.png)
Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
The Gospel-Centered Community - A Community on Mission
Welcome to the stirring conclusion of our series, “The Gospel-Centered Community,” with Pastor Tyler Lynde’s sermon, “A Community On Mission.” This sermon intricately weaves theological depth with practical application, exploring what it truly means to live as ambassadors for Christ, rooted in the transformative teachings of 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
Pastor Tyler begins with a captivating tale from his own life, sharing a poignant memory of his grandfather, Timberjack Joe Lyons. This narrative not only illustrates a profound moment of personal transformation but also sets the stage for understanding our broader mission within the Christian community. Tyler uses this story to paint a vivid picture of how individual faith experiences can influence and drive our collective purpose.
Throughout the sermon, Tyler challenges common misconceptions about missionary work. He emphasizes that missionary work isn’t just for those who travel across oceans; it’s for everyone who follows Christ. He argues that we are all called to be missionaries, whether in our homes, workplaces, or broader communities. This mission involves living out the gospel not only through words but through every action and interaction we engage in daily.
Delving into Paul’s message to the Corinthians, Tyler elucidates how being a new creation in Christ underpins our call to mission. He discusses the concept of “old things passing away” and how our new identity should radically alter our lives and relationships. This transformation, driven by the Holy Spirit, compels us to reconcile others to God just as we have been reconciled.
Using examples from the early church in Acts 2, Tyler illustrates how their practices of communal living, sharing resources, and supporting one another were natural outflows of their faith and mission. He connects these practices to modern initiatives within our community, such as the upcoming mission trip to Tanzania, highlighting how these actions continue to fulfill Christ’s command to be His witnesses in every part of the world.
Furthermore, Tyler addresses the role of the family in this mission-oriented lifestyle. He underscores the importance of parents and grandparents in modeling and transmitting faith to younger generations. Through stories of personal and community experiences, he shows how these fundamental relationships can become a powerful avenue for gospel transmission.
As we conclude “The Gospel-Centered Community” series, this sermon is a call to action for every listener. Pastor Tyler invites us to embody the mission of Christ in our everyday lives, urging us to turn every environment we enter into a mission field. He encourages us to embrace our roles as Christ’s ambassadors, bringing the message of reconciliation wherever we go.
This episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice on how to live out Christ’s love and message daily. Tune in to “A Community On Mission” for a transformative experience that will challenge and equip you to make a meaningful impact in your community and beyond. Whether you’re deeply entrenched in your faith or just starting to explore what it means to be part of a gospel-centered community, this sermon offers valuable insights that can help you live out your faith boldly and authentically.
We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Subscribe to our Podcast & YouTube channel to find past sermons, classes, interviews, and more!
Find us on Facebook & Instagram
Okay, let's turn in our Bibles, if we could, to 2 Corinthians, 5, verse 17,. And we'll get started here this morning. Over the last 10 weeks, we've studied some very important truths, haven't we? We've been looking at this book called Gospel-Centered Community. We learned about the theology of community, which is that God made us for community. Sin destroys community. Jesus redeems us for community, and in community, both sides of that. We looked at how community shapes our understanding of what Christ has done for us, along with applying it to our lives. We also considered how the gospel works to form and transform our experience of community. We saw how faith works through love and that our failure to love is rooted in our failure to what To believe and apply the gospel. And then we spent some weeks talking about different characteristics of biblical community, including joy, humility, honesty and grace. And today I have the privilege of bringing the last installment from this series, from chapter 9 in the book, and this is called A Community on Mission. A Community on Mission.
Tyler Lynde:So let's look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 17 through 21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God For our sake. He made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Let's pray, Father, we are so thankful to be together today in this place, and we thank you for the privilege and opportunity of opening your word and studying the scriptures together. And, Lord, we don't take it for granted that we live in a place where there's still freedom for religion and freedom for gathering, Lord, and we pray that you continue to work in our nation to maintain freedom, Lord, God, so that we can continue to serve you the way that we desire to. And, Father, we pray for those around the world today who don't find themselves in places where they can freely gather. We ask for grace for them, for the ability for them to continue to shine the light of Jesus Christ in very dark times and dark places. And, Lord, we just ask that, as I speak these words, that they'll be enlightened by you, that they will be transformative because of the work of the Holy Spirit, Change our minds, change our hearts, change our lives. We pray, we give you the thanks In Jesus' name. We pray, Amen, Amen.
