We Are Sent

Introduction

We are back to our series, Be Courageous—Living as God’s People in God’s World. Who are we as God’s people? And what is our mission in this world? In our last sermons we learned that God’s people are a people who bear witness to the only true living God. And we are a people who proclaim the gospel of Christ. Today, and next week, we will see that God’s people are a people who are sent and who send. Sent and send to witness and proclaim.

Let’s read

Romans 10:13-15

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

People are saved when they call on the name of Jesus Christ. But to call on his name they must believe in Him, and in order to believe, they must have heard about Jesus. You cannot believe in something or in someone if you have not heard about them. So for people to hear about Jesus, someone must tell them about Jesus. Therefore, messengers must be sent to them to preach the gospel. Someone has to go! 

God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save the world (Jn 3:17). The risen Lord sent us into the world, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (Jn 20:21). We are sent! All of us. What does it mean to be sent? And to send? Today we explore this theme of sending in the Old Testament. Next Sunday we will learn from the New Testament how Jesus sends us into the world, and how we are called also to send others. 

1.  God Sends to Save

The first thing we learn about sending is that sending is God’s work. The whole work, the whole mission of salvation is God’s work. God created the world. God called for himself a people through Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. God saved Israel from Egypt. God sent prophets to tell his people about the coming Messiah, the Savior. God sent his Son into the world. God resurrected Jesus from the dead, and glorified him as Lord. God sent the Holy Spirit to empower his people. And now, God’s work of salvation includes sending messengers with the good news of salvation in Christ. People do not get saved by accident or at random, but by a process that begins with the saving God, who takes action, who gives authority, commissions, and sends people to preach so that others may hear, believe, call on Jesus, and be saved. (Wright) Joh Calvin said this well, “The Gospel does not fall from the clouds like rain, by accident, but is brought by the hands of men to where God has sent it.”

When God sends it is usually with two great purposes — salvation and revelation. God sends people as agents of his salvation. God sends messengers to speak his Word. 

Our first example is Joseph. Let’s read Gen 45:5-8—And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. 

Gen 50:20—You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Was Joseph sent by God? But his brothers sold him into slavery! Yes, but we see here a sovereign God who is in control. He overrules, and he works through the human actions, even evil actions, to accomplish his purpose. God sent Joseph to save many lives. God sends because God saves.

Then God sent Moses to save his people from Egypt. See how many times the word, sent, is repeated in these verses in Ex 3:10-15. God sent Moses to save his people because he promised to save and to give them their own land. God sends because God saves because God promised. Moses was no self-appointed leader. He was not elected. He was no superhero with super powers. Although what he did was pretty amazing. However, what Moses did, God did. It was God working in and through Moses. Those superpowers came from God.

And here is our first lesson. When God sends us, and blesses our work, we must never take the credit for the successes, for the souls won, for churches growing. It’s all God’s work.

After Israel settled in the promised land, the Lord raised up judges to save his people. Even though the word “send” is not used, it has the same meaning. The Lord raised them up, and sent them to save. Read Judges 2:16,18—Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. … Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived.

Gideon is sent to save Israel. Read Judges 6:14,16—The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” … The Lord answered, “I will be with you …” 

He is sent with also a promise. “I will be with you.” We should not be afraid. We can go with courage when God sends us. He is with us. Jesus confirms this, “I am with you always.”

God sent his prophets to announce his promise of salvation, the Coming Savior. God will send the Messiah to save his people, and also the nations of the world. He fulfilled this promise. He sent his Son, Jesus, to save the world.

2.  God Sends to Speak

God also sent messengers to speak his Word to people. The prophets are the classic example. They speak for God, because they are sent by God. And because they are sent by God, they speak his Word with his authority.

Let’s look at Moses again. God did not send Moses only to save, but also to speak his Word to his people. Moses was a prophet. In Deuteronomy 18:17-19 God promised that he will raise up a prophet like Moses. And of course that promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through Moses God revealed his will, his ways, his Law to his people, so that they could live holy as his people. 

When God called Moses, Moses tried all kinds of excuses to avoid being sent by God. Until the Lord’s anger burned against Moses (Ex 4:14). Is this not what we are also doing? We know that we are sent by God into the world, but we come up with all kinds of excuses to avoid this calling. Each one of us must examine, and ask ourselves, are we making God angry with our excuses?

