Jeremy Hoover

In his "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus taught that God desires obedience that comes from our heart. Obedience that is done to be seen by others, to impress them, is not obedience at all--and those that practice such "obedience" have already received their reward.

But when we pray in secret, serve the needy without fanfare, and prepare to worship God for his sake (and not to impress others), we please God, and God, who sees what is done in secret, will reward us.

When you cook, you might choose to follow the recipe. There is a difference in rotely following the recipe, putting in exact measurements and following the recipe in exactness in order to produce a "finished good" and in following the recipe, but infusing your cooking with the joy that comes from desiring to produce a good, tasteful, healthy meal.

It's the same with our service to God. We can either follow his rules by rote and without joy, or we can obey God out of the sincere desire of a heart that loves him. In the latter case, the "rules" still matter, but obedience to God arises out of one's love of God, from the transformation that comes when technique is abandoned for God alone.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus makes clear that God desires inward purity and a changed life that arises from that inward purity. He does not want empty obedience that is done half-heartedly in an attempt to please him.

Jesus makes this especially clear in Matthew 7:13-27 through an example of a fruit tree (a bad tree does not produce good fruit), a declaration that not everyone who does things in his name is a true disciple, and a parable about building proper foundations.

He teaches us that those who are true disciples are those who do the Father's will, which he explains as both hearing his words and doing them. Obedience requires action in Jesus' name--that's how we do the Father's will.

Jesus teaches us to apply what we have learned. It's not good enough just for us to "know" things; we must also serve those who have needs as though we were serving Jesus himself.

Sermon outline is below. We need to get on God's mission. Too often we substitute our own missions for God's. But it's time to stop playing around and playing church and get real--get real about God's mission.

God’s Mission

1. 2 Peter 3:8-9 -- God desires that no one should perish, but that all would come to repentance.

• But how will this happen?
  
  
• By people joining the redeemed people of God.
  
  
• But how?
  

2. 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2 -- God is reconciling the world to himself.

• God has committed this message and ministry of reconciliation to us!
  
  
• We are ambassadors for Christ, imploring people on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God, as though God himself was appealing through us! (20)
  

3. Jesus teaches these same things -- Matthew 28:16-20.

4. So what are we to do? Make disciples and carry out the ministry of reconciliation.

• According to Jesus, we are to teach others to obey and to baptize them.
  
  
• According to Paul, we are to deliver the message that God has taken away the separating sin for those who are in Christ, thereby reconciling people to himself.
  
  
• This is the gospel: from creation, to confusion, to correction, and completion. God’s mission involves us, working with others between correction and completion.
  
  
• But how did Jesus and Paul do these things?
  

5. Jesus spent time with people...especially with those who were left out of the “religious” circles--sinners and tax collectors.

• Jesus no doubt spent time in the temple, but these times are not recorded.
  
  
• If Jesus wanted to emphasize temple worship and practice, he could have done so. But he didn’t. He emphasized his missional ministry to others.
  

6. Paul described himself as acting like a father and a mother to the Thessalonian believers, and ministered in very personal ways to the Corinthians believers.

• The descriptions of his ministry imply close, personal work (1 Thess. 2:7-12).
  
  
• He uses the idea of opening wide his heart and not withholding his affection, which are relational words (2 Cor. 6:3-13).
  

7. The only way to do this reconciling, discipleship ministry is through time with others, specifically others who do not know Jesus.

• “But I don’t have enough time! And I serve the church.” Sometimes “church” gets in the way. Serving God and serving the church can be different things. We need to serve God.
  
  
• Get started by praying: pray for opportunities, pray for others. Then, just build and deepen your relationships. Let God lead you. We should be completely sold out for and sold on God’s mission.
  
  
• Do not let anything, even things that look “good,” get in the way of serving God on God’s mission!
  

8. Do you want to go through the motions of faith, or do you want a life of meaning? Give yourself to God’s mission and get on his mission.

• Go next door or across the street and engage with a neighbor. Introduce yourself if you need to!
  
  
• Eat lunch with a coworker you don’t know well.
  
  
• Volunteer somewhere with an emphasis on meeting people.
  
  
• Look to bless people (randomly).
  
  
• Take a walk and be open to the possibilities that may arise.
  

As we pause to make resolutions for the new year, let us consider seriously our worship of God. In Matthew 2:1-12, we have two examples, one negative and one positive. Negatively, King Herod teaches us to how to worship God insincerely by using people and even the Bible to further his own purposes. In contrast, the Magi teach us about sincere worship, as they remained focused on searching for Jesus and obediently following God as he led them. At the end of this sermon, I offer four specific ways we can resolve to offer God sincere worship.

Texts: Isaiah 7:10-14 and Matthew 1:22-23

Jesus is God's sign of deliverance for us, and he calls us to trust him and the sign that he sent.