Northside Church - Sydney
Impact…Making Your Life Count // Week 5: What Is My Mission?
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Well, Ben and myself were in a beautiful American city called Lexington in Kentucky. We were settling into the night watching a bit of television, trying to get a channel that might interest us. You know what it's like in motels, particularly in America, about 100 choices, and we dropped on to a speech coming live from the man who then was the Democratic presidential nomination. Remember the name of Barack Obama? This was August 2008, Ben and myself on a road trip on the eastern seaboard of America, and I thought, "Oh, gosh, politics. I don't think so. We're on holiday. We could leave that speech." Just we caught it in the early stages, and it was just absolutely compelling. Absolutely riveting. In the closing stages, Obama started to quote Martin Luther King, and then he started talking about the need for the nation to move forward. At one point, he said, "We cannot go back, not with so much work to be done, not with so many children to educate, not with so many veterans to care for. With an economy to fix, cities to rebuild, farms to save, not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend," and then he concluded, "At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of Scripture, whole firmly without wavering to the hope that we confess." We watched the whole thing through the whole way. It was stirring stuff. Not surprisingly, it was met with thunderous applause by those in the large auditorium. I think I might have even clapped in my hotel room, much to bev's got a freaked her out, but speakers like to see good speeches. Well, here's a man on a mission. A man determined to make an impact, to make a difference, of course, as it turned out. He encountered some social and political problems that he probably couldn't have anticipated, and quite a lot of the shine has been taken off some of those original aspirations. That's political life, I guess. But putting that to one side, it's always exciting. It's always inspiring to see and hear someone with a clear sense of mission and purpose. It's the ultimate expression of leadership, and people are magnetically drawn to somebody who can paint a picture of a preferred future, a vision ring. I would love to have been in that synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus got up to read the scriptures. I reckon that would have been a moment that would have well and truly eclipsed my moment in a motel in Lexington, Kentucky. It's clear Jesus must have had a certain eloquence, a certain charismatic charm among his friends there in his hometown of Nazareth. The Bible says in verse 22 of the chapter, read to us by Annie, that the locals were impressed. That's the word the good news Bible uses. They were impressed by him. He was an impressive young man. Of course, they simply knew him as Joseph, or rather as Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. Just a local kid. Play footy on Saturday. Well, we wouldn't play footy on Saturday, actually, you know, being Jewish. Sunday. You know, just graduated from trade school. Jesus, Joseph, Mary, yeah, we know him well. But what a reading. One of the most important messianic passages in the Jewish scriptures, Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2. And at the end of a Jesus declares, hey, this description of the Messiah that we're all familiar with, guess what? You look at him. It's me. Now, he wasn't as presumptuous to do it that way. No, no. He was far more sensitive. He said, today, this passage has come true as you've heard it read. And of course, there was outrage, absolute outrage to think that somebody could contemplate, even contemplate being so blasphemous. But what a passage for Jesus to set out his mission and his calling. Have a look at these powerful phrases. He has chosen me. He has sent me. I am to bring good news, I am to proclaim liberty, I am to set free, I am to announce. What a powerful mandate for our Lord Jesus Christ. What an amazing sense of purpose and mission that would have provided for him. And as I said earlier, it's inspirational to see and hear someone with a clear sense of mission and purpose. But let's face it. It can also be a little bit daunting. It can be a little bit intimidating because it may highlight the lack of purpose and mission in our lives. We think, oh, look at them and what about me? Where am I going? Where am I heading? You know, hardly a month goes by when I don't speak to someone about their direction and their purpose in life. Sometimes, it's almost every day, it's part of pastoral ministry. And usually, it's because these things are noticeably absent from the lives of the people I'm speaking to. They've lost a sense of mission, they've lost a sense of purpose, they've lost a sense of direction in their lives. They might be frustrated with their job, they might feel their study is going nowhere. Or they'd hit a rut in their role in life as a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, an employer, an employee, things are flat lining. And generally, the conversation is about how can we start moving forward again. And in these conversations, I like to remind people, you know, our mission in life is not just our occupation, it's not just our role. It is possible, I believe, to be in a rather unfulfilling job and still maintain a strong sense of mission as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It's possible to maintain the role of a husband, wife, a parent, even during those seasons when the going, it's pretty rough and it's pretty challenging. It's possible to go through that period and still retain a strong sense of purpose. You see friends, our mission in life may not be highly visible or have a dramatic impact on the world around us, let's face it, very few people, very few people have the privilege of influencing the world in a media-focused, highly visible way. There aren't many in that category, nor do many have a mission which occupies every waking moment of their lives, you know, those full-on people who are just so possessed by whatever it is they're going after, takes up their entire lives. Some people think that's what it means to have a mission, that if you're not, that's full-on, you can't have a mission, but that's not so. You see, I believe that our mission as Christians is God's overarching purpose for our lives. His overarching purpose, more than our occupation, more than our role within the family, our mission involves who we are as people. That's it. It's the big picture of what he's called us to uniquely contribute to our circle of influence within the life he has given us. Yes, it involves how we work, of course. Yes, it has direct application to how we handle our role as a father, a mother, a husband, a wife, an employer, an employee, of course it has an impact, but it's bigger than any of these. You can see, friends, it's more about who we are as people. It's more about what we stand for, our overall ideals and our values, the things we're passionate about, the outcomes we want to see in the lives of those over whom we do have some influence within our little part of the world. It's a bigger picture than just what we do for a job. That's not your mission. It's part of your mission, but that's not your mission. The process of finding our mission involves discovering God's overarching purpose. It's rather straightforward, this process. You see, I believe that finding our mission and our purpose as disciples begins with our design. It begins with our design, how we're wired, our natural gifts and abilities. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, I believe these natural gifts are enhanced by the power of the Holy Spirit, and they're further developed and they're grown, as Sarah was saying, about the growth that she's seen in people's lives since Madagascar. Yes, God sometimes does bestow gifts upon recipients that are a total surprise. Wow, totally out of character with who that person is, but for the most part, there's a direct correlation between our natural gifts and our spiritual gifts. It's a direct correlation. The question is, do you know the blueprints of your design? How are you wired? How has God designed you? Do you know the blueprints? Have you had a look at it? Have you done some work in this area? Have you done some thinking, some praying, some reading? Are you an outgoing, fun-loving kind of person? Some analysts call that a sanguine kind of person? Or are you a more sensitive, more introspective person, a bit more of a thinker? Are you a highly driven, goal-oriented, leader-type, move through those barriers, achieve those goals? Or are you more of a laid-back, peace-loving kind of person who doesn't like to make waves? You know, we're all designed differently by the master creator, and at Psalm 139, it says in a very poetic, very beautiful way that the creator has created every part of us and put us together in our mother's womb. How we're designed is a big factor in finding our mission and our purpose. But this process of discovery also involves our desires. It's one thing I know our design, but when you look at our desires, the things that we're really enthusiastic about, the things we like to do, that which brings us great, happy, happiness, a sense of fulfilment, that which spins our wheels to use the colloquial phrase. The things which stir up passion in our hearts, as someone has said, you know, purpose is the reason for the journey, but passion is the fire that lights the way, and is a difference. What are the deep desires of your heart? When it comes to wanting to make a difference, one of the things that really gets your attention, children, the elderly, overseas causes, indigenous Australians, homeless teenagers, those with disability, one of the things that really, you know, as Bill Haggle says, yeah, the things that make you cry. So many of you have found avenues of service in these and many other areas within the life of this church. That's why we try and beyond Northside to touch as many areas of our community and our society as we can, so people can respond to their, you know, yearnings, inner desires to get involved, make a difference. Many of you are discovering that already, because you're involved in some of that. We have ministries at the moment covering all the things that I've just mentioned. So many of you have found avenues of service in these areas. You've found it's important to identify and to acknowledge your desires. After that, it's a matter of grasping opportunity, design, desire, and then just grasp the opportunities. And that's what so many have done here in this church and will continue to do, grasping the opportunities to get involved, to use one's gift, to play a part, to make a difference. And here's something very special. This is really special. When design and desire and opportunity all intersect, something really great happens. That's when a deep sense of mission and purpose in the Christian life is possible. When those three things intersect, that's when we move our lives to something that's very powerful, very enriching, as you know, you're on a mission. Now friends, I praise God. Some of you know my story. I praise God every day for the awesome privilege that I have of operating within that point of intersection. Because very early in the piece, I realized I was designed for this work that I do. It doesn't mean I'm perfect at it or it just means there's a basic orientation to do what I'm doing. And then I came to a point where the desire to do these things outweighed my desire to stay in corporate life, which I thought had been my original calling. And then it was just a matter of God pushing me and prodding me to take the opportunity to start doing some training and hence my involvement in college over those four years full-time study. Now that's not how it is for everyone. I know that. And I'm reluctant to even share that because I know so many things, you know, I'm going to, you know, the job I don't like, I don't particularly, you know, it's not what I'm designed for. And I know how heavy, well, I don't know actually how heavy that must be because I did enjoy my time in corporate life is just that the weekend events just far outweighed what I was doing at my desk during the week. You can be in a boring job. Here's the good news. You can be in a boring job, but still get a strong conviction about your mission for God. Here's overarching purpose for your life. It's called being involved in the work of the kingdom. It's called discovering your gifts. It's called ministering beyond your job. Beyond your role as a husband or wife or a child, serving and ministering based on your design, based on your desire, based on you grasping the opportunities that are there for service. That's how it is. And it happens to people all across this church every week. They step out beyond their job, beyond their roles, and they get involved in ministry. And that's how they achieve fulfillment. Tell me you know exactly what I'm talking about because you're the people I'm referring to. And here's the most rewarding and potentially the most exciting thing of all, and it's a quote from Richard Bollez, an American writer. He says, "As the stone does not know what ripples it has caused in the pond, so we and those who watch our lives will not always know what has been achieved by our life and by our mission." Friends, that's one of the greatest blessings that we can have as a Christian, as a member of the body of Christ. That's what's happening with some of these young ones who are working down here with our children. They'll never know. They'll have people come up to them years later and say, "You know what? You taught me in the kids' church back at Northside Community Church in 2013, and here I am, and I'll give the details of where they are in life." And some of you have had that, and I've had that. That is just such an enriching thing. And it's going to be so much greater when we get to heaven, when we have many more people who can't... You know what? I was influenced by you, something you did in the name of Jesus impacted me. I became a Christian. I stayed on the road. I stayed on the journey. I became... Here I am. We're all celebrating and praising God in eternity. We're part of an unfolding plan. Friends, I know for some of you, this is just bread and butter. You've done this. But for some of you, I know this is an exercise which you need to address prayerfully and carefully. What is your design? How are you wired? We're not all wired for this. What are your desires? What's the link is between your desire or your design and your desire? And then is it just a matter you're holding back on the opportunities which we constantly try to provide through our ministry here, constantly looking for people to be involved in these areas and beyond? It might not be that maybe you don't get involved through the ministry of the church. So many of the great work that this church does is so it's members in community groups, school councils and other agencies and charities where you're doing your Christianity right there on the forefront of human needs, fantastic. When design, intersex with desire and intersex with opportunity, that's when things really happen. That's when you know you've got a mission. That's when you know you're making a difference, no matter how small. There's a challenge for all of us this week, myself included, let's pray.