Paradoxes are common as well as hypocrisies. In fact in a very real way the beginning point of becoming a Christian is recognizing your own duplicity…that you are a hypocrite who is in need of change and who has a lot to learn and grown in.
There are three very common duplicities I run up against as a church planter and as a pastor. Sentiments of loving Jesus but not liking the church, loving Jesus but thinking you shouldn’t try and convert people and loving Jesus but not really wanting to live life with other people in community. Take a minute with me and think about these ideas.
You can’t love Jesus and not love his church. Whether you’re a part of a parachurch organization, involved in some sort of social action, or you’ve just had a bad experience with a church and been burned…you’ve got to beware of developing a negative attitude about church. Jesus loves his church, he calls it his bride, even with all its warts, blots and stains. Everything he does is first and foremost for her and meant to be done through her. If we are not involved in church often it’s because we’re being the critical consumer and will always find something wrong. But “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Eph 5:25).” So love Jesus’ church.
You can’t love Jesus and not love his mission. Whether it’s due to fear of rejection or you just think it’s wrong to try and persuade one from their spiritual beliefs…you’ve got to beware of rejecting what Jesus calls his followers into, to be missionaries like him. Jesus is all about mission. It’s why he came into the world. If we are not on mission we will ultimately only end up seeking our own prosperity. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (Jn 20:21).” So love Jesus’ mission.
You can’t love Jesus and not love his people. Whether it’s because you’ve been hurt by others or because you want to keep your life private…you’ve got to beware of not extending the same grace Jesus has for you, to others. Life is messy and Jesus calls us to work through its mess together with the help of the gospel. If we don’t, we’ll just end up living isolated from Jesus’ love that’s only experienced in community. We are to “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph 4:32).” So love Jesus’ people.
The tendencies in us to despise the church, live only for ourselves, and keep ourselves cut off from true community are strong. We need to be on guard and keep our hearts from giving into these compulsions which only end up leading us away from Jesus. If we love Jesus we’ll love what he loves. So love Jesus’ church, love Jesus’ mission, and love Jesus’ people. He loves them all deeply and so should we.
- Pastor Duane
This week is an exegetical sermon looking at Matthew 10:1-42 titled, The Blueprint of Jesus’ Mission. This sermon looks at Jesus’ message and strategy for mission, how to handle rejection, estimating the cost of mission and the goal of mission. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on February 28th, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
Looking backward over the past five years, as a church, we have put a ton of stuff out on “mission.” To give you an idea, the word “mission” itself appears in 204 posts (either sermons or blog entries). Mission has been coming up a lot recently in our study through the book of Matthew. So I thought I draw together some of the best resources on mission we have put out and make them easily accessible for everyone. Below are categorized sermons and blog entries on various aspects of mission.
Throughout human history alcohol has been used and abused in both in the Christian and secular arenas. 