How to Live on Mission

Last summer I worked at a hole-in-the-wall telemarketing company in West Allis.  It was a temporary job to pay the bills while I interviewed for an intern position at the church, and although I knew it wasn’t long-term, I truly felt that God wanted me there for a reason..actually, many reasons.  I’m still finding ways that God used that experience to bless me and other people.

While I was there, God allowed me to share the gospel, encourage men to read their bible and go to church, and show compassion to those who mocked me.  God used that experience to remind me that He loves everyone, and has given Christians the privilege of telling everyone that He wants to be with them.  The bible calls us ambassadors of reconciliation, and our mission to proclaim the good news.

If you are anything like me, though, you need to be reminded of that mission frequently.  Life is tough, and sometimes the mission seems like a burden instead of a privilege.  So, how do we stay encouraged and remind ourselves that we have a mission to complete? 

I think it is two-fold: by staying in connection to Christ and staying connected to other believers.

Staying connected to Christ means that we pray, and we read the bible.  To be honest, one of the things that kept me sane during those two months was what the apostle Paul said in the book of Philippines. 

As you might know, Paul was the famous 1st century, missionary to the gentiles.  He was given a mission from God to tell non-Jews about Jesus, which brought him into some dangerous and difficult places; places like Philippi. 

In about 50 AD, Paul went to Philippi and was beaten and put into prison because the people there were selfish and cared more about money than people (you can read the story in Act 16).  Fast forward 10 years, and we find Paul in prison again.  This time he decides to write a letter to his Christian friends who are still in Philippi, and the letter is now called the book of Philippians.  Let’s look at what Paul says in Chapter 1:

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

Paul is explaining that more people are preaching the gospel because of his imprisonment.  Amazingly, Paul has set an example that everyone else wants to model.  He then continues:

 15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Paul realized that some people don’t really care about Christ, but instead are trying to hurt him by preaching the gospel.  How does Paul respond though?  He says it doesn’t matter what happens to him, just as long as the gospel of Christ is preached.  In fact, Paul rejoices when Jesus gets the glory; what an incredible perspective on life!  Again he continues:

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

To live is Christ and to die is gain…

I love that verse, yet I still find myself complaining about my hardships instead of rejoicing that they are bringing glory to God.  I don't know what my problem is; maybe it's because I'm selfish, or because I have a hard time truly believing it.  Maybe it's just because I'm forgetful.  Maybe all of the above.  What I do know is this: God constantly uses His word and His Spirit to remind me that the joy of heaven awaits me.  Until then I’m on this planet to glorify Jesus.  

A Greater Context

In my last post, I mentioned that I use to read the bible out of context in order to justify my sin and rebellion.  I felt embarrassed and guilty, so I tried hard to make up for my mistakes instead of forgiving myself.  I tried harder, became more strict in my behaviors, and even started to speak against the behaviors of others.  One day I told my pastor that I was angry at someone for their behaviors, and he said, "That's very Pharisetical of you, Josh."

This caught me off guard, because the Pharisees were the religious leaders who Jesus confronted the most.  It's easy to see that they were doing something wrong when we look at what Jesus said of them in Matthew 23:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 

Ouch...

I knew my pastor was right, but I didn't know what to do about my attitude towards myself and others.  I thought I had a genuine desire to be a good Christian, but I was finding myself opposed to Christ some how.  Looking back, I believe that's because I didn't have a big enough context of the scripture I was reading.

There are many times when I feel a sense of conviction while reading the bible.  I compare my life to Jesus, and realize that I'm missing the mark.  I see the consequences of people who made huge mistakes because of small compromises.  I know that my motives are impure at times, but what can I do?

Two years ago my response was, "try harder, do more, be stronger," but now my response is, "focus on Jesus."

My pastor was right; I was a Pharisee who knew all sorts of information, but failed to see how it all fit together.  I had a list of rules and verses memorized, but I couldn't summarize the purpose of the Old and New Testament.  Everything was disconnected, and in a sense of fear and frustration, I put the pieces of the bible together in a way that made me the center.  Everything depended upon my actions, attitude, and belief, and everyone else was suppose to become more like me.  That was a big problem though, because I couldn't control my actions, attitude and beliefs consistently.  I was constantly "failing as a christian", and was exasperated from trying.

One day God showed me that the solution to my problem resided in a proper understanding of the bible.  He showed me that I missed the whole point of the bible by missing the true context: Jesus.

