One of the things at Watermark that we want to do is be a church which is also raising up other people to preach and to lead in different ways.
So today's going to be a little bit different from normal. There's going to be two of us preaching.
Don't worry, it's not going to go on until past your lunchtime.
But Ed and myself will be preaching this morning and just bringing God's word to us as we continue the series looking at mission.
But before we do that, I want to invite Gary and Iris to come and bring God's word to us in scripture reading.
The scripture reading comes from Matthew and 1 Peter.
Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.
In Matthew chapter 28, we read,
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted.
And Jesus came and said to them,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.
And in 1 Peter chapter 3, we read,
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake,
you will be blessed.
Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.
But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord as holy,
always being prepared to make a defense to anyone
who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
Yet do it with gentleness and respect,
having a good conscience,
so that when you are slandered,
those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that should be God's will,
than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit.
This is the word of God.
God bless you.
Amen.
Hi, good morning, Watermark.
My name is Ed.
I'm one of the members here,
and also one of the elders here.
Now I just want to lead us into a time of pastoral prayer.
It's not me praying,
but it's Watermark praying to our sovereign and living God.
So if I could just invite you to pray with me.
Dear Heavenly Father,
as we enter into this Lenten season,
we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ,
who advocates for our righteousness and salvation.
We thank you for being a powerful and sovereign king,
and yet a gentle servant king,
who continues to pursue us individually.
We pray for your Holy Spirit to minister to those who are affected by the COVID-19 virus,
for those who are sick in Hubei and across the globe,
for the health workers who are strained and pushed to their limits.
We pray for those family who have experienced loss and are hurting.
Families in China who may have had their relative pass away in Hubei
and experience a scent of hopelessness because there's nothing they can do.
The city remains closed and they cannot visit them.
God, will you draw close to them.
We pray that the Holy Spirit be with those who suffer and mourn,
and now pouring of your grace and love upon them,
may you let them know that there is a Heavenly Father that deeply cares for them,
that they are not alone.
We pray that as the world tackles COVID-19,
we pray that you will use this time and situation for an awakening,
for the hearts to become receptive to receiving you as Lord and Savior,
as confidence in man-made things diminishes.
We pray that as you take away busyness from the lives of people in Hong Kong and globally,
that we will learn to be still and know to grow in all of you being God.
We pray against fear.
We pray against racism.
We pray against division.
We pray against bigotry.
We pray that we will see each other as inherently valuable as you do during this time.
We pray for unity among Hong Kong churches as you prepare your church for a new season.
We pray that your will be done, that you will prune the church as you will,
that you will bring unity to church as you will,
and that we will be a united church ready to be your hands and feet for the revival in Hong Kong,
that we pray that is to come.
We pray for Watermark Church, that will be a body of Christ that takes on the mission of Christ.
We pray that the missions, the value of missions, drops deep into every one of our hearts,
and that we will take up our cross for the sake of the cross.
We pray for an emboldening of our hearts.
We pray for testimonies, many, many testimonies, as we step out in faith and encounter Jesus in the mission fields.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for who you are, for sustaining us and giving us this very day.
And all these things we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Now, last week, Kevin preached that to be a people of God, we are also the mission of God,
that we were invited to take part of God's movement to restore a sinful and broken world to him.
Now, as in Acts, and as in Psalm 67, it reads,
May your ways and salvation be known among nations.
May all nations praise you.
Now, this week, as Chris just mentioned, we will continue in talking about missions,
and you get two for the price of one.
I guess there's a lot of bargains out there during the COVID virus, and you get one today.
Now, the Great Commission is a sermon passage that I think a lot of us are very familiar with,
probably heard a lot.
And for me, personally, as the sinner that I am, when I reflect on the Great Commission,
what I think of in my mind is my highlight reel of Ed's greatest evangelistic moments.
Top five, top ten.
Was it the time that I got to minister to my colleague at work because he started dating a Christian girl?
Or was it the time that I brought my long-term high school friend, who I haven't met in a long time,
after a casual steak dinner and invited him to pray the repentance prayer, and he did.
