Why did God let this happen? (Pt 3)


Throughout this week I have written about two of three biblical mandates that I believe give order, purpose, and direction to our lives. The first was the command given to mankind to oversee and care for God’s creation. The second was the command to love people. The third is often called the Great Commission. It is found in some form in each of the four gospels and in the first chapter of Acts (see Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:16; Lk 24:45-49; Jn 20:21-23; Acts 1:8).

As believers in Jesus Christ we are called to make disciples. We use a variety of terms for this. Share the gospel. Evangelize the world. Reach people for Christ. Jesus’ words were, “make disciples.” Making disciples is a process of helping people move from unbeliever to pre-believer to believer to growing believer to mature, reproducing believer. It is a process more than an event. Certainly a key part of the process is the event or point in time when an individual decides to trust Christ as their personal savior, but it is important to understand the process. We have not done our job when we get people to pray a prayer of faith. To use the words of a good friend, “Effective evangelism is helping a person take one step closer to faith in Christ.” I would add, effective discipleship is helping a person take one step further in their relationship with Christ.

Often we have considered the Great Commission as primary. The other commands or mandates from God have become secondary. We reason that stewardship of the earth is not important because it will all burn one day anyway. Loving others is important, but primarily so that we can share the gospel with them. If we love them but never share the gospel then we have only helped them temporarily. The Great Commission, we reason, is primary because it has to do with eternal destiny and eternal life or death. That sounds reasonable, but I think it is faulty reasoning.

Jesus took the first two mandates seriously as well. In Matthew 25:41-46 Jesus has harsh words for those who fail to love people by helping the needy.
[41] “Then [God] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ [44] Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ [45] Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ [46] And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Don’t misunderstand. Jesus is not preaching here a gospel of works. Righteousness is a gift received by faith (see Eph 2:8-9). But he is saying that there are eternal consequences to how we treat other people. If we make the Great Commission primary to the neglect of the other two mandates then we tend toward manipulation in our evangelism. The only thing important is that people hear the gospel and believe, so we shout at them, we badger them, we use manipulative means in evangelistic meetings to get them to respond. In so doing, we fail to love people. And I fear that sometimes we manipulate people into praying a prayer they do not really believe resulting in still-born Christians.

If we over-emphasize the creation mandate we risk becoming radical environmentalists that put creation above people. If we over-emphasize the mandate to love people, we can get wishy-washy in our morality and move toward a theology where God becomes more like a kindly Santa Claus that winks at our indiscretions and lets almost everybody into Heaven. If we over-emphasize the Great Commission then we often love people only if it gives us an opportunity to share the gospel with them. Helping others become simply a manipulative tool rather than genuine love. All three mandates must be held together with equal emphasis.

When they are held in balance, work is understood as a form of worship. People are loved and cared for whether they are willing to listen to the gospel or not. We care for creation, love people, and pray for open hearts to hear the gospel. We are never ashamed of the gospel for, as Paul wrote, “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). But Paul also wrote that when the other Apostles agreed with him concerning the gospel, and acknowledged God’s hand and God’s call on Paul, they also “asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do” (Gal 2:10). They understood that the Great Commission did not stand alone.

In a time of world-wide crisis and high anxiety it is important that we keep this balance. We should do all we can to fight this virus. We should do all we can to love, help, and care for people whether they are believers or not. We should be ready to share the gospel with any who will hear. We should pray for the sick and those serving the sick. We should pray for those who are out of work, out of food, and out of hope, and help them if we are able. We should pray for those who are lost, and share the gospel with them as we are able. It is my privilege to work with a group of pastors who seem to understand this balance. May that be true of all of us as believers in Jesus Christ. Oversee creation, love people, make disciples.

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