Mat. 28:19 - Go

cmp.2009.07.20
ed.2009.08.08.01 (Reposted With different name and URL.)
First Comments Here

Organization
1. Greeting
2. The Oppression of the Poor
3. The Gospel
4. A Den of Thieves
5. The Workman's Hire
6. We Need Servants--Not Prayers
7. True Discipleship

1. Greeting
Pastor [ omitted ],

Greeting in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Shepherd!

Today, several children that I know attended a yearly program offered by the Church, organized under the youth ministry.

These particular children that I know, as many of the others that take part in this program, are from severely broken homes and in general, have no real knowledge or pursuit of Jesus in their homes.

2. The Oppression of the Poor
When they arrived for the first day of this program offered by the church, they were required to register and pay. Because they are very poor, a friend who helps me with them, paid ten dollars for each of them. Then, upon noticing the t-shirts that the other children were wearing, they felt compelled to purchase these for the children as well--another ten dollars for each child for a shirt that was made to market for another Christian organization. However, I can understand why these shirts were purchased for these children, because these particular children would have felt terribly out of place; the intensity of this particular situation was already difficult for them.

There is no doubt that these children had fun today. After the program ended, my friend took them to eat, and they were all looking forward for the next day.

I know that there is a "prevailing wisdom" in the Church today regarding the "best practices" for entertaining and influencing children. I know that for years the Church has tried to perfect these techniques. And, I have also seen how year after year, churches will publish how many children came, and how many children "invited Jesus into their hearts."

When we place a condition for the poor to hear the gospel and to feel at peace around believers, then we are in fact placing a burden on their shoulders; this is oppression of the poor; and, we are selling the free Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have exchanged the demonstration of The Spirit and Power for intellectualism, commercialism, and "sustainable best practices for business". There is only one problem with this of course: God can't stand it.

God cares about intimacy with people, He cares about their eternal lives, He cares if they are ransomed from Sin and Death, and He cares that they are set free from the authority of Sin over their lives. Transient "spiritual" moments full of entertainment and indulgence are not what we were commanded to provide; and certainly, there is nothing wrong with helping children have fun. However, we were commanded to disciple the nations: by teaching how to obey the commandments of Jesus. This implies relationship, not moments of entertainment. If the power of God is not good enough to when the faith of others, and we have to rely on our own strength, then the Gospel is pointless.

3. The Gospel
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about finding favor with God, freedom from the authority of Sin in our lives, so we can live to do good works like we were created to do; and, the Gospel is for freedom from the consequence Sin--the Gospel is about forgiveness, the release from the just consequences of our actions, so our sin is remembered no more. And this Gospel was paid for fully, for all who are willing to trust in Jesus as Lord evidenced by their obedience to Him as the Lord of their lives--and this is why discipleship is so important.

This is the Gospel. Paul said to let any man be accursed if he preaches a different gospel.

4. A Den of Thieves
On a Passover, Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem, and after seeing what was going on, He made the following accusation:

Luke 19
45. Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling,
46. saying to them, "It is written, 'AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,' but you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN."

Now how can Jesus accuse them of being thieves if they are not stealing from each other? They were, after all, selling items for sacrifice. It was because they were stealing from the worshippers, and from God. The House of God was devoted, and set apart for prayer and worship--without cost. The worshippers who came, were denied what God had given them, a consecrated house. The House of God was set apart for Him to fellowship with us--without people adding their own conditions.

Jesus was actually quoting a passage from Jeremiah. Unfortunately, the New Testament doesn't go into a lot of explanation about how this was considered thievery like Jeremiah does.

Jeremiah clarifies:
Jeremiah 7
6. if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin,
7. then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

How is it that today we oppress the foreigner, the poor, the orphans, and widows in the "House of God", yet at the same we feel entitled to "dwell" in that same house, contrary to the command of God?

We have charged and set a condition for the poor, the needy, and afflicted to come to the house of God, to hear the name of God, and to see the demonstration of His Power, (even if that demonstration was not present). We have exchanged the demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God for theatrics and the ever present "next thing" for someone to buy.

The Workman's Hire
Traditionally, in defense of placing a condition on the proclamation of the Gospel, we cite:
1 Timothy 5
17. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
18. For the Scripture says, "YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

Now, even if we were paying the "workmen" who were helping us with these programs, and if these "workmen" were not actually volunteers, this verse would still not justify selling a gospel that had already been purchased for them to hear freely.

What does Paul mean?
1 Cor. 9
14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

He states the one who labors in word and teaching is worthy of double honor, and their hire, so that they can live--not so that they can become wealthy or rewarded in this life, because the laborer who labors in faith, labors for the eternal reward--in faith.

We ask children, those who have never been taught the gospel, the poor, the needy, and the afflicted to pay for stage productions, props, facility expenses, pamphlets, and more, just to hear the gospel and to fellowship with believers--in the House of God. This is like going to someone else's house, inviting strangers over for a party, and then charging them to cover "costs" but never actually giving the owner the funds collected. God doesn't desire money from us--and especially not from the oppressed--He requires our obedience.