At other times, I approached the Great Commission with this laissez-faire approach.
It's like, I treat it as, Great Commission is great, but it's for those who are called to the mission fields.
Someone like Amelia.
Amelia was called to minister to the Hakka people of Taiwan, so she dropped her things, decided to drop her life in Hong Kong,
moved to Taiwan, started learning Chinese for the past two or three years, and she's following that mission.
Great Commission is for her.
You know, people in the foreign mission fields, not for me.
But in both of these responses, whether I act as a performance Christian or a licensed Christian,
those, my heart is in the wrong place.
And today, we're going to be talking about what the Great Commission is really about.
Jesus.
It's all about Jesus.
In fact, the Great Commission begins because of Jesus, is a response to Jesus, and is sustained by the Spirit of Jesus.
When we read the passage of the Great Commission, it's very easy to focus on,
go and make disciples of all nations.
Because that's kind of probably the most famous phrase.
But, there is a radical claim that Jesus makes right before that,
that I would argue is probably even more important.
Because Jesus says,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
That is, when the resurrected Jesus makes the claim,
Jesus is claiming in no uncertain terms that his status is that of equal to God.
One who rules over kingdoms is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
I think we're just working.
There's some slides in the background that could pop up.
Now, to the Jewish people, the Gospel of Matthew was written for the Jewish people.
To the Jewish people, this would have been a radical, radical claim.
Very eye-popping.
Because to the Jewish people, there's only two authority.
There's Torah, the Word of God, and Yahweh, God himself.
And so, when Jesus makes this claim and challenges the authority and worship of the Jewish,
the paradigm of authority and worship,
Jesus is making a very bold claim.
And that's really the key point to the Gospel of Matthew.
That Jesus is Emmanuel, the fulfillment of the Messiah that is,
the promised Messiah of the Old Testament.
In fact, in Matthew chapter 1, Matthew begins with tracing the lineage of Jesus to Abraham.
And as we learned last week, from Genesis 22, 18, it says,
through your offspring, this is God speaking to Abraham,
through your offspring, all nations would be blessed.
Every Jewish reader would know that the implied implication of that is that Jesus is the Messiah.
Twelve times Matthew mentions that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy and that prophecy.
And at the bookend of the Matthew of Jesus, it said,
Jesus, what does Jesus say?
Go and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Equality, but distinct.
Distinct, but equal.
The point is this.
It was always God's plan to bring salvation to this world.
And Jesus is the fulfillment of that.
Jesus is God's promised salvation to mankind.
Without Jesus, there is no Great Commission,
because there would be no path to salvation.
There is no way back to be with our Heavenly Father who is holy and righteous.
The Great Commission is a movement that begins because of Jesus,
because of who He is and what He has done.
Now, in the passage, the disciples are traveling to Galilee,
and they encounter Jesus, and they worship Him.
And that's a natural response for seeing a resurrected Messiah.
You just saw this guy die maybe like, you know, a couple weeks ago,
and here there he is, the resurrected Messiah standing there.
And of course, you're going to worship Him.
And then Jesus goes and commissions them and says,
go and make disciples.
Now, why is this sequence of events important?
The disciples first encounter, then the disciples worship,
and then the disciples get commissioned.
This is important because missions always starts with an encounter and worship of our Lord.
You have to be changed by the gospel to want to share the gospel.
You know, I believe everyone, I believe,
has a thing that they like to share with their friends or family.
You know, it could be your favorite book, your favorite restaurant.
I think most topical these days is we want to share the most latest COVID news, right?
Where to go to get toilet paper, where to go to get masks,
where not to go because there's infected people.
Well, my thing is sharing good deals.
I love to scour the, if you know me, you know me.
I love to scour the internet for good deals,
mostly with regards to good places to take Trish to a discounted date night dinner,
good places for a staycation, best value,
or also best ways to accumulate Asian miles for free flights.
Now, I love to share this with my friends.
Why?
Because these are good things.
