Continuing the Invitations of Jesus series, this sermon examines what it means to receive God’s kingdom like a child—with humility, dependence, and an awareness of our need for God. It also challenges us to examine whether our attitudes and actions help others draw near to Jesus or create unnecessary barriers that keep them away.

Follow along for the next few weeks as we learn how to find God in the midst of every season!

Today we are going to conclude our series called “God Is.”  We have loved hearing stories from some of you about how your view of God has been stretched and deepened as a result of these messages.  While I say today is our final message in this series, by no means have we preached an exhaustive list of the character traits of God… after all, we never even taught about the Love of God!  

But we chose to teach on topics we thought were important for us to unpack and ideas we haven’t had as many opportunities to teach about.  And like every good conclusion, to help you remember what you’ve learned, we want to briefly review this series up until today.

God is Infinite

I kicked off this series by teaching that God is Infinite.  By walking through numerous scripture passages, I showed the Omni- aspect of God.  If you remember, those were the big words we hardly ever use in normal language to express the infinite nature of God:

1. Omnipotent – All Powerful
2. Omniscient – All Knowing
3. Omnipresent – All-Present in Space and Time

And the impact of this infinite nature of God is that we recognize his incomparable majesty – and we WORSHIP him because he is God — the One true God and no one compares to him.

God is Sovereign

We built on the idea of this Infinite God the next week when we tackled what I think to be one of the most challenging topics when it comes to God. And this is best expressed in the question “Is God in control?” There is inherently an issue with this when we look around and see evil in the world, or natural disasters, and when we personally go through difficulties. When we lose a job, our marriage falls apart, or we lose a child or grandchild, then we wonder, “where is God?”

The bible certainly affirms the sovereignty of God in verses like Psalm 115:2-3:

Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

But we saw that “sovereign” doesn’t mean God is meticulously controlling everything like pieces on a chess board. His sovereignty is his authority and it is directly tied to what we said about his infinite nature. Because God is omniscient, there is never a moment he says, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” And because of his omnipotence, he never says, “I wish I could have done something about that.” But because of his sovereignty, we know that nothing is outside of his control. We also know that he sees and knows and his inaction doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.  We also know that he can and will redeem our suffering.

God is Holy

The third week we looked at how God is Holy. Leviticus 11:44 says:

“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”

We defined “holy,” not as a list of dos and don’ts, but as set apart and righteous. His holiness is something that sets God apart from everything, including us. This is also the first characteristic we studied that didn’t just apply to God. We are also called to be holy because God is holy. We should not become a bunch of holier-than-thou Pharisees, but we should simply surrender ourselves completely to God, looking to the model that Jesus lived for us in how we can be holy spiritually, while physically present in and around the world.

We concluded that our holiness is always derived from and dependent upon our proximity and relationship to God.

God is Jealous

Then we turned to the character trait of God that I might say is least understood… that God is Jealous.  In fact, some people, upon hearing about God being jealous, wrongly assume the worst about him and walk away from him.  And I totally understand this if we think about God being jealous like a teenage girl jealously guarding her new boyfriend.  But this is the important thing we discussed about the word jealous – it really has two very different meanings.  

1. Jealous as Envy — Selfish and Sinful — Jealous of  Others
2. Jealous as Zealous — Mature and Others Focused — Jealous for Others

When we think of God’s jealousy, we must never think of him as having the envious, selfish jealousy for us.  Why would he?  He’s God — what do we have that he can’t get on his own?  No — instead we must think of God as being zealous for us — he wants what is best for us, he wants to protect us, he wants to guard us from running to other lovers and idols which will harm us.  

And when we realize that God’s jealousy for us is zeal, then we recognize that God’s jealousy is for our good.  Instead of being upset by his jealousy, we feel loved, protected, and valued.

God is Gracious

And last week we looked at many verses that described God as a gracious God. That word is often accompanied by words like compassionate, faithful, slow to anger, abounding in love.

