Go (An article about social justice)
By Mike Pilavachi
“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
(Matt. 28:16-20)
This is an account of the last words that Jesus spoke to the disciples before He returned to heaven. Today The Great Commission is as powerful and relevant to us as it was to Jesus’ audience two thousand years ago. In fact we exist as Christians partly because of the extent to which the group of twelve took Jesus’ command seriously. Like a line of dominoes, each generation inherits parts of the previous generation’s character and reaps the rewards of the previous generation’s work. If we want to see the gospel interacting on a greater level with the rest of the world, the responsibility lies with us. If we squander of chance to follow Jesus’ simple instruction, we not only risk opportunities today, but we erase them for tomorrow.
To live the life means to spend time in worship of the King, to allow time and space for the Holy Spirit to heal and empower us; but it will be meaningless if we stand with boots of lead, immovable and apathetic. When the passion witnessed in the meeting is fused with action outside, then our words have integrity and our deeds have power. We need to learn to give away what we’ve received.
Those Acting Apostles
A couple of year’s back, while staying at a friend’s home in Dorset, I read through the Acts of the Apostles. As I read I asked God what the differences were between the early church and our own contemporary churches. I was amazed at the answer. This must have been the fiftieth time I had read the book, and it was only now that I felt like I really understood. The answer was this:
The difference between the first church and ours lay not in their power-encounters with the Holy Spirit or in their theological education, it was their obedience to the command to “GO” and tell others about Him.
Obeying the command was their main priority, and they were sure to follow through when things were tough as well as when they were easy. When they were met with persecution they went out to the lost with as much eagerness as when their message was met with thanks and joy. It all kicked off at Pentecost when they preached the gospel for the first time—assisted by the Holy Spirit. For a first attempt the boys didn’t do too badly, notching up three thousand men as converts to Christianity. If it had been me I would have demanded a few warm-up gigs before I risked it in front of that many people, but the apostles knew that they were to do what Jesus had told them, so out they went.
Moving on a bit, Peter and John were on their way to the temple when they met a beggar. Those of you who paid attention in previous chapters will remember their reply: “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk” (Acts 3:6). The beggar did what he was told and left that place walking and jumping, praising God for what He had done.
Not surprisingly the Pharisees and teachers of the law were not happy about all this, and they had Peter and John arrested and beaten. The apostles were then given an ultimatum: Quit preaching the gospel or die. Peter and John returned to the others and got on with praying about the rather sticky situation. It is at this point that they blow a Christian like myself out of the water. Instead of adopting a Pilavachiesque technique like “Oh Lord, please help us because we’re in trouble,” they turned to the Lord and asked for boldness to proclaim so that they could get right back out there and kick butt. As they prayed the Holy Spirit came and filled them. God’s presence was so real that even the walls shook.
Then there was a guy called Steven. He proclaimed Jesus so frequently and with such passion that the authorities had him stoned to death. He was the first Christian martyr and his death set off an increase in the hostilities against the early Christians. They were soon scattered all over the surrounding area, having fled from Jerusalem. On arrival in locations throughout Judea and Samaria instead of laying low and trying not to get themselves killed, the apostles started, once again, to heal, teach and spend time with people. They took His command seriously, and turned the world upside down.
As I read the book of Acts, I had to repent of something I have often said. I used to believe that the acts of the apostles should be called the acts of the Holy Spirit, because it was all about the work of the Holy Spirit. I don’t think that anymore; these events should be called the acts of the apostles because the apostles acted. They did something, they made a difference and I believe God is telling us today to “GO” and to make a difference in whatever way, big or small. The importance does not depend on the amount of people that witness our activity, but on the very fact that we obey our calling. It is about time that we took this seriously, and were prepared to act like those disciples that we claim to admire.
What I discovered while I was on my own in Dorset, was that revival does not come when we go to every meeting possible to receive a blessing, it comes when we go across the street to be a blessing. The salvation of our nations lay, not surprisingly, in our own hands. If we choose to value our neighbors by offering them a full range of practical expressions of the gospel, the chances are they will be a lot more inclined to hear what we have to say than if we show them our slides from the latest overseas location of blessing.
The Scriptures are full of exhortations for God’s people to go, and at times I have been puzzled; bearing in mind that Jesus repeated Himself so often on the subject, what part of the command do we have a problem with? Is it the “G” or the “O”? Like much our faith, the basis is very simple, and is applicable to absolutely everybody.
How do we go?
Jesus announced the beginning of His ministry with the words: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
This was His manifesto. He came to preach the good news of forgiveness and salvation, to proclaim freedom and to bring healing and release from oppression. He came to bring justice. This good news was for the poor, but not simply the poor in Spirit, but the financially and materially poor. The freedom was for those unjustly imprisoned, the release was for those who were under the yoke of oppression, the year of the Lord’s favor was the time when debts were canceled and slaves set free.
Jesus did not simply proclaim this good news; He was the good news. He didn’t stop at sympathizing with the poor and oppressed, He became one of them. Jesus was God becoming poor. He spent time with the “publicans and sinners” and treated them gently while He treated the Pharisees and teachers of the Law harshly.
We must imitate Jesus’ actions when He talked to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. She was an outcast and Jesus had plenty of time for her. So must we.
There is chance that this strikes a chord with you, but you are left feeling confused and unsure about the very nature of going—just how, you might wonder, is it done? Fortunately there is no hierarchy here; we all have a chance to express God to others—it is not something that we leave to the evangelists. For every person for whom God is a stranger there is an endless combination of words, works and wonders that they will find relevant. The key to loving our neighbors (or those we have contact with), the starting block on which all else is built, is friendship. Without genuine friendship our words are distant, our works are hollow and the wonders don’t have much to work through.
The poor are all around us. Whether their poverty is defined by finance, relationship, health or faith, there are many out there. In the same way we can give via our wallet, our time, our energy or skills. From a random act of kindness to a full-on regular commitment, God is ready to put our action to use.
A group of people on the training course we used to run noticed that the bus stop opposite their house regularly had elderly people waiting at it in the cold. They decided to take some chairs out for them to sit on and some coffee to drink. There was no ulterior motive—they didn’t make the old biddies listen to a talk on the seven spiritual laws in return for the favor—they were simply doing what they (and we) have been told. After all we Christians are supposed to be the nicest, most generous, most considerate people on the face of the earth.
Going: A matter of choice?
I once heard of a Christian who had refused to sign a petition to wipe out third world debt because they did not feel that the Lord had called them to it. If their reason for refusing had been political I would have felt differently, but as it was, the news made me sad. The truth is that we have been called, it is all there in black and white, the “G” and the “O,” the Great Commission, the call to set the captives free and be good news to the poor. There is no need to wait—some of us have been waiting for too long already. Our time on Earth is not a practice run—it is the real thing and the only chance we will ever get to be a light in the darkness. We do not have the luxury of saying no to God.
My prayer is that we are immersed in the power, love and glory of Jesus and that it has the same effect on us that it had on the apostles. I pray that we might be missionaries in our homes, in our schools, in our places of work, in our community and in our nation. We need to care for our cities and our world, and that care needs to be expressed in very practical ways.
BACK TO RANDOM THOUGHTS PAGE: GO>>
^^BACK TO TOP^^
