What is the Church's Global Responsibility?
What is a Christian’s responsibility to sharing the Gospel? Who is Jesus referring to when we’re told to take the Gospel to every nation? Through caring for the broken and oppressed Christians are bringing light into darkness. What would it look like to live out Wesley’s words, “The world is my parish?”
In John 12, Mary Magdalene anoints the feet of Jesus with an expensive jar of perfume. It is a powerful expression of worship. However, Judas argues that the perfume could've been sold and the money given to the poor.
Regardless of his intentionality, what he's doing is a polemic, a debate tool to paralyze opponents. He is pitting two good categories against one another.
Is Jesus deserving of worship? Absolutely. Are the poor worthy of caring for? Absolutely. However, it is unnecessary to pit them against each other for honoring the poor flows from treasuring Jesus.
If we're not careful, we can fall into the same catch. Why pray for another country when ours is hurting? Why do something for another state when our community is broken? Why tend to other neighborhoods when ours has needs too? Scripture is clear that we have a responsibility to both. It is not either/or, instead both/and.
John Wesley was once criticized by a bishop for taking the gospel outside the church. Wesley replied, "The world is my parish." We obey the words of Jesus by caring for the poor, broken, and oppressed. We are to have a heart for the world.
All Nations Shall Be Blessed
Novelist Mickey Spillane once said, "The most important part of a story is the ending. No one reads a book to get to the middle." The word "finished" means to complete the final part.
I grew up in a church that was unsure of how to finish. My pastor would quote Psalm 67, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us." But he would stop there instead of finishing the thought expressed. So when we read the second part, we see, "…That your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all the nations."
Again we see this in Psalm 46:10. The phrase, "Be still, and know that I am God," is quoted frequently in churches. However, that's just the first part. "Be still, and know that I am God…I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!"
We see in the story of Abraham in Genesis 26 that it was in his offspring that all nations of the Earth would be blessed and be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Galatians 3:8 clarifies that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. Abraham was saying, in You, all nations shall be blessed.
Through Abraham, he would bring His seed, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and many persons, Gentiles, Jews, and persons from all nations would have the opportunity of being incorporated into the Abrahamic land and covenant of God.
Todd Ahrend, founder and international Director of The Traveling Team, a national missions mobilization movement, said, "Out of all the nations, God chose one nation to reach the nations."
It was Abraham and Israel to reach all the nations in light of the birth of the Messiah through the Abrahamic lens.
"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV)
The Old Testament closes with the same reminder in Malachi 1:11 (ESV).
"For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, and in every place, incense will be offered to my name and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts."
Through the person of Jesus, God picks up on the same thread that began in Genesis. In Mark 16:15, Jesus tells us, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Also, in John 20:21, "As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you." Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name into all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.
To All Nations
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of this 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." Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV)
When we see the term "nations" used in the New Testament, it's not a reference to a geopolitical state. The root word for "nations" is the Greek word, ethne, which is where we get the word ethnic. So, he is referring to all ethnicities and people groups of the world.
“There’s a God-shaped hole in all of us that only God can fill.”
As Christians, we delight that God is with us. We will pray, "Lord be with us," however, we must be careful that we receive the promise yet reject the command. We have an individual role and corporate responsibility in reaching all the people groups with the love of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
More than 500 Bible verses tell us about God's heart for the nations. Yet there are more than 6,000 unreached people groups. These people have no access to another believer, let alone a church, and many are without a Bible translated into their language.
Our Gospel Responsibility
We can become so familiar with what God has done in Christ that we lose sight of the transformative power of the Gospel.
I've seen all manners of attempted sin expungement in our global trips to share the gospel. Yet when we share the Good News, we often hear, "I never understood there's one God who created all things and loves me. I know a peace I've never felt before. But where have you been so long with this news?"
During one trip to Asia, I stood in a room with 50 believers and asked, "How many of you have been to prison for your faith?" About half of the hands went up. "How many of you have had a loved one martyred for the cause of Christ?" Five hands go up.
Despite the persecution, when I asked how the North American church could pray for them, I was told something I've treasured so much I wrote in my journal.
"Do not feel sorry for us. Pray that we go stronger for our Lord and that His light shines brighter so that others may be reached. Pray that we only grow bolder in sharing the love of God through His gospel with all peoples."
The last time I was in that region of the world, a train car was stopped passing the border into Thailand. Inside were more than 600 children trafficked to be sold. This had also happened six weeks before we arrived.
Where light is absent, darkness comes. Where there is something worth living for, there's something worth suffering for, and there's something worth dying for.
Remember the words of Horatio Spafford, who wrote: "It Is Well with My Soul."
(v.2) My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!
(v.6) And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Be reminded that three billion people do not know that reality, which is not okay.
In our end-times teaching, our responsibility is often missing: To bring the light. Only the Father knows the hour, but until then, the Gospel teaches that we have a responsibility of the Kingdom proclaimed through the world. All ethnic groups. All nations. Then the end will come, and we've got work to do.
"And they said a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation," Revelation 5:9 (ESV)
Someone Worth Living & Dying For
I have a friend, Dennis, who served as a missionary in Indonesia. He moved his wife and children into a primitive village of unreached people. When he arrived, there was a lot of chaos in that village, including adultery, alcoholism, drug, and child abuse. However, over the years, the village began to know Jesus, and the abuse rates dropped dramatically.
One day a village leader named Papito came to Dennis.
"Did your father have the good news you've shared with us," Papito said?
"Yes, he did," Dennis answered.
"Did your grandfather have this news?"
"Yes, he did too."
"Where have you been so long with this good news?"
There is someone worthy of living for. Jesus is worthy of our sacrifice. Jesus is worthy of suffering for. Jesus is worthy of dying for. Let's finish. Let's continue to rise to be a healthy, vibrant, life-giving Church for the glory of God because the world is our parish.
TL; DR
We obey the words of Jesus by caring for the poor, broken, and oppressed.
When we see the term "nations" used in the New Testament, it's not a reference to a geopolitical state. Jesus referrs to all ethnicities and people groups of the world.
We have an individual role and corporate responsibility in reaching all the people groups with the love of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We can become so familiar with what God has done in Christ that we lose sight of the transformative power of the Gospel.
Related Reading
How Do I Find My Mission In Life by Grant Caldwell
What is the Church by Rev. Paul Lawler
Is Social Justice Biblical? by William Merriman
About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services
