You only had ONE job!!!

"You only had one job"...

On twitter there is a profile called "you only had one job" and it is about all the silly mistakes that people make such as painting a sign on a road and making spelling errors, building stairs that go no where, signs with the wrong translation on them and loads more...

I was thinking how this may apply to our Christian lives...

What is our "one job" we are called to do?

I think that in Mark 16 and Matt 28 we see exactly what our "one job" is on this earth.

Mark 16:15.....He said to them "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation"

Jesus also said to the disciples in Matt 28:19

Then Jesus came to them and said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus saying this was the formal start of mission into the "Gentile" world..

So it got me thinking even deeper into how much of the NT would be left if you took out all the parts about "mission"... I would have it as a guess there would only be less than 20% if that!! We can see from this that our "one job" is so important to the Kingdom of God.. I am not talking about conversions, as some people say.. I am talking about a changing of hearts.. because that's what God wants.. A love for Him is not a forced one! Remember He is Our Father not our dictator!!...

Well how does mission impact on our life? Well even if our mission is to preach the gospel to our next door neighbour, the street, the place of work, the town, city, country or to another country then we must do it with the same passion regardless of the scale of calling!!

Scripture tells us that in Luke 15:8 onwards

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it and when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents....

So you can see from that that EVERY single person is so important to God so never devalue what your mission is in life.. Bringing one person to have that change of heart towards God is so valuable!

It can be just one person, or a church of 3, 33, 333 or 33,333 it doesn't make a difference to God.. just go out and do it!! change that one heart.. Our motto at TAB this year has been "Changing the City one heart at a time" and that's how we have to look at mission every day.. Yes everyday...

Spreading the gospel is done in many ways such as speaking to someone, helping someone and also you dont even have to be aware that someone is watching you from a distance and that even may be a heart changing moment...

I want you all to have a look at this... (drops a rock into the bowl)...

What one thing did you notice? What was your focus drawn to? Splash? Ripples?

Let me put it this way... Rock = Jesus.. Splash = your words hitting the world ...the Ripples = the ongoing effect of that Word!

This all will work for God IF we always proclaim the Truth...

Mission is all about dropping a rock into a pond... we focus too much on the splash to see if we can get a big splash!! but most of the times its a small splash but the ripples go far and wide which we don't see either...

Sometimes it may only take a small rock or two to change someone's heart but other times It may take thousands, and not all by you. It may take rocks dropped by other people as well that you may not even know... So see how important your rock is in Gods bigger picture.

If you do not drop that rock at that time, at the time God has put that person there infront of you, then you are breaking the effects of the ripples created by you and others... you may even be the start of the ripples!!!

Take yourself back to before you accepted Jesus.... Try and think of all those people who "dropped rocks" into your life... Imagine if one of them didn't drop that rock maybe you would not be here today.... Maybe not even have accepted Jesus yet... Yes it could have been!

We do need to keep in our mind that we are not always harvesters but sometimes sowers and waterers so we may not see that person have a change of heart but God knows and we will see in Heaven.. We must always focus on dropping that "rock" as much as we can!! if its a small rock or a large rock.. keep dropping it...

If we go out with the focus and goal of thousands of hearts each and every time and get disappointed when we don't see it how much as we undervaluing that ONE person who we have affected?? God doesn't so why should we? As we read in Luke 15

So just because someone is called to go overseas, for example, doesn't mean their mission is any more or less important than yours.. we need to support each other for that one heart..

We are all aware of the game "simon says" and when we are told to put our hands on our heads we do it... but when Jesus says "go out and spread the gospel" we memorise the verse and do nothing about it!!!

It hit me suddenly when this all came to me that and everytime I have an opportunity to "drop a rock" I do not want God to be thinking.... "Well, you only had one job!"... What I want is God to be thinking this Paul moment..

Matthew 25:23 "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! "

So I leave you with just one question today.....

Are you wanting to have a "You only had one job" moment when you meet God or are you wanting a "Paul moment"?

The choice is yours....

Let us pray!