A Point of Practicality

Making it our aim to plant healthy reproducing churches in unengaged unreached people groups is the only way to assure the completion of the Great Commission.  Any other aim will always come up short of full completion.

In one way this fact is obviously true because the mandate is to save some from every people group, not just to save as many as possible (see the post "A Matter of Obedience").  Preaching to the Southern Baptist Convention, David Platt illustrated this point by asking the audience to imagine a company of rescue teams sent out to help victims of several towns hit by tornadoes.  When the whole company reaches the first town, they find more devastation and victims than they could ever help.  He asked, would it make sense for the company to send teams on to other towns, knowing that doing so might mean that some victims at the present location would not be reached in time?  He pointed out that getting to other towns would require travel time, time that could have been used in rescuing people.  He added that some of the other towns were even known to resist help from others even to the point of attacking and killing outsiders.  So would it be logical for the company to send teams to those other towns instead of focusing on the first one?  His answer was NO, unless the commander had ordered them to save some from all the towns, not just save as many people as possible.  That is precisely what our Commander has ordered us to do.

Think of a large farm with various fields, some with grains, some with berries, and some with trees bearing different fruits and nuts.  In a particular year, the harvest is so plentiful that the workers cannot get the whole of any one field harvested.  So the owner sends the laborers into the various fields to get as many from each field as possible because he wants at least some of each variety.  Such a situation is comparable to what the Lord has ordered us to do.  (Of course, another solution is more laborers--the subject of a different post.)

There is another point to make.  Practically, we don't know for sure that sending workers to UUPGs will lessen the number saved.  One of those groups might turn out to be particularly responsive.  One of those groups might prove to be the key to reaching many other groups.  We can't know for sure how the Lord of the harvest has planned it all out, so it is best if we do it His way, not the way that seems best to us.

Another comparison for our task would be to the taking of a long, multiple-choice test (one like students take for getting into a university or graduate school).  A strategy recommended for the best results is to avoid taking too much time with any one question.  It is better to go completely through the test answering the questions that one knows the answer to and then go back to the ones that require figuring out.  In that way, the student answers as many questions as possible with the added bonus that sometimes the answer to a later question might help answer an earlier one.

Unless we get the gospel to all the people groups as the Lord has commanded us, we will not know how He has provided for things to work out.  There may be another Billy Graham or Hudson Taylor in that next people group to be reached.  The way to reach the most people is to do what He has commanded--make disciples of all nations, i.e., people groups.

Let's continue to pray for all those who are embracing unengaged unreached people groups.  Let's pray that many more will join them.

AAA Prayer Part 2

Approaching His presence is the most important part of prayer.  After all, our real need in prayer is the Lord Himself.  We don't need things; we need Him.  He doesn't just give us wisdom or courage; He gives us Himself to be wisdom and courage within us.

Being in His presence should lead to a second phase of prayer:  aligning with His purpose.

Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God reminded us that God is always at work and is always inviting us to join Him.  We experience the joy of seeing God's glory manifested in our reality when we adjust our lives to God's will.  The story of the Bible is not what great men did for God but what a great God did through men who were willing to adjust their lives to His plans.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, His model prayer highlighted the importance of alignment.  Approaching God's presence first ("Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name"), disciples then commit themselves to His purposes ("Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven").  Only after those first two steps had been taken were personal petitions to be presented for physical needs, social/relational needs, and spiritual needs.

If we align our lives with His purposes, it is possible that presenting our specific needs will be unnecessary.  "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).  "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [the necessities of life] shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).  Sometimes God may require us to ask for specific things in order to manifest His glory and increase our faith (thus the truth "you have not because you ask not" James 4:3).  But generally speaking, His provision is always there for those who follow His vision.

God is not a cosmic vending machine.  He does not exist to meet our needs or grant our requests.  We exist to serve Him.  Out of His grace, He showers us with many blessings, but we must never forget who is servant and Who is Master.  As David Platt says, we were created to enjoy His grace and extend His glory.

After approaching God's presence in prayer today, let's submit our wills to His will.  Let us pray that His purposes will be fulfilled and the whole earth will be full of His glory (Habakkuk 2:14).

