Why did the Christian cross the road? (Church is Boring; Part 2)

Jesus gave his apostles this command: Go (Matt. 8:18-20). The apostles were responsible for establishing the church throughout the nations. The apostles, then, under the charge of Christ and through their example (being a first fruit of the church), issued the same command to us. Paul told us that the church was to be a sending agency of the gospel of Christ by sending proclaimers (Rom. 10:15). Concerning social ministry (service to our neighbor), Jesus told us to shine a light so that people could see our good deeds (Matt. 5:16). You see the mission and purpose of the Church is to: 1. Go and 2. Do. The question that needs answering is: 1. Where? and 2. What? Let's address the "where" in this post.

Now before anyone says, "Well, we can't all be missionaries," let me say this, "Yes, you can." The question you have to answer is the "where." Jesus and his appointed spokesmen didn't say, "some of you go and most of you stay, but the ones who stay just have fun and live peaceably..." The over arching theme of the Church's role and purpose in the New Testament was to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts of men. How can you establish a kingdom without conquest?

Do we have to travel to Africa and die of malaria to do this? For most of us, no. But what we have to understand is that when people say we are just supposed to "live at peace," most of them don't consider that the second part of that sentence in Hebrews 12:14 says that "without holiness no one will see the Lord." Is this a "works righteousness" spill? No, it's far from it. Jesus said that IF we love him, we would obey his commands (John 14:15). His command was to love one another. Now some may say, what does love have to do with holiness? Well, everything.

Christ is our hope of salvation. To place our faith in Jesus is to place a tangible hope in what he did (Heb. 11:1). Our hope in Jesus produces within us purity (1 John 3:3). We do not work to achieve any type of righteousness of our own because it would be only filthy rags (Is. 64:6). But we do, however, in a response to the grace we have been given (Rom. 1:14), labor with joy for Christ's name to be known and exalted.

James tells us that serving the outcasts keeps us from being stained by the world (James 1:27). [The last "and" in that verse wasn't there in the original language, see here for my blog "small word, BIG IMPACT."] Isn't this the example Jesus gave to us during his life on earth? He became poor (2 Cor. 8:9) and took on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7) so that we might know him and place our hope in him. We have two anchors of responsibility as Christians: 1. To place our hope in Christ, and 2. To share this hope with others. Sharing hope doesn't have to take place overseas, but can happen next-door or across the street, or downtown. We answer this call as Christians, not because it is the law, but because it is the response of love to the grace we have received from God.

One reason church may be boring is we don't go anywhere...

To be continued... "Religious Hot Potato - Pass the Commitment" (Church is Boring; Part 3)

Church is Boring - Part 1