| Pastoral Ponderings by Bob Smith |
| In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells His disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations; but what did He mean and what does that look like today? This was the question which was raised at our recent annual meeting. Many churches, including GVBC, have as their mission statement something about making disciples; but what does that mean? It seems in many ways that this phrase has ceased to carry any real meaning. We see someone in the hall at work and say “Hello, how are you?” but we don't really mean that. Over time it has just become part of the standard greeting. It is a phrase which has lost its meaning. What Jesus was doing was instructing His disciples to continue the redemptive plan of God which found its fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The church today is to be the force in the world for God's redemptive plan of mankind which will culminate in the coming again of Christ. But what do we mean when we talk of redemption? Certainly one idea which comes to mind is the idea of salvation. The church today is to be the force in the world redeeming people from sin through faith in the righteousness of Christ. But this movement from sin to righteousness is not only positional, but experiential as well. Even after the sinner has salvation, the church can still be a positive force in that person's life. Now the focus is on helping that person live no longer according to his or her sinful desires, but instead by the righteous leadings of the Holy Spirit. The church, including our church, should be geared towards moving people from sin to righteousness. But these two terms need to be developed. When we talk about sin what do we mean? Often, what comes to mind are acts like murder, adultery, etc. The more mature believers know that attitudes of envy, greed and unrighteous anger are sins as well. But the church should be moving people away from more than just acts and attitudes like these. The mission of the church becomes more clear when we understand that the Greek word for sin is “missing the mark.” The church should be about helping people who are missing the mark to start hitting it. For example, Christians can believe that their role as parents is to train their children to behave in a moral and upright way. But the Bible shows that parents should be concerned with shepherding their child's heart toward living for God's glory by rooting out foolishness and imparting wisdom. | Children, especially when they are younger, can be manipulated into right behavior; but this tends not to work later in life, leaving parents wondering why their children aren't following God. What they find is that they've been missing the mark of what God has called them to as parents. To help people “hit the mark” in all facets of their life, we need to be about presenting truth. As was just illustrated, there is a way which seems right to a person, but in the end it leads to disappointment. Christians today are besieged with messages from our media-saturated culture about how life works. The church has to be effective in making sure that God's truth is heard. Sometimes this truth can be challenging and in our tolerance-based society, even hurtful. That is why the church also needs to excel at love. Knowledge without love comes across as yelling at people. To help people “hit the mark” the church needs to also be about loving one another. Naturally, we are drawn to love those we consider friends; but the parable of The Good Samaritan shows that this is to extend to those we don't know. This might come in the form of making a meal for a family we don't know or shaking hands with unfamiliar faces on Sunday morning. This isn't the job of only the leadership. If we are going to be the force for God's redemptive plan, then everyone has a part to play. Speaking of playing a part, people are most effective when they enjoy what they are doing. Towards this end, the church needs to promote the idea found in Ephesians 2:10 that every person is handcrafted by God with unique talents, gifts and abilities. God equips each person specifically for the good works He has prepared for that person to fulfill. So many people are missing the mark doing jobs based on money or availability instead of what they were called to do. The church needs to be the force in redeeming people in this area as well. As a church, this is what we need to be. This is not to say that we are doing these things perfectly, but we do need to be unified in what it is that we are about as a gathering of people. As long as we have some geared towards growth and some geared towards various causes and some geared towards comfort, convenience and happiness we will fail to make disciples as we go. But unified towards that common goal which Christ has called us we will know the satisfaction of being difference- makers and knowing a life not spent in vain. |