Commissioned for the Glory of God 01-14-24

Overview: This transcript is about an IMB missionary commissioning service where 49 missionaries were commissioned. The missionaries' faces were obscured for security reasons as they were going to countries where they could face persecution. The sermon is about believers being commissioned by God for His glory and the importance of being missionaries. The preacher emphasizes that believers are equipped by the Holy Spirit and have no excuse not to be missionaries. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to fulfill their mission and they should rely on God's strength rather than their own. Transcription: Some of you may have picked up this video was from an IMB missionary commissioning service in November of 2023. 49 missionaries were commissioned during this service. You can see the full video at imb.org backslash send. What I found particularly encouraging and heartwarming and also challenging at the same time is when they get to the point of where they have to put that disclaimer up. That these faces will not be shown for security reasons. Because what that means is those particular missionaries are going into countries where they would face real persecution if people found out why they were really there. Their lives may be in danger, their safety would definitely be in danger. And so they obstruct their faces, they obstruct their names, they even obstruct where they're going. It was a very general area to which they might go and serve. And yet, those missionaries, along with the ones that did show their faces, were willing to give up everything that they know for the glory of God. You saw every range there from those who had recently graduated college to some who were well advanced in years, some that had adult children. But all of them would have to say goodbye to their family here to serve where they were being led to serve. All of them would have to pick up whatever family that they may be taking with them. Or maybe they were going by themselves and they would have to take whatever they could and go to where they were called to serve. They call this a commissioning service because to be commissioned means to be sent out. These missionaries are being sent by God and by the Southern Baptist Convention through the International Mission Board to serve in their perspective areas. You say, Preacher, why did you show that this morning? Because we get to the section in Romans chapter 15 where Paul is beginning to wrap up this letter. And in verses 14-21, Paul does this exact thing with the believers in Rome. He is commissioning them for service for the glory of God. And so as you turn there, Romans 15, beginning in verse 14, I want your minds to settle on this thought. Commissioned for the Glory of God. I found it encouraging that many of those who were asking for prayer at the end of their testimony here, of their commissioning time, they said, pray that we may be able to do this thing or that thing. Learn the language. Establish churches. Build relationships. But they would often end it this way, for the glory of God. And you know that's near and dear to my heart since we are here for the glory of God. We are a church that exists for the glory of God. We are a people that should have a heart and a desire for the glory of God. And so, my challenge to you this morning as I follow up last week's sermon on loving your neighbor and how we are to love our neighbor and to what extent we are to love our neighbor, being willing to sacrifice our own freedoms, being willing to sacrifice our own comfort, being willing to sacrifice and get out of our own little sphere of comfort and ease and press into our neighbors and love them the way that we were called to love them. And if we are to do that, we understand that that is a commissioning by God, a sending out by God. And so let's look at Romans 15, verse 14. It says, Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and in deed to make the Gentiles obedient. I will not dare to speak in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, to whom He was not announced, they shall see. And those who have not heard shall understand. Let's pray together this morning. Lord God, help us through the preaching, the teaching, the enlightening of Your Word to understand that every believer in Christ, every child of God, everyone who has their firm foundation built upon the solid rock of Jesus, every one of us are missionaries. Every one of us are commissioned by You for Your glory into this world. Lord, the time of us sitting idly by has passed. Your Word says that the fields are white unto harvest, but the workers are few. Lord, my claim to You this morning is I'm looking at a sanctuary full of faces, full of workers. Lord, send us. Here we are. Send us for Your glory, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Commissioned for the Glory of God. I want to lay one thing at rest right now. We are without excuse to be missionaries. That is not me looking at you and saying, I see so much potential in you and you are amazing and all these things. And all of that may be true, but I'm saying that we are without excuse to be missionaries for God based on God's Word. Because beloved, listen, you as believers in Christ, as someone who has put your faith and trust in Christ and acknowledged Him as your personal Lord and Savior, you are equipped. Wait a minute, preacher. You don't know me that well. How can you say that to my life? Because I have it on authority of Scripture that you are equipped by the Holy Spirit. Several times through this section of Scripture, Paul mentions that Holy Spirit, that He is in Christ, that He is filled with knowledge and able to