God's Mission is Now

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to worship with over 700 Lutheran Christians this past Sunday at the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) Leadership Conference.  It was exhilarating to sing Built on the Rock (one of my favorite hymns) with so many voices united in the hope that the message of the Gospel will never stop being declared, no matter what we experience in the world. 

Something that came home to me during the conference was that these are interesting days that we live in.  Every generation faces its challenges and struggles (and every generation believes they have it harder than the previous).  I don’t think that what we face in the world today is better or worse than what the Church faced when we were children, or at some other point of history.  It is just different from the recent past. 

There was a time that the church was central to U.S. American society; as we learned in Mission U, we were “insiders.”  White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) were the dominant demographic in American politics, and while Lutherans really don’t fit into that category, we look enough like WASPs to have benefitted from their dominance.  In that culture the primary temptation we faced in the church was complacency.  People came to us for weddings, baptisms, funerals, and other needs, and we were content in our buildings magnanimously welcoming the masses to the Light. 

Today the church finds itself more and more as an outsider.  More and more voices are calling to end the church’s tax exempt status saying, “End the Free Ride!”  The government is placing more pressure on church bodies to compromise core values through mandates like the recent one from the Health and Human Services Department.  There has been a federal case that challenged a LCMS congregation on who they can retain as a minister.  The temptation we face is to throw up our hands, cry out, “Woe is me!” and hide in our churches; effectively removing ourselves from society. 

The Scriptures teach, “And he [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷ that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'”  (Acts 17:26-28 ESV)  This means that God has chosen the time and place for our own lives for the purpose of drawing people to Him. 

God’s mission is clear.  He desires all people to be saved.  (1 Timothy 2:4) He calls us to make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching.  (Matthew 28:19-20)  No matter what changes take place in the world, God’s Word remains eternally.  As Luther wrote, “God’s Word forever shall abide, no thanks to foes who fear it; For God himself fights by our side With weapons of the Spirit.”  (A Mighty Fortress, v. 4) 

We have been called for this time to serve in this place to reach people with the Gospel.  As the sermon at the LCEF worship service said, “Now is the time!”  Now is the time we get to be the Church, servants of God, the body of Christ, and vessels of the Holy Spirit.  Now we get to share the good news that the Man from Galilee was, indeed, crucified and died, but He is risen and reigns to all eternity. 

Questions:

-          How has the world (or even just our country) changed in your lifetime in a way that causes you anxiety or frustration?

-          In Acts 17 Paul spoke to a group of pagans in Athens.  What do his words in vv. 26-28 say about: (a) God’s desire for mankind?  (b) Our placement in history and geography?

-          Look at 1 Timothy 2:4 and Matthew 28:19-20.  Summarize what God’s purpose is for us. 

-          One of the ways you can share the Gospel with others is to bring them to church with you.  What hinders you from asking a friend to join you for church?  (If there is anything in our services that keeps you from asking people to come to church with us, I definitely want to know!) 

-          Luther ended his hymn A Mighty Fortress saying, “God’s Word forever shall abide, no thanks to foes who fear it; For God himself fights by our side With weapons of the Spirit.  Were they to take our house, Goods, fame, child, or spouse, Though life be wrenched away, They cannot win the day.  The Kingdom’s ours forever.”  Where does he point us for our confidence for the future?  What place does God’s Word hold in your life?