Tag: mission of the church

Oddballs

July 26, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

Christian Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:9

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

In what way are we to be peculiar? If you sell out to Jesus Christ, make Him Lord of your life, allow Him to fill you with His spirit and inhabit your very being, and make you holy, consecrated, and pure, you will be a peculiar person in this wicked world.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 –

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them

and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they will be my people.”

17 Therefore,

“Come out from them

and be separate,

says the Lord.

Touch no unclean thing,

and I will receive you.”

18 And,

“I will be a Father to you,

and you will be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty.”

Are you a peculiar person? Are you a child of God? Have you made Jesus Christ you Lord and asked Him to fill you with His Spirit?

Just Outside the Church Door.

July 25, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

As we have discussed this week, there is a problem in the Church and it has to do with a misunderstanding of our Church mission. The problem is deeper than our colleges, theologians, and ministers. From the earliest age, we teach our children that the world consists of two realms: the Sacred and the Secular. This is a multi-generational problem; you and were taught the same thing. Church is sacred; work is secular. Sunday school is sacred; public school is secular. Sunday morning is for God. The rest of the week is for man. When you grow up, you can choose to serve God or choose to get a real job like your mom and dad. This kind of thinking is the root of the problem with churches today. The concept of the sacred and the secular are a construct of man. When we are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, everything that we do, everything that we are, and everything that we ever hope to be is sacred, set aside for God’s service. Tuesday night – out with the boys… How is that sacred? It should be. Working with that crew of heathens – how is that sacred? It should be. That is the mission of the Church. Are you a part of the Church?

The Mission Field begins 2’ outside the church door.

Just as we compartmentalize our lives into the sacred and the secular, we have relegated missions to missionaries. Maybe we entertain one missionary a year. Maybe we talk about missions in our Sunday service twice a year. Maybe we have a WMS program three times a year. Some of us might actually read a mission book. But do you see the problem? We think of missions as a department, for people who are called to that duty. And, those of us who have a burden for missions, we may even spend our vacation on a work and witness trip. But we forget that the mission field begins two feet outside the church door.

The Mission of the Church is not just missions. Missions is only part of the mission of the Church.

We are the Messengers of Jesus Christ

Chris Wright, in his book, The Mission of God’s People, asks this question: What kind of person is your mail carrier? Is he a good man? Or is he a bad man? Does he go to church? Does he cheat on his wife? Does he rob his favorite magazines from the mail? Does he follow children through the park? You don’t know because it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters to you about your mail carrier is what should matter: does he or she deliver the mail safely, faithfully, and on time. He is simply a messenger and can be replaced easily by a mail server and two computers. The same cannot be said about you and me. We are the messenger who delivers the Good News of Jesus Christ. For us to be most effective, we must surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and allow Him to make us Holy and Pure.

How many people do you know that are pure and holy? How many Nazarenes do you know that are pure and holy? How many people do know in the Nazarene Church that even believe they can live a holy life? That believe in Entire Sanctification? That even believe in REPENTANCE?

The Mission of the Church is Multifaceted.

July 24, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

Here are some interesting facts: according to Barna, 20% of Americans claim no faith (no religion). 1% were not sure if they had faith or not. 6% were something other than Christian. 73% identified as Christian Faith. Out of those who identified as Christian, only 31% claim to be “practicing Christians.” The question is, how can you be a non-practicing Christian?

I don’t know, but reaching non-practicing Christians should be a part of the mission of the Church.

Here is the mission statement from the Nazarene World Headquarters website.

The mission of the Church of the Nazarene is to make Christlike disciples in the nations

I. What is the Church and What is our purpose?

The best place to find the purpose of the church is to look in the Bible. If we look at the book of Acts, chapter 1, verses 6-9:

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

One can see the semblance between these verses and the mission statement of the Church of the Nazarene. The Nazarene Church doesn’t mention Jerusalem, Judea, or Samaria, but does mention the nations.

I could simply say that those verses are the mission of the Church and dismiss us. But that is not sufficient. The tension in the church today rests not in the mission, but in how it is implemented. Let me give you an example: At Christian colleges and universities, there are three routes that students can follow: 1) Study Theology and History of Theology; 2) Study to work in the mission field, whether at home and abroad; 3) Study arts or sciences and take only the required minimum number of religious courses. Why is that a problem?

Because nowhere in the Bible does God say that the Mission of the Church should only apply to a CHOICE few.

If so, Acts would read like this:

Then they gathered around him and the Simon called Peter asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, so why don’t you stick to just leading the church and leave the prophesying to John. John, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and so I want you to be a theologian who specializes in eschatology; Matthias, Andrew, Nathaniel, Stephen, you guys just don’t have what it takes to be a preacher and don’t have the capacity that John does, so you will work secular jobs and be my witnesses by the way you act. Oh, and if anyone asks you why you act differently, then feel free to tell them about me. But only if you are not imposing, and only IF they ask first. And whatever you do, don’t sound preachy.”

After he said this, he was taken up a cloud and within a few years they wondered if what they had seen was real or a mass delusion.

The problem doesn’t lie solely in Christian Colleges. Theologians rarely think about how to spread the Gospel. Missionaries and pastors in the field rarely think deeply about theology. The rest of us, don’t realize – or don’t want to admit – that we too are supposed to carry out the Mission of the Church. Yet, a theologian who doesn’t care about missions is about as useful as the G in Lasagna. A missionary or a pastor with no theological grounding is nothing more than a community organizer.

That is a little of the problem with the way the Mission of the Church is carried out. We will look deeper into the situation tomorrow.