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June 2002
Gift of Pentecost and the Mission of God’s Church
Pretty big topic, huh? Let's break it down and look first at "church"
and "mission." Then we can return to the story of Pentecost
recounted in Acts.
If asked, probably you would come up with three contexts of church:
- the local congregation with its own local mission to fulfill.
- the institutions, denominations, religions.
- and hopefully, the worldwide community or worldwide church
of believers.
What comes to mind first when you think about “mission?”
Probably “missionary.” Indeed, they are an important part
of mission, but the church’s mission is much more than these
few people.
The church, individuals, individual congregations, and the church
worldwide, have a biblical mission—to proclaim the good news.
If we want to talk about the mission of the church, we must examine
the mission of Jesus, and then the mission of his followers in
light of his mission. In Luke 4:43, Jesus says, “I must preach
the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because
that is why I was sent.” Then Jesus called and sent out his
disciples or apostles (a word that means “people who are
sent”), to proclaim this good news.
Just what is this mission of good news anyway?
The Good News is
God is for the world, God is for all people, God is at work
in the world to renew the wholeness of life through Jesus, and
God is a friend of sinful people. God is for the world. Many feel
that the good news is that God calls us to come out of the world,
to reject it, and to leave it for a higher spiritual realm here
in the world The Bible tells us God created the world. In Genesis,
it says “and it was very good.” The Bible ends by talking
about a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1-5). Of course, in
between is a long history of how we have turned against the Creator
and repeatedly screw up. But in all those accounts, God never
abandons His world. Even to the new covenant of Jesus. He came
into the world in all its ugliness to overcome evil. The world
always has been, is, and always will be God’s world. So this
part of the good news is that God is for the world.
Secondly, God is for humanity. He is at work to make and keep human
life human. Human life is God’s sacred gift. As he created
the earth he created humans and, most amazingly, in his own image!
Many people think the good news is that we must be saved from our
humanness. But the Bible teaches the good news that God is at work
to restore our humanness to his image. The humanness of God is best
revealed in the person of Jesus, God incarnate, God became human.
He lived, suffered, died, and conquered death, in order to restore
all to the full true humanity lost when we chose to turn against
him and fellow humans. Romans 5:18: “…Just as the result
of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result
of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for
all men.” The good news we proclaim here is that God is for
all people—no one can fall, wander, run, or hide so far that
God can’t restore the life as it was created to be in his own
image through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Last week I heard a talk about the new covenant of Jesus and
the many symbols it embodies of the blood covenant. The one I
love most is the exchange of identity with those with whom you
are in blood covenant. I can so much more easily grasp God’s
power when I know he sees me as Christ. If anyone accepts this
covenant, he too is restored to the fullness of man created in
God’s image. Now that is an important part of the good news!
A third part of this good news package is that God is at work
in the world to renew not only individual lives, but the wholeness
of life. Other synonyms for wholeness are: completeness, entirety,
totality, unity, fullness, and comprehensiveness.
Notice we’re not talking about the absence of anything here—like
the absence of war, the absence of sickness, etc. We’re talking
about complete integrity of all of human and earth life.
It is body and soul: Jesus, though concerned for souls, healed
bodies.
It is the integration and unity of heart, mind and will. Jesus
lived the completeness of all three. Heart, that is to love. Mind,
that is to say the truth of God, and doing that, which is the
will of God.
Wholeness of life is also to love our neighbor, be he enemy or
friend, other faith, social outsider, social insider. It is in
loving and serving others that we love and serve God.
Last, but not least, God is a friend of sinful people. Living
this is a large part of how Jesus got in hot water with the chief
priests. Can you imagine sitting down at dinner in the house of
a despised and deceitful tax collector named Matthew? What happens
to us when we associate with those deemed “outside”
our “special Christian circle?"
Well, all this and more is the good news, no? But where are we,
the individual, the congregation, the worldwide church of believers
with it in this business of mission? Do we participate in a consumer
religion? By this I mean: Do we concern ourselves so with the
business of pure teaching, right sacraments, and church discipline
that we wind up with a myopic church, tending only to its members?
