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“우리는 어디로 가는 사람들인가?”
Where Are We Going?
요한복음 20:21 | John 20:21
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Where Are We Going?
Text John 20:21 | May 17, 2025 Sunday Sermon
Those who are sent do not lose their way. The more complex the world becomes, the more free a life with direction truly is.
Introduction
[ QT Introduction ]
Our church reads the Word together every day. We call it QT — Quiet Time. This morning's passage connects so precisely with today's sermon that I'd like to look at it together for a moment. If you haven't started QT yet, that's perfectly fine. We'll look at it together right now.
This morning's passage was Matthew 10:42.
"And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."
A cup of cold water. Such a small act that it seems to carry no significance. And yet Jesus declares it to be of eternal value.
This is where today's sermon begins.
Where are we going?
It doesn't have to be a mission field. The person who goes out holding a cup of cold water — that is the beginning of a sent life.
[ Word Feast Connection ]
Over this past week, we welcomed the Holy Spirit. We carried our crosses — not out of obligation, but out of joy. We examined our worship. The grace and resolve we received through the Word Feast has carried us to this moment today.
But one question remains.
Now that we have received that grace — where are we going?
[ The Gospel Is the Foundation of Direction ]
Where does that direction come from? It is not something we generate on our own.
Jesus came to us first. He died on the cross in place of us, sinners, and through His resurrection He opened a new kingdom. That kingdom continues to expand even now, every time someone is reconciled to Him.
And Jesus entrusted that message of reconciliation to those who believe. The church is a community that has received this mission from the Lord Himself. This sending is not a program we invented. It is something the Lord first gave to us.
We go because we have first received. That is the root of our direction.
To go out holding that cup of cold water, we must first have direction. But the destinations the world offers cannot give us that direction.
Point 1 — The World Cannot Give Us a Destination
The destinations the world offers always demand another destination. Success still feels empty. Security turns into anxiety again. We arrive, and another destination appears.
Even the passion ignited through the Word Feast will burn out without direction. The reason our resolve ends as mere emotion is because there is no direction behind it.
Remember Israel in Malachi. They continued to approach the altar, yet they had lost their direction. Today's QT carries the same warning. The most dangerous enemy of faith is not laziness — it is indifference. Faith without direction grows cold, slowly and quietly.
The church faces the same temptation. The moment seating capacity becomes the destination, we become a cold religion.
"The success of a church is measured not by its seating capacity, but by its sending capacity."
So where does true direction come from? We go to Jesus.
Point 2 — Jesus Was Also Sent
"As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." (John 20:21)
The original model of sending is Jesus Himself. He came to this earth as the One who was sent first. Being sent comes from relationship. The trust and love between the Father and the Son is the root of all sending.
But there is always something that must come first.
[ The Dust Bowl Story ]
It is the 1930s in Oklahoma. Through the abundant harvests of the 1920s, countless people had migrated to the Midwest. It was a land they came to with dreams. But in 1931, the rain stopped. A massive grey dust storm swept across the soil, already devastated by poor farming practices. Everything that remained was wiped away without a trace.
Fall of 1939. After years of drought, many farmers left for home with nothing. Those who remained had only enough grain to sustain their families for one year.
Two choices stood before them.
Make bread and eat it now. They would not starve today. But the opportunity for tomorrow's harvest would be gone forever.
Plant the grain as seed. If the rain did not come, the entire family could starve. But if the rain came, everything would return.
Many farmers buried their seed in the ground. And in the fall of 1939, the rain came.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)
[ The Heart of the Gospel — Jesus Was That Grain of Wheat ]
Jesus was that grain of wheat.
He set aside everything in heaven and came to this earth. He died on the cross in the place of us, sinners. That death was not the end. Through His resurrection, a new kingdom began. That kingdom is still expanding today. Every time a sinner is reconciled to Him, the borders of that kingdom extend one step further.
And Jesus directly entrusted that message of reconciliation to those who believe.
"As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
This is not an invitation. It is a commission. It is a mission that the Lord Himself gave personally to those who believe.
The act of planting seed — releasing control, giving up what you could use right now, trusting in a harvest you cannot yet see — that is the way we live out the message of reconciliation.
The grace we received at the Word Feast is no different. If we keep that grace stored inside ourselves, it ends as emotion. When we plant it like a seed into the ground, it becomes fruit.
So is this sent life a burden? No. It is an identity.
Point 3 — Sending Is Not a Burden. It Is an Identity.
An aircraft carrier does not exist to keep planes on board. It exists to send them into the field. The church is no different. Gathering is not the purpose. Sending is the purpose.
[ Simon of Cyrene — Word Feast Connection ]
On the second day of the Word Feast, we remembered Simon of Cyrene. He carried Jesus' cross by force, without understanding why. He did not want to. He had not planned for it. He was simply walking down the road when he was seized.
And yet that one cross — carried against his will — became the defining identity of his entire household. His wife became the spiritual mother whom Paul would call "his mother." His two sons, Alexander and Rufus, became faithful servants whose names are recorded in Scripture.
Sending does not begin after we are perfectly prepared. It has already begun — in the act of offering a cup of cold water, in simply holding our place today.
[ The Mission Comes from the Lord ]
Those who see sending as a burden keep asking: "Can I really do this? Am I even qualified?"
But look again at John 20:21. The source of the mission is not us. It is the Lord. The Lord was sent first. The Lord died first as the grain of wheat. And the very first thing the Lord did after His resurrection was this — He came to those who believed and gave them the mission of reconciliation.
Qualification is not something we produce. It is something the Lord gives. The mission to carry the message of reconciliation has always come from the Lord Himself. When a person who has received that mission lives with sending as their identity, the kingdom of God expands one step further through them.
Those who know sending as identity ask a different question.
"Where and how will I live as a sent person today?"
Conclusion — Grace Is Completed When It Becomes Direction
The grace, the resolve, the leading of the Holy Spirit we received through the Word Feast. If it stays inside us, it ends as emotion.
When it flows out as a cup of cold water — that is when sending begins.
Remember the farmers of the Dust Bowl. They did not eat their last remaining seed. They planted it in the ground. They gave up what was visible and trusted in a harvest they could not see. The rain came.
The gospel is the same. Jesus died first as a grain of wheat. And He rose again. That kingdom is still expanding today. Every time a sinner is reconciled. Every time a cup of cold water is offered. Every time someone lives out their mission in their own place — the borders of that kingdom grow wider.
The Lord entrusted that work to us. Not to those who were already qualified, but to those who had received grace.
Where are we going?
We are the sent ones. We are those who have received a mission from the Lord. We are the ones going back to our places today, holding a cup of cold water.
Because we have that direction, the more complex the world becomes, the more free we truly are.
Closing Declaration: "Jesus came first. We have received that grace. Now we go."
Post-Sermon Prayer Points
May the gospel of the cross and resurrection become the direction of our lives today
May we believe that the mission to carry the message of reconciliation has come from the Lord Himself
A cup of cold water — may we begin today, right where we are, as sent people
May we live lives that plant grace like seed rather than holding it tightly
May WFC be established as a sending community that pours out the message of reconciliation