Jesus’ Mission, Our Mission
Sermon Notes
Genesis 6:5–8
Here is the question I want you to consider, from multiple angles: Are you all-in in the mission of God with your life? Not just are you committed to the church on the weekend, but with the biggest parts of your life.
I ask myself, "Am I for the mission of God or the mission of Todd?"
Or think of it like this: If you have a breakfast of bacon and eggs, both the pig and the chicken contributed to your breakfast, but in different ways. The chicken made a commitment, but the pig was “All-In”.
Which are you?
Genesis 6:5–8
[5] The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. [6] And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. [7] So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. [8] But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
People encounter stories of judgment in the Bible like this and they ask, “Was this really necessary?” Verse 5 says that God saw that every intention of the human heart was only evil continually (6:5; again in 8:21).
There is an interesting wordplay in Hebrew: The word used to describe human wickedness in vvs. 12–13 is the same word used to describe what God does to the wicked, “mash-heet,” and it means “destruction.” Sinful humans are destroying God’s good creation; so God is going to destroy the destroyers. He does so out of holiness and love, the same way that if you love someone who is being eaten up with cancer you hate the cancer destroying the body and go to radical measures (like chemotherapy) to eradicate them from the cancer.
Verse 6 says that human wickedness grieved God “to his heart.” The word for “grieved” there is the same word used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe what an abandoned wife feels (Isaiah 54:6)....a soul-wrenching, despairing grief.
So a holy God of perfect love cleansed the earth of sin. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord—undeserved kindness—and he preserved Noah and his family as a representative of the human race through whom he would repopulate the earth.
Now you say, “Well, was this solution effective?” The short answer is, “no.”
Noah screws up his own family within one chapter of being off of the ark. By the end of chapter 9, his family looks like an episode of the Jerry Springer show. In 8:21, the author repeats that the intentions of the human heart were still only evil continually, which tells you that a greater kind of salvation would be necessary, one that would go to the core of the human heart, which is the real meaning of this story that we’ll get to in a minute.
But let me first draw out 4 points about Noah I want you to see:
1. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
What was special about Noah? Nothing. He simply heard the voice of God and he responded. Vs. 9 tells you he was a righteous man. Why was he righteous? Because he responded to God’s offer of salvation. Period. That was it.
2. Noah demonstrated God’s salvation to others.
Noah was chosen not only for salvation; but to build an ark which would be a vehicle of salvation to whoever would listen. That would end up being only his family, but the point is that God’s grace toward him was not intended for him only. He was to be a channel of grace toward others.
3. Noah radically changed his life because of God’s grace.
After this announcement, he could not go on with “life as normal.” Imagine the difference from this point on in how Noah saw the world: Every person he saw was headed for destruction. The house he had built wouldn’t be there for very long. The things he created would soon be gone. Everybody he knew would either be saved on the ark or destroyed in the flood.
4. Noah was thankful.
If you fast-forward the story to the end, after God has sent the flood and saved Noah and his family, Noah exits the ark and when he does the first thing he does is offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. This is the first thing Noah does that is not a direct response to a command of God. Throughout this story, what characterizes Noah and God’s interaction is God commands and Noah does. God commands him to build the ark; he tells him how big to make it; he tells him when to get on, and when to get off. The sacrifice, however, was Noah’s idea; his initiative—he overflows with gratefulness and wants to say thank you to God. "God, why did you choose me to show grace to? Why did you save my family?"
We are in a place similar to Noah.
1. City Awakening has been chosen by God’s grace.
What was special about Noah? Nothing. He just listened to God and did what God said. What is special about us? Nothing. We’ve just believed God and taken him at his word, that Jesus really did not desire that any should perish. And he’s using us here in Orlando, and we’ve just scratched the surface, we believe, of what God wants to use us to do. You just heard the call to come here and be a part of this; that’s grace.
2. God’s given City Awakening a very clear mission.
Like Noah, we’ve been given a very clear mission. Jesus summarized our mission in Matthew 28:18, ‘Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded of you.” We believe that means 3 primary areas for us.
· Our families. Our families are our first mission field and we are committed to discipling those we win to Jesus, starting with our families, to growing up strong in God’s kingdom.
· The nations. The 6,645 Unreached People Groups without a church.
· Our neighbors. Our presence in this city is not incidental. We love our city; and we are committed to her. We love our college campuses. We love our work places; our neighborhoods; our schools.
