Missional: Attacking the Static - Part 2

Part 2- RESTORING THE MISSION

"There exists in every church something that sooner of later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it"- C.S. Lewis

The quote above demonstrates the need for what Alan Hirsch called Mdna. Mdna is the transmission of inherited traits that characterize the mission that should be inherent in every church body. Every follower of Christ infused with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and a bit of "holy rebellion" should be ever-reforming the Church back toward the mission- spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God ( which we discussed in part 1 how important it is to have a gospel -a message of good news, that is consistent and empowers Believers). As disciples engaged to the mission by the will and grace of God, we will be making disciples! Be disciples who make disciples!

One of the most energizing books I have read about being mission is REJesus: A Radical Messiah for a Missional Church, in which it is clearly demonstrated that we must be taken captive by the true Jesus Christ and His mission, -not create a image of Him in our minds and thus make him captive to our particular agenda. Many Christians have and still do this without realizing because- yes! your mission and agenda may have good intentions and be a great cause, but it might just be your cause, not necessarily what Christ is seeking to do and initiate.

What we do know through Scripture about the mission of God is clearly shown through John 1:1-18. Read it! That is the incarnation- which is basic terms is the story of how God took on flesh and became a man in order to show us His nature (gave us an inspiring model) and to fulfill His purpose- redemption of mankind! God's ways are amazing and many times incomprehendable, yet He continually reveals things to us. So, we know that God sent His Son (which was God made manifest through the seed of a woman) to die in our place and thus fulfill the covenant of love- that whosoever should believe on His name should be saved, a child of God, and have eternal life (John 3:16). That was the beginning of what was to come! Now, if you read further along, namely chapters 17-20, you begin to realize that Jesus Christ is sending out messengers of this message- "Just as you sent me, I am sending them". Now the disciples had the same mission, to be incarnational, as Paul said he was all things to all men so that he may win a few (1 Corinthians 9:22-23). Upon fulfillment of the New Covenant, we know that there are those who are inside the gates of the kingdom of heaven (the spiritual understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ = abundant life) and those missing out, who sit outside- and it is our goal, those exercised by the Spiritual knowledge of God, to use the leaves of the tree of life (the gospel of the Kingdom) to heal the nations.

Learning from the disciples and specifically the Apostle Paul we acknowledge that "to act incarnationally therefore will mean that in our mission to those outside of the faith we will need to exercise a genuine identification and affinity with those we are attempting to reach". ...."There is a time for "in-your-face" approaches to mission, but there is also a time to simply become part of the very fabric of a community and to engage in the humanity of it all"

The point of the incarnation was that "when confronted with the reality of God in Jesus, God in human flesh, God is no longer beyond and unfathomable, but immediate and present. He has come close to us, and his claim on our lives becomes somewhat more unavoidable". Through incarnational ministry we demonstrate the same passionate love our God had for us by coming and relating to us, being tempted, suffering, and being killed by and for us- this is truly putting flesh on it! (or as Francis Chan might say "Crazy Love").

The point is that ministry and relating to people is not a church program that we should have to talk about. As I explained in part 1, it is necessary that we begin to have an understanding of God and His mission that enables all of this to be natural. Religious "christianity" has allowed for a separatist mentality where it's us and them ( the good "christian" people who have to preach to and shun the morally bad people)-THIS IS NOT CHRISTIANITY. Jesus Christ actually did the exact opposite and hung around the "bad people", and they wanted to be in His presence, and ultimately it was those who chose to become disciples rather than the religious people. Unfortunately, we have the opposite extreme becoming a prevailing attitude in Christianity today. Instead of engaging the world with the message of Christ, many have chosen to just blend in and "be cool" which is called backsliding, not ministry. In his book, The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons does a great deal in explaining these things. It's the restorers, those who are rooted in the truth (there is that zeal empowered by knowledge thing again) who live out the mission for Christ! It is the restorers whose ".. faith activity isn't restricted to "religious" activities, but carries over into every day life".

The incarnation of Jesus Christ did not occur in order to create a religion or a set of moral rules by which the "good people" who say they believe in Jesus should live by. That's nonsense! (and by saying that I mean it makes no darn sense)- the Pharisee's were doing quite fine with moral laws and touch not, taste not rules! The incarnation was about bringing the redemption back to mankind- the image of God (which means the idea and concept for which He had created mankind). Each and every disciple that learns the knowledge of God embraces and becomes the image of God and therefore becomes an ambassador of the kingdom. It is in the gates that we recognize what true life is and have joy in it! That's the mission! God literally got involved in the mission to make it that clear on how important it is to spread and live it out, hello!!! HE DID!!!

Ivan Illach, the Austrian philosopher and Catholic priest said the most radical way to change a society is to tell an alternative story ( I do well to mention my blog by this title in which I speak about the kingdom of God- how ironic it is exactly what Christ came preaching!). The gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly that- the alternative to everything this world hopes for, lives for, and thinks is possible. It is this gospel that we must:

"resdiscover...recalibrate...rethink...reimagine...redeploying...revitalize.." in order to be missional!

"Telling others about Jesus is important, but conversion isn't their only motive. Their mission is to infuse the world with beauty, grace, justice, and love. I call them restorers because they envision the world as it was meant to be and they work toward that vision. Restorers seek to mend earth's brokenness..sowing seeds of restoration...they don't seperate from the world or blend in: rather, they thoughtfully engage". -Gabe Lyons

ARE YOU A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST CALLED TO BE A RESTORER?

