Sermon: The Need for Clarity in Our Mission

Invite you to grab your Bibles and turn to Colossians chapter 4. We'll look at two verses here tonight. Let me pray as we come to the word. Lordy, thank you for speaking to us through your word. We ask that you would give us Hearts to receive it. Minds to understand And Lord, would you give us lips that would speak clearly and boldly. The mystery of Christ we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. We've been thinking about missions this weekend. Hopefully

you've been encouraged as you've heard the different speakers talk about the church in the Middle East and Egypt the work that's happening in Malawi and Africa Robert knuth with us the work down in our UF and Ann Arbor. The Lord's at work. We want to be encouraged with that. What I want to do tonight briefly is to reflect on the need for clairety in missions the need for clarity in our missions. We'll see that in these verses from Colossians chapter 2 follow along.

We'll look at versus three and four. I'm sorry. This is Colossians chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. all right this at the same time pray also for us that God may open a door. For the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. That I may make it clear. Which is how I ought to speak. Clarity in our missions. We see it in two different ways in this text and that's what I want to reflect on tonight. We need Clarity in defining

the mission and we need Clarity in doing the mission. So first think with me Clarity in defining the mission. You may be asked what is a missionary or what is missions? Think about Paul here in this text Paul is traveling throughout the Roman Empire in many ways. Rome was the most advanced of the time Paul traveled to the great cities of Athens and Corinth and Ephesus. Paul was a Pioneer missionary. So what was his mission? What was he supposed to do as a

missionary? Well think of these travels through this great Roman Empire certainly what it seemed in modern for the day. But it would have been full of problems as well. He would have encountered poverty child abandonment Emperor worship Pagan sacrifices cult practices. The list could go on and on. So in the midst of that, what is Paul's Mission, what is he supposed to do? Well, he summarizes it for us in verse 3 look back

at verse 3. He tells us his mission very specifically and very clearly. He says his mission is to declare. the mystery of Christ this was his motivation. This was his mission. This was his method to declare or proclaim the mystery of Christ. He tells us here that it landed him in prison. This Mission caused him great suffering countless beatings. He was almost stoned to death three times. He was Shipwrecked. He was constantly in danger. He tells us from robbers. He

was in danger in the cities. He was in danger in the wilderness. His life was full of Toil and full of hardship. think of all the pressure for Paul to abandon this Mission think of the pressure for him to change the mission to make it a little easier or a little safer. We recount the events of Paul in Ephesus in Acts chapter 19 where we read Paul entered the synagogue and for three months, he boldly spoke he reasoned and he

persuaded them about the kingdom of God. Than in Acts 19 we're told that after three months he left because the people were stubborn their hearts were hard. Paul knew it is like to see little fruit after his preaching in his ministry. So what does he do? Well, he goes to the hall of terranus. This was a Greek School of philosophy. And they were told that he reasoned daily for two years in this lecture hall until the text tells us all the

residents of Asia heard the Lord. As Paul was there reasoning in in persuading the people there was a man named Demetrius. He was a silversmith and he gathered people from his trade together and he said look this Paul he's persuading he's turning people away. He's saying that these Gods gods made with hands are not gods. He said there's danger. Not only that this trade of ours would come into disreputes. But also that this

Great temple the goddess of Artemis may be counted as nothing. And that she may even be deposed from her magnificence. See if all the things Christians can do proclaiming Christ is the most offensive and the most subversive. Why because rival Gods Must bow down to him? And bowing down they lose their Authority. They lose their magnificence. Paul was crystal clear about his mission. His mission was to declare the mystery of Christ.

Paul tells us what this mystery is earlier in the book of Colossians. He summarizes it by saying this mystery is Christ in you. He's thinking there of Jew and Gentile Christ in you the hope of glory In Ephesians chapter 2 and 3 Paul tells us the mystery in more detail. He tells us that Christ had become our peace through his death and Resurrection. And now Jew and Gentiles fellow heirs are joined together members of the

same body in partaking of the same promise. Pause clear about his mission. It's to preach this gospel this mystery of Christ. And as people respond and repentance and Faith. They're gathered into churches. Why churches? Because it's through the church where Jew and Gentile were master in slave where young and old rich and poor are gathered together in this new Humanity displaying the power of the gospel and the wisdom of God.

