Mission Over Model

For most of my life, I’ve believed the church has a mission. It’s easy to think that considering Jesus’s words in Mathew 28:19-20.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

I’m not here to say that the mission isn’t real. I do believe those words. I think that we Christians have a mandate to disciple others (and of course, the word disciple means to “be like the teacher” as well as teach. It’s an exampling.)

But I do think we have often put the cart before the horse. We often choose to put the model of how to accomplish this mission before the mission itself. We care more about how other people follow the rules than if they’ve experienced the life changing power of the Gospel.

Here’s my revelation lately: we are to put mission over model.

Instead of focusing on the mechanics of the rules surrounding what it looks like for other people follow Jesus, we need to focus on our own pursuit of Jesus in our daily lives and bring others along. That means less bible study, fewer lectures, and more cooking for our sick or lonely neighbors.

Just as the Gospel is not about following the rules, discipling is not about correcting ideas and lecturing our fellow humans on morality. It’s about the fruits of the spirit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control - Scripture says “against such things there is no law.”

No don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying there is no place for correction, or that there is no morality. And I’m certainly not saying God doesn’t have a design for how we are to truly live and act.

But here’s the thing about “teaching” the world: When I see Jesus do it, he always starts with grace. Grace comes first. The relationship with God, the overbearing love that covers everything broken and wrong, always comes before anything else.

The transformation of how someone lives their life comes after grace. Adherence to the law only comes from our salvation through God’s grace.

This means that teaching people “how to be good” who don’t know the deep, wide, abundant love of Jesus will always, always fall on deaf or angry ears.

And how do we expect people to experience the love of Jesus if not through his disciples? That means you and me (if you also follow Jesus. If not, thanks for reading this far. Feel free to stick around but feel no obligation).

In John 13:34-35, Jesus says

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

What if discipling looked like this:

Love over law.
Joy over judgement.
Peace over anger.
Patience over reactive actions and words.
Kindness over correction.
Goodness over selfishness.
Faithfulness over regulation.
Gentleness over power.
Self control over impulsive emotion.

I think we’ve tried the route of attempting to enforce behavior long enough; it’s not our job to do that, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job.

I think instead, it’s time we focus on listening to that same Holy Spirit nudging us to work out our faith in our own lives. We have been given the fruits of the spirit as a practical gauge to mark our own spiritual journeys. I truly believe that if we focus on that, the rest of discipling comes naturally.

-Phil