March 14, 2008

WHY ARE WE HERE?

Matthew 28:18-20

Why are we here? It is a fundamental and crucial question. Why are we here?

Before answering that question, you would be well within your rights to ask for some definitions. What is the meaning of the word, “we”? That is a fair question. Context is essential. My context is a series of messages about the church. So the “we” refers to the church, the people of God. But I would suggest that we consider this question both as it applies to us corporately as well as how it applies to us individually as members of the Body of Christ. Why are we here?

But what is the meaning of the word “here”? Once again, it is a fair question. Does “here” refer to the world in which we live? Why are we “here” on earth and not in heaven? Or, does “here” refer to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates? I would suggest that the answer to these questions is one and the same. If we know why we are “here” on earth, then we will also know why we are “here” in Abu Dhabi.

Why are we here? What is our task? What is the purpose we have been placed here to fulfill?

There are a number of places we could go in Scripture to answer that question. One of the clearest and most comprehensive statements of God’s purpose for his people is found in Matthew 28:18-20. It is a passage that is known as the Great Commission.

Read Matthew 28:18-20

Let’s take this apart. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (verse 18)

Authority is the right and power to rule. Throughout his Gospel, Matthew presents Jesus as the King of the Jews. As a king, he has the right to rule and to delegate. Therefore he has the right to make this command. More important: he is the ultimate authority in heaven and earth. In other words, his authority takes precedence over any other authority.

Several years ago, in my role as chairman of the Council of Evangelical Churches, I was required to appear in a court in Dubai to give testimony in a court case involving one of our evangelical pastors. One of the first questions I was asked was “by what authority” the evangelical churches were permitted to exist and operate in this country. I understood the context and nature of the question and I answered accordingly, but at another and more significant level I also understood that on the true question of authority, the church of Jesus Christ must always come back to this passage.

Ultimate (all) authority in heaven and earth rests in Jesus Christ. No earthly power or authority has the right to countermand or contradict his command. Jesus says to us: I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this is my command to you. That means that where there is any direct conflict between his commands and any other authority, his commands must take precedence.

The disciples understood this. (Read Acts 4:18-20)

Now, we do need to be careful in our approach. The Scripture instructs us to be wise as serpents but as harmless as doves. We will need to vary our strategies and methods and approaches depending on the circumstances. But what we know from this passage is that we cannot abandon our commission because an earthly authority tells us to stop. “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Jesus says. Therefore this is what I am commanding you to do.

What are our instructions? The first word following the therefore in v. 19 is go.

This word has been the basis and the emphasis for many missions sermons and missions conferences down through the years. And the focus has been on the going and responding to the missionary call to leave one’s home and country and “go” somewhere to be a missionary.

Now, as committed as I am to the missionary enterprise and the cause of world missions, that is not really the focus of this verse. In fact the word “go” is not even in the imperative verb form. Rather (for those of you that are grammatically inclined) it is a participle.

We could render this: “Going…” or “As you go…” or “Wherever you go…” The going is assumed. We all go places. We move through the world, through life, through the city, through our schools, our offices. As we go… there is a task which Jesus wants us to do.

There is a great example of how this works in the Book of Acts. We find it in Acts 8:1: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

The believers were “scattered” by persecution. But look at what happened in verse 4: Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. They fulfilled Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19. They didn’t volunteer to go. They didn’t plan to go. They didn’t go as missionaries. They fled for their lives, scattered by the persecution. But “as they went” they took the Gospel with them. That is our calling.

So what is the actual task that has been entrusted to us? It is found in the next phrase: “make disciples”. It is actually one word in the Greek text. It is translated “teach” in the KJV. It is actually the Greek word for a disciple, but it is in the form of a verb with a causative ending. “Cause to become a disciple.”

What then is a disciple? Simply put, in the New Testament context, a disciple is a learner or follower.

If you survey the use of the term disciple in the Book of Acts, you will find that it is used over 25 times. And it is used without exception to refer to people who have put their trust in Jesus as Savior and become followers of Jesus Christ.

Let’s just look at a few examples: Read Acts 14:21, 11:26.

Very simply, a disciple in early church vocabulary was a follower of Jesus Christ, a believer. It was a synonym for what only later became the more common term: a Christian.

So what is the essential element of the Great Commission? I think we can accurately paraphrase: As you go, wherever you go, recruit followers of Jesus Christ.

And how is that done? By telling them about Jesus, and the way of salvation and appealing to them to trust Christ as Savior. And when they do that, and they put their faith in Christ, you have made a disciple. To make disciples, then, is a synonym for leading people to Christ.

And what is the scope of this commission? All nations. This is the Greek word ethnos from which we get our word “ethnic”. Not nations as political entities, but rather nations as ethnic or people groups.

The church’s commission is to recruit followers of Jesus Christ from all nations or people groups. In other words, this is a world-wide commission. That is why I am excited about ECC. Our church is a testimony to the fact that the church of Jesus Christ around the world has been doing exactly what Jesus commanded us to do. We have over 50 different nationalities listed in our directory. Our church is composed of disciples from many different nations. I am also excited about the city in which we live. I am told that there are over 150 nationalities represented in the residents of this city. What an opportunity to recruit followers of Jesus Christ from all nations! We don’t have to go anywhere. God is bringing the nations to us.

So, is the task completed as soon as someone accepts Christ and is born again into the family of God? Well, at that point they become a disciple. But the task is not yet complete. There are two more participles given, spelling out two important things that need to happen.

Baptizing them. Baptism is a public act of identification by which the new Christian proclaims himself publicly to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It is an initiation rite.

So is the task finished when the new disciple is baptized?

