Why Mission is So Hard - #1 We See Christianity as Internal
Occasionally, my facebook feed gets taken over by discussion of nature vs. nurture, and how they influence life and society in mostly political ways. If we are honest with ourselves, we are impacted by both our genes and the influences around us in many ways: personality, our looks, bits of who we will become, our sinful nature, the love of good music and candy (at least for me), and our desire for comfort that compels many of us to live a life that is safe.
Despite the fact that we dedicate our energy and paycheck to building up that safe life for ourselves and our families, God has not called us to live a safe life. We aren’t called to be SAFE, but rather, to be SENT.
John 20:21 - Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Jesus’ words for His disciples are clear, but we’ve made them complicated. Christ’s life of being sent was far from safe, and it stands to reason that if we are following Him, our lives might not be safe either. We have, however, dedicated our lives to being safe over being sent. This series of blog posts will look at the idea of Why Mission is Hard for us as followers of Jesus, and examine some practical steps we can take to move our lives away from the focus on ourselves and more onto the mission of God.
WHY MISSION IS SO HARD - #1 We See Christianity as Internal
In the last year, I’ve started wood-working as a new hobby to help clear my mind, provide time with the Lord, and bring some joy and satisfaction to my life. In particular, I’ve started the process of building furniture for my family and others. Before I started actually building things, I spent a lot of time working through plans and processes for building. I wanted to find out exactly what I needed to do the work, and how I should go about doing the work.
When I started my first project, I was pretty sure I had everything figured out. In fact, I was beyond confident. All of that confidence went out the window the first time I split a piece of wood and ended up with a large crack in the top of a table I was building. But it was the experience of doing the work that helped me avoid that happening again. If I never took the initiative to get the process out of my head and actually start working, I would have never made real progress. Building up knowledge in my head was helpful, but real learning didn’t happen until I put it into practice.
I think the idea of our faith as believers is very similar. Many of us have years of information in our heads from church, conferences, small groups, and blog posts, but when it comes down to it, we haven’t ever put it into practice. Because of that, we are missing out on some of the greatest blessings that God can give us in joining Him in the harvest fields of our faith. Even from a young age, we internalize the gospel to our children by encouraging them to ask Jesus into their heart, rather than speaking of belief, repentance, and a life of obedience. We spend so much time believing the Kingdom of God is happening in us (and it is!), but missing out on the fact that God’s Kingdom is happening all around us.
For the past few decades of the church, we’ve focused on the internal aspect of the Christian experience. Hear me when I say that’s not a bad thing, but it becomes problematic if it’s divorced from the fact that there is a large external and relational component to Christianity. This is evident in our relationships with other believers, as we see in the desired qualities of the church in Ephesians 4: 1 - 3 (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and maintaining unity). We also see it clearly in the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19 - 20 as it pertains to our relationship with nonbelievers as we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching.
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin reminds us that “Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.”
It’s a vital reminder that learning the character of God should lead us to worship and making disciples, not hoarding. Because of our nature, however, we find it much easier to focus on ourselves than others. I believe it’s very telling that most of the sin in our life is also focused on ourselves. The more we focus on us, the easier it is to fall into temptation because it’s always geared towards our pleasure and not the Lord’s. On the flip side, most of the attributes we see of a follower of Jesus in the New Testament are focused on others and a life that more easily displays the gospel to them.
So how do we begin to take what God has changed on the inside and use it on the outside for His glory? Here are a couple of ideas -
1. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Matthew 22:39)
Despite the fact that we dedicate our energy and paycheck to building up that safe life for ourselves and our families, God has not called us to live a safe life. We aren’t called to be SAFE, but rather, to be SENT.
John 20:21 - Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Jesus’ words for His disciples are clear, but we’ve made them complicated. Christ’s life of being sent was far from safe, and it stands to reason that if we are following Him, our lives might not be safe either. We have, however, dedicated our lives to being safe over being sent. This series of blog posts will look at the idea of Why Mission is Hard for us as followers of Jesus, and examine some practical steps we can take to move our lives away from the focus on ourselves and more onto the mission of God.