I mean, these are good experiences and good deals,
and I want to share good things with my friends.
And in the similar way, the motivation of missions comes from the worship of our Lord.
Mission begins with an encounter with Jesus that changes you.
Unless you encounter Jesus and see that he is a treasure above all earthly treasures,
you wouldn't naturally look to make disciples.
But where this analogy totally ends is that, you know,
Jesus is not merely a good thing.
Jesus is life-giving.
And so, if I'm so willing to share about good things and good experiences with my friends,
sometimes I always ask myself,
why am I not more bold in sharing about Jesus,
who gives life and is infinitely more valuable?
Now, the most integral part of this passage is make disciples.
Like, this is a really important instruction that you read in this passage.
And as such, it is imperative that we understand what discipleship looks like.
Now, discipleship, as it was meant in this, written in this text,
is defined in the context of the Jewish religion.
If a rabbi agreed to be a disciple of a younger boy and a man,
that disciple will agree to submit to the authority of the rabbi
in all areas of his life with regards to the interpretation of scripture for all of his life.
That's a very, very high bar for devotion.
The rabbi-disciple relationship is deep, is relational, and transparent.
The disciple would observe how the rabbi deals with things,
matters of the family, with marriage, with money,
and he would choose, he would seek to copy him, to emulate him.
And that's the role of the disciple.
And there's a story once told that a disciple so wanted to learn from the rabbi
that he hid in the rabbi's bedroom
so that he can learn from the rabbi how to be intimate with his future wife.
So that's how close there is.
It's total devotion, and there's total transparency, and it's very deep.
When we translate this rabbi-disciple relationship to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus,
it means that as a disciple of Jesus, we are to fully surrender to him
and take Jesus and his teachings as our only and ultimate authority.
Our love for Jesus versus the things of this world must be like in Luke 14, 26,
which says,
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,
yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple.
That is, on a relative basis,
versus our love for even the most dearest things to us in this world,
we must love Jesus infinitely more, many folds more.
A disciple then, therefore, if we read into all this context,
would naturally take on the mission and the purpose of Jesus.
As in the parable of the lost sheep,
where the good shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to seek that one sheep.
That is the heart of Jesus.
Jesus' heart is for that lost sheep.
His heart is so that he knows that everyone is so valuable
that he will go to the ends of the earth to go after every one lost sheep.
And if to be the disciple of Jesus means to take Jesus as the only authority
and ultimate authority,
and if Jesus' heart was about lost sheep,
then as disciples, we have to be about lost sheep as well.
To be the people of God is to be the mission of God.
And I think you heard that from Kevin yesterday.
But this is the key point.
You cannot be a true disciple of Jesus
and not be seeking to make disciples.
And I just repeat that because this really spoke to me.
Because being a disciple of Jesus,
this sermon really helped me define what my walk with Jesus should really be like.
You cannot be a true disciple of Jesus
and not be seeking to make disciples.
Because that is his heart.
Now, making disciples, that's a daunting task.
I mean, that's a daunting task.
And I think in our culture, you know, our DIY, do-it-yourself culture,
we, you know, we just think about, let's pull up our bootstraps
and let's just go out there.
Let's follow a formulaic plan.
You know, five steps to evangelize in the workplace,
ten steps to make a disciple, and let's go.
But the reality is, the Great Commission is not a movement that belongs to us.
It's God's movement.
And so making a disciple means changing the hearts of an individual.
And how can man, how can we change the hearts and affection of another person?
That is impossible.
Heart change is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And so this impossible task is only possible with the help of Jesus,
the Spirit of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is so important that in the movement,
that in Acts 1-4, it says,
Do not leave Jerusalem.
Jesus says to his disciples,
Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised,
which you have heard me speak about.
And in the same vein, Jesus reassures his disciples in verse 20,
Surely I am with you always to the very end of age.
And now he instructs them to go.
Go to all nations.
Now remember in verse 17,
when the disciples encountered Jesus,
it says,
They worshipped him, but some still doubted.
