Sean C. Capparuccia
Second Sunday after Epiphany
Genesis 12:1-3; Psalm 8; Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 28:18-20
One nice thing about living outside the towns and cities is that you can see the stars. People who grow up and live in the cities must be amazed when they chance to go somewhere where they can see stars. I imagine there are some kids who have never even seen the stars for all the lights in their cities. We have a lot of stars out here, a lot more than we even see in Richlands and the town is about two miles away. Ever since I was a kid, I loved looking at the stars; and I would sometimes stand there looking up into the vast expanse and say, “Why am I here?” And if you have ever looked at Google Earth and gone into the space mode, you can find your house on your street and then just start zooming out further, and further, and further until you see the whole earth. Then further and further and further until you are seeing the other planets, then the sun, then you see our solar system and the sun is getting smaller as it becomes just another star in our galaxy. Then further and further until you see other galaxies and and you begin to realize
We are very small.
Our sun is one star of an estimated 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. We are indeed very small. “How majestic is Thy name in all the earth, Who has displayed Thy splendor above the heavens… when I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou shouldst be mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:1, 3-4).
Who are we, O Lord, in the midst of this immense universe that You have created; and who are we that You should care so much for us? And yet He does.
And if He cares about us then He must have a purpose for us; and not just “us” in a universal sense, but a purpose for us individually. And if He has a purpose for us, then He must care about us accomplishing that purpose, don’t you think?
The Great Commission
Before the risen Jesus ascended into heaven[1] He gave the disciples this Great Commission:
First, He said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (28:18). The One who commissions is also making a great claim – He, Jesus, has all authority over heaven and earth. To the faithful Jew who knew his Old Testament, these words would have conjured up the prophetic vision of Daniel who saw “One like a Son of Man” coming in the clouds of heaven to be presented before the Ancient of Days.
“And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom. That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
Up to this point, even though Jesus was God in the flesh, He did not claim all authority. There were times when He restrained Himself; times when He did not call down legions of angels; times when, in listening to and obeying the Father’s will, that He did not do what He was capable of. Now, as a reward for His obedience in fulfilling the role of Mediator for His people, He has been granted all authority by the Father.Even now, as He sits at the right hand of God the Father, He has all authority over heaven and earth, over all of creation. Every one of our two billion-trillion stars shine and twinkle and die at His command. And so, we know that what follows can be accomplished.
He tells the disciples gathered there at the mountain, before He ascended back to the Father, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (28:19-20).
These are the marching orders: 1. Go and make disciples, 2. Baptize them, even immerse them, in the name of the Holy Trinity, and 3. Teach them what Jesus taught. And through it all, whether it takes 1 year or 10,000 years, He will be with them – and those that follow them, by His Spirit. From His throne in heaven, He will supervise the whole operation. And as the adage goes, “It’s not ours to question why, it’s only ours to do or die.” Christ Himself is the head of His Church. We have earthly leaders, but He is the only Head.
Let us then jump to few months later after Christ ascended. Pentecost has come and the promised Holy Spirit has been poured out on Christ’s followers. The Church has begun! So, what were they doing? As Pam read, “they were devoting themselves to the Apostles’ teaching, they were fellowshipping with one another, they were breaking bread together, and devoting themselves to prayer… They were praising God and the Lord was adding to their number day by day” (Acts 2:42, 47). In essence, they were of one mind and in one accord; working together and led by the Spirit of Christ.
What are we here for?
The Church Catholic
The “Great Commission” was the mission given to the Church, the universal – the catholic – Church. As the body of Christ throughout the ages, until Christ comes again, that is the mission. John Wesley defined the Church this way:
“What is the Church?” The catholic or universal Church is, all the persons in the universe whom God hath so called out of the world as to entitle them to the preceding character; as to be “one body,” united by “one spirit;” having “one faith, one hope, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all.”[2]
So, again, we are talking about the universal Church across all time and locations. And the mission, the command, given by Christ is “to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them.”
The Church Denominationally
Another definition of the church is our denomination. As Global Methodists, the mission statement is this:
“Make disciples of Jesus Christ, and spread scriptural holiness.”
This is our mission as Global Methodists.
The Church Local
Another definition of the church is our church, Trinity Methodist. On our bulletin is printed:
“Our mission is tobe disciples of Jesus Christ
and to make disciples of Jesus Christ
for the glory of God
and the salvation of the world.”
Here we have a well-worded statement of who we are and why we’re here as a local church. On the front of our bulletin is written each Sunday: “Where the Gospel is preached.” That’s not really a mission statement but it is missional in this respect: at Trinity, our priority is the Gospel, preached and lived out… I should hope.
The Church Familial
Yet another definition of the church is the family. For what more basic institution than the family, is there for making disciples, immersing in the name of the Trinity, and teaching the Word of God. I fear too many families have relied on the local church to do that and neglected its own duty in this respect. Family prayer, family devotions, family worship are all integral to making disciples of our children and of one another. (Husbands and fathers – and grandfathers: your task is still to wash your wife and children in the Word of Christ. The world has adopted a phrase that can make us feel “dirty” for doing this: they call it indoctrination. Have you ever heard that before? Teaching your children and grandchildren the faith is indoctrinating them? This is straight from Satan. It is a lie disguised as truth. For of course it is indoctrination, but so is everything our kids, and us, learn at school and from television and from the Internet. The question is, what, or who, are they – and us – being indoctrinated by? This is nothing but a case of calling good evil, and evil good. In Deuteronomy, God says, “And these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and daughters and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6-7). Does it fit the mission?
The Mission
To the church in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul wrote:
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known throughout the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which [God] carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him (Ephesians 3:8-12).