We defined “grace” as God’s loving-kindness to the undeserving. And we saw that God didn’t become gracious in the New Testament. Even though we may have thought differently, God was a gracious God in the Old Testament and continues to pour out his grace even today.

We saw that God’s grace is very necessary for us. We have a genuine need and there is someone, God, who is able and willing to meet that need. Despite your sin, the graciousness of God shows that he values you and seeks you. And this is seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ.                                                                           

God is Missional

Today we want to bring all these ideas together and wrap up by looking at God as a Missional God. Missional is not a word we use every day, but it certainly encompasses an idea that we are familiar with: Mission.

Businesses and organizations have mission statements like these: 

Ikea: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”

Walmart: “Saving people money so they can live better.”

Habitat for Humanity: “Seeking to put God’s love into action, bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope.”

What do I mean when I say that God is a missional God? Does it mean he has a mission statement? Yes, in a way. He is a God that is on a mission. There is something he is purposefully working towards, to see come about.

If you’ve been around church for any length of time, you probably have already thought to yourself, “God’s mission is to make disciples of the nations. That’s what Jesus said. Matthew 28. We know this Brent. You guys preach this at least once a year. That must be what this is about.”

Yes, that is a part of the mission, but it is not the entire mission. God’s desire is reconciliation, for those whom he has created in his image to be able to live in relationship with him, for God to be known. And it didn’t just become his mission in the New Testament when Jesus was around. Even in the Old Testament, God made this mission known. In fact, it was the reason he called Abraham and made a covenant with him.

We don’t often think about this. We view  the Old Testament and New Testament differently, thinking of the Old Testament as only being about the Jews as God’s chosen people and thinking of finally in the New Testament, God reaching beyond the Jews to others.

But when we go back and take a look, I think we will see something very different. Starting in Genesis 12, when God calls Abraham, listen to what he says:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” —Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

Did you catch that? “And all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Abraham and his descendants were blessed to be a blessing. They weren’t to hoard the blessings of God and keep them to themselves. God was going to use them to bless the other nations around them.

We could look at Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the Temple when he prayed:

“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple. —1 Kings 8:41-42 NIV

The Temple was to be a place where God’s name would be known. We could read of Jonah going to the city of Nineveh, a city of non-Jewish people, and for some reason God sent them a messenger to call them to repentance.

From the beginning, God has always been a missional God with a desire for all people, the entire world, to know him.

Motivation and Mandate for Mission

The world.  That word is so large and used so often that it loses its meaning.  And in one of the most famous passages in the Bible, it is used repeatedly to define the scope of God’s mission.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him  —John 3:16-17

Do you see that?  Four times we see written “the world.”

Yes — this very familiar verse is about Jesus sacrificing himself for each one of us, but more than that, it shows that God’s love, salvation, and plan for reconciliation is for the WHOLE WORLD.  The problem is, too often when we read this verse, we think it’s about everyone we know.  We forget that “the world” means THE WORLD. It means every person, from every nation, of every skin tone.  

In the book of Revelation, we catch a glimpse of what Jesus meant when he said he came for the world.  From Revelation 7:9-10 we read about what will happen in the throne room of God:

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God.”

Isn’t that an amazing picture?  Every nation.  Every tribe.  Every people.  Every language — all standing together to worship Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.   This is what it means that God is Missional — he is for ALL the people groups in this entire world!

Now some of you might wonder what I mean by people groups, but that’s just a way that anthropologists distinguish groups of people across this world.  Rather than thinking that everybody in America is the same because of the invisible land borders we live within — a people group boundary is defined by language, culture, religion, and caste.  And when we divide people up by those barriers, this world has over 16,000 people groups!  And Jesus came to save people from EVERY SINGLE ONE of those groups.

Strategic Mission

Here we see God, with a heart for the world, a desire for his name to be known among all the peoples.  So, was there anything strategic behind what he was doing? Or was it just a random placement of people at various times with a wish and a prayer that his missional desire would come about?

