and some doubted, and Jesus still commissions

those people? Your doubt does not mean God is

not using you, okay? I mean that. There's a real

temptation, I think, when we are going through

difficult times that we think that is when maybe

we are least useful. It's actually so often when

we are most useful in the kingdom. That's a side

note, but it's a really wonderful little detail.

Anyway, Thomas went to modern -day Iraq, Syria,

and then actually people believe that Thomas

made it all the way to India. He started the

church over in India, and he we believe was killed

by four different soldiers for his faith and

preaching the good news of Jesus. Nathaniel,

it seems like he loved to travel. People think

that Nathaniel went with Thomas for a while,

but then he went down and kind of ministered

along the trade routes between Ethiopia and Arabia.

So he was down in North Africa. I could go on.

But there is a theme that is going on, that despite

the fact that each of their stories is absolutely

unique, like we saw last week in John chapter

John 21 · chapter mention

21, there are themes that are running through

all of them. The theme is they were a going people,

a disciple -making people, a baptizing people

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

simply because they were apostolic. They were

part of the people of God. So, We're in this

short series in Eastertide, which, you know,

is from Easter to Pentecost, which it's actually,

we're gonna, in two weeks, we're gonna look at

how Pentecost is related to this. And we're looking

at these narratives, this post -resurrection

narratives of Jesus with his disciples. We're

just asking this question, like, what do these

narratives mean for us? How do they shape our

identity as a church? What does it mean to be

part of the resurrection people? Today we have

another of the famous stories of Jesus after

his resurrection with his disciples. Of course

this story, this little narrative here, this

little teaching we have here is known as the

Great Commission. The Great Commission. Adolf

Harnack, who was a church historian, theologian,

German church historian, theologian, end of the

18th century, early 19th century, early 20th

century, he wrote this. One cannot say anything

greater or more in 40 words than what Jesus says

right here. And while there's so much that we

could say about this passage, again, I'm trying

to focus us on these narratives of what does

it mean for us as an identity? Like, how is it

shaping us as who we are? And I think one of

the things that's interesting is that when we

come to this passage, I want to say this to you

this morning. This is going to kind of be my

main thing. There's nothing new here in a way,

and yet there's something radically different.

Which is to say, this text is shaping the people

of God in a way that they'd always been shaped.

And yet there's an enormous change. Why do I

say that? Here we have, in the Great Commission,

the basic structure. of biblical covenants, which

is the relationship that God had with his people.

The covenants, I've told you before, is a binding

relational commitment and promise. And what is

that basic structure? Well, first, there's the

introduction of God. Normally, that's actually

the Lord in the Old Testament. Yahweh is proclaimed.

But specifically, when you come to a covenant,

it's who has the authority? And who's the relationships?

Who's the one primarily making the covenant?

Who's the main party? And Jesus, the first thing

he says is, all authority has been given to me.

He's establishing the parties in a way, all authority.

I'm the Lord, the King. Now the second part is

there's these imperative demands of the relationship.

Now here it's this, make disciples, baptize,

and teach them to obey everything I have commanded.

That's a key part of covenant, the stipulations

of the covenant, the imperative demands. And

then there's this third section, which is also

throughout, which is blessing, blessing, which

is most often communicated by saying, I am with

you, the presence of God with his people. I'm

with you always, even to the end of the age.

So what I'm suggesting to you is that the Great

Commission is taking on this This basic structure,

which was true of all of God's dynamics with

his people. When they understood who they were,

they understood themselves as being in covenant

with God, and these things existed in those covenants.

So the Great Commission is making good on the

covenants between God and his people. And here's

what I want to say subsequently, and this is

what I want to sort of argue this morning in

a way. The covenants are always forming a missionary

people. Always. The people of God always had

a missionary identity. So here's what's gonna

be a lot of the sermon this morning. We are gonna

do an overview of the Old Testament covenants

quickly. Which is a lot to do, okay? Let's start

with Noah. We'll get to Adam after a little while.

Let's look at Noah. If you have your Bible open,

would you open it? Or if you want to grab that

one in front of you to Genesis chapter 9. Genesis

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

is the very first book. Genesis chapter 9. If

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

you remember the story, you'll remember that

clearly God has all authority, of course. He

has actually just commanded the rain and rain

to begin and to stop. His authority has been

clearly established. But also, you see here verse

8 that he establishes this covenant and God said

to Noah and to his sons with him it's he that

is speaking he's the one who is authoritatively

engaging with this covenant here, behold, I establish

my covenant with you and your offspring after

you, and with every living creature that is with

you, the birds, the livestock, and every blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, we keep going. And one

of the things that we actually looked at this

fall is when you come to the Noahic covenant,

what you see is this retelling of this story

that God has committed to His entire creation.

