CALLED together and SENT out | Donovan Rillion | Get The Word Out- Understanding the Calling and the Message We Bring

I'm going to read a story for you, to you, I

guess. So I want you to put on your imagination

glasses, all right, and your imagination ears.

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often

occur, there was once a crude little life -saving

station. The building was just a hut, and there

was only one boat, but the few devoted members

kept a constant watch over the sea. and with

no thought for themselves, went out day and night,

tirelessly searching for those who were lost.

Some of those who were saved and various others

in the surrounding area wanted to become associated

with the station and gave of their time, their

money, and effort to support its work. New boats

were bought and new crews trained. The little

life -saving station grew. Some of the members

of the life -saving station were unhappy that

the building was so crude and poorly equipped.

They felt that a more comfortable place should

be provided as the first refuge of those saved

from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots

with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged

building. Now, the life -saving station became

a popular gathering place for its members, and

they decorated it beautifully because they used

it as a sort of yacht club. were now interested

in going to sea on life -saving missions, so

they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The

life -saving motif still prevailed in the club's

decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat

in the room where the club's initiations were

held. About this time, a large ship wrecked off

the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads

of cold, wet, and half -drowned people. They

were dirty and sick. The beautiful new club was

in chaos, so the property committee immediately

had a shower house built outside the club where

victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before

coming inside. At the next meeting, there was

a split among the club membership. Most of the

members wanted to stop the club's life -saving

activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance

to the normal social life of the club. Some members

insisted upon life -saving as their primary purpose

and pointed out that they were still called a

life -saving station. But they were finally voted

down and told that if they wanted to save the

lives of all the various kinds of people who

were shipwrecked in those waters, they could

begin their own lifesaving station. So they did.

And as the years went by, the new station experienced

the same changes that had occurred in the old.

It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving

station was founded. History continued to repeat

itself. And if you visit that seacoast today,

you will find a number of exclusive clubs along

that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those

waters, but most of the people drown. Now that

story hits home, doesn't it? Maybe it sounds

a little familiar, but you replace the word life

-saving station with church. See, we've been

talking about our calling over the last couple

of weeks, Calling that we have is the mission

of the church. It is our calling. It is our mission.

And that is to go and save those drowning. Isn't

it good news that Jesus didn't start a yacht

club? He started a rescue. He started. A life

-saving station. And the best part about it is

when Jesus pulled us from the waves, when he

pulled us out of the wreckage, he didn't just

set us on the shore. He didn't just take us into

a nice, cozy bed. What he did was he said, now

join my mission. And today I want us to remember

both the call that we have and the message that

we are called to bring, that we are sent to proclaim.

But to do that, we have to answer this question,

and that is, what is the call? What are we called

to do? In Mark 16, Jesus has just risen from

the dead, and he's now fully completed his role,

his purpose for his time on earth. And so he

is telling the disciples, I'm getting ready to

go. He appears to them. He actually rebukes them

first because he catches them in this state of

disbelief. And then he says this. He gives them

what is known as the Great Commission. And before

we discuss this Great Commission, we have to

define the word commission. And it's a very simple

definition. It's an instruction, a command or

a duty given to a person or a group of people.

And so Jesus has given the church this duty.

And what is that duty? Well, it's found in Mark

Mark 16:15

chapter 16, verse 15. Go into all the world and

proclaim the gospel. To the whole creation. The

good news. Proclaim the good news message. To

everybody you come across. Go find the people

that are drowning. And save them. Toss them the

lifeline. Proclaim. The gospel. This is the final

commission. This final responsibility. That Jesus

gives to his followers. Before he ascends into

heaven. He's calling us to go. To do. He isn't

calling us to wait around for people to come

to us. He's not calling us to sit back and just

wait. He is calling us to take action, to bring

a message to the world. And it's not just any

message. It is the gospel, the good news. He's

not sending us out to cast judgment. He's not

sending us out to even tell people how awful

they are. What he's sending us to do is to tell

people about how awesome he is. We're not recruiters

for religion. We are partners in rescue. That

is our call. So I want us to read on in Mark

Mark 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16 to verse 16. And this is what Jesus

says is the implication of our calling. Whoever

believes and is baptized, they will be saved.

