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MISSIONS OR MONUMENTS?

January 8th, 2015 No comments

MISSIONS OR MONUMENTS ?

"...running with the Mission Vision"

        “…running with the Mission Vision.”

They were trembling and cowering and shaking and shaking with fear;
They were huddled together in terror in the upper room.
‘I say’, trembling, cowering, shaking, shaking, shaking with fear,
One hundred and twenty gathered in the upper room.
They were praying, praying, saying, ‘O Lord send down the fire’.
O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, o-o send it we pray.
 
Having received the mandate – the greatest commission of all times:
But ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth”. (Acts 1:8),
Christ’s disciples retired to an upper room where they waited and prayed in uncertainty and fear for the fulfilment of the prophetic promise.
They had no boldness, they had no power, they had no resources (human, material and financial) to carry out the onerous assignment they had just received.
As they waited, as they trembled. As they prayed: SUDDENLY, the unexpected happened! Heaven itself came down upon them in the form of “a rushing, mighty wind…cloven tongues of fire… sat upon each of them.” (Acts 2-3).
Empowerment has come upon a powerless, hopeless, defeated people. They rushed out from their hiding place and began to preach the gospel with unqualified boldness!
That marked the beginning of the EXECUTION OF GOD’S ENDTIME MANDATE ON EARTH, the first phase of the GREAT COMMISSION “…and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem…”



NOTE: God is a meticulous planner. He gave general instructions

            on the project modalities in the Gospels. “Go ye into all the                     
            world and preach…”  (Mark 16:15). Then in Acts Acts 
            of the Apostles (Acts 1:8) detailing comes in.BACK TO OUR DISCUSS.
As they started phase one of the project they were stupefied by the immensity of their success.
Here!” They exclaimed in utter bewilderment. “We labored with our Master, criss-crossing the length and breadth of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria for three years. And what do we have to show for it? A miserable one hundred and twenty people. But now in one fell swoop, we have gathered over three thousand people. Not three thousand that have come because they were hungry for bread.” (John 6:11-12)They  were amazed beyond measure. Imagine a church that grew to about ten thousand members within the twinkling of an eye. (Each of the three thousand converts must have had at least, two children. Throw in about one or two househelps/dependants and the congregation would hit the ten thousand mark.)

Remember, they had only unveiled phase one of the End Time Mandate!
This was the first physical, corporate church. (Acts 2:42)

They were now face to face with the onerous task of consolidation: Disciplining the new converts and managing their sudden success. But, alas! That was as far as they ever went.

As they were trying to put an administrative structure on the ground: Fellowship regulations and timetables; Sharing in love; Having swell worship and praise sessions and so on and so forth, the real big bang came – the first major miracle (distinct from the “signs and wonders” of Acts 2:43) took place – The Beautiful Gate cripple was healed and over five thousand people repented on the spot.

By now the church membership would have hit twenty thousand. The Apostles now had a real problem in their hands: MANAGING SUCCESS.

This is what has killed the vision of the church today and derailed her from her track: S-U-C-C-E-S-S.

How would a church with twenty thousand members think of missions?

Have they built a cathedral big enough and befitting of their status as a Mega Church?
The Founder and General Overseer’s comfort has to be taken care of as a matter of urgent, ‘national?’ importance, of course, by providing answers to the underlisted questions:
   

  • Is the mansion (Bishop’s Court) befitting enough for the ‘great man of God?’
  • What of his fleet of cars – does it contain the latest in auto technology?
  • Has he got a private jet yet? If yes, how many?
  • Is their private university listed among the first ten in the world?
  • Are the tuition fees paid in US Dollars, British Pounds or Euros?

In fact the list of frivolities is endless and in the process, THE CHURCH SETTLES DOWN TO BUILD A BABEL.
What a shameful tragedy.

STAGE         GOD’S TIMETABLE.            CHURCH (MAN’S) TIMETABLE

1 P.M.         Acts 1:8B Jerusalem.                Acts 1:8B Jerusalem

2 P.M.         Acts 1:8C Judea.                        Acts 1:8B Jerusalem

3 P. M.        Acts 1:8D Samaria.                    Acts 1:8B Jerusalem

4 P.M.         Mk. 16:15 All Nations.               Acts 1:8B Jerusalem

Although the church at this stage was very successful she was really rather a failure!
She seemed to be moving forward but she was actually moving backwards!
That’s a paradox, isn’t it?
 
I will explain.
 
Acts 4:1-20. The Apostles did not relent in preaching the gospel. If anything, they were preaching with inexplicable boldness, knowledge and power that baffled the bigoted religious leaders. The big questions, however were, “Where they preaching to the target audience? The audience of the hour? Were they still operating in God’s timetable?”
The answer is “No”‘ as we can see from the table above.
 
They started with God in stage one but refused or neglected to move when God moved hence they were operating at one o’clock when God had already moved on to four o’clock. Still harvesting Jerusalem when God’s sickle was laid over the whole world – ALL NATIONS at four o’clock – for the final harvest.
 
And that is the tragedy of the century: PREACHING THE GOSPEL OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO A PARTICULAR PEOPLE WHEN OTHERS HAVE NOT HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF HEARING IT (THE GOSPEL) ONCE.
 
What time are you in now as a corporate church? What time are you operating in as a born-again christian, an individual church?
 
Even when they ventured outside Judea as a result of persecution, they still witnessed to their own people only – the Jews. (Acts 11:19-20)
 
What is your concept of Missions today? Only going out to establish your own denomination? To plant another branch of your church in a place already saturated to bursting point with churches?
 
Or do you perceive Missions as taking the sweet story of Jesus to people who have not heard it before? Reaching the UNREACHED?
 
Far, far away in heathen darkness dwelling,
Millions of souls, forever may be lost.
Who, who will go, salvation story telling
Looking to Jesus counting not the cost?
 
They were doing the right thing at the wrong place. Preaching in Jerusalem to a people who had heard the gospel a thousand times and had as a result become constipated in the process while out there in Judea, people were dwelling in heathen darkness, dying and going to hell without Christ.
And that is exactly what today’s church is doing. Overfeeding the minority few with the bread of life while the majority unreached are starving.
 
Well, the Apostles may have their reasons for staying put in Jerusalem. 
They may explain it away thus:
‘Did we not preach in Judea and Samaria for three years without substantial results? Now we preach only once in Jerusalem and thousands are converted?
 “A pity. How short their memory was. They had probably forgotten the city of Sychar and the woman of Samaria. (Jn 4:5-42.) They had also forgotten the Galilee breakthrough of verses forty-four to forty-seven.  Or maybe, they did not forget at all – only considering economical viability.
Would investment in those areas be economically viable? Is the Samarian “oil” in commercial quantity?
They must have analysed thus: 
Years of effort yielded only a handful of converts in Judea.
One day effort in Jerusalem yielded 3000. 
So which of them is a better investment haven?
This is how church leaders plan their “Missions” strategy today! They see it as a business venture and only invest where the yield – financial yield of course – is highest. Soul winning has become a secondary consideration hence the scramble to plant churches in high brow sections of modern cities.
As far as they are concerned the Unreached can wait. They can remain Unreached until the “more urgent” task of setting up elegant cathedrals are accomplished.
“Where would the converts worship if the cathedrals are not built?” they ask.
They remember to forget that Jesus left the temple and went out there to the mountains and valleys to seek those that were lost – the Unreached. Once in a while they raise “missions offerings” – a paltry sum that is handed over to a visiting missionary in a well publicised ceremony.

 

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