WHY MISSION IS SO HARD - #1 We See Christianity as Internal
In the last year, I’ve started wood-working as a new hobby to help clear my mind, provide time with the Lord, and bring some joy and satisfaction to my life. In particular, I’ve started the process of building furniture for my family and others. Before I started actually building things, I spent a lot of time working through plans and processes for building. I wanted to find out exactly what I needed to do the work, and how I should go about doing the work.
When I started my first project, I was pretty sure I had everything figured out. In fact, I was beyond confident. All of that confidence went out the window the first time I split a piece of wood and ended up with a large crack in the top of a table I was building. But it was the experience of doing the work that helped me avoid that happening again. If I never took the initiative to get the process out of my head and actually start working, I would have never made real progress. Building up knowledge in my head was helpful, but real learning didn’t happen until I put it into practice.
I think the idea of our faith as believers is very similar. Many of us have years of information in our heads from church, conferences, small groups, and blog posts, but when it comes down to it, we haven’t ever put it into practice. Because of that, we are missing out on some of the greatest blessings that God can give us in joining Him in the harvest fields of our faith. Even from a young age, we internalize the gospel to our children by encouraging them to ask Jesus into their heart, rather than speaking of belief, repentance, and a life of obedience. We spend so much time believing the Kingdom of God is happening in us (and it is!), but missing out on the fact that God’s Kingdom is happening all around us.
For the past few decades of the church, we’ve focused on the internal aspect of the Christian experience. Hear me when I say that’s not a bad thing, but it becomes problematic if it’s divorced from the fact that there is a large external and relational component to Christianity. This is evident in our relationships with other believers, as we see in the desired qualities of the church in Ephesians 4: 1 - 3 (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and maintaining unity). We also see it clearly in the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19 - 20 as it pertains to our relationship with nonbelievers as we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching.
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin reminds us that “Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.”
It’s a vital reminder that learning the character of God should lead us to worship and making disciples, not hoarding. Because of our nature, however, we find it much easier to focus on ourselves than others. I believe it’s very telling that most of the sin in our life is also focused on ourselves. The more we focus on us, the easier it is to fall into temptation because it’s always geared towards our pleasure and not the Lord’s. On the flip side, most of the attributes we see of a follower of Jesus in the New Testament are focused on others and a life that more easily displays the gospel to them.
So how do we begin to take what God has changed on the inside and use it on the outside for His glory? Here are a couple of ideas -
1. Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Matthew 22:39)
This is the 2nd greatest commandment that Jesus gives us, and He even likens it to the first (loving God). It’s hard for us to love our neighbor as ourself because we honestly REALLY love ourself. We may act like that’s not the case by saying we hate our life or falling into depression, but often in those situations, we prove our love for ourselves by thinking that life isn’t giving US what WE deserve out of life. We consistently put ourselves on a high pedestal. Jesus tells us to bring our neighbor (not necessarily just the person across the street) up to the same position. What are practical ways to do this? Give up your date night by watching your neighbor’s kids and letting them have one. Cut your neighbor’s yard. Give them the gift card to Starbucks you’ve been saving for yourself. It’s good practice to move away from focusing on us, to start living a life of mission.
2. Be a Doer of the Word, Not Just a Hearer (James 1:22)
Start taking the opportunity as you study God’s word to put it into practice. As you work through a passage of Scripture, don’t just ask what is being said, but ask how you can apply that to your life. Our church uses the SOAP model of journaling through Scripture, and it’s a really simple way to learn how to put the word of God into practice in your life. What is God asking you to do based upon what He’s saying in His word?
Growing closer to the Lord through studying His word, spending time in prayer, and experiencing His Spirit in worship with other believers is necessary because it energizes and strengthens the believer. We just have to remember what we are being strengthened for - the glory of God and the mission of His gospel. The Christian life isn’t just internal, and it’s not only external. It’s BOTH. God’s Kingdom is alive and working in our hearts, but if we want to know it fully then we have to join it in the streets. That is where God is using His people to accomplish His saving purposes.
Growing closer to the Lord through studying His word, spending time in prayer, and experiencing His Spirit in worship with other believers is necessary because it energizes and strengthens the believer. We just have to remember what we are being strengthened for - the glory of God and the mission of His gospel. The Christian life isn’t just internal, and it’s not only external. It’s BOTH. God’s Kingdom is alive and working in our hearts, but if we want to know it fully then we have to join it in the streets. That is where God is using His people to accomplish His saving purposes.
