Your heart and feet matters!

 

As Christians, our thinking is the world we live is deteriorating in terms of culture, ethics, morality and basic humanness. We expect God should do something about it in order to make things better so that our living is more comfortable. In this connection the response of the Churches and Christians are varied, ambiguous and at times erroneous too. There is a large group that uses “Fortress approach” as their focal approach, where the world is viewed as being bad and evil and suggests that one should by all means protect oneself from it. People hardly relate with the people outside the Church. The other daunting challenge is that majority of Christendom believe that their responsibility ends with prayer. Therefore, they settle with prayers organized by Churches/favorite organizers and give some offerings to Churches and Christian organizations as and when it is required.

When it comes to influencing the nations with the Gospel and healing the nations, Jesus adopted a strategy. It comprises of choosing people, allowing them to observe Him demonstrate the Gospel and send them out to preach the Gospel. This was done in order to restore the brokenness of the people and influence the entire humanity. But unfortunately today, this is not the model most Churches and Christian organizations are following. The new converts who make it to Churches are ensured they stay with them forever, become faithful in their giving and adding number to the crowd either for credibility or for the sustenance of the Church in most cases. The Churches want them to grow in the Lord all their life without equipping them to go or sensitizing the congregation and warning them about the failure to obey Christ's Mandate. This is an alarming and a serious matter.

All their life people are taught that God watches the heart only, but fail to teach them God is interested in their feet too. Paul Rightly points the prophecy in Romans 10:9 “…How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.”. The outcome of the commitment one makes to Christ is the effective usage of his/her feet in carrying the Gospel to the dying world. The success of the ministry is unfortunately determined by the number of activities conducted, big budgets utilized and a big number that made it as participants. God is interested to see you going out as a carrier of His good news than to be like the lazy servant who preserved his one talent and did nothing about it (Matthew 25:24-25). Many are thinking they are preserving themselves for Christ, without being useful nor being part of Christ's mission. Some leaders misunderstand and hold on to what Paul said in Colossians, that his goal is to present each one holy faultless and blameless before God (Colossians1:22), which was one of the many goals Paul had and stick to it only.

Paul’s other goal was to preach good news where Christ is not named (Romans 15:20), to remember the poor and meet the needs of them (Galatians 2:10), to gladly spend and be spent for people (2 Corinthians 12:15), to be poured as drink offering (Philippians 2:17). The purpose of every Christians is not only to be pure and blameless but to attract others to Christ with the Gospel.

So, what is God’s direction? If humans are the focus of God’s redemptive work, we might find ourselves asking, “how does God move to restore humanity?  There are two possibilities as we consider the direction in which God moves to restore us humans as narrated by J. Warner 1. Inside – Out movement (“Evangelical Gospel”). People are inherently fallen and our own personal sinfulness must be addressed before the larger society can be impacted. 2. Outside -In movement (“Social Gospel”). People are basically good but are corrupted by the fallen society. The ills of the society be addressed before individual can be impacted. 

The second approach simply doesn’t work when it comes to impacting the transformation of lives. It has to be the first approach and we need every follower of Christ in his/her sphere of influence to present Christ correctly in response to the great Commission.

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The sending of "12" & "72"! - Part 2

In my previous BLOG the sending of ‘12’ and the ‘72’ I had emphasized on Christ's mission and mandate. As I continue to explore a bit more in this blog, I want to reemphasize on His mandate and throw additional light on discipling and sending, which the Bible underscores. Before we can explore a little more, let me quote the Great Commission from Mark 16:15-17 which reads like this, then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

It is sad to see today that to a larger extent people have diluted the Great Commission and customized it to their convenience. If you read the Great Commission carefully, it starts by saying “go to the world and preach the gospel”, and all the signs will accompany those who believe. Today in order to sustain popularity, signs, wonders and healing are the ones over emphasized. This has resulted in deteriorating of the Gospel. The second part of the Great Commission looks promising for many, which grabs all the attention.

Let me quote an incident in the Bible where Jesus was in a house and the crowd was thronging the place. A paralytic man was brought in by his four friends, was lowered in the house by dismantling the roof. The Bible records,  when Jesus saw him He addressed the core issue, the sin problem saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”. Jesus while starting His ministry echoed the message John preached in Mat 3:2, “Repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near” in Matthew 4:17. No doubt He did many miracles but the emphasis of the Gospel and the kingdom of God was never once left out. His encounter with people always empowered the person to be a disciple and a witness.

