The Great Comission Lifestyle

     At my church, Evangel Community Church in Snellville, GA, one of our values is to live what we any many other churches call a "Great Commission Lifestyle." We believe that "Reaching Lost People Here and Around the World" is our job. When Jesus ascended into heaven (Matthew 28) He commissioned believers to go into all the word and make disciples in His name and to spread the Good News to the four corners of the earth. He did not call us to do this once. He called us to do this with our lives. In a sense, everything in our lives should exist just to support our evangelism efforts.

    If humans are good at one thing it's complicating a simple task. It's rather easy for us to make reasoned efforts to talk ourselves out of sharing our faith with those who desperately need it.

    We make excuses like: "I'm really busy today." or "I'm not in a good place right now." or "Who am I to tell them how they should live?" or "I've got my own problems..."

    Let's take a look at a biblical example on that last one:

Acts 16:22-36 
     The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 

     About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 

     The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 

     They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

    If anyone had a good reason to excuse themselves from the Great Commission for a moment it was Paul and Silas. If you read the beginning of chapter 16 you will see that they were beaten and jailed for casting out an evil spirit that was tormenting a young slave girl. It's not until later that we find out that her owners were making money off of her torment. They had lost all of their income. So Paul and Silas were brutally beaten and tossed in jail.

     There are so many parts to this story that just baffle me.

    First, they were singing praises to the Lord.  Am I the only one who will bare their poor miserable soul and admit that I might not be inclined to sing three verses of Just As I Am right after being publicly beaten and tossed in the slammer?

    Second, they didn't run for the hills as soon as the doors clanked. I would've been out like the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs. But they stayed. My first thought is, "Why?" We get our answer in the next verse.

    Third, they led a man and his entire household to the Lord! In their condition, after the day they'd had they held an altar call! These guys are awesome!

    I know my excuses like "I'm tired today" or "I've been through a lot recently" don't hold much water in the light of Paul and Silas.

    What about yours? Which of your excuses does this story shatter? How can you live out your Great Commission Lifestyle today?

Potty-Training Christians?

    Do you remember when you were little and you were being potty trained? Do you remember how everyone would celebrate every time you went, “Poo-Poo in the Potty?” Actually, now that I think about it, you were three years old. You probably don’t remember. I only remember because I have a younger sibling. And let me tell you, that’s a weird time in the life of the older sibling:

            “Mom and Dad! I got a 94 on my spelling test!”

            “Who cares? Your sister made a two-sie!”

            And then you think to yourself, “Man…the folks used to be harder to impress.”

            It’s good to celebrate that with small children who are potty training. Positive reinforcement helps them learn the behavior and that’s good, but we don’t do that when we’re older right? Did you jump out of the bathroom at age 17 going, “Mommy I did it!” They would have gotten you an appointment with a psychologist right away.

            WHAT’S THE POINT: You are supposed to get credit and praise for these things when you’re learning them, but now that we’re older it’s considered the bare minimum that you can use the bathroom without any assistance. You don’t get credit for that right? Check out this parable from Jesus:

Luke 17:7-10 “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

            Sometimes our first impulse with this kind of story is to read it and think, “What a jerk! He won’t even cut that guy a little slack!” What you need to understand is that the master had paid for this man to do some work and the worker should not expect a shower of gifts for completing the job. Our Master, Jesus, paid for us. He died on a cross for my sins and your sins. When he left this world he commissioned us to do a job. He asked us to go forward and make disciples (Matt. 28:16-20).

            With God though, we still want credit for the bare minimum. We say, “God I prayed today and it didn’t start with “God is great…God is good…Let us thank Him for our food…!” or “Jesus if you will please let this cop not give me a ticket, but a warning I will commit to ten years of missions work in Bangladesh!”

We want applause, but God is saying, “That’s good, really. I’m glad you did that today, but your friends are destined for the wrong side of eternity…is there anything you want to ask me about them?”

I want to have the heart that craves more than the bare minimum. I want a heart that desires to live a Great Commission Lifestyle. I think Paul describes this lifestyle well:

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

Colossians 1:28-29