No, there is a second participle: teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

We find here that teaching is central to our commission. But it is not just head knowledge. It is not just a matter of memorizing the creeds or mastering doctrinal statements. The goal is obedience to the commands of Christ; a changed way of living. Much of the New Testament was written to fulfill this very purpose: teaching believers how to live in light of their new identity as followers of Jesus Christ.

This then is our commission. This is why we are here. This is our purpose and our task as a church and as individuals in the church. Our church mission statement reads this way: The purpose of the Evangelical Community Church of Abu Dhabi is to glorify God in word and deed and to serve him in the power of the Holy Spirit with a goal of bringing unbelievers to faith in Christ(making disciples) and believers to maturity in Christ (teaching them to obey.)

I have included in the bulletin an insert that I have passed out before, and to which I often refer, because it helps me visualize the whole Great Commission Process in one model.

A MODEL OF THE GREAT COMMISSION PROCESS

            + 5       Spiritual leader, trainer of others

            + 4       Spiritually strong, serving in church, witnessing

            + 3       Studying the Bible, active in church, growing

            + 2       Assimilated into church, basic knowledge of Christian life

            + 1       New Christian, “baby” in Christ

Conversion/Salvation/New Birth

- 1        Understands Gospel and its implications and is positively considering following Christ.

- 2        Has a factual knowledge of the Gospel; curious, undecided

- 3        Some knowledge of the Gospel, mixed with some misunderstandings and false concepts

- 4        Believes in a Supreme Being, but has no knowledge of the Gospel. He may be committed to another belief system.

- 5        Has no knowledge, no belief or no interest in spiritual matters.

Everyone we meet falls somewhere on this scale. Our task and the task of the church is to discern where they are on the scale and encourage them to move up the scale. If they are below the line, we encourage them toward faith in Christ. If they fall above the line, our role is to encourage them to move on toward maturity.

I find this scale helpful for several reasons. All too often, we tend to think of “evangelism” as the act of getting someone across the line. Certainly that is what we want to see. But what that looks like can vary tremendously, depending on where someone is on the scale. In my experience, many evangelistic methods are based on the assumption that the people we talk to are at a – 1 or – 2. One common evangelistic training model used to say this: “Most people want to accept Christ as Savior. They just don’t know how.” That statement assumes that people already know who Christ is. They assume some knowledge of the Bible. They assume a positive orientation to the Christian message. There are some people like that. Those evangelistic tools and methods work well for those people. But there are many people who are further down on the model. We will need another starting point in talking to them.

Another important feature of this scale is the understanding that if I play a role in moving someone from a – 5 to a – 4 or a – 3, I have played a significant role, whether or not I see the person actually receive Christ as Savior.

There is another model that I find helpful at this point.

ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE                                   ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE

OF THE GOSPEL                                                     OF THE GOSPEL

+

CLOSED/HOSTILE ATTITUDE                             OPEN/POSITIVE ATTITUDE

IGNORANT/MISINFORMED                               IGNORANT/MISINFORMED

ABOUT THE GOSPEL                                             ABOUT THE GOSPEL

-

CLOSED/HOSTILE ATTITUDE                             OPEN/POSITIVE/ATTITUDE

TOWARD THE GOSPEL                                         TOWARD THE GOSPEL

- ATTITUDE +

The vertical dimension of the chart represents the knowledge scale, from ignorance toward accurate knowledge. The horizontal dimension reflects attitude, from hostile to positive.

Once again, traditional evangelistic training and methods are usually about knowledge. Evangelism is seen as primarily a transmission of facts and knowledge about Christ and the Gospel. This is certainly an essential component of the task, and there can be no evangelism without the facts. But this model shows us that this is not all there is to the task. The transmission of the facts of the Gospel alone will never be enough unless there is an accompanying change of attitude so that the person will positively consider the message he has received. Sometimes our most important role may not be in the content we deliver but in the attitudes we alter by our loving, consistent Christian behavior. Of course the ideal is where the two factors work together to bring a person to a -1 on the scale where they are ready to make the decision to follow Christ and step across the line from darkness into the light.

The third thing I like about this original scale is that it clearly portrays that our task is not complete when a person trusts in Christ as Savior and steps across the line. That is where the second half of our commission kicks in. We must teach him/her to obey the commands of Christ and to pursue maturity in Christ. We must teach and encourage and challenge each believer to continue to grow and mature in his/her faith.

The final thing this scale shows is that this is a self-perpetuating model. If we faithfully teach new disciples to obey Christ’s commands, one of the commands we will teach them to obey is the command to go and make disciples. As Christians grow, one of the marks of their maturity will be found in +4 and +5 and hopefully even earlier, as they in turn become witnesses for Christ and bring others to faith in Christ.

Forgive the classroom approach this morning, but I find that visualizing this process helps me remember it and helps me get a better grasp of the task to which we have been called.

Why are we here? Why are we on the earth? Why are we here in Abu Dhabi? Here is our commission. This is our task. God has brought us here to serve him: to play an active role in bringing unbelievers to faith in Christ and bringing believers to maturity in Christ. As God brings people into your life, ask yourself the questions: Where is this person on the scale? What can I do to help them move in the right direction?

One of our members was sharing with me at the picnic last week. I won’t use any names. This person will soon be leaving UAE due to the end of his contract. But he said to me, “I think I know why God brought me here…” and he went on to share how he had been able to make a good friend at work from another belief system. Through their growing friendship, he had been given opportunities to talk about his faith in Christ and explain it and even pass on a Bible and some DVD material. Now he’s returning home. But someone has been moved from a -4 to a -2 or even a -1. That is a significant achievement. If we can multiply that by 750 people, imagine the impact our church can have! This is our role. This is our task. This is why we are here!