LN 17: "Many Will See and Fear and ... Trust" 04.06.08

Our mission as the Church of Jesus Christ points us in three directions: toward God, toward each other and toward the world. We move in those directions through worship, discipleship and evangelism, or, to put it another way: through our worship, our walk and our witness. And our movement in those directions is fueled by one thing: love. God’s love for us inspires our love for Him, one another and those in the world.

Love is the most fundamental and essential characteristic of the Church. Love is the first and second greatest commandment. Love is Jesus’ command to the Church. The apostle Paul declared that without love, we are “only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” We are nothing without love. Our God is love and so love must characterize all that we do. Therefore, as we consider our worship, walk and witness, we must look at them in terms of love: love for God, love for one another and love for the world. As we worship, we show our love for God. As we walk with God and each other, practicing discipleship, building each other up, and teaching the next generation to follow, we show our love for one another. As we witness, sharing the Good News of Jesus, we show our love for the world. What is more loving than inviting others to receive forgiveness and eternal life?

But are worship, discipleship and evangelism simply duties that we must perform or disciplines we must endure? Are they merely our responsibility as Christians? Well, yes they are responsibility (God has called us to do them) and they do often require personal discipline, but I want us to see that these three directions of the Christian life form a natural and privileged response to the goodness and love that God has shown us.

We see this kind of response in Psalm 40, a psalm in which David praises God for His deliverance. Please read Psalm 40:1-10.

What was David’s response to this deliverance? His mouth gave praise, his heart learned God’s will, his life testified to God’s faithfulness. That was David’s natural response to God’s gracious deliverance. And in his response, we see our own. We see the three directions of our mission:
his mouth gave praise = worship;
his heart learned God’s will = discipleship;
his life testified to God’s faithfulness = evangelism.

This psalm shows us that our worship, our walk and our witness are natural responses to God’s deliverance.

And it is love that fuels our responses. It is love that compels us to worship and walk and witness. We love because God first loved us. As John wrote, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” For Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Our mission then – what we do – is love: to love God; to love one another; and to love those in the world. We love because we have been loved. And when we love, God is glorified for many will see and fear and put their trust in Him.