Reach the lost… or love your neighbor?

I’ve found myself wondering in recent days which is most important – evangelism that focuses on eternal salvation or matters relating to social justice. I’ve always known they aren’t mutually exclusive, but their relative priority has remained a mystery. God works the details of each individual’s calling out, but all share a common call. Is it primarily about reaching the lost or loving our neighbors? Which is more important – the second greatest commandment or the great commission?

I’ve been reading The Hole in the Gospel, which is authored by the president of World Vision. He didn’t seek the role; in fact, he tried to run from it. In chapter after chapter, the author addresses the questions I have. What does God require of every Christian? What does he require of me? To answer those questions, I intend to study the related teachings of Jesus. Meanwhile, the book has already given me that study in a nutshell. He reminded me of the way Jesus summed up what God requires of us all:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind
• Love your neighbor as yourself

But then he addresses what he says just might be the third greatest commandment – the great commission. The way he ties the greatest commandments to the great commission is enlightening. The Great Commission calls us to make followers of Christ who do what Jesus commanded: “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded.” And God has commanded that we love God and love people.

If we are obedient to the Great Commission, we are influencing people to take care of the poor and fight for justice for the oppressed. If we love the poor, we find that they also often becomes followers of Jesus who share his message with others. It’s not accurate to only say that these two aspects of the Christian message – salvation and social justice – aren’t mutually exclusive; we have to realize that they are simultaneous, even synergistic, working in perfect harmony together to create more than they could alone. We are to teach the nations to obey everything Jesus commanded. And if they do, the injustices, poverty, and disease rampant in the world will be addressed, because the people obeying Jesus’ commands will be loving their neighbors.

Perhaps that is the essence of missions today. We must make disciples of every nation, teaching them to love God and love their neighbors. Where there are Christians, we serve with them in loving neighbors and discipling believers. Where there are no Christians, we spread the message of the Kingdom of God through word and deed, teaching the people to obey everything Jesus commanded.

Missions should be about fulfilling the Lord’s prayer, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” Share the good news everywhere, and the goal of missions is met. And as you share that good news, teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded – love God, love others, and teach everyone to do the same. That’s the goal and the method and the sustainable cycle of missions.

Why I didn’t see the Biblical basis for missions sooner

In my last post, I wrote about my question concerning how premillennialistic beliefs effect missions involvement. Having studied some more, I’ve come to a surprising realization. When I first read John Piper’s book, Let the Nations be Glad, I was stunned to discover a Biblical rationale for missions that went beyond saving souls or simply obeying God (both good, of course). I was stunned to find a way of looking at the Bible that made the Bible seem like it was oozing missions from every verse. The whole Bible testifies to God’s plan to save the nations, yet I’d rarely been presented with anything other than the Great Commission as a rationale for missions, making it seem like an afterthought. My belief in a Bible that was all about God’s desire to redeem the nations was reinforced when I took the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class a couple years later.

Along with being blown away at how the Biblical text shows that God always intended to redeem some from every people group, I was mystified as to why I had never been taught that before. I had always been taught about the Great Commission and people’s need to hear of God, but I had never had anyone even give me a peak of what now seems like, in the words of Dumbrell, a “theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world.” Why is it that no one had ever taught me (and I had never seen) that God has always planned to redeem some from every people group? Why aren’t we teaching people that missions is God’s heart and goal? Why is it an afterthought that’s based more on compassion for people than ensuring that God’s purpose in the world is achieved?

My stunning realization now that I’ve studied theological systems a little – I was never given the broader rationale for missions because it doesn’t exist in dispensational theology, and that’s what I’ve been exclusively exposed to in church. Dispensational theology teaches that national, physical Israel is God’s main purpose in history. The Church – and the salvation of the Gentiles, it seems – are a “parenthesis” in God’s plan that only occured because Israel rejected Jesus’ offer of an earthly kingdom, which is currently delayed as a result of their rejection. The Church is a temporary situation between God’s two dealings with national Israel. It seems as if dispensationalists believe that God didn’t always plan for the Church (and the Gentiles) to be a part of the plan of redemption; the Church and salvation of the Gentiles is a mystery (or afterthought) that occured only because of Israel’s rejection of Christ’s supposed offer of a physical Kingdom.

The broader Biblical basis for missions that I’ve come to believe in is, in contrast, influenced by covenant and new covenant theology. Covenant theology (CT) and new covenant theology (NCT) believes that God’s promises to Israel sometimes refer to a physical, national Israel, but sometimes refer to a spiritual Israel. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. To CT and NCT proponents, Genesis 12:1-3 is a key text that shows how God has always planned to redeem some from all peoples. Abraham (and Old Testament Israel) are seen as a conduit of God’s blessings to all nations, not the only ones who God ever intended to bless (and redeem). Dispensationalists, on the other hand, interpret the passage “literally,” seeing the promise as being unto Abraham’s physical descendants. Accepting that the passage indicates God’s intention to redeem some from every nation undermines dispensational theology, since it shows the salvation of the Gentiles was as much the goal as the blessing of national Israel.

Numerous other Old Testament passages that I’ve come believe speak to God’s plan to redeem the nations have the same problem in dispensational theology – God can’t be revealing a plan to redeem all if that’s never been His intention, if the Church and the Gentiles are a parenthesis and an afterthought. And that is why I (and many, many others) have never been taught the Biblical basis for missions – because it doesn’t exist in somebody’s theological system.

Do premillennialistic beliefs lead to reduced missions involvement?

I’ve been thinking about this question since a recent Sunday school lesson. We were discussing end-times theology, and someone asked why it matters if you believe in premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism, or preterism. The speaker responded that it matters since your beliefs about the end-times affects how you see the present day world and how you engage with it. His example was that since postmillennialists often believe Christians will be raptured before the tribulation, they often also believe the church will be in decline before Christ’s return. The end-times belief thus affects their view of the present day world, and it can lead to a “holding the fort” mentality that isn’t especially engaged in extending the Kingdom, whereas other end-times views can lead to a belief in a strong end-times church and greater involvement in extending the Kingdom of God around the world.

I’m curious about this since I’ve always held premillenialistic beliefs – I believe Christ will literally reign on the earth for 1,000 years after the current age has ended. Yet, I also believe in a strong end-times church. I don’t believe that the church will just continue getting weaker until God decides to rapture the few believers left and judge the lost. I believe that the church will continue to grow until the Gospel has been preached in every people group, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

I can understand how a belief in a strong or weak end-times church could effect the motivation to serve in missions. If you believe you are ushering in God’s Kingdom by pioneering new works among the unreached, you have a motivation for missions that people who are just trying to “hold the fort” until Jesus returns don’t have. For me, a primary motive for missions is seeing God get the glory he deserve from all the peoples he created – he’s not content to only be worshipped by some of them, and I’m not content with that either. Believing that God will find worshippers in every people group – and that the church will be victorious is being used to accomplish that – fuels both my passion for missions and my belief in a strong end-times church.

In John Piper’s words:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

God receiving the worship of all the peoples of the world is the goal of missions. When the goal is met, missions stops, and the end will come in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. The goal being met, however, requires a strong end-times church, since a weak church can’t reach all the nations. It doesn’t mean that every church is full of passionate believers, but that there is a viable church within every people group. And a global church – not a tribalistic one that only reaches some – is the strongest church history has ever seen, because it’s the church that fulfills God’s goal.