VISION: Whenever I interview for a ministry position I am asked, "What is your vision for the church?" For sake of clarity, let's distinguish between a vision for God's people and a vision for a particular place. So I have a vision for Macon (which I will enumerate in a moment) and a vision for those helping me to carry it out (the core group which I will enumerate in a separate post). For example, a football coach may have a vision for his team but he may also have a vision for his conference in which the team is a part (Remember the Titans is a good example).
What is my vision for Macon, GA? My vision is God's vision for the world applied to a particular place. That everyone in Macon, GA would be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision for everyone in GA to be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision for everyone in the South to be rescued from their sin, discipled, and sent out with a vision ..... You get the point right? Salvation, discipleship, mission in an ever expanding concentric wave to the ends of the earth.
Simple right? Not so much.
1. Let me answer three immediate objections. OBJ 1:Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "but isn't that what churches are doing?" Yes. I love a lot of MAcon, GA churches inlcuding my two home churches (First Pres and First Evangelical). I am merely joining their ranks with the recognition that there are people groups (a lot of them) that are not being rubbed up against with the Gospel except from a distance. (I will explain in the next post how some new understandings in missions should be effecting how churches engage the unreached.)
GOD'S DESIRE
OBJ 2: Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "Are you saying that God will save everyone?" No. I am saying that God wants everyone to be saved. If this is God's heart, then it should be our heart too. "Intercession for all men could be justified only on the ground of God's willingness to save all" (Guthrie). We want to be sure that everyone has the most hopeful opportunity of being exposed to the heart of the Gospel. Simply knowing about it is not enough.
OBJ 3: Perhaps you are thinking to yourself: "But Jesus and Paul did not try to save every individual in their path or in the world. Jesus concentrated on 12 disciples, Paul on several cities. Are you not then going beyond the scope of the Bible?" No. Jesus chose the 12 as an exponential strategy as did Paul with the cities of Antioch & Rome. The hope is that in concentrating on certain strategic individuals and cities the message of Christianity would spread exponentially. Why a city? Culture always flows from the city to the country. Save the city, you get the country also. Save the country, and you may never get the city.
This exponential strategy is true for Jesus' choice of the 12 as well. When Jesus ascended, having concentrated his ministry on discipling the 12 he sends the 12 out in the following manner: "Go therefore and make desciples of all nations [Matthew 28:19] ... But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 2:8). Jesus focuses on the twelve with the intention of focusing in o
n all the nations in this concentric manner, working from their immediate context (Jerusalem) outward until the ends of the earth are reached.Consider also the election of Israel. God forms the nations of Israel from scratch and plants them in the most culturally influential section in the ancient near east. Trade and culture flowed through Israel to the rest of the world.
The point I am making is that just because God elected Israel does not mean that God did not care about the rest of the world knowing him (cf. Isaiah 19:16-25). Just because Jesus chose the twelve does not mean that He did not care about discipling everyone else. Just because Paul concentrated on certain cities, does not mean he did not care to reach the rural villages. Instead, it is just the opposite. Israel is formed, the 12 are discipled, and the cities are reached strategically to reach the whole world. Is God slow? Not at all. He is "patient, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
GOD'S PROVISION
2. Not only is it God's will for everyone to be rescued, but He has made provision for it through the universal ransom of Jesus: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5 RSV; cf. 1 John 2:2). "While we were yet helpless...Christ died for [in behalf of] the ungodly" (Romans 5:6 RSV) so that "just as one man's trespass [adam] led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act [Jesus] of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men" (Romans 5:18 RSV).
Why are not all men therefore saved? Because they must unite themselves to Jesus by trusting in Jesus' own work rather then their own. "Why [did Israel not get it]? Because they did not pursue it [righteousness] through faith, but as if it were based on works" (Romans 9:32 RSV). But does this mean they cannot be rescued who have depended on works rather than on Jesus' faithfulness? "And even others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again" (Romans 11:23 RSV).
So God desires all people to be rescued, he has provided for their ransom through Christ Jesus, but they must trust in Christ in order to activate God's ransom for them. Nevertheless, even when they fail to do this, they are not beyond recovery. Therefore we do not give up.
GOD'S CALLING
3. God's desire and provision (the Gospel essentially) are worked out in the world through his call. "Paul ... called to be an apostle ... to bring about the obedience of faith ... including yourselves who are called to be holy .... your faith is being proclaimed in all the world" (Romans 1:1, 5, 6). God's church is his missionary to the world (more on this later).
For me, God's calling is the application of God's desire and provision to the city of Macon. God wants every maconite to be rescued through the ransom of Jesus through the witness of his people. Then he wants to disciple them as his people so that they can in turn be a witness for every Georgian. Simple right? My vision is not based on doing church better than someone else. God has set the vision, God has given provision, God has announced his call. Equally, just because I imagine all of Macon worshipping Jesus does not mean that I focus on every maconite. Rather, I (we) focus strategically like Jesus and Paul. How this works itself out is the goal of my next post.
V=Gd & Gp & Gc
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