But whoever doesn't believe will be condemned.

This is a matter of life and death. The implication

of our calling. If we bring this message to the

world and they believe and they put on Christ

in baptism and they commit their lives to him,

they will be saved. But if they don't, if they

don't accept this good news, if they don't accept

this lifeline that we're throwing to them, they

will perish. And that's our mission. See, when

the church forgets its purpose. when we forget

what we were called to do, when we get comfortable

in this building, and when all we can think about

is ourselves and our community and our family,

when that's all we think about, people out there

drown. They die. Not receiving this awesome free

gift of salvation. And so we have to remember

our purpose because we cannot call ourselves

disciples. Or followers of Christ if we're not

going to do our part in this redemptive mission

of Christ. If we're not going to join in on the

rescue efforts, we are not followers. We're not

disciples because our Jesus goes and he seeks

and he saves the lost. And if we're calling ourselves

followers and we follow him into battle, we follow

him into rescue. It's not optional. And the truth

is, the church is not growing like it did in

the first century, is it? You remember in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 how many people were saved and added?

3 ,000 on that first day. And then day by day,

it actually says there were many added to their

number. So it wasn't just like each day, one

person. But imagine even if each day one person

was added to our number. That would be 365 people

coming to know Jesus in one year. Could you imagine?

lot of churches in this community that haven't

seen 365 people baptized into Christ in 10 years.

Maybe some can even say in 30 years. So could

you imagine if day by day people were being added

to our number? That is our mission. And our mission

is to bring a message. And so this morning we're

going to have a little bit of a good old gospel

sermon. We're going to define that message that

we're supposed to bring to the world because

sometimes we forget and we make it more than

it should be. And sometimes we make it a little

bit less than it should be, right? So today we're

going to make it exactly what it is. And this

is the gospel. It looks something like this.

It looks something like this, this little diagram

here. If you've ever watched that dynasty, maybe

you've seen it. Or if you follow the Robertson

family, they love this diagram. And I do too.

I can remember when I was in high school, I went

to a youth rally in Monroe, Louisiana. It was

hosted at the Ouachita Christian School, which

is where all of the Robertson family went to

school. And they actually spoke at this youth

rally. The Duck Odyssey family spoke at it. And

this diagram was put on the screen, and it made

the gospel so simple. It made it make sense.

It's pretty easy, right? Jesus came down. He

went on a cross. He rose from the grave. He ascended

to heaven and he's coming back. And that's easy

and that's good. And I want you to commit that

to memory. But before we get into this, we have

to start at the beginning because for some people,

they don't really know why he had to come down

and do that. And so we start in Genesis chapter

two, verses eight through nine, and then we'll

read 15 through 18. And this is what it says.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden and

there he put the man whom he had formed. And

out of the ground the Lord God made to spring

up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and

good for food. The tree of life was in the midst

of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil. And the Lord God took the man

and he put him in the garden of Eden to work

it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded

the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree

of the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the

day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

Then the Lord God said, and it's not good for

the, that the man should be alone. I will make

him a helper fit for him. So that passage is

really important to the gospel message because

what it tells us is that from the beginning,

God wanted to create a perfect home for humanity.

And that picture right there is how we need to

see God as somebody who creates good things for

his people. He didn't just create us and put

us on this wasteland. God created this perfect

home where everything in it was pleasant and

it was good. And man had purpose and we had place

and we had belonging. God created a perfect home.

For his people, a perfect home, not only where

they could have a full life in, but where he

could have part in that life with them, with

us. And so he creates this home with everything

that you could possibly need. God gave provisions.

He gave purpose. He gave his presence. He gave

us everything we needed. There was just one rule.

