Go Where? Do What?

Christian Community Presbyterian Church
Bowie, Maryland
June 18, 2023

Go Where? Do What?
Matthew 10:1-9, 16-20

[Video may be viewed at 
https://www.facebook.com/ChristianCommunityPresbyterianChurch/videos/924549221978937 
Scripture and Sermon begin at 42:15]

One of the top ten words of scripture is the end of Matthew’s gospel: Jesus’ Great Commission.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

His words are a clarion call to missionary activity. The congregation I last served included retired mission workers who had worked in India, Nepal, China, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Egypt, Iran, Sudan. Their wealth of faith and knowledge was a treasure trove. 

Before the age of Zoom meetings, before audio recordings and video tapes, churches had in-person mission Sundays. Missionaries on home assignment delivered stirring messages. Special offerings were received and mission hymns sung. Do you remember any of these:

    We've a story to tell to the nations
    That shall turn their hearts to the right,
    A story of truth and sweetness,
    A story of peace and light,
    A story of peace and light.
    For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
    And the dawning to noonday bright,
    And Christ's great kingdom shall come to earth,
    The kingdom of love and light. (1)

    From Greenland's icy mountains,
    From India's coral strand,
    Where Africa's sunny fountains
    Roll down their golden sand;
    From many an ancient river,
    From many a palmy plain,
    They call us to deliver
    Their land from error's chain. (2)

    O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
    To tell to all the world that God is light,
    That He who made all nations is not willing
    One soul should perish lost in shades of night.
    Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace,

    Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release. (3)

Three weeks ago, on Pentecost Sunday, Pastor Kori read the Acts scripture that lists all the nationalities and ethnic groups which were present for the outburst of the Holy Spirit. They heard the Gospel in their own languages. That is an affirmation of God’s presence to and for every part of the world, building on Christ’s commission and leaning towards Peter’s vision that God had created nothing unclean, that is, the Gospel was for everyone (Acts 10:34).

Many familiar church activities are recent inventions. Sunday schools are 250 years old. Foreign mission work — not associated with geographical discovery and conquest — began in the early 19th century. Congregationalists established the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810. The 1837 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., one of our ancestors, created the first national Presbyterian foreign mission board. 

Long before Christ’s parting commission in Galilee, he called the twelve disciples. That seems impromptu when compared with the lengthy, Spirit-led process for CCPC to call Pastor Kori. Our committee read resumes, did interviews, and followed up on references. What if Jesus had done a similar process to select his disciples. Here is a letter from his consultant:

Dear Sir:
We received the resumes for the twelve men you are considering for management positions in your new organization. 
All of them have taken our battery of tests. We examined the results and our psychologists and vocational aptitude specialists had interviews with each of them. The test results are included, and we advise you to study each of them carefully.
It is the opinion of the staff that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. Besides, they do not have the team concept. We have found ample evidence of jealousy and rivalry among them. Therefore, we would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience and proven ability. We note the following in particular:
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper – definitely not the man you would want to head your organization. 
Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. He is just a follower. 
The two brothers, James and John, are too hot-headed, and they place personal interest above company loyalty. 
Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would undermine morale. 
Matthew, the tax-collector, is undoubtedly a man of ability, but would project the wrong image for an organization such as yours. 
James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus have radical leanings. Hence, their unsuitability.
There is one candidate, however, who shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, good with people, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible. That man is Judas Iscariot. We recommend him as your controller and right-hand man.
We wish you every success in your new venture. 
Sincerely yours, 

Jordan Management Consultants

The consultant’s report describes the twelve as people as ordinary flawed human beings. Yet no management consultant could know the great things that the twelve would accomplish in small ways. That’s like the great things that were done by the ordinary women highlighted in the Women’s Sunday skit two Sundays ago.

One of the wonders of humanity is that under the same set of conditions ordinary people thrive or wither, meet challenges or are overwhelmed. And for human resource directors, some interviewees are perfect matches and others, often found too late, are perfect mismatches.

