Sermon Sketches #4  

Justin RuddyOctober 03, 2011 

We continue our series of Sermon Sketches with an overview of Stephen Um's recent sermon on the non-negotiable Gospel-DNA element of Missional Community. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Gospel DNA: Gospel Believing and Gospel Shaped

City Vision

Acts 1:8; 2:1-11, 42-47 

• Introduction 
  • For the past 1,000 years the western world could be said to have been in period of history called Christendom 
    • Advantage: there were agreed upon ways to talk about things like morality 
    • Disadvantage: morality was often present without heart transformation
    • Result: a community that has no way of rightly showing mercy to outcasts who they do not fit into accepted categories
  • We no longer live in a Christendom context. We must recognize that the western world is now post-Christian.
    
    • Ministry in such a context must be done through a contextualized, missional, gospel-shaped church. 
  • Note: All that will be said here must be understood in the context of the previous sermons in this series (Gospel Theology, Grace Renewal, and City Vision). 
    • The idea of a "missional church" can never be thought of in isolation from the gospel. 
• 1. What is a Missional Church? :: Definition
  
  • In short, a missional church is the Great Commission in action
    
    • A body of contextualized believers on mission
    • A missional church is not "attractional" for the purpose of church growth, but for the purpose of enabling people to hear the gospel. 
    • A missional church is "preparational" for the purpose of preparing each individual to be missional. 
    • All aspects of a church must be missional so that the gospel is always being contextualized but never compromised.
  • God's mission in the Bible 
    • Beginning with the Garden of Eden in Genesis, there is the notion that God's people are to cultivate his creation in a way that brings him glory. 
      • This included the notion of geographical expansion, which is inherent in 2:10-14, where four rivers are seen to flow out of the garden in each direction. 
    • By Genesis 11, fallen humanity is joining together in one place to build culture that brings glory to themselves rather than the Creator. As a result, they are dispersed. 
      • At Babel the people had one common language but no unified vision for the glory of God.
    • In Acts 1 people from all different cultures are brought together to hear the gospel.
      • Here, though there are numerous languages, everyone understands and embraces a common vision for the geographic expansion of the gospel. 
    • Acts 1:8 lays down this program for geographic expansion, and actually provides a general outline for the book of Acts (i.e. Jerusalem -> Judea -> Samaria -> the end of the earth). 
      • Acts gives us a picture of a missional church living out the Great commission to make disciples of all nations. 
    • Revelation gives us a picture of this mission fulfilled: all peoples giving glory to God. 
• 2. What does a Missional Church Look Like? :: Picture 
  • In Acts 2:42-47 we have a picture of a missional community that is faithfully present in its culture.
  • The early church was not one-dimensional in the way it understood or functioned in its mission. 
    • There was a ministry balance: emphasis on preaching/teaching, fellowship, mercy and social justice, evangelistic worship, etc. 
  • Some characteristics of a missional church:
  • a. A missional church never acts as though skeptics are not present. 
    • It must be assumed that skeptics are present, so we must avoid talking about the skeptic in the third person. 
  • b. A missional church discourses in the vernacular. 
    • Avoid tribal language: de-Christianize our language without de-biblicizing it. 
    • We must hold on to all language that is biblical, but avoid extra-biblical cliches, pious tone, etc. 
  • c. A missional church knows how to enter a skeptics worldview, challenge it, and re-tell it with the gospel.
    
    • Note that our tendency is often to begin with the challenge, but you can't rightly challenge a story without entering or understanding it first.
    • The most common worldview held in the western world is that 1) an individual must be about self-creation, authentication, and securing his or her own freedom or happiness, and that 2) this must be done in such a way that a community is created where it is safe for others to do the same.
    • The challenge to this worldview is that its two main elements simply can't be held together. There will always be a clash between the individual's freedom and the freedom of other persons in the community. What will take precedence?
    • The gospel re-tells this worldview by showing that because we have been made free ultimately in Christ, we can experience the greatest freedom through life with and service to other persons in our community.  
  • d. A missional church understands that there is often a process to belief, or a number of mini-decisions that one makes. 
    • This is not to deny the necessity of conversion, or to blur the line between those who are in Christ and those who are not, but to recognize a process that often takes place.
    • Awareness - an individual may begin by being exposed to the gospel and understanding that is different than what they know as "religion."
    • Relevance - an individual recognizes that aspects of the gospel address issues about which they have questions, concerns, etc. 
    • Credibility - the gospel begins to be seen as credible through the answering of lingering questions and the integrity of the lives of those who are shaped by it. 
    • Trial - an individual tries on the gospel, seeing how it fits. 
    • Commitment - the point at which an individual recognizes his or her need for grace. 
    • Note: this is not a hard and fast process, but a missional church cultivates places where this process is allowed to take place. 
• 3. What is Missional Living? :: Dynamic 
  • Missional living is organic and relational. 
    • Missional living is active, not passive: individuals are not consumers but participants/producers. 
  • Missional living means that we will look much like our neighbors. 
    • As we contextualize, we share the same concerns for our neighborhood, schools, streets, etc.
  • Missional living means that we will look very unlike our neighbors.
    
    • We will be characterized by relational integrity, hospitality, mercy and social justice, etc.
    • We are engaged in a process of radical neighboring where we are concerned about the holistic, comprehensive well-being of our neighbors.  
  • Our missionality is driven and shaped by the gospel:
    • The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) begins with a lawyer asking the question, "Who is my neighbor?"
    • He is really asking "Who is not my neighbor?," seeking safety, comfort, and justification from the needs of those unlike himself.
    • Jesus expands the definition of neighbor and shows us our need of an ultimate Good Samaritan to show us undeserved mercy.
      
      • Jesus is the ultimate good and great Samaritan.
      • He is the perfect picture of mission: engaged, contextualized, shaped by the gospel.
    • We can mediate justice and mercy because it has been given to us in Jesus. 
      • The question is no longer, "Who deserves my mercy?," but "Who is in need of my mercy?"
      • We show mercy while recognizing our own need of it. ("I'm in need of mercy, too"). 

0 Comments