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Living missionally in the United States isn’t what it used to be. There is a bad news and good news part of this reality. Cultural studies tell us the bad news – biblical literacy is at an all-time low. However, the good news is that “spirituality” is in. I’m still not sure what “spirituality” means, but most of the people I talk with are interested in something beyond what they can see, hear, taste, smell and touch. They often believe in some kind of higher power or afterlife and have a sense of the numinous. Nevertheless, Jesus as the “only way brand of road-to-heaven” is definitely not PC, although He’s still a pretty nice guy in most people’s minds. For evangelical churches today, and our mandate to reach the lost, this means that the notion that non-believers will visit a church to try it on for size is definitely out. Nobody has the answer to life’s spiritual issues, so why would your answer be any better than mine. And besides that, churches are fairly stuffy.
With all this in mind, we still must obey the mandate in Matthew 28:16-20 – go, preach, teach, make disciples. The bottom line is that it looks like we are going to have to convert the heathen the old fashioned way – by proclaiming a radical message, living the fanatic’s life of Jesus, and relying on the work of the Spirit – in our lives and the lives of others. Fortunately, He is the Lord of the harvest and He has not left us instruction-less about living the “fanatic’s” life. One of the most important works of the Spirit will be in our own lives as He prepares us to be the kind of people that others will listen to.
In Luke 12 Jesus provides solid motivations, means, and Christian lifestyle priorities so that His disciples can carry on His work effectively. Here are three:
1. Live transparently. Be the version of a real Christian who is the same on the outside and the inside. This is very attractive to the non-believer and will aid in the furthering of the gospel. Avoid any insincerity. There is no faking it on the outside when the inside isn’t what it should be. The only way for the inside to match the outside is for the inside to get cleaned up. Confession, repentance, and forgiveness should be the regular habits of all followers of Jesus. Be honest to God and others about yourself. There are no perfect pastors or parishioners. We have no perfect neighbors, no perfect bosses, no perfect workers, carpenters, clerks, attorneys, doctors, businessmen, MBAs, engineers, librarians, teachers, computer geeks, administrators, secretaries, valets, mechanics, women, men, husbands, wives, students, children, translators or missionaries - and everybody knows it. The sooner we humble ourselves and recognize that the ground is level before the Cross, the sooner those outside the faith will want to come inside. The world is looking for changed people, not super people, and certainly not perfect people; just people who have a reasonably good marriage, reasonably good kids, a reasonable hope, and a reason for life more than seeing the next
weekend blockbuster. They know we are flawed and we know we are flawed. They know they are flawed and we know they are flawed. Admit it, and then help them to find your Helper. (Luke 12:1-3)
2. Be in awe – be awestruck. Understand God’s providential control, power, and justice. We say, "O no, we could even be killed." Jesus says, "Fear not, you can only be killed!" Don’t fear man, fear God. This truth enables us to live “recklessly”. It also breeds in us an attractive humility. Nobody likes a 21st Century Pharisee, not inside the church or outside. Fearing God will also quell the fear of being ostracized, shunned or de-friended. It will enable us to speak in the midst of friend pressure to stay quiet. God is our reason. He alone is the awesome God. A lifestyle of fearing God will result in an attractive humility and gracious boldness in proclaiming the Kingdom. (Luke 12:4-5).
3. Live securely. Come to grips with God’s fantastic attentiveness and concern for you. God cares for sparrows – they are free and yet not forgotten. This never means invulnerability on earth; there are just too many martyrs to accept that. God never promises safety from all ills. Revelation 6:9-11 provides ample evidence of that in John’s futuristic picture of martyrdom. But He does promise a positive verdict for believers before His judgment seat. (Luke 12:6-7).
Listen as Joel Green and John Piper address God’s protective hand.
“Nevertheless, that none of them is forgotten by God does not keep sparrows from being sold in the marketplace and eaten, nor does God’s knowledge of the number of hairs on ‘your head’ portend a divine guarantee of one’s safety [or of a head full of hair – my comment].” Joel Green.
“The more clearly your life shows what God demands of people, the more dangerous will be your life. I think that is what Paul meant when he said in 2 Timothy 3:12, ‘Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’ The greater your desire to be godly, the more you will offend people committed to unbelief and sin and relativism. Jesus said, ‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’ (John 15:19). In other words, if you let your light shine for Christ, the children of the light will come and glorify God because of your good works, but the children of darkness will not come and will call your goodness many other names.” John Piper
Transparency, reverent awe and security – spiritual food for spiritual work that by the power of the Spirit and the proclamation of the gospel all nations will come to know Him. |
