Jesus Didn't Come to Fix the Church

I want to start with a thank you to all those who read my blog off my Facebook page.  I appreciate all the comments you leave me there - thank you!  :)

Matthew 9 -

Jesus has just healed a man and forgiven his sins when He encounters Matthew, a tax collector, and calls him to discipleship.  The discipleship lesson begins with sitting down and rubbing elbows with what the Amplified Bible calls the "especially wicked sinnners...the preeminently sinful".  These guys have been pegged by society and religon as most offensive, yet here is Jesus and his newby disciple eating with them.  Why?

"Those who are strong and well (healthy) have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick.  Go and learn what this means:  I desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims.  For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin)."

Jesus was on a mission to save sinners from sin: to save you, me, your neighbor, and all those who acts you cannot abide.  And He was willing to associate with them, to eat with them, to be in their world (not of it) in order to accomplish His mission.  This was highly offensive to some, but Jesus was clear, "I didn't come to call the righteous".  He wasn't interested in "fixing the righteous" - they were righteous already!  He was doggedly determined to get to those who were lost.

There are two kinds of righteous people:  a) those who are righeous by the righteousness of Christ, having received and taken on His righteousness as a free gift of God's grace, and b) those who are righteous because they do the right thing.  Righteousness can be achieved both ways, but the "b" camp has a tough row to hoe as they say - Paul makes it clear in Galatians that if you are going to be righteous by your right actions, then you'd better be right ALL the time because one unrighteous act disqualifies you, nullifying your righteousness.  Ummm, I choose "a".  Nevertheless, if you can pull it off, you are righteous.  And Jesus is happy about us being righteous.  So His attention focuses on those who aren't righteous and how He can bring them into relationship with the Father (Mission).

Now we have to ask ourselves:  Where is our focus?  On "fixing the righteous", or on "reaching the unrighteous"? 

Calling the righteous to repentance falls under the catetory of "biting and devouring each other" (Gal. 5:15), and judging and condemning each other (Matthew 7).  It brings destruction to the "fellowship" (Gal. 5:15) and the lost are ignored. 

But saved and called out ones, if we are living on Mission, our challenge is to not get caught up in the wrong focus.  Let's focus our gaze to see and reach those who need Christ.  The righteous are righteous already (or are trying to be). 

Let's see the lost, the broken, the hurt and the dying
Let's love them, have compassion on them
Let's be merciful to those lost in sin
Let's bring Jesus to their table/home/office/

Let's begin choosing to live on Mission

I am challenged as I know you are, and as I pray for me, I'll pray for you - on Mission together,
Michelle


Question:  I wonder if Mathew's "first love" that he would be called upon to remember was that of sitting with and reaching sinners - that as Jesus reached him, he would reach others?

What is Shiny and Salty and Yummo? (Hint: You are!)

We all have a favorite salty snack food - that go-to fave when the hunger strikes.  What do you crave?

I was praying for the Church this morning a recurring thought for this year - that we would be a shining, light-filled city set on a hill for all to see and be drawn to out of the darkness.  That we would be salty and flavorful and winsome, desirous and beneficial to our city.  And in my reading today I came upon this Bible verse:

"I will rejoice in You and be in high spirits; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High!"  Psalm 9:2

Yes!  What a fabulous, and fun way, to be a witness to San Diego - by being a people with rejoicing faith.  We CHOOSE the attitude we will walk in today.  Let's choose rejoicing.  Let's purpose to lift our spirits up - let's "get high" in our spirit!  That means we are going to have faith, we are going to trust Him, because as it says in verse 9:

"The Lord also will be a refuge and a high tower for the oppressed, a refuge and a stronghold in times of trouble (high cost, destitution and desperation)".

No matter what we are facing today, God is stronger!  He is a safe place for us to reside in, to rejoice in.  Let's get in there with God, rejoice IN Him, and be a shiny, salty, crave-alicious Church in San Diego.

Yummo!

How Do We Accomplish Mission?

We learn from the Mission Master.

Jesus, (who was conceived, lived, died and rose on mission to save His people from their sins), He is the Mission Master.  As He lived out Mission in everyday life, He shared these words with us:

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many."  Mark 10:45

The success of Mission hinged upon this strategy:  giving for and serving others.  He paid a personal price for the sake of others, to the point of death.  What price am I willing to pay?

I envision a church, a people, who live on Mission in such a way.  A people who lift up and launch people upward and onward in God, not seeking to Lord over them, not seeking to be "in charge", but instead coming under people and serving them as they journey into relationship with Christ.

In order for this to happen, we have to get real.  Is there a price we aren't willing to pay?  Is our comfort, time, money or resources something we aren't willing to part with?  If so, a change of mindset is necessary.  Disciples not only believe in sowing and reaping, they practice it.  Followers will only follow until the price is too high, but disciples don't waver.  Disciples know that sowing comfort, time, money and resources into the Kingdom of God, into His Mission to save His people, will always reap a good reward.  Sowing and reaping is not just a nice principle, it is Kingdom truth.

Accomplishing Mission gets personal.  It costs us personally.  We can no longer be satisfied with sitting in our church seats, content that the "professionals" are taking care of business.  We must reject self-seeking motivations of giving or serving in order to prop up our own sense of value, identity, or position.   Instead, as disciples of Christ, are we willing to empty ourselves, to sow from our personal lives?  For the benefit of others.

What greater cause is there but to see the greatest mandate on earth be accomplished?  What is greater than meeting the deepest desire of our Father's heart - that His people be saved?  Nothing I know of.

It is time to SEE our City, to see the people again.
On Mission with Jesus.