God's Community with God's Commission, part 3

Last session we reviewed what we’re all about as the people of God. As an expression of the Jesus Creed to love God and love others, we are called and equipped to serve as God’s image-bearers, blessing-sharers, and holy intermediaries. We exist as the church for the sake of others. This undercuts the individualism inherent in our culture, and the tribalism inherent in our fallen state. We collectively are the integrated, cooperative body of Christ, working together as his hands and feet in the world and for the world.

In chapter 7 of Embracing Grace, Scot speaks of the missional gospel, that is, that God has a mission in which we are privileged to participate. The aspects of the diverse mission emphasized in this chapter are twofold: God has a heart for the downcast, and God cares for all of his creation. We’ll address the first this week and the second in our next session.

But before we proceed, let’s clarify what we mean by “missional” and how we are to integrate "proclaiming" the gospel (evangelism) with "performing" the gospel (social action).

What is Missional?

The following description of a missional church is taken from Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 20.

To be missional is more than just to evangelize. Here are some ways of thinking of this term as the underlying philosophy of this book:

• Being missional means that the church sees itself as being missionaries, rather than having a missions department, and that we see ourselves as missionaries right where we live.
• Being missional means that we see ourselves as representatives of Jesus "sent" into our communities, and that the church aligns everything it does with the missio dei (mission of God).
• Being missional means we see the church not as a place we go only on Sunday, but as something we are throughout the week.
• Being missional means that we understand we don't "bring Jesus" to people but that we realize Jesus is active in culture and we join him in what he is doing.
• Being missional means we are very much in the world and engaged in culture but are not conforming to the world.
• Being missional means we serve our communities, and that we build relationships with the people in them, rather than seeing them as evangelistic targets.
• Being missional means being all the more dependent on Jesus and the Spirit through prayer, the Scriptures, and each other in community.

On the Holistic Nature of the Missional Gospel 

Christopher Wright

Wright (PhD, Cambridge), former professor and dean of All Nations Christian College (England), is the Director of Langham Partnership’s International. More on Chris.

Even if we agree that biblical mission is intrinsically holistic and that Christians should be involved in the whole wide range of biblical imperatives—seeking justice, working for the poor and needy, preaching the gospel of Christ, teaching, healing, feeding, educating, and so forth—isn't it still the case that evangelism has primacy in all of this? Evangelism may not be the only thing we should do in mission, but isn't it the most important? Shouldn't it have priority over all else? Read more >>

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006), 316-323.

John Stackhouse

From his base at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, from whence he occasionally looks askance at what's happening in the neighboring land south of the Canadian border, John Stackhouse defies the notion that there is any conflict between first-rate scholarship and public engagement. One day presiding over a scholarly conference, the fruits of which he will see into print; the next day writing a razor-sharp op-ed piece; then working on one of his own scholarly projects; then reading proofs of his latest book for thoughtful general readers--Stackhouse does it all with a sense of mission and a healthy skepticism for received opinion. Biosketch at his blog

No surprise, then, that we were interested in getting his answer to the question currently on the table for the Christian Vision Project: What must we learn, and unlearn, to be agents of God's mission in the world?

Anyone who is sent on a mission had better be clear about what is being asked of her and why. If she is not clear about the nature and rationale of the mission, she risks trying to do too much, or not enough, or the wrong thing entirely. She also risks trying to do the wrong thing for the right reason or the right thing in the wrong way...

...Furthermore, we must beware of a second problem that lies nearby. And that is the idea that missions is all about getting people saved, and particularly about rescuing their souls from hell so that they can go to heaven. Multiple theological errors, in fact, attend this view of salvation.

God is not interested in saving merely human souls. He wants human beings, body and soul. Furthermore, he does not settle for saving human beings, but the whole earth. He made it in the first place, pronounced it "very good," and he wants it all back. So he is saving us, the lords he put over creation, as part of his global agenda to rescue, indeed, the globe.

What God rescues us to, furthermore, is the original agenda he set out for us in Genesis 1, namely, to "fill the earth and subdue it." He planted a garden for us to tend (Gen. 2) and commanded our first parents to raise up generations of gardeners to fan out across the earth to till the rest of it. This is what it means to bear the image of God. We, too, are to improve the situation, to cultivate what we encounter, to make shalom in every sector of life. And such work is our ultimate destiny as well, as we are to "reign with him" over the new earth he promises (2 Tim. 2:12). Thus we are not going back to Eden, nor up to a (spiritual) heaven, but forward to the New Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven to earth as our proper home (Rev. 21).

