Mission: What Does God Want For Me? – Part 3

I am so excited this morning, because we are finishing up our short side series called “What God Wants for You” this morning!

We are stopping and looking closely at the most important question we could ever possibly ask ourselves as human beings living in God’s world.

And that is, what does God want?

What does he want for the world?

What does he want for humanity?

What does he want for my life?

We’re talking about the big picture—the biggest picture.

What does God want for me and every other person who has ever lived or will ever live?

What is God’s capital-W Will for me and you and everyone you have ever known?

And when we ask that question, there are three core answers that God’s Word gives us that absolutely everything else that we could possibly say to answer this question flow out of.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the ground floor that everything else is built on top of, and that is that God wants to save you.

He wants to redeem and restore you through the cross—to forgive your sin and break down the wall that stands between you and Him.

Last week, we talked about the second part of this story, and that is that once he has saved you by his redeeming grace on the cross, he wants to change you from the inside out by his transforming grace through the Spirit.

The term that we used is that God wants to disciple you.

He wants to lead you and guide you and strengthen you and empower you.

He wants to give you the desire to live for him.

To change and grow you.

To form you into a mature follower of Jesus.

But this morning, we are finishing out the rest of that story—the story of what God wants for your life and my life and everyone else who has ever lived or will ever live.

Today we are talking about the final piece of the puzzle:

God wants to make you into his missionary.

Don’t panic when I say that.

I’m not saying God wants you to go to North Africa or Indonesia or Taiwan or somewhere else overseas, become a medical doctor and provide eye exams and so forth for people, and then evangelize to them in your downtime.

That is a great idea.

If you’ve got those skills, then by all means, go for it.

But that is not what I mean when I say God wants to turn you into his missionary.

He wants to work through you in the world.

He wants to work in the world through you.

He wants to do his work in the world through you.

He wants to carry out his mission in the world through you.

He wants to continue on his ministry in the world through you.

He wants to reach lost people through you.

He wants to redeem and restore people through you.

He wants to pull people out of their brokenness and despair through you.

He wants to break the cycle of darkness and poverty and violence and hopelessness through you.

Another way to put this is that he wants to wage his spiritual war on the devil and the forces of darkness through you.

That’s a pretty intense way to put it, isn’t it, but it’s not an exaggeration.

Whether you realize it or not, there is a spiritual war going on around you every single moment of your life.

There is a spiritual war going on in your daily life at every single moment.

There is a spiritual war happening in all of your relationships, all of your friendships, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, at your child’s daycare, in your school, in your family, whether you realize it or not.

Some theologians call this spiritual warfare.

Baptists don’t really talk about it.

This is a part of the Bible that, for whatever reason, our denomination has just kind of decided isn’t fit to be preached.

But it’s there.

And if it’s there, we’re going to preach it.

But when we talk about the mission God has sent us on, we are talking about this great spiritual war.

You could say that you’ve been drafted into the great war between the true King Jesus and the false king, the devil.

What am I talking about when I say that?

Here’s what I’m talking about.

God’s Word tells us that the devil is a false king, who has set up a false kingdom, and is waging a false war on the God of the universe and everyone who belongs to Him.

What am I talking about?

John 12 says:

“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.”

—John 12:31, WEB

1 John 5 says:

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

—1 John 5:19, WEB

2 Corinthians 4 says:

“In whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.”

—2 Corinthians 4:4, WEB

Hebrews 2 says:

“…that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

—Hebrews 2:14, WEB

Listen to that!

In some sense, this whole world is under the power of the evil one.

In some sense, the devil is the lowercase-g god of this world, and he has used his power and authority and rule to blind the minds and lives of everyone who lives here, apart from Jesus Christ.

In some sense, the devil has the power of death.

Now, the point of all this is NOT that Satan is truly a king, or really a king, or rightfully a king.

The point is that he is a false king, a usurper king, a fraudulent king, and that he has a limited and temporary power and rule in this fallen and broken world—because the Lord allows him to have this temporary and limited rule.

Why does he have this false usurper kingship right now?

It’s because in the beginning, when God created the world very good, and he created humanity very good, he gave us a choice.

He gave us the choice to either obey the true King and forever destine this world to an eternity of beauty and goodness and glory and love, or to rebel against the true King, and listen to the voice of the false king, the serpent, the devil.

If you’ve read the story, you know what we chose.

And when we chose to follow the serpent, to take that forbidden fruit, to rebel against the true King, it was as if we were putting a false crown upon the devil’s head, as our world was plunged into darkness and brokenness and chaos and wickedness and evil and sickness and death and injustice and despair.

