YOUR CALL
You’ve done your outreach for the week, but the next six days count, too. The missions trip is over, but the mission is still on. Love God. Love people. Communicate the Gospel. Be a witness. Touch the poor. Heal the sick. Reach the lost. Be His hands and His feet. Pray. Believe. Your life mission is not fulfilled in a two week stretch one summer – or even a two week stretch every summer. It is not fulfilled in a two hour commitment every week. Your mission trips and your outreaches need to become seamless parts of living out your life mission. Too easily in reality they can be just an aberration. A weird aside. A deviation from the normal flow of life. Obviously, in some ways they are that. It’s not every day that you’re going to share the Gospel with a witchdoctor or get schooled in soccer by twenty bare-foot kids half your size or eat grasshoppers or fix a prostitute’s hair or pray for a victim of AIDS. But you are called by God to be on mission everywhere you are, no matter where that is. You’re still called to share the Gospel and to reach out to children and to relate to people who are different and to serve the “least of these” and to heal the sick. Pete Greig put it like this:
You’ve done your outreach for the week, but the next six days count, too. The missions trip is over, but the mission is still on. Love God. Love people. Communicate the Gospel. Be a witness. Touch the poor. Heal the sick. Reach the lost. Be His hands and His feet. Pray. Believe. Your life mission is not fulfilled in a two week stretch one summer – or even a two week stretch every summer. It is not fulfilled in a two hour commitment every week. Your mission trips and your outreaches need to become seamless parts of living out your life mission. Too easily in reality they can be just an aberration. A weird aside. A deviation from the normal flow of life. Obviously, in some ways they are that. It’s not every day that you’re going to share the Gospel with a witchdoctor or get schooled in soccer by twenty bare-foot kids half your size or eat grasshoppers or fix a prostitute’s hair or pray for a victim of AIDS. But you are called by God to be on mission everywhere you are, no matter where that is. You’re still called to share the Gospel and to reach out to children and to relate to people who are different and to serve the “least of these” and to heal the sick. Pete Greig put it like this:
“Your call is to feed the hungry and to spend yourself on behalf of the poor... and to offer hospitality to strangers who just turn up in town needing a place to crash. And it's to fast. And it's to pray so long and hard that you run out of words and tears. Your call is to preach the good news of Jesus to every person who will listen and a few who won’t. Your call is to go somewhere, anywhere, wherever, whenever, for Jesus, and never stop. Your call is to love people no one else loves and to forgive them when they treat you like dirt – or worse. Your call is to do your job to the very best of your ability without grumbling about your boss or whining about your colleagues. Your call is to pray for the sick, and when they are healed, to dance all night. And when they are not, to weep with them and love them even more.”
A few years ago, I was part of a Bible Study geared towards the lost. After one difficult evening, I wrote this:
“Last night I talked to Joe for the first time. Joe is a tough case. I’d seen him around town now and then, and my reaction has been to steer clear of him. Kind of whacked out in the head. Probably on drugs. Abrasive. Hard. That’s what I thought of him. So when Tony asked him over to join our Bible Study, I was... well, I was bummed. Tony’s been coming to our “journey” Bible Study at a local coffee shop for months now. I love him. He’s a good thinker and compassionate and hard-working and a natural leader and just fun to be with. He’s still resisting giving his life to Jesus, but I believe he will. He’s already challenging us and speaking truth to us on a weekly basis at the Bible Study. I like Tony. It’s easy to like Tony. I like talking about Jesus with Tony. This is my kind of evangelism. But I didn’t like Joe. I doubt many people do, to be honest. Except, as my luck would have it, Tony.
“So Joe swaggered over and pulled up a chair, and started ranting (that’s what I called it to myself) about how the church didn’t help him when he needed it, and this and that. We listened. And we listened. And by the end of the night, I was thinking, "What a wasted Bible Study!" AnneMarie invited him back next week. She would. This morning I was praying for the people who come to the Bible Study, and I naturally had to include Joe too. And as I prayed, it hit me that this guy is hurting. He is so bound by the enemy that he can’t see reality. He acts tough and like he’s something big, but it’s all a defense. Inside he’s in pain. Oh Jesus! The pain that is in this world!
