As we pursue Jesus, we're confronted with his mission and that he invites us into cultivating this missional life that he um was the example to us all. So when I was a Christian, I when I became a Christian, when I first encountered Jesus, I was 18. Um, less than 2% of people even go to church in England. So um, I knew absolutely nothing. I had never stepped foot in a church and I came to know Jesus through a near-death experience. So I was overjoyed that of the message that we have eternal life in him. But I thought, what do I do now?
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Okay, Jesus came to extend his kingdom and the primary way he did that was to make disciples and those disciples he calls to then go and make disciples. So that's my life. I need to go and make disciples just as he did. And that's taken me over uh 30 years in three different continents and four different countries from slum areas and now eventually to Westbend. Um so I want to share with you two scriptures that have almost been the bedrock of the last 30 years.
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But the one that we miss is that we discover more of Jesus and we connect with him in intimate relationship with him as we partner with him in his mission. And that's entirely consistent with scripture. The scripture that I want to share is from Song of Songs 3:1-2. It says, "One night as I lay on my bed, I yearned for my lover. I yearned for him, but he did not come. So I said to myself, I will get up and roam the city, searching all the streets and squares, and I will search for the one I love."
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If we want to pursue a missional life, we have to remember that this is lifelong partnership with Jesus in his mission. We won't cultivate a missional life if we think that mission is just a bunch of projects and programs and things that we have to volunteer in. Sometimes we can reduce God's mission to a program and it can become another religious duty that we have to perform.
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Actually, the paradigm that I want us to be caught up in is not that we go on a mission trip for 10 days or we volunteer once a week, but that our bridegroom is calling us as our bride and inviting us into this partnership to extend his kingdom wherever you are.
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When I first started out on this journey at 18, I was really excited about the adventure that this missional life might bring. I was excited that I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to make a change. I wanted my life to mean something. I wanted to achieve something. I wanted to be have a difference in somebody's life. And they are all important motivations. There's nothing wrong with those. But as the years went by, I realized that it's actually only my intimacy with Jesus that sustains me from not giving up.
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Inside we were alive because of our intimacy with Jesus. Again, if it was about achievement, that's not enough because what about when things go wrong and they don't work? 2015 was the first attempted coup in Bundi and we were caught up in that and over about three or four months um the rebels uh and the government clashed so much you know grenades, uh shootings imprisonments and everything was lost 10 years of work gone if it's about achievement you give up 10 years later we're all evacuated again.
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Because a biblical understanding of a successful life is got nothing to do with fruit. It's actually all to do with faithfulness. And that has to be enough for us the joy of obedience, of being faithful to what God has called you to. Because I want to hear at the end of my life, "Well done, my faithful servant." He's not going to say, "Well done because you got a mast's. Well done because you gave all your money away to the poor." I long to hear, "Well done because you were faithful. in your walk with me and you did what I told you to do."
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The third thing is that a life of mission whether you're here or abroad or in prison is that you engage in an intimacy with suffering with Jesus. It's not easy. It's not rosy and it's not comfortable. But Philippians 3:10 says, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. I want to suffer with it. I want to suffer with him sharing in his death so that in one way or another I will experience his resurrection.
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When you engage in his mission and engage in his suffering, you begin to realize it's not just about our inheritance, but what is his inheritance? His inheritance is you and I. that we are his bride partnering with him ex to extend his kingdom. He isn't here to give us earthly happiness or self-satisfaction. That's not the deal. Our greatest pleasure is found in doing his will, God's will.
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Jesus's task to the 12 and the 72 is to go and find this person that God is already working in advance in their life. My favorite story of this uh in in Bundi is my friend and I were he had a heart. He said, "I think God wants us to go to the village that's over the mountain. It's about two hours walk." I said, "Okay, well, let's read this passage. It's clear. Let's believe that there's people of peace there that God is already working in."
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So what have I learned to find these people of peace? I take it straight from the text. The first verse, Jesus sends them in twos. And I am convinced that he sends us in twos because if he sends us on our own, we won't do it. We simply won't do it. There's so many reasons why we won't do it. you know, we're in the I'm in the township uh again in South Africa and I'm so glad that we were there with a team because I didn't wake up every morning with loving gushing feelings to go and reach the township for Jesus.
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What would be much better is if we went out and we felt strong and capable and that we've got this. But it's the complete opposite. And it's scary. You're a lamb and you're amongst wolves. The world is not a nice place. But what we do is we circle the wagons. we shrink back and we try and control our environment because it feels unsafe. Instead, we're to press into the uncomfortable place of fragility and powerlessness and weakness and humility. Because when we do that, we surrender our control and we begin to trust Jesus.
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If you feel incompetent, you're supposed to. You can't do it. You cannot do it. Now, American culture says you can. Complete nonsense. We cannot do it. Jesus can. We're supposed to press into him because he's enough. He says, "Don't take anything with you. Don't trust in your money. Don't trust in your resources. Don't trust in your education and your networks. Trust in me."
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Honestly, as I look at the Western church, the biggest distraction is that we're just too busy. There isn't the time. Our lives are completely frenetic. And a lot of the time it's doing good things. Honestly, we there's a lot of um busyness that's just church stuff. There's nothing wrong with that. But if we're not intentional about making the time to engage with people who don't know Jesus, it's not going to happen.
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So I ask you this question and I ask myself this question. How many people do I know who I intentionally spend time with in my week, in my month to build relationship, to share the gospel with? Do I have non-Christian friends? If I don't, am I putting time in my week to make sure that I'm trying to build non-Christian relationships? Again, if we're not intentional about it, it won't happen.
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The challenge is as we stay with them, as we walk with them, is that we learn to share our walk with what God is doing in our life. So, how do we apply this? What is what are the takeaways? Well, the first thing is press into intimacy with Jesus on his mission. Okay. Sometimes when we've uh been a Christian a long time, we can get stale. You know, life happens and you can kind of think, is this it?
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If you're hungering, take the step to go out. And if you're not hungering, many times in your my life, I've struggled and thought, and I've had to ask the Holy Spirit, can you birth that hunger in me again? Birth that hunger in me again when I gravitate to the comfort. when I gravitate to just being satisfied with the with the small crumbs of the kingdom. Holy Spirit, birth me that that doesn't satisfy me anymore. Ruin me so that I don't chase after that again.
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