Tyler Lynde:So I wanted to show you a picture this morning, and this picture is really special to me because this is my grandfather, Timberjack Joe Lyons. Now, that's not his given name, but that's the name that was given to him. Does that make sense? So he was a larger than life character. I grew up in Wyoming, for those of you who don't know it, and my grandfather, whenever he showed oh, by the way, just, you're probably wondering, Little boy on the horse, that's me, yeah, I posed and then I cried that's a big horse. I was a little scared but anyway.
Tyler Lynde:But I loved my grandpa, my brother and I. He always referred to us as the boys. I don't know if he knew our names or not, but we were the boys, and whenever he'd show up in town, it was always there was a big deal, Because back then there were no cell phones. It was pretty much smoke signals, right. And so we never knew fully when he was going to show up. And when he did show up, my brother and I got really excited because we knew there was some kind of exploration, some kind of adventure that was going to ensue quickly. And so, whether we were hunting or fishing or doing something else that seemed pretty out of the ordinary for us in real life, we knew that it was going to be a big time.
Tyler Lynde:And one of those times we were driving over the Rocky Mountains and there's a place at the very top of the Rocky Mountains where water literally comes out of the side of the mountain. There's a rock and there's a pipe there that's in the rock and water comes out. And I'm telling you there's no water that I've ever tasted on this planet that is as good as the water that comes out of that hole in the rock. Again, I don't know the full source of it, but I know it's pure and really good. And so we pulled over there to get some water and my grandfather looked at me and he said son, open the glove compartment. So you know you don't. First of all, you never said no to my grandfather At least I didn't, right. So I opened up the glove box and, by the way, just to give you a little vision of this, you know the cab of this pickup truck.
Tyler Lynde:It's me and my brother and my grandfather in a one seat, you know chair, and two huge English shepherd dogs, One of them right here on the horse right. So two dogs like that that were trained but not well-trained. They were still a little bit wild, like he was, and the way that he took care of them is he had two Folgers cans underneath where our feet should have been right. So there's a Folgers can full of water and a Folgers can full of some kind of dry dog food. Back then they didn't do all the specialty type foods with the allergies. I don't know what's happened since then, but anyway, don't get me started. So that's a rabbit trail. We won't go down there, but anyway. So it was quite the experience, with the hair flowing through the cabin and the feeling of moisture on your feet as the water spills, as the dogs are trying to get a drink of water.
Tyler Lynde:And so my grandfather asked me to open the glove compartment. I never knew for sure what was going to happen, but I knew it was going to be something unique, so I opened the glove box and inside there's a square of government cheese. Do you guys remember government cheese? It kind of is like in the shape of Velveeta, but it was really good. I don't know what it was about, that government cheese, but it was really good. So he had one of those in there and he had a roll of antelope sausage right and a little container, a sleeve of Fig Newtons. So that's what was in his glove compartment.
Tyler Lynde:Then he pulls his knife off of his side and he hands it to me. And this knife was well used and well traveled. I'm not sure when the last time it got cleaned, but it wasn't today, if that makes sense. So he hands that to me and he says cut off a piece of cheese and cut up a piece of the sausage and then put it between two Fig Newtons and make a sandwich. So I'm doing that and you know I hand it over to him quickly. You know I didn't want him to think I was dilly-dallying, right. So I handed over to him and he goes you eat it.
Tyler Lynde:And this is a saying. I haven't heard this saying in a long time, but my grandpa said it'll grow hair on your chest. Remember that saying I don't know. I don't know what that was about, but anyway, again, you didn't say no to my grandpa and so I took a big bite of that. Well, I have to be honest, I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer Lord, deliver me from sudden death that may come from eating this. Forgive me, for I know what I'm doing right, and I took a bite of that and, to be honest with you, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. So, anyway, I could go on for hours and hours telling you stories about my grandpa, Timberjack Joe.
