This past week, I've been reading a fantastic book by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert. The title of the book is "What is the Mission of the Church?" Isn't that an interesting question? I think, as Christians, we all too often just go to church every Sunday and view church as an organization that is just there to serve our spiritual needs. That is one of the reasons some are in favor of taxing it because many view it as little more than a business that provides spirituality for a small fee.
However, Christ gave the church a mission! We have a task we need to be accomplishing! Right before Christ ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Ultimately, that's what the church is here to do. To gather in and disciple Christ's people. This is entirely consistent with the story of the Bible.
You know, the Bible has many amazing facets and one of them is the epic story that it tells. It reads like a novel! There we were, in the middle of Paradise and we threw it all away! Everything seemed so dark, but God showed us a little glimmer of hope with the nation of Israel. God protected His special people and promised a Messiah to come and rescue them from their sins. Then God stepped down into this dark world and took on flesh. He became a human being with all the same emotions and pains that we feel. As if that wasn't enough, he sacrificed everything to suffer a horrific and shameful death. What for? To pay the price for his people's sins and redeem them from the bondage of sin! It's so easy to lose sight of that.
DeYoung and Gilbert wrote their book to refocus the Church on this mission because they believe that she is straying from it. I have noticed this too. The American Church has begun to preach something new called the Social Gospel. It's all about equality, the poor, and changing the culture. I want to preface my comments with this; the Social Gospel has a basis in Scripture. That is why it has been so widely embraced. The problem is, it is an overemphasis of a less prominent theme. The actual Gospel has been pushed to the backseat while changing the culture has been brought to the forefront. The Bible absolutely supports justice, equality, loving others, serving the poor, widows, orphans, and being "a City on a Hill." However, those are not the church's primary objectives. I would argue that all those things are logical out-workings of a faithful pursuit of the Gospel and obedience to God's Word.
My goal in this post is not to discourage those who are fighting for the downtrodden and brokenhearted. However, it is a call to refocus our perspective. We have focused too much on one aspect of Christianity and because of that, Christ's mission to the church has suffered. Now, Christ's mighty word will always go forward, but are we doing what we can to aid it? To plant it? I know I don't do enough! This book has really opened my eyes to how I am not fulfilling my obligations to my Lord. My desire is to serve Him in many different capacities. I pray that He empowers you to serve Him and seek His will. He promises that if we call on Him, He will answer and strengthen us. He is the giver of every good gift.
God Bless,
Stanley
It was interesting that one of my Blogger followers, Dfish, has likened evangelism as two lovers boasting to others of their relationship.In other words, it should be a joyful occasion.
ReplyDeleteA social gospel is good, but bringing one to Christ for salvation is much better!
As for my other comment to "According-to-the-book" - yes, I was born a Roman Catholic and I was taught their belief in Transubstansiation. But in 1973 I was converted to Christ, after having turned atheist due to my delusion with Catholicism. As a "true" Christian, I repudiated the catholic dogma and adopted what I believe what the Bible teaches - that the bread and the wine are symbols of the body and blood of Christ, and not the actual flesh, as catholicism insist.
God bless.
Good post Stanley, and food for thought.
ReplyDeleteHi,just read your post. Several scriptures came to mind as I was reading, one was 'except the Lord build the house, those who labour, labour in vain. We can never do the 'whole job', for one plants, one waters and God adds the increase. If we seek the Lord through His word, each day we shall be given our daily bread, and we will know when to give a word in season. He gives each of us gifts, whether it is for building one another up or evangelizing. As long as we lift Him up, it is He who draws all men to Himself. We can not add to the gospel. Whatever doctrines are preached, one thing comes to mind that my father always said to my siblings and myself when we had arguements and we said to him 'Dad, who is right?' . Our father always said 'Let's see what the Lord says', went and got his Bible, and settled the arguement. If people are looking for the truth, they will find it.
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Thank you for the comments. It makes me glad that people are reading my posts!
ReplyDeleteGod does all the work of the mission of the church. We are simply His vessels. But, if we aren't pursuing His mission, how good of vessels are we being? God has given every person special talents and also given them specific things that are close to their heart. They should absolutely seek those things so they can glorify God and love others. However, the church still needs to keep an eye on her mission. If the church is a body, then we are the organs. Each organ does its job and you can't expect the eye to do the liver's job. Also, the body have more of a macro mission or perspective that it is pursuing by concert between the parts. Each part still has a mission they are called to. I hope that makes sense.
Yes, Stanley, that is what I meant when I said that we are each given gifts for the building up of the body (one another) or evangelizing. The building up can come through prophesy, and if something is not right in the church and it is shown to one part of the body it must be brought out in the open. There are so many things that are not done according to the Bible's instruction that much of the church has now become like Babylon in Daniel's time, a mixture of God's doctrine and man's doctrine. How many church gatherings allow each person within that gathering to share what they have been given by the Holy Spirit to share. Without the proper food, our bodies would become sick,the same applies to the church. This is why it is important to freely give what you have been freely given, but to just do your part is all that is required by God. He is the organizer, He wants all men to come to the knowledge of salvation through Jesus, and knows exactly how to do it. I did not come to be a christian through looking to the church, where I saw many faults, I came to be a christian through the right individuals being sent to me at the right time, all things working together according to God's plan for me. No man can come to Jesus except he is called by God and no man can come to God except through Jesus. What a wonderful loving God we have.
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