Rad GC -- Teaching

The Great Commission gives us a plan as well as a purpose.  We have not been left to our own devices to reach the goal of discipling the nations.  The only hope for fulfilling the Great Commission in our generation is to do it Jesus' way, not the way that seems best to us.  In the book Radical, author and pastor David Platt helps us better understand what Jesus' way is.  Having looked at going and baptizing, today we consider the step of teaching.

Platt corrects a couple of misconceptions we have about what Jesus meant by teaching.  First of all, Jesus was not thinking about our modern method of classroom instruction.  Platt writes, "Classrooms and lectures have their place, but this is not the predominant kind of teaching we see in Jesus' relationship with His disciples."  The disciples enjoyed a constant dialogue with Jesus whenever they wished and wherever they were.  It was the natural, conversational flow of a relationship.  Secondly, because of this casual style, anyone and everyone can be a teacher.  Platt explains:  "Scripture clearly speaks of a spiritual gift of teaching and identifies specific leadership roles in the church that are tied to the teaching of God's Word.  Therefore, we assume that teaching is a task relegated to only a few.  But while we should certainly acknowledge and affirm gifted teachers given by God to the church, Jesus' command for us to make disciples envisions a teaching role for all of us."  As He did with the plan of salvation, when God wants something for everyone, He makes it simple enough that anyone can do it.

The kind of teaching Jesus had in mind was more like how a parent teaches his or her children.  As life presents various situations, the parent explains the ideas or coaches the skills that the child needs.  Values are modeled as well as taught.  Outside the home, teaching in New Testament times typically followed the apprenticeship model.  In MasterLife Avery Willis described the apprentice model of teaching as consisting of the following steps:  I do it; I do it and you watch; we do it together; you do it and I watch; then you do it on your own.  A more recent form of this approach uses the acrostic MAWL to state the teacher's actions: Model, Assist, Watch, Leave.

It is important to note that Jesus' method focuses on behaviors.  He didn't say merely to teach them all things; He said to teach them to observe (keep, obey) all things.  Behavior reveals belief.  Everything we do is based on some idea or value we hold.  We may also affirm a lot of other ideas, but what we truly believe, we do.  As Jesus' disciples, we must practice what we preach.  In Jesus' parable about the wise and foolish builders, both types heard the word, but only the wise put it into practice (Matthew 7:24-27).

David Platt points out a further advantage of using the relational, dialogue, apprenticeship method: the disciple maker also benefits.  He writes, "This raises the bar in our own Christianity.  In order to teach someone how to pray, we need to know how to pray.  In order to help someone else learn how to study the Bible, we need to be active in studying the Bible.  But this is the beauty of making disciples.  When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level."  Any Bible teacher knows that he learns far more than the students he teaches.  So will any follower of Christ who is willing to be a reproducer and not just a receiver.

Let's ask the Lord to use us today to pass to someone else what He has taught and is teaching us.  Let's continue to do that until we reach the nations with the gospel.

Rad GC -- Baptizing

In Radical, David Platt analyzes the Great Commission for its implications with regard to modern missions.  Today, we consider his understanding of the importance of "baptizing" in the way missions should be done.  Although he sees baptism as "the clear, public, symbolic picture of the new life we have in Christ," he puts more emphasis on how baptism "pictures our identification with one another in the church."  He writes, "Baptism unites us as brothers and sisters who share the life of Christ with one another."  The part baptism plays in disciple making is that new believers are brought into the body of Christ and see the life of Christ in action.  As they see the love of Christ shared before their eyes, they absorb this new way of life and make it their own.  Christianity is more caught than taught.

This lesson repeats the emphasis of yesterday.  The relational element is crucial.  Jesus ate, slept, traveled, worked, and laughed with twelve men every day for at least three years.  They saw not only His actions, but also His reactions.  They remembered His words and reproduced His ways.  If Jesus the Master Teacher made disciples this way, what makes us think we can achieve the same results with much less investment?  A few classes meeting a couple of hours a week won't approach the level of commitment and results that are needed.  People need a model.  The old saying goes, "What you do speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say."  Our children do what we show them, not what we tell them.

