Mission Heat
Dear church, something is wrong.
Or at least it is in some branches of the church in the UK. I therefore want to set before the church the reason we’re doing what we’re doing and prioritising what we’re prioritising over the coming months. We are to know the deep love of the Father, to experience the Son’s deep love for his church and we are to be Spirit-filled with a deep love for the lost.
In my study are numerous books written over the past decade which together seek to analyse why Christianity has collapsed in the UK in recent decades, as well as comment on what we should do in response. There is a common theme throughout this little sub-library of mine, and that is that we should be content with the little things, that God has blessed these lands with revival in the past, but at this moment in time we face the sobering reality of low-yielding spiritual crops, and so we should adjust our expectation accordingly, they say. Faithfulness over fruitfulness is the tone.
I think that’s nonsense.
God’s Holy Word will not allow us to impose our standards on the LORD. Who are we to put limits on God? Isn’t this the lesson of Job? “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!” (Job 38:4-5a). After all – “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” says Jesus (John 3:8).
My concern with this sentiment is that however well-intentioned the authors may be, being satisfied with a meagre harvest is totally alien to the pages of the Bible. The Gospel offers “life in all its fulness” (John 10:10)! [the apostle John] looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10). We should resist with all our might any thought of being satisfied with a small number, with little things, for that way complacency and excuses lie. We must feel deeply uncomfortable when the church isn’t growing. Not because we’ve earned it or because we deserve it as some sort of reward for all our hard work – it’s got nothing to do with us – but it has everything to do with God’s glory and our God-given mission as his church. What use is it giving the church a small vision? No!
We are meant to feel the fierce, burning heat of missional conviction.
Let the glory of the Father’s name spur us on. He is worthy of countless worshippers: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11). Let the threat of Hell for all who do not call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13) fuel our unease at complacency. Feel the heat. If we’re not feeling it, then something is wrong. It’s why during our recent Vision Sunday we spoke about church being a lifeboat rather than a cruise ship; because Jesus has commissioned His church to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), and how do we make disciples? By calling on people to “repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Friends, God has not made you, called you, redeemed you and placed you in Gilcomston Church for an easy life as you await Heaven. He has saved you and commissioned you and filled your life with the joyful purpose of experiencing what it is to be part of the living body of Jesus Christ, against which “the gates of Hell shall not prevail” (Matthew 16:18).
Our heart for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners is a fierce fire with deeply rooted Biblical convictions. Andrew Heard of EV Church Australia can’t stop thinking about the following 5 + 1 Biblical convictions, and neither should we:
1. Heaven and Hell are real. Never ever abandon these biblical realities because everyone in the world is destined for one of these two places, and the difference between the two could not be greater. (Romans 2:6-8.)
2. The fact of the cross. The sacrificial death of Jesus and his rising again make salvation, new and eternal life, and reconciliation to God our King and Maker, possible. Only through the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus can we be saved and reconciled and made new. (Colossians 2:13-15.)
3. The Biblical vision of where everything is headed. Colossians 1:16 makes it crystal clear that everything was made through Jesus and for Him – and Acts 17:31 leaves us in no doubt that the world is heading for a day of judgement and reckoning.
4. The Brevity of life. Life is short. Make life count. Be very deliberate about how we live. This brevity of life breeds urgency and focus. (1 John 2:17.)
5. Love. God is love, and we want to love people because he first loved us. If it weren’t for God’s love, mercy and grace we would be lost too. (1 John 3:16, John 3:16.)
And because we believe the above we are filled with a holy desire to be obedient to the following:
1. Therefore go and make disciples. God’s mission for the church is to make disciples of all nations, and to keep on discipling them into maturity. Matthew 28:18-20.
But do not fret, friends. You are not alone, and you are not asked to do it alone, so be freed from the crippling burden of thinking you must single-handedly evangelise Aberdeen. It is the church who has been commissioned, not individuals, and it is the church functioning as the body it is intended to be that is tasked with making disciples of Jesus. This is a team game, and each of us are gifted and suited for different roles within the body, and that’s a good thing!
To be a church that is filled with mission heat is to feel a holy indignation that Hell has claimed even one inch of ground; a righteous anger that Satan claims his stake over one soul; it’s that burning desire to reach the lost; it is the opposite of making do, of settling; it is to follow the example of the Good Shepherd who went looking for the lost sheep, not content to let it be; it is to marvel at the heart of the Father who kept his eye on the horizon for his prodigal son. For a church to think “this will do” is to capitulate to Satan’s propaganda. It means something is wrong and I do not want Gilcomston Church to settle for a few or for us to be satisfied by a small harvest. My prayer is that mission heat would build until it becomes almost unbearable, and we have to act to avoid being burned, such is our heart for the lost and our holy dissatisfaction that all of Aberdeen is not yet in the kingdom. Far better for Gilcomston Church to be captured by a better vision, and who better to lead us in prayer for our countrymen than John Knox:
“Lord, give me Scotland, or I die.”
May we settle for nothing less.
Amen.
N.O.