Well, Jesus' disciples weren't the crackerjack, hot shots, faithful men
that we all put them out to be.
They were actually still very much sinners.
And they still struggled to trust in Jesus.
But yet, Jesus still entrusts his mission to them.
The thing that is going to make you successful is not how well you speak,
or how well you argue.
It's that Jesus is with you.
And practically speaking, that means we need less of us and more of him.
It means that we pray for heart change more than try to change hearts.
It means that we are bold in impossible situations,
because it's not about us.
And it means that we can be bold in missions,
because nothing is impossible with him.
This is God's movement, and not our movement.
And I think John 15, 5 summarizes best.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
If you remain in me, and I in you,
you will bear much fruit.
Apart from me, you can do nothing.
So when I reflect back at how I respond to the Great Commission,
whether it be Ed Choi's greatest evangelistic highlight reel,
or passing the buck to missionaries like Amelia,
I am led to repentance.
I repent that I fall short of being a true disciple of Jesus,
where someone who takes Jesus as my only authority,
and ultimate authority in my life.
How many voices do I have
commenting to me on this and that,
about how to live life?
And how many times do I listen to those voices instead of Jesus?
I repent that there still exists a large gap
between my heart and the heart of Jesus,
especially with regards to lost sheep.
And I repent that oftentimes I choose to glorify myself
than to bear the cost of missions.
I want to invite Chris now to share about 1 Peter
and the cost of missions.
Great. Thanks, Ed.
That was really helpful.
So I want to just really follow on from what Ed was talking about
and having a look at the 1 Peter passage,
which is written about 30 years or so after the Great Commission.
And you're getting to see where this Great Commission flows out in practice
in people's lives.
Because many of us,
if you're a Christian and you've been in church for a while,
you know that we're supposed to share the gospel
and be bringing Jesus' love to people.
Most of us are not unaware of the information.
But actually, most of us struggle in reality with that.
And it's not because we don't know the information.
It's because mission will always cost us.
You see, it costs Jesus everything.
His whole life.
And if we are following as his disciples,
it's also going to cost us too.
You know, I read a story of a family in the U.S.
who befriended this guy in their neighborhood
who is a very private, kind of lonely, reclusive kind of guy.
And their relationship started off
as they just got to walk their dog with him.
And they built up a friendship.
And eventually, they invited him into their home.
And they were beginning to share the gospel.
He was hanging out with their family.
And then one day, they woke up to see over in his house,
the police had cordoned off the whole of his house.
And they were bringing out drug-making equipment
from his property.
And they discovered that he'd actually been making crystal meth
and producing it in his basement.
And then all the neighbors around them,
suddenly, because this family had associated with him,
they began to start, like, rumors started going around.
Everyone started kind of backing off and backing away from,
like, are you involved?
Like, how could you do this?
How could you encourage this in our neighborhood?
And people, they would walk down the street,
and people would just walk the other way from them.
Because they had associated with this guy.
And their reputation became linked to this guy's reputation.
Now, when we are following Jesus as God,
as the Lord of our life,
Jesus isn't a drug dealer.
He's not actually even just a nice teacher.
If you really see who Jesus actually is,
for many people,
he's really somebody who's actually quite weird and dangerous.
If you really see what he's actually saying in our lives.
You see, in Peter's day,
who's writing this,
no one had a problem with worshiping Jesus.
They had a problem with worshiping only Jesus.
Because that was too exclusive.
Because the pagans around them,
all their gods required worship.
And if you weren't worshiping them,
then you could bring the anger of the gods on your community.
And that was going to be dangerous for you.
And so Christians at that time,
were treated either indifferently,
or they were mocked,
or just treated as a threat.
You know, when I was in the UK,
actually, there was Franklin Graham,
who was the son of Billy Graham,
was actually coming to just,
do some sharing of the gospel with people.
But he was banned from speaking,
because of some of his views on gay marriage.
And there was actually,
when I was there in the city,
there was a massive campaign against him.