Let us understand the sending of His 12 disciples and also the sending of the bigger group of 72 people. In Mathew 10 we find Jesus empowering His disciples who were part of His core team with the gift of healing and power to drive out demons, but the important part of the story is that He chose them to send so that they can continue the mission that He was soon preparing to entrust them. If you notice verse 7 and 8, Jesus commissioned them to go and proclaim about the kingdom of God and then heal the sick and perform signs where it is necessary. The leadership team; His disciples were not meant to stay and enjoy the goodness for themselves exclusively. Being with Him was the primary goal but it was accompanied by going out (Mark 3:14).

And then in Luke 10, Jesus appoints the 72 (bigger group) and sends them too in pairs and to every town and places where He Himself was about to go (Luke 10:1). Jesus defined the problem statement when He sent the larger group. The harvest is abundant (Luke 10:2) and they may have to encounter wolves in sheep clothing (Luke 10:3), which says they had the responsibility to tear the deception of the people who wore a form of godliness.

Today, all are interested to gather people to their flock and ensure not one is missing. But is the Church seriously following Jesus' model by equipping the small circle (leadership team) and as well as the bigger circle of 72 (Congregation) to go out and share the gospel? Jesus included, rather added, people to send and He did so by sending them to towns and villages. Today, it is easy. You don’t have to look for a mission field because your very work place and community is filled with Non-Christians, which becomes a mission field. Every individual of your church becomes a Church (1 Cor 3:16) who has ample of space to accommodate new people who needs Christ. Are you prepared to send the “12’s and the 72’s?

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The sending of ‘12’ and ‘72’ - Part 1

 

I have witnessed in my long years of experience in ministry that Christ's mission and mandate have been diluted and customized. They have been made to appear like one of the activities that promise satisfaction, edification and promote "feel-good" factor. I still wonder where Churches and Christians have learnt that the mandate of Christ is a choice we can adopt, reject or substitute. I invite you to follow me in this line of thought.

We are all so familiar with the Great Commission and I am sure we have heard it from different platforms where people have asked us to pray for the souls, support a missionary or a missionary family financially or support mission work. There ends our contribution. But is that all? Let's analyze the scriptures to get the right understanding of Christ's mandate; the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

In order to understand our mission on earth, we need to first understand Christ's mission completely. The ultimate purpose of Christ coming to this earth is “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10), and to give eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 3:15; 6:47; 3:36). I do not wish to skip and go forward without stating the mission statement of Jesus which is written in Luke 4:18-19 “to preach the good news to the poor, He has sent me, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”. The mission statement for Jesus was the integration of Great Commission to preach the Gospel and Great Commandment to demonstrate the love by meeting the need of the poor and vulnerable. If this was the purpose and mission of Jesus our Savior, how close are we following the mission Christ was doing?

Many have learnt to stay comfortable in the Churches engaging in Church activities, praying for the souls, giving tithes and offerings and go back, doing nothing about the Great Commission. Anytime our spirituality and our Church comprises of a set of do’s and don’ts, filled solely with activities and schedules, then God has a problem.  He graciously disrupts the whole thing as a wake up call and reminds us all of His mission and His mandate. I love the way Catherine Booth, the gentle co-founder of the Salvation Army, regarding church buildings said, "A barracks is meant to be a place where real soldiers were to be fed and equipped for war, not a place to settle down in or as a comfortable snuggery in which to enjoy ourselves. I hope that if ever they, our soldiers, do settle down God will burn their barracks over their heads!”

I urge you to read my article written on 28^th December-2018 on this topic God's Audit- Get prepared!  to get a better understanding of what I am trying to reiterate -  In Malachi 1:10 it says, “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of armies and I will accept no offering from your hand.”. If we fail to understand the purpose and mission of God, we will be heading to a greater danger.

Let me remind you that God appointed twelve disciples to be with Him, to send them out to preach (Mark 3:14). He also chose the seventy-two only to send. I would like to explore this with you in my upcoming article.

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What are we still missing?