Do we come to church to be passively fed while we leave the job
of evangelism to the “professionals?” Shirley Guthrie
states in his book, God for the World, Church for the World, “To
be a Christian is to be given a mission to fulfill in society
and the world around us. Christians enter into the company of
God’s people by baptism, hear God’s word preached, are
nourished on their way by the Lord’s Supper, and discipline
their lives in order to be sent back into the world as servants
or ‘ambassadors’ of Christ.” Is this not the example
Jesus’ life exemplified?
So again, where does that put us?
OK, let’s be honest here. Don’t you sometimes just
cringe at the word, “evangelize?” It can conjure up
images of appalling televangelists, hell-fire threatening yelling
tent revivals, or just plain empty emotionalism. Others feel it
self-righteous or arrogant to share their faith and understanding
of their Christian faith. So again, where does that leave us as
a church in mission? There is a blurring and a blending of the
world at our doorstep. There are more people in the U.S. with
only a commitment to “good moral values” than a commitment
to God.
So where does that put us?
I have some more good news
- We don’t have to be qualified: God chooses us even though
we aren’t. Thank goodness we don’t have to achieve
and maintain qualifications. Look at the church founders. Peter
denied Christ and Paul used to kill Christians! Thank goodness
we don’t have to bear witness to ourselves but to God’s
love and justice. It’s not how great a Christians we are
but how great God is!! That sure takes a load off!
- We are invited partners with God. Face it, God’s will
will be done, and His kingdom will come despite our best and
inadequate efforts. God in his grace invites us to participate
and bear witness to His work in the world, but he doesn’t
need us. Remembering this takes away arrogance and anxiety.
Another load off!
- We are servant partners. We are chosen for the sake of the
world, and sent into it. This can get a bit a heady until you
realize that it isn’t just about you and your salvation.
It’s about being instruments of God’s love for all
people. It can, and most likely will, cost you friends, get
you ostracized, hated, and even killed. This is what I mean
by being chosen for the sake of the world.
- We are not alone. One of the most vivid lessons I’ve
learned is that it is important to work in mission as partners.
Missionaries (that’s all of us folks) must learn to listen
to the church’s people in other cultures and races who
preach and teach the gospel in the context of their traditions.
We don’t have a corner on the market there, and we build
barriers if we think others must experience Christ from our
cultural space. From our culture of rapid solutions, creature
comforts at ready disposal, and accessibility to information,
we are often overbearing and intolerant.
Which brings me to the last part of this package of good news for
wannabe, needtabe, calledtabe evangelists, and maybe the most controversial.
God loves those outside the church, uses them for His work. The
Bible gives numerous accounts. Remember Rahab, the prostitute, who
made it possible for Israel to conquer Jericho and who later married
and is in the genealogy of Jesus? Remember Cyrus the pagan king
who God calls “my Shepherd who will carry out my purposes”?
Today we can learn and hear God in the stories of those outside
the church. But only if we are prepared to dialogue. And dialogue
with open ears, prepared to learn and respect as well as to teach.
In other faiths, other cultures, races and even other neighborhoods
within our city we can be heard only when we listen. We go into
the world to meet God, not take him. He is already present and already
working. We are called to witness it and be his junior partner!
“To be a Christian is to be called out of the world to be sent
back into it with a job to do. It is not only to be blessed, loved,
and saved by God but also to be a blessing and to love and serve
the world God loves and plans to save.”
The disciples had been instructed by Jesus not to leave the city
until they had “been clothed with power from on high”
and received the gift “my Father promised, which you have
heard me speak about.” They were together observing Pentecost,
which was a celebration marking the completion of the corn harvest.
It included burnt offerings, peace offerings, and sin offerings.
An appropriate day for a baptism of Holy Spirit and a new church,
no? That spirit is still at work and the most skeptical cannot
deny its presence or its power. Its work is to join people of
diverse racial and social backgrounds into one body—the body
of Jesus Christ, which is his Church. That spirit is given to
us as well so that in this call to mission we have an advocate
with God, a comforter, a teacher and a guide. We are powered,
led, and shielded by this Holy Spirit.
Gracias a Dios.
Thanks be to God.
Yours,
Trel and Dennis Lowe
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 248
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