Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : April 25, 2004
Home Mission Work Begins at Home
Easter 3
Preached at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Waukesha, WI, by Pastor Ed Schuppe
Living Word was not able to worship at Rose Glen this week.
Peace to you and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today we are going to look at home mission work. We will see by the guidance of God's Holy Spirit that Home Mission Work Begins at Home.
Let's look at the opening verses of our text for today. "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." (Matthew 9:35) What was Jesus doing as he traveled through Galilee? Here we see Jesus as the Teacher, as the Preacher and as the Great Physician. What was his message to the people? The good news of the kingdom, the message of salvation. What did he do for the ill and the sick? Healed every disease and sickness. In verse 36, as the Great Physician of body and soul, what spiritual diagnosis did he make? The people were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
How often don't we feel like that? We feel harassed by Satan with all of his temptations, by the sinful world and all the pleasures it presents to us, and even by our own sinful human nature. We face formidable foes, don't we? Have you ever felt helpless to deal with sin in your life? That is the purpose of the law in our lives, isn't it? We confessed all of that earlier in our service. And from our pastor's lips, we heard the good news of God's free and complete forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
The people of Jesus' day needed to hear that message of love and forgiveness. The time was right for the preaching of the good news of the kingdom. But workers were needed. Look at what Jesus says in verse 37: "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few...' " People were needed who would go out and share that gospel with others. Jesus asked his disciples, his students, to help. What did he ask them to do in verse 38? "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Jesus asked them to pray for workers. And Jesus asks us, his disciples today, to do the same thing. Prayer is a powerful tool in mission work. The back pages of our Meditations usually include prayers for mission work and missionaries.
I have a special prayer partner for the mission work going on in the Southeastern Wisconsin and the South Atlantic Districts. Her name is Christina Franklin and she lives in Austin, TX. She is a blind lady who says her handicap enables her to have the time to pray. When I called her this month, she asked me why I hadn't called her sooner. She had been waiting. God wants you to be prayer partners with your church leaders and your evangelism/outreach committee. God has accomplished much here at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church and School in Waukesha, WI. He has moved you to start a daughter congregation in southwest Waukesha -- Living Word Lutheran Church. And he has much more that he wants to accomplish in the future through you, the members of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church and School, as you continue to reach out to the lost souls in this area. Pray for all the outreach efforts of your congregation, your district and your synod.
And this is where chapter 9 ends. You know mission work is not all that hard. And it is really safe if all we have to do is stay at home and pray that someone else does the work. I am all for that, aren't you? The only thing is there are no chapter and verse divisions in the original Greek. Which brings us to part two of our sermon.
Look at verses 1-5 of chapter ten. "He (Jesus) called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions:..."
Have you ever had to wait a long time for God to answer a particular prayer? (For my mother, from October 1982 until February 15, 1988.) The disciples did not have to wait long at all for God to answer their prayer, did they? Jesus says, 'Guess what guys? My Father is going to answer your prayer about workers right away. Men, you are the answer. You are the workers my Father wants to use to harvest these lost souls here in Galilee.' These twelve men have just graduated from discipleship school, the flight school of mission work. Now he is going to place them in the cockpits of mission work and they are going to start flying with the good news out into the mission field. They are going to become apostles. The Greek word for apostle means the sent out ones.
Jesus has also called you and me to be his sent out ones today. Peter reminds us of that in his first epistle: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10) Just think of that. You and I are sinful human beings. Yet God gives us the privilege and joy of sharing the message of salvation with others.
Yes, we are to pray for workers. And yes, we are also called to be the workers. Everyone of us -- men, women, teens and children. Home mission work begins at home. Right in our own homes. As husbands and wives, we share this good news with each other. As parents, we share this good news with our children. And children, you can share your faith with your parents. As neighbors, we share this message with those living around us. We share this good news at work with our fellow workers. We share this in school with our classmates. Wherever we are, we can share our faith. One of the joys of being in the south is people's openness to discuss religion and share their faith. We can do it at the grocery store or Walmart or paying for parking at the airport. One Wednesday after I had paid for parking at the Atlanta airport, the cashier asked if she could talk with me and stepped out of her booth to speak to me. She said, "I see from your credit card you are a pastor. Could you give me a word of God for encouragement? I am surrounded by all kinds of enemies." I shared Psalm 46 with her -- "God is our Refuge and Strength, an ever present help in time of trouble." What wonderful opportunities God gives us to share our faith with others!
In Matthew 10:5-14, Jesus outlines his plan for the apostles' work. Jesus did not fly by the seat of his pants. Nor does he want his apostles to do that then or now. He has a specific audience for them (verses 5-6). To whom are they to go? The lost sheep of Israel. This does not mean the gospel was not intended for Gentiles and Samaritans. That would come later. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) Or Matthew 28: "Go and make disciples of all nations...." World mission work would come later. Now he wants them focused on home mission work. And that is our focus for this sermon. But you are doing world mission work as well through your synod mission offerings and, of course, your prayers.
Jesus is quite specific in verses 7-12, isn't he? And we need to be as well in reaching out to our community. That is why we have ministry plans. It is important to have a vision for Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church and School. And then to draw up action plans to reach out with this precious gospel to the lost sheep of the Waukesha area and beyond. Your mission statement clearly states:
Mount Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, consisting of its believers united in faith by the Holy Spirit, has the God-given mission of preaching the Gospel:
To nurture our fellowship for lives of Christian service.
To reach out with the Word of God to win lost souls for Christ.
To cooperate with other WELS congregations in bringing Christ to the World, all to the glory of God alone.
Jesus is very honest with his first apostles. Not everyone is going to want to hear the message. Not everyone is going to welcome them with open arms. He also tells his disciples what will happen to those who won't believe this message of the gospel. Verse 15: "I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."
There are a lot of religions in the world today, aren't there? Really there are only two religions in this world. One is man-centered; the other is Christ-centered. A man-made, man-centered religion focuses on what we have to do to earn God's favor. It likes to use comparisons for entrance into heaven. And usually we can find someone worse than we are -- Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. This religion is worthless and earns a person a ticket straight to hell. It is like trying to fly in a paper airplane. You aren't going to get anywhere. There is only one true religion, only one true way to heaven. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
You and I know hell is forever. We do not want anyone, not even our worst enemies, to go there, do we? Even though we may have encouraged them to go there a time or two. We know where we are going, don't we? We are going to heaven. And we know why. Jesus lived the perfect life God demanded but we could not live. Then he died the all-atoning death we deserved to die. But he did not remain dead. A dead savior is no savior. On the third day he rose again. We have the assurance God has accepted everything Jesus did for us. And forty days later he ascended into heaven where he is controlling all things for our good. Where he has so controlled history and our being brought to saving faith, that we are sitting here right now. And finally, he has promised to come again and take us to be with him forever in heaven. We have eternal life. We are heaven bound and heaven sent.
Receive these words of encouragement from the apostle Paul: "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Amen.