Because people think that Christians,
and some of their beliefs,
it's not just old-fashioned any longer.
It's even dangerous.
And isn't that what we fear?
We fear a sense of social rejection by people.
Don't we?
That was the situation for them.
And Peter here,
he says this in the passage.
He says,
even if you should suffer for righteousness sake,
you will be blessed.
Don't have no fear of them,
nor be troubled,
but in your hearts,
honor Christ the Lord as holy.
You see, when Christ is Lord,
it challenges our idols and our fears.
Do you know that word,
honor Christ as Lord?
It's actually one word in Greek,
which is sanctify Christ as Lord.
That means set him apart as Lord.
He is Lord.
He has all authority.
But actually,
we can sing about Jesus as Lord,
and we worship him on a Sunday,
but actually we can go out in the rest of our weeks
and worship somebody else as Lord
or something else as Lord in our weeks.
Because in our hearts,
we fear other people more than we fear him.
In our hearts,
we want to please other people
more than we want to please him.
We fear awkward conversations
more than we fear dishonoring him.
And you know,
the mission of God puts in crystal clear focus
whether Jesus is not just Lord of our mouths,
but is Lord of our hearts too,
because it's uncomfortable.
And I'm really challenged by this,
but actually I think it's true
that the only reason,
the only reason that stops me
from boldly proclaiming Jesus as Lord
and shaping my life around his mission
is because functionally,
I'm making something else in my heart
Lord and not him.
I'm worshiping something else and not Jesus.
Because if,
like Ed was saying,
if Jesus is filling my heart,
he's got to overthrow flow
in the way that I live my life
and the words that I speak.
You know,
last week I was in a cafe
and I got talking to the server
behind the counter
and we started having a great conversation.
We were talking about,
we talked about sin,
we talked about death,
we talked about church,
and then I knew I needed to come on
and talk about Jesus.
And suddenly I was like,
I felt weird.
I was kind of,
and Jesus,
it's kind of mumbling.
And I thought to myself,
why do I do that?
And I do that because,
you know,
you see that look?
Here's a religious nut kind of look.
You know that?
Right?
And I don't like awkward conversations
and I don't like making other people
feel awkward either.
I'd like just life to be fairly smooth
for you to like me.
You know,
you can have your faith,
but I want nothing much
to disturb my life.
Anyone like me?
One person at the back.
Good.
Everyone else is sorted.
I'll just talk to you,
Tiff.
But I've got this friend in Shanghai
and he's a lawyer.
And at board meetings
or client meetings,
he would come in
and he'd bring his Bible with him
and put it straight on the table.
And then people would look at it
and go,
what's that?
And he'd go,
well,
just very briefly,
he'd say,
well,
I'm a Christian
and Jesus is the most important thing to me
and I just want to rely on his words.
That's risky,
right?
That's like,
he could lose clients
because of that.
That's like somebody
who's actually saying,
Jesus is really Lord.
Because for him,
he knows
that actually,
even though someone thinks I'm weird,
and actually,
I can tell you,
he's had so many conversations
where people have then gone to him,
huh,
so what is it that you believe?
And what Peter says is,
be prepared to give a reason
for the hope that you have.
And because he's been living in a way
where he's honoring Jesus as Lord,
so it's actually enabled him
to have opportunities
to then go,
and here's why I believe this.
This is what Peter is talking about.
But in mission,
if Jesus is Lord,
then my reputation isn't.
And so we don't play it safe any longer.
We're willing to put our reputations
on the line.
So,
you know,
Peter says here,
have no fear.
Have no fear.
Why?
Because I've got this.
You can trust me.
But actually,
we often justify
our idolatries,
the things we put before God,
with excuses.
Some of the excuses we go,
I'm not very good at arguments.
Right?
I'm not very smart.
I always seem to kind of mess up conversations.
Things always seem to go badly.
Has anyone ever thought like that?
But if Jesus is Lord,
do you know what he says?
He says,
why are you relying on your ability?
