You would turn to the New Testament in Matthew, chapter 28, a very familiar passage. This is the great commission, and you'll notice by your bullet in this morning I'll be preaching from Isaiah 49.6. We're going to go back to that in just a moment, but this is in Matthew, chapter 28, basically the commission of Jesus Christ which we will find also in Isaiah, chapter 49. So let's read this familiar passage, and I hope that this is not so familiar to you that you miss the power and the emphasis and the commission that Jesus has for us as his people. Matthew, chapter 28, verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, though therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. So how many of you have ever taken on a job that you thought was small at the beginning, then ended up being much more than you anticipated when you got in the middle of it? Those seem to be most of the jobs that I take on. Well let me tell you of a difficult job that seemed small at the beginning, but it is much more difficult, and this may ring true of you if you have a cat. How many of you have a cat? How many of you try to give a cat a pill? Let me read the description of how to give a cat a pill. Pick up the cat and cradle it in the creek of your left arm and hold it as if a baby, position your right forefinger and thumb on either side of the cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to the cheeks while holding the pill in your right hand. As a cat opens its mouth, pop the pill into its mouth, and allow the cat to close its mouth and swallow. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Retrieve the cat and the pill from the floor, cradle the cat in your left arm and repeat the process again. Retrieve the cat from the bedroom and throw away the soggy pill. Take a new pill from the foil, cradle the cat in your left arm, holding its rear paws tightly with your left hand. Close the cat's jaws open and push the pill into the back of its mouth with your right forefinger. Hold the mouse shut for a count of ten. Retrieve the pill from the goldfish bowl and the cat from the top of the wardrobe and call a friend. Kneel on the floor with the cat's wigs firmly between your knees, holding the front and the rear paws. Ignore the low growl emitted by the cat. Your friend to hold the cat's head firmly with one hand while forcing a wooden ruler into the cat's mouth. Drop the pill down the cat's throat, remove the ruler and rub the cat's throat vigorously. Retrieve the cat from the curtain rail. Get another pill from the foil wrap. Make notes to buy a new ruler and to repair the curtains. Carefully sweep the ceramic figures from the heart and set them aside to glue later. Tap a cat in a large talent, get your friends a lie on the cat with the cat's head just visible from below the armpit. Put the pill in the end of a drinking straw, force the cat's mouth open with a pencil and blow down the drinking straw. Check label to make sure the pill is not harmful to humans. Drink a glass of water to take away the taste and apply a bandage to the friend's forearm and remove the blood from the carpet with cold water and soap. Retrieve cat from the neighbor shed. Get another pill, place the cat in the cupboard and close the door onto the neck of the cat, leaving its head only showing. Force the mouth open with a dessert spoon and shoot the pill down the cat's throat where the rubber band. Fetch a screwdriver from the garage and put the covered door back on its hinges, apply a cold compress to the cheeks and check record for the last tetanus shot, throw away T-shirt and fetch a new one from the bedroom. Call the fire department and retrieve the cat from the tree across the road. Apologize to the neighbor who crashed into the fence while swerving to avoid the cat. Take the last pill from the foil wrap. Tie the cat's front paws and rear paws with garden twine and bind the cat's leg tightly to the leg of the kitchen table. Find heavy pruning gloves from the shed and hold the cat's mouth open with a small spoon. Push the pill into the cat's mouth with a large piece of stake. Hold the head vertically and pour a pint of water down the cat's throat to wash down the pill. Get friends to drive you to the emergency room and sit quietly while the doctor stitches your fingers and forearms and removes the pill remnants from your right eye. Call the furniture company on the way home and order a new kitchen table. Change for the animal control to come and collect the cat. Call the local pet shop and see if they have hamsters. Some work my friends is easier than others, is it not? Well, if you ever wonder what Christ's work is, what is his commission for the church? If you return to Isaiah chapter 49, verse 6, I want to read to you a very shocking statement. This is in one of these servant songs where Isaiah points out what Jesus commissioned and what his work is. And Isaiah 49 6 gives us a clear understanding of Christ's work as savior of the world. And because we are his people, we are God's people, and he has commissioned us as his followers, there is a clear connection here with the work of what Jesus does and the work that you and I are called to do. So look at Isaiah chapter 49, verse 6. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserve of Israel. I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. So the commission of Christ in his church is understood in two works. The first work is a small or a light work. It is too small a thing that you should be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel. I have kept, I believe the NIV says, that is the small work. The large work or the heavy work by contrast is I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Now once you know that in Isaiah 49, we have here the commission, one of the commissions of Christ in his church. We read about it already in Matthew chapter 28, but in Isaiah there are four servant songs and in these songs they describe the work of Jesus Christ and what he is going to do. In Isaiah 42, Jesus brings justice to the nations. We just read in Isaiah 49, Jesus bringing his people back to himself and then in Isaiah 50, you see the suffering and humiliation of Jesus. And in Isaiah 52, Jesus is taking away the sins of his people. So these four servant songs describe what Jesus has to do in his calling and in his work and in his commission and you and I are part of that. Now I want you to consider this morning, what is the work of Christ? What is the commission of Christ for you and for him? Not just you alone because anything Jesus does, he asks us to do with him and he only asks us to do what he has done already. He doesn't ask us to do things that he hasn't done. So this white or small work that Jesus is called to do is to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserve of Israel. Now what is exactly meant there? I think what is meant there is that the work of restoring the Jewish people back to a relationship with God is a light or a small work. Now if you don't like that, it seems hard for me also when I first studied this. It seems hard to think that Jesus restoring back his tribe, his nationality, the Bible says, is a light thing, a small work. It's not an insignificant work. Please know that. This is not an insignificant work. Jesus has a laser focus not only to reach his people but to also reach the nations. Now this is not an insignificant work that Jesus is doing to reach the Jewish nation. In fact, there is a great focus in the Old Testament on Jesus reaching the Jewish nation. Remember Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises in the Old Testament given primarily to the Jewish nation. God throughout history has focused his message primarily to the Jewish people. The Jews with the foundation upon which the church would be established. And God chose to establish his church initially with Abraham. And if we read in Genesis chapter 12, verses 2 and 3, God says this to Abraham. I will make you into a great nation and I will be a blessing to you. And I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. So this foundational initial push to take the gospel into the world first started with the Jewish people. In fact, Jesus instructs his 12 apostles about their mission as he sends them out into the world. Matthew chapter 10, verse 5, it says these 12 Jesus sent out with the following instruction. Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. After Jesus was raised in the dead, he's walking on the road to Emmaus. And he encounters some of the disciples. And the apostle Luke records this for us in Luke chapter 24, verse 45. Then he opened their minds so that they can understand the scriptures. And he told them, this is what is written. The Christ will suffer and raise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness will be preached in his name in all the nations beginning at Jerusalem. Before the Holy Spirit is given, Jesus tells his disciples and acts chapter 1, verse 8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And Paul said in Romans chapter 1, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone to believe to the Jew first and then the Gentile. Now I don't know about you, but it is striking to me that so much emphasis is given to the nation of Israel. Yet Isaiah says it's too small a thing. It's too light a thing to focus only on the Jewish nation. Now remember, this is not an insignificant work. It's just not a big enough work. Now, practically speaking, I've given my life, most of my life, the last 24 years of my life serving God's people in his church. And as I think about that, I think have I been doing a light or insignificant work, an incomplete work. And I think it's worth us thinking about today as God's people and God's church. This church particularly is setting out on a new venture. It's a new chapter for you. You have a new interim singer pass for coming next week. In fact, you might be here tonight. And this is a new place for you to begin. And I want to suggest to you that it's not enough for you only to bring back the tribes of Jacob and restore those of Israel that Jesus himself preserves. Now, that doesn't mean the work of caring for each other, loving each other, doing the work of the church is insignificant or unimportant. Please hear me say it is tremendously important. It is tremendously vital to the life of a church that you as God's people love each other and care for each other. But hear the commission of Christ in his church once again. Hear this heavy or large