When Avery Willis taught the principles of discipleship in MasterLife, he demonstrated the power of multiplication in the number of disciples that could be made by doubling every year.  Two becomes four, four becomes eight, and so on until it becomes possible to disciple the population of the entire world in 33 years.  As he said, "Anyone can count the number of apples on an apple tree, but no one can count the number of apple trees in an apple."  But he also showed what happens when our disciple-making is half-hearted.  One-half doubled becomes one-fourth, one-fourth becomes one-eighth, and so on with continuing decline in each succeeding iteration.

I heard an evangelist say once that he liked to be around new Christians because their zeal renewed him.  He also said, "Most new believers have to backslide for six months before they can fit in to the average church."

What kind of environment do our churches offer new believers?  Let us pray that as they are baptized and brought into the body that they will find all they need to attain "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).  Let's pray that they will see modeled in us a passion to take the gospel to the nations.

Radical Great Commission

According to David Platt in Radical, Jesus gave His disciples a plan as well as a purpose.  He not only told them what to do but how to do it.  His plan makes it possible for any follower to impact the world.  Perhaps our failure to do so stems from our failure to do things His way.

Here is how Platt describes our approach:  "If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes.  We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations.  We would get the biggest names to draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events.  We would start megachurches and host megaconferences.  We would do ... well, we would do what we are doing today."  Our "contemporary strategies" revolve around "performances, places, programs, and professionals."  Jesus' strategy relies on ordinary people who will think, love, see, teach, and serve like He did.

Platt shares, "The more I read the Gospels, the more I marvel at the simple genius of what Jesus was doing with His disciples.  My mind tends to wander toward grandiose dreams and intricate strategies, and I'm struck when I see Jesus simply, intentionally, systematically, patiently walking alongside twelve men.  Jesus reminds me that disciples are not mass-produced.  Disciples of Jesus--genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ--are not made overnight.  Making disciples is not an easy process.  It is trying.  It is messy.  It is slow, tedious, even painful at times.  It is all these things because it is relational."

While I was serving in South America, we were seeing many professions of faith to our preaching.  However,  numerical church growth was hampered by the high percentage of those who "fell away" in spite of the fact that most churches required a series of classes before baptism and church membership (some for as long as six months).  My mission agency did a continent-wide study to figure out a way to "shut the back door."  They concluded that our follow-up plans were ineffective because they were too "academic."  We needed an approach that was more relational.  I guess it had not occurred to us to do it Jesus' way.

One heart revolutionized by Christ can start a worldwide revolution by touching one heart at a time.  If we are contagious, we spread the disease to others who also spread the disease.  Let's pray that we will spread a good infection.

Missions Roles: Which One?

Praying, sending, going -- which role does God want each of us to play?  Each of us must discern what He is calling us to do.  Or do we?

In his book Radical, David Platt argues that the idea that missions requires a special call from God is a mistaken notion that makes missions "an optional program" for a faithful and passionate few.  This view reduces God's command (for all) to a calling (for a few).  He writes, "Each follower of Christ in the New Testament, regardless of his or her calling, was intended to take up the mantle of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth."  According to Platt, we tend to take the privileges of Christianity as being for all while taking the obligations of Christianity as being for a few.

Are we all supposed to move overseas?  Platt says the very question shows our faulty thinking:  "We have created the idea that if you have a heart for the world and you are passionate about global mission, then you move overseas.  But if you have a heart for the United States and you are not passionate about global mission, then you stay here and support those who go.  Meanwhile, flying right in the face of this idea is Scripture's claim that regardless of where we live--here or overseas--our hearts should be consumed with making the glory of God known in all nations."

Platt shows on the basis of the Creation Account (Genesis 1) that God has a two-fold purpose for His people: to enjoy His grace and to extend His glory.  The first comes from the fact that the first words God spoke to His human creation were in the form of a blessing.  The second comes from the command that followed to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion as His agents.  Like Cornell Goerner who I have written about earlier, Platt sees this purpose as the key to the whole Bible: "In every genre of biblical literature and every stage of biblical history, God is seen pouring out His grace on His people for the sake of His glory among all peoples."

God is not asking us to play a role.  He is asking us to refocus our lives on His purpose.  Missions is not just a program to do; it is a purpose to live.  In Platt's words, we are "to spend all of our lives for the sake of all of God's glory in all of the world."  That means praying, sending, and going.  We don't have to choose just one.  We can't choose just one.

Let's pray today that all the church will do all we can so that all may know.