The Christian gospel therefore is not a narrowly spiritual one, but literally embraces everything, everywhere, at every moment. Every action that brings shalom—that preserves or enhances the flourishing of things, people, and relationships—is the primary will of God for humanity. Christians ought therefore to recognize and affirm anything our neighbors do to make peace, whether those neighbors intend to honor God or not. Indeed, we can cooperate with them in those ventures, since we see in them the divine agenda of shalom.

And our mission to the world extends far beyond evangelism. Yes, evangelism is the special work of the church, for only we Christians have been entrusted with the great good news at the center of God's redemptive plan, at the heart of which is the life and work of Jesus Christ. But our evangelism itself issues a call to "life abundant" that embraces everything good in the world, not just the spiritual. And as we work away at our generic human work alongside our neighbors, but in the light of the Bible's affirmation of such work, we demonstrate what it means to live in that light, which is the light of heaven now and also of the world to come.

We must see that hereby our evangelism itself is improved. We are living demonstrations of our message, and much more attractive and effective ones than if we are only constant talkers, interfering with God's original and abiding command to make shalom by trying to shove Jesus into every conversation at work or at home as if mission simply equals verbal evangelism.

Medicine, therefore, is part of God's mission, whether any patient or co-worker comes to faith or not. So is education and environmentalism, and cooking and cleaning, and farming and family life. God cares not only about eternity but about the welfare of his creation now. And he calls us to participate with him in that care as generic human beings, stewards of that creation, even as he calls Christian people also to our special work of witnessing to, exemplifying, and spreading his gospel light...

Full-text: "A Bigger--and Smaller--View of Mission" Christianity Today, The Christian Vision Project, June 2007.

God’s Heart for the Downcast

This prong of our divine commission involves caring for the least, the last, and the lost, those on the underside of political, economic, and social power. As we’ll see, compassion and generosity beautifully reflect the Father’s image (Gen 1). These also are major blessings that God has graciously bestowed on us that we are pass along to others (Gen 12). This is the essence of being an Embraced Embracer.

The Captives in Egypt: Mercy Should Beget Mercy

Let’s start in Egypt. Now, if I were God, looking around for a group of people to entrust with reflecting my image and sharing my blessings, I’d be inclined to pick the mighty nation of Egypt, who here in the thirteenth century BC were at the pinnacle of power, prestige, and privilege. There were among the most advanced civilization in the world at that time. Their resume was highly impressive. They appeared to have what it would take to function effectively as God’s agent in the world—at least by our standards. But it seems that God doesn’t operate by our standards. The God of the Bible opts to use the enslaved nation as his instrument to bring the knowledge of himself to the enslavers. Through God’s gracious dealings with Israel “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord” God tells us (Exodus 7:5).

When we survey the kind of people in the Bible that God teams up with we see he has a preference for the unimpressive, the easily overlooked, the unlikely candidates. Think of the stammering fugitive Moses, or the neglected punky younger brother named David, or the uneducated, slow-to-comprehend bumbling disciples, or you and me, for that matter. Could it be that the “successful” don’t necessarily make for good collaborators? Could it be that they aren’t all that interested in playing second fiddle to anyone, even God? Here in the land of Egypt God selects this band of unsophisticated slaves without much if anything to commend them. Could it be that slaves who sense their need for help are more readily to count themselves among the poor in spirit and the mourners, those who hunger and thirst for justice, who are quick to show mercy? (see the beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12). Could it be that the newly liberated are more likely to sense their dependency on God so as to “honor him as God and give thanks” in all things (Romans 1:21)? Could it be that the outcast and the socially despised are more ready to identify with a savior who was himself cast out and despised? Listen to Paul’s honest description of the misfits who constituted the earliest churches:

1 Cor 1:26-29. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

God had promised he was going to channel his blessings through the family of Abraham, however qualified or disqualified they may have seemed. So now, after hundreds of years in forced labor, we pick up the story of Israel crying out to God for deliverance.  “The Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act” (Exodus 2:23-25). Here we see God’s mercy intertwined with his faithfulness. He made a promise and he would keep it, regardless of how “qualified” the recipients of his grace may appear to us. He does his wonderful work in the world in collaboration with the unlikeliest of agents. That should give us cause for hope and celebration.