Why would God spend so much time and effort to place the people in the promised land? Was it that much better than all the other pieces of land around? Yes, it was a good place to be, but more than that, it was a strategic place to be for someone who wanted to influence the world.

Israel was at the crossroads of the ancient world, lying between powerful nations like Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the north-south road connecting the two, running through the land God had given the Israelites.  It put them in a position to do exactly what God called them to do: to make his name known to all the world. There was another trade route running east-west as well. Living here between trade routes, they had a tremendous opportunity to influence the world.

Unfortunately for them, the Israelites failed in their mission. They allowed other nations to stay in this land and exert pagan influence in the world. And they themselves were drawn away from God multiple times. They simply missed their opportunity to do what God had called them to do.

But even then, God’s mission heart was not squelched. In fact, he continued to move so that Israel would make his name known. And sometimes he did this in unpleasant ways. If the Israelites wouldn’t go and tell others, then he would send others in and take them to other places involuntarily.

They were invaded and shipped off to other nations in exile. And in their exile, God made his name known through people like Daniel and others who became missionaries, sent not by their own choice, but sent nonetheless, and used by God in great ways.

And we see this continued in the New Testament as well. Jesus said he wanted his people to go to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Some in the early church went, like Paul and Barnabas, but others were reluctant to go. So, God allowed hardship and persecution to come upon them. And the early Christians dispersed across the world, taking the message of Jesus with them wherever they went.

I think it is probably obvious where this message is heading. We see very clearly a God who has a missionary heart, not just for a select few, but for the entire world. And if God has a heart for the world, a desire for the world to know him, and he placed Israel in a strategic place to influence the world, wouldn’t he use us, you and me, placing us at strategic places in the world to influence the world…to make his name known today? And shouldn’t what motivates God also motivate us? Shouldn’t God’s mission be our mission? If people matter to God shouldn’t they matter to us?

In theory I think we all say yes, but in reality, there are some real barriers that keep us from this mission.

Barriers to Mission

Barrier 1 – Perception: Fear of what others will think

This is natural for all of us to feel.  It really is human nature.  We want to be liked; we don’t want to offend.  We don’t want people to think of us as Bible thumpers.  But the thing is, the message of Jesus is the ONE message that has the power to change a person’s life both now and for eternity.  

If you struggle with this fear — then pray for boldness and for God to give you such a deep love for others that your fear of what they think will be overcome by your love for their souls.

Barrier 2 – Unprepared: Fear you don’t know how to be effective

Again, this fear is understandable because many of you have never been taught how to do this or have never watched somebody model how to tell another person about Jesus.  

But here’s the good news about overcoming this barrier — sharing the message of Jesus is simple — just tell people how a relationship with Jesus has changed YOUR life!  All of us can do that.  We LOVE to talk about ourselves.  And nobody can argue with you about your own story.  

Barrier 3 – Self-Absorbed: Not concerned with those outside yourself

This barrier induces a feeling of guilt for some of you when you see it.  But it happens.  It is easy, over time, to allow your relationship with Jesus to become inward and personal, and to stop ever thinking about the role you play in telling OTHERS about Jesus.

If this is you, then hopefully this message has been a wake-up call.  Your faith is not your own.  God is on a mission and you are part of that mission.  You can start by bringing somebody with you to church!

Conclusion

So, we see that even from the beginning God has been a Missional God and we should be missional people. God’s heart should be our heart. God’s desire is for all nations, tribes, and tongues to know him. People matter to God and they matter to us.

It is his desire to use us in this mission. Just like the nation of Israel, we have been blessed to be a blessing. We are blessed with life and health and resources, but ultimately we are blessed with a relationship with Jesus.  

And just like the Israelites, we have been strategically placed.  You have been strategically placed in your neighborhood, in your job, in this church, to be able to influence the world around you. The question is: will you?