And we have lived in that devastating state ever since.

And yet, God made a promise.

He said, I am going to undo the fall.

I am going to unbreak the world.

I am going to put everything right again.

I am going to fix everything that was broken, heal everything that was made sick.

I am going to redeem humanity and restore the world.

The way I’m going to do that is by sending a Savior.

And so Jesus comes down from heaven, and he goes to the cross.

And on the cross, he defeated the devil and the forces of darkness.

1 John 3 says:

“He who does sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

—1 John 3:8, WEB

Colossians 2 says:

“Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

—Colossians 2:15, WEB

On the cross, Jesus won the war against the false usurper Serpent King.

God’s Word says that on the cross he despoiled the spiritual forces of darkness.

He humiliated and overcame them on the cross.

That means that on the cross, the spiritual war was won—decisively.

But here’s the thing: the fighting hasn’t ended yet.

Theologians like to use the example that in World War II, D-Day was the day that the Allied Powers won the most decisive victory of the war when they stormed the beaches of Normandy.

And from that moment, it was over.

There was no way for the Axis to win.

But the war actually carried on for quite a while after that, and the enemy didn’t surrender until something called VE Day.

The fighting truly stopped, and everyone laid down their guns, and everyone was able to go back home and rest in the victory.

The cross was D-Day, but V-Day isn’t coming until King Jesus returns once and for all, throws the devil and the forces of darkness into the lake of fire, judges the living and the dead, and restores everything fully and finally—when he takes the throne of this world back for himself in its fullness.

Now, what does all of this have to do with what God wants for your life?

It is incredibly simple:

It’s that in between D-Day and V-Day, you and me and every other Christian who has ever lived have been sent out to do battle with the forces of darkness.

The cross defeated sin and darkness, but now you and I are sent out to share the cross with everyone who is still captive to the enemy.

You have been sent out to go wage war on the false king, Satan, and the forces of darkness every single day of your life between now and when King Jesus returns.

I love the way that Jesus puts this in one of his messages.

He says in Matthew 16:

“I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

—Matthew 16:18, WEB

Now, why is that important?

Here’s why.

A lot of times when we hear this text preached, people say the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church.

The devil will not win against God’s people.

The devil will not be able to trip you up.

If you stick with Jesus, you’ll be able to withstand the attacks of the devil.

Now listen—all of that is true—but that is not what Jesus is saying here.

Because how on earth would the GATES of hell attack you?

Gates are not a weapon.

Gates are not offensive.

Gates are defensive.

When Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against his church—against you—he’s not talking about hell attacking you.

He’s talking about YOU attacking HELL.

You are a soldier in the army of King Jesus, and you are storming the gates of hell.

We are not on the defensive against the attacks of the devil.

We’re on the OFFENSIVE, he’s on the defensive.

He’s not backing us into a corner, we are backing him into a corner.

He’s not beating up on us.

We are beating up on him.

I love the way that Paul puts this. He says in 2 Corinthians 10:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds.”

—2 Corinthians 10:4, WEB

Once again—strongholds are defensive, not offensive.

The devil and the forces of darkness have taken so many people captive.

They have taken so much territory, so much real estate, so to speak, here in our fallen and broken world.

We are literally in the business of taking those territories back, taking those captives back, taking those people back—setting those captives free by proclaiming the gloriously good news of the God who wants to redeem and restore them and set them free.

I know that this is a strange way to look at it, but you are literally fighting against demons.

You are fighting the forces of darkness.

That’s what Paul is saying in Ephesians 6:

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

—Ephesians 6:12, WEB

That term “rulers, authorities, powers” is not referring to human rulers. It’s a first-century ancient Near Eastern term that describes the devil and the forces of darkness.

He doesn’t say, “You’re not in a battle.”

He says, “You’re not in the battle you think you’re in.”

He says, “You are not in a battle against Caesar—against the evil government that persecutes you.”

He says you are not in a battle against the pagans around you who mock you and push you around and treat you like you’re worthless.

He says you are not in a battle against the people who misunderstand you and mistreat you.

No.

He says you’re in a battle against the dark spiritual forces that are holding them captive.

He says, they’re not your enemies—they’re victims.

You’re the soldier God has sent to go liberate those victims.

And he says in Romans 16 that if you go and you faithfully wage this war on the power of darkness, the Lord will glorify himself by giving you victory. He says:

“The God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet.”

—Romans 16:20, WEB

He’s saying that King Jesus will work through you to crush the devil’s plan.

Does this surprise you?

