 by Rev. Dr. Gerhard Michael Jr. President, Florida-Georgia District To be a recipient of the grace of God — that amazing, undeserved gift of forgiveness and reconciliation — is to be enlisted in the mission of God. That is the heart of the mission. I am not sure that we want to call it a priority, one thing among many on a list, but the central thing, the essential thing, the main thing, actually the only thing that ultimately matters.
|
Words are important, for they convey meaning. This truth came out in the recent Synod convention held in Houston, July 14-19.
In two resolutions a change was made, one by the Floor Committee and the other by an amendment from the floor. In both cases, the change was made from the definite article “the” in the proposed resolution to the indefinite “a.” In the one case, Resolution 3-11, the change from “a” to “the” was made to reflect the reality that there really wasn’t a standing committee of representatives of the Council of Presidents and the Commission on Theology and Church Relations in place, although there had been such a committee. By switching to “a,” the language reflected the fact that a committee could easily be formed to meet the need of the resolution. In the other case, the change was, in my opinion, significant. When Resolution 1-05 was presented, “To Make Outreach the Top Priority in Worker Training,” the “Resolved” originally read: “That the Synod in its 2007 convention encourages and directs universities and seminaries to place outreach to the lost as the top priority as they train workers for the harvest, preparing them to equip God’s people for the local and worldwide mission field.” The delegates, however, voted to change it to “a top priority.” As I listened to the discussion, what seemed to persuade any number of delegates to change the “the” to an “a” was the reality that there were a lot of other activities and responsibilities for our church workers to do. Outreach was not the only one; caring for the sick, the bereaved and the troubled was important too, as was preaching and teaching to the baptized. I can understand their line of reasoning, when one thinks in terms of “ranking” the things that one is called to do. Something has to be placed at the top of the list and other things, even though they are important, have to be placed lower on the list. That’s just the way life is! What concerns me, however, is the understanding of “mission” or “outreach” as an activity of the church. To be sure, reaching out is an activity. Witnessing is speaking to others about our Lord Jesus Christ and the hope he gives. That is something we do. Rather, I would hope that we would see in this new missionary age in which we are now living is that the mission of God embraces God’s entire sending activity. When we see it that way, the concern about ranking our activities will disappear. All of the important activities of the church can and should contribute to God’s outreach to the world. It is the move “from missions to mission,” as R. Pierce Beaver has argued in his little book by that name. Let me try to illustrate what I am suggesting. We are the recipients of God’s mission. He created us all. Therefore all of us are responsible to him. Unfortunately, like Adam and Eve, we have all broken the relationship established by his creative act. Instead of humbly trusting our Creator and following his will, we have gone our own way. We have sinned, abandoning him. God, in his grace and mercy, has come looking for us. That’s why he sought out Adam and Eve, and all the people after him. He chose a special people, the descendants of Abraham, to be his agents, his priests, to reach the world with his grace. He sent them prophets, wise men and poets to call them to their responsibility to call all nations to call on God. Psalm 96 illustrates this, “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.” (vv. 1-3) Human waywardness throughout history led God in his mercy to set up a sacrificial system to make good for the sins of his wayward people and to restore them to himself through the forgiveness of sins. Ultimately the sacrificial system found its climax and culmination in the offering of God’s own Son on the altar of the cross. That was the sacrifice that removes the sin that separates us from God. |
To hear that good news and be led by the Holy Spirit to believe it makes one a recipient of the grace of God; it draws one back into fellowship with the Creator, and gives the recipient the incredible privilege of proclaiming to others what God has done and of reaching out to them with his love. This is the core of the mission of God.
Thus, in my judgment, to be a recipient of the grace of God — that amazing, undeserved gift of forgiveness and reconciliation — is to be enlisted in the mission of God. That is the heart of the mission. I am not sure that we want to call it a priority, one thing among many on a list, but the central thing, the essential thing, the main thing, actually the only thing that ultimately matters. When one sees life in the church as a gift of God’s grace to be received, to be treasured and then passed on, I think we do want to equip and train our church workers with this mindset. It will foster humility when one is overwhelmed by what he or she has received without merit. It will foster hope, because we know it is totally God’s work. It will cultivate love, for that is what one has received. Beyond that, such an understanding of the church’s life and work will foster care of God’s people. It recognizes that we are saints and sinners at the same time. We are vulnerable to temptation and frequently succumb to it. We need to receive forgiveness again and again. This is what empowers us to go forth as God’s ambassadors to serve in the world and witness to it. When Isaiah got his sins forgiven, he responded to the call, “Who will go for us?” with his willing, “Here am I. Send me.” Forgiveness frees from fear and bondage. The disciples on Easter evening were huddled together behind locked doors for fear of the Jews (John 20), even though the news was out that Jesus had risen from the dead. They needed to hear the blessing of the risen One, “Peace be with you,” so that they could respond to Jesus’ instruction, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Our sinfulness, our vulnerability, our fear cries out for us to be recipients of the mission first, that we in turn can carry on the mission ourselves. My hope and prayer is that our life in the gathered people of God will foster faith through the proclamation of the Gospel, the announcement that Jesus, the king, has come to bring us forgiveness that we may be in a right relationship with God. Justification of the sinner for Christ’s sake is at the heart of the mission. Given the reality that Christ’s saving work is for the world — after all, he is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not just the church — I trust that our life within the community of the faithful will equip us to live as the people of God in our homes, the workplace, the public square, the shopping center, or the recreation complex; in short, the world. By helping one another be aware of the Creator’s design for his creation and his gracious power for practicing those purposes, we can equip and encourage one another for the mission. Pastoral care, worship and instruction serve the purpose of readying us for life as God’s priests in the world. I do not know if you can sense what I am trying to say, but to me, this is not a matter of priorities at all. It’s a matter of life and death. When we realize that what God has done is to have raised us from the death of our sins, this changes the way we live and work and witness. The critical concern for me is this: how can we help all of our people capture the excitement that God has swooped down to draw us into his embrace and now wants to cast us forth into the world as his hands and arms to draw others into the circle of his love as well? Having our professional training programs inculcate such a dynamic attitude in the hearts of our workers will do much to head us in this direction, but I do not believe we have to wait for a future generation of leaders to be taught. We who are leaders in the church can help the whole church see right now how the mission of God is not a priority but embraces the totality of our ministry! |
