Big, Brash Gospel Friday - April 15, 2011

Let's get this straight - the Lord isn't asking us to save anybody.

He is not calling on us to win souls (a Proverb taken out of context), rescue the lost, defeat the Enemy, or conquer the world.

All of this and much more, the King of Grace has already done and is unstoppably applying at every moment, whether we are awake or asleep.

We are all familiar with the anxiety associated with "doing evangelism" or "witnessing for Christ," and when we're not feeling anxious we're feeling guilty, incompetent, or heartless for the catastrophic failure that most of us would evaluate our evangelism to be.

Here's the thing: I believe that most anxiety, guilt, and failure in Christian witness is the result of a fundamental misunderstanding of what we have been called to do.

We've been given the best job in the world!

We get to spend our lives being Ty Pennington. You know, the guy from ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition who gets paid handsomely to spend none of his own money and do minimal work, yet be the one who gets to connect with thoughtful, needy people and unveil - with cheers and tears and stunned, ecstatic celebrations - the biggest, most beautiful material gift these weary folks will ever receive.

Who of us, watching that show, has not said what a fun, perfect job it would be to go around changing people's lives face to face - with somebody else's bottomless check book?

Brothers and sisters, our calling to be the Lord's ambassadors and messengers of mercy and grace has never been about statistics or methods or efficiency charts or notches in our belt - as though we actually accomplish anything.

It's all about being Ed McMahon at the front door with a $10,000,000 check he didn't write or Ty Pennington shouting, "Move that bus! And let's go look at your new house!"

The Lord does it all. He always has and He always will.

He set His heart upon His people before time began. He spoke His promises, He sent and spent His Son, He resurrects souls through His Spirit, He is unstoppably building His church, His kingdom is an everlasting and extravagant kingdom and we get the happy role of carrying his purchased, perfect gifts from the Christmas tree to the empty hands that will enjoy them.

It's never been about us rescuing people or convincing people or coercing people or doing any part of God's work for Him.

It's always been about us grasping all that God has done and planned and getting to be the ones who share the joy - on His "checkbook."

Abraham told the Lord that he and Sarah were too old to have one baby. The Lord responded that the nation He would build of their descendants would be as uncountable as the grains of sand at the beach or the stars in the galaxies.

Elijah bemoaned that he was all alone in his faithfulness to God, and the Lord said, "Get up, I've got 7000 people..."

Paul ran into strident and stiff-necked opposition as he entered Corinth with the Gospel. His message was rejected and his life was threatened, and the Lord told him, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent for I am with you, and...I have many people in this city." A year and a half later Paul was still there happily gathering and engaging the fruit of God's work.

In an ironic twist, Jonah announces his great confession at the end of his story. His whole fleeing God, whale-vomiting incident had been because he was miserably aware of how kind and merciful God is. The issue of his rebellion was not how hard it was to tell God's message and get a response out of people. He ran because he hated the Ninevites and knew that this God of his would save people through His announced Word whether Jonah liked it or not!

"Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!" - Jonah 4:2-3

God is showering His great grace on a vast a growing family. Being a happy part of this mission is as simple as getting wet in a rainstorm - you just step outside, walk, and talk where the rain is falling.

My Dad and Mom set off for Japan in 1950 equipped only with a love for the Lord and a confidence in the saving power and sovereign grace of God. Their "Reformed"/ "doctrines of grace" theology put them at odds with nearly every mid-20th century fellow-missionary and this same theology informed them that the Lord was on the move, His redeeming love would gather His people, and His Kingdom would grow - unchecked - exactly as He had planned.

This did not make them passive, disengaged missionaries. It made them Ty Pennington - happy, eager, expectant, stress-free missionaries, marveling that they got be the ones handing out God's priceless gifts.

To be vibrant, irrepressible, optimistic ambassadors of Christ, we must have a big, brash, God-centered, grace-defined, joy-hungry Gospel theology.

The Lord has not called us to storm the walls or conquer the land. He has routed the enemy, beheaded the oppressor, liberated a people too vast to count, and sent us in with the good news. We're the ones throwing aside the unlocked gates and announcing in German prison-camps that the Allies have landed and won the day.

The Lord's Gospel-work is not sparse and under-achieving. Jesus Christ descended to the lower parts of the earth and He is leading captivity captive. His royal victory parade is collecting prisoners and refuges and liberated slaves in every time and in every place. The assembly in His train will be too many to count - like the stars and the sand - and the day will come when the march of His invincible Gospel will "fill the earth with glory of the Lord like the waters fill the seas."

So, get to know your neighbor, be a friend to your co-worker, set sail for a distant tribe, live with happy freedom in the midst of fettered slaves, and "always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you."

The priceless gift in your hands is already bought and paid for and the people of the Lord's mercy will receive it with great joy and act like you actually had something to do with the eternal jackpot that they have been given. What could be better?

We are anxious ambassadors not because the task is hard, but because we think the task is ours. When we clear up that nonsense it gets much simpler and happier.

We are fishing in a stocked pond with top-of-the-line borrowed equipment and irresistible bait - and we are nervous to cast our line.

Cast away, my friends, and let the celebration begin.