admonish by the grace given to Him that He might minister to the Gentiles, that their offering may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. That is the Holy Spirit. And so we see this idea of this Holy Spirit being taught throughout this section of Scripture. And if you have put your faith and trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit is now living inside of you and your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, He is the third Person of the Trinity, fully divine. He has all of God's attributes and all of God's character. He is the Spirit of God. He inspired God's Word. He convicts of sin. He calls us to salvation, occupies our hearts, cultivates within us a Christian character, bestows spiritual gifts, illuminates the Word, seals us into the day of redemption, enlightens us to the will of the Father, and empowers us to walk in the will of the Father, all for the glory of God. And so based on the authority of the Word and the presence of God in your life, if you put your faith and trust in Him, you are equipped by the Holy Spirit. And so you and I are without excuse to be missionaries. Scary, isn't it? To think about going out into a world that may not receive Christ. Scary to think about having that conversation with your neighbor or your family member or your friend. Scary to think about putting Christ above yourself. But that's exactly what we are called to do. You see, this world doesn't need us to promote ourselves. This world doesn't need us to live for our own wants and our own desires. The world doesn't need for us to go out and chase our own dreams. What this world needs is for us to surrender to the power of God in our lives and to go out and be missionaries and to preach the Gospel fully for His glory. And I know that that's scary. And I know that's hard because a part of us is clinging to our own strength. A part of us is clinging to, well, I just don't know that I can do that. I'm a shy person. And we see that laid out for us when Moses says, well, God, I can't go to the Egyptians. I can't go and talk to Pharaoh because I can't talk very well. But with the power of the Spirit of God, rest in this promise. You're not going in your strength. You're going in the strength of God. You're going in His strength. You're going with His presence. You're going with Him. Who is the Holy Spirit? I just told you. Where is the Holy Spirit? Inside of you. You go all the way back to Genesis. In the beginning, God said, let there be light. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters. The Holy Spirit was present. He was active within creation. And the same Spirit of God that was active in creation is the same Spirit of God that's inside of you. The same Spirit of God that has all of the attributes and all of the character and all of the things. God's strength. God's omnipotence. God's power. God's healing. God's all of that. The same Spirit that has all of that is inside of you. And so when we say, I can't do it. You're right. You can't. When you say, the Spirit of God within me leads me and compels me and goes with me and goes before me and walks before me and prepares the way before me, He is leading you and He will equip you to do whatever He has called you to do. And He'll give you the power to be prosperous in it. We cannot fail if we are walking in the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit of God. We can't. Not because that looks bad on us. Because it would look bad on Him. God is not strong enough to do this. God is strong enough to do whatever He wants. Matter of fact, if you look back at the history of Israel, many of the prayers of the patriarchs in Israel was this, God, You have to help us. Because if You don't, then Your people and Your name will suffer reproach. Well, God can't forgive me of my sin. You underestimate how powerful God is. You can't use me. You underestimate how willing God is. You underestimate how the cleansing of God works. You underestimate the power of the Spirit of God in your life. God can and will do anything that you need and that He has called you to do. Step into that. That's why He says, I haven't given you a spirit of fear. Don't let that fear keep you from doing what God's called you to do. Listen, you saw those faces. That young lady, those two young ladies, or maybe more than that, that stood by themselves, that looked to be in their early twenties, going to foreign countries by themselves. They didn't have the support of a husband. Their mom and daddy wasn't going with them. They were stepping out by faith under the power of the Holy Spirit saying, if God's leading me, He's going to provide and He's going to give me exactly what I need in the midst of that. That's not having a spirit of fear. That older couple, there was more in that video. Again, you need to go watch the full video. That older couple, there was one couple from New York City going, I forget where they're going, but they said, help our adult children to be able to deal with us being gone. Now, how many of you are grandparents in here? How many of you are grandparents? Look, prime example right here. Prime example. Grandma, Grandpa, right? I know that's not your real grandbaby. It is though, right? Grandbaby in love, right? We've got to leave that behind. Leave all that behind. Say your goodbyes. Go to this country where you don't know anybody and serve them. Now, if you don't think that's hard, then you're not being honest with yourself. You don't think those people in those videos thought that was hard? One factor, hey, help us say our hard goodbyes. But the Spirit of God in their life has given them power to say those goodbyes. It's given them peace to step out into that