Jesus is great, mighty, loving and perfect. He is fully God, and completely man. As such He is the most fully equipped missionary that has ever been or will ever be. To follow Him is to walk in the footsteps of divine intervention.
When I was lost and dead in my sin, it was Christ who came and rescued me. He interposed at the perfect intersection of Gods judgement and my dysfunction. He saved me.
In hindsight I look back on my introduction to Christ’s divine mercy and I am in awe at the grace revealed. Here is the God of the universe, the creator of all things, who by His words brought life and every form of matter into existence. Out of the essence of His being He brought it forth. Here is Jesus the suffering servant who takes upon himself the depravity of the corrupt creation and makes all things new. Here is me dead, Christ alive, and then a cosmic transference of condition. I take His life He takes my death. Here is the new birth.
I will pause to give Him praise before the stones give voice.
American culture exudes death. The culture of the city I live in is so counter to the culture of Gods kingdom that reformation requires divine intervention. To further bedevil the quandary the culture is fragmented. It is a macro-culture composed of numerous micro-cultures. Each subculture exists largely in isolation. It holds to its own customs, values and interests. It takes care of its own and preserves its integrity. The work of the intentional missionary is to integrate with the target culture. The biblical principal is that change comes from within. (Ezek36:25-27)
Permeate/Repudiate/Educate/Transubstantiate
When I was lost and dead in my sin, it was Christ who came and rescued me. He interposed at the perfect intersection of Gods judgement and my dysfunction. He saved me.
In hindsight I look back on my introduction to Christ’s divine mercy and I am in awe at the grace revealed. Here is the God of the universe, the creator of all things, who by His words brought life and every form of matter into existence. Out of the essence of His being He brought it forth. Here is Jesus the suffering servant who takes upon himself the depravity of the corrupt creation and makes all things new. Here is me dead, Christ alive, and then a cosmic transference of condition. I take His life He takes my death. Here is the new birth.
I will pause to give Him praise before the stones give voice.
American culture exudes death. The culture of the city I live in is so counter to the culture of Gods kingdom that reformation requires divine intervention. To further bedevil the quandary the culture is fragmented. It is a macro-culture composed of numerous micro-cultures. Each subculture exists largely in isolation. It holds to its own customs, values and interests. It takes care of its own and preserves its integrity. The work of the intentional missionary is to integrate with the target culture. The biblical principal is that change comes from within. (Ezek36:25-27)
Permeate/Repudiate/Educate/Transubstantiate
These are fancy words, but let’s look at the underlying thought.
Permeate- The idea here is that in order to engage the sub-culture the missionary needs to intricately, sincerely, lovingly, intermingle with the inhabitants. Often we are already positioned within a subculture by virtue of our having been raised in it. We are to make authentic friendships within the subculture. Important here is that we are to be in the subculture, becoming familiar with and conversant in praxis. However we are not to become adapted, or conformed to the pattern of the subculture. (John 17:14-19, James 1:27, Rom 12:2, Phil 2:15, Rom 10:15 )
Repudiate- Here what we are talking about is pointing out the presence of sin. Sin corrupts and leads to death. The reason we are sent is because the world is dead in its sin. Unless they hear the Gospel they are doomed. We repudiate the immorality, perversion and depravity of the cultural praxis. It is the ministry of condemnation that we are practicing here. We are the voice of God delivering the law. Important in this is that while we are bringing the law which convicts the hearer of sin, we are not ourselves condemning them. We are messengers and we must walk in humility and love. We are friends first and heralds second. If this is done apart from a loving relationship that has been created in the permeation stage it will lead to hardened hearts and closed minds. Compassion is the key. Sin kills but we were once dead too. (Rom 12:9-10, 2 Cor 2:17, Col 3:12, Is 49:15)
Educate- Here we are teaching about the love of Christ. We are sharing our testimonies. This is the easiest stage because for us who are saved talking about the grace that God has shown us simply comes out of worship. Christ is merciful and sacrificial. Once we arrive at knowledge of self, and understand our depraved, spiritually bankrupt condition we need to hear of Christ’s atonement. Important here is to just keep it simple. Theology is a great tool for us to use in contemplating the nature of God and how He relates to us. In this capacity Theology is like the nails we use to hold together our understanding of God. Theology is not necessarily helpful as a tool to introduce grace. It is more like a hammer than a nail in this application. There will be time for discipleship later. This stage is about teaching grace. Due to sin we are dead but Christ has given us new life. (John 3:17, Ps 78:38, Rom 3:23-25, 2Cor 5:19, Zech 12:10, 2Chron 30:9)