Tyler Lynde:But the best story of all happened when I was eight years old, and that's when my grandfather came to town and there was a man named Bobby Walker that was in town and Bobby was an evangelist and he was at our church and he was preaching, and my grandpa would come to church when he was in town but there was no indication of his relationship with the Lord. He was kind of independent and self-sufficient and all of those things, and never really showed any interest in the things of God beyond just attending church when he was in town. So I remember we went to Perkins one morning for breakfast and Bobby, as was his way, was trying to witness to the entire restaurant from our table. So he was speaking very loudly about how God had intersected and changed his life. And at the end of his conversation he says to my grandpa, are you ready to be a believer? And my grandpa says nope. And so my grandpa and I got into his truck again and we're heading back towards home and we're pulling up this hill. I'm sure it wasn't very long, but as an eight-year-old kid it seemed like a very long hill. And about halfway up I looked at my grandpa and I said grandpa, don't you want to go to heaven with me? And he said, yes, I do, son. And he pulled the truck over and he and I prayed a little prayer in the cab of his truck and my grandpa's life changed forever. He was born again. Now I'm not here to take the credit for that.
Tyler Lynde:There was a whole community of people who had been witnessing to my grandfather for a long time. God had been intervening through a community of believers that were on mission. Whenever he would come to our church, everybody would scurry around so kind to him, would pay attention to him, would love on him, would pray for him. I remember one time my grandfather came to town and he had large sores on his legs that were becoming gangrenous, yeah, and my dad asked if he could pray for him and he began to pray for him and the Lord closed the skin up underneath my dad's hands as he was praying for him so many times, in so many ways, that God was reaching out to my grandfather and I just happened to be the one in the cab of his truck on the morning that God had designed for him to become a follower of Jesus Christ. I got to enjoy being on mission with God, and that's what we're going to talk about today what it means to be a community that's on mission with God.
Tyler Lynde:Are you ready for that? All right, so let's look at three common misconceptions about missions and missionaries. These are ways that people tend to view missions and view missionaries, but they aren't. It's not that they're completely wrong, but they're not fully thought out or fully spoken. So let's look at them.
Tyler Lynde:Number one the word missionary refers only only to those who are specially called by God to go to other cultures to preach the gospel, those people who go somewhere over there. Is that a definition for missionaries? Yes, it is, but it's not a full definition for missions right. Number two to but it's not a full definition for missions right. Number two to reach non-Christians with the gospel message. We need special programs and targeted evangelistic activities. Is that fully true? Not necessarily. Is it a truth? That can be. Is it something that can work? Absolutely, it can work and God can use those things. At the end of the message we're going to circle back around to these and we'll find out a more full explanation of them. Number three some people are gifted by God as evangelists to win people to Christ. Others are gifted to serve the church and focus entirely on discipleship. Again, that sounds really nice and almost like Christian in the way that it's said, and is it partially true? It is partially true, but it's not just evangelists who are called to be witnesses and to be missionaries, right?
Tyler Lynde:So in our passage today, Paul is conveying to the Corinthian church his personal mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are lost. That was the driving force behind Paul's ministry. He was a missionary at heart and he continually, wherever he was, he was on mission with God. He makes it clear here that he's doing so as an extension of God's mission, which was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. How many of you know that the mission that Paul was on, and hopefully the mission that all of us are on, it's not really our mission. It's God's mission and we get to be, we get to participate in it. It's God's work, it's God's mission that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He also indicates that those who are truly followers of Jesus Christ must be on mission together. So we're going to break this down together this morning.
Tyler Lynde:Number one you can't be a church on mission if your members aren't born again. Just let that sink in for a minute. You can't be a church on mission if your church members aren't born again. One of the proofs of true conversion is what? How do you know if a person is truly born again? It's a radically changed life. It's a radically changed life. How many of you can say honestly here this morning that since you came to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that your life has radically changed? You're scared not to raise your hand on that one right, Because that might indicate that you and, by the way, if you're here this morning and your life has not yet been radically changed today is your day. Today is your day. Don't miss the opportunity.
Tyler Lynde:Paul says here again, in this passage therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new. What Creation? The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. That's good news.
Tyler Lynde:These verses are written to all believers, but remember, he starts out with anyone. He makes it individualistic, because it's not just a church that can be saved. We as individuals must be saved. It's not just a family that is saved. How many of you know that every generation within that family must be saved? It's an individual faith that, then, is to be spread collectively. Right? We can't experience being a missional church if our members aren't Christians.
