On Sunday, September 15, Hopewell Baptist Church called me to be the Associate Pastor for Missions. Earlier in the service, I was given the privilege to speak briefly to set the vision for the mission. In this first blog post, I share what I said:
What we can often forget is that Jesus lays down the foundational philosophy to guide the church before he ascended and allowed the church to be formed. We can almost call the foundational philosophy the story of two mountains. After Jesus rises from the dead he spends 40 days in appearances to various groups of disciples, making it clear that he had risen from the dead. He had indicated to Mary Magdalene that something important was going to take place in Galilee and reminded her to tell them that he was going to meet them there. Matthew records the meeting in Galilee on a particular mountain, though we don't have it identified. Jesus' rationale in making this pronouncement in Galilee may very well be because of Galilee's identification with the Gentiles. This is not a Jewish message, this is a universal message.
What is the message? Let me read it to you quickly. We are in
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
You know that forever we've called this the Great Commission. In this commissioning by the Lord he gives three overtones of command but only one true command. The overtones start with the idea of going. The way that this is constructed in the original language, he's not giving us a specific command to go. He is telling us that as we go we are to do some things. This means that as we go about our daily life, we have specific command as his people. It also means that he has the right to interrupt our normal life and send us to do something specific. The second overtone comes in the word baptizing. Baptizing is not a specific command. It flows out of the specific command and, like baptism, just as important this phrase:teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. This flows out of the command. So there is only one true command that he makes during this commission: make disciples.
There's nothing wrong in counting things. In the New testament we know that they have accounts about how many people, well, how many men were fed with the loaves and fishes. But, we have become obsessed with counting. So we count conversions, we count professions of faith, we count how many people prayed to receive Christ. But the master of the harvest, the lord of the church, before he ever launched the church told us what the standard is. We need to count disciples. Flash forward a few days. Jesus has now moved to the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. Because of the appearances that He's made including the one on the mountain in Galilee, I don't think that for the disciples there is any forewarning that this is different. But it is. Here's what the scripture says:
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
What? Can you imagine the startling nature of how this goes down? He ends these 40 days of walking and talking with specific instruction and then, rising by his own power, is gone before them. Now following the instructions, they're going to go back to Jerusalem and they're going to have plenty of time to remember these words and to contemplate what they mean. In fact, they're going to have 10 days. Now, in those 10 days from the earthly side, they are going to be looking for empowerment. Jesus told them don't want you to make move until you're empowered. And they don't really know what that is.
Quickly, on the heavenly side Jesus is in the heavenly holy of holies, doing his great high priestly work and at the end of it sits down at the right hand of the Father and having completed all now being the Head of the Church, through his own sacrifice, he sends the holy Spirit into every one of his believers and we have the drama of Pentecost. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is born. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is empowered. And immediately the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ begins to bear witness and this is a key point: in the language of every lost person in that crowd.
So what was the commandment on the Mount of Olives? Witness. The vehicle for making disciples comes from our bearing witness to all and sundry. It starts at home. Jesus says to them as they stand on the mountain looking down on Jerusalem: that's where you start. Look at it. That's where you start. I've already told you to make disciples. Start with Jerusalem.
This mandate has been given by the lord of the church to all the church, but it has implications for every place where there is a flock of his, including Hopewell Baptist Church. What does that mean for us? Specifically, we have a responsibility given by the Lord of the church to bear witness and make disciples in Walkertown, and in Savannah, and in Hardin County, and in Tennessee, and in the United States, and we don't stop until we reach the uttermost parts of the Earth.
We don't have responsibility as an individual congregation to reach the entire world. That has been given to his church, globally. So, we have to be careful that we remember that Jesus reminded his disciples: And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
Sometimes as we go about the work that God has given us as Hopewell Baptist Church, we may gain the privilege of announcing his name where it is never been named before. But, the probability is that we are going to be called to go alongside believers that he has already called into a relationship with himself. Like Iglesia Roca de los siglos. Like Purposed Church.
Wherever we are, whether Watertown or some African tribal village or some rocky peak in Nepal, two things remain constant: we bear witness to the one we know with the purpose of making disciples.
What our pastor is giving me the privilege of doing is reminding us constantly of our marching orders. To help us find new and innovative ways of bearing witness here and around the world, to find new and innovative ways to incorporate bearing witness and making disciples into the things that we normally do as Church.
So that is the vision our pastor has laid out to me and to the leadership of Hopewell. My prayer is that we have found the mind of Christ.
It is a privilege to serve among you as a fellow member. It will be more of a privilege to serve on the leadership team.