So Paul Labor day in and day out first in the synagogue then in the Greek lecture Halls doing the same thing over and over again. He didn't get discouraged. He didn't rethink his mission. He was committed to proclaiming Christ. And slowly this message of the Gospel would spread. And people were persuaded. And as they were persuaded persecution would come pressure would come but even in the midst of this pressure Paul kept going. Why did he keep going because

he was clear about his mission. Clarity in our mission Makes Us Faithful plotters doing the same thing day after day year after year, and it makes us resilient in the face of opposition. This is why we need Clarity in defining the mission. If the message is to Proclaim Christ, we cannot change the mission without tampering with the message We will either stop proclaiming which means that this message is not all that important or we

will soften the message and this is why we need to be crystal clear. The mission is to declare Christ. So we need Clarity in defining the mission. We see that from Paul. The second thing we see is Clarity in doing the mission. Clarity and doing the mission. How should we seek to accomplish this mission? We see three different areas from our text. first Clarity in our strategy Clarity in our strategy. What was Paul's strategy

as he went to all these various towns preaching the gospel? Sometimes you'll hear people say that Paul reached the big cities because if he could reach the cities he could influence and change culture. But it's sort of true. There's some truth in that. New Testament commentator Eckert Schnabel who wrote a 700 page book just on the life of the Apostle Paul Concludes that Paul didn't really have a strategy in the sense that we might use that word today.

He did go to big cities. He also went to small cities. He also went to the countryside. If we had to say that Paul had a strategy that the word that seems to to reflect his strategy is flexibility. Paul was flexible. And so he says here in our text pray that God would open a door for the word. This is his strategy God you are sovereign. And because you're Sovereign you need to open a door for the word. But this isn't simply a passive request so

sort of a let go and let God sing No Paul understood that his responsibility was to speak. Lord open a door so that I then might speak. God is Sovereign and he uses means to accomplish his work and we see two of those means in this text prayer and Proclamation. So whatever strategies or methodologies we might have these strategies and these methodologies don't work in and of themselves unless they are dependent upon prayer and Proclamation.

We need the Sovereign God to work in the hearts of people. Which is why our first step in whatever Ministry we do or whatever missions we may undertake is that we would be clear about our ultimate strategy that we would rely upon the Lord to open a door for the word. That's prayer. And that we would seek opportunities to speak of Christ. That's Proclamation. So we need Clarity in our strategy. Here's a second area Clarity in our message.

Clarity in our message remarkably here Paul prays for clarity in his communication. He says pray that I may make it this mystery this gospel clear. The word here for clear or Clarity means to reveal something in its true character. So in the low in the end in the final judgment, the Lord will bring to light the things that are now hidden in darkness. He will make the thoughts and intentions of the heart clear. That's the idea speaking clearly means we

don't stay on the surface. It means we go to the heart it it unveils things as they truly are it gets to the heart. Clarity means we speak intelligibly and deeply and this is why for missionaries. We need to stress the importance to learn the language and to learn culture. This might seem like a truism something that's obvious. But sadly in our day today. This is under emphasized and sometimes even rejected the idea that missionaries should

learn language. Why is that what takes too much time? The objection goes it takes too much effort. It's too hard to learn language. So we need to find another way. But think of the heroes that we have our missionary Heroes think of Adam niram and Anne Judson who went to Burma. They spent 12 hours a day studying the Burmese language imagine that 12 hours a day. I don't think I can remember anything that I've done for 12 hours. Let alone learning a

language. After learning Burmese and would go on to learn another language at an eye and went on to learn two more languages. John Payton, he was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the new hebrity islands. He was so fluent and so comfortable in the language a new one language that when he would return home to give updates he would forget how to use English. That's how fluent that's how comfortable he was in the local language.

Or even Hudson Taylor Hudson Taylor missionary to China. He advised new workers to spend six or eight hours a day to learn the language to quote until you can quote preach fluently and intelligently. He even turned down an applicant. His name was Henry Guinness. He turned him down because he had a wife and three kids and Taylor reasoned that it would be too hard for him to learn the language sufficiently to be useful.

He'd be more useful back home. So he said stay there. It's too too hard too difficult for you. If the mission is to declare the mystery of Christ, then missionaries must be committed to learning languages. Why because speaking clearly means being able to speak intelligibly and speak to the heart. So think of the verbs that we see in the New Testament words like speak or declare or Proclaim or bear witness or Reason persuade

all of these verbs all of these are trying to get at this idea that a consistent message that is spoken clearly is what is needed because of the urgency of this mission that we need to speak and declare this message that must be heard. And second Corinthians 5 Paul gives us an image of an ambassador. He says we are ambassadors for Christ. This is what missionaries are their ambassadors. They're making an appeal and what is that peel

to be reconciled to God? They've been entrusted with a message and they have a responsibility to communicate the message clearly. Clarity in our message means knowing the gospel. This is important Clarity in our message means knowing the gospel missionaries must know the gospel not simply set of verses that's been memorized or an illustration. Although those can be helpful missionaries need to know the whole story from Genesis to Revelation. What

is this plan? That is unfolding. What is this gospel from creation to fall to Redemption and then Restoration in the end. It means knowing a Biblical anthropology understanding who we are as image bears, but also understanding what thin is and how it operates in the human heart. It means understanding religion that religion is not simply something people believe but they're functioning as counterfeit Gods. It's a manifestation of sin in the fall.