One prohibition. And this prohibition wasn't

meant to restrict us. It was actually meant to

protect us. Because again, God cares for his

people. But what we see in Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

is Adam and Eve are deceived by Satan. He tricks

them. And for the rest of eternity, well, no,

for the rest of humanity's time on this earth,

he continues to trick us, does he not? And that

deceit leads to death. Satan ruins. Our life

with God. He ruins our perfect place in this

perfect home. This abundant life that we had

from the beginning that God desired for us to

have with him. But lucky for us, God is not willing

to leave us. He's not willing to give up on this

project. He doesn't just want to leave us in

this broken state and say, well, they'll fend

for themselves. And when they finally run themselves

extinct, that's it. He doesn't leave us in a

separated state where we're no longer with him.

What God does is he shows how much he wants to

be with us. That's why he created us. That's

why he created this perfect home was so he could

be with us. And so God promises to redeem us.

He promises to restore us. Here's what we read

in Jeremiah chapter 3 or chapter 31 verses 31

Jeremiah 3 · chapter mention

to 34. Behold, the days are coming, declares

the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with

the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not

like the covenant that I made with their fathers

on the day when I took them by the hand to bring

them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that

they broke, though I was their husband, declares

the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will

make with the house of Israel. After those days,

declares the Lord, I will put my law within them.

I will write it on their hearts and I will be

their God and they shall be my people. And no

longer shall each one teach his neighbor and

each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for

they shall all know me from the least of them

to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will

forgive their iniquity. And I will remember their

sin no more. Even in judgment, God gives hope.

Even in the midst of our death. and in all of

our darkness and all of our sinfulness, in the

midst of every broken thing, God shines a light

and says, I'm going to bring them home. I'm going

to forgive you, and I'm not going to remember

your sins anymore. You'll be my people, and I'll

be your God. And this leads us to our full gospel

message diagram. It's a little bit longer than

the other one, maybe a little bit harder, but

it's complete. Because what it shows is God's

creation of this perfect home. This place that

he desired to live and be with man. This place

where we would have abundant life. Where we would

know no sickness, no death, no pain, no heartache.

But because of our pride, our greed, and because

of Satan's deceit, we experience death. Not only

physically, but spiritually. This separation

from God. This inability to be in that perfect

home. But God promises to restore. He promises

to redeem. And that redemption looks like Jesus

coming down to this earth and living a perfect

life. That eventually puts him on a cross where

he dies for our sins. But the promise continues

because he rises from that grave. Promising our

resurrection and our defeat over death in him.

And he ascends to heaven to prepare a place for

us. And he's coming home. And with him he will

bring that perfect restored Eden. Where we will

live for eternity in the presence of our God.

Just look at what Jesus says in John chapter

John 10:10

10, verse 10. The thief comes only to steal.

I think he stole something from us, right? That

perfect life that knows no pain, that knows no

sickness, that knows no sorrow. He stole that

from us. He killed everything that we knew as

perfect, as good, as pleasant. And he has destroyed.

The life that God intended for us. And he keeps

doing that over and over and over again. But

Jesus came that we would have life and life abundant.

If you think you've got a good life here, just

wait. The life in Christ is so much better. That's

the promise. Jesus acknowledges what Satan has

done, what he's doing. This destruction that

he wreaks. havoc on our earth. He then declares

that he is the one who's going to save us from

that death. He's going to save us from that destruction

and he's going to restore life to us and salvation

has come. Jesus doesn't say I am coming. He says

I came that they would have life and have it

abundantly. Jesus came to conquer death. And

while Jesus is no longer here on this earth physically

He gives us this reassurance that he is coming

back. In John chapter 14, verses 1 through 4,

John 14:1–4

he says, Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe

in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house

are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have

told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And this is the key here. And if I go and prepare

a place for you, I will come again and will take

you to myself. That where I am, you may be also.

And you know the way to where I'm going. Jesus

is going to return. And he's going to bring that

final restored life. The life that God designed

for us. That he designed us for. This was not

meant to be our reality. But because of our sin,

it is for now. But again, even in our judgment,

God promises hope. No more death. We know some

people that have gone on before us, haven't they?