5. A Wiser Way
Wisdom is the ability to distinguish between Good and Evil. And, how do we distinguish between Good and Evil, but by the commandment of God? As it is written, "Your Word is a light unto my feet, and a lamp onto my path." So then, how does God say to preach the Gospel? Contrary to popular culture and the best practices embraced by the Church for winning an audience and influencing people, true Wisdom is to obey the commandment of God--and this wisdom from God is contrary to the wisdom of men.

About two weeks ago, I spoke with a Pastor from the church about getting help with these children. Since I am a missionary and have been all of my life, I really do understand the necessity of depending on the Body of Christ for support.

However, contrary to the command of Jesus, "to go into the World", the Pastor advised me to bring all of the children that I was working with to the Church, (despite having no transportation to do so). Why does the Church demand that the oppressed should submit to the intimidation of the Church, and then require them to quite literally "beg" for clothes and food that they need?

Instead of the wealthiest church in this community helping these children, a friend of mine who lives several thousands miles away gave me a gift card to buy these children desperately needed shoes. One child was wearing shoes that were two sizes two small, and was in pain whenever he walked. Another child had hand-me-down shoes that were two sizes too big. I was at the same time incredibly thankful for this man's generosity to buy them shoes, and at the same time distressed that the local churches would not serve these families, as we are commanded to by Jesus.

Quite truthfully, other than asking for help for these children, the only other thing that I have asked from the church was for people to come visit these children and their families.

Ironically, in the justification that Christians don't really have to go "into the World" to preach the Gospel, the Church instead teaches that they only have to go across the street, or next door. But, where are these disciples? Where are all of the youth that are being discipled to obey the commandments of Jesus--to visit the sick, and the prisoner; to visit the orphans and widows in their distress? The truth is, they are not being discipled to do this. This is true and evident, because they aren't doing this.

6. We Need Servants--Not Prayers
Does Jesus command the Church to pray for the needy, or to serve them? What good will prayer do if the one praying ignores God's voice commanding them to obey? Faith without works is meaningless. We don't need to ask God His will for our lives when it is perfectly clear: we are a kingdom of priests, commanded to serve in obedience in the love of Jesus.

It is through compulsion that I share what I know to be the right way, because I would be ashamed if the only thing I did was criticize or point out flaws, (even despite my own immaturity in doing so). And unfortunately, it is my own immaturity, and disobedience in this same way that makes even my service not as effective as it is supposed to be. And so it remains, that I need the help of the church--but more importantly, so do these children and their families.

Jesus promised that the power of the Holy Spirit would follow those that trust in Him, and that their trust would be evident by their obedience. And so, we need disciples who are committed to obedience to Jesus to come here, because in their trust and obedience, the Spirit and Power of God can truly be known. This is what we need the most.

If this request for help in this field sounds desperate, it is because we are overwhelmingly in need for the Church to help this community by showing them the love of Jesus. The poor are always with us; they are always around us. We have opened our home to these children and their families; but it is incredibly difficult to do this alone.

Spiritualness is not found in expense, or the amount of children that come to our churches. Our spiritualness, (our "religion", as James teaches), is measured in our obedience to the commandment of Jesus, which includes the command for us to visit and to send disciples to the children, the needy, the afflicted and the prisoner.

I am sharing this commandment to bring into rememberance the need of those of us trying to walk in obedience even though we are overwhelmed. And this commandment is not new, but the commandment of the One we call "Lord": Make disciples, teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded. Where are the workers that the Church has been discipling? Why are Christians ignoring their own neighbors, and refusing to serve them?

7. True Discipleship
We must teach through demonstration, inviting those we disciple into our home so they can learn how we invite the poor into our home; we have to place them in a position to use their gifts so they can learn obedience to Jesus, let them follow in our footsteps throughout our day. Show them how to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and visit the needy in their distress. This is true discipleship--there is no other valid form of discipleship than the form that Jesus showed us.

But what should we do? We have at our disposal something invaluable, that was in fact already purchased: the lives of believers. We must send them into the World as Jesus did--to their neighbors first. We cannot require the world to come to us.

If we do not trust in the power of God and in the Gospel of Jesus, (and this becomes evident when we do not serve our neighbors), then the world will remember what it is we actually trust in. If we depended on "entertainment" and "expense", to gain their faith, then they will remember the entertainment and expense--and their faith will then be exchanged for the next most entertaining thing they find. And, as a result, what they remember, is what they will share with others.

But rather, if we depend on demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God to help them find favor with God, then their faith will be founded upon an unshakable rock. Therefore, it remains true that because of our own immaturity, we resort to our own strength rather than Jesus' to do the will of God. But this walk can only begin when trust is mixed with obedience.

Even if it is impossible for your church to send people to this neighborhood, or cannot help relieve some of the needs of the children we are sending to your program this week, please, please send those you are discipling into the community around your church, and to their own neighbors. There is need all around us; all it takes is the love of Christ to serve them and meet their needs. But, you will have to teach them how to do this first, (practically, by letting them walk in your footsteps as you walk in the steps of Jesus).

In the name of Christ Jesus the Lord of Lords, may you grow in favor and peace in Him as you trust in His faithfulness to fulfill His promises to you.