On A Mission

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:18-20

I always find it fascinating how God prepares us for calling and ministry.  I have shared with you that I have felt led to establish this blog as away of communicating with you, studying with you, encouraging you, and challenging you.  Before I began this pursuit, I began a 100 day Bible reading plan that began in Matthew (I am on day 18).  Anyway, what I am reading there, the books I have chosen for study, and my devotional preacher   (when my eye problems began I listened to rather than read my devotions and I still do to a great extent) all sort of converged into a plan of presentation.  

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As an aside, the amazing thing about all of this is how all the books and podcasts that I just happened to pick up or be attracted to have interrelated to speak to my own concerns about how our Officers can do mission in today’s culture and chaotic climate of political correctness and post modernity with little in the financial coffers. All of this has been the burden with which I am struggling.  My challenge is the question of how to contemporize leadership in such a way that we can effectively engage our culture in mission.

I am so grateful that God does not allow us to carry a burden without giving us needed resources.  Hence, my reading and listening choices.  (Special thanks to Stan Key and Jay McAlister who are both great preachers)

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As I was saying....

You will notice that the title for this week is ‘on a mission.’ I start here because as Salvationists we consider ourselves to be God’s soldiers.  As soldiers we have been given a mission, indeed a final order, from our Commander, Jesus Christ. In essence, we are soldiers ‘on the ground’ seeking to accomplish the orders that we have been given: “go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” (New Living Translation)

So here we are, God’s soldiers--on the ground--ready to obey orders.  Actually, we are God’s Officers called to lead our soldiers to victory.  

Where to begin. Before we can lead we must be sure that we are prepared.  When soldiers are given orders for a particular mission, they prepare themselves, mentally and physically. As God’s soldiers we can do no less. We must be sure that we are spiritually fit for leadership as well as for the battle.  That preparation is what I hope becomes the focus of this blog.

A major problem that has infected us is well stated by Robert Webber: “The consumer model [influence within and on the church] has especially affected worship, which is the true measure of the church.  Jesus has become a product to sell,and worship is the primary channel for sales...there are a good number of people who never get past the window dressing of worship entertainment, where they continually feed on pabulum rather than the meat of God’s Word.  The substance of worship--remembering God’s saving deeds in the past, culminating in Jesus Christ, and anticipating the overthrow of all evil at Christ’s coming--has been lost.”   

(Who Gets to Narrate the World?-- pp.17-18).

Is Webber right? Has our mission has become compromised?  As leaders (officers) it is our task to lead our people through this land mined area and not allow the enemy to continually distract us from our mission...distractions that cause us to settle for the good in life and miss the best:  abundant life.

Question:  Have we gone so far to accommodate culture that we lack the spiritual discipline to be God’s effective soldier on the ground?

When Jesus calls us to do his work, we are subject to his will as well as his methods. When he sent out the disciples they were not left free to choose their own methods or adopt their own conception of their task.  Their work and ours is to be Christ-work, and therefore absolutely dependent on the will of Jesus.  “Happy are they whose duty is fixed by such a precept, and who are therefore free from the tyranny of their own ideas and calculations”  (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship).  As officers, the choice of field for our work is no more ours than it was the Disciples’; so our labors do not depend on our own impulses and preferences, but rather on Christ’s command.  Does this not help to make clear that it is not our work that we are doing but rather Christ’s?

The disciples found it hard, at first, to understand the limitations of their commission and it was not until after the resurrection that the Apostles finally went out into the world....Their obedience to the will of Christ became a means of grace for gentiles. “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:7-8)

Strive, when you are called of God,

When he draws you by his grace,

Strive to cast away the load

That would hinder in the race.

Fight, though it may cost your life;

Storm the kingdom, but prevail:

Let not Satan’s fiercest strife

Make you, warrior, faint or quail.

Are you faithful? Wake and watch.

Love with all your heart Christ’s ways;

Seek not worldly ease to snatch,

Look not for reward or praise.

Soldiers of the cross, be strong!

Watch and war through fear or pain,

Daily conquering sin and wrong,

Till our King o’er earth will reign.

SA Songbook 

Johann Joseph Winckler (1670-1722)

trs Catherine Winkworth (1827-78)

Final Thought

“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us.”    Bonhoeffer