That is a key thing in understanding the Noahic

covenant, that God is committed to his entire

creation. And that's why actually in verse one

and verse seven, the imperative command is a

restating of the comparative command to Noah.

Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. There's

always this earth kind of wide scope at play

here. All of the earth is to be under the Lordship.

of God. I want you to think with me about how

this covenant is not just for the sake of Noah.

It's not even remotely just for the sake of Noah.

It's for the birds and the fish and the sea and

all of it. The scope of the Noahic covenant is

the entirety of creation, all of it. Okay, that

was fairly quick. Let's go to Abraham. Turn the

page with me. Go to chapter 12. There's a number

of places that we could look, and we'll look

at one more. There's a number of places that

we could look in to consider the Abrahamic covenant.

But I want to say that this is not just a covenant

for all of creation, but this is a covenant of

mission, specifically of blessing, okay? A covenantal

mission of blessing. So what you... What you

find here, again, is the parties involved in

this covenant immediately. Verse one there says,

now the Lord said to Abram, right? He's establishing

himself as the one who is speaking, who is creating

the covenant and the parties here are involved,

Abraham. And he says, go from your country and

your kindred and your father's house to the land

that I will show you. There's an imperative.

And I will make of you a nation and I will bless

you and make your name great so that you will

be a blessing. There's that blessing. By the

way, I didn't mention the blessing in chapter

nine. It's there also. But you have this blessing,

you have this threefold structure again. Who's

in charge? What's the imperative? Then there's

the blessing right there in chapter 12. But specifically,

it says this, right? I will bless those who bless

you and him who dishonors you. I will curse and

in you, all the families, of the earth shall

be blessed." Again, the scope of the Abrahamic

covenant is not just Abraham and his people.

It was never intended to be just Abraham and

his people. I'll just call you to myself and

we can just kind of have a little holy huddle

here. That's not how it works. It's never how

it works. The scope is all of the nations of

the earth. Just like the scope of the Noahic

covenant was the entire created. reality of what

God had done in creation initially. Now, I did

say that there's a lot of different interesting

passages that we could look to in looking at

the Abrahamic covenant, but if you actually turn

to chapter 18, Gosh, I forgot to actually write

down which verse I was wanting you to see here.

I wrote it down here. It says, this is the Lord

speaking, for I have chosen him, Abraham, that

is Abraham, that he may command his children

and his household after him to keep the ways

of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice,

that's the ethics, so that the Lord may bring

about to Abraham what he promised. He's saying,

Okay, the commands are connected to the blessing

of what I've promised, which is the blessing

of the nations. And this is reiterated again

and again. I'm just showing you one place in

which this is said again. But what I'm suggesting

to you is, again, this covenant is created for

the sake not of just one person or not just him

and his family or him and his holy huddle, but

for the entirety of the nations. If we come to...

The Mosaic Covenant, what we see is a covenantal

mission of presence and holiness. That's Exodus

19, okay? We heard this from Don, but if you

turn, Exodus is the second book in your Bibles.

Exodus 19. I'm gonna read for you again what

Don read for us. This is Exodus 19, verses four

to six. It says this. By the way, this is when

God had called his people there at the base of

Mount Sinai. This is sort of the narrative that

surrounds the covenant, the creation of the covenant,

the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai. Verse four.