Tyler Lynde:In other words, it's not enough to just mentally assent to something. Yes, I believe that Jesus came to this earth. I believe that he was a historic character, I believe that he was a great teacher, that he was a wise counselor, that he was all of these things. I believe that he's one of many gods. These are all things that people believe and hold on to, but they're not enough. It's not enough to just mentally agree with something.
Tyler Lynde:If we are truly saved by grace, through faith, then our thoughts, our attitudes, our motivations and our behavior should become increasingly different than what they once were. Amen. Those who were thieves before should steal no more. Those who were involved in adultery before should no longer be involved in sexual sin. Those who you could name any sin that you want to place in that category, Fill in the blank. We should be increasingly walking away from those things because we are being radically changed and transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tyler Lynde:New creation here carries with it the implication that I haven't been just made over right as a better version of myself, but in Christ I've been made into a brand new person. I'm a brand new person, a new creation, a new creature. This is like a dog changing into a cat. This is I. Once was lost and now I'm found. This is a complete polar opposite of what we once were.
Tyler Lynde:Now there are a lot of religions that will teach you that if you have a strong enough will, if you have drive and desire enough, if you push in, if you try hard enough, if you pray enough, if you do enough, then you can somehow cause this change to happen by your own desire and your own will. Here's my question How's that working for you? Not well. How many of you know that? It is the radical grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, the same work that breathed life into the pile of mud named Adam in the garden and caused a lifeless Christ to be jolted back to life again. This is the spirit of God that transforms us, and we can't make it happen on our own. Here's good news Ready, True. Change can happen because Jesus made a way for us to be made right with God. Jesus made a way for you and I to be made right with God.
Tyler Lynde:Paul goes on in the passage in 2 Corinthians to say all this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself. What does that word reconcile mean? You see it repeated like six times in this passage. What does it mean to be reconciled to somebody, To what To be drawn back to right? What does it mean to be reconciled to somebody, To what To be drawn back to right? What does it mean to not be reconciled to someone, To be separated, to be apart, to be at odds with, for there to be something that's coming between the two of you?
Tyler Lynde:So what is required in order for reconciliation to happen? Forgiveness, Forgiveness. Did you know that Jesus himself, the son of God, took the wrath of God upon himself that we deserved, and he bore it upon himself on the cross so that we could be given the free gift of salvation. That's amazing to me. See, sin separates us from God, but through Christ we can be forgiven and reconciled. All of us, from Adam forward, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is the truth. The sin stopped us from having a relationship with the Holy God, and the wages that we deserve for the sin that we've committed is what Is death. But it doesn't stop there. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus again came to this earth, lived a perfect life, the life that we couldn't live, and died the horrible death that we deserved. By taking God's wrath upon himself, Jesus made peace with God by the blood of his cross. He was then what, Raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, proving his authority over death, hell and the grave.
Tyler Lynde:He and my question is does that still give you goosebumps? Does it still enthrall you that God would care this much about you and I? Or has it become just a part of our Christian lingo, a part of our Christian language, a part of our celebration? And yet in our daily lives, we forget the impact, the power of the change that God has made a way to happen in our lives. You see, we are offered this free gift of salvation that is the costliest gift ever purchased, Is the costliest gift ever purchased.
Tyler Lynde:So next in the passage we see that Christians are all called, all called to the ministry of reconciliation. Paul says and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Paul says and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. Powerful words. We have received this great gift of reconciliation and guess what we get to do now? God tags us and says you're it? Guess what we get to do now? God tags us and says you're it? We get to represent the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in our daily lives, with everyone that we encounter. We get to be a part of the reconciliation project and process that God is involved with. He's calling us to daily live in that place. We are called to the ministry of reconciliation.
Tyler Lynde:This is not a ministry that is exclusive to those found in Ephesians, chapter 4. It's not the job of evangelists, pastors, prophets, teachers to do this work alone. What are we supposed to do To equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Why are we doing this sermon series? To equip you to do what God has called you to do. I'm commissioning you, we, as an elder team, are commissioning you to take these truths and live them, breathe them, let them be a part of your daily experience in life.
