I thought I might start with a little quiz this morning. I\u2019m going to put some mission statements up on the screen, and we\u2019re going to see if anyone knows what organisation they belong to. <\/p>\n
Inspire and nurture the human spirit \u2013 one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time. Starbucks<\/p>\n
To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft<\/p>\n
To accelerate the world\u2019s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla<\/p>\n
To refresh the world\u2026To inspire moments of optimism and happiness\u2026To create value and make a difference. Coca-Cola<\/p>\n
To build the web’s most convenient, secure, cost-effective payment solution. Paypal<\/p>\n
They\u2019re an interesting mix aren\u2019t they. Some are more practical and down to earth, obviously in line with the organisation\u2019s core business. Others are a bit more aspirational, have an idea of underpinning values.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
SMART objectives \u2013 specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
BHAG – Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Why am I going on about mission statements, goals, SMART objectives and BHAGs? This isn\u2019t a management seminar, this is meant to be a sermon.
\nWell, over the last month or so we\u2019ve been thinking about mission in preparation for the Start to Stir team coming next weekend. We\u2019ve 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. <\/p>\n
It seems to me that if we are to understand this, then we need to firstly explore what God\u2019s goal is. There is a much quoted saying about God and mission, so much quoted in fact that I couldn\u2019t track down who said it first.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not that the church of God has a mission but that the God of mission has a church.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s has some things to do and has called us together as a church to join God in doing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not that the church of God has a mission but that the God of mission has a church.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s mission is. And where better to do see this than in God\u2019s word?<\/p>\n
In Paul\u2019s letter to the Christians in the Greek city of Ephesus, in Ephesians 1:9-10, he writes this:<\/p>\n
\u201cGod 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 \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems to me that there is a phrase in the middle of these verses that could be God\u2019s mission statement,<\/p>\n
\u201cTo bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is God\u2019s 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\u2019s chosen people, through Jesus coming to live among us, as one of us, the purpose of Jesus\u2019 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\u2019s working through history. All of it is:<\/p>\n
\u201cTo bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a goal of universal scope. – All Things.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to say \u201call things in heaven and earth\u201d. It sounds big and grand, but let\u2019s take a moment to think about the implications of that. Let\u2019s bring it down a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201call things\u201d 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\u2019s still quite big though, isn\u2019t it. Feels not quite connected to us. So let\u2019s 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\u2019t feel comfortable walking at night.
\nGod\u2019s goal is to bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under Christ. <\/p>\n
It is a goal of individual focus.
\nWe\u2019ve seen this a bit as we\u2019ve drilled down to what \u201cAll Things\u201d mean. \u201cAll things\u201d 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. <\/p>\n
\u201cwe were also chosen\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul had a very clear sense that he had been chosen by God for a purpose. But this wasn\u2019t an egotistical thing. He also thought that about every believer in Jesus. He wrote, \u201cWe have been chosen\u201d. This draws on all the accounts of God in the Old Testament, who knew and spoke with individuals. In Psalm 139 we read:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have searched me, Lord,
\n and you know me.
\n2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
\n you perceive my thoughts from afar.
\n3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
\n you are familiar with all my ways.
\n4 Before a word is on my tongue
\n you, Lord, know it completely.
\n5 You hem me in behind and before,
\n and you lay your hand upon me.
\n6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
\n too lofty for me to attain.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
God\u2019s goal is one of individual focus \u2013 God sees and loves each one.<\/p>\n
So, God\u2019s goal is universal in scope and individual in focus, but what is it that God is going to do?<\/p>\n
God is going to \u201cbring unity under Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is specific in outcome. \u201cUnity under Christ.\u201d This is where creation is heading. \u201cUnity under Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s love of creativity and diversity in the creation around us. God\u2019s goal isn\u2019t for us to all be clones. It is for everything to be reconciled. To be united. But to be united in what? <\/p>\n
Well, what does Jesus say are the most important commands? What are two of our key values here at All Saints,<\/p>\n
\u201cTo love God. To love our neighbours.\u201d <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
And we are united under Christ. The oldest Christian statement of faith is, \u201cJesus is Lord\u201d. This is God\u2019s 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\u2019s perfect kingdom for ever. <\/p>\n
God\u2019s goal is universal in scope, individual in focus, and specific in outcome. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s OK, because we don\u2019t have to. This is God\u2019s goal, and as such is also our ultimate goal, but it\u2019s not our job. Our job is to do the bit that God has given us to do in working towards that goal.<\/p>\n
And we know what God has given us to do, we hear it read in Matthew\u2019s eye witness account of the life of Jesus.<\/p>\n
We are to go, and as we go, we are to make disciples, baptising, and teaching them. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I thought I might start with a little quiz this morning. I\u2019m going to put some mission statements up on the screen, and we\u2019re going to see if anyone knows what organisation they belong to. Inspire and nurture the human spirit \u2013 one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time. Starbucks To empower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[431],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":976,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions\/976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}