If I,
as the great king
of the whole universe,
have entrusted you
and you're representing
with a message
of the king
whose love is so expansive
and great
that the universe
cannot contain it,
how on earth do you think
that you can possibly
adequately
communicate that
by yourself?
That's actually arrogance.
Why are you making
all about you?
Because he says,
no,
the gospel
humbles us to go,
Jesus doesn't choose
adequate people.
He chooses you
if you're completely inadequate.
In fact,
if you think you're adequate,
then you're going to
screw it all up.
He chooses people
who fumble
and are clumsy
and, you know,
just make mistakes
and just,
we're sinful.
So that's why
he gets the glory,
which is what Ed was saying.
That's why he says,
when I am with you,
he's the only one
who can guarantee
this mission will succeed.
Isn't that encouraging?
I'm encouraged.
Maybe three of you are,
but I...
But the things,
there's this great passage
in Acts 4.
I don't know if you've read it,
the disciples
come before
the most powerful
religious leaders
of the time
and they're grilling them
about their faith in Jesus.
These are the most
intimidating intellectuals
of the time.
You know,
we always have some people
who are intimidators,
right?
These guys are intimidating
and it says in Acts 4,
they knew that
the disciples
were uneducated
common people.
Okay?
Intellectuals,
uneducated.
They hadn't even got
through grade three
at school.
But it says here,
and I love this,
this is beautiful,
it says,
and...
But these religious leaders,
they were astonished
because they saw
that these people
had been with Jesus.
That's our qualification
for mission.
Have we been with Jesus?
Have you been with him?
Have you experienced him?
Let the fact
that most other powerful people
in the world
only want to be with you
if you've got something
to offer them.
But Jesus,
who already has all power
and you have nothing
to offer him,
wants to be with you.
Today,
tomorrow,
every day this week
in your family,
in your workplace,
wherever you are,
he's going to be with you.
And he's Lord.
That's encouraging.
So if Jesus is Lord,
it strips and challenges
our idols
and our fears.
Practically,
if he's also Lord
in your hearts,
it means we're going
to prepare
for his mission.
He says this,
always being prepared
to make a defense
to anyone
who asks you
for a reason
for the hope
that is in you.
Many of us go,
but I don't know
how to share.
And Peter would go,
have you prepared?
Like,
have you actually
even thought about
how to share
the gospel with people?
because,
you know,
if something's
really important to you,
you prepare for it.
Right?
Like,
you've got a presentation,
you're not just going to,
like a really major presentation,
you're not going to just go,
I'm going to wing it today.
No,
but if the mission of God
is that crucial
to who we are
and what Jesus calls us to be,
then we're going to prepare for it.
We're going to go,
okay,
in our CG's,
like,
if someone comes to you
and says,
why are you a Christian?
Do you know how to answer that?
If someone says to you,
like,
what's happened in your life?
Are you able to just
share your testimony
in two minutes?
I want to encourage
every one of us
in our community groups
to actually take the time
to just
prepare.
You know,
my mom,
whenever we'd have people
around at our house,
sometimes we had people
who are not Christians,
and at the end of the meal,
they'd be leaving,
and she'd just kind of go,
oh,
I've got a great book
I'd love to hand to you.
And I'd be going,
God,
that's just really awkward.
But not because
Jesus was Lord,
more important than just
whether it was awkward or not.
And actually,
for some of us,
if you're looking for,
like,
resources to help you
or to give,
this is a great book.
It's called
Confronting Christianity
by Rebecca Glocken.
I highly recommend it.
It's great for you
to read,
to prepare yourself.
It's great to give
to other people to read.
I really encourage us
to have some resources
and tools
just so that you can be ready
and prepared.
Is that clear?
Yeah?
Because if Jesus is Lord,
it's going to strip us
of our idols.
It's going to help us
to actually prepare.
Last thing,
if Jesus is Lord,
it's going to help us
to be courageously gentle.
Peter says this.
He says,
you know,
if you get into this conversation
about Jesus
with people
who might be pushing back
against you,
do it with gentleness
and respect.