Tyler Lynde:We've had it backwards in our minds, I think, as we have thought that we all had to do was get those who are lost to a place where a real minister could minister to them. Have you ever thought that if I could ever get this person to talk to my pastor, if I could ever, you know, find somebody that knew enough to be able to explain it to them? Not necessarily anything wrong with that, but guess what? You're all equipped. Every believer in Jesus Christ, I don't care if they've just been an hour in the Lord you're equipped to tell the story of what just happened in your life and to encourage somebody else to believe Right, Right else to believe right. Ministers of reconciliation share a message of reconciliation from God to those who are lost. Paul says that we are entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, Not only do we have a ministry of reconciliation, but we have a message of reconciliation. God's given us the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ to proclaim in this earth.
Tyler Lynde:Why is the United States in the condition it's in? In my opinion, because the church has remained silent. Oh, you mean silent on politics and silent on, maybe silent when it comes to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in our daily lives? How in the world do we blame political parties for the condition of our nation? Condition of the nation rises and falls upon the people, the people of God in that nation. We have a chance to make a difference. We have a chance to see this nation come back to its foundation. It will happen in the ballot box and it will happen through political means, in a lot of different ways, but the thing that's going to last for eternity is when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in our daily lives.
Tyler Lynde:Do you remember who first shared the truth with you? Aren't you glad that they embraced this mindset? Aren't you glad that they chose to be missionaries? I just want to thank my mom, person who's probably watching this morning. She was the one who took me to church and one day, in the bathroom looked at me as I was brushing my teeth because I was asking a lot of questions. I don't know if you have young people in your house that ask questions, but I asked a lot. I wanted to know everything. I asked a lot of questions as a kid and one of the questions I was asking my mom was about Jesus. And she looked at me and said Tyler, do you want to believe, Do you want to put your faith in Jesus? And I said yes, and we prayed together in that bathroom.
Tyler Lynde:And I'm not saying that's for everyone, Obviously everybody's story is a little different. But for me, man, that began a complete. And it's interesting because I've always thought you know, I don't have the testimony of some people, although I've got lots of sin that I could talk about. So I'm not saying that. But I don't have the testimony of some people, although I've got lots of sin that I could talk about. So I'm not saying that. But I don't have the testimony of some people who were in gangs and who were addicted to drugs and all of these different things and got saved. Those kind of testimonies that keep you on the edge of your seat when you're listening to them. Right, and I was complaining to the Lord one time about that. You ever complained to the Lord? You read the book of Psalms? It's okay. Complain to the Lord, you read the book of Psalms, it's okay. You can do that. Just be ready for him to fix it. He's going to correct it, right, and here's what the Lord said to me. You know you could be thankful that I kept you from all of that stuff. That's a testimony, Isn't it?
Tyler Lynde:We've been given this great privilege of sharing the greatest thing that's ever happened in our life with everyone else. Why is it that it's so much easier to talk about the latest movie or a favorite place to eat dinner than it is to or even the weather? How many of you talked about the weather this week with anybody? It is the most, I'd say. Probably hands down is the most common topic of conversation, right? By the way, I've already checked it's going to be 95 and humid this week. So it's a great missional opportunity, right? Because we can say I'm so thankful I'm not going to hell. Sorry, that was not in my notes, Mark. We'll talk about it on Tuesday. I'm going to ask forgiveness now for bringing that up. Oh my gosh. But yeah, we have this privilege. We are called to represent God to this world in a way that we live our lives and through the words that we speak Kind of in that order, Because how many of us have known people that were loud with their words about God in their lives? We're far from it.
Tyler Lynde:I've told you before about the John 3.16 guy that I know that would go to all the football games and hold the huge John 3.16 sign and the camera would zoom in on him, and what they missed most of the time was every single event he went to. He got into a fight, Like a fist fight, like throwing out of the stadium, like you're not ever allowed to come back here again. He didn't understand what it meant to be persecuted for righteousness sake. Oh my gosh. The words are important, but so is the life. The imagery here is beautiful. Think about it. You see God calling us to himself and sending us out to work for him. We are ambassadors of heaven declaring a message, God's message, to the world. What is this message? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. This is the message that we proclaim.
