What’s Your Bullseye?

Rob Wilkerson, Church in the Boro

Life is almost too busy. Especially if you’re an adult. Especially

if you’re married. Especially if you have kids. Especially if you
work full time. And ESPECIALLY if you lead a local church. Not
that pastoring is necessarily any more or less significant than
any other vocation. But it certainly carries a bigger weight that
is almost indescribable sometimes, since we care not only for
our own selves and our own wives and children, but for the rest
of those over whom the Lord has made us overseers (Acts 20:28).

With this, or any other vocation, life is almost too busy because it is filled with too many distractions.
Ever look back on times 40, 50 or even 60 years ago with nostalgia? Even if you weren’t alive, you
certainly get the sense from watching T.V. shows made back then that life was somehow
more…simple. Perhaps it was. I wasn’t around then. But Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith, and My
Three Sons were staple shows in my house growing up. And to be honest, it did look more simple to
live back then.

Technological advances like the internet, Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs, iPods, iPads, MP3’s,
YouTube, Google, Blackberries, HDTV, BluRay, Netflix, Hulu, Wii, PS3, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and
on and on, have all created a multiplicity of opportunities to be distracted each and every day. So
answer me this: how many times have you ever ended your day or week totally frustrated because you
didn’t get the things done that you wanted to get done? I see that hand. Oh yeah! It’s my hand!

I recently turned 40 years old. Such a young pup in the eyes of men like Earl Wright and Kirk Wetsell
and Terry Simpson! But I’ve learned some valuable lessons from watching them and men like them.
And the most important of those lessons is this: keeping my eye on the bullseye. That’s what keeps me
from being less and less distracted. Take what happened a few minutes ago, for example. One of my
Leaders in Development (LID guys as we call them here), emailed me an article from the Popular
Mechanics magazine about something we had discussed last year. Five minutes later…. The light bulb
turned on brightly above my head (I was the only one who could see it, of course!). I heard a voice in
my head, presumably the Holy Spirit because of the content of what that voice said: this isn’t what I’ve
called you to…focus on the bullseye. So I emailed my LID guy back and thanked him for both the
distraction (with an LOL, so he’d know I wasn’t mad at him), and for the opportunity to keep that focus
fresh.

So what is my focus? The same as yours. Or…what should be the same for everyone. Jesus painted
that target pretty clearly, with the bullseye in bright red so no one could miss it. He basically painted
that bullseye five different ways, no doubt using the old teacher’s trick of repetition, saying the same
thing over and over again, but in a different way…so His disciples (already not the sharpest spoons in
the drawer) would be sure not to miss His point. I too am often one fry short of a Happy Meal, so I’m
thankful for the repetition on Jesus’ part. Can you relate? If so, let’s repeat the bullseye one more
time.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of 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”
(Matt. 28:18-20).

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized
will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those
who believe: in my name they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up
serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their
hands on the sick and they will recover” (Mark 16:15-18).

“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of the Father upon
you…clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:46-49).

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you…Receive the Holy Spirit. If
you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is
withheld” (John 20:21-23).

“…[Y]ou will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now…[Y]ou will receive power when
the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:6, 8).

Could it all be any clearer? Suddenly…the bullseye of our lives comes into focus again, doesn’t it?
Three things are thankfully obvious in Jesus’ statements (or the bullseye as we call it around here).

First, there is the mission. Jesus had a clear sense of what the Father wanted Him to do, and
therefore a clear sense of what He wanted us to do. In short, He wants us to know Him and the
Father. Savoring comes before sending. Jesus said that our greatest mission in life was “to know the
Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” (John 17:3). Unless we know the Father and the Son, then
His authority (Matt. 28:18) means nothing, and we will take neither Him nor His mandate seriously.

Second, there is the method. There are two clear parts about the method to Jesus’ mission:
destination and discipleship. Notice in all but one of the passages, Jesus talks about the nations. That
is our destination. We are to go to them. I love what my favorite Christian musician, Keith Green,
sang: “Jesus commands us to go, so it should be the exception if we stay. It’s no wonder we’re movin’
so slow, when God’s children refuse to obey, feelin’ so called to stay.” This is where discipleship comes
in. You see, we far too often make the mistake of feeling like we have to be disciple before we can go
to the nations. But Jesus doesn’t say that, does He? He seems to say quite the opposite, implying that
we will be disciple and make disciples while we are going to the nations. In other words, our own
discipleship is inseparably linked to the destination where the discipleship of others lies before us. As
Americans we’re so categorical in our thinking. Jesus is metaphorical. He wants us to think in terms of
multiple responsibilities at one time, and not just one at a time. I kind of figure that’s because He can
do multiple things at one time and can use us to do them. That leads me to the third thing.
Third, there is the means. Multiple times in these mission statements of Jesus’ there is either the
explicit or implicit mention of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because an impossible mission requires an
impossible power. Discipleship means changing to be like Jesus. The only One who can make us like
Jesus is the Holy Spirit. Going to the destinations Jesus calls us to in order to reach the nations requires
a resource beyond human reach. The only One who can reach these places with the right resources is
the Holy Spirit. He lives inside of you, and He has called you to experience the full potential of His
power in your life as you reach out to others. Ever feel frustrated or confused that you either haven’t
experienced the supernatural signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit in a while…or perhaps at all? That’s
because these things happen while we’re on mission…while we’re going to the nations. The Holy Spirit
does what He promised when we do what He told us to do, and that’s called faith. He jumps into
action when WE jump into action. That’s clearly the order Jesus put it in, at least in Mark and Acts.

Personally, distractions have grown fewer and farther between for me because of what I wrote above.
While there may seem to be a disconnect at first for you between these mission statements of Jesus
and how you fit in, just know this: start pouring everything you do in your life through the bullseye of
Jesus’ mission for your life and you’ll find that so much will get filtered out. You’ll begin discovering
day by day that certain things you do just don’t fit. They don’t hit the bullseye. And as a result, they
don’t satisfy…which is why we keep going back to them again and again, ironically thinking that they’ll
somehow satisfy next time. But they don’t. Only the mission satisfies…knowing the Father and His Son
Jesus Christ, being disciple to be like Christ, while proclaiming Jesus to the nations, being disciple
ourselves while discipling others, all with the supernatural power and working of the Holy Spirit.

Do you want to see your life less distracted, more fulfilled, and sleeping each night with a deeper sense
of accomplishment? God made you this way. He wants you to feel it. But you can only feel it by doing
what He has made you, saved you, and called you to do. You’ll spend your money differently. You’ll
spend your vacations differently. You’ll make a new circle of friends. You’ll entertain yourself
differently. You’ll look at your job differently. Your marriage will come into focus. Your parenting will
have a bullseye. So imagine what a whole group of people doing this looks like? It looks like the local
church. Your local church. And this is just what a local church is supposed to be…a group of people
who live with the bullseye Jesus gave them. It was said of these people in the first century that they
were turning the whole world upside down. Are you ready to become one of these?

Rob Wilkerson is Lead Pastor at Church in the Boro in Statesboro, GA.

www.churchintheboro.com churchintheboro@gmail.com
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