It's really interesting.
You know,
I don't know,
I have many conversations
with people
who are atheists
or call themselves agnostics.
And often what happens
in the conversation,
it goes something like this.
Christianity is stupid
and unscientific.
And I just go,
atheism is stupid
and irrational.
And then we just kind of start
attacking each other
and trading blows.
And then it just,
the temperature goes up
and afterwards,
I never want to do that again.
That is not gentleness,
by the way.
Because when you're attacked,
we naturally want to feel
like we want to attack back.
But if we're disciples of Jesus,
how does Jesus respond
when he is attacked,
what does he respond with?
Grace, gentleness.
It's not weak gentleness,
it's courageous gentleness.
Someone once said,
gentleness is strength
under control.
I love that.
Strength under control.
Doesn't that typify
Jesus on the cross?
Strength under control.
Everyone's throwing things at him.
Strength under control.
And if Jesus is Lord,
we're secure because
we're under his control.
So whether someone laughs at me
or, you know,
I lose the argument.
Sometimes you can win an argument
and lose a person.
Right?
But actually he says here,
the way that you bring Jesus
to people is not just
with your words,
it's also how you respond
to people.
There are many people here
that I know,
you have said to me,
I was just like obnoxious
to every Christian
that came to me
for like a long time,
but they were so patient
with me
and gentle with me
that actually after a while
God just did something
in my heart
and now I'm a believer.
Anyone else
seen that?
What would it be
if we have a community
of courageously gentle people
who know Jesus is Lord?
And the thing is,
sometimes we want to attack
because we feel insecure
and if we lose the argument
we feel like we're defeated.
But if Jesus is Lord,
then I'm not a failure
for trying to obey him
because his verdict over me
is more important
than somebody else's verdict over me
or what I think of me.
And what he says is,
if you're a Christian,
you're his child.
He delights in you.
And do you know
when you see a child
learning to speak
and they go like,
da-da here
or something,
da-da here.
The father doesn't go,
you stupid child,
get your grammar correct.
He doesn't,
he goes,
yes,
woohoo,
he said da-da.
That's how Jesus
looks at us
when we try and share
the gospel with people.
Not in a kind of like,
and you know,
it's fumbling,
we're like,
oh,
I just should have said that.
He's going,
yes.
Because he loves us
as his children
and he loves us
to respond to him.
And the thing is,
if someone laughs at me
or mocks me
or rejects me,
it's okay
because Jesus is my savior
and I have laughed at him.
I have mocked at him
with my life
in so many ways
and yet he's so patient with me.
He's so gracious to me.
He's so forgiving of me.
And if that gets into my heart,
it doesn't matter.
And I need to hear this
again and again,
right?
It doesn't matter
because Christ is Lord
and that gives me
the courage
and patience
and gentleness
to be able to respond
in that way to others.
I'm going to
finish with two things.
One is,
I love Simon here.
If you don't know Simon,
you've got to get to know Simon.
He's great.
You know,
ever since I've known Simon,
I've known him for years.
He's always been telling me
about him trying to share
the gospel with his brother.
And quite often,
over the last time,
he's come back to me
just feeling very discouraged.
It's kind of like,
it felt like talking to a brick rule.
He thinks everyone
who believes this is stupid.
All that kind of stuff,
right?
For years.
But Simon has just been
trying to share the gospel.
And recently,
I can't remember when,
but God's done a miracle
in your brother's life,
hasn't he?
You can talk to him later.
But what he's done,
he said this,
and Simon told me this
just on Tuesday.
He said,
his brother told him,
I think last week,
was it?
That actually,
you're the only person
I know who would ever
keep on telling me
this message for so long.
Now,
I don't think he was just
beating him into the ground
into submission.
But there's something
that actually just
that persistent,
courageous,
gentleness,
but kindness,
just continually saying,
I just want this person
to come to know Jesus.
That is actually
what Jesus does.
And he said,
like,
he's gone from being
this worry-driven,
fret-filled man
to suddenly have
this lightness and joy
in his life.