“I believe this morning Jesus let me know that He feels Joe’s pain. Every bit of it. And, if I’m willing, He wants to share it with me so that I can feel it too. What a privilege! For Jesus to share with me His pain over one of the lost precious ones that He is seeking. Jesus can yet be glorified in Joe’s life.”
How do we live missional lives in our normal, everyday world? There are no easy answers to this, but it’s worth pursuing. Well worth it, in fact. I’m going to be honest with you. I’m not great at this. I have some friends who are, and they are a constant challenge to me. I miss opportunities all the time. I tend to pray for God to bring me divine appointments, but inwardly hope He won't take me too seriously. But, by the grace of God, I am getting better.
For me, the number one key in living a missional lifestyle is the grace of God. It’s all Him! It so is. I’m finding that I need to really pray it up if I’m going to be a witness for Jesus. I need to ask Him. I need to go way beyond asking for those divine appointments and open doors. I need to ask Him for the grace to walk through them. I’m a total beggar in this. I have to rely on Him completely, because one thing I know is that I will fail on my own. No doubt at all. But I’m becoming desperate for Him to work this in me. Why? What is getting me to this point of desperation? It’s love for Him. I want to see His glory. I want Him to get glory through my life and the lives of others. It’s what I live for. I am seeking Him and praying and worshiping and loving Him with all that I am. I don’t want my life to be wasted one little bit. I want Him to get every drop of glory out of my days that He possibly can. I want to have something to offer Him when I stand before Him in Heaven – as a gift of gratitude and love. The more my eyes are on Jesus, the more I seem to see people. And I see them differently. Like with Joe.
“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 1 Corinthians 3:4-6
Listen to Pete Greig again:
“Last night I talked to Joe for the first time. Joe is a tough case. I’d seen him around town now and then, and my reaction has been to steer clear of him. Kind of whacked out in the head. Probably on drugs. Abrasive. Hard. That’s what I thought of him. So when Tony asked him over to join our Bible Study, I was... well, I was bummed. Tony’s been coming to our “journey” Bible Study at a local coffee shop for months now. I love him. He’s a good thinker and compassionate and hard-working and a natural leader and just fun to be with. He’s still resisting giving his life to Jesus, but I believe he will. He’s already challenging us and speaking truth to us on a weekly basis at the Bible Study. I like Tony. It’s easy to like Tony. I like talking about Jesus with Tony. This is my kind of evangelism. But I didn’t like Joe. I doubt many people do, to be honest. Except, as my luck would have it, Tony.
“So Joe swaggered over and pulled up a chair, and started ranting (that’s what I called it to myself) about how the church didn’t help him when he needed it, and this and that. We listened. And we listened. And by the end of the night, I was thinking, "What a wasted Bible Study!" AnneMarie invited him back next week. She would. This morning I was praying for the people who come to the Bible Study, and I naturally had to include Joe too. And as I prayed, it hit me that this guy is hurting. He is so bound by the enemy that he can’t see reality. He acts tough and like he’s something big, but it’s all a defense. Inside he’s in pain. Oh Jesus! The pain that is in this world!
“I believe this morning Jesus let me know that He feels Joe’s pain. Every bit of it. And, if I’m willing, He wants to share it with me so that I can feel it too. What a privilege! For Jesus to share with me His pain over one of the lost precious ones that He is seeking. Jesus can yet be glorified in Joe’s life.”
How do we live missional lives in our normal, everyday world? There are no easy answers to this, but it’s worth pursuing. Well worth it, in fact. I’m going to be honest with you. I’m not great at this. I have some friends who are, and they are a constant challenge to me. I miss opportunities all the time. I tend to pray for God to bring me divine appointments, but inwardly hope He won't take me too seriously. But, by the grace of God, I am getting better.