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians

and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought

you to myself. That's the establishment of, again,

who's in authority here. Now, therefore, if you

will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant,

there's those covenantal obligations, there's

those imperatives, you shall be my treasured

possession among all the peoples, the blessing,

for all the earth is mine and you shall be to

me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That's

what the Lord tells them there as they're all

gathered as a nation at Mount Sinai. That last

part is mission. The entirety of the gathered

people are to be a kingdom of priests a nation

of priests What is a priest but a representative

and a mediator? Which is to say their collective

life together how they live their life how they

talk to one another How they talk to outsiders

and foreigners how they you know care for their

fields all this is supposed to be a way in which

other people See God through their life Christopher

right Wrote in his great book the mission of

God as the people of Yahweh the Old Testament

named for God They would have the historic task

of bringing the knowledge of God to the nations

and bringing the nations to the means of Atonement

with God or another author wrote it this way

Israel is a mediator she must bring mankind closer

to God pray to God for mankind and an Intercede

for mankind here service to God in the name of

others Israel has to bring God closer to men

and bringing them God's revelation. They are

a light and a good news to the nations. This

passage is a missionary passage. Right here,

this covenant that God is making with Israel,

right there at the base of Mount Sinai, is a

covenant that is for the sake of others. They're

a kingdom collectively of priests so that the

world would know who God is. Now so much could

be said, so much more could be said about the

sacrifices and the commands and all that comes

after this in the Mosaic Covenant. But what I'm

telling you is that again, just like we saw in

the Noahic Covenant, just like we saw in the

Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant is saying

if you are in relationship with me, you're a

missionary people. It's just who you are. Okay,

if we get to the Davidic Covenant, which is the

next one, I want to say this is a covenantal

mission of rule and I'm not going to buy you

to turn there. The main text that we have for

the Davidic covenant is 2nd Samuel 7 and I feel

like I have to explain this a little more because

it's not quite as clear. But David was set as

the king, the ruler over God's covenantal people

and God makes a particular covenant with that

ruler and specifically it's because he is a man

after God's own heart. Which is to say he is

to represent God to his people as they represent

God to the nations, okay? This is why in texts

like Psalm 2 you can talk about the the universal

reign of King David Or in Psalm 72 we can read

things like this all nations will be blessed

through him All nations will be blessed through

him Because a king in the line of David, who

was to rule with justice and righteousness over

his people, would be the means through which

the promise of the nations would come about.

Think of Isaiah writing later on, actually a

few hundred years after David. Isaiah says this,

incline your ear and come to me, hear that your

soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting

covenant, my steadfast sure love for David. Talking

about the Davidic covenant. Behold, I made him

a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander

to the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation

that you do not know, and a nation that did not

know you shall run to you." How that new Davidic

king reigns is for the sake of the nations knowing

God. So the scope of the Davidic covenant is

not just the people of God. It's not just David.

It's for the nations. All right, the new covenant.

which I'll title, A Covenantal Mission of Renewal

by the Spirit. The final Old Testament covenant

is what is oftentimes known as the New Covenant,

and it's spoken of specifically in Jeremiah as

the name of a covenant, but it's also mentioned

in Ezekiel and some of the other prophets, but

primarily Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And it talks

about the time when the Spirit of God would come

and do this renewal work, especially the renewing

of the people of God that they might be a witness

to the nations. So the prophet Isaiah actually

speaks at this time also, and he says, is it

too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring

back the preserved of Israel? I will make you

as a light to the nations. When I do this great

work, I'm gonna make you as a light to the nations

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the

earth. Okay. I told you, y 'all, I told you this

would be a little bit of a heavy, heady thing.

This is more of a theological sermon probably

than you're used to. A little teaching heavy.

But here's what's interesting. If you take all

this together, right, if you take the Noahic

covenant with its scope of creation, if you take,

if you take the Abrahamic covenant with its scope

of blessing to the nations, you know, if you

take, if you take the Mosaic covenant with the

people of God being a priest, a kingdom of priests

representing God to the world, If you take all

this together, the new covenant and the reference

to the spirit, and you go back to the beginning,

what you have is, like Noah, God caring for all

things. Right? If you go back to the very beginning,

he cares about all this creation. He's speaking

it and it's coming into being. Like Abraham and

his covenant, you have the blessing of God over

his people. That's one of the first things that

he says to Adam and Eve there. He blesses them.

He says, be fruitful and multiply and fill the

earth. Like Moses, you have a life with the presence

of God right there in the garden. God is walking

with them. He's intending to walk with them in

the cool of the day. Like David, you have dominion,

but dominion that properly reflects who God is.