Or perhaps you are eager to go, and like Isaiah you are saying to God, “Here am I. Send me!” Good, but are you ready to go? Let’s look at Isaiah’s sending. Read Is 6:1-8—In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 

Isaiah encountered the awesome reality of God when he went to worship in the temple. God’s holiness overwhelmed him. Isaiah realized that he is inadequate, unqualified. He was a sinner. He confessed his sin. God cleansed him, purified him. Isaiah was then refocused, recentered, on God’s mission. “Only then, as a humbled, cleansed, recentered sinner, was he ready to be sent. Only then does God say, ‘Go …’” (Wright)

As we answer God’s call, as we go, we must make sure that we are ready. We must make sure that we are focused on God and his mission. We must go with humility. We are sinners, jars of clay. It’s only by God’s power that we can go into the world. And as we go we must remain Christ-centered. We must remember it is not about us. It is about God’s Kingdom, and his glory.

We can also learn from Jeremiah’s sending. Read Jer 1:4-9—The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” 

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.  Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah felt inadequate because of his youth, and also tried to make excuses. But the Lord touched his mouth and put his words in Jeremiah’s mouth. And then he sent Jeremiah. 

Now I want to speak especially to our young people and children. You are not too young to be sent by God! Don’t say, I don’t know how to tell others about Jesus. God has given you his Word. He promised you the Holy Spirit. If you have encountered Jesus. If you believe in Jesus. Then you can share Jesus with others. Just tell them what he did for you, who he is for you. When a friend is hurting or in need, pray with them. And if all else fails, and you really don’t know what to say, read the Bible to them. You can do it, because the all-powerful God, the Lord of the universe is with you. He will give you the courage and the words you need. 

Now note this — Jeremiah had no choice in his audience and message. “You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” Anywhere, and any words or message I give you. Wow! That’s a tall order! We may say, “Here am I! But please Lord, send me to Hawaii, or Bali, or some place nice. Please don’t send me to that bully who have been pestering me. Please don’t send me to that friend who betrayed me.

There is one more thing we can learn from Jeremiah, actually from all the prophets. There is a cost. Jeremiah was surrounded by false prophets who pretended to be prophets of YHWH, but were never sent by YHWH. The people refused to listen. They rejected the messenger.

When God sends us, we will encounter opposition. We will experience suffering. “Being sent by God is no guarantee of popular acceptance or apparent success” (Wright). But we should not despair. We should not give up. God, not us, is in control of the outcomes of his mission. 

3.  We are Sent!

So what have we learned? We are sent! We are sent for salvation and revelation. God sends and uses us to accomplish his mission, the redemption of his whole creation. He sends us to proclaim the good news that in Jesus Christ his Kingdom has come, and salvation is available for everyone who believes. We are sent to make God known to the world. 

All of us are sent! Where you are going, where you are, where you find yourself, no matter where, and what you are doing, God sent you there. There, in that place, at that time, be available for his mission, for his kingdom, for his glory. When you sit in class as a student, or teach a class as a teacher; when you play basketball on the court; when you are sitting in business meeting; when you are coaching a team; wherever you are, God sent you there. Be ready! Be available! Be courageous!

We are sent with authority. We represent the Lord Jesus Christ, God, who sent us. When they reject us, they reject the One who sent us (Mt 10; Jn 13:16,20; 15:18-21). Yes, it’s not fun when people reject us. It’s painful. It hurts. We feel shame. But we should not cry for ourselves, we should cry for them because their fate is much, much worse than our temporary hurt.

I’s a great honor and responsibility to be sent by God, but being sent also involves suffering, rejection, persecution, and sometimes death. Being sent will ask of us to step out of our self-centered comfort zones, and to step out into the world with bold courage. That courage come from the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s Word. We are not going in our own power and with our own authority. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, the King of kings, who has all the power and all the authority — He is with us!

I want to close with reading God’s Word to remind us, and to encourage us, that God is in control, and his mission does not depend on us, but on his sovereign power. 

God told Jeremiah — “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. (Jer 1:17-19)

God told Isaiah — “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Is 55:10-11)

We are sent, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are sent with the power and authority of God’s Word.