Why are you here?
This past week I was thinking about some of the good news stories I’ve been hearing. One of my favorites involves one of our members who is a first responder in our community.
I don’t know if you saw this story on the local news, but this is pretty amazing. Watch this…
What an incredible good news story. I’m so grateful, as I know we all are, for our first responders. Our thanks goes out to all our first responders here in our community!
A Crystal Clear Purpose
I think what’s critical to remember about our first responders, and this is something we can learn from Jeremy and others that serve in this important role, is that they have a distinctive mission. Their purpose is crystal clear.
If there’s an emergency, they respond. If there’s a crisis, they answer the call. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, when the call comes they jump into action to help however they can. To rescue people from danger. To save people’s lives!
Whenever a first responder puts on a uniform, they know their purpose. They know their mission. They know what they’re supposed to do.
But here’s my question for us today, “Do we?”
Whenever we put on Christ, whenever we step into the Christian life, do we know our purpose? Do we have a clear vision of our mission?
For a lot of people becoming a Christian was a decision made largely to avoid going to hell. If you want to go to heaven when you die, you need to become a Christian. That’s what we believed.
But what if becoming a Christian, what if when you put on Christ, you became a part of something that had a purpose? A mission? What if when you started following Jesus you had a clear vision of what your life was supposed to be about? And what if it wasn’t just about you and it wasn’t just about your eternity.
Here’s the question for us today… Why are WE here?
Our Mission and Purpose
The Good News is that becoming a follower of Jesus, just like becoming a firefighter, comes with a clear sense of mission and purpose. But for many of us, including myself, too often we forget what it’s all about!
Because of that, it’s imperative that we keep coming back to our mission, our purpose, our reason for being.
If you open up your scripture to the gospel of Matthew, some of the first red letters you’ll find, some of the first words of Jesus, are found in Matthew 4. Here’s what happened at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry according to Matthew…
COME AND FOLLOW
One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me.” And they left their nets at once and followed him. – Matthew 4.18-20
What’s interesting is that this isn’t how people typically became disciples of a Rabbi. If you wanted to become a disciple of a Rabbi, you went to him and asked him if you could follow him. But Jesus doesn’t do that. He sees these two brothers and invites them to follow Him. And they accept! Immediately. Without delay. They drop their nets and they follow Jesus!
What’s also strange is that the invitation of Jesus wasn’t just an invitation to be a disciple. Some of you may have noticed that I deleted part of this verse! Here’s what Jesus actually said…
“Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.
So the invitation of Jesus was more than just an invitation to come and follow him. It wasn’t just come and learn from me. It was come follow me, come learn from me, come be my disciple, SO THAT you can learn HOW TO fish for people.
More Than an Invitation to Follow
These men were fishermen by trade, they were fishing when Jesus found them. So it would make sense that Jesus would use this as an illustration. Right now you’re fishing for fish. Follow me and I’ll teach you how to fish for people. In other words, come follow me, come learn from me, and let me show you what your new purpose will be. What your new mission will be.
And this is important, because the invitation to follow Jesus isn’t just an invitation to come and learn.
For a lot of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, this is what it means for us to follow Jesus. We accepted his invitation to become His disciple. We confessed Him as the Lord and Savior of our lives. And from that day on we haven’t missed a Sunday. We haven’t missed a sermon. We haven’t missed a Bible class.
We accepted the invitation to come and learn and we’ve been learning ever since. We know more about Jesus and the Bible. We can name the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples. And we can tell you the longest name in the Bible and where to find the shortest verse! If you’re looking for someone for your Bible Trivia team call on us! We know the facts, the names, the places, we’ve been learning all our lives.
And please hear me, don’t misunderstand, I’m the biggest fan of you learning all you can about Jesus and of you learning all you can about the Bible. I absolutely love studying the Bible and learning all I can about Jesus!
BUT… can we be honest?
Some of us are stuck here. The totality of our discipleship is learning. But according to Jesus, being His disciple includes following… it includes learning from Him, but it also includes fishing… it means accepting His invitation to live on purpose, live on mission, with Him and for Him in the world.
When we see how the ministry of Jesus began, it began with these words, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”
And if you fast forward to the end of the gospel of Matthew, you read some of Jesus’ last words.
GO AND MAKE
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. – Matthew 28.18-20
These are the last words of Jesus recorded by Matthew. And right before Jesus is about to leave His disciples, right after his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus gives them these final instructions… “Go and make disciples of all the nations…”
Jesus didn’t tell them to spend the rest of their lives studying the scriptures, though I’m sure they did that. Jesus didn’t tell them to make sure they went to church three times a week, keep learning about God, and be nice to people.
He told them to go and make disciples of all nations.
According to Foxes Book of Martyrs…
James was the first of the 12 to die a martyrs death in Judea.
Matthew preached in Ethiopia where he was beheaded for his faith.
Matthias was stoned in Jerusalem and then beheaded.
Andrew went to Asia and was crucified on an X shaped cross.
Mark was dragged to death in Alexandria.
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
Jude was crucified in Mesopotamia.
Bartholomew preached in several countries before being beaten and crucified in India.
Thomas preached in several countries as well before he was martyred in India by being run through with spears and then burned to death.
John traveled as far as Rome where he was tortured but didn’t die. Then he was exiled to the island of Patmos but was eventually able to return home to Ephesus where he died of old age. the only one of the original 12 to escape a violent death.
All of these, except John, died a martyr’s death after they heard Jesus say, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Most of them died far from Jerusalem where they heard Jesus say those words. Only John died of old age and his writings have traveled around the world pointing people to Jesus.
No one really knows what happened to all the disciples. The records we have are sparse. But tradition holds that every disciple of Jesus followed His command to GO and make disciples.
Why are you here?
I’m not suggesting today that you have to die for your faith, that you should be a martyr. But… I am suggesting that you should LIVE for your faith.
“Go ye’ is as much a part of Christ’s Gospel as ‘Come unto Me.’ You are not even a Christian until you have honestly faced your responsibility in regard to the carrying of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”
– John Stuart Holden
Following Jesus is the beginning, not the ending. Following Jesus means joining Jesus in His mission to go and make disciples.
The Good News we have about Jesus is more than a message it’s our mission. It’s more than an invitation it’s our purpose.
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