That's what the gospel
does in people.
That's why we want
to share it with people.
And if Jesus is truly
Lord of our lives,
we can trust him.
We can trust him.
So how do we respond?
How do we respond?
I think the first response
we need to do
is to get real.
Our problem with mission
and sharing the gospel
is not a lack of skill.
It's a problem
of our priorities.
And we just need
to be honest about that.
We need to remove
any excuses that we have
and just come before God
and just repent before him
and say,
God,
I've placed so many
other things before you.
I get distracted
by so many other things.
I fear other people
more than I fear you.
change my heart.
We repent of making it
about ourselves,
about our performance.
And we start praying.
You know,
what would it be
if 150,
100,
150 people
in Watermark,
and this is something
I'm just really praying,
that we get on our knees
and ask God
to do such a work
in our heart
that his spirit
takes us
from being chickens,
cowards
who just,
we kind of,
you know,
we like fumble over Jesus.
He takes us
from chickens
to lions.
He takes us
from cowards
to courageous
gospel warriors
for him
who are willing
to put in the work
to prepare
for the mission
that he's called us to,
knowing that
we are inadequate,
completely inadequate.
But if we're
an adequate people
who are Jesus-loving,
spirit-filled,
humble,
gentle,
yet irresistibly fearless,
because we know
that Jesus is Lord,
and he's Lord
not just in our mouths,
but he's Lord
in our hearts,
and we know
that he loves us,
then I think
from this week,
Satan is going
to be trembling
in his boots.
As we launch out
from here
for the rest
of this week,
every day,
every morning,
why don't you
start by saying,
today I'm not my own.
I'm yours.
Spirit,
would you just
lead me today?
Give me that courage
to put you
as Lord in my life.
And I think
he's going to do something,
because God loves
answering prayers
like that.
If you are not
a Christian,
Jesus is calling
you today,
because if he truly
is Lord,
that means anything
else in your life
is going to be
always lesser
than him,
and one day
you will come
before him,
and you'll have
to give an account
of your life.
And Jesus says
to you,
I have given
my entire life
to die for you
so that you
could come
to know me.
Now lay down
your own sense
of wanting
to live your life
your way.
and say,
Jesus,
I want to accept
the gift
of your salvation
to me.
And right now
to recognize
you're a sinner
who is in desperate
need of saving,
but you have an amazing
Savior in Christ.
And come to him
today.
Come and see me.
Come and see one
of the other elders,
because we want
you to come
to know him.
So let me just
stop here.
I want you to pray.
And I want you
just to get real
with God.
Let me just
stop and just
think,
where has my
heart been
as I think
about the
mission that
God has called
me to?
Is Jesus
really Lord
of my heart?
And let's just
do some business
with him.
Maybe the musicians
can come up.
Maybe the prayer
team can come up.
If you like prayer,
and you just know
actually,
this is an area
you just struggle
with.
Jesus is not
bringing condemnation
to you.
He's bringing
challenge to you,
but he wants you
to come and run
to him.
So come and
just spend some
time.
Get right with
God right now.
Pray that
before him.
Lord,
I'm not my own.
Help me to live
this week
not as my own,
but for the one
who died for me,
gave his life for me,
so that I might
no longer live for
myself,
but him who loves
me outrageously.
You might just want to ask yourself,
do I ever prepare?
Or am I so wrapped up with fear
that I don't see the people around me,
so wrapped up with my circumstances,
with the things I want to do,
I want to get on and do,
but I don't think,
well, God, what do you want me to do?
Father, I pray for us as a church,
we desperately need you.
I know in my own heart, Lord,
so many other things compete with you
as Lord.
I don't want that to be the case, Lord.
Pray for us as a church
that we would see that you are more beautiful
than anything else,
and we may take gospel risks
because of the fact that we're utterly,
utterly secure in you.
give us that courage this week
not to play it safe any longer,
but to really want to seek your face
and love you with all of our being
and that other people might come to know you.
in Jesus' name,
Amen.