Tyler Lynde:So just in case we aren't completely sure about what the message of reconciliation is, Paul goes on to give us a little snippet, kind of a summary. He says we implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God For our sake. He made him to Do you hear the seriousness of Paul's tone. Implore them, beg them, plead with them, reason with them. This is not like a lifestyle suggestion, like you should only eat meat or you only eat carbs. Is there a diet where you can only eat carbs? Actually, I've been on that diet before. It's called life. It's not a lifestyle suggestion. You guys realize this is eternity we're dealing with. This is life and death. This is forever right. Think about that. So the seriousness of Paul's tone. He encourages us, as ministers of reconciliation who've been given a message of reconciliation, to plead with people to be restored to right relationship with God. And then he goes on to just reiterate help us to understand that we need to share the gospel with people. Jesus paid the price so that we could be saved.
Tyler Lynde:So let's go back now into our misconceptions and let's reread these, and then we're going to add to them, Right? So, number one the word missionary refers only to those who are especially called by God to go to other cultures to preach the gospel. Is that fully true? No, here's the fullness of it. All Christians are missionaries. If you're a believer this morning, say I'm a missionary. Okay, Lord, you heard him. And it's true. Each and every one of us are called to be missionaries. Being part of God's family means we are all sent to others with the good news of salvation from sin and death. That is part of our identity as the family of God. This is part of who we are. It's part of our DNA. It's in us. It should be so much a part of us that we can't help but participate in it. Right, Some of us are called to share the gospel with our neighbors next door and some of us are called to share the gospel with our neighbors around the world. But we're all called to share the gospel with our neighbors.
Tyler Lynde:Number two to reach non-Christians with the gospel message, we need special programs and targeted evangelistic activities. Again, not wrong. There's a time and place for special events and strategies. However, scripture and history make it clear that God intends to reach non-Christians through the normal activity of the church. Can we say normal activity and put it in the same sentence as church. Yes, the normal activity of the church, the early church in the book of Acts, chapter two.
Tyler Lynde:What kinds of normal activities were they involved with? What did they do together? Cookouts, yeah, they had they. They worshiped, they prayed together, they fellowship together, they took the Lord's supper together. And they also what they shared all of their belongings with each other. Would you want to be a part of a community like that? Yeah, it was in the natural rhythms of life.
Tyler Lynde:You know, one of the things that they did that was very strategic is they met in large settings, like in Solomon's Porch, which was a large area outside of. The things that they did was very strategic is they met in large settings, like in Solomon's porch, which was a large, large area outside of the temple. But they also met in homes. You know what they learned when they met in homes? They learned how a husband should treat his wife. They learned how Christian parents train their children. They learned how people have disagreements and work through those things to come to a place of peace.
Tyler Lynde:You know what the Lord did with the early church. It says and we talk about the 3,000 that were added to them in one day that was a miraculous, just hand of God, a work of God. That was a revival. But it says afterward that, day by day, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved, Just the natural rhythms of life meeting together, doing life together, experiencing these things together and inviting those who don't yet know Jesus to participate in that life, in that community. That's what made the difference, made the difference.
Tyler Lynde:You know, one of the things that you need to know this morning. Just this is off my notes, but a whole community being on mission looks like this. It looks like somebody making a freezer meal for somebody that's been in the hospital and taking that freezer meal to them, or making sure Mona, or whoever it is that's going to be the designated driver, gets that food to them, Because you know where does the word of that go from there. So the person that you're providing the freezer meal to, are they blessed by that? But when those that are taking care of them come around because they've just had surgery, whatever the case is, what do they hear? They hear the good news about how somebody in our church provided this meal for us. Why would they do something like that? Well, because we're a part of a family. We have a spiritual family. You understand what I'm saying here. What I'm saying is that the message of the gospel needs to be declared, but all of us have a part, from baking cookies, cleaning, you know I could list a thousand different things. We can all be on mission together, even if we're not all speaking the words of the gospel simultaneously, if that makes sense, right? Wouldn't it be awesome to be known in this community as the church that we can't live without?
Tyler Lynde:My greatest fear, and Derek and I talk about this a lot. What if our church disappeared in a day and the community never noticed? What if you disappeared from your neighborhood and the community never noticed? What if you disappeared from your house and the people in your house never noticed? That's a deeper problem for another day, right?
