What Is Living Stones: Gospel Rhythms

What Is Living Stones? Gospel Rhythms from Living Stones on Vimeo.

The Church Exists by Mission

"The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning." - Emil Brunner

 Every verse in the New Testament is in the context of mission. The proclamation of the Gospel is the purpose of the Church. From time to time, I talk to pastors and church leaders, especially those in the camp of reformed theology, that say to me things like, “We are a church that is all about discipleship,” or, “We are just a church that is trying to go deep.” What I have found over the years is that, much of the time, this is an excuse for them not doing any type of evangelism. Also, I have found that it is misleading. I would contend that you are not as deep of a church or a church which excels at discipleship unless people are getting saved and baptized as a church. People geek out on a 72 week series on Ephesians 1:3-14, while there are 17 people in the church who are all from other churches frustrated and discontent. I don’t understand how you can teach the New Testament with such passion and go so deep and not come to the conclusion that you’re supposed to reach lost people.

Think about this: Every verse in the New Testament is in the context of the Gospel Mission. The gospels themselves present the mission of God in Christ as Jesus accomplishes his part of the mission. The Gospel of Matthew presents him as the King of the Mission. The Gospel of Mark presents him as the Servant on Mission. The Gospel of Luke presents him as the Perfect Man on Mission. The Gospel of John presents him as God on mission. At the end of the Gospel of John; Jesus says “as the father has sent me [on mission], so I send you [on mission]." (John 20:21) And of course there are the Great Commission passages in Matthew 28 and Luke 24. These Great Commission passages are the catapults for the rest of the New Testament, which is a handbook for mission. Think about it; the book of Acts - The mission begins and spreads. It would be hard to read the book of Acts or teach the book of Acts without being overwhelmed by the evangelistic emphasis. The book of Romans is the message of the mission. 1st & 2nd Corinthians deal with conflict and church discipline on mission. The book of Galatians defends the gospel mission from religion. The Book of Ephesians is the church on mission. The Pastoral Epistles describes the leaders of the mission.  And the book of Revelation describes to us the completion and goal of the mission. If Jesus sent his people into the world to be disciples who make disciples by baptizing (leading them the Christ), teaching (teaching them about Christ), and then sending them to go teach others, and we then are not doing that… isn’t that disobedience? Is the church even a church, biblically speaking, if people are not meeting Jesus? Look at 2 Corinthians 5:20, this text tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ, that God is using us to make an appeal…. My contention is that the church is not the church unless it’s on Christ's evangelistic mission.

Jesus told his disciples “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”(Mark 1:17)  If you make disciples, that don’t do the same thing as Jesus’ disciples - you’re not making disciples at all. Jesus also said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) 

What is Living Stones: Gospel Relationships

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What is Living Stones: Gospel Identity

What Is Living Stones? Gospel Identity from Living Stones on Vimeo.

Friend of Sinners

Could Anyone Ever Accuse You of Being a Friend of Sinners?

Do you like sinners? Jesus did, and still does.  I hear a lot of Christians talking about being like Jesus, being conformed into the likeness of Jesus, walking like Jesus, following Jesus… but most Christians I know don’t love sinners. They don’t like them; in fact, they hate them. Jesus, however, in the Gospels was accused by the religious crowd of being “a friend of sinners." (Matthew 11:19)

It doesn’t say he tolerated sinners, or that he made an allowance for them to be in his gathering.  Nor does it say, he track-bombed them and then ran or held big concerts and then, at the end, preached the Gospel with the old bait & switch trick.  Instead, the Gospel tells us that he was a friend of sinners. He knew sinners, went to their houses, talked with them over wine (yes, Jesus drank alcohol with sinful people). He knew their names, probably knew their kids' names, knew their aspirations and dreams and knew what they are interested in. You know… like a friend.

Now, in all this talk about being like Jesus why don’t we ever talk about being a friend to sinners?  Why do we think it is okay to only hang out with Christians and never hang out with anybody who does not believe? Since when is that acceptable? We are supposed to follow in his footsteps, aren't we? I’ve heard many Christians say, “Oh we are trying to remain holy.” Jesus was holy! His holiness caused him to reach out to people whom the culture deemed as sinners, criminals, adulterers, fornicators, offenders, outlaws and those who were materialistic. Jesus was the type of guy that would bring wine to a wedding… and it wasn't that cheap box wine, he brought the good stuff. Jesus was known to hang out with these types of crowds, so much so, that they accused him to be a drunkard and a glutton (Matthew 11:19). Not that we would want to sin and get drunk, but could anyone accuse of you of being a drunkard?

The religious crowd hated him; He didn’t keep their rules. He hung out with those who were sick and blind, and all those who, in their mind, God was punishing. One of their greatest complaints was that Jesus didn’t focus his attention on them (the Pharisees and the Sadducees). But he kept hanging out with and preaching to non-Christians. If you were to look at your life, look at your church, maybe even look at the movement within evangelical Christianity that you are a part of, could there ever be an accusation from a legalistic religious crowd towards you? Those people or that person is a friend of sinners.