The narrative in Exodus reiterates several times that God sees their oppression, hears their cries, and knows their suffering.

Exodus 3:7-10. Then the Lord told Moses, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I know their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” 

What do we learn here about God? He is one who feels for suffering people. He hears the cry of the oppressed. He is moved to help. What then would his image-bearers look like? Would they not share his heart for the suffering? And also, what blessing is God granting his people? As those who receive his gifts of grace and then pass them on to others, what tangible blessing would they then be extending to others? Would his liberated people not be especially geared to seek the liberation of others who are under the dehumanizing effects of bondage? (For sermons that elucidate this theme, check out the New Exodus series from Rob Bell at Mars Hill, listed on our supplemental excerpts and sermons page.)

Exodus 22:21-24. [God’s words to his newly liberating people:] “Don't abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt. Don't mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I'll take them most seriously; I'll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.”

Note the strong connection between how God had treated them and their subsequent treatment of others. Sound familiar? Remember Jesus’ words to his followers: “In the same way I loved you, you love one another” (John 13:34). Paul makes the same point: “So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it to you; now you do it with others!" (Romans 15:7). This behavioral model, however, is not unique to Jesus or to the New Testament. This social ethic is rooted in the heart of God and his ancient plan for his people. The Lord’s active compassion was to serve as their model of behavior with others in similar straits. It’s fascinating that if they fail to extend compassion to the disenfranchised of their day (the widows and orphans) that their families would end up widowed and orphaned. There’s an ironic sense of justice in this. 

The Sin of Sodom: Neglect of the Poor

This call to compassion is not restricted to the chosen people, the holy nation, the kingdom of priests. The nations at large, also created in the image of God, are summoned in a similar fashion to show mercy to the needy. What was it that prompted God to “come down” to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah? It was the cry of the oppressed (Gen 18:20). And who was crying? Ezekiel tells us that it was the poor and the needy, who were being abused and neglected while the wealthy sated themselves with feasting. “Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen” (Ezek 16:49-50). Despite their reputation for immorality, sexual sin wasn’t their only offense. Failure to care for the needy brought fatal consequences on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Mercy is a universal mandate. The withholding of mercy is a universal formula for failure.

Spiritual Disciplines without Social Activism

How well did our forebears do with this aspect of reflecting God’s image? Did ancient Israel mirror the compassion and mercy that God demonstrated to them time and again? Tragically, no. We’ll look at but one of dozens and dozens of Scriptural examples of this breach in the chain of compassion. Here in Isaiah 58 the nation is complaining that God is ignoring their faithful practice of spiritual disciplines. They are seeking God daily in worship, prayer, and fasting, yet God seems to be unresponsive. What’s the deal? Actually, it is Israel that is unresponsive, unresponsive to the cries of the needy in their midst. As long as these beloved of God are ignored, whom Jesus called “the least of these my brothers and sisters” (Matthew 25:40), God will ignore the worship, prayer, and fasting of Israel.

This is similar to our sometimes futile pursuits of God’s will. God has given clear directions on how he wants us as his people to behave. Sometimes we ignore these directions, yet come clamoring to him to disclose his will on this or that particular course of action. The wise insights from James Howell are apropos: “God’s desire is that we read, listen, immerse ourselves in [the Bible], and view everything in our lives from its perspective. The Bible is our script, stage directions for players performing God’s will… Why phone up God with some appeal (‘God, tell me what your will is on this major decision?’) when we haven’t patterned our lives today, yesterday, and last year on what God has willed to put right in front of us all along?”

So this was the situation too with ancient Israel here in the latter section of Isaiah. The chapter opens with God’s command for his prophet (or spokesperson) to shout this message to Israel:

Isaiah 58:1-12. [YHWH says:] “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me. ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

[The Prophet explains the fruits of compassion:] Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Religious activities divorced from mercy-in-action are empty and vain. But when love for God is linked to love for others, when prayers are accompanied by social action on behalf of the imprisoned, the oppressed, the hungry, and the homeless, then worship counts for something. When the people of God emulate the practices of God, then they serve the purposes of God. It’s only as we “remember the poor” that our “light will shine out from the darkness.” It is our “good deeds” that form the beacon of light that is to shine in the world (cf. Matthew 5:14). Isaiah, Jesus, and Paul are all on the same page here.

