We have one job
as Christians – to create more Christians. The final sentences in the
Gospel of Matthew are Jesus’ Great Commission to His disciples – meaning, all
of us – following His resurrection and just before His ascension to heaven:
“Then Jesus came to
them and said, “All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely
I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).
When Christ said this to His disciples, He didn’t mean it
as, “Y’know, it shore would be nice if….”.
He didn’t mean it as “Hey, if you find
the time, couldja?…”. He didn’t say, “Therefore
go and make pizza for dinner. And when you happen to be standing at the water
cooler with Charlie on Monday, say a good word for Me, okay?”
He meant, this is your new
occupation. Everything else in your life is now secondary.
“So guys, if you feel comfy telling someone
about Me during the regular course of your life, that would be nice of you. If
your denomination does baptisms, and if the Trinitarian nature of God fits in
with your worldview, then great, include those aspects in your effort. Be
careful not to suggest that they follow My commandments too closely,
though. That would just be weird. You don’t want to be weird.” - Adam Ford, describing “Matthew 28:19-20,
American Popular Version”
But it’s the common perception.
It’s where the term “Jesus Freak” came from. It’s why people hide in the
basement when the proselytizing sects come knocking door-to-door. It’s why Tim
Tebow is looked upon as an oddball in American sports.
One of my pastors calls these people “pew potatoes”. You know the type – God forbid
you are the type à they come to church most
Sundays, nod politely at the sermon, pitch a couple of bucks in the collection
plate, sing with the congregation and then go home to live their lives in peace
and watching their football games, oblivious to the Lord in their lives the
other 166 hours of the week, comfortable that they’ve checked the “go to
church” requirement off their to-do list for the week.
As if they have no other
responsibility to God than that checkmark.
As if God only cares about them
on Sunday mornings. Or they should only care about Him on Sunday
mornings.
As if
that’s all there is.
I pray that I’m “preaching to the
choir” here, as they say, but if you’re a pew potato, you’re just about better
off actually becoming non-Christian than the kind of “lukewarm”
worshiper that John wrote about in Revelation 3:15-17, as an angel from heaven
described the church in Laodecia:
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you
were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor
cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich, I have
acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”
Being a
Christian isn’t like being a bowler. It’s not something you do to pass the
time; it’s not a hobby, it’s not an avocation, it’s not a social
club.
If your Bible
isn’t open on any day besides Sunday, you’re not
really a Christian; you’re just here for the potato salad.
If prayer is
something you never do outside the church building you attend, you’re not really a Christian; you’re just a
person trying to keep from feeling guilty on Sundays.
If your behavior
during the week would make your pastor cringe, you’re not really a Christian; you’re just acting the role on Sunday
mornings.
If you can’t
describe what it is that Jesus wants you to do and be as a follower of His, you’re not really a Christian; you’re more like a
blind man trying to pass a driving test.
If you miss church
on Sunday because of what you chose to do on Saturday night…you’re not really a Christian; you’re whatever you
were on Saturday night.
If you go to
church but you’re not really a Christian… you’re
a hypocrite. You’re better off not lying about it anymore and just tell the
truth about not being a Christian.
But if
you are a Christian…then you have a job to do. One job.
The Great Commission.
As Christians, we have several “maintenance” chores we
have to perform – we attend church, yes; but that’s mostly an avenue towards
our personal relationship with the Lord. Without going into a long theological
harangue, essentially that requires daily prayer, regular Bible reading, and
learning to live the way He has asked us to live our earthly lives, in
preparation for the eternal one the saved elect have to look forward to.
But that’s just the ‘daily maintenance’, as I said.
We have one job to do, assigned
to us by Christ Himself. In Mark 16:15, after He has
risen from the grave, and virtually His last command to His disciples,
“Go into all the
world, and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
“Proclaim
the Gospel to the whole creation.” That means to everybody.
If you want to practice by telling the Good News to fellow Christians
who already know and are saved, that’s a great way to start. One of my pastors
likes to test the congregation by spot checking how many of us can tell the
Gospel in ninety seconds or less, because he figures that’s a reasonable length
of time to come up on the job, in line at the DMV, at the grocery store,
wherever. I think that’s a great target time – short enough to prevent turning
people off, long enough to get out the critical details:
There are only two
alternatives when we die, and the only chance we have of reaching the acceptable
one is through Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection paid the penalty for
the sins that every one of us have made, which will otherwise damn us to
Hell. We must confess our belief that Jesus died for our sins, and we
must accept Christ as Lord of our lives (and not just on Sundays,
either!).
[That’s
a lot less than ninety seconds, but then I tend to ramble and gesticulate a
lot…]
As
I said, practice on your church buddies, even though they’re already on
your side. Jesus was notorious for getting in people’s faces about the Truth,
and we need to be as well. You don’t need to go overturn money lender’s tables
in the synagogue, as He did, but you do need to find opportunities to
ask the introductory questions when you can.
Tell your enemies, too.
After all, they can’t hate you any
more than they already do, right? And if they become Christians, they can’t stay your enemy, can they?
And
most important of all – live it. My fourth grade son
complained about an acquaintance of his who wears a cross around his neck and says he’s a Christian, but on the
playground, he bullies other kids, uses curse words, and is generally rude and
obnoxious. My fourth grader says to me, “Dad, he says he’s a Christian…
but I don’t think he really is one, y’know?”
I know, son. I know.
Being
a Christian, as the very name implies, means following the role model of
Christ. We will fall short, make no mistake about that. But starting
from our own desire and dedication to turn away from sin, strengthened by the
Holy Spirit from within, we hope each day to become…slightly closer to that ideal every day. You don’t have to be perfect – but you DO have to put the effort in!
(“Christians aren’t perfect; just
forgiven” isn’t just a slogan…God will forgive your sins, your “errors” if
you make them while trying to do
right.)
So,
live your life according to Christ’s teachings. Spread the Good News – the
Gospel of Jesus Christ – wherever you can.
That’s
our job.
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