Good and Faithful Servant

Recap: Mission & Vision

• Mission: “The church exists to develop lifelong disciples of Jesus who glorify God, love others, and make more disciples.”
  • See Mark 12:28-30, Matthew 28:18-20.
• Call and Response in the Bible
  • The Call at Mt. Sinai — Exodus 19:5-7
  • The People Respond — Exodus 19:8.
  • Again in Exodus 20-23 and 24:3-4.
• God gives a call and the people give their response. A helpful way to think about our mission (God’s call) and vision (our response). 
• Vision: “We strive to be a diverse church family where each individual commits to Growing with God, Connecting in Community, And Living like Jesus Through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
• Every church has the same basic mission, but each congregation decides how they will implement it in their context.

Today’s Message: The Good and Faithful Servant

• Main passages: Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Peter 4:10-11.
• Today’s Main Idea: God is calling us to take full advantage of the discipleship and ministry opportunities he has prepared for our church family.

“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.”

When God blesses a person, or a family, or a church, he wants to see them pay those blessings forward in a way that builds his Kingdom and leads people to Jesus. 

• Matthew 10:1 — Jesus gives great power and authority to his apostles. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus tells his disciples he expects them to use that blessing to serve others well. “Freely you have received; freely give.”
  • See also Luke 12:48. 

Key Idea: God has been good to us, but he also wants to do good through us.”

Parable of the Talents / Bags of Gold (Matthew 25:14-30)

• Each servant received something of great value from their master.
• Two of the three servants understood the assignment and used the master’s resources to further his mission.
• One servant missed the mark. Although he gave back everything he was given, the master wasn’t satisfied with him breaking even. He was expecting growth.
  • The wicked servant was more concerned about what might happen to him if he failed than what would happen to the master’s mission if he stayed on the sidelines.
  • He chose fear over a leap of faith.

God Has Been Good to Southwest Church of Christ!

• Great people, dedicated volunteers, Godly leaders.
• Wonderful facility to meet in, centralized location in Omaha.
• Four full-time ministers, three more dedicated servants who work in the office.
• Generous endowment for ministry and service.
• Great relationships with community organizations and ministries.
• One of the largest Churches of Christ in Nebraska.

God has given us so much… but we need to understand that God expects a lot out of the people he blesses the most. 

• What are we doing with the valuable blessings God has given us?
• With great blessings comes great responsibility.

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:10-11

• God has given all of us spiritual gifts.
• God expects us to use our blessings to serve others.
• This is one way to bring praise and glory to God (verse 11).

God has placed a call on our lives as disciples of Jesus. And he has placed a call on us as a church.

What happens next depends on our willingness to step up and commit to the mission God has given us.

• Summary: Because the church exists to develop lifelong disciples of Jesus who glorify God, love others, and make more disciples (God’s mission), we strive to be a diverse church family where each individual commits to growing with God, connecting in community, and living like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit (our response).

Starting Next Week — “The Story of Our Salvation”

• 11 week message series that will cover the one big story of the Bible.

Study & Reflection

“It’s not so much that God has a mission for his church in the world, but that God has a church for his mission in the world.” -Christopher Wright

Let’s read Acts 2:36-47, where thousands of people respond to the Gospel through baptism and join the Christian family of believers. As you read, think about the new mission and vision that our shepherds shared with the church.

• How do you see the early church living out their mission of making disciples of all nations in this passage? (You can also look back at Acts 2:7-11 for this question). 
• What kinds of things are the believers doing here that you would consider “glorifying God”?
• Where do you see the idea of “growing with God” in this passage?
• What kinds of practices did the early church commit to that helped them connect with one another in community and love each other as themselves?
• Part of our vision is to be the kind of church family where everyone commits to living like Jesus. Do you see any examples of the early Christians doing that in this passage? What were they doing to imitate Jesus?
• Another aspect of this passage is about our relationships with other Christians. According to these verses, what should those relationships be like?
• The last line of our vision statement is “Through the Power of the Holy Spirit.” Is there anything in this passage that indicates the early church was relying on the power of God or the Holy Spirit in a specific way? See also Acts 2:1-4.
• What do you hear God calling you to know, do, or believe after the sermon and reflection questions?