emotions

Ravi Zacharias pointed out that we need to have a burden and personal pressure to seek the lost instead of letting their time on Earth be meaningless, just a brief time to roam around before their eternity in hell. This compassion should be in us and should compel us to action. We need to be aware of the harsh reality of the lost all around us and stop falling into the devil’s distractions of what this life offers. At the same time, this lack of hurt or burden should not be an excuse for us not to act. Zacharias tells this great story about Adoniram Judson and an emotional event in his life that had a huge impact on him and changed the course of his life, but somehow through this story I was reminded that at times we make Christianity too emotional. We sometimes need to be less about feeling and more about doing.

anabaptists

The Anabaptists contributed a great deal to today’s missional ideas. They believed in “the priesthood of all believers”. We can go directly to God with our praise and prayers. They also knew that to become a Christian, an individual must “exercise personal faith”. Being born into a Christian family does not make you a Christian in the way that being born into an American family makes you an American. A third idea held by the Anabaptists of high importance concerning the theology of mission is that “the true gospel had to be proclaimed by every true believer in obedience with the Great Commission.” This is not a job for a select few or to be contained only in certain organized functions of the church. It is important for every believer to make their personal decision to follow Jesus, to know their role and their relationship with the Father and to see his or her own calling into the task of reaching all nations for Christ. If each church member does not see themselves in this way, the church as a whole will suffer.

a clear reflection

Monks showed their world, better than others in their time, the heart of God. They demonstrated what God is like rather than forcefully imposing ideas on others. Their example was much closer to the characteristics Jesus portrayed.

Some during this time were using violence and war to “convert” people to Christianity, claiming it was for their own good. The end does not always justify the means. Similarly, churches today commercialize Christianity. It is becoming like anything this culture is trying to sell. Youth groups are all about being fun and having big events, so outsiders see how “fun” Christianity is. Jesus is bigger than that. The relationship He longs for is deeper than that. Something needs to change.

Like these monks we should live lives of service, humility and full obedience of God. We need to live in a way that shows this world what God is like. We are His ambassadors.

urgently

Of the four characteristics that describe Paul’s ministry, the one that I see the least of in churches, as well as in my own life, is urgency. This is obviously a problem because people are dying and going to hell every day, some never hearing the name of Jesus. If we as a church don’t recognize the limited amount of time we have to reach out to them, we are missing opportunities. We can be gracious and confident and even have a well developed plan for reaching the lost, but without feeling the constant need to take action, we easily slip into the comfort of our relaxed lives. We need to each take seriously the call to follow Christ.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
James 1:22

the nature of the Spirit

The Missio Dei is God’s work in the world to bring about His will. Even the gospel-advancing things that we are a part of, is God’s work through His Spirit in us. It is all of Him and nothing of us. Because Jesus sent His Spirit to us we have the opportunity to be a part in His plan. Nussbaum reminds us that the Spirit is so essential to our involvement that the disciples were told “not to begin their mission until he sends the Spirit on them.”

We can be bold because we have power in the Spirit.
When we go, Jesus will be with us.
and
Since we have the Spirit, we should go. We should be like those “…who, receiving the Spirit, were driven by that Spirit to act in accordance with the nature of that Spirit.”

the King

David Bosch shows us how the Great Commission relates to the Kingdom of God and our part in it. Jesus says that He has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth.” He is the King. We are His subjects. He them sends us out to tell everyone else about Him and His love. He is already King over everything and everybody, but not everyone knows it yet. They are missing out on the greatest thing ever. They are missing out on their reason for being. It is our responsibility to share with them what we have, to teach them what they need…who they need.

seeing the grace of God

When some of Jesus’ followers went to Antioch and began preaching also to Greeks, “[t]he Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:21) When the church at Jerusalem wanted to know more about what was going on they chose Barnabas to find out. This suggests he was both trusted and willing. Verse 24 calls him “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”

Barnabas saw the “evidence of the grace of God” in how the church was growing in Christ and how it was blessed by the joint fellowship of Jews and gentiles.

God’s sovereignty is clear through this whole passage and because of the relationship Barnabas has with God, he is able to be a part of the unhindered spread of the Gospel through the early church. This is an encouragement to me because I know I too am part of God’s great design and plan for redemption. Reading about Barnabas and the benefit his choices were to the development of the early church, motivates me to also be in a close relationship with God so that I too will be able to recognize how He is working in the world and how to appropriately be a part of it.

Barnabas was so moved by the happenings of Antioch that he grabbed Paul and headed out to tell others. If the church today followed Barnabas’ example of surrender to Christ’s will, I believe each of our lives would look much different and we would probably be making a much larger impact for the Kingdom.

our Davidic Covenant

My home church is Eastwood Baptist in Haughton, Louisiana. This is a very mission minded church. Members constantly see on banners and hear from our pastor “Live Life on Mission.”

When Christopher Wright talks about the Davidic Covenant, he mentions that God calls for His church to be a “house of prayer to all nations.”

Eastwood has many church plants of different ethnic groups including Hispanic and Vietnamese. One way the vision of Eastwood might be enhanced in view of the Davidic Covenant would be to develop unity between the members of the church plants and the members or Eastwood. If these groups come together and hold community events they might be able to more effectively reach out and point to Christ. I am sure both churches have resources that could help the other, in particular for overseas missions trips, especially to cultures represented in the church plants.

Wright reminds his readers of how Philip affected the life of the Ethiopian eunuch. I believe if we as individuals of the church live as David is described: “after God’s own heart”, and constantly focused on His purposes, then we too could be instruments that God uses to bless “all nations in the world.”

you call forth songs of joy

"You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy."

-Psalm 65: 5-8 (NIV)


All of “the ends of the earth” can put their hope in God and only in God. Even those “living far away” can see the mountains that God formed and feel the love of the God who “stills … the turmoil of the nations”. They can see the beauty of creation around them, but they need to hear from us that it was God who spoke into existence. We are called to share with them the treasure we have in Christ. Then they too can cry out to Him and be answered “with awesome deeds of righteousness”. They too can bring their “songs of joy” before God their Savior.

a church for His mission

I agree with what Christopher Wright says and I especially love "Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission." His statement is a good reminder that God's mission should be the focus, not church life. The church should not simply have a missions department that organizes its one mission project and puts together the yearly missions Sunday service. Everything the church does should consider its role in God's mission of reconciling the world. God has a soveriegn plan for His creation and He wants to use His people in it. The local church has a great opportunity and responsibility to take part. Every decision made in the church should be focused on what will point someone who isn't a Christian to a relationship with Jesus and bring glory to God, instead of on the preferences of church members. Although there is a huge opportunity here, it is important to be aware that God's mission does also exist outside of church functions. He wants to use the church, but He is not dependent on the church. His will is going to come about and we are given the choice to join in the story.