Does it maybe seem wrong to you?

You can’t put your finger on it, but something must be off here.

Something must be mistaken, because this is just so different from what you grew up hearing.

But it shouldn’t surprise you, because this is the message Jesus came back to again and again and again—more than anything else throughout his life and ministry.

When Jesus called his disciples to come follow him, he wasn’t just calling them to come learn from him, to come believe in him.

He was inviting them to join him on his mission.

To join him carrying out his ministry.

To join him waging this great spiritual war.

He said in Matthew chapter 4:

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”

—Matthew 4:19, WEB

He says in Matthew 28:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

—Matthew 28:19–20, WEB

Now, Peter, James, and John were professional fishermen.

Jesus said, you spent your whole life chasing the dollar, trying to catch enough fish to put food on your table.

But if you follow me, I’m going to send you out to fish for people.

I’m going to send you out to find the lost and the hurting and the broken and the struggling and introduce them to the God who wants to redeem and restore them.

I’m going to send you out to break the chains of sin and darkness by proclaiming the gloriously good news about me.

I’m going to send you out to go set captives free from the power of the Serpent King with the message of the gospel.

He says that from the moment you come to faith in Jesus, you become fishers of people.

You become his missionaries.

You become his kingdom workers.

You become soldiers in his army.

And you begin to wage war on the devil and the forces of darkness by going therefore and fishing for people, making disciples, teaching them to follow everything Jesus laid down for us.

And when you do that, you are literally setting the captives free.

Which sounds daunting and scary, doesn’t it?

But it shouldn’t be.

Because when we wage spiritual war, as God’s missionaries, God’s kingdom workers, God’s fishermen—we aren’t doing it in our own power.

We are empowered by the God who sends us out.

I love John 14. Jesus says something that is unbelievably shocking to those of us who have grown up in this modern American, commercialized church setting. He says:

“Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.”

—John 14:12, WEB

He says, I will send you the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit will work through you to do bigger and better things than I ever did on my own.

What is he saying?

Is he saying that we are better than Jesus?

No.

Absolutely not.

What He’s saying is this: He’s saying, “I have spiritually empowered YOU to wage war on the forces of darkness.”

He doesn’t say, “Okay, go out and fight the devil and I’m going to grade how well you do.”

He says, “YOU go out, and I’M going to fight the devil through you.”

You’re going to be proclaiming the truth, but I’m going to be the one who is proclaiming it through you.

You’re going to go minister to the broken, but I’m going to be the one who is ministering through you.

You are going to go pour yourself out and plead with people to be reconciled to God through me, but I am going to be the one who is pleading with them through you.

He’s saying you are going to be my hands and feet.

You are going to follow in my footsteps.

You are going to continue on my ministry and my mission and my great spiritual war.

But it won’t be you ministering and missioning and waging war.

It won’t be you setting the captives free.

It won’t be you pulling people out of the pit.

It will be me doing all these things through you.

You will be the tools in my hand.

You will be the body that I work through on earth.

That’s what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12. He says:

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”

—1 Corinthians 12:27, WEB

You are the hands and the feet and the ears and the eyes and the stomach and the kneecaps and the elbows that Jesus uses here on earth, so to speak.

He’s saying that the ministry of Jesus never ended.

He continues his ministry today—through you.

And Jesus says that He is going to do more earth-shattering, history-altering, life-transforming, world-shaking things through YOU AND ME and our kids and their kids and their kids’ kids and their kids’ kids’ kids who follow in his footsteps than he ever did during his three-year ministry on earth.

And He says that if we do that, BEAUTIFUL things will happen.

He says that every single day you carry out this mission God has given us, you bring the day that all of creation is redeemed and restored and renewed through the second coming of King Jesus a little bit closer and a little bit closer and a little bit closer.

Jesus says in Matthew 24:

“This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

—Matthew 24:14, WEB

That is one of the most shocking things in the world, especially for those of us who were raised on Left Behind and The Late Great Planet Earth and Four Blood Moons and all that other stuff the church just made up and started preaching instead of what God’s Word literally says.

But God’s Word says that our missional work to introduce people to King Jesus and carry on His ministry here on earth actually SPEEDS UP His eventual return.

Listen: God isn’t waiting for some rapture to happen before He can return.

He’s not waiting for some special war in Israel to happen before returning.

He’s waiting for YOU to walk out your front door and start telling people about Jesus.

God’s Word says that the end isn’t coming until we finish the mission He’s given us—and we’re not even close to finished.

