|
 Why
is the church the only organisation which exists
primarily for non-members!? Is it to
get a higher income for the church? No! Is it to ensure
a future for our church, after all, we’re all getting
older and won’t be here for ever? Not even that is the
top priority.
No, it’s because we believe in a Missionary God.
He reaches out to the whole of humanity – every human
being, to tell them about, and enable them to
experience, salvation. Christianity is essentially a
Missionary Religion. Mission, including Evangelism, is
essential to Christianity. Without Mission and
Evangelism Christianity is emasculated: a pale
reflection of the real thing.
The first thing about our missionary God is that he is:
1. A God
Who Communicates
A God who is love will communicate. If we love someone
we ant to communicate with them. God, who is love, is no
exception.
 We
Christians believe in a God who is not one solitary
person but rather a God who is a family: Father, Son and
the Holy Spirit- Trinity. Even before anything,
including humanity, was created God loved and
communicated.
It is logical to expect that a God who created humanity
with such amazing powers of communication will himself
be a master communicator. We know he has communicated
through his Son - the living "Word" and through his
Scriptures - the written Word.
So Amos says (4:13) "He who forms the mountains, creates
the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns
dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the
earth - the LORD God Almighty is his name." He also says
(3:7) "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without
revealing his plan to his servants the prophets."
The Psalmist writes (98:2) "The LORD has made his
salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the
nations.
Isaiah writes about how God longs to communicate with
humanity but is often ignored (65:1-2) "I revealed
myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by
those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call
on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I'. All day long
I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who
walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations."
Isaiah records that God calls us his witnesses
(43:10-12) "You are my witnesses," decrees the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no
god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even
I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no saviour. I
have revealed and saved and proclaimed - I, and not some
foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares
the LORD, "that I am God."
It follows from the above that to be godly means to
communicate our faith to others outside the
congregation. Put another way, to be Christ-like, we
should communicate our faith in Jesus to people who do
not yet attend church.
The second thing about our
missionary God is that he is:
2.
A God Who Identifies
a.
He
identified with us in order to save us
Paul tells
us in Philippians 2:6-8 that although Christ Jesus was
“in very nature God” he was willing to be “made in human
likeness”. And being found in appearance as a human
being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
God loved
us so much that he became one of us, experiencing all
the pressures, suffering, disappointments, humiliation,
injustice, unrequited affection and temptations that we
do. Ultimately, says Paul he became “obedient to death—
even death on a cross!” He suffered a terrible death,
more than identifying with all human suffering and
bearing all human sin.
So we must
put ourselves in place of those who do not know God
intimately and do not enjoy the great benefits of such a
relationship. We are not better than them but we do have
many good things to share with them. So we should reach
out to them.
b.
He
came from the light of heaven to the spiritual darkness
of this world.
In
Colossians 1:12-13 Paul contrasts “the kingdom of light”
with “the dominion of darkness”. So God identified with
us even though we are, to say the least, so different
from him.
So the
church must welcome those who are “different”: those who
come from different social or educational backgrounds,
those who have different tastes in worship, those who
express themselves differently, etc.
c.
He
came from omnipotence to weakness
“He made
himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant”
says Paul (Philippians 2:7). In other words, God made
himself vulnerable in order to identify with us.
So we are
called to make ourselves vulnerable in reaching out to
people who may disagree with us or even reject us. That
is the way of Christ. He calls us to take the humble
place, to serve those who are not yet churchgoers, as
well as those who are. He calls us to be prepared to be
disturbed; to sacrifice.
d.
He
came from the purity of heaven to the sinfulness of this
world
Speaking
of Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews said: “We do not
have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb
4:15). So Jesus identified with sinners, even though he
never once sinned.
We too are
called to identify with those who have fallen into even
serious sin, in order to redeem them. After all, we are
all sinners.
So, we
believe in a God who came into the world to identify
with all human beings in order to save them. We are
obliged to do the same: it is godly and Christ-like for
us to do so.
Tony Higton - Rector |
Do
We Believe in 3 Gods?
