Church Protected Missions ignored! Part-5

 

Mark 1:17, “Follow me” Jesus told them, I will make you become fishers of men”.

In my last blog the edicts of Jesus, the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the Great Compassion was explained. In case you have missed to read the same you may click HERE. Let me unfold what it means to be a disciple of Christ. When Jesus started His ministry preaching repentance and the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17), He starts connecting with people. The book of Mark records when He met Simon and Andrew. He asked them to follow Him. It says in Mark 1:17, “Follow me” Jesus told them, I will make you become fishers of men”. The commission comes with a responsibility.

The word "disciples" was used to describe believers over 250 times in the Gospels and in Acts. The word Christian is only used 3 times. If these two terminologies - Christian and disciple, exists in the Bible, then probably we need to seriously find out what exactly each means. The word Christian first time appears in Acts 11:26 where it records “the disciples where first called Christians at Antioch”. It was not the other way round. You don’t become a Christian because you are born in a Christian family nor because you go to Church. Maybe Church attendance makes you a Christian, or baptism, or confirmation, or having someone lay hands on your head and speaking in tongues.  However, the Bible does not define that term or establish it as the goal to become a Christian. Everyone seems to be fighting for their type of Christian to be recognized as the true Christian, even if it totally irrelevant!

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Christian this way, “Christian’s are one’s who professes belief the teaching of Jesus Christ.”. After their training the apostles were commanded by Jesus to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19b). Though Christian is first found in Acts 11:26, the word disciple is found much earlier and more frequently in Acts. So, we can safely assume that the word "Christian" was built on the foundation of the word "disciple." Not vice versa. Without a discipleship, those believers would likely never have been called Christians. Today, all true disciples are Christians. But not all Christians are true disciples. Jesus has given the Church a Great Commission. He has clearly told us what we are to do: "Go and make disciples" But, instead we focus on making Christians. The word Christian has no biblical meaning apart from the word disciple. If today's Christianity is based on a foundation other than true biblical discipleship, it is not biblical Christianity.

One Feisty Scottish Pastors says; “The savior is not looking for men and women who will give their spare evenings to Him-or their weekends or their years of retirement. Rather He seeks those who will give Him first place in their lives. –Too often we look on Christianity as an escape of hell and guarantee of heaven. Beyond that we feel that we have every right to enjoy the best that this life has to offer. We know that there are those strong verses on discipleship in the Bible but we have difficulty reconciling them with our ideas of what Christianity should be.”.

Ensure disciples are increasing as recorded in Acts 6:1 “Now in those days when the disciples were increasing in number…”. When disciples increase in number there is revival, growth and impact. But if the members who think they are Christians increase in number probably your offerings may increase but the mission would still be stagnated.

 

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Church protected Mission ignored! Part-4

 

“Go and make disciples..” Matt 28:18-20

 

My last blog was addressing Jesus’ 1-12-72 model which was taken from Luke 8:1, 9:1; Luke 10:1. You may check the same HERE in case you have missed to read the same. The mission is all about sending and reaching out the unreached. If all our activities fail to connect with the Great Commission, then the purpose of our existence and our Church existence is a gross waste. And that can also mean we have created our own purpose for our personal existence and security. Church is the combination of coming together to worship, be nurtured and to go out to the sinners with the gospel which is the outcome of coming together as body of Christ.

The mandate of Christ is that we carefully connect everything to the same. I want to call it as the edicts of Jesus. They are the 1. Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) which is the command to go and make disciples. Along with it comes the supplementary commandment which we find in Acts 1:8, to be witnesses for Him in every place. The Great Commission is not a choice or for selected few, but for every individual who is the follower of Christ. And then we have 2. The Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) i.e., to Love God and to love our neighbors. Jesus clarified what it means to love our neighbor in (See Luke 10:29-37). He quotes the example of the ‘good Samaritan’.  Loving our neighbor is reaching out to people in need without expecting things in return. Even this is connected to the gospel. Basically, demonstrating the gospel of love in action. And the third one is 3. The Great Compassion (Matthew 25:31-46) where, in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus emphasises the dire need to reach out to the vulnerable. You cannot just obey the Great Commission and downplay the Great Commandment because it costs your money and your time.

Krish Dhanam puts it beautifully, “If you practice Great Commission and share about Christ you are an irritant, and if you practice Great Commandment and talk about the love of Christ you are interesting, but if you do both Great Commission and Great Commandment together you are irresistible.”. Church, is all your activities and programs interwoven with Christ’s mission mandate? What percentage of offerings and resources of your Church are used for mission compared to other activities and programs? What is the Church working towards tirelessly? How mobile is your Church? Has it become stagnant for long that it is slowly becoming a monumental piece? These are some serious questions to ponder upon. Never forget this, the Church isn’t a building to be maintained, it’s people to be mobilized.

The mission is to make disciples of Jesus. Don’t settle for just well-behaved pagans or self-righteous Pharisees. The disciples are the ones who are irresistible. They cannot just be a member of the Church Community and have goals and wishes to grow in the Lord all their life yet never once shared the gospel to their Non-Christian friends.  Leonard Ravenhill has a serious allegation against the people who know God but not His mission. He states this, “Most of our people don’t know God! They know religion. They know formality. They know ritual. They know how to clap and sing.  But really knowing God-hearing his voice, submitting to his voice, submitting to his commandments- is something entirely different.”.

Church there is a huge difference between a Christian and a disciple. The regular attendees of your Church who pay the tithes and offerings, enjoying worshipping together and occasionally takes part in your Church programs yet fails to be a missionary the rest of the week besides Sunday is more a Christian with a brand. Disciples are entirely different. However today, to be a disciple they are required to go through a course on Discipleship to become informed disciples. We will be seeing the actual meaning of Disciples and the work connected with it in the next chapter.

 

Click HERE  in case you have not read Part 3 of this series

 

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