Will we allow the barriers to keep us from making him known, from sharing what an amazingly infinite, sovereign, holy, jealous, gracious, and loving God he is? Will we live in fear or will we be willing to let others in on the greatest relationship we have ever known?

God’s mission has not changed. It is the same. And I believe that how we answer two questions will make all the difference in how we live. The first question is: How do you see God? Do you see him as we have talked about him over the last six weeks? Or do you have some God that looks more like you want him to look, a little more in your image?

Second question: How do you see the people of the world? Red, yellow, black, white? Do you see them as God sees them, not as numbers or a project to be worked on, but through the eyes of a loving God whose desire is for his name to be known and his people to live in relationship with him.

What lens are you looking through?  Because the lens we use will determine our effectiveness in carrying forth God’s mission.

Whole and Holy in the New Year 

I love New Year’s celebrations, not for the drunken debauchery or for trying and failing to stay up until midnight, but because it gives me the opportunity to consider what I want to change going into the new year.  That and New Year’s Eve is my anniversary, so that’s special too! 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who uses the new year to make at least one new year’s resolution.  Statistically, I know I’m not the only one because a recent poll showed that 79% of people, essentially 4 out of 5, have made a new year’s resolution at least once in his or her life.  This is a very natural time for some introspection about what has gone well or not so well and what you can do to make the next year better. 

But what does better look like?  That’s what our new sermon series for the next 6 weeks intends to answer.  As we have been promoting this series for several weeks, we have been saying, “Being Whole and Holy in the New Year.”  And I love that phrase — Whole and Holy.  

That was a phrase used at my seminary to point us toward becoming the men and women God wanted us to be. 

• First we are to be whole — or complete.  That means that every aspect of our lives is functioning well.  If you’re in great physical shape with great relationships, but your finances are a mess — You’re not whole.  You’re struggling. 
• Second, we are to be holy — our lives are to be pure and honor God.
• Whole and holy, put together — this means our lives are to be complete, with every aspect honoring God, working the way he designed for us. 

And who wouldn’t want that for their life?  Unfortunately, most of us can name at least one area of our life where we don’t feel very whole, much less holy.  Most of you, given just the few short minutes of this introduction, can already name areas in your life where you would like to grow and see improvement. 

I’ve already gone through this exercise twice in the past week.  And no — I didn’t just do this for today’s message; I have done this for the past several years.

• I spent an hour with my discipleship partner talking about where we each had our greatest successes and failures, where we want to grow spiritually, and how we can be better parents and husbands.
• Then I had a coffee date with my wife to talk about how we are doing as a couple and as individuals.  We talked about fitness goals and what we needed to do to achieve those goals.  We discussed our finances and where we wanted to be at the end of the year.  We talked about how we can alleviate stress and become more mentally and emotionally healthy.
• I did this so that I know what to work on in the coming year, and what steps I need to take to move forward in growth. 

And this is the process we hope this series takes you through over the next 6 weeks as we look at being BodyFit, RelationFit, MentalFit, EmotionFit, SpiritFit, and MoneyFit. 

BodyFit

Today we begin our series on the topic we’re calling BodyFit because, well, goals pertaining to physical fitness and health are the most commonly made new year’s resolutions.  Over half of America has made a physical wellness goal before — so I know this is something you can all relate to.  Maybe you never have, but that just means your spouse DEFINITELY has!  (That’s how statistics work!) 

The problem with this message, however, is that neither Brent, Amy, or I felt qualified to teach this message.  None of us have 6-packs, are running 5Ks, or eat salad each night.  So, I’m up here because I was last to do nose goes.  Fortunately, as I studied what it means to be BodyFit and what God wants for us, I realized there is so much more to talk about than giving you diet tips.

Paul’s Teaching on Use of Our Bodies

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the importance of how they use their physical bodies. 

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. —1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Let’s quickly break down this passage. 