work. I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Now, notice the structure here by Isaiah 49.6. It's too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have preserves. So notice he's saying that's a light thing. It's a small thing for you to focus on restoring Jacob and bringing back Israel. And remember, this is about Jesus. But it's also about us as his people because what Jesus is called to, we are called to. This is the structure. It's a light thing to bring back the tribes of Jacob and restore Israel. So the contrast then is what is the big thing? What's the heavy thing? The heavy thing is I will make you a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Now Jesus will proclaim good news to the Gentiles and they will put their trust in him. Let me read you this verse from Matthew chapter 12. It says, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruise read he will not break a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will hope we read that before. Even in Matthew, the first of the gospels written for the Jewish people. There is a focus on bringing the good news to the Gentiles and it even comes to Gentile people. You know this, don't you? The Gentile woman, Rahab, a prostitute and Ruth, a mobitis are Jesus four bears and in his genealogy. It's in Matthew chapter 1. The Gentile astronomers who come to worship Jesus at his birth were some of the first to come and to lay their eyes on the new Messiah. Jesus initial ministry in Matthew chapter 4 is in Galilee of the Gentiles. A Gentile's centurion in Matthew chapter 8 is commended for his faith above all those in Israel. And many Gentiles will come from the east and the west and sit down with Jewish patriarchs while the sons of the kingdom, the Jews will be rejected. That's what Matthew chapter 8 verse 12 says. And then in the book of Acts Paul says this justifying his missionary expansion into the Gentile world. He says this in Acts chapter 13 verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first since you rejected it and did not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. He's speaking to the Jews there. He says now we turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us and Paul at this point quotes Isaiah 49.6 when he says I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. That's in Acts chapter 13. So the commission of Christ in his church includes you and me taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to all parts of the world. So what kind of work will you be a part of? Will you say Lord send me? I will go for you. I will speak for you to the nations. Will you be a part of the heavy and the large work of reaching the world for Christ? Will you join Jesus? Will you join me? Will you join with each other in taking the message of Christ to the world? Now I don't assume that you come here this morning with your heart just totally enthralled with all the great and glorious purposes of God. So I want to begin by giving you just a couple of things here, a couple promises, prayers and commandments to let you know that what I'm saying is not just my words but it's throughout the word of God. That God is about taking the gospel of Jesus Christ into the world and he uses you and he uses me. So here God at his own words, in his own priorities, his work, his commission, which is by the way our work, our commission, our priorities. The Old Testament promise in Psalm 22, verse 27. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over all nations. Hear that? All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. It's a promise. Then there's the Old Testament prayers in Psalm 67, verse 3. Let the people praise you, O Lord. Let the people praise you. Notice he doesn't say let the Jewish people praise you. He says, let the people praise you. Then there's the Old Testament command in Psalm 96, verse 3. Tell of his glory among the nations. His wonders leads among all people. Say among the nations the Lord reigns. We read already the great commission, taken from Matthew chapter 28, the call of Christ to go into all the nations and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you. And then there's the Apostle Paul, his great life utterance and dedication to this mission of taking the gospel to the world in Romans chapter 15, verse 20. I aspire to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named so that I would not build on another man's foundation. But as it is written, they who had no news of him shall see and they who had not heard shall understand. Then there's the magnificent picture, the end of time in Revelation chapter 5, where we see the final outcome of God's purposes in history, Revelation chapter 5, verse 9. And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood for men from every tribe and tongue and people in nation. And you have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God and they will reign on the earth forever. Aren't those compelling verses? Aren't they compelling words? The commission of Christ in his church is to take the gospel to the world. That's not an insignificant work for you to care for each other. You should do that. But if you want to be a part of the bigger heavier work of God, you must be reaching the lost or commanded by Christ to do that. So you might be saying