Rob's Missional Epiphanies

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem.  ~ President Ronald Reagan, 1985

Do we as Christians have the wondering problem?  Are our programs effective?  Is our worship inspiring?  Are we drawing enough people?   Are we making an impact?  For the missional Christian these questions are the wrong questions to ask and they will always leave us wondering.   Where is God at work in this place at this time?  What is God doing in my neighborhood?  How is God drawing the people around me to Him?  Those are the questions to ask. 

The reason the marines don’t have that problem is because they are using all their gifts, resources, and courage to carry out their orders either as a guardian of liberty or a protector of peace.  The church is ordered to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND MAKE DISCIPLES AND TO BE CHRIST’S WITNESSES IN JERUSALEM, JUDEA, SAMARIA, AND TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.  But instead we see our calling is to get as many people as we can in the pews and in our programs and we will always wonder. If we will go make disciples and be witnesses of Christ Jesus using our gifts, resources, and courage we will not have that problem. 

In Luke 14:16-24 Jesus is telling a parable about the Messianic Feast.  He begins with an invitation by a hospitable host who wants to throw a great banquet.  The RSVP’s are sent out and returned, “yes we will be there.”  At the right time the servant is sent out to tell the guests that the band is fired up, the food is ready, the celebration is about to commence.  One by one the guest give insulting and lame excuses why they cannot come.  Hearing the servant’s report and the insulting excuses the host turns his anger into grace and invites the outcasts, the marginalized, and in-firmed. 

The servant sees his master’s grace and experiences the joy of those who accept the gracious invitation.   The servant sees his master’s heart and the servant’s heart is transformed.   He returns to the master transformed and fully engaged in the master’s vision, “Master what you have commanded is done and there’s still room!”   The servant is then sent out into the country side and to the crossroads and back roads to make sure the banquet is full.  When the servant says, “and there’s still more room,” he exposes his transformed heart.  He gets it and wants to be a part of the master’s gracious invitation. 

How much more of an experience of grace than the death and resurrection of Jesus do we need to have our hearts transformed.   God has changed his anger into grace.  The invitation to God’s banquet is for all people.  We the church are the servant sent into all the world to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that Christ Jesus has commanded.  The missional heart is born out experiencing God’s grace in Jesus and a yearning to be a part of God’s mission in the world. 

Biblical History relates a powerful reality about the human heart, The heart can turn anything into an idol.  The Israelites turned the Law into idol.  Ancient peolple turn God’s glorious creation and creatures into idols.  Today we turn money, children, and entertainment into idols.  The heart is so intent on this that even salvation itself can be turned into and idol as we cherish our ticket to heaven instead of the Savior who suffered and died. 

The missional church understands this, like anything else the missional work of the church can become an idol.  We can lose sight of the intimate relationship God desires to have with us and make the Christian life about the work we do instead of the Savior we serve.  The safeguard to this is remembering that God is on mission in Jesus Christ and in the Power of His Spirit.  Our goal is God.  To seek God in the communities we live in, because God is already there.   The invitation is not to go on mission, but that we are invited to join God who is on mission.  God is the means and the end.  Our missional activities are simply tools to draw near to God.