Mission Illinois Offering

When I came to be your pastor, Ben Jones was the pastor of discipleship at Ten Mile Baptist Church on this side of McLeansboro, a church that my family has a lot of connections to. And then he became the IBSA zone consultant for our region that fall. I remember sitting with him at the Clubhouse Grill that spring, talking about how things were going and where God might be leading our church family.

He’s now the Communication Team Leader for Illinois Baptist, and even though that video wasn’t specific to the Mission Illinois Offering, I wanted to show a video that had a hometown (or next county over) connection for us.

One more thing about IBSA: the annual meeting, where all our churches come together to connect, be encouraged, and make decisions together to further the Kingdom in Illinois is coming up on November 7–9 at Cornerstone in Marion.

If you are interested in going and being a representative of Third Baptist Church at the annual meeting, please let me know so I can get you more information about how to register as a “messenger”.

Intro & Recap

In the message last week, I mentioned how much the world has changed. We live in a selfie-taking, self-service, self-serving, self-absorbed culture. The basic ideals of society, the things that everyone agrees are essential, are vastly different than they were 15, 25, 30 years ago. And even if the word that’s used is the same, the definition of that word has shifted.

One of the core values of American life has always been freedom—“land of the free and home of the brave.” That independent streak still runs strong, maybe even more so than ever before.

But with the decay of nearly every other ideal, it’s like we’ve taken freedom to the extreme. Our society defines freedom to mean the complete absence of restraint—nobody has the right to tell me what to do or how to behave.

A few years ago one author said that freedom is pretty much the only universal cultural imperative we have left. And, like with any value that a society holds dear, to question it in any way is sure to be met with anger, arguments, and accusations.

And this idea of complete self-autonomy is taught to us from the earliest ages and in the most catchy forms. Like the words of this song that anyone who’s been around a little girl in the past decade is familiar with…

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free

Let It Go, Frozen

Our Freedom in Christ

Now, clearly, as followers of Jesus Christ, we believe in freedom. It’s just that our definition of it is radically different than those around us… or at least it should be.

You don’t hear the term much now, but back in the sixties, the hippie movement was known as the counterculture. That is what the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be—in every culture that ever has been or ever will be, those who are citizens of another Kingdom, a kingdom literally “not of this world” (yet!), will invariably, inevitably run counter to the culture in various ways. Being a growing, healthy disciple of Jesus Christ is the ultimate alternative lifestyle.

So let’s spend a few minutes talking about the freedom we have in Christ this morning, starting in John 8. Jesus is talking to some Israelites who had believed in him, and he says…

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31–32

And they go, “Umm… we’re not slaves. We’re free men. What are you talking about, being ‘set free’?” Jesus responds…

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:34–36

And we are free indeed. It’s the freedom of a relationship of unconditional love—God doesn’t just love us when we’re obedient, like a slave. He loves us as a loving, devoted, perfect Father to his precious sons and daughters.

Paul picks up and expands on this topic of freedom, specifically in the book of Galatians, so if you have your Bibles open there, look at verse 1:

Free from earning grace

For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then,
and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

Specifically in this book, Paul is dealing with people who are trying to add to the gospel. Yes, believe Jesus is the Messiah, but also eat like an Israelite. Yes, believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but celebrate the Jewish holidays. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, but you have to be circumcised.

In the first four chapters, Paul has expounded on the gospel, and now this is the application section of his sermon. And he does it with the strongest language. Stand firm in the freedom Christ bought for you, and don’t go back to that old slave master.

Nothing we’re talking about in this series is so that God will love us. Just the opposite, it’s only because He already has.

There is nothing more free than a relationship of unconditional love.

There is nothing good you can do to make God love you more,
and nothing bad you can do to make him love you any less.

But we can’t just stop at freedom from, we have to go to freedom for.

Freedom For…

For we eagerly await through the Spirit,
by faith, the hope of righteousness.

Galatians 5:5

I just have to mention verse 12, because it’s one of the best verses in the Bible if you have a snarky, sarcastic sense of humor.

I wish those who are upsetting you would go so far as to castrate themselves!

Galatians 5:12, NET

If cutting a bit of skin off makes you so much more righteous, why don’t you be super holy and just lob the whole thing off. That’s bold preaching! :::

And then down in verse 13, we get to being free to serve.

For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters;
only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for
the flesh, but serve one another through love.

Galatians 5:13

Part of our calling is to stand firm in this freedom.

But freedom in Christ doesn’t mean there’s nothing we have to do, or that we get to do whatever we feel like in the moment. We’re not free to sit, we’re free to serve… just like Jesus.

Our Servant King

Jesus walking down the road, telling his disciples what’s going to happen in Jerusalem. Apparently went in one ear and out the other.

James & John ask if they can sit on his right and left. The other disciples hear it and are offended. Jesus calls them together and says, “Fellas, listen…”

Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all.
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:43-44

Jesus is the full picture of God in human flesh. This is what God is like… and he’s a servant.

Peace be with you. As the Father
has sent me, I also send you.

John 20:21

So to be a disciple (who makes disciples!) means to be more and more like Jesus. Which means to be increasingly, more and more, a servant.

We are a family of servant missionaries sent
to be disciples who make disciples in all of life.

How do we serve like Jesus?

What are some implications for our serving?

He served even when he had stuff going on.

He served even when it interrupted his plans.

When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.

Matthew 14:13-14

We need to have the same heart, the same compassion, even when we don’t feel like it.

He didn’t let serving others keep him from the Father.

After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain
by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.

Matthew 14:23

He didn’t let their demands on his time become all-consuming.

Who do we serve?

1. We serve those closest to us.

2. We serve the least among us.

“And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
because he is a disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

Matthew 10:42

3. We serve those who employ us.

Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23–24

If there is any place that needs to experience the
change that Jesus’s kingdom brings, it is the workplace.

Jeff Vanderstelt, Saturate

4. We serve the neighbors around us.

1 Peter 2:12 CSB

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.

1 Peter 2:12

5. We serve the saints alongside us.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good
of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Galatians 6:10

6. We serve the King who served us.

Through our lives, Jesus is showing the world the kind of King he is and the nature of the kingdom he rules. As his servants, we point forward with our acts of service to a far better world where Jesus’s rule will be experienced everywhere.

Jeff Vanderstelt, Saturate

Following Jesus means sacrificially serving each other and the world in the same way he served us.