Every single day, moves us closer to meeting our Lord God. Soon we will all face the King of kings to give an account of our lives and account of our obedience to the Great Commission. God is not intimidating us when He is talking about the Judgement day. But It is fair enough to understand on our part that when we are entrusted with resources, privileges and responsibilities, we are required to be accountable too. R.G. Lee coined this short Caption, “Pay-Day – Someday”. We cannot escape giving account of ourselves. The Bible says in Romans 14:12 “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Times such as this are difficult and unpredictable for all of us. Every believer including many Pastors and leaders who are contemplating to irk a living in this period of time are struggling to find an answer from God. Most of us struggle to handle the silence from Him. We get disoriented when things do not happen just the way we expected and prayed about. This was the case of disciples too. After Jesus was resurrected, He was appearing to the disciples and many others in His terms. He was no more present with them physically as He used to be with the disciples in the short time of His ministry. This was raising lots of apprehensions among the disciples and the silence disturbed them.

We find the incident where Simon Peter said “I am going fishing” in (John 21:8-14), immediately other disciples also consented to accompany him and said, “We are coming with you.”. The Bible records they caught no fish nevertheless as you follow the story, you will notice the disciples encountered Jesus and the miracle happened. These were the same disciples who followed Jesus leaving their livelihood, profession and families (Mat 4:19-22 Mark 1:20). Peter at one point on behalf of the other disciples remarked, “See we have left everything and followed you.”. Matthew 19:27. Do you realize, these were the same disciples who were revolutionaries and never again contemplated for their survival but went to the remotest part of the nation with the Gospel and died as a martyr?

Jesus remarked, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”. There is a misunderstanding we have developed that we save our lives by our own capacities probably because the varied catastrophes are hitting the human race and it raises too many questions in the minds of the people. Christ is in full control over you. Do not panic nor be intimated.

He never became powerless, but maybe we are struggling to trust Him because our resources are running out. God’s work can still effectively grow devoid of finances or for that matter any resources. We have been given a mandate and most disappointingly it is not carried out by every Christian believer.

During crisis our focus on Christ's mandate, the Great Commission and Great Commandment is becoming optional or abandoned by many. For believers maintaining spiritual schedule by itself is a proud moment and a satisfying factor. Sadly, it’s not true. Your salvation isn’t complete till you share the Good news, the Gospel to the Non-believers. If you are still struggling to share your testimony and lead someone to Christ, then probably you are missing out on your responsibility. Do not confuse your Church engagements and activities as mission work. Go and Preach the Gospel! There are no alternatives.

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Incomplete deliverence!

God is not a vending machine to cater you with ATM (any time money) or provide you with whatever you want at your convenience. Most of the time we take God for granted because we think God is gracious, compassionate, ever loving and merciful, He is therefore obliged to come at your aid, even when you are not at the right state of heart. 

You cannot receive anything from a selfish stand point, where you willfully indulge in what is not right in the sight of God and yet expect Him to keep helping you.  Unless and until you make a prayer like David determining in your heart to keep yourself away from willful sinning, you cannot expect His complete providence while you are in a mess or in a serious problem.  Psalms 19:13 Don’t you think the prayer of David is so meaningful in this context? "Moreover, keep your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed from blatant rebellion.".

Temporary repentance will invite God to help you only temporarily. Rehoboam son of Solomon who was spoiled by the influence of power sought God's help only during desperate situation God did help but it was not a complete help. The Bible says “When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the Lord’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them but will grant them a little deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. 2 Chronicles 12:7 CSB Shishak was the king of Egypt who came to invade Jerusalem. Just a few verse later it talks about Rehoboam's rebellious state, "Rehoboam did what was evil, because he did not determine in his heart to seek the Lord.". 2 Chronicles 12:14 CSB. Mark the phrase 'little deliverance' this is conditioned to the state of heart.

John Ortberg in his book soul keeping quotes beautifully, "Sometimes we ask for forgiveness, but we know full well we will go back to the same sin tomorrow. We don’t really want forgiveness; we just want to get out of trouble. He says it would be better to pray like this: “Dear God, I sinned yesterday, I sinned again today, and I’m planning to go out and do the same sin tomorrow. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” It may not quite reflect the maturity of “Thy will be done,” but it is better to be an honest mess before God than a dishonest “saint.”. 

How true of our miserable state? Could we make a serious decision to keep our internal state of matters at the best? Mind, you would have continuous challenges and trouble in this world because Jesus promised it that way (John 16:33) but at the same time we have hope because He claimed "I have conquered the world". In a way it is a refining process, that renews and transforms us to be like Him. But most importantly determine in your heart to set things right and the Lord will take care of all the other challenges that tries to immerse you. His intervention will bring the divine peace. 