will of God. It's given them comfort knowing that they're doing exactly what God's called them to do. It's giving them the open doors to be able to go into these closed countries for the glory of God, so that the glory of God might be preached and taught and lifted up so that those who have not heard, those who have not been announced to, may hear the Gospel and the Gospel of God may be lifted up. I love it. Does your neighbor, have they ever heard the Gospel? Do we even know? Being commissioned, you are equipped by the Holy Spirit with holy things. I want you to look at verse 14 for just a second. Paul's speaking. He says, I am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you are full of goodness and filled with all knowledge. Boy, he's buttering them up good, isn't he? You're good. You're smart. You can do it. But is that what we see in the rest of Scripture? Our righteous deeds are as filthy rags? Paul tells them at the beginning of the letter that we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. That doesn't sound like we're good. That doesn't sound like we... Jesus even tells His disciples, how long am I going to have to put up with you, you ignorant generation? That doesn't sound like full of knowledge. So how can Paul say these things? There's only one way. When we acknowledge Christ, we're filled with the Spirit of God, we get those things. Not under our own goodness, but under the goodness of God. Not under our own knowledge, but the knowledge of God. We are filled with the things of God when we are filled with the Spirit of God. And so Paul is talking to true believers here. He's not talking about the ones that are on the outskirts. They only want enough of Jesus to stay out of hell. No, no, no. He's not talking about them. He's talking about the ones that have gone all in, by faith, acknowledged Christ for who they are, received the power of the Holy Spirit, and by receiving the Spirit, they received the goodness and knowledge. He's saying you're good and you're knowledgeable because you have the Spirit of God in you. You are filled with holy things. Now, that's where I struggle sometimes. Because to be honest with you, I see some of those in my life. In these moments where I sat in my truck this morning, I was telling somebody, I pulled into the parking lot just after 8, parked facing the old sanctuary. To my left, looking just over the top of the cemetery, the sun was just above that tree that's on the far side. And I thought, man, looking to the east, right, brother Mark? Looking to the east. And one day, with that trumpet sound, Christ will come from the east, gather His church. I'm going to be honest, I had a moment. I had a moment of personal worship sitting right there in my vehicle looking to the east. Goodness and knowledge. But it didn't take long, sitting in my office, making a phone call that didn't get picked up that I wasn't filled with goodness and knowledge. I was filled with impatience and frustration. And so I see this struggle in us. And I think that's where most of us are, right? We think, man, how can I be a missionary when I struggle in this area? How can I be a missionary when I have this problem? How can I be a missionary and be for the glory of God when I struggle with this way? Well, that's when we have to press into the mercy and the grace and the holy things that God gives us through the Spirit of God. That we are forgiven. We're cleansed. We are called to His presence. We are ushered into the family of God and we cling to those things. And we say, God, I know I've messed up. I know I've been filled with this thing. Lord, forgive me and cleanse me and fill me with Your goodness and knowledge again. We're commissioned for the glory of God. You are equipped. And brother and sister, you are imperfect. Look at 15 and 16. He says these things, right? In 14 He says, nevertheless. Nevertheless, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You are imperfect. Accept it. It's okay. We don't have to be perfect. As a matter of fact, Scripture says the ones that think they are perfect, that's not the ones Christ came for. Because they don't see any need for Him. It's the ones of us who realize, yeah, I'm imperfect. I'm sinful. I'm broken. I'm in need of a Savior. Those are the ones that Christ came for. So accept the fact that you're imperfect. But perfection is the goal. That's the goal. To be more like Christ. To be sanctified more and more each and every day. Press on through the imperfection. Philippians 3, 12-14, Paul writes it this way, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay a hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. What is that upward call that he's talking about? To be a missionary to the Gentiles. Beloved, let's press on to that goal, that calling that Christ has placed on us. We are imperfect, but that's what makes grace so amazing. We sing that song oftentimes, and maybe we need to close the service with it this morning. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was blind to the things of God, but now I see His glory, His grace, His forgiveness, His mercy poured out for all of us on the cross. Amazing grace! Not because we are perfect, but because we are imperfect. Accept it. Acknowledge it. Let's be honest with the lost and dying world. Not put on a front. Not put on a show. But be honest. Be real. That's what they need to see is lost sinners who Christ forgave and cleansed and made righteous. Not on our righteousness, but on His righteousness. We are not saved because of anything that we have done or can do or will do. We are saved simply because of what Christ did for us on the cross because of the love that He has for us and everybody. And all we're called to do is to take that love and that grace and that mercy and preach it and proclaim it in our mission field to our neighbors and our friends and our co-workers. We are commissioned for the glory of God. You are equipped. You are imperfect. And as I close, you're really going to enjoy this one. You are preachers. You are preachers. You may not pastor a church. You may not stand behind a pulpit on a regular basis. But you're preaching a message. You're preaching a message with your life. That many people put it this way. Live your life so that the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral. You ever been there? Oh, here lies oh so and so. They were such a good person. You're preaching a message. We need to make sure that we preach the right message. Look at verses 17-19. Preach the right message. Therefore, I have reasoned the glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the Gentiles obedient in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. Preach the right message. And what is the right message? Who is Christ to you? Isn't that what Jesus asked the disciples? Who does the world say I am? But who do you say I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's the truth I'm going to build my church on. That's the rock that the church will be built on and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You see, here's the problem. Here's why hell is winning within the church. Because we move the gates. The church is built on personality. The church may be built on performance. The church may be built on all these other things that the world measures itself by. But unless it's built on Christ being the Son of God, the living Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God, if it's not built on that rock, then it's going to fail. But if it's built on that rock, if your life is built on that rock, if your mentality is built on that rock, if your family is built on that rock, if your church, if this church stays built on that rock, if we try to get this community built on that rock, guess what? The gates of hell will not prevail. Beloved, do you want to see six mile change for the glory of God? Build your life upon the rock of Christ, that He is the Son of the living God. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. Build it on that rock. Preach the right message. Who is Christ to you? What has Christ done for you? He has cleansed me. He has forgiven me. He has adopted me into the family of God. When I wasn't worthy, when I didn't need it, when I wasn't searching for God, He found me. He has done for me what He will do for you. He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. What has Christ done for you, beloved? We should never get tired of thinking about and speaking about and talking about what Christ has done for us. And I don't just mean the work on the cross. I mean, we could talk all day about that. But beloved, you woke up this morning. You got breath in your lungs. Brother David, you and Miss Bootsy know what it's like to not be able to get breath in your lungs. We take that for granted sometimes, don't we? You're here this morning because of Christ. You're alive because of Christ. You have strength because of Christ. What has Christ done for you? Preach the right message. Preach to the right people. Back at verse 14, what does he say at the very end of that? He says you're filled with goodness, filled with knowledge, able also to admonish one another. So who should we be preaching this message to about what Christ has done for us? He's able to admonish one another. Who's he talking to? The saints that are in Rome. He's talking to church. He's saying, admonish one another. Encourage one another. Lift up one another. Pray for one another. Let's talk about the things of God together. Let's not keep it inside the sanctuary, but when we're out at the grocery store, when we're out at the restaurants, when we're in our four walls of our home, when we're standing outside in the field somewhere, let's talk about the things of God. Let's lift each other up. Admonish each other up. To keep on pressing on to the goal that is before us, which is perfection. Let's encourage one another. As iron sharpens iron, so does the countenance of his brother sharpen another. So we've got to keep on lifting up the glory of God in our lives, in our conversations, each and every day. Lift up the saints in verse 14, but also we need to lead the lost in verse 20 and 21. He says, and so I have made it my aim to preach the Gospel to those who know where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation. But as it is written, to whom He was not announced, they shall see. And to those who have not heard, shall understand. We need to be preaching the Gospel to the lost. Beloved, that's not just the pastor's job. That's not just the deacon's job. That's not just the Sunday school teacher's job. That is the job of everyone who has put their faith and trust in Christ. Beloved, you are commissioned for the glory of God. Preach the right message. Preach to the right people. So as Ms. Patsy comes and prepares to play something, let's stand together as we consider these questions. As you begin to understand and begin to step into that commissioning, who will you go to? Who will you lift up and lead to Jesus? Who is your mission field? Will you start by praying for them? Praying for their salvation? Praying for their situation? During this time of invitation, will you gather at the altar and call them out before God this morning? Will you pray that God gives you the opportunity to share the love of Christ in word and in deed for the glory of God? You come. This altar's open. You come as the Lord leads.