Tyler Lynde:The third thing misconception is that some people are gifted by God as evangelists to win people to Christ. Others are gifted to serve the church and focus entirely on discipleship. The answer is that the fuller truth is no gift or personality type is exempt from the mission of God through the church. There is diversity in our gifts and roles, but unity in our calling. Some of you have a natural gift for hospitality. Use that as a means for evangelism, for reaching people. Some of you have a natural gift for giving gifts. Use that as a means for evangelism, right? So we want to be a church. Tcc wants to be a church full of people that live on mission together. Are you in agreement with that? Are you with me? All right, you don't even have to be with me, you can just be with the Lord. Are you with Jesus on this? Yeah, it's his mission that he's calling us to. So what does that look like? Number one living on mission in relationships.
Tyler Lynde:Here's a question that I asked our elder team this week. But I asked myself first, does each of us have genuine friendships with non-Christians? How many of us could say honestly, honestly, that we have a genuine? Now, here's how I want to define it. They would call you a friend, right, Because we might call somebody a friend that knows us, but there's no friendship going on, right? But do we have any non-Christians in our lives that would call us a friend of theirs? And if not, why not?
Tyler Lynde:Have you noticed that the longer that people are Christians, the longer that they are in church life, the further away they get from anybody who doesn't know Jesus? It's like what is it? Eight, seven degrees of what's the Kevin Bacon state? Yeah, six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. I don't know. I don't know the whole thing, but anyway, it's like we're close to a lot of people that, like you can name a person, you could probably get there in six degrees. Right, how about with the lost? How many degrees away are we from anybody who doesn't know Jesus? How about with the lost? How many degrees away are we from anybody who doesn't know Jesus?
Tyler Lynde:Does our church create space to engage those people together? Do our community groups welcome outsiders? Do our ongoing house churches, community groups, do they live on mission together? Are they looking for opportunities to serve and give them themselves to people who don't yet know Jesus? Do we know each other's non-Christian friends? Well, no, I couldn't bring them around then They'd ruin it. Well, that's the truth. We need to deal with that. Right, so we need to live on mission in relationships. Right, so we need to live on mission in relationships.
Tyler Lynde:Second, we need to live on mission in prayer. Are we praying for specific non-christians in our lives and neighborhood? I have a prayer app that I use, called prayer mate, and one of the things that I have that comes up each day is one of my neighbor's names pops up for me to pray for them. To pray for them, but really to pray for me. To pray for me that I'll have the boldness and the courage to represent Christ to them in some kind of way today. You know how many times that has stopped me from blowing the horn when I wanted to blow the horn, or from giving somebody a look that I wanted to give them, or whatever.
Tyler Lynde:The case is right. Are we praying for people to be saved? Are our prayers focused primarily on our own needs and problems, or are we praying for conviction of sin and conversion of unbelievers? Friends, this should be normal for us. This is not outside. I'm not teaching you something this morning that is like radical or far outside of what should be norm. This is the norm. This should be the way that we live our lives as believers. Third, we should live on mission in our attitude and speech. Let's not. Can we just skip this one? Third, we should live on mission in our attitude and speech. Let's not. Can we just skip this one?
Tyler Lynde:Is our language accessible to outsiders or do our conversations tend to be sprinkled with Christian lingo? Are you covered with the precious blood of Jesus? Yes, we are, but how many of you know an unbeliever hearing that is going to think what kind of crazy people are these Right? Do we have inside jokes just amongst ourselves that nobody from the outside could ever understand? They're always going to be outsiders, or church references that only make sense to our tribe. Are we thinking about what we speak and how we speak it? Do we speak positively of our city and nation and those who don't know Christ? I could name a few names and just ask ourselves the question what kind of words have we spoken recently about these people? Do we display humility by not taking ourselves too seriously, admitting our weaknesses and not being defensive or rude toward our critics? Are unbelievers glad to know us, even if they don't believe? The gospel man this is, this is. I should have given this message to Mark. He could have done this with a smile. The problem is he's already living it. He's a great example to all of us, and I could name a thousand. You know there's not a thousand people here. That's hyperbole, Preachers, hyperbole right.