1. The first thing we learn about our bodies is that they are temples of the Holy Spirit.  Essentially they are vessels for God’s presence in this world.  How does God act in this world?  Most often through us, by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  And our bodies act as vessels for the Holy Spirit. The presence of God operates in this world through us — through our physical bodies.
2. The second thing we learn about our bodies is that they are not our own, but were bought for us.  They are a gift paid for by God.  We didn’t earn our bodies or form our bodies.  God gave them to us.  We see in Psalm 139 how God knit us together in our mother’s wombs.  It says there that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
3. Paul concludes this thought by saying that if our bodies are a vessel for God and are a gift from God, then our response should be to Honor God with our bodies.  

While this text seems very clear and to the point, it’s amazing how different people use this same text to draw vastly different conclusions. 

This is the text I was taught as a child meant that it was a sin to smoke or drink or get any tattoos.  “You can’t deface the temple of the Holy Spirit,” my mom would tell me. 

But the funny thing is, this section of scripture actually begins by talking about freedom.

 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. —1 Corinthians 6:12

This is the paradox of Christianity, we ARE free from long lists of legal standards but moral absolutes still remain.  While we have freedom in the Spirit, we also must realize that not everything we do is beneficial and that we should never be mastered by habits and addictions we cannot quit. 

While Paul does not tell us exactly what it means to honor God with our bodies (though he does specifically tell us that we should not be with prostitutes), he does point us to the idea that caring for our physical body is important.  Why?  Because in the next verse he tells us that our bodies are “For the Lord.”  Let’s take a look.

You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. —1 Corinthians 6:13 

You see, the Corinthians were trying to justify their sexual immorality as saying, “But Paul, we have freedom.  We can do what we want with our bodies.  God made our bodies for sex, so we should enjoy it all we can.”  And Paul says, “Nope.  Your body wasn’t created for sex.  It was created for the Lord.  It was formed by God’s hand for a greater purpose, so stop feeling like you have freedom to use and abuse it however you want!” 

So, what Paul teaches us about our body is:

• it is for the Lord
• it is a vessel of God’s presence 
• it is a gift
• it is meant to be used to honor God

From those points, I want to draw a few conclusions about God’s desire for our bodies.   

God’s Desire for our Bodies

1)    Stewardship is important to God

It’s tempting to think the only reason we are even talking about taking care of our bodies is because it’s the first Sunday in January, but don’t fall for it. 

Think for a moment what would have happened to Christianity if Paul had been so unhealthy he couldn’t have traveled by foot.  Or what if Billy Graham was always sick in bed because his diet caused him health issues?   

We can only do great things for God if we have bodies that are capable of doing those things!  So let’s maintain these bodies as long as God gives us.  While they may not be perfect and may not be what we might have picked for ourselves, they are the gift God gave us to use for his glory. 

2)    Use it to please God, not flesh

But let’s also remember these bodies are to be used for HIS glory and not our own.  Some people take great care of their bodies.  They don’t need to hear about how to be healthier because they’re already the picture of health.  They have a thin waist, defined muscles, and incredible speed and stamina because they focus so intently on how they look and how they perform.   

But they have twisted the good gift God has given them and turned their bodies into an idol they worship — putting all their time and attention into making their body better rather than using their healthy body to honor God.  And that’s not right either.  Pursue a healthy body for God’s glory and not your own. 

On the flip side, some people use their bodies to satisfy all their own carnal cravings. When you are sad or stressed, do you turn to comfort foods to help you feel better?  Or do you ever say no to a piece of dessert, even when you already feel stuffed?  For some of us, our lack of self-control leads us to pursue our own tiny slice of pleasure in ways that don’t bring pleasure or honor to God and that’s not right.  Now I’m not saying that having a divine piece of chocolate cake is a sin.  But if you’re turning to that cake to cope with heartache rather than turning to God, then perhaps it is. 