Adam and Eve were to be kings that were after

God's own heart, right? And of course, like the

New Covenant, you have the Spirit of God hovering

over the chaos and creating something lovely

and beautiful that was once only death. And here's

the interesting thing is that if you actually

turn to the very end of your Bible not that I

just gave you a cursory overview of the first

few chapters of the Bible but if you go to the

very end the last two chapters of the Bible and

revelations what we find there is like Noah a

new creation says a new heavens and a new earth

like Abraham we have the blessings of the nations

because they're In the new heavens and the new

earth, from the new Jerusalem, you have the kings

of the nations bringing their glory into it,

and every tribe and tongue and nation is present

there in the new heavens and new earth. Like

Moses, you have a covenantal statement of God's

presence. They will be his people, and God himself

will be with them and be their God. And you also

read, the dwelling place of God is with men,

and he will live with them. Like David, there

is the establishment of Jerusalem, but it is

the new Jerusalem. which is the city of peace,

God's place of peace. But you also have the Lord

mentioned as the lion of Judah, which is the

house of David. You have him mentioned as the

root of David being present. And like the new

covenant, this is all done, this is all brought

about because the lamb was slain. I don't know

if you're seeing this. But this is the great

structure of the Bible. This is just how God

works with his people and What I'm suggesting

to you is the new the Great Commission is simply

saying again and again This is what I do if you're

part of my people You're a missionary people

That is just who you are if you have been baptized

and discipled and belong to Jesus you are a missionary

people You are a sent people You are people that

go out and make disciples and bring others into

the life of God the Father, God the Son, and

God the Holy Spirit. There is no other identity

for the church. You cannot opt in or opt out

of being a missionary people. It is simply who

you are as you belong to God. The people of God

are an apostolic people. Does anyone know what

apostle means? Sent ones. The Apostles are the

sent ones. And to be part of the One Holy Catholic

and Apostolic Church, as the Nicene Creed says,

is to be a part of the sent ones, the missionary

people. You may have heard this before. The go

in the Great Commission is not the command. The

verb is making disciples, teaching them, baptizing.

The GO is the assumption. It's the participle.

It's the as you're going. Because it is an assumption

that God's people are a going people. They're

a missionary people. As you go make disciples,

teach and baptize. It's assumed. It's what you

do if you belong to Jesus. You do it in your

mothering. You are going for Him, discipling

and teaching. You do it in your coaching tee

ball. You do it as a financial advisor. You do

it in your environmental stewardship. I mean,

if the Noea Covenant says something, it says

that... You do it in your environmental stewardship.

And yes, some of you do it when you go overseas,

because some of us are to be sent in long ways

to make disciples. But it is simply who you are

if you are a Christian. It is simply who we are

as the Church of God. We exist for the blessing

of the world, for the sake of others that they

might know and worship Jesus. Now, okay, I told

you way back in the beginning, of this sermon

that is now coming to a close. That I had kind

of two things I wanted to say. And that one is

that the Great Commission was simply saying what

has always been said of the relationship with

God and his people. They are missionary people.

But the other thing, I said there was another

thing, and that is that there actually was an

enormous change. This is like just the most normal

thing to say and it's totally radical. And what?

Is that big change because I haven't told you

well quite simply the change is Jesus It's great,

you know Sunday school answer kids. You didn't

go to children worship. I'm gonna give you the

size glances Jesus God was always about mission.

That is true And he was always about creating

a missionary people. That is true. I hope I've

been able to establish that for you this morning

That's always been the case And I even would

suggest to you, I can't get into this right now,

but the Bible itself is a missionary document.

It's actually written constantly in the missionary

environment of bringing the nations to the Lord.

But here's my point with saying this is a radical

change with Jesus. These things are true because

we have a missionary God. Our identity is as

a missionary people, and even this text is a

missionary text because we have a missionary

God. And His revelation of Himself, which is

most clear in Jesus, shouts this loud and clear.

God so loved the world that He sent, right? Hey,

go! Go get them! Go make disciples as though

the Father was first telling Jesus. Go and make

disciples. Why do we see the fulfillment of all

the great covenants in the Old Testament right

there at the end of Revelation? But because the

lamb who was slain is right at the center of

it So, of course we see this reality of all these

covenants coming to their fulfillment because

the missionary God himself is bringing it about

Sent for the blessing of the world giving his

life for the life of the world, conquering the

world that once stood against him and bringing

it under his kingly, just, righteous rule. All

of that is found right there because that is

what God does in Christ. All authority has been

given to Jesus. And so the covenantal missionary

people of God, our end is secure. But here's

what he's doing. He's saying, you're a part of

it now. You are a part of it now. It wasn't for

my apostles just back then, but you are my apostles

now. Your identity is a missionary people. You

are the apostolic people now whose lives, whose

stories are unique, but the themes of your lives

wind together in such a way that all of your

life is to be making disciples, teaching one

another to obey all that the Lord has commanded

you, and blessing the world by your priestly

presence and missionary endeavors. With that,

let's pray. Lord God, this big overarching story

How you create people for the sake of your world

and the blessing of your world God I pray that

we would live in light of that even now in the

nuances of our lives and the unique individual

stories in which you have Woven together to make

us us God would we be a sent people? Right here

in Harrisburg and throughout the world That the

nations would see the glory the true God who

reigns over all things, who's committed to His

creation, to the blessing of creation, and who

has brought that about in Jesus. In His name

we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to Second

City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has

encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate

the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing

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bless.