Since Jess Bousa’s sermon on Sunday the Mission has been on my mind. I have to confess that I haven’t always had my eye on The Mission but the project right before me. While my purpose for the work I was doing was for The Mission I wasn’t constantly consciously aware of The Mission. The details of ministry and life can crowd out the bigger call to The Mission.

The twenty three souls that found Jesus at the Christmas Musical were partly the result of all of those consuming details. Many people died to hours of their time, energy and talent as they offered it for The Mission. It was The Mission that kept us motivated. They took up their cross daily and came to a practice after work or all day Saturday. They gave out invitations, cared for people, befriended people, invited people and are now discipling their new friends.

For some reason the song by Steven Curtis Chapman came to my mind, For the Sake of the Call. You can Google the lyrics but I have to repeat some here.

“We will abandon it all for the sake of the call.
No other reason at all but the sake of the call.
Wholly devoted to live and to die
Nor for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who calls
And if we believe we’ll obey
We will answer
For the sake of the call.”

The Mission allows us to part of something much bigger than anything we could do ourselves. The Mission is worth carrying the cross no matter how heavy it is. Hebrews 12:2 reminds us that Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We were His joy. The Mission is His joy. Jesus kept his eyes on The Mission and it enabled him to endure the cross, scorn its shame, and die in our place.

Lord ,help us to keep our eyes on The Mission so we can carry our cross and abandon it all for the sake of the call.