The Kingdom of God: The Global Perspective
by Missions Team

Outline

    1. my spiritual journey this year
    2. Peter’s story
    3. talk about us as missional people and as a missional community

My story

On this path 25 yrs or so
2 times when God’s asked a question to test me, challenge my foundation
First when I was 20; second time, this year, when I was 30
I have been drawn to missionary work since I was a teen, and that desire came back when I came back to my faith in my early 20s after leaving it for a time

Then he walked with me into the worst place on earth  -  and I feel vindicated in saying that, because we got TIME this week, and one of the headlines along the top was: “Somalia: The Worst Place on Earth”

Somalia
Is the poorest nation on earth
Has had no gov’t for 18 years
More than half the population is addicted to qat
Have the largest piracy operations
Last week 13 yr old girl stoned to death

God was holding Somalia up to me and asking me: Do you think I can change THIS nation?  My answer was no.
humble pie – what I’m actually saying is this:

      1. I don’t know if God is completely good
      2. I don’t know if I believe God has the power to change systemic evil, like poverty, disease, corruption

As I was chewing on these questions this week, I was thinking of the people I know who have lost jobs, or who are facing losing your homes, and the questions are the same:

      1. Where are you, God?
      2. Do you actually have power to change this?
      3. Are you good?
      4. not a crisis of faith, (love my job, love God) but I’ve been wrestling with the nature of suffering and of my lack of understanding of God’s character and plan

Good news – He’s walked me through a lot this year
The Word – theme of redemption through suffering; don’t understand, but I know it’s there
Recounting his faithfulness in my life – “If that wasn’t God, then I’m crazy.”
I think I can honestly say that I believe God can change nations, and that God’s powerful enough to tackle systemic evil but I’m still wrestling with certain aspects

  1. Peter’s story

Mark 1 – scene: Sea of Galilee, fishing, “Follow me.”
Peter’s Bad Night
Scene: night Jesus is going to be arrested
Start in Matthew 26:32-35 – Jesus telling his followers he’ll have to die, and rise again – meet him in Galilee
Peter’s boasting
Story moves on; Jesus finds his friends sleeping, twice, while he’s in agony praying
Pick up the story in John 18:3-6
vs. 6 – invoking the name of God?
Going willingly – Jesus is the exact representation of God; the core of God’s character is sacrificial love
Jesus going on his own terms

      1. John 18:10-11 – Peter cuts off the servant’s ear
        1. doesn’t understand God’s plan
        2. doesn’t like what he sees
        3. takes matters into his own hands
      2. Story goes on; Jesus is brought to the home of the high priest

Peter waits outside
He is probably scared – there was talk among the Jews that Jesus was the promised messiah, the anointed one, the hope of the Jews, who they expected would overthrow the pagan Roman empire and establish God’s reign and rule on the earth
Many people claimed to be the messiah and the Romans viewed them as traitors b/c generally they led violent rebel groups.  They killed them, and they killed their followers.
Peter’s probably having doubts and thinking: What if he’s not the messiah?  Are they going to kill him?  Are they going to kill me too?
Peter still didn’t get it. Jesus was the messiah, who came to bring God’s reign and rule on earth, but NOT through violent means, but rather through laying down his life in love.
Peter denies Jesus three times.  The rooster crows.  Peter weeps bitterly.


Summation of Peter’s bad night

        1. He bragged about loving Jesus the most, saying he’d lay down his life for him – bravado/pride/chutzpah
        2. Falls asleep twice
        3. Misses God’s overall plan and lops off a guy’s ear
        4. Probably has doubts about who Jesus is, and is outright disloyal to his friend in denying him three times

Story continues – Jesus dies, disciples go home; even after the grave is empty, John tells us that he and Peter went back to their homes in Jerusalem … they still didn’t understand Jesus’ plan … no one’s going to Galilee to meet him

Jesus appears a couple of times, but I want to skip ahead to the third appearance to his disciples

Read John 21:15-19 – first and last words the gospels record Jesus saying to Peter are “Follow me.”  Three points:
1     Follow me.

        1. Peter’s come full circle, and his walk is like any of us who have been on this path: marked with revelation, intimacy, character tweaking, mistakes, doubt, disobedience, and sometimes even disloyalty. 
        2. But the call, the beckoning, is the same: Follow me.

2     Second thing – Jesus is all about restoration.

        1. Peter learned that loving Jesus is not a bragging right, but rather a confession of love born out of humility, awareness of our brokenness, and need.
        2. Peter now knows what it is to feel shame. “He who’s been forgiven much, loves much.  He who’s been forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7)
        3. We are all equal at the foot of the cross.  Peter needed that awareness – that smashing of his pride – to have deeper compassion and empathy.
        4. Jesus deals with the heart issues.

Peter – pride, lack of trust; me – pride, lack of trust

not a list of sins

anger – my own example

3     Third thing – If you love me, be who I made you to be.

Jesus speaks into who Peter is – pastor/apostle.

We are all missionaries – the mission of the church is to bring forth the kingdom of God on earth.

This is the good news, and if we love Jesus, he’s saying: You be who I made you to be.  We are all created for a purpose to expand his kingdom.  The only difference between what I do and what we all do as a missional church in SE Michigan is the apostolic call. 

Apostles

definition: Romans 15:20 – “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.”

Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians that Jesus gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some preachers, some teachers, etc.  We’re to eagerly desire the apostolic gift, but what I do isn’t any more special than what you’re called to do.

Kingdom of God:

justice for the poor

healing the sick

standing up for the weak/voiceless

bringing those on the margins of society into community

walking alongside the broken and offering hope and healing for their lives

We all respond in obedience to what God has made and called us to be.
It’s not my responsibility to save China or to eradicate poverty.  It’s HIS job.  It’s OUR job to do what He asks us to do.

Two things:
LOVE – I Corinthians 13
**If we’re not motivated by love, we’re not motivated by the Spirit of God, because God is love.**
The essence of who God is is sacrificial love.  I would challenge you that, if your walk with Jesus isn’t costing you something, you may want to ask why not.  Are you not obeying something he’s asking you to do?

We all know where we’re being stingy:

neighbor

co-worker

with our talents – teaching? small group?

Finally:

Article:  “Help From People of Faith” by Tony Blair
eight U.N. Millenium Goals
Tony Blair’s saying: We need more missionaries!

God asked me this year if I think He can change nations.  I’ve had to    wrestle through it.  Here’s Tony Blair saying, “Yes!  In fact, the world can’t do it without the church.  We need the transformative faith of those who follow Jesus to change the injustices of the world.” 
The rest of the world is starting to become convinced that the Gospel is big enough.
God made us all to have a part to play in bringing forth his kingdom on earth.