isn't the gospel about finding forgiveness for my sins and getting the hope of eternal life and being filled with the spirit of holiness and being changed into the image of Christ and transformed into his image so that I can become a better husband and father, mother. Worker, co-worker, son, daughter, employee. Isn't that what the gospel is about? And I would say to you, yes, it is about that. But it's not only about that. If that's all you dwell on in your walk with God, then you will miss the big picture. I get this quote from John Piper. You miss the big point of it all. You're like a bat boy at Yankee Stadium who thinks the great point of the world series is to hand the players their bat. It's a good illustration. There's a much bigger stage going on than we realize. So in conclusion, let me tell you about one man who took this seriously. His name is George Scott. He was a British Christian missionary to China. He went with the newly formed China in the mission in 1865 and he was an amputee. His wife, Gracie, wrote about his life. Mr. Scott, I'm sorry, had been brought up on a farm. When he was about 19 years of age, he slipped on the road and knocked his knee against the stone. This simple accident resulted in white swelling, which two years later necessitated the amputation of his left leg. For nine months, he lay helpless as an invalid. And it was during this time that the Lord graciously saved his soul. So far he had been careless and indifferent to the love of God and Jesus Christ, but now in this helpless condition and what seemed his ruin of the future. How precious the love of Christ became. After his recovery, he began to teach school and as he began to do this, he was employed in several different places until he heard of the need in China through a friend who himself was going to China. In accepting Mr. Scott's for Mr. Scott for mission work, Hudson Taylor manifested faith in what you need to know as Hudson Taylor, the beginning who was the founder of China Inland Mission, believed in George Scott, even as an amputee. And he said, Mr. Scott said that even though as an amputee, he was believed in by Hudson Taylor, and Mr. Scott often referred to Mr. Taylor with gratitude's acceptance of him. And when asked why he with only one leg should go to China, Mr. Scott's remarks were this. I do not see those with two legs going, so I must. What was the result of George Scott's life in China? He went to a place called the Winshow Province. There he began to teach the doctrines of grace, he began to teach the gospel in a place that was previously unknown. Those teachings were not known in this place. The oldest church in that city to this day still stands on the west side of that city as a testimony to the work of George Scott and his love for the people. As a result of the ongoing fluency, the message of Christ first brought there by George Scott Winshow is known today as the Jerusalem of China or the Jerusalem of the east. I look this up this morning and it is still there. There are still pictures of this church in this province. Now according to government figures, this is what I realized and studied and found these statistics today. According to government figures, there are over one million Christians in Winshow. Now remember China doesn't like Christians. It's one of the most influential Christian places in the city and in the country of China. There are five million people in Winshow and by government officials, calculations, one million of those people are evangelical Christians because one man said, I want to be a part of a big work even on one leg. So will you be about the larger way to your work of God? This doesn't mean you neglect the lighter, not the insignificant work of ministering to each other as God's people, but God has called us. He has commissioned us to join us in a much larger work than just caring for each other. I would say as a personal comment, the church depends on it. We believe in the sovereign God and God will evangelize his people. God is sovereign but God is sovereign in using you and me to carry out this great work. So would you join him? Would you join me? Would you join David and his family and Nick and the rest of the staff here who believe this and who desire to see the world and the nations come to Christ? Let's pray to that end. Father, we want to thank you this morning for this incredible word. Lord, it is a daunting task to think that we are to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, but you promise that as we go, you will be with us. We will never leave us nor forsake us and you will be with us. And so we pray, Holy Father, that you would embolden us to take the gospel just here to our neighbors to start with. And then Lord, I don't know what you would do. And if you would in this church, send people around the world to take the light of the gospel to those who don't know Christ. So Lord, we ask that you would move us. Would you make Carolina Presbyterian Church a beacon, a lighthouse for the gospel that people would know the love of Christ here and not only know the love of Christ, they would take the love of Christ into this world. Lord, that's our hope and that's our prayer. And we ask now which you would be with us in Jesus name. Amen. Would you please?