Transubstantiate- Transubstantiate is a big word that I am using here to describe the process of rebirth. Once we are convicted of sin and convinced of Gods grace through Jesus we are changed. Our dead spirit is awakened. I am not going to talk much about what happens next. Our job as a cultural missionary is done. The work of the ministry now passes on to a process of discipleship. We change jobs now. We don’t abandon the new believer, we walk along side them. We train them and assist them. (John 3:1-7, Titus 3:4-6, Rev 21:4-6, Job 14:14-15)
In summary, this is the way I am beginning to see things. It comes first from a deep desire to see people become lovers of Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of God. It is the result of a lot of prayerful contemplation, study of the bible, reading books and listening to the Holy Spirit and those who serve Him. It is at the most basic stage of conception. I welcome you to come along on this journey with me. Add to the conversation. Think intentionally and intently about how God wants to use you as a missionary to this culture we live in. It is no longer enough to simply sit by and have influence in a limited way. We are being called to step beyond what we have always done and what we are already doing. The circle of our influence is being expanded. We can stay inside a small circle within the larger or we can be explorers. I'm for getting a walking stick and a spiritual compass and heading out into new territory myself.
It is easy for us to sit back and declare death over the culture. It is simply a matter of stating the obvious. It is much harder to engage the culture by sacrificing our comfort and putting ourselves in harms way to reach out. It is a risk but what is it really going to cost. Jesus tells us we should count the cost before we choose to follow Him. Part of the cost we pay is in living amongst those members of society we would rather avoid. It is uncomfortable but unavoidable so we may as well marry intention to our existence and approach it with purpose in our hearts and minds.
The kingdom has come. It has come in the form of Jesus who made Himself a slave and died so that we can be free. Now it is our turn to, like Him, take up our cross and serve a dying world. One thing it wont cost us is our lives. Even if we should die in the service of our Lord we are citizens of a greater reality. Nothing can change that and it is this truth that should drive us to want to see more and more come into their inheritance along side us.
The church has allowed itself to become just another subculture within the larger culture. We have chosen lives of seclusion within our buildings and worship services, while outside in the day to day the masses die. While Rome burns Nero fiddles. Lets not be like Nero and only rise to the challenge of the crisis after the fire has already consumed the majority of our friends, neighbors, and the otherwise lost individuals of our culture.
Permeate- The idea here is that in order to engage the sub-culture the missionary needs to intricately, sincerely, lovingly, intermingle with the inhabitants. Often we are already positioned within a subculture by virtue of our having been raised in it. We are to make authentic friendships within the subculture. Important here is that we are to be in the subculture, becoming familiar with and conversant in praxis. However we are not to become adapted, or conformed to the pattern of the subculture. (John 17:14-19, James 1:27, Rom 12:2, Phil 2:15, Rom 10:15 )
Repudiate- Here what we are talking about is pointing out the presence of sin. Sin corrupts and leads to death. The reason we are sent is because the world is dead in its sin. Unless they hear the Gospel they are doomed. We repudiate the immorality, perversion and depravity of the cultural praxis. It is the ministry of condemnation that we are practicing here. We are the voice of God delivering the law. Important in this is that while we are bringing the law which convicts the hearer of sin, we are not ourselves condemning them. We are messengers and we must walk in humility and love. We are friends first and heralds second. If this is done apart from a loving relationship that has been created in the permeation stage it will lead to hardened hearts and closed minds. Compassion is the key. Sin kills but we were once dead too. (Rom 12:9-10, 2 Cor 2:17, Col 3:12, Is 49:15)