For me, the number one key in living a missional lifestyle is the grace of God. It’s all Him! It so is. I’m finding that I need to really pray it up if I’m going to be a witness for Jesus. I need to ask Him. I need to go way beyond asking for those divine appointments and open doors. I need to ask Him for the grace to walk through them. I’m a total beggar in this. I have to rely on Him completely, because one thing I know is that I will fail on my own. No doubt at all. But I’m becoming desperate for Him to work this in me. Why? What is getting me to this point of desperation? It’s love for Him. I want to see His glory. I want Him to get glory through my life and the lives of others. It’s what I live for. I am seeking Him and praying and worshiping and loving Him with all that I am. I don’t want my life to be wasted one little bit. I want Him to get every drop of glory out of my days that He possibly can. I want to have something to offer Him when I stand before Him in Heaven – as a gift of gratitude and love. The more my eyes are on Jesus, the more I seem to see people. And I see them differently. Like with Joe.
“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 1 Corinthians 3:4-6
Listen to Pete Greig again:
“Just as Jesus had spent his time at parties, among the crowds, engaging with the disreputable and apparently non-religious, so today he seems surprisingly comfortable among the crowds of party-goers, the non-religious pilgrims of our time. Perhaps he longs for us to vacate our buildings from time to time, to turn our temples into tabernacles, to become like him, the Friend of Sinners… Could it be that the Holy Spirit is weary of attending our meetings, and hungers for our presence at his? Perhaps he’s dreaming up a thousand new meeting places, where new sounds and sights burn the eyes and hurt the heart!... Maybe this is a new day in which the fullness of God awaits us in the streets and clubs and pubs. But will we hear the Holy Spirit saying, ‘Come, holy people?’ He waits with Jesus in the darkness until we come, and yet we wonder why maybe he didn’t show up the way we hoped at some of our grand events.”
A few other thoughts about how to do this:
First, you need to meet people who are not believers. That seems self-evident, doesn't it? And yet, to be honest, many of us stumble right here at this crucial juncture. Consider Jesus. He was so good at meeting lost people! But it wasn't accidental. He didn't seem to just wait for it to happen, but was always alert and watchful. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). Seek. That is not a passive word. It is active. Initiating. Proactive. How did Jesus seek? He was friendly. He went places where lost people might be. He was kind and friendly to folk we might not like or approve of. In fact, He got in trouble for this with the religious leaders, but He didn't seem too concerned about that.
Where can you seek for the lost, both in your daily life, and while doing missions or outreach?
Second, you need to be authentically spiritual. In other words, be who you really are, wherever you are. If you pray or talk about Jesus or read the Bible in churchy settings, do the same in other places. The more openly spiritual you are in diverse settings, the more spiritually hungry people will be attracted to you. The Father is bringing them, pointing them out, making connections. Honestly, this one is hard for me. I tend to think I need to be less obvious so that people will receive me. But this is simply not true. For one, it's not about whether people receive me or not, it's about them receiving Jesus. What good is it for people to like me or think I'm a nice guy apart from Jesus? Friendship with me never changed anyone's heart, and it's simply not going to. But friendship with Jesus! That is another thing altogether. Secondly, I'm looking for the spiritually hungry. How will they know to express their hunger if they don't know I am His?
Third, open the scriptures. Once you have identified the spiritually hungry, introduce them to the Word of God. Better than giving them some passages to read on their own, invite them to read with you. This will give you an opportunity to demonstrate how to read the Bible for life-changing transformation. Depending on the background of the person, and their prior knowledge of the Bible, have a few passages in mind that would be good to begin with. As you read aloud with the person, ask questions such as, "What is the writer intending to say here?" "What does this teach us about the character of God? About ourselves?" This process will help the person to read the scriptures with expectation and discernment. It is important -- vitally important -- to move on to a question such as, "How will you obey this scripture in the coming days?" Or, "How will you respond to this?" Remember, the goal of discipleship is obedience to the commands of Jesus, not mere knowledge of them (see Matt 7:24-27 and 28:20). This is so essential! Please don't miss it. Finally, ask, "Who can you share this truth with in the coming week?" This helps the new disciple to understand that our faith is meant to be shared with other.
Fourth, invite into Christian community. As soon as you can, help your friend to join with others for the purposes of growing in Jesus, encouraging one another, and making the Gospel known to others. You don't even need to wait for a profession of faith in order to do this. In fact, gathering with believers who are sincerely seeking Jesus together will help the person make this step. Initially, this may be a few others that you get together with who are studying the Bible together. It may be a full-fledged church or small group within a church. In any case, it is vital for seekers and new disciples to be welcomed into Christian fellowship.
