The right equipment for the task

Ephes. 4:1-8, 11-13                                                                                                 January 12, 2003

   I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, [3] being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. [7] But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. [8] Therefore it says,

        "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,

        HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,

        AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."

[11] And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

Hebrews 13:20-21

   Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, [21] equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

CCI: God provides the resources we need to fulfill the mission he gives.

            On September 17, 1966, America heard for the first time this words: Good morning, Mr. Briggs. General Rio Dominguez, the dictator of Santa Costa, makes his headquarters in the Hotel Nacionale. We've learned that two nuclear warheads furnished to Santa Costa by an enemy power are contained in the hotel vault. Their use is imminent. Mr. Briggs, your mission, should you decide to accept it, would be to remove both nuclear devices from Santa Costa. As always, you have carte blanche as to method and personnel, but of course should you or any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. As usual, this recording will decompose one minute after the breaking of the seal. I hope it's welcome back, Dan. It's been a while.”

            A mission beyond the realm of possibility. Get nuclear weapons off a Carribean Island, fix an election in Eastern Europe, stop the sale of weapons technology, put an end to a counterfit opperation that could cripple the world’s economy. How could Dan Briggs or later Mr. Phelps ever hope to accomplish the tasks assigned to him? These were impossible missions, and on top of it all, the team that went with Mr Briggs were never acknowledged or publically thanked. In fact they were assured that if necessary, they would be abandoned.

            And yet, week after week, the IM Force would complete one amazing mission after another. Always to be sucessful, always to be alone and never to be acknowledged. It was an impossible mission, but it was their mission, and so they carried it out.

            All around us are people who live day to day with no sense of purpose, no sense of mission possible or impossible. Every week I meet men and women who speak of their life as being a treadmill, people who feel like they are only going through the motions of living. Tim Allen describes it like this: “How much of the day are you awake? You think, I gotta get the dry cleaning, I gotta get going, and this and this. All of a sudden it's dinnertime. And then there is a moment of connection with your spouse or your friends. Then you read and go to bed. Wake up, and it's the same all over. You're not awake, you're not living, you're not experiencing. We start early medicating ourselves. We start kids early on TV and video games and so on. It's daunting how many possibilities there are in life for every one of us. But rather than face that I may be a failure or a success—I think both of them are terrifying—people find diversions.”

            Purpose and mission, these are what are lacking in our lives.

            Jesus identified his mission when he said, “I have come that you may have life and that you may have life abundantly.” That was his purpose. He lived so that we would be swept away in living, that purpose and meaning would fill us and that we too, would be able to live out a mission.

            In Ephesians 4, Paul challenges us to accept a mission ourselves: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” To walk is to live consistently. In Paul’s day, often the only way to get from city “A” to city “B” was to walk. There is a cadence in walking that will set the tone for the rest of your life. Walk in a way that is worthy or lives up to the calling of God.

            Imagine being the American Ambassador to the United Nations right now. Every day you are in touch with the president and every day you speak for the entire country to the world. However, one day you wake up and you have a headache and your feet hurt and your dog has thrown up in the living room and your kids all miss the bus. Then you get a call from the president and he wants you to speak to the Security Council about something very important. You go the meeting and before you bring the formal message you say, “Look folks, I really don’t want to be here today. I have had a bad morning and most of you look like you are not good yourself. We have all had a long week, so instead of giving a speech, I move that we all go home right now and take a nap.”

            Would that be appropriate? Of course not, as the Ambassador, you are expected to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the job you have been given. And that is what Paul is calling us to as well. We have been called and appointed as Christ’s body, and so God expects us to live up to that calling. And the calling is characterized by humility and gentleness, patience, forbearance to one another in love, and the unity of the Spirit exhibited through the bond of peace.

            That is quite an assignment, but God does not leave us empty handed. In Hebrews 13 we read: “Jesus our Lord, [will] equip you in every good thing to do His will.”

            That equipping begins with providing a purpose. In the movie Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels) of the 20th Maine Regiment learns that his regiment is going to receive 120 Union soldiers who went AWOL. In this scene he is addressing these men for the first time. (Play cut beginning with his approach to the soldiers and ending with “fighting for each other.”

http://www.preachingtoday.com/index.taf?_UserReference=DD0E11255DDFF3673E20D447&_function=illustration&_op=show_pf&IID=13464&sr=1)

            these soldiers learned what their purpose was. And just as the Union soldiers understood themselves to be a different kind of army, an army out to set other men free." So the church of Jesus Christ is a different kind of an army. We are called and equipped to set people free from sin and slavery to the Law. We are an army called and appointed to walk in humility and gentleness and patience. We are an army with a mission to live life to it’s fullest with purpose and with meaning. We are an army who have been called to lead others to freedom. Paul wrote, “when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” We are among those who have been set free, and we are called to join Jesus in leading others to freedom as well.

            When God called us together as a church, he gave us a purpose and challenged us with a mission. We have been called together as a church to equip God’s people to be Christ’s presence in our community. When we gather, we are not coming to show off our clothes, we are not coming to see who else is here, we are not even coming to hear good music or an interesting sermon. When we gather, we are coming to be equipped with everything we need to accomplish His work in our world. We are Christ’s presence in this community.

            Just as Mr. Briggs and Mr Phelps received daily messages,

            Today we have received a message: Good Morning Sons of Daughters of God. The planet you live on was created to be a home for God’s creation. An enemy has corrupted the world and its inhabitants, alienating it from God. God has provided a means to redeem this world from the enemy and to restore it’s people to peace with himself. His own son came into the world to show us how to live, he then gave his life for our salvation. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be His presence in your community, to live out his life and to witness to his love. I assure you, God will equip for you everything you will face, you will experience a life with meaning and purpose. And of course you can be assured that if you or any member of your witness force is endangered, you will never be left or forsaken, Jesus has made you his own and he can not abandon his own. This message will remain with you throughout your life, now, go forward in His peace.