Eph 2:8-10. It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It was with the passage that we opened our discussion of grace back in our first session. For more on the “good works” for which we were saved, check out this sermon "outward" from pastor Rob Bell, listed on our supplemental sermons page.

Who Will Function as Israel, the Servant of God, for the Nations?

It was the nation-as-a-whole that was to be God’s faithful servant, his junior apprentice in restoring justice and peace in the world. As the oracles of Isaiah unfold, we find the nation completely abandoning this centuries-old task. Their world-wide assignment then falls on a progressively smaller segment of the nation, the only portion of the nation that has remained faithful to God. When the small remnant went the way of the nation-at-large, unable to fulfill their role as God’s servant, a lone figure steps forward to carry the weight of the nation. This figure must first bear the plight of the nation’s disloyalty in order to restore the nation to good standing with their God. Then, once restored, the people of God can finally resume their ancient calling to bless the nations of the world.

Isaiah 49:5-6. And now the Lord speaks—the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.    The Lord has honored me, and my God has given me strength. He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Catch that? A segment of the nation, perhaps even a single person, takes on the nation’s forfeited role as “servant of the Lord.” As servant, this group, or this person, has an initial role to “restore the people of Israel to God.” Then, collectively, the servant, and the people he restored, are able to resume the responsibility of God’s children first entrusted to Abraham—bringing salvation to “the ends of the earth.”

This is Where Jesus Finds his Job Description

In his opening “sermon” in his home town of Nazareth, Jesus reads from Isaiah one of the passages about the servant of YHWH.

Luke 4:16-22. When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Isa 61:1-2).

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

What kind of King would Jesus be? How would he lead Israel out of darkness into God’s light? It’s here in these servant passages of Isaiah that Jesus finds his job description. He would assume the role that Israel had been assigned. He would do this in order to restore the nation back to her task of serving as a light to the nations. For more on Jesus as the embodiment of Israel, Israel incarnate, so to speak, see our lectures on Matthew 3.

When Jesus announces that “good news” had come, that he was here to liberate Israel, his message was met with enthusiasm. But Jesus is astute. He knows that a spirit of “tribalism” has long spoiled the world-wide ambitions that God has for his people. They were interested in blessing, but only to hoard it for themselves. The bulk of the people has no intend of sharing God’s generous salvation with others, much less with those they esteemed as enemies—the hated gentiles who were occupying their land and oppressing their people. Jesus clarifies in no uncertain terms that this “favor of the Lord” was entrusted to them so that they could disseminate it to the gentiles. When he spells out just who he is targeting with his “good news” the initial warm reception they give him turns quickly into fierce opposition. It seems they welcome the idea of blessing, but only if it remains within the boundaries of their ethnocentric world.

Luke 4:23-30. Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Not only is Jesus bringing restoration to Israel with transnational goals in mind, but his good news is for the very ones that Sodom had neglected (Ezek 16 above), the very ones that ancient Israel had ignored (Isa 58 above)—the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, the widows, the lepers, among "us" and "them" alike. From the Pentateuch through the Prophets and into the gospels, the heart of God is for the downtrodden. And those he calls to his side, those he calls to share his mission in the world, will share his heart for the needy.

The Early Church Joined In

The early church that we meet in Acts is busy sharing their proceeds with one another, so that all needs are met. Note in this passage that their “testimony” to the resurrection wasn’t through clever argument, but through demonstrable generosity. We know the resurrection power of Jesus is ours when we live his kind of life: “And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:4). New lives trumpet a resounding testimony.

Acts 4:32-35. All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

Paul moves easily from speaking about how our enthusiastic work for the Lord is never in vain to how the saints in Corinth were to set aside some funds from their earnings each week to help the poorer sisters and brothers in Jerusalem. Our work for the Lord is seen in our concern for the poor.

1 Cor 15:57-16:2. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.

Eph 4:28. Use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.

James is no less direct.

James 1:27. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 2:14-17. What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

John agrees.

1 John 3:16-19. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth.

What Churches are Doing Around the World

For an encouraging look at how our sisters and brothers of all denominations are caring for the needy, see the work here of Evangelicals for Social Action. Their Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern of 1973, amended in 1993, provides us a stirring call to awareness and action.

Next time we’ll take a brief look at our Garden mandate to be stewards of the earth, what we call “creation care.” Then we’ll discuss a few other matters that Scot brings up in chapter 7 before moving on to look at the atonement.