If the Gospel we preach does not work in the developing world, we seriously need to consider whether or not we are actually preaching the true Good News Jesus gave to us.
~ Makala B. Doulos
Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
~ From Hebrews 4
Oh beloved, it is true.
The gospel so many of us preach and live and try to follow… is a lie.
Oh, it is not true that it is not kinda true. We preach Jesus and that we have to believe in Him, and that He is really important and that blah, blah, blah…. and the droning fades into a lukewarm vomitus building in both our stomachs – and in the One about whom we believe we are preaching.
We meet and greet and sing and even have warm feelings about each other as we meet in our big, comfortable buildings. These buildings having been built to house many hundreds our thousands of us warm-hearted people. And yet these same walls imply a wall of separation and limitation of entry to the vast majority of those we are claiming to serve – and even trying to reach.
We are, not to put too fine a point on it, missing the point.
We are trying and working to build a church that G_d already says exists. We are already part of an invisible Kingdom, an unstoppable juggernaut, and a movement against which the gates of hell itself will not prevail. And it is in the individual vessels bought with His blood and filled with His Spirit where the true work is happening. For in the lives of those who now Live and move and have their being in Him alone, there is a well-spring of Life abundant which simply begins to flow out of them.
Said simply, the Church is people bought and owned and filled and being built together by The Master Builder. This is abundantly clear in His Word. However, we – being the rebellious people we are – simply refuse to see this simple truth.
We think we must go out and work hard to fulfill the commission He has set before us. And this is the great lie that has crippled the church for two millenia. It seems that just as a few people actually start living out the Gospel – two thousand of us glom around them and try to setup a monument to their success. We stop actually Living in the abundant rest He has given us, and start working towards some goal that does not even exist.
Let’s take an even simpler look at this.
What if each of us strove for just one thing? Him. What if we took seriously His words that the power for living only comes from Him, and that this strength – born of joy in His Presence – is the ‘secret sauce’ for reaching a desperately hurting world with the message of His Gospel? What if we dove in under His wings to rest and learn and grow as the main pursuit of our lives?
Then, and ONLY then, we could simply look up and around us in the sphere of our daily walk. Might we see about ten (10) people, or so, on whom we could pour some of the secret sauce with which we have been filled?
The math is easy beloved. 700 million dedicated believers reaching out and helping 10 others see the Jesus we are resting in… Yeah, that is all 7 billion of us, in just a little bit. And please don’t tell me about walls and problems – Jesus kicks ass. He sent this fool 15,000 km into a world that is 80% + Muslim, and this fool is (by His Grace alone) is living this very lifestyle.
Kinda makes building a building kinda irrelevant.
Now, we will most surely need to grow together, come together, worship together, learn together and help each other… This truth is clearly seen. But perhaps we should be seeing our congregating as a simple part of the flow of His Love through us to the world. We must be very careful that our congregating does not constitute a stopping and damming of His flow. For this damming will certainly result in the damning of many.
Can we see it?
Jesus does not need us to fulfill His commission for Him. He wants to fulfill it in us and through us. And this is the exact reason why the Church has failed so miserably in so many parts of the world. We must learn to rest in Him and His work – and allow Him to do it. Anything we do, simply gets in the way.