3)    Avoid activities that destroy

I think it’s fairly common-sense to avoid the things that destroy the gift God gave to you, but sometimes a lack of self-control, or a habit or addiction makes it harder to avoid than you might think.  Fortunately, tons of resources exist to help you kick any habit that is destroying your body like smoking, drugs, or excessive drinking. 

Sometimes, the reason you fail to avoid an activity that is destroying your body is because you aren’t aware it’s causing any damage.  Some of you may not realize that your poor diet, sexual immorality, or your workaholic tendencies are damaging your body every single day and reducing your future ability to honor God with a healthy body.  So, take a moment to consider what you might be doing that is damaging the vessel God wants to work through. 

4)    Do activities that promote health

Last, we need to do the right things that promote health.  But first, I think we need to define physical health.  Health isn’t a number on a scale.  It isn’t miles jogged or trips to a gym or a waist size.  A huge problem in America is tying the ideas of health to being thin.  That’s an inaccurate correlation.

• We need to understand that you can be thin and still be totally unhealthy.  Many young women are anorexic or bulimic and so they are very thin – but not healthy.  Additionally, not all heavy people are unhealthy gluttons.  Some heavy people have bad genes, hormonal issues, or a past injury preventing them from exercising.  Meanwhile, their skinny counterparts might have no self-control at the buffet, but think that doesn’t count as gluttony because the scale doesn’t say so. 
• My point is that we need to stop assuming that thin means healthy and healthy means thin.  It’s not that simple. 

But enough about what it means to be healthy — I know you want to know what I have to say about what are the specific things you should be doing to promote physical health.  It’s actually a lot more than pumping iron at the gym and eating rabbit food.

• Eating Healthy — how much you eat is as important as what you eat.  Remember: everything in moderation.  A little bit of chocolate is okay.  Two tablespoons of salt on your carrot sticks — while it won’t make you gain weight — is NOT okay.
• Exercise you Enjoy – Let’s face it, most of us have sedentary jobs or lifestyles and we really don’t want to work out just to work out.  But then you should find a physical activity you enjoy and spend time doing it.  I don’t enjoy running or biking or long walks with my dogs.  But I enjoy playing basketball — so that’s what I do twice a week.  And I’m less likely to make an excuse to skip it because it’s something I actually enjoy.
• Proper Sleep — Your body needs rest.  Numerous studies show that lack of sleep puts you are greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and anxiety.  Plus, it causes weight gain, ages your skin, makes you more forgetful and more accident prone, and reduces your decision-making ability.  And who doesn’t wish they could get more sleep?  The question is, will you do something to re-order your life so you can get to bed earlier or sleep in later?  Your health depends on it.  Or you might say, sleeping more honors God!
• Sex in Marriage — I think I’ve said enough about that.  Discuss over lunch.
• Life / Work Balance – For some of you, your lack of physical health stems from too many hours at work or bussing kids around and too few hours for yourself.  You don’t have any time to spend making a healthy meal or doing an activity because you are constantly on the go.  Being healthy takes time.  But it’s time spent you won’t ever resent.  

Pursue Health

My challenge for you today is to pursue physical health.  Skinny isn’t the goal.  Being whole and holy is.  Maintaining a healthy physical body for as many years as God gives you is the goal.  And then using your body in a holy way to honor God — that’s the goal. 

My hope is that somewhere in this message, you heard an idea that sparked for you a change you need to make to increase your physical health.  I wish I could give you a more comprehensive list of things to do, but health is a continuum and each of us has a different next step.  Fortunately, tons of resources exist online to point you forward. 

As you leave here today, be courageous enough to take a next step.  Tell somebody what change you want to make and allow them to ask you how it’s going.  While we may not be making this a church-wide campaign to lose 1000 lbs (praise God, we’re not doing weigh-ins), let’s support one another in becoming physically healthier in 2016. 

Your body is a vessel for God and a gift from God — Use it to glorify Him this year!