We've lost some people. People we love. They're

no longer here with us. Jesus says that will

be no more. No more pain. Some of you are struggling

with sickness and pain. No more. No more sorrow.

No more crying over people we've lost or crying

over heartache. No more being sad because of

the state of the world or the things that you

see, the evil that is in this world. That's going

to be gone. He promises that because that was

not meant to be our reality. And Jesus will come

and restore the reality that God intended for

us. Think about this. Jesus is not saving us.

He's not just saving us from our sin. He is saving

us for home. He says, I go to prepare a place

for you. That's grace. That's not just forgiveness

of the past, but it is a guaranteed future. You

know, we talk all the time about savings and

401ks and retirement plans, and that's cool.

Bill said something funny to me today. What did

you say? He said, I always say that I'm going

to be the richest man in the cemetery. We save

and we work so that we can save and prepare for

a future. And that's nice. We want to have these

good retirement plans. We want to make sure that

our futures are secure here. But for some reason,

so many of us forget to make sure our future

is secure there. And Jesus says, if you will

just trust in me, if you will commit your life

to me, your future is guaranteed there, then,

forever. This is what we read about his return

in Revelation 21, the scary book of Revelation.

It's actually really hope -filled. Then I saw

a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven

and the first earth had passed away and the sea

was no more. There's that hope that all this

garbage that we're experiencing here, gone. Something

new and better is coming. And I saw the holy

city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven

from God prepared as a bride adorned for her

husband. I want to stop there for a second. Men,

you remember when you got married. If you haven't,

this day may come for you where you're standing

up here and you look down and that music starts.

And down the aisle comes this beautiful, magnificent

woman that God has given you. I don't cry. Well,

I cry a lot now because I'm a teddy bear. But

I can remember standing on a stage in a church

building and Eliza comes down the aisle. It was

waterworks. I just couldn't help it because my

bride was coming for me. Imagine when Jesus comes

back and descending is this place adorned for

us. That's this beautiful, hope -filled image

that John gives us in Revelation. And I heard

a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold,

the dwelling place of God is with man. He will

dwell with them and they will be his people.

And God himself will be with them as their God.

If we commit our lives to Christ, at the end

of all of this, a beautiful gift comes. It's

a home. A home so amazing that we can't even

imagine it. So amazing that men have spent the

last thousand or whatever years trying to figure

out what it's going to look like and painting

these beautiful pictures that don't even come

close. That's the home that's coming and God

is going to be there and on his throne will be

in the presence of his glory. And he'll dwell

with us. And he'll be our God and we'll be his

people. He'll wipe away every tear. Think of

all those tears you've cried over relationships,

over loved ones lost, over tragedies that you've

witnessed, or tragedies that you hear about in

the news and on social media, and all of these

things that just bring you sorrow gone. He'll

wipe away every tear. And that's a real personal

thing, isn't it? Maybe you've been there where...

You fell off your bike and you scraped your knee

and you remember your mom or your dad wiping

those tears off your eye and telling you, don't

cry. It's okay. God will do that for each one

of us. Think about that. All those tears you've

cried on this earth, he personally is going to

wipe those away. And death will be no more. Neither

shall there be mourning. No crying. No pain anymore.

For the former things. These cruddy things have

passed away. He's coming back. And he's going

to bring with him this perfect home that we were

supposed to live in from the beginning. And that

is the gospel message. That is the lifeline that

we bring out to the shipwreck. And we toss it

out to him and say, just grab hold of it. And

you too can be saved. God created us, provided

a perfect home for us. We messed it up. He promised

and offered restoration and he is coming back

to finish the job. And here's the crazy thing,

people. It is free. Completely free. There's

no payment. The only thing is just accept it.

Commit to it. Give your life to Christ. Bury

yourself in the watery graves of baptism. Come

out and you have that new life, that gift, that

promise of restored life. The gift of the Holy

Spirit that helps you get there for eternity.

It's free. This is a simple but extraordinary

message that we're called to bring to the world.