Perhaps it should go without saying -- but it's usually best to articulate it anyway -- that all of this is immersed in prayer. We've discussed this in previous chapters, but it is absolutely essential. Pray for open doors to meet new people. Pray as you seek to genuinely share your faith. Pray for the Lord to connect you with the spiritually hungry. Pray as you begin diving into the scriptures together. Pray as people deliberate putting their trust in Jesus. Pray that Christ be formed in the new disciples, and that they integrate into the people of God. Pray by pouring out your heart to the Father. Pray by listening to the voice of the Spirit. Pray with others, and pray alone. Pray each day. Pray while you walk and while you work and while you play. Pray at appointed times and throughout the day. Pray without ceasing.
First, you need to meet people who are not believers. That seems self-evident, doesn't it? And yet, to be honest, many of us stumble right here at this crucial juncture. Consider Jesus. He was so good at meeting lost people! But it wasn't accidental. He didn't seem to just wait for it to happen, but was always alert and watchful. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). Seek. That is not a passive word. It is active. Initiating. Proactive. How did Jesus seek? He was friendly. He went places where lost people might be. He was kind and friendly to folk we might not like or approve of. In fact, He got in trouble for this with the religious leaders, but He didn't seem too concerned about that.
Where can you seek for the lost, both in your daily life, and while doing missions or outreach?
Second, you need to be authentically spiritual. In other words, be who you really are, wherever you are. If you pray or talk about Jesus or read the Bible in churchy settings, do the same in other places. The more openly spiritual you are in diverse settings, the more spiritually hungry people will be attracted to you. The Father is bringing them, pointing them out, making connections. Honestly, this one is hard for me. I tend to think I need to be less obvious so that people will receive me. But this is simply not true. For one, it's not about whether people receive me or not, it's about them receiving Jesus. What good is it for people to like me or think I'm a nice guy apart from Jesus? Friendship with me never changed anyone's heart, and it's simply not going to. But friendship with Jesus! That is another thing altogether. Secondly, I'm looking for the spiritually hungry. How will they know to express their hunger if they don't know I am His?
Third, open the scriptures. Once you have identified the spiritually hungry, introduce them to the Word of God. Better than giving them some passages to read on their own, invite them to read with you. This will give you an opportunity to demonstrate how to read the Bible for life-changing transformation. Depending on the background of the person, and their prior knowledge of the Bible, have a few passages in mind that would be good to begin with. As you read aloud with the person, ask questions such as, "What is the writer intending to say here?" "What does this teach us about the character of God? About ourselves?" This process will help the person to read the scriptures with expectation and discernment. It is important -- vitally important -- to move on to a question such as, "How will you obey this scripture in the coming days?" Or, "How will you respond to this?" Remember, the goal of discipleship is obedience to the commands of Jesus, not mere knowledge of them (see Matt 7:24-27 and 28:20). This is so essential! Please don't miss it. Finally, ask, "Who can you share this truth with in the coming week?" This helps the new disciple to understand that our faith is meant to be shared with other.
Fourth, invite into Christian community. As soon as you can, help your friend to join with others for the purposes of growing in Jesus, encouraging one another, and making the Gospel known to others. You don't even need to wait for a profession of faith in order to do this. In fact, gathering with believers who are sincerely seeking Jesus together will help the person make this step. Initially, this may be a few others that you get together with who are studying the Bible together. It may be a full-fledged church or small group within a church. In any case, it is vital for seekers and new disciples to be welcomed into Christian fellowship.
Perhaps it should go without saying -- but it's usually best to articulate it anyway -- that all of this is immersed in prayer. We've discussed this in previous chapters, but it is absolutely essential. Pray for open doors to meet new people. Pray as you seek to genuinely share your faith. Pray for the Lord to connect you with the spiritually hungry. Pray as you begin diving into the scriptures together. Pray as people deliberate putting their trust in Jesus. Pray that Christ be formed in the new disciples, and that they integrate into the people of God. Pray by pouring out your heart to the Father. Pray by listening to the voice of the Spirit. Pray with others, and pray alone. Pray each day. Pray while you walk and while you work and while you play. Pray at appointed times and throughout the day. Pray without ceasing.
“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?” (Martin Luther)