God is always prepared to help you in fact in Isaiah 30:18 NASB it says "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him",  provided your decision to live right and follow Him matters to you and to God.

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False sense of satisfaction!

It is vital to revisit the purpose and mission of God in our lives and check where we are in the journey. It is usually assumed that it lies with the first part of the first commandment alone in the Bible where Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”. Mark 12:30. And then all our efforts goes toward the same by meeting the spiritual schedule by using and emphasizing the commonly used term “more”, more reading of the Bible, more praying, more tarrying for the Holy Spirit and more of knowing Him. The word “more” in most cases confines to private faith with God alone. Sadly, the second part of the Great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, remains as a philosophy to preach to others and creating a Christian identity.

An article on Church discipline by “IX Marks” pens down the role and definition of Christian beautifully and it goes like this, “A Christian is someone who wears the name of God on earth, who declares His gospel, and who is united to His people. In essence, the Christian is an ambassador, someone whose identity and work meld together. Everything that an ambassador is, says, and does represents his or her king. So, it is with Christian and Christ.”.

The existence of social media (technical revolution) to a larger extent has marred the Christian identity gravely. At times, I regret the commonly used WhatsApp which is often used as a trash can where people tend to post all that they receive to others by means of forwarding to another Christian friend. I have quite often addressed this issue in my earlier blogs. In another terms it gives Christians a strong sense of satisfaction of inspiring other Christian as they keep forwarding things to one another. But all along, people rarely take serious initiative to connect to the Non-Christian world. Many do not have a message customized for Non-Christian world at all. Christians calling and imploring (begging) each other to join their meetings. 

Take any Christian WhatsApp group, it will be flooded with invitation links, preaching clips and Christian YouTube links, but for heavens sake who needs it? Don't we feel the urgency to write and customize video clips that can be sent to any common citizen or Non-Christian crowds? Unlike the early Christians you will notice most of the so called Christians and leaders today are limiting themselves and flocking with Christians friends bragging about who they are or want to see their meetings have a considerable number. Either they are too timed and lack boldness to reach out to the outside world, or they are interested to only focus on drawing the attention of another Christian/leaders to make their living better. Can we please give some thought to this?

Jesus said He Came to call sinners for repentance, not the righteous (Luke 5:32), but we never seem to get the message. Jesus did not come to earth to impress religious leaders. He came to mingle with people who were considered the most vile of sinners. In fact, for this He was severely criticized by the religious leaders of His day. He replied, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. And then makes this fascinating statement less understood by Christians today which says, ‘But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13). It is high time we make adjustments in our approaches and ensure that we reach out to the world out there and the same time equip those who are with us to take up the divine call and fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ.

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Is Salvation a one time grand event?

"Being a Christian does not mean we’re any better than unbelievers. We are still just as sick as anyone — we just have found the doctor. Remember, Christianity is not about morality. It’s about grace.”.

It is great to narrate the salvation experience and inspire others and draw them close to Jesus. For some it can be decade before and for some two or three years ago, based on when they received Christ. But the story does not end there, after the experience we are expected to keep growing in His love and absorb His image and display to the world. In the book of Romans, Paul reminds us once again of the salvation, but this time in Romans 12:11 Paul says “Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”.

Paul is cautioning all of us to wake up from sleep, because for the simple reason that we do not become complacent and think salvation as one-time grand event and not conscious enough today about how we are keeping ourselves holy and displaying Christ to others. For the ones who has lost the savor of the grand experience it is time to know that the salvation is nearer yet again than you first believed.

Paul to the Philippians in (2:12) NIV says “..as you have always obeyed… continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling.”. Salvation does not stop after the first great event, we ought to continue in working out the salvation and keeping it lively and fresh. In (2:13) of Philippians it says “For it is God who works in you...”. It is a journey where we are assured that God is working too in us to get our salvation completed. Now let me make a point here, if you held on to only verse 12 you will be Armenian and if you held on to verse 13 alone you will be Calvinist and if you held on to both then you will be Christian.  

Christians should be distinct from the world in how we live. Sanctification can be painfully slow. What we speak of is not perfection but a new power, a new purpose, and a new direction. We have a mantle to carry on. Our Savior has worked a mighty change in us.  Ask God to help us live more boldly and be the salt of the earth, and shine more brightly. May the distance to salvation be nearer and closer to us always. Continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling.

      

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