Here, Paul makes a beautiful statement. “The rulers (also translated as the principalities) and authorities in the heavenly places” refers to the angels. More than likely it refers to good angels, but it could include the evil/fallen angels as well. Think about that. To Paul, and to the whole Church, is given the grace to preach the Word of God “in order that the wisdom of God might now be made throughout the church TO the heavenly beings.” Listen, follow me here, God had created the heavenly beings, they didn’t always exist, and we don’t know just when He created them, but they were in existence when God decided to create the rest of creation and ultimately, man. There must have been a great murmur among the angels. For now, God was going to create something a bit more special than the angels. Some were like, “Oh that’s awesome.” Others were indignant; some angels were not going to take second place to a being made of mud and walking on two legs. Satan, we know, rebelled against God and then devoted his entire existence to destroying humankind. We are a test of, and a testimony to, God’s wisdom. And when Adam fell you can just hear the murmurs then. And when God sent Christ, whom they of course all knew, they murmured still: “He’s going down there? Among them? As one of them? What will He do?”
And now, because of what Jesus did for us, we are showing the entire host of heaven how wise God is; how awesome He is; how great and marvelous He is; how majestic is His name in all the earth! So, even though we are small in this universe, even the angels are watching us to see how you and I respond to our mission.
And here’s a thought that’s even more fantastic than that: Paul says in Romans that “all creation is anxiously longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation itself was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-21). All of creation, because of Adam’s disobedience, has suffered the effects of the Fall. Even the stars in the heavens – I don’t know how, but God’s word is true. And all creation, in slavery to the corruption of sin, anxiously waits for every child of God who is destined to come to faith, to be revealed; at which time Christ will come again and all of creation will be made new.
And for us, it all comes back to the mission statement: make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded. There are literally people waiting – even though they don’t even know it – waiting to hear the Gospel so that they can come to Christ. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
You see, we keep coming back to the mission statement. I’ve only been here a few weeks, and no major decisions have arisen; but they will. Decisions to buy this or that, to change this or that, to build this or that. When the church expands to 150 on a Sunday we may need to expand the building. If the church remains at 15 or 30, we may need to change the carpet or something. Who knows? We at least need to replace our old hymnals. But in every decision the first question must be: how does this fit the mission of our church? How does this improve the worship in our church? How does this aid in growing our church and deepening our relationship with Christ?
In every decision you make as a family the first question should be, not just, can we afford it, but how does it fit the mission of our family? How does this improve the way our family functions as a Christian unit?
Now, this doesn’t mean that every single decision has to do with the mission of the church or the family, or for the individual. What color socks I wear on Tuesday probably has nothing to do with my relationship with Jesus Christ. But some decisions arise, while seeming to have nothing to do with our missions, can be antithetical to our mission. And sometimes, in an effort to not cause offense, or to “be nice,” we work against our mission.
Consider this story. There was a lighthouse keeper who was appointed to keep the light burning so that ships could find their way through the harbor. But after a few complaints from nearby residents about the bright light burning all night long, he began to worry that the light was too harsh. So, each night he dimmed it just a little. The harbor stayed calm, the complaints stopped—and ships began to run aground. The lighthouse keeper was proud of his consideration of others, unaware that by dimming the light a bit he had undone the very reason the lighthouse existed. Sometimes, in trying not to offend, we stop guiding; we fail to do the very thing we are supposed to do.
We know that God has a plan for us as a church, as well as individual plans for each one of us, because that is how God is. He has authority and dominion over all His creation. But we don’t have to wonder day to day what that plan is if we have a mission. We start with the universal mission, then hone it down to our individual missions. And that mission may change periodically. Mine and Lara’s mission as grandparents is not the same as it was several years ago when we were raising our own children. Part of our mission changed, as it has for many of you. And this young expecting couple here is getting ready to change their mission in a wonderfully good way.
It all comes back to the mission. Without a mission we are just existing. We are just looking up at the stars and saying, “Why am I here?” We’re looking around this community and saying, “What are we supposed to do?”
In Genesis, when God called Abram, we see some striking parallels. By His authority, God called Abram. He called him to do something crazy: leave your relatives, go to another land, a land far away from all that you know. “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you… And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Of course, Abram could not have known, nor did he ever know, that through his seed, through his family, the Savior of the world would come. But we now see how the whole earth has been blessed by Abram’s obedience. God’s word was true then, it is true now.
By His authority, Jesus Christ says leave your comfort zones. In essence her is saying, “I am building my Church, and from the Father’s love, through My sacrifice, through the Spirit’s power, and through you – the world will be blessed.” Beloved, we are that important! From the Father, through the Son, through the Holy Spirit, and through you, back through the Spirit, through the Son, and returning to the Father will be the Church of Jesus Christ who will reign with Him for eternity.[3] Follow the mission!
These are exciting times and there are a lot of people all around us who, first of all, need a Savior, and they’ll need a church home:
Go, make disciples.
We all have children and grandchildren and relatives, friends, neighbors, the babes in Christ, who need to learn to love the Lord:
Go, teach them.
We are surrounded by people who are being inundated by the false ideologies of this world:
Go, flood them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
Let’s show the countless host of heaven what God – the Almighty Trinity – can do in and through little people like us. This is why Jesus Christ died for us. Resting in Christ’s authority over heaven and earth, and confident in His inexhaustible power, let us go. ~Amen.
[1] Jesus did not ascend from this place in Galilee, but a short time later from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12).
[2] John Wesley, Of the Church, sermon 74.14
[3] A phrase borrowed from Dr. Bill Ury.
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