How We Carry Out God’s Mission

So: The most important question we could possibly ask here and now is this:

How do we carry out this mission God has given us?

And the answer is unbelievably simple.

1. We Wage God’s Spiritual War by Evangelizing

Through sharing the gospel, through telling people about King Jesus, having spiritual conversations with people, introducing people to the God who wants to redeem them and restore them.

Listen, I know it’s scary.

I know you have stage fright.

I know there’s a million mental and psychological and emotional barriers that stand between you and talking to people about Jesus.

But there’s actually nothing to be afraid of.

Seriously.

There are very few times I can think of that I was actually rejected for trying to talk about Jesus to somebody.

In my experience, people really want to have spiritual conversations.

They really want to have somebody to talk to about life, the universe, and everything.

People think about this stuff.

People are interested in this stuff.

People have thoughts about this stuff, and they want to share those thoughts with somebody.

In my experience, most of the time, people welcome these conversations.

If you follow the really simple rules of: don’t be an a-hole, don’t be a weirdo, don’t say something insane, don’t dive into all your favorite dumb conspiracy theories—and yes, most of your favorite conspiracy theories are dumb—don’t insult people, and that’s pretty much it.

If you keep those basic barriers, most people want to talk to you about this stuff.

The one holding these conversations back from happening is usually not them.

It’s you.

That’s number one: We wage God’s war on the powers of darkness by evangelizing.

2. We Wage God’s Spiritual War by Discipling Other Believers

By mentoring other believers.

Just like last week, we talked about how you need either an older or more mature or wiser Christian than you to take you under their wing and be your spiritual father or spiritual mother, to be your guide and your shepherd and your leader and your mentor.

In the same way, you need to BECOME someone’s mentor.

You need to FIND someone who is either a younger Christian or a less mature Christian or a newer Christian and take them under your wing.

Find a believer who knows less than you, who is not as far along the journey as you, who is struggling with some shame that you once struggled with and have found some growth in, and just adopt them.

Start mentoring them.

You do not have to be an expert in theology.

You do not have to have a degree in biblical studies.

You do not have to be an extremely seasoned Christian to disciple someone.

You literally just need to know one more thing than they do.

You just need to understand one more thing than they do.

You literally just need to be one step further along the journey than they are.

And God will take that, and he will use that, and he will bless that, and he will work through that to grow them and grow you—to shape them into a powerful soldier in his army, to trample the forces of darkness under their feet.

That’s number two: We wage God’s spiritual war by discipling other believers.

3. We Wage God’s Spiritual War by Carrying Out His Kingdom Work

What am I talking about?

Almost everything.

Literally anything that you do to push back the darkness of this world is kingdom work.

Just look at how Jesus ministered.

It’s really not complicated:

Jesus pushed back the darkness by coming to the aid of the poor.

Jesus pushed back the darkness by healing the sick.

Jesus pushed back the darkness by casting out demons.

Jesus pushed back the darkness by helping broken people reconcile with each other.

He pushed back the darkness by helping struggling people find their hope in the Lord again.

We could go on and on and on.

Because with every one of these things, he was breaking a stronghold that the Serpent King had in this world.

He was making this one little part of the world look just a little bit more like God’s good kingdom, rather than the fallen and broken kingdom of the serpent.

And in exactly the same way, every time we serve the poor.

Every time we heal the sick—whether that is miraculously healing someone’s illness or it is helping them pay for their medical procedure.

Every time we cast out demons—whether that is literally performing an exorcism or it is helping people divest themselves from the demonic influence of some wildly unhealthy or harmful thing.

Every time we help people reconcile to each other.

Every time we help pull people out of the cycle of darkness or addiction or brokenness or whatever—we are doing the kingdom work Jesus sent us here to do.

And he will work through that to bring healing.

Bring hope.

Bring deliverance.

Bring transformation.

To glorify the Lord before a watching world and draw everyone with a heart made of flesh instead of stone to himself.

That’s number three: We wage God’s spiritual war by carrying out his kingdom work.

Conclusion

These are the glorious things that God wants for you.

He has saved you on the cross by his redeeming grace.

He’s begun changing you from the inside out through his transforming grace.

And now he has sent you out into the world on his mission as his soldier for his kingdom to carry on his ministry—by his power, with his commissioning grace.

So my challenge to you today is simple.

Take hold of God’s capital-W Will for your life.

Trade your will for his will.

Your plan for his plan.

Your goals for his goals.

Your dreams for his dreams.

Embrace this pathway that he is giving you.

And watch the way God uses it to transform your life.

And then this church.

And our whole surrounding community through it.
:::