Missional: Attacking the Static (PART 1)

Part 1 :::::: "A TRUE BACK-TO-THE-BIBLE MOVEMENT"

The title of this blog is the point of this blog- the body of Christ (the Church) is called to be missional which is the natural outward impulse of God's chosen- the Church (otherwise known as the body of Christ or simply Christians). The natural impulse of understanding of who God is, what God has done, and what He is doing enabled the Church as well as each and every Christian to attack the static. The static being the lack of energy, passion, and movement seen in the 1st century Church largely due to a failure of Biblical theology and a reality of Jesus Christ.

The good news as noted by Gabe Lyons in his book, The Next Christians, is that "there is a movement among Christians......asking these same questions and offering meaningful answers. They want to be a force for restoration in a broken world even as we proclaim the Christian gospel. They want the label Christian to mean something good, intelligent, authentic, true, and beautiful". Gabe Lyons, as well as many other authors and leaders (Mark Batterson, Alan Hirsch, among many others) see what is on the horizon for Christianity whether we call it a reformation, revival, or an emergence! Gabe Lyons even quoted the late Billy Graham, who noticed the same things- Graham is noted as saying "Back when we did these big crusades in football stadiums and arenas, the Holy Spirit was really moving- and people were coming to Christ as we preached the Word of God, but today, I sense something different is happening. I see evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in a new way. He's moving through people where they work and through one-on-one relationships to accomplish great things. They are demonstrating God's love to those around them, not just with words, but in deed".

If one is to look through history at all the movements that changed the face of Christianity it was always a "back-to-the-Bible-movement", because that's where the solution lies. And that is where the solution to the "missional crisis" is at today in the Church and in the theological application in the lives of Believers. The lack of knowledge always creates either an apathetic spirit or a false passion based on assumptions and presuppositions (in Scripture this is called "zeal without knowledge"). Therefore, the missional movement will be based upon a zeal empowered by knowledge that is revealed through the Word of God- a true back to the Bible movement.

The local church I pastor, The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H., offers practical conversational theology that allows the true zeal of missional living to become practical and realized in our lives. We pride ourselves on the fact that as we seek to understand God more and more (grow in the knowledge of God) that we are becoming the true expression of Christianity, and I always say that if Christianity was to become illegal in Fort Myers, they will come for The Fellowship C.H.U.R.C.H. first!

"If passion is eliminated, faith no longer exists"- Soren Kierkegaard
Gabe Lyons made another great point (actually quite a few I will quote throughout this blog) when he spoke about "the problem with half stories" and he called it a "truncated gospel". I would definitely imagine that Gabe Lyons and I have some disagreements on the full extend of the good news brought by Christ but he makes great strides speaking on how the popular notions of the gospel only dwell on the fall and redemption, but ignore the implications of creation and restoration, and ultimately consummation. The lack of a cohesive message destroys the good news, and for many the failure to be intellectually honest with the story has caused this missional crisis which in essence is a full failure in regards to the message of Jesus Christ.

The popular song "Jesus is coming, people get ready" illustrates this point well. As a Christian who takes Jesus Christ at every word He spoke to the disciples, I recognize the fulfillment of everything he said. Jesus was not talking some far off message- He was directly speaking to the people in front of Him, who understood what the good news was- the kingdom of God. (I will not expound on the full truth and understanding espoused through Full Preterist theology but I advise the reader- read my blogs and read more Scripture in context!). The fact of the matter is- we are now living in the reality of the kingdom of God, Satan and his minions are a defeated foe (although we still suffer from the effects of evil), and therefore Revelation chapter 22: 1-5 is where we are at. WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE TREE OF LIFE (WHICH IS FOR THE HEALING OF ALL NATIONS), WE ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, AND GOD REIGNS! WE ARE NOT WAITING FOR ANYTHING! STOP WAITING!!!!

That's the point of being missional- we must stop waiting. Proper theology is needed to enable the body of Christ to a zeal empowered by knowledge. We have the healing of the nations- the gospel which restores everything to the original intent in the image (idea and concept) of God!

"The next generation of Christians believe that Christ's death and Resurrection were not only meant to save people from something. He wanted to save Christians to something. God longs to restore His image in them, and let them loose, freeing them to pursue His original dreams for the entire world". -Gabe Lyons

As I take a step back and look at the body of Christ (THE CHURCH), specifically here in North America I see a missional crisis due to static. Yet, possessing a zeal empowered by knowledge I feel and see a holy rebellion "based on loving critique of religious institutions modeled by the original apostles and the prophets" on the horizon. In history it was men like Martin Luther who stood up for the Scriptures against tradition, John Wycliffe who did the same, William Tyndale who died to get the Scriptures into even the poorest mans' hands, John Wesley who was committed to "no less than the recovery of the truth, life, and power of earliest Christianity and the expansion of that kind of Christianity", and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who lived out the responsibility of understanding the message. Today, I take the stand- DO YOU?


"There exists in every church something that sooner of later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard, by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it"- C.S. Lewis

It's all about the glory of God and seeing all things restored to His image. We must remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s words "that which we would first change, we must love first".