If there is anything that the Lord of the Church is trying to do in our day, it is to move us from a maintenance mode into a mission mode.

A lot of you are sitting in churches warming pews and waiting for the mythical day when you are ready to do something for the Lord. Your excuse is that you can’t get it out until you get it right, that you need to live and be before you go, do and speak.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that you divorce yourself from the very dynamic that is designed to get you right. It’s only as you get it out that you can get it right. A flowing river is self-purifying. It’s not learning the will of God that matures you but doing the will of God.

There’s no question that there are a lot of people in the church that need a lot of maintenance and to release them into mission would be to invite problems and controversy. But again, not to do so is to separate them from the very dynamic that brings about real maintenance, because it is only as they give out, that it is given to them (Luke 6:38).

Also not to get them involved in mission is to lose out on your greatest source of productivity. Statistics prove that in mission is to lose out on your greatest source of productivity. Statistics prove that 2 the vast majority of new Christians are won to the Lord by new Christians. Proverbs 14:4 states “where no oxen are the manger is clean, but much increase come by the strength of the oxen.” The question you need to ask ourselves is “Do I want a clean manger or do I want increase?” Because initially you can’t have both. Oxen (young Christians) will make messes because of their immaturity and inexperience, but they will also bring increase.

John 4:1-34 is the story about Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. From this I want you to see that it is in mission that you will find all the maintenance that you can handle.

Verse 4 states that “Jesus had to pass through Samaria.” Samaria was a country that no good Jew would pass through. Samaria and the Samaritans represented to the Jews everything that was vile and contemptible. The “had to” in this scripture came from the sill small voice of the Holy Spirit from within. Jesus knew that as He passed through Samaria, He was going to run into a pocket of God’s will.

The Holy Spirit still tells Christians to “pass through Samaria,” which represents anything that God might ask you to do that may be difficult, unpleasant, or inconvenient. Verse 6 states that “Jesus was weary from the journey.” He was hungry, thirsty, tired and depleted. He was in need of maintenance. Verses 7-8 give two answers to Jesus’ condition. One was from His disciples and the other was from the Father.

The disciples’ answer was to have Him rest and get a drink, while they went into the city to get Him some lunch. The Father’s answer to His Son’s condition was to send some lunch of His own making. Lunch showed up disguised as a Samaritan woman who was in more need than He was. Jesus needed rest and it came disguised as work. Jesus needed maintenance and it came disguised as a mission opportunity.

In verse 31-33 you find the disciples trying to get Jesus to eat the lunch they brought. But He explains to them that He had eaten some food they didn’t know about. The reason He said this, is because they wouldn’t have recognized it as food. They wouldn’t have seen it as something nourishing; they would have seen it as something draining. Jesus explains that He has already eaten the lunch His Father sent. They knew something had to have happened because they had left a weary Jesus, and they came back to a rejuvenated Jesus. They left a hungry Jesus, and they came back to a nourished Jesus. They left a depleted Jesus, and they came back to an overflowing Jesus.

In verse 34 Jesus tells His disciples, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” Jesus is saying that there is something sustaining about doing the will of God. The implication of this verse is that your nourishment comes from nourishing others; that your sustenance comes from sustaining others; that your strength comes from strengthening others; in other words, our maintenance comes from His mission.

The question you need to ask yourself is “who has your lunch?” Because the Lord has placed your maintenance right in the middle of a mission opportunity, for it’s in mission that you find all the maintenance you need. If you sow the Lord for someone else, you will reap Him for yourself. You will never bring Jesus to someone or to a situation without Him showing up for you as well. The Holy Spirit will never work through you without doing something to you.

The Lord wants to move you from a maintenance mode into a mission mode, because it is in mission that you find your maintenance. You need to be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit when He speaks in that still small voice and says, “I want you to pass through Samaria.” As you pass through Samaria you will run into a mission opportunity. If you are obedient, two things will happen: your mission will be accomplished, and your maintenance will be received.