Tyler Lynde:Third or fourth. Fourth, we should live on mission in activity and presence. Do we gather in a place that non-Christians find hospitable and welcoming. We've done everything we can with this pig to put some lipstick on it, haven't we? If you guys remember those of you who were here when we first moved in there was, I cannot believe the change that has occurred within this facility over the years, and we thank God for it. Are we actively engaging the neighborhood in which we gather or do we just drop in, study the Bible and head out again? Do outsiders see us working for the good of the neighborhood or only furthering the needs of our own group?
Tyler Lynde:So, now that we're in this place of maybe feeling a little bit convicted this morning I know that I am and I have been how do we deal with this? How do we apply the gospel to these kinds of areas in our life, Our lack of being a community on mission? It's very simple. It's three words Repent, believe and act. What sin do we need to repent of? Just think about that within your own mind and heart. What sin is it that you need to repent of when it comes to being on mission or maybe not being on mission? Believe what grace do we need to ask for and accept from God? Remember, we cannot change on our own. We must put our faith and hope and trust in a living God who, by the power of His Holy Spirit, gives His grace to make changes in us that we cannot make in ourselves, and act. What practical action do we need to take?
Tyler Lynde:I talked about praying for my neighbors. The thing that started me praying for my neighbors is when I called one of them a drug addict. Yes, I did. They were being mean to me and to my family and I felt like I should just let them know that I was aware that they were doing drugs. And I heard the words coming out of my mouth and immediately my heart sunk because I knew that in that moment in time I had taken away the power of the gospel, I had damaged it. And so you know what I did. Immediately I said to this person I am so sorry, that is wrong. What I just said to you is wrong. I don't care if it's true or not or how I feel about you. I should never have said those words and I am sorry and I ask you to forgive me and, to the best of my ability, I'm not going to do anything like that again. I mean, God forbid. I hope that I could refrain from that kind of thing. What I'm saying to you is, guys, I don't care where you find yourself today, in what position, in what failure you consider yourself, there's room. There's room for grace, there's room for change. And now, since that day, I have done everything within my power and ability, by God's grace, to try to be an example and shine a light. And yes, there's been a couple more apologies along the way. An apology is one of the greatest witnessing tools ever made.
Tyler Lynde:We have something to be really excited about, More exciting than winning the lottery free groceries for a year, whatever you want to list. We have something to be really excited about. And yet this life that we live wants to beat us down and put us in a position where all we're thinking about is what Ourselves. This is a church on mission, and I want to encourage you. We've got a serve day coming up. That's just one way that we can use the gifts that God's given us to express the love of Jesus to people who don't know him yet.
Tyler Lynde:All right, just in time, would you stand with me? We're gonna pray and then we're gonna actually ask. Talk about serving on mission. We're gonna ask the Tanzania team they're leaving this week to go on a mission trip to Tanzania, and so we're gonna ask them to come and we're gonna pray over them and bless them on their way. They're coming, we're going to pray over them and bless them on their way.
Tyler Lynde:Let's just follow this three-step process, right? Let's take a minute just between you and God, and myself and God, and let's repent. If there are things this morning that you recognize that are keeping you from shining the light of Jesus in your actions and in your words, let's repent of that. Father. We take a moment now and we acknowledge to you our need. We will never change unless we acknowledge that we need help. And so, Father, I pray for myself and for many here. No-transcript.
Tyler Lynde:I just want to say to the parents in the room your greatest gospel opportunity is with your kids. Don't forget, this is not a transactional deal with them. It's not like you signed up and so they get the benefit they need to know Jesus. So don't think it's a small thing for you to shine the light of Jesus within the four walls of your home to your kids and your grandkids. Start there.
Tyler Lynde:So, Lord, we now ask for the gift of grace. Lord, we open our arms to you and our hearts and we ask that you would fill us with your faith. Help us to believe, Lord God, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that we can't help but share it with all of those that are around us. Help us, Jesus. We pray all of those that are around us. Help us, Jesus. We pray. And, Father, I also ask that you give us creative ideas, thoughts that we can combine as a community together, but also for us individually. Give us insight and inspiration. Show us, give us divine opportunities and doors that would open up for us Even this week. Lord God, I pray that it would be the testimony of this church that many lives were changed because of the sharing of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for empowering us, Lord. We pray, like the early church did, for boldness and courage to speak in the name of Jesus. Fill us with your spirit and enable us to do this in Jesus' name, Amen.
