Scott Ferreira continued with our mini-series, by inspiring us with the successful story of his Running Club ‘Love Running’. With the slogan ‘Get Fit, Make Friends and Change the World’, is a perfect example of what can be achieved when we incorporate our passion with others to accomplish God’s mission to reach far, raise up and release wide.
The Great Commission can be found in Matthew 28:18 – 20, but most skip verses 16 and 17. These pre-verses remind us of the sting that only 11 disciples remained, after Judas, the twelfth one had betrayed Jesus. It also shares the sad truth that despite those who were worshipping, some still doubted.
From these verses, Scott reminds us of the importance of our Mission and how we can achieve it to the glory of God.
1) Mission Starts with Discipleship
The call of mission starts with a personal commitment to discipleship. We do this by laying down our lives, denying ourselves, picking up our cross and following Jesus. Before accepting our mission, we need to start with a surrendered life. We need to give over the control of our lives to God and allow ourselves to be discipled by his spirit and others.
2) Mandate from Ultimate Authority
Our bosses or government have authority over us with a say over our lives. Scott used the analogy of braaiing (barbequing), something he has full authority over, to explain that the mission is to cook meat and feed his family. Sometimes, when his sons want to help, he welcomes them into the story, who love to be part of his work. However, instead of working with Dad, they sometimes want to do things their way and this leads to strife and difficulties. This is how it works when we work with Jesus. We need to choose to let Jesus rule and reign over our lives. He welcomes us into His Mission where we get to choose to either work with Him or against Him. Psalms 2 reminds us that when we work with the Lord and His anointed, our lives will prosper.
3) Go!
We need to get out of our comfort zones and GO on our mission, which is an integral part of our faith and what it means to be a Christian. Our mission is not a one-time event or outreach, but a daily, continuous being on mission. We are called to go into our cities and work environment to bring God’s message of hope and love to them. It is not a case of doing Jesus on our terms with our white picket fences. Our faith walk should not be a privatized affair, where we do Church from home. Neither is attending Church on Sundays our mission.
Although we get to experience a beautiful expression of corporate faith through our worship and fellowship together, we were made for every day of the week, and not just for Sundays. On Sunday we get to be open to welcoming all who come to Church, but then our mission is to go out together to change the world.
The Rabbi’s role in Biblical times were to teach their disciples by imparting knowledge to their students. However, Jesus flipped this teaching role by going out into the streets to get dirty to spread His Father’s message. It is not about making disciples ‘while’ we go, but to purposefully go out to reach them, so we can disciple them and release them to disciple others.
4) Mission looks like something
Dealing with difficult people can become our mission, instead of just something we need to endure. We don’t change others through osmosis. Our mission is to pray for them and help change them, by our words, our actions and by our example. It is not about just surviving these seasons, but to see these challenges as our mission field. As teachers, we
a) teach others what we know
b) to conduct ourselves as a teacher to show them how to obey.
It is not about just sharing head knowledge or to instruct them to obey God’s word, but to teach them how to obey. We show others how to obey by the example we give every day.
1 Corinthians 4:17 tells us about Timothy, who was a living example of the ways of
Christ. When people look at us, who do we remind them of? Do others see Jesus in us?
5) What is Your Mission?
We are all called to a specific mission that looks like something and is designed with our unique skills, gifts and environments in mind. We need to see our jobs, not as our career to make an income, but as a mission field where we can make an impact. Sometimes our mission fields can be just for a season and can keep changing.
We may lack faith or be uncertain as to the next step in our mission, but we seek God, He will help us establish His mission in our lives. We first need to take that first step of faith into our mission field and accept the call of the Great Commission. We may feel unqualified or that we cannot do it with our limited skills, or resources, but this reminds us that it is not us doing the work, but that Jesus is doing the work through us.
WE ARE CALLED TO SOMETHING MORE!
We become disciples by laying down our lives and being committed and prepared to go into the mission field, even though it may feel like a war zone at times. Our destination is not Sundays, but every day of the week. We are God’s tools to carry the broken body and blood of Christ to a broken world. It is by Jesus’s authority that we get the privilege and honour to spread His message of hope, grace and love, as we join Him in carrying out the Great Commission.