The point of the bible is so much bigger than anything I can "piece together"; it's all about God and His eternal love (which will take me an eternity to understand).  That's what connects the Old and New Testament.  That's what prevents people from using grace as a license to sin, or from becoming legalistic and "pharisetical" (to quote my former pastor).  God has always existed, and has always been the essence of Love.  God created mankind with the intent of showing us love, and then repeatedly pursued us even though we rejected Him.  We condemned ourselves by rejecting God, but in His love, He came to save us.  John 3:16-17 says it this way:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The reason I was frustrated was because I thought I needed to save myself and keep myself from falling away.  That's an impossible task for a human to do.  Only Jesus can save anyone, and only Jesus is faithful enough to keep them safe.  As Philippians 1:6 says:

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

A Dangerous Imitation

I shared the wisdom that an older woman gave to me in my last blog, which helped me realize that God speaks personally to His people through His word.  She warned me against following the “inner monologue,” and encouraged me to ask God for a verse instead.  Although, some verses quickly come to mind, or stand out when reading the bible, it’s important to know what it means.  Jill was very deliberate in highlighting that truth, but how do we do that? 

Context

I had a pastor tell me once that if you take the bible “text” out of “context” you are left with a “con.”  It’s a cute little phrase, but I’m starting to believe that it’s very true, and very destructive if neglected.  The reason is because even Satan quoted the bible in an attempt to trick Jesus into doing something evil.  Jesus obviously cannot be tricked, but humans can.  In fact, I’ve been tricked.

The biggest trick that Satan played on me involved my relationship with God.  I think I memorized only a couple verses when I was younger, and my favorite was “everything is permissible…” 

I don’t know how well you know your bible, but that’s not a verse; it’s only part of a verse.  I used those words apart from their original context in order to justify my rebellion and sin.  I remember getting to the point where I believed that God didn’t care about my actions, so I didn’t either.  I thank God for helping me realize my error, and I’ll explain why later.  First, I want to look at the verse in context in order to show where I went wrong.

The verse I am referring to is 1 Corinthians 10:23

"Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive.

Just by looking at the whole verse, it’s pretty clear that Paul (the writer of 1 Corinthians) didn’t intend for people in the 21^st century to use his words as an excuse to sin.  Deep down, I knew that, and I also knew that some of the choices I made in college weren’t beneficial or constructive.  Even though doctors, parents, even some of my friends told me that my choices where stupid and harmful, I kept saying, “everything’s permissible.”

I wonder if things would have been different if I read the verse in context of the whole chapter, book, culture, or bible as a whole…

I ask that question, because chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians begins with Paul’s explanation that God’s people in the past suffered consequences for their sins as a warning for us in the future.  God wanted to prevent His people from craving evil.  Paul continues by urging believers to refrain from sexual immorality, and idolatry.  In fact, it’s not until the end of the chapter that Paul teaches Christians that God allows them to eat meat.  That’s right, meat.  Paul wasn’t saying that it’s okay to sin; Paul was telling Christians that they can eat meat if they want!  That’s a big difference than the way I used the verse, but it raises a new question:

Why would Paul need to teach people in Corinth (hence the name “1 Corinthians”) that it’s permissible to eat meat anyways?    

To answer that question, we need to increase our knowledge of the verse’s context…

So far I’ve demonstrated that you need to know the WHOLE verse, and read it in context of the WHOLE chapter of the bible in order to truly understand what it means; but there is more.  I believe people should also know the WHOLE book of the bible and the WHOLE culture in which the book of the bible was originally written.  This will help people see the relevance of the bible in today’s culture, and it will prevent the bible from being misapplied.

So, why did Paul instruct his readers that they could eat meat?  Because Paul needed to help new Christians learn how to live in a way that honored God.  The non-believers in Corinth worshiped a lot of different “gods,” and sometimes sacrificed meat to honor these idols.  The non-believers then invited Christians to their homes and served meat which had been sacrificed.  The Corinthian Christians were confused, because the bible is clear that believers should only worship the true God, although they wondered what to do if a non-believer offered them idol meat for diner.  Paul is telling Christians that they can eat the meat (everything is permissible) unless the non-believers think the Christians are worshiping the false “gods” with them (not beneficial).    

We notice two things by looking at this passage in context to the chapter and the culture.  First, God doesn’t want His people to sin, because sin destroys life and the beauty of creation.  Secondly, God doesn’t want Christians to worship idols, nor put themselves in positions where non-believers assume we are worshiping them.

I can’t believe the difference it makes to understand God.  It’s so much more helpful.

Although it’s great to have God’s word written down for us, we still need to increase our knowledge of the context.  Without understanding the true meaning, we become susceptible to harming ourselves and others.  In my next blog, I hope to write the missing context which I think I’m most prone to neglecting.