Educate- Here we are teaching about the love of Christ. We are sharing our testimonies. This is the easiest stage because for us who are saved talking about the grace that God has shown us simply comes out of worship. Christ is merciful and sacrificial. Once we arrive at knowledge of self, and understand our depraved, spiritually bankrupt condition we need to hear of Christ’s atonement. Important here is to just keep it simple. Theology is a great tool for us to use in contemplating the nature of God and how He relates to us. In this capacity Theology is like the nails we use to hold together our understanding of God. Theology is not necessarily helpful as a tool to introduce grace. It is more like a hammer than a nail in this application. There will be time for discipleship later. This stage is about teaching grace. Due to sin we are dead but Christ has given us new life. (John 3:17, Ps 78:38, Rom 3:23-25, 2Cor 5:19, Zech 12:10, 2Chron 30:9)
Transubstantiate- Transubstantiate is a big word that I am using here to describe the process of rebirth. Once we are convicted of sin and convinced of Gods grace through Jesus we are changed. Our dead spirit is awakened. I am not going to talk much about what happens next. Our job as a cultural missionary is done. The work of the ministry now passes on to a process of discipleship. We change jobs now. We don’t abandon the new believer, we walk along side them. We train them and assist them. (John 3:1-7, Titus 3:4-6, Rev 21:4-6, Job 14:14-15)
In summary, this is the way I am beginning to see things. It comes first from a deep desire to see people become lovers of Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of God. It is the result of a lot of prayerful contemplation, study of the bible, reading books and listening to the Holy Spirit and those who serve Him. It is at the most basic stage of conception. I welcome you to come along on this journey with me. Add to the conversation. Think intentionally and intently about how God wants to use you as a missionary to this culture we live in. It is no longer enough to simply sit by and have influence in a limited way. We are being called to step beyond what we have always done and what we are already doing. The circle of our influence is being expanded. We can stay inside a small circle within the larger or we can be explorers. I'm for getting a walking stick and a spiritual compass and heading out into new territory myself.
It is easy for us to sit back and declare death over the culture. It is simply a matter of stating the obvious. It is much harder to engage the culture by sacrificing our comfort and putting ourselves in harms way to reach out. It is a risk but what is it really going to cost. Jesus tells us we should count the cost before we choose to follow Him. Part of the cost we pay is in living amongst those members of society we would rather avoid. It is uncomfortable but unavoidable so we may as well marry intention to our existence and approach it with purpose in our hearts and minds.
The kingdom has come. It has come in the form of Jesus who made Himself a slave and died so that we can be free. Now it is our turn to, like Him, take up our cross and serve a dying world. One thing it wont cost us is our lives. Even if we should die in the service of our Lord we are citizens of a greater reality. Nothing can change that and it is this truth that should drive us to want to see more and more come into their inheritance along side us.
The church has allowed itself to become just another subculture within the larger culture. We have chosen lives of seclusion within our buildings and worship services, while outside in the day to day the masses die. While Rome burns Nero fiddles. Lets not be like Nero and only rise to the challenge of the crisis after the fire has already consumed the majority of our friends, neighbors, and the otherwise lost individuals of our culture.
I don’t want to leave you today with the impression that I am all caught up in doom and gloom. The exact opposite is true. I see what God is doing to redeem the world. I see that He is calling us to participate, to be His body on the earth. I am excited and filled with joyful anticipation. I am learning to practice what He is teaching me. Everyday I wake up and I cant wait to get up and get after it. I want to scream from the mountains Christ is king and He is redeeming this planet. Patience Tip the Lord says walk and then run. I am dancing on the inside and intentionally controlling my external activities according to the call of God.
I fail I struggle I sin
I complain I grumble I fall down again
I weep I repent I stand
I smile I laugh I am born again
I encourage you. God is calling us to re-imagine the way we look at our call to cultural missions. This is exciting news because it indicates harvest time. Jesus is our jubilee. God draws men to come and receive the forgiveness of their debts, to take possession of the lands they have lost. You and I? We get to deliver the message.
Add to the conversation. Post your thoughts below. The conversation needs your input, take a second and take a chance. We all have something to contribute. (1Cor 12:4-13)
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