Missionaries need to be clear on this they need to know a Biblical soteriology. That means how we are set free in Christ how we are saved. It means being clear on conversion and discipleship. There's all kinds of confusion today about this. You'll hear things. Like we disciple people to conversion or we teach people to obey so that they'll believe But this gets the order tragically wrong. We don't believe we don't obey unto belief we believe

and then we obey missionaries need to know a Biblical soteriology. They need to know a Biblical ecclesiology. The gospel does something to us? We're given new Hearts. We're given new identities. We're saved out of Darkness. We're brought into the Kingdom of Light. This is why an essential part of the missionary task is to plant churches. To gather Believers into these communities where they live out this new identity we could

go on and on missionaries need to be clear and they need to know the gospel. lastly missionaries need Clarity in their goals Clarity in their goals. What is it that we are seeking to accomplish? And what is our metric for success? If we are clear in defining the mission. That we will be clear in what we are to do in the mission. And that we will also be clear in evaluating the mission. And we can see it here in this text.

Paul tells us he's not seeking to live a comfortable life. Paul here is in Chains. He knew that whenever the gospel would go out there would be mixed responses. Some would believe it would be a smell of life to some it would be the smell of death to others. He knew that there would be this mixed reaction. Notice the metric that Paul gives us here in this text. It's not in the audience. It's not how they respond. No verse 4 he says

That I may make it clear which is how I ought to speak. Paul had a responsibility to Proclaim Christ. This was his mission. And the measure for this mission was not fruit although Paul longed for it. The measure is faithfulness. Is Paul being faithful to this Mission by speaking clearly? Is he depending upon the Lord to open doors? Is he speaking of Christ boldly? He says that's what I am called to do. This is what I am to be faithful to do to speak of

Christ when these doors are opened. So whatever goals we may have in missions. Our first should always be the measure of faithfulness. Our missionaries speaking clearly as they ought to speak. So in closing briefly, what does all of this mean for us three quick thoughts to wrap all this up as we think about missions or as you think about what a missionary is. Do you have Clarity in defining the mission? To you have Clarity in defining the mission. If someone asks you

what does it mean to be a missionary or I hear your church does missions? Well, what is missions? Do you give an answer that says missionaries are those who seek to declare the mystery of Christ? That's what a missionary is. That's what our mission is to declare this mystery. Do you have Clarity in defining this mission? Here's a second thing accountability and partnership. Having Clarity in our missions means that we will

keep our missionaries accountable. We will ask them. How is it going? How are you being faithful to speak of Christ? But it also helps us as we pray for them. This is our partnership that we would pray for them and Paul tells us very specifically. This is how you should pray. It's wonderful to ask people. How can I pray for you? But here's one of the ways that we can pray for everyone regardless of the answers. They give

pray that the Lord would open a door for the word. Open a door for the word Lord do this among the weakers. Do it among the Afghans. Do it in Kuala Lumpur or Istanbul or Chiang Mai Lord. Would you open a door for the word? Are we Partners In The Gospel with our missionaries through our prayers? Here's the last thing this is a call for all of us. Just like we heard this morning from Sharif. This is a call for boldness.

This is a call for boldness. We pray and then we seek to speak of Christ clearly in the face of fear. Is something we pray for our missionaries? It's something we should be praying for every one of us here Lord. Give us eyes to see the doors as they open and give us boldness to speak of Christ clearly in the face of fear. We want the Lord to do this work among our missionaries all over the all over the world. We want the Lord to do that work in our own midst

and so we can pray for that. Amen, let me pray for us as we close this sermon Lord. May you open a door for the word for all of us? May we all speak clearly? Lord would you give us eyes to see where you are at work and we pray for the missionaries we support we pray that you would be doing this work among them. That in all their labors you would open a door for the word. And Lord that you would give them Clarity to speak of Christ even

in the face of great fear. Or be ask that you do this work in our own midst here in our own backyard on the campus of Michigan State here in our community of East Lansing around the Greater Lansing area. Would you give us opportunities to speak of Christ or in all of this? We pray you'd help us all to measure our our success not in terms of numbers, but in terms of faithfulness Lord help us to be faithful with the next conversation with the

next opportunity. Or we ask all of this and pray in Jesus name. Amen.