When I come back like Jordan..

It’s been a very long time since my last post here. In fact, my name plate was removed from the locker and I’m having to wear a new number since they put mine in the rafters.. or maybe the attic.. whichever. For some reason I felt compelled to post this and since it’s past my bedtime and tomorrow begins a new week of work, I’ll make this intro brief. End scene..

Go ye therefore, making disciples of all nations.. every word in that line is important.. every single one. Something that I am often torn between, at least in how it plays out is the age old debate of Calvinism and Armenianism. That shows up in many different things.

The other day I was having a conversation with a southern Baptist church planter who happened to be getting his car serviced and I remember him saying something I have heard often which is, ‘we should be less concerned with those who have already heard the gospel and more concerned with those who have never heard it’ or something like that. A friend the other day said a few things of similar nature, one being a quote I’ve heard for a while saying ‘we’ve no business sharing the gospel with the same person twice when there are many who have never heard it once.’ (of course they say it takes people in the Asian culture where I traveled an average of 7 times hearing before they believe so I guess we can just skip that billion or so people. Maybe just drop some leaflets) And again, ‘we shouldn’t talk so much about the second coming when there are many who have never heard about the first.’ (though Paul spent two letters talking about it to the church in Thessalonica..)

There is some truth there but there is perhaps greater error (aside from this- if you also think it is possible to lose your salvation as some who are non-Reformed in thinking do, then you are in a bit of a predicament to say that we should not worry so much about those who are already saved so that we might focus on those who have not heard. It brings to mind images of a comedic act in which one makes a batch of cookies, puts them in the oven and upon returning finds they have all been eaten. So, again they make a batch and place them in the oven, but each time they return they find there are more missing than they have made. My mother feels like that frequently when my brothers and I are home for the holidays)

I think the problem here is precisely that we have not heard the full gospel, the true gospel, and we do not understand that which we have heard. If we truly understood it then we could not help but be affected by it in a life altering sort of way. That life alteration would result in us sharing the gospel. I am certain not everyone is called to be a missionary, though perhaps everyone might be called to at some time or season and in saying this I mean missionary in the sense that we commonly think of it and not as it might more accurately be stated. For I cannot deny that we are all called to be missional in our mindset and though that word is not found in the word base of Microsoft it should be on the forefront of every Christian’s mind. We are to be missional in how we live our lives but we are not all called to go overseas.

The great error in those previous statements and many others following that general line of thought is all that matters is whether a person is saved or not. It’s as if we think, and this is more particularly what the church planter I spoke with was discussing though it is not an unfamiliar topic of conversation- it’s as if we think the chief end of God is the salvation of men. The what? It’s as if we think the chief end of God is the salvation of men. But the chief end of men is rather the glory of God (thank you Paul, Luther, Spurgeon, and a great multitude of others including Reedhead and the infamous Ten Shekels and a Shirt sermon).

Truth be told, there are a great many evangelists who are not concerned at all with following the whole great commission. They are only concerned with spreading about seed and perhaps that is not all bad as they are working in accordance with their gifting (one sows, another waters, God provides the increase). The problem comes when that person then believes there is no other way, there is no other right. And I see this most often with evangelists. They are completely unable to understand why everyone is not exactly like them. They tend to value other gifts as something less than theirs and maybe not even in a conscious way. They don’t think that’s what they are doing. They are concerned that people are not sharing their faith with tracts and the ten commandments everywhere they go. There are worse concerns to have. If that were our greatest problem there could be far worse things. But in fact it can lead to a very great problem indeed and one that is very widespread now. And that is one of immaturity and naivety among believers. It is no good for those barely saved to go about as ministers of the Word. They should first know the Word. Not to say that they cannot share. It is certainly a powerful thing to speak of what the Lord has done but that is perhaps all one is able to do when first saved. The eyes have not yet fully adjusted to the Light and many things are still unclear. Yet these are those who represent Christians as a whole. And it is not just those who are young in years but those who are immature in their faith as a general rule. But I’m way off topic here so let me return from my digressions.

God is not a means to man’s end. Man’s salvation is a bi-product of God’s love. God’s glory is the chief end of man. Were it true that the thing of chief importance were man’s salvation then we would indeed be fools to do anything but share the gospel and we may well be fools if we did not sell all our possessions and go elsewhere in the world to speak of a God whom many do not yet know by name. However, Scripture never says anything at all along these lines. It is a heinous crime that we would place ourselves above Christ in such a way. It is God’s glory and that alone for which we must strive and this takes on many different patterns and designs. Our lives as living sacrifices- this is our spiritual act of worship. That looks like a million different things. And besides, the command was never to go forth and simply tell people about Jesus. The command was (and is) to make disciples of all nations. A disciple is much more than a ‘convert.’ The problem is not that we are lacking in people who have heard and even believed The problem is that we have shallow and immature Christians who are not growing and maturing who have no clue what it is they assented to a belief in. Were we to truly make disciples, there would be no issues with a lack of people to go overseas or a lack of people sharing the gospel because they would know what that truly means. Evangelists do little good by simply telling people to share their faith and only telling them one way to do it as if it were the only way. God judges the heart and not the act, but the act can still have consequences and we are certainly seeing those today.

So, press onto maturity for there is an urgent need for growth. There is an urgent need for your growth. Your walk effects me because we are part of the same body. My walk effects you. Let us then press on, being surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses!

goodnight and Godspeed

EP