Christ's Mission Statement

            Mission statements. Everyone has to have one.  They define who we are, what our purpose is and how we plan to achieve that purpose.  Corporations have to have them.  Small companies have to have them. Even Jesus had one. 

            He spent His life living out a Mission Statement that fulfilled His and God’s vision.  It comes from the book of Isaiah and it is what was to define His ministry:

                     “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,


                                     because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
 

                                     He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
  

                                     and recovery of sight to the blind,
    

                                     to let the oppressed go free,


                                    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

            It has all the requisites of a mission statement.  It clearly and accurately tells us who Christ is: “The annointed One of God”.  And it tells us this in plain English (OK, it’s really plain Aramaic.).  But Jesus says what He plans to accomplish in language no one can misunderstand:

             He is here to bring Good News, not to those who believe they have everything they need without the help of God and not to the religious who believe they have already achieved salvation on their.  He comes instead to the poor, to those in physical and spiritual need, those held captive by life experiences. 

            Christ has come to give sight not just to the physically blind but to those who have become blind to the goodness and love in our world, who no longer see the positive but focus in on hatred and fear.

            Christ has come to let the oppressed, the downtrodden, the bruised by life, the crushed and the broken --- go free.  He has come to break their chains  and proclaim that the year of God’s favor, the year when the Messiah would appear, has in fact come.  It is here and it is now. 

            Of all that is said in these two short verses the fact that the year of the Lord’s favor is now has always struck me. 

            NOW, in this very moment, we have the ability to throw off our chains, chains to the past that bind us, chains that keep us from moving forward. 

            NOW, right now, we can move past our broken dreams.

            NOW we can choose to see ourselves as God sees us: as a beloved child, whole and perfect in His sight. 

            NOW we can dream dreams and make them come true. 

            NOW we no longer have to be blind to our possibilities mired in the darkness of hopelessness and fear.  We don’t have to wait until tomorrow --- we can claim our future NOW --- RIGHT NOW. 

            NOW we are free to be the people, the church, the world, God created us to be. That’s Christ’s mission statement.  May it be our as well. 

But Now It's Time To Begin Again

There’s a famous preacher who likes to tell the story of a well-researched, very erudite sermon he once gave.  He was inordinately proud of it and was waiting for the congregation’s response of praise.  Then one of his elders who had lost both his job and his marriage in a very short time, a man the pastor had been praying for on a daily basis, came up with his face wreathed in smiles and new energy. 

            “That sermon this morning has changed everything!  I know now that I can pick up and start over again.”

            “Really,” said the pastor.  “Can you tell me what it was that I said?” 

            “Sure.” said the elder.  “It was when you said “Now for my next point.”  Right then I knew that I needed to move forward to the next part of my life instead of focusing only on what I’d lost.” 

            So much for hours spent studying and struggling over every word in our sermons.  But that’s exactly how God starts His love song to the Jews in Isaiah 43:  ‘But now”  “But now” it is time to begin again.  “But now” it’s time to depend on me and my strength once more.

            And when we do this we will find that we are no longer alone even at our lonliest of times.  Listen to God speak to your heart.  Listen for His promise:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by name you are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

And through the rivers, they shall not overtake you.

When you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame it shall not consume you.    

            There are two things of importance to notice:  First the bad news.  The life of faith is no fairytale where nothing bad will ever happen to you and you will never be discouraged or disappointed.  You will not live a charmed life from the moment you first believe.  That’s not God’s message.  He doesn’t even hint at that as a possibility. 

            Instead the Lord realizes that there will be hard, hard times you may think you will never recover from.  You see God doesn’t say If you pass through water; instead He says when the rivers overwhelm you.  It’s not if you walk through fire; it’s when. 

            But then comes the Good News.  We will not go through those times alone and they can not defeat us  because God is with us.  

            You see, God starts everything over again.  Whatever has gone before, has been swept away.  There’s a clear slate ready for a new beginning and the pain of the past is to be kept in the past --- not muddying up the present or tarnishing the future.

            Why would God give us this kind of fresh start?  He Himself gives the answer and what a wonderful answer it is: I do this “because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”

            Think of it!  You are cherished by God. You bring the twinkle to His eye and your picture is stuck to heaven’s refrigerator door.  And instead of God pitying you or being ashamed of you, He honors you.  He pulls you out from the back of the crowd where you’d like to hide and says  No.  I want you up here, in front of everyone, right beside Me.   In His eyes the past truly is over and done for, and all that is left to say is “I love you”.   Begin again.

Run the Race

Have you ever wandered through a graveyard reading a person’s last words on their tombstones?  It’s amazing what you can learn about someone by their epitaph.  Take the following for instance: 

“Here lie the bones of Mary Jones;  Her life it knew no terrors  

Born an old maid, died an old maid;   No runs, no hits, no errors.” 

         Or this one brief note from an avid shopper:  “Gone to Wal-mart.”

Then there is this “To follow you, I’m not content, Until I learn which way you went!”   And finally, “Beneath this stone, lies Dr. John Bigelow, an atheist all dressed up with no place to go.” 

When the Apostle Paul knew he was about to die, he penned these words: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” I pray we will all be able to write those words on our tombstones. 

We must fight the good fight in our world and on our own personal battleground. We must fight against drug and alcohol, poverty and starvation, violence against the innocent at home and abroad. In our lives, we may need to fight against the demons of illness, depression or despair.  What ever our battleground is, at the end of the day we want to say “I fought the good fight.” 

We must also finish the race.  Notice that the scripture says we must finish the race, not that we must win. 

I’m reminded of a vivid scene I saw when I was still in high school but never forgot. It took place in 1968, in the summer Olympics at Mexico City where one of the greatest runners, won by coming in dead last. 

John Stephen Alchwari of Tanzania was tripped up by another runner early in the race but he still crossed the finish line of the marathon ---well over an hour behind everyone else.  He finally hobbled across the finish with his leg bandaged and bleeding, barely able to walk.  When he was asked why he didn’t just give up along the way, Mr. Alchwari answered, “My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race.  They sent me to finish.” 

So God sends us to finish.  Let us then run our race knowing we do not run in vain. 

Life Solutions Instead of Resolutions

January first is a perfect day.  It’s a new beginning. The year’s a blank slate.  For once we know that we can keep each and every one of the commitments we made to ourselves.  For one entire day anything will seem possible.

But then reality hits and most of us feel too exhausted to even think about all those resolutions we made with such conviction and hope.  So this year, instead of resolutions I’m suggesting we make life solutions.

What do life solutions look like?

They’re based upon the heart of the gospel -- the grace and love of God --- the promise that we can be born again, start all over, and become a new person.  It is the miracle of a cosmic “do-over”. 

What’s the first step? 

The first step is to spend some time in deliberate prayer where you concentrate on finding the image of your life that God has for you, free of all the “should haves” and “could haves” and mistakes made and opportunities missed. 

Cut yourself free from all of these and listen for God to reveal His portrait of you as His child.  Dream dreams.  Let your imagination fly.  Do not limit the possibilities of you.  Remember, with God nothing is impossible.

A famous Jewish rabbi, Rabbi Zusia, told his congregation before he died, “When I face the celestrial tribunal, I shall not be asked why I was not Abraham, Jacob, or Moses, but why I was not the best Rabbi Zusia that I could be.”

Your life solution will make you the best Patricia, the best Richard, the best Tommy, you can be. What our life solutions look like will be different for each one of us because God made each of us unique, but in the end we will discover that the essence will be the same --- love:  Love of God, and at long last, love for ourselves.