Evangelism Part II: Great Commission & Getting it Wrong.
It seems that many folks are attempting to live out what they call the Great Commission without living out the Great Commandment.: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
If one is so eager to go out and make disciples of all nations then go about it in the manner that Jesus made disciples, by loving people. Risk your reputation and go to where your religious friends are unwilling to go. Let the pastors and priests question you and call you names. Let them admonish you and tell you how wrong you are for the way you welcome and include those your church won’t let inside its walls unless it follows the laws of the church. Let folks doubt your sanity. Let them despise you for how much you love those they think are so unlovable.
The great commission isn’t, go and manipulate and coerce people to act, think and believe like you think they should. There was a reason folks followed Jesus. He loved them! Jesus didn’t try to “sell” himself to his potential followers.
I don’t read anywhere in the NT of Jesus saying, “Dude, don’t you realize just what an awful sinner you are? You are a worthless piece of crap. You ought to be happy that I came to rescue you despite what a horrible person you are. I’m getting ready to take a major hit for your sorry ass and if you could only get that through your thick head or stubborn heart and just believe it, then you’d be saved.” Jesus did not command his followers to go and convince people that they are morally bankrupt.
That’s not the gospel.
That’s not love.
And it isn’t the Great Commission.
It is impossible to live out the Great Commission without first living out the Great Commandment.
So if we are so eager to go out and “win one for Jesus” then only way that will be accomplished is through self-emptying love. That's the way of Jesus. If we want to do something for Jesus 'cause we think we are supposed to, then go out and do it to the least of these wherever you find them and you can have total peace in your soul that you have it done for and to Jesus.
We are not called to save people or help people get saved. That's God's job, and Jesus said "it is finished." As Christians, we are called to love one another.
I hear the word mature Christian tossed around in some circles. The mark of a mature follower of Christ is the way one loves. I have met very few mature Christians, myself included.
“This is how they will know that God sent me (that I am the One); by the way you love another." He did not say they will know that I am the one by the way you boycott movies, read your bibles, preach and quote the bible out of context to others.
Follow the great commandment in the manner of Jesus and you’ll be living the great commission.
20 Comments:
AMEN! Why would people care to hear what we say when we so obviously don't care about them?
Rick, you've got some interesting and good points here; I've sent you an email.
Thanks -- I needed this today, after a heavy dose of introspection yesterday.
It seems to me that if we ARE living the "great commandment", then we ARE living the "great commission". The latter is a natural result of the former. It's all about His love, and what it starts... and what it finishes.
seems to me, that what has happened to you, you project on every one else.
but, having said that...I do the same
You write:
"If one is so eager to go out and make disciples of all nations then go about it in the manner that Jesus made disciples, by loving people. Risk your reputation and go to where your religious friends are unwilling to go. Let the pastors and priests question you and call you names. Let them admonish you and tell you how wrong you are for the way you welcome and include...."
This is exactly what happened to me when I served as a church staff member for many years. I was known as the "people person" on staff, the "relational one" -- and alas, also the one who "attracts whackos."
I was valued for being able to design the website and the worship graphics, lead women's ministry, coordinate new members classes, conduct leadership training sessions, write and produce the church newsletter, etc., etc., but I was ridiculed for my love of all comers, especially those who were out on the fringe in some way, the ones to whom I felt most deeply drawn.
I had wonderful, highly positive relationships with everyone in that 500-member church except for the two pastors. Go figure.
Dear Anonymous,
First, I get a chuckle out of those who want to play "hide and seek" by leaving comments based on ignorance. Thanks for the chuckle. I can always use a chuckle. I probably should say something like, "read the text", but it is obvious that you don't read well because if you did, you'd know my post was based on the text.
Another anonymous,
thanks for sharing your story. I am not surprised that the only folks that were troubled were the two pastors. I have experienced some who tend to be highly judgemental of those with gifts such as yours. It is envy on their part. Too bad folks get hurt by these people.
God bless you on your journey. Thanks for the comments.
This is right on. I've always said my problems with scripture lies not in the passages I do not understand but in what I do. For instance, I don't understand much of Revelation, but I do understand:
"Love your neighbor."
I understand completely every word of that. The problem lies in the fact I just don't want to do it.
Rick, that is so true. Right before I decided to leave a church that I used to attend, the Pastor delivered a gift of food that had been prepared for a man who called the church asking for it. I managed the food pantry.
Soon afterwards I was told that the man, who apparently was very down and out, asked the pastor for $5. The pastor explained to us that the guy appeared to have aids and he observed another man in his home.
He apparently refused to give him the $5 and pretty much let the man know that he had received all he was going to from our church. We were then instructed to always use the appropriate government agency to screen individuals before distributing to them. I guess we had been bad stewarts.
I decided that I could get better direction from the Lord and left not long after that.
I've often regretted that I didn't find out where the man lived and go give him the $5 dollars...and a little compassion. Maybe it would have made a difference.
"Dude, don't you realize just what an awful sinner you are? You are a worthless piece of crap."