And if we understand that message, we have two

responses. Accept it. Accept the gospel message

and live in its truth. And the second is share

that truth with the world. That's it. That's

it. That's the only things we have to do. It's

not that complicated, is it? We were called to

accept this message and share it. That's it.

Accept it, live it, and share it. In Mark 16,

15, Jesus makes it simple. Go into all the world

and proclaim. Notice he doesn't say preach. Proclaim

in the way you act, in the things you do, in

the things you say, in the way you interact with

people. Proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

This is good news. This is good news. Verse 16,

he tells us how crucial that message is. It is

life. That is our mission. We've been called

together for this purpose. For this singular

purpose. God is sending us out to share life

with the lost. To share hope with the hopeless.

If all we do as a church is come occupy a pew

or a chair. Is come occupy a seat on a Sunday

morning. And serve ourselves in fellowship. And

we get together for Bible classes. If that's

all we do, we've missed the point. And we'll

become like that life -saving station at the

beginning of this sermon. That just stopped saving.

That stopped seeking. They worried about themselves

so much that the people out there on the waters

died. I don't know about you, but I want to be

a part of a saving. I want to be a part of rescuing

the lost. I want to be a part of throwing the

lifeline out to the drowning. I listened to a

podcast the other day. The president of Harding

University, Mike Williams, he was talking about

how this generation is starting more nonprofits

than any other generation before. And he said

all these students that he talks with at a Christian

university. The number one thing they say they

want to do when they graduate is start a non

-profit. You notice they don't say they want

to be preachers. They want to be youth ministers.

They want to be deacons or elders in the church.

They say, I want to start a non -profit. Do you

know why? Because what they see from the church

is a bunch of people worried about themselves

not serving and saving the lost. And so they

said, if the church isn't going to do it, we'll

do it out there. I don't want that to be our

reality. I want people to know that when they

come here, when they are a part of the church

of Christ, that we're going to do what Christ

did and save people and serve people and feed

people and clothe people and house people. Because

that's the mission. And if we'll do that, we

can throw out that lifeline and say, come to

Jesus. I want to be a part of that. And I hope

you do too. Because this message is way too good

to not share. It is way too good to not share.

Especially because it's free. If I told you,

hey, I got out of the Chevy dealership. And my

four people, close your ears. You got out of

the Chevy dealership, they're giving away brand

new Silverados for free. All you got to do is

show up. How many of you are going to show up?

I am. I want a new truck. And if you tell me

it's free, I'm going. This is way better than

that. This is life. Abundant life and the promise

of a great home in heaven with God, the creator

of the universe for eternity. And it's free.

Why are we not telling people? Why are we not

living like that is the truth? Like that is the

case that the world needs to know about. Let

everything we do, everything we say be seasoned

with that truth that Jesus is coming back. And

everybody's invited. And it's no cost to them.

I want to close by saying this. The danger that

we have is forgetting why we exist. And that's

the danger for everyone individually, just in

life. Forgetting your purpose. For the church

especially, the danger, the leading cause of

death in churches all over the country is forgetting

why we exist. But here's the grace. I don't want

to just bash the church all day. Jesus has not

given up on his rescue. He's still doing it.

Jesus is still saving souls. Do you all believe

that? He's still saving lives. He's not done.

And he's not giving up on us. He is still calling

us to be a part of the rescue mission. You know,

in the story of the life -saving station, it

said they still have a boat. They still have

a boat there to remember the life that they used

to live as people that went out on the waters

to save. Well, guess what? That boat still floats.

And they can still go save people. We can too.

It's time. For restoration in our church. To

go out and save people. So let's take the cross

off the wall and go to the world with it. Let's

take it off our necklaces and go to the world

with it. It's not too late. If you've heard the

gospel message this morning, you've heard it.

And you want to accept it. Give your life to

Christ. Commit to living with him. Be baptized

for the remission of your sins and the gift of

the Holy Spirit. If you want that, today's the

day. And if you want to recommit to going out

and telling people about that free gift, today

is the day. If you need prayers for courage to

continue on in this fight, this rescue mission,

today is the day. Whatever you need, whatever

you need, we invite you to come as we stand.