“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29: 11 is probably the most quoted verse in the Bible next to John 3: 16. Everyone can understand why. It is a verse that promises prosperity and hope for the future and it looks like it has no strings attached, no obligations to fulfill. It’s just there, period.
For some Christians, world missions is just one fine idea to toss around in church. They believe the great commission, they believe that the gospel of Jesus should be brought to all parts of the world and they believe that the church has to do it. But not by them. Not when it takes them away from their comfort zones, not when it’s such a huge inconvenience to their carefully-planned lives, and certainly not when they have exciting careers to work on.
While most Christians think of world missions as a secondary business of the church, God values it as top priority assignment. The idea is actually as old as the Old Testament. When God blessed Abraham in Genesis 12: 3, He said it plain and simple, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you.” When Jonah was eaten alive by a huge fish, he was actually running away from world missions, from reaching the politically powerful city of Nineveh.
If you knew the cure of a deadly disease that’s killing thousands of people, don’t you want to tell everyone of this good news?
This is the standard question pastors use to encourage church members to go evangelize and make disciples. In all honesty though, this doesn’t tug at my heartstrings at all. I mean, forgive me but I just think the question is too hypothetical. In my mind, there is no way I could discover anything remotely of medicinal value. And if ever I did manage to stumble into one, I’d probably be too worried it wouldn’t work on others that I’d probably just send an anonymous letter to a famous scientist so he could make further studies on the cure.
For the people of Victory Caloocan, the last two or three weeks have been a series of rapid, high energy activities. We recently launched our new center at the 6th floor of Victory Central Mall in August 29 and the 1,000 attendance barrier that we’ve been praying about this year has just been broken. Everything around us is new- the building, the air conditioning system, the stage, the equipment, the kids’ church and even the computers. It is time to celebrate and rejoice at what God is doing in this church.
And while we are at it, I can’t help but be reminded of what Pastor Ferdie and all the other pastors have been telling us months before: what brought us here may not bring us there- or at least something along those lines. The idea is that the commitment, hard work and sacrifices that brought us to where we are now may no longer work this time. A new approach might be necessary to sustain our present productivity. Who knows what the Lord will demand of us so we can soar to new heights?
One of the most fiery (read: harshest) sermons ever preached in the Bible came from the mouth of John the Baptist. In Luke 3, he called the crowd who followed him a “brood of vipers” without even batting an eyelash. I may not be a preacher but one thing I’m sure of is that John’s sermon style was definitely not the normal way to attract a following. Church growth gurus and Toast Masters trained speakers today would cringe at the thought of using such offensive language when speaking in front of a crowd you are trying to reach.
But John the Baptist was no speakers’ club member. He didn’t seek to build a religion either. He was simply a man who was sent to announce the coming of the Messiah and he had to do it within a limited time frame. Remember that he and Jesus were born just a few months apart? That means that his message was time sensitive. The Messiah he was to announce was just around the corner. He didn’t have the time to play religious games with the Jews.
That explains the sharp words he used in his preaching. He spoke of a gospel of repentance and forgiveness without apologies. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance!” he barked at the Jews who came out to hear him. The power and conviction that came with his preaching were so great that people didn’t have the time to grumble about preaching ethics and political correctness. On different occasions, they asked him what they were supposed to do and for each question, he gave practical, straightforward answers: Give away clothes, share your food, stop extortion, be contented with your salary! I could almost hear the people gasp when they heard these heavy demands of the faith. John’s message was outrageous, but the results were enough to confound modern day church growth experts. Mark 1: 5 reported:
The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Sadly, we no longer hear these kinds of sermons today. Instead of straightforward gospel, we now hear great tips on how to be successful, how to use faith to get what we want, and how to have a love affair with God. We ask our preachers to tone down their volume, speak slowly like they’re just having a conversation, and present a seeker-sensitive gospel. We’re not comfortable when sins are blatantly spoken in the pulpit. We’d rather be told of how good God is, how much He promised to bless us, and how He loves us no matter what.
No wonder we no longer see this kind of massive public conversions in our preachings today. How sad…
We all know the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10: 38- 42. Jesus came into their home to have fellowship with them but the moment He stepped inside their house, Martha was running around doing a thousand chores that she didn’t even have time to sit and spend time with her guest.
Bless her heart. Whenever preachers look for example of people who are too busy to commune with the Lord, Martha is the first name to come up on the list. And for good reason. If anything, Martha embodies the typical Christian who loves to do more for God to the point of forgetting the reason why she’s doing those things in the first place.
The more I think about Martha’s story, the more I see myself guilty of the same oversight. In all the excitement of getting into the business of making disciples, I sometimes see myself covering up my lack of communion with the Lord with a flurry of activities. There’s just too much to do with too little time, I reason out. So I sometimes try to cut back on my private time with Jesus and replace it with a lot of noise and activity, well, until I bump into a blank wall and get reminded again why I do these things to begin with.
Funny how God is not fooled with my feeble cover ups. He sees through my motives even if I bury it deep beneath loud noise and a thousand activities and as much as I’d rather not be found out, I love the idea that God looks for authenticity after all. When He looks at me, He sees the exact condition of my heart regardless of how much I’ve done for Him.
What freedom. What grace. Thank you Jesus.
Jojo Agot 