I thought I might start with a little quiz this morning. I’m going to put some mission statements up on the screen, and we’re going to see if anyone knows what organisation they belong to.
Inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time. Starbucks
To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft
To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla
To refresh the world…To inspire moments of optimism and happiness…To create value and make a difference. Coca-Cola
To build the web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution. Paypal
They’re an interesting mix aren’t they. Some are more practical and down to earth, obviously in line with the organisation’s core business. Others are a bit more aspirational, have an idea of underpinning values.
When organisations are working out how to achieve their overall goals, they often have objectives on the way, stepping stones if you like. Different business units will have their own responsibilities, and might come up with SMART objectives. I wonder if anyone knows what SMART objectives are?
SMART objectives – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed
This approach can be helpful to keep businesses and people in them on track, and all heading in the same direction, but there are other approaches. One of these is called BHAG. Anyone know what BHAG stands for?
BHAG – Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal
On of the best examples of a BHAG is a speech made by American President John F. Kennedy in 1962. What was his BHAG? It was to put a human being on the moon by the end of the decade. When he said it, the scientists had no idea how to do it, even if it could be done, but a Big Hairy Audicious Goal had been set, and they did it, a little ahead of schedule in 1969.
Why am I going on about mission statements, goals, SMART objectives and BHAGs? This isn’t a management seminar, this is meant to be a sermon.
Well, over the last month or so we’ve been thinking about mission in preparation for the Start to Stir team coming next weekend. We’ve explored the motivation for mission, being prepared for mission, and the fact that no one is too young or too old to be involved in mission. This week we are going to explore the goal of mission.
It seems to me that if we are to understand this, then we need to firstly explore what God’s goal is. There is a much quoted saying about God and mission, so much quoted in fact that I couldn’t track down who said it first.
“It is not that the church of God has a mission but that the God of mission has a church.”
To expand this a bit, it is not that God called us out to be the church and then had to think of some things for us to do. It is that God’s has some things to do and has called us together as a church to join God in doing them.
“It is not that the church of God has a mission but that the God of mission has a church.”
So, if we are to get a handle on the goal of our mission, then we need to get a picture of what the goal of God’s mission is. And where better to do see this than in God’s word?
In Paul’s letter to the Christians in the Greek city of Ephesus, in Ephesians 1:9-10, he writes this:
“God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”
It seems to me that there is a phrase in the middle of these verses that could be God’s mission statement,
“To bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ.”
This is God’s goal for creation. It always has been. From the very first days of creation, when God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. Through God choosing Abraham and his descendants to be a blessing to the whole of creation, through the repeated rescue of God’s chosen people, through Jesus coming to live among us, as one of us, the purpose of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension, through to the promise of his return to bring peace with justice to the whole of creation. All of it, everything in here and in God’s working through history. All of it is:
“To bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ”
It is a goal of universal scope. – All Things.
It’s easy to say “all things in heaven and earth”. It sounds big and grand, but let’s take a moment to think about the implications of that. Let’s bring it down a bit.
“all things” means every single person and every single place in creation. That means every person in the UK. It means every place in the UK. It means everyone in Telford. It means everyone in this parish. How many people live in the parish? About 15,000. It means all of them. That’s still quite big though, isn’t it. Feels not quite connected to us. So let’s bring it down again. It means everyone you know. It means every member of your family. All the people you work with. The people you meet up with for a cuppa. Every place means your street, your college, your work place, the place you walk your dog, the places you don’t feel comfortable walking at night.
God’s goal is to bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ.
It is a goal of individual focus.
We’ve seen this a bit as we’ve drilled down to what “All Things” mean. “All things” is made up of lots of individuals and places. It seems to me that we can see this even more clearly towards the end of that bit of Ephesians.
“we were also chosen”
Paul had a very clear sense that he had been chosen by God for a purpose. But this wasn’t an egotistical thing. He also thought that about every believer in Jesus. He wrote, “We have been chosen”. This draws on all the accounts of God in the Old Testament, who knew and spoke with individuals. In Psalm 139 we read:
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.”
We see the same pattern in the good shepherd looking for the single lost sheep, the woman searching for the single lost coin. God knows your name. Each and everyone of you, every single person in Wellington, in Telford, in the world. God knows and loves each person individually.
God’s goal is one of individual focus – God sees and loves each one.
So, God’s goal is universal in scope and individual in focus, but what is it that God is going to do?
God is going to “bring unity under Christ.”
It is specific in outcome. “Unity under Christ.” This is where creation is heading. “Unity under Christ.”
It is worth noting that this is not uniformity. It is not that God wants everyone and everything to be the same. We can see God’s love of creativity and diversity in the creation around us. God’s goal isn’t for us to all be clones. It is for everything to be reconciled. To be united. But to be united in what?
Well, what does Jesus say are the most important commands? What are two of our key values here at All Saints,
“To love God. To love our neighbours.”
We are to be united in love. Love of God, love of each other, love of the world which has been entrusted to our care.
And we are united under Christ. The oldest Christian statement of faith is, “Jesus is Lord”. This is God’s goal. For the whole of creation, for each individual, to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and to live under his loving rule and reign, in God’s perfect kingdom for ever.
God’s goal is universal in scope, individual in focus, and specific in outcome.
This is not a SMART objective. This is the BHAG to end all BHAGs. It is Big, Hairy, and Audcious. There is no way we can achieve it. But that’s OK, because we don’t have to. This is God’s goal, and as such is also our ultimate goal, but it’s not our job. Our job is to do the bit that God has given us to do in working towards that goal.
And we know what God has given us to do, we hear it read in Matthew’s eye witness account of the life of Jesus.
We are to go, and as we go, we are to make disciples, baptising, and teaching them.
That might sound quite a big ask, but we are not on our own in it. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit, equipping and empowering us. We have each other to encourage and cheer each other on. We have folk like Darin and Joy who can show us ways to start doing this, and do it well. God’s goal is to bring unity under Christ to you and every person you know, and is calling you to join him as he does so. What a privilege.
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