Tag Archives: Great commission

The Fifth Gospel

Leave a reply

 

Have you heard “You may be the only bible some people ever read?” It’s true. People watch us. They’re interested to see if there’s anything different and worth pursuing in “the Christian life.” Our lives are on display as Christians and how we live our faith might be the only bible they know. 19th century evangelist Gypsy Smith said it this way: ‘There are five Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian—but most people never read the first four.’

 

Is that a scary thought? Being “the fifth gospel” places responsibility on us, not to be perfect, but to be real. It should cause us to ask, “Am I living the life that Jesus called me to live?” It makes me turn to the Psalms and pray like David, “Search my heart O God, and see if there is any evil way in it.”

 

Can you imagine with me what the world would look like if we actually lived “fifth gospel” lives? What if we lived as if we had encountered the risen Jesus? (We have, if our hearts are surrendered to him!) What if we were actually so convinced the bible were true that we let it rule our every day lives? We start to experience irrational fear or anxiety? Turn to the author of peace. Our minds become filled with doubts? Look to the one who actually is the truth. Feel overwhelmed by the troubles of the world? Go to the one who says, “Come to me all of you who are weary and I will give you rest.” Tempted beyond what you think you can endure? Answer the same way as Jesus did: quote scripture. Not sure if something is right or wrong? Do what Adam failed to do: Say, “Let me check with my Heavenly Father about that.”

 

Imagine living a life fueled by an unstoppable force that desired to know Jesus and make him known. Bobby Conway, author of “The Fi5th Gospel” imagines a movement of God where Christians have “a renewed passion for living beautifully before a watching world.’ If people are reading our lives, he asks, “Isn’t it time we give the world something worth reading?” Isn’t it time we live lives that respond to Jesus call to go into the world and tell them the good news? Shouldn’t our lives at least look radically different from a lost world? Conway responds:

“In his letter to Rome, Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The only ‘real’ lost gospel is the one that remains hidden in the hearts of out-of-commission believers. As believers, Great Commission-living isn’t an option, it’s a commandment. As Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). These words not only need to soak in, they need to leak out.”

 

The apostle Paul speaks authoritatively to this:

“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Cor. 3:2-3).

 

Your life and mine are the stories of what we believe and what’s most important to us. What is your story telling and what kind of message do you want to send? Even in my far from perfect and broken life, I hope there is something that others will see and say, “I want that.” Peace in the middle of a storm, assurance in the face of doubts, calmness where anxiety used to live, love that conquered anger, and compassion that counters apathy.

 

As Christians, we’re not called to blend in. We’re called to stand out, to be different, not weird, but genuinely sincere. That means what we do matches what we say. Walk the talk. Our lives ought to give others a reason to take a second (or first) look at Jesus, not another reason to ignore or reject him. What does that look like in practical everyday terms?

 

Stop grumbling. Be satisfied with less. Consider the interests of others greater than your own. Be compassionate. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, bring clean water to those who are thirsty.

 

Pick one or several, as God leads you. Put your stake in the ground and determine, “As for me and my house we’re going to live for the Lord!” Live differently. Live the gospel.

 

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Do What Jesus Said: Make Disciples

Leave a reply

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

People who are good at what they do and who want to be better seek mentors. Every fine musician, artist, writer, politician, athlete, preacher, parent, or business leader who wants to perfect their skills seeks out someone who has the ability and authority on which to base their teaching. In business and life, all my mistakes I readily made on my own. All my successes came directly or indirectly from the one who has ALL authority. And this authority gives all fully committed Christians a command: Go make disciples. Teach them to obey all my commands: love God, love others.

“The Great Commission” is pretty straight forward. It doesn’t leave room for argument. He didn’t qualify it by saying, “those of you who are gifted at teaching, or those of you who are bold and outgoing.” Jesus said, “If you want to follow me, do what I say: make disciples.”

People who love Jesus are great disciple makers. Go Light Your World works through a local Gypsy church in Vetren, Bulgaria. The Leader, Pastor Kashif is not trained in the seminary. He just loves Jesus and so he has discipled other gypsies to worship Jesus in the local church. One of these men who is growing in the faith is now an elder of the church and in charge of the self-sufficiency project aimed at breaking the cycle of dependency and poverty in the gypsy village. A man here in Newton who came from a jail environment loves Jesus and disciples others currently in jail.

One of the most effective methods I have discovered is simply to invite someone to your house to study the bible. Read it together and let the Holy Spirit be your guide. Invite another mature believer to join you so the responsibility of leading is shared. We invited several people from work years ago to come to a nonthreatening and nonjudgmental noon time study of The Purpose Driven Life and let the group lead the discussion. Some of them followed up by doing a study of the gospel of John together.

Fully committed followers of Jesus make disciples who make disciples. Don’t be afraid. Jesus promised He will always be with you. Do what he said: make disciples, and see how much you grow yourself.

Meet Thuong

6 Replies

Like many of the relationships God is building here at the hospital, we met Thoung on one of our daily walks. With her permission, let us tell you about this remarkable young lady. (I say young lady because she reminds us she could be our daughter! 🙂

image
Here, Thuong is pictured with her new friend, Marcia. Here at the hospital, it seems I live in an, “Everyone Loves Marcia” world… Sometime I am sort of the “side kick with cancer.” Which is quite understandable because she is after all, so utterly amazing. 🙂

Our relationship with Thuong began with smiles in the hallway and thanking her for the important job she has delivering supplies to all the rooms. This simple gesture has resulted in numerous visits with Thuong. Through these we learned how she escaped communist Vietnam as a teenager, how she met her husband in a refugee camp in the Philippines, how she has grown into adulthood in the United States. We have learned about her family and she about ours. As we begin to share our faith, she kindly tells us that she is Buddhist. And so on this basis, we begin our friendship.

Thuong has actually been ministering to us this past week, bringing us two delicious home-cooked Vietnamese meals to our room. (I have been so touched and humbled by hospitality of others. It spurs me on to be more intently sensitive to others.) When she came back to our room today after her shift ended, we learned more about this incredibly brave woman who speaks of leaving destructive country specific customs and forging NEW relationship patterns. (It is interesting to hear this gentle Buddhist lady speaking of such basic Christian truth, that we are not bound to our past, that new beginnings, in Christ, are available to us now.) We talked about God’s plan for the sanctity of marriage, calling on the Ephesians 5 passage about the Love and Respect husband and wife need to demonstrate to each other.

Without this “extra month” in the hospital we may have not had the opportunity to discover this chapter in our relationship with Thuong. We are very happy to get to know this remarkably kind, generous, brave, and compassionate woman, and look forward to many more visits. I wish the picture conveyed the brilliance of her warm smile.

Postscript: I am old enough to have lived through a number of Evangelistic campaigns and methods. Sadly, many of these seemed to be more concerned with befriending people with the primary purpose to convert them, but not to really love them. If you are a nonChristian reading this, I am guessing you may know what I mean. Yes, believing Christians are motivated by the great commission call to make disciples, baptize, and teach everything Jesus has taught us…and to do so with urgency, because we are not guaranteed another day on this earth. We believe that the choices and relationships we make effect eternity. But. . .

. . . over the years, it has seemed to me that we should let the love us Jesus shine in and through our lives, and let HIM touch others through us. Some relationships will last for a season or for a lifetime. Others will last for all eternity. It is Jesus who changes others, not us. We simply are called to love Him and love others in His name.

I’ll close with a quote from an Anglican bishop who decades ago wrote a personal letter to me advising:

“Let us remember to hold hands
as we climb the mountain of God together.”