Question
Can a believer connect with God without connecting fully with His mission (Great Commission) mandate for all of us personally?
posted by Bob Carder @ 11:26 AM
14 comments
Monday, May 07, 2007
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14 Comments:
Yes.
But I imagine you would like more of an answer than that. That's all I can give until I know further what you mean by "connect."
me
Let's call it, "Born-Again" Christ follower who claims to know Jesus and live for Him as a Christ follower.
Many of those pew sitters who claim to have accepted His redemptive gift of salvation through His sacrificial death and resurrection would claim they have connected with God in the manner I describe.
I've really hesitated for many days before responding to this because I'm trying hard to allow God to season my mind and my words with His grace in all areas of my life. I'm learning to be slow to speak and long in listening.
This is quite the inflammatory question, Bobert my friend. Inflammatory, not because I disagree with the need for followers of Christ to embrace the missio dei, but inflammatory because I think it's dangerous to place judgements on the hearts of people who may not be doing what we think they should be doing.
I believe that many people who are deeply connected with Christ but are not "winning souls" are in that state for a number of reasons:
1. It could be a me-centered relationship with God, which is unhealthy (and what I believe you may be referring to with this post).
2. It could be that there is deep brokenness in their lives that God wants to bring healing to before he puts them to work.
3. It could be that they deeply desire to be more effective in leading others to faith, but have not been exposed to missional leaders who know how to lead people into missional lives.
Grace, my friend. :-)
ps: What about Nashville?
Thanks Bill, while I do not see the inflammatory nature of the question (but accept the fact that you see it and if you see it other will also. So I offer my apologies. But your answers to the question is what I'm looking.
Your answers are excellent. The question is not meant to be judgmental but to incite a thoughtful dialogue and response.
Great comments...
We cannot fulfill the Great Commission unless we are connected to Christ. Jesus told the lame man at the pool of Bethesda to pick up his mat and walk. Of course, the man could not obey unless Christ healed him. Healing from God's side and obedience from our side come together in faith.
But we need to be careful that obeying the Great Commission (being missional) doesn't become the new legalism and the standard by which we judge who is in and who is out. A Christian is made by how she relates to Christ (faith) and not by what she does.
I'm not sure what you mean by connect with God. If you mean can we bring about a relationship with God then no, it is Him that connects with us when we are willing. The fact that we are willing implies we are prepared to accept His mission for us.
Brian C
NZ
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hey Bobert!
Yeah...inflammatory was the wrong choice of words. No apology necessary. What I meant to suggest was that the question you are asking had the potential of being misunderstood and perceived as judgemental.
Bad choice of words on my part. :-)
bill
Gotcha!
I do believe that if those who claim to know Christ would fall in love with Him and His kingdom mission there would be no distinction between knowing Jesus personally and fulfilling His mission personally and with a Jesus kind of passion.
With this thought, I have no fear of this become a legalistic thing. When love for Jesus and passion for His mission results -it's natural and rarely if ever a forced thing.
Now how can we see this ever so simple stuff become the stuff of those who profess to be in the Christ family through His redemptive work?
Anon above, why are there those who connect with God or God connects with them still bot connecting to His mission?
Rick said, A Christian is made by how she relates to Christ (faith) and not by what she does.
The Planter: But we shall be known by our fruit. Some will be discarded and some will stand approved a workman that need not be ashamed.
Many will come and Jesus will say, I never knew you, depart from me. Could this have anything to do with our NOT OBEYING THE KINGDOM MISSION mandated by Jesus?
One cannot have faith apart from an obedient heart. I would argue that the way we live, how we live and obey does prove and test out our faith. No fruit - No faith!
Many will call me Lord Lord but...
We are redeemed by faith and obedience follows, so Rick I would argue both are necessary indicators here.
What say you?
Reflecting on the passage you're referring to above Bob, the people to whom Jesus says, "I never knew you" are the people whose lives were not defined by the nature of Christ - thus revealing that his Spirit did not dwell within them. They didn't care about the hungry, the naked, the thirsty, the oppressed.
When Christ is truly our Lord and his spirit resides within us, we will by default begin to live lives that embody the nature of Christ, a nature that deeply loves and cares about "the least of these."
It's a "fruit" thing...not a "activity" thing. Activity becomes the fleshing out of the fruit while the fruit is the product of the indwelling Spirit.
Lead people to the Spirit, the fruit will emerge, and the activity will happen.
If I could please read the post "fire" at http://sntroyer.blogspot.com/
The salesman in the story represents the type of person that you are speaking. He represents me. I’ve been in the church for 40yrs and I can't seem to get out of the routine of “church”. Being a nice guy isn't enough to save this world.
I relate will what bill said; reason #3 is so true in my life. I don’t feel any pressure from the church to save my world. I don’t think that the church really expects us to do this. The church is stuck in the same rut. We keep thinking if we can get them to church…then they will get saved. A person’s attendance record at church has become the standard for Christian maturity in our society. That is a tool of the enemy and many have got sucked into accepting it. I can't say that I have had a good example of missional behavior to follow. I want to do better, but keep finding myself doing the same old things.
kickstand nails it once again.
Thanks!
Bill said, "Reflecting on the passage you're referring to above Bob, the people to whom Jesus says, "I never knew you" are the people whose lives were not defined by the nature of Christ - thus revealing that his Spirit did not dwell within them. They didn't care about the hungry, the naked, the thirsty, the oppressed.
When Christ is truly our Lord and his spirit resides within us, we will by default begin to live lives that embody the nature of Christ, a nature that deeply loves and cares about "the least of these."
It's a "fruit" thing...not a "activity" thing. Activity becomes the fleshing out of the fruit while the fruit is the product of the indwelling Spirit.
Lead people to the Spirit, the fruit will emerge, and the activity will happen."
the planter: Bill, does this not sound like the church in America today. Remember I pastored a long time. Many of the ones who were sure they have it do not fulfill the litmus text you described above. We are saying the same thing. It's a dangerous thing to be so self-righteous and self-perceived "holy" that one fails to see how lost they really are. I would rather know I was lost and without God that to claim to know Him and not have Him. That is why many will be surprised as they stand before Jesus! I just pray I not one of those who are departing from Him.
But then there are the others who never knew Him that need to b reached, not with fancy services or gimmicks or a sermon series, but rather with ordinary people in ordinary living who care enough to show the never reached who Jesus is.
Then there is another very large group who have walked away from the church very disillusioned,broken and often left hopeless, wounded and dying on the church steps. They must be reached.
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