• Like Noah, we’ve been given something to build. Noah was told to build an ark. When Jesus left he said, “Build my church.” Whenever God wants to do something on earth, he gives people something very specific he wants them to build. He didn’t say to Noah: “OK, Noah, I’m going to send a flood. Now you figure out a good way to avoid it.” He told Noah to build an Ark and gave him very precise instructions.” The church is the New Testament equivalent of the ark. “You will build my church.” I don’t want to overstate this, but God left one institution on earth (Acts 1–2). You could summarize the Apostles’ approach in Acts as going to strategic cities and planting churches. They didn’t start soup kitchens; they planted churches. Local churches would do the evangelistic crusades and the soup kitchens but in a healthy, holistic way. So our strategy is to plant churches. Yes, we do a lot of soup kitchens and evangelistic initiatives, but they are always part of a church planting strategy—either en-route to a church plant or assisting a local church in her mission.
Throughout the book of Acts the local church was the center and focal point of ministry and giving. Acts 4:34-35 says, “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need."
Please don’t misinterpret... there is nothing wrong with giving elsewhere... Ashley and I do, but we know that the focal point of our ministry and our giving is the local church. Like, Noah, we know that God’s selection of us was not simply to save us, but to make us a channel of salvation to our community. I feel like he is telling us that, today.
3. Advancing God’s kingdom demands radical reorganization of our priorities.
Noah’s adjustment was not a slight adjustment, it was a whole new way of looking at the world. The mission Jesus called us to is not a slight adjustment in our lifestyle. It’s a whole new way of looking at our world. The mission is urgent. Paul in, Romans 9, said he was in anguish “every day.” He saw the world the way Noah saw his. Do you see the world that way? I know you say you believe the gospel, but do you really believe it? Does the urgency that dominates your lifestyle demonstrate that you believe it? I know that your mouth says you believe the gospel, but do your priorities, your lifestyle, your giving show that you believe it?
City Awakening, the urgency of this mission demands that we not huddle up in a conclave and sing God-songs and just watch the world go to hell around us. Jesus shed his blood and offered us the power of his Spirit so that we could make a difference; so that we could reverse the tide; so that we could see the salvation of Jesus extend onto our college campuses; into our places of business; into our schools, our neighborhoods and our homes; into our under resourced neighborhoods and brothels.
4. We give thanks.
Noah was so grateful that when he got off the boat he offered a sacrifice of his own volition. Well, I explained to you earlier that the Ark pointed beyond itself because it really was ineffective at wiping out sin. This story, as all Old Testament stories, points beyond itself to Jesus. Jesus was the ark we were pulled into that kept us safe from the destroying rain of God’s wrath. Jesus drowned in the sea of God’s wrath so that we could be lifted safely above it. He shielded us.
When Noah got out of the boat he commenced a new creation. When Jesus was resurrected from the dead he began a new creation, but his new creation was total. Not just new families of people, but new kinds of people. Those whose hearts had been transformed by Jesus’ resurrection spirit. If Noah was grateful for the salvation provided by his Ark, how much more should we, who have been saved from God’s wrath by Jesus our Ark, spontaneously erupt in gratitude and sacrifices of thankfulness for what God has done for us?
This is not pleasant to talk about, and we Americans love comfort and the “you’re ok and I’m ok,” power-of-positive thinking, "It’s a wonderful life” sermons, and a lot of people would prefer I stand up here and say that there isn’t any reason for urgency; that there isn’t anything to worry about.
You want me to tell you that with a little more time, with the right politics, everything will be alright! I can’t do that! If this is a true gospel, this is a real mission that demands urgent attention and radical commitment.”
So here’s my question: Are you all-in?
Stand there with Noah, looking out at your doorway... what does he see? A city he loves. Neighbors he loves, playing with their kids, going to work, going about their everyday life. They just don’t know! How can he do nothing? Think about how horrendous this was: the elderly and sick would have died first. Strong, young men would have climbed high up in the trees. The only thing worse than the screams of people dying would have been the total silence that followed when the waters covered the last mountain peak!
So, here’s my question, again: I know most of you say you believe the gospel – that Jesus is the savior and the only hope people all over the world – but does what you are doing with your life and your money show that you believe it? What would you have said to Noah if he claimed to believe what God said about the flood but was making no effort to build the Ark or warn people to get onto it? Does the urgency you talk with your kids about these things show you believe the gospel? Does how you spend your money show you that you believe the gospel? Your mouth says you believe the gospel. What does your life say?
I have here a letter that Adoniram Judson, one of the earliest American missionaries, wrote to his perspective father-in-law. He believed God had called him to Burma, but he had just fallen in love with a girl named Ann Hasseltine. He wrote this letter to her father, asking for her hand in marriage:
"I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall resound to her Saviour from the many Burmese saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"