Jesus was up against a lot with the twelve he had just appointed. The twelve felt a lot of unease, because none of them had any training. He rounded them up and sent them out. 

Jesus gave specific instructions for limited activity: Don’t go to Gentiles or Samaritans. Those designations may be a problem today, but Jesus was not bigoted. He had healed the daughter of a Roman centurion and a Gadarene demoniac and talked theologically with a Samaritan woman. He was not limiting the impact of the gospel by telling the twelve to go only to the lost sheep of Israel. He wanted this be a short-term missionary trip focused on the Jews who were right around them in Galilee. With Gentile territory to the north and Samaritan territory to the south, Jesus limited the scope of the their travels, not the scope of the gospel.

I started our thinking today with the image of going to the ends of the earth. That was Jesus’ last commission to the disciples, not his first. His first commission was to start out close to home. Take the message to the neighbors first, then to the people on the next block and the next village. Jesus told his disciples that the people who need to hear the message of God’s love and forgiveness are ones they can reach out and touch. No travel is necessary. 

That gobsmacked the disciples. “You mean we have to go to our neighbors? People who know us?” Nothing exotic about it. Some of the twelve were scared to go to people they didn’t know. And others were scared about going to people they did know. One can look foolish in front of strangers whom one will never see again, just don’t do it among the people you have to live with every day.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he gave them specific instructions: “Proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” It was a short list of things to do; they weren’t to get creative. He put his authority on them and gave them power. He said, “Don’t expect any pay, travel light, and don’t worry about the outcome. It was up to the Spirit whether people accepted or rejected the good news. Be faithful to the message and keep on proclaiming the nearness of God.”

The church’s mission is the same today as it was when Jesus sent the disciples out: Proclaim the nearness of God. Remember that Jesus was “Emmanuel,” God with us. You can’t get much nearer than that. And if the church is the body of Christ, then he calls the church to live out God’s nearness. The Presbyterian Confession of 1967 said this:

“To be reconciled to God is to be sent into the world as God's reconciling community. This community, the church universal, is entrusted with God's message of reconciliation and shares God’s labor of healing the enmities which separate people from God and from each other. Christ has called the church to this mission and given it the gift of the Holy Spirit. The church maintains continuity with the apostles and with Israel by faithful obedience to his call.” (4)

Jesus calls us to be his disciples in our time zone and in our GPS location. Jesus sends us out. We don’t need the latest smart phone or the biggest SUV. We don’t have to be savvy with Instagram, Substack, Reddit, and other apps. Jesus wants us to remember that very little is needed to be faithful to the call to proclaim the gospel. It just takes each of us, the love of God within us, and the next person we meet; and it doesn’t matter if we do or don’t know them.

British author and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis wrote:

“The church exists for no other purpose but to draw others into Christ, to make them little Christ’s. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time." (5)

As the women’s skit reminded us, being ordinary is not a handicap; it’s an advantage to becoming a little Christ. Jesus calls each of ordinary us to be a little Christ for someone else as we proclaim the nearness of God’s kingdom in our actions and our words. It’s not complicated. The Aramean general Namaan in 2 Kings sought healing from Elisha. He thought the prophet should give him something complex to do. But Elisha told him to bathe seven times in the Jordan. When Namaan finally did it, he was healed (2 Kings 5:1-14). 

Christ wants us to do something simple: tell the Good News in life and in words. So do it. It’s not a question of where and when. It’s a declaration of here and now. It’s Christ’s mission. It’s okay. That’s where you are supposed to go. That’s what you are supposed to do. It’s not a challenge, it’s a privilege.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version, (c) 1989, Division of Education of the National Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

(1) Henry Ernest Nichol, 1896. Public Domain.

(2) Reginald Heber, 1819; Lowell Mason, 1823. Public Domain.

(3) Mary Ann Faulkner Thomson, 1868; James Walch, 1875. Public Domain.

(4) Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Part I: Book of Confessions, (Louisville KY, Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2016), 9.31.

(5) C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, Simon & Schuster Touchstone, 1996), p. 171.