OK. So I showed your post to a person in a traditional tall-steeple church. Her absolute, "right out of the gate" very first reaction was, "What kind of moron would think that Jesus would use the word dude in a sentence?"
Now, you know, Rick - you don't have to be around me long to figure out that speechless is not a place I find myself often. But today, my mouth hung open, and :::error reading from C:\ - bad sector identified::: kept flashing across my brain.
(What blew my mind was that dude was evidently so offensive to her, she completely missed out on crap.)
I told her, "Hmmm...probably a moron just like me, I'd guess..."
I then went on to tell her that as a part of the omniscient Trinity, Jesus would never have had to actually tell me I was a sinner, or a piece of crap. I already knew that about myself for years. And then years of weekly confession just drilled it into my head.
There was a part of me that wanted to just lightsaber this woman - to reach around by her ass and pull the broom-handle out. But the Serenity Prayer kicked in before my internal switching network actually connected my mouth and my nether-regions, and so I simply said, "I'm sorry, it seems you just missed the entire point of my friend's posting," and just wished her a good day and left. Come quickly, Lord Jesus...
Steve F.
LOL!
Send her my love and tell her that Jesus wouldn't use the the word "moron" unless he was talking to a Pharisee.
Thanks!
Never in over 34 years of staggering down the path in this have I ever heard it put any better! Sometimes I wonder if the bigger mission field isn't within the walls of the Church, herself.......
"win and send" is the motto of Campus Crusade for Christ. After working their for many years I walked away confused and abused by the inequity in the way they treat poeple and they way they present the gospel. I know there is no such thing as a "perfect" ministry because its filled with imperfect people.
This is true:
It is impossible to live out the Great Commission without first living out the Great Commandment.
How tragic that so many people have it backwards.
Right on Rick. A bit over the top; but right on.
The Great Commission is the working out of "love your neighbors". If you really love others as much as yourselves, then you would want them to know about the love of God too.
My wife forward this blog to me and I have to tell you as a former Pastor, a Messianic Jew, and follower of G-d - I love this writing. You have done a great justice by writing this and thankful there is one person recognizing it's not in what you do but who you are that changes lives. AMEN.
Dear jeff,
thanks for visiting here. I appreciate your comments and I look forward to getting to know you. I suspect you have a great deal to teach us about where our faith comes from. Thanks!
Rick
Hi Jim,
Thanks for you kind words. I think you may be right about where a huge mission field exists.
I do believe to be effective in the great commission it is necessary to live out the great commandment.
But it is possible to start out with the great commission and learn the great commandment. In the church we think of things in far too much of a straight line fashion.
First of all, almost everyone that I know that tries to reach people for Jesus - love Jesus at some level. There is way too much criticism of them for that not to be the case.
In my early years as a Christian, I wanted people to know about Jesus. I passed out tracts, and even did some obnoxious street preaching (It was horrible).
I wasn't very effective. But along the way, because of the "great commission" I went on a trip to prison to "share the gospel." Before that trip, my attitude was "lock them up and throw away the key." I left that trip, with love in my heart for these men and realizing they were really no different than I was.
As a political conservative, I also wasn't sensitive to the homeless. "they live like that because they didn't want to work." But because of the great commission - I got involved in feeding the homeless. Again, I started to love them and found, they were like me. God placed a love in my heart for the homeless. Now my favorite ministry is going downtown to hang with them, and take some little gifts of love, blankets, food, whatever.
The point of this, is that God can take you from any starting place and get you where he wants to. The great commandment is my daily prayer now. Lord help me to love you with all my heart, mind soul and strength and help me to love others as myself.
God is making that a reality in my life. Remember, he is the author and finisher of our faith.
Interestingly, everyone I know who has been involved in street ministry or some kind of evangelism, has at least some level of love for Jesus in their hearts or they wouldn't be involved. People in those ministries are rejected, criticized, and often reviled - within the church and outside of it. God can take that and make something out of it.
In our "theological" debates, we have to be very careful that we don't discount the journey that God has people on because they aren't doing it the way we think.
I know there are people who say that alot of people doing "evangelism" are doing moreharm than good. They can rarely prove the point. In addition, they suggest that God isn't big enough to fix our mistakes.
Let's honor what God is doing in the lives of people whether in the great commission or the great commandment.
I read your article on the Great Commission & Getting it Wrong and I truly agree with what you wrote. However, along side loving one another as your self, I beleive that also a part of our commission is too bear some fruit that God our Father can be glorified.
After Jesus healed a person, He told him to 'not sin again.' Unbelievers need to realize in their hearts that they are sinners under God, and sometimes, it takes a believer to tell them, as in 'speaking the truth in love.' But we should not judge or attempt to make them feel bad, we are just telling them in truth; it is up to them in their hearts to accept that truth or not.
I also don't think criticisms or implied criticisms of pastors and spiritual authorities should be posted here on the internet where everyone can see them. We are to submit to our authorities (Romans 13:1-3, Hebrews 13:16-18, 1 Peter 2:12-14 ) If we run into conflicts with authorities in our churches, we need to seek God's voice and guidance, and do what we can to resolve them.
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