Compelled By Reality

The Primary Issue…

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism, Knowledge of God

 

I’ve talked to several people this past week about the overwhelming goal of the western church for “getting people saved!” and “evangelism” as being the PRIMARY purpose of the church (aside from loving/knowing God of course which is sort of a “given” everyone should do that, you don’t really have to mention it).

I have nothing against evangelism of course, and I believe that it is EXTREMELY important in God’s plan and purpose, right up there at #2 in the count down (Love God, Love Your Neighbor). But I want to talk about the motivations that we have and that God has behind it.

So I really wanted to dive into this and get my hands dirty with it and see what I come up with. So here it goes. Feel free to disagree, agree, comment or what have you.

Let’s Gettem Saved!
God’s ultimate purpose does not end with salvation. But I see that as the primary communication of the western church, “let’s just gettem saved.” Yet the ultimacy of God’s purpose in our lives is fullness; the fullness of the dream in His heart for who He wants us to be, individually and corporately as a bride.

 

We Don’t Need the “Next Best Idea”
With all the issues facing the world from divorce to sexual immorality, the church seems to have the same problems statistically INSIDE THE CHURCH. We do not need another new method for evangelism, another great way to get people excited about Jesus. Because once they are inside the church there doesn’t seem to be that change that seperates us from the world. It’s our own low views of God, our mindsets that have destroyed the “good news.”

 

Tozier says “All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is, what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him.”

 

We have lost the concept of who God is… the majesty of the divine, although our churches are having dramatic gains and becoming more prosperous.

 

A.W. Tozier said “The alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.”

 

 

We Need Radical Obedience & Lifestyles of Holiness
Jesus is coming back for a spotless bride walking in the fullness of what God has for us. If salvation is our goal, then we will fall far short from the fullness God is wanting His church to walk in. He is not just calling us to believe in Him and starting to “live right.” God is calling us to radical obedience and unapologetically pursuing lifestyles of holiness, because the bridegroom is coming back soon.

 

We so often talk about the Great Commission as the primary focus (aside from worshipping/loving God). Yet we should not be focused on “getting people saved”, but about preparing the church as a bride for the return of Jesus. Evangelism is to be an overflow of the wholehearted devotion to our God.

 

Jesus Isn’t Interested in us ONLY “Getting Saved”
We as the western church look for “spiritual” salvation, the Jews looked for “physical” salvation, and Jesus wasn’t interested in either. His primary interest was in setting us free by revealing the knowledge of God. We as Christians as a whole are still in pursuit of spiritual salvation, the Jewish people are still looking for physical salvation of the coming Messiah… But who is pursuing His heart for the knowledge of Him?

Jesus did not come so that men would be saved. He came so that men would come into the knowledge of God and be changed forever. God’s desire is for more than us just making it. His desire is that we know Him and to live in ultimate joy with knowing the deep things of God.

 

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)

 

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

 

 

Pursue the Knowledge of God
We are called to pursue and live NOW in the knowledge of God. Not once we are enlightened when Jesus comes back or we die and go to heaven. How do we expect the world to be jealous and want what we have if we are the “boring Christians who go to church all the time and never have any fun?”

It’s not about an insurance policy. We need the revelation of the knowledge of God to hit us like a mack truck so that we are awestruck by who God is and what He is like. So that our very pursuit of God draws unbelievers to say “what is wrong with this guy? why has this guy gone of the deep end? what has so dramatically altered this person’s reality that they are now not doing the things they were doing and doing the things they are now doing?”