Building Bridges for Christ and His Kingdom

As Christians, we are called by God to be Christ's ambassadors. That's quite a job description by any measurement! In order to fulfill our assignment, we are going to have to step outside of our insulated Christian circles and learn how to bridge the gap between Christ's church and today's world.

Bridges are fascinating feats of engineering and design. They are designed to bring things together--land masses, roads, and people. Your life as a Christian can be exciting for the very same reason--because we get to be bridge-builders for Christ. Of course, Jesus is the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5); but, acting under His authority, Christians have the privilege of building bridges that can attract people into His Kingdom.

What kind of bridges are still left to be built? Non-Christians often have barriers that keep them from considering Christ: intellectual, cultural, and moral barriers. We can be their bridges to the gospel. Just as Jesus left heaven to come and dwell with man in a sinful world, He's left us with the challenging task of creatively penetrating our world with the gospel of salvation He showed us how to be effective bridge builders. In a sense, then, there may never be a time when we are more like Jesus than when we are bridging a cultural gap with the gospel.

How does one become a bridge-builder for Christ? While it's true we need to understand the Bible, a measure of theology and most importantly the gospel message, we must also understand what non-Christians believe, how they think, and how they've been impacted by today's cultures. And then, as ambassadors for Christ, we become the bridge between His church and the world by communicating the gospel into the context of the non-Christian mindset.

I think most people today view cross-cultural ministry as something performed in a foreign nation. In one sense that is very true. But America today has become very secular, developing a culture of its own in an ideological sense-one very different from the cultural characteristics of the church. So today, we need to view our American culture as a place of opportunity for cross-cultural ministry! If you're a Christian in America, you live in one of the biggest most opportune mission fields in the world!

How do get started? First, by investigating and understanding the secular views of our culture. Understanding another person's world view, or belief system, is the starting point for communicating the gospel in any language, in any culture. By showing an understanding of and interest in another person's beliefs, we gain credibility and integrity with that person-and probably even a favorable hearing for the Christian message.

A bridge-builder is one who has made a commitment to understand people with different backgrounds and beliefs in order to make Christianity relevant to these people. However, in order to become an effective bridge-builder, we have to go through a process of transformation ourselves. First, we need to examine the isolation problem found in many of today's churches. So many churches today, are not actively seeking opportunities to be bridge-builders. That has to change if we are going to influence the world around us. Whether it’s our neighborhood, our community or some distant place in another part of the world, we must tune ourselves to the culture so that the gospel finds a hearing ear.

In future posts, we'll look at Christ's model for ministry which can help us overcome our tendencies towards isolation. We'll also explore how our lives can build bridges to the world. Finally, we’ll look at the need for preparation in order to be fully equipped to construct better bridges.

Missionary Christians Send...

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PART III

In the context of the Great Commission... there are two types of Christians with distinctly different roles within the Church. There are Christian Missionaries... they go to the mission field. Then there are Missionary Christians.... they authorize, send and support those that go to the mission field.

John encourages Gaius to "send them [the missionaries] forward on their journey" (3 John, v. 6). As in the case with the first missionary journey from Antioch, those who did not go, were senders (Acts 13:4-5). But how should Missionary Christians send out their fellow servants in the world's mission fields?

Filled with love
John commends Gaius for his love (v. 6) which he has heard about from the report of others. Above all, Christians should be characterized by love, especially Christians who are committed to commissioning missionaries. First, love for God will ensure that when we send out missionaries, we do so "in a manner worthy of God" (v. 6). Secondly, love for the brethren, especially for those who go forth for the sake of Christ's name, will cause us to take a serious interest in those who go out from us. Finally, a love for people in the world--the world which God loved so much that He sent His own Son--will make us willing to send our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters to declare the great grace and glory of God's salvation to them. To fulfill the calling to be a Missionary Christian, one must have a heart filled with love.

Committed to the truth
But love is not enough. Zeal for world missions is no excuse for being weak on truth. In reality there can be no such zeal, nor genuine love, without a commitment to the truth. Paul says that "love rejoices in the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6). Further, an informed concern for world evangelism carries with it a jealousy for the unadulterated evangel.

Those who send must be as committed to God's revealed truth as those who go. John recognized this quality in Gaius and encourages him to become a fellow worker with missionaries "for the truth" (v. 8). How is such commitment cultivated? By learning to "walk in the truth" (v. 3). That is, by having a steadfast, practical devotion to the truth.

Love and truth make for a spiritually potent combination. It proved to be very beneficial to those who had come to Gaius's church. They had their needs met very well. Such balanced Christian living is attractive and encouraging to believers everywhere.

Being thoroughly committed to God's truth affords a great satisfaction in sending out missionaries who will faithfully carry that truth to unreached people groups. The prospect of being directly involved in sending the gospel around the world is reason to rejoice. But, having a deep love for those who are sent out also exposes one to deep pain. When we send loved ones, we send a part of ourselves with them. It involves sorrow--real sorrow at the thought of separation and change in relationships.

So it is common to find mixed emotions welling up within a congregation at the prospect of sending loved ones into the mission field. We love them and they will be missed. But at the same time we are devoted to the truth which they are taking with them and rejoice to have a part in the great work of declaring God's grace to the nations.

Conclusion
The command of the Great Commission is clear and its practical application as expressed in the story of Gaius in 3rd John helps us recognize the roles played by all Christians... we either go or we send. We cannot remain passive, uninterested bystanders in the missionary work of our Lord. Both goers and senders are critical to the success of any mission endeavor. Both are important. Both labors must be entered into with equal commitment and seriousness.

Those of us who stay are called to be senders--for now. But, are you willing for God to call you to go to the field in the future? Our attitudes ought to be this: willing to go, called to stay; and therefore determined to do all that we can to be as faithful in our staying as we expect those we send to be faithful in their going.

The ones who go out from us do not merely "become" our missionaries. Nor do we merely "let them go." Rather, we send them. They remain a part of us--our responsibility; our privilege to serve and love--though now in a vastly different way. They are our family--extended across the world, all for the sake of the Name.

As Christian missionaries go they do so as a part of a local church. They go for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ and with a commitment to the truth which is revealed in Him. They go to make Christ known where He is not presently known. Therefore they must go with a determination to live holy lives, to teach God's Word and to tell of His love for sinners. In dependence on God's Spirit, they go to persuade those who have been shut up in darkness to come to the Light that gives life.

When William Carey volunteered to leave England for the distant shores of India to "take the gospel to the heathen," his friend and fellow pastor, Andrew Fuller agreed to stay behind and rally support for the effort. Their lives typify, respectively, what it means to be a Christian Missionary and a Missionary Christian.

Looking back on the solemn occasion when Carey agreed to go, Fuller describes the commitment which was made.

We saw that there was a gold mine in India, but it seemed almost as deep as the center of the earth. Who will venture to explore it? "I will go down," said Mr. Carey to his brethren, "but remember that you must hold the ropes." We solemnly engaged to do so; nor while we live, shall we desert him.

May such a spirit live on in a new generation of goers and senders.

Missionaries GO... for the sake of Christ's name

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PART II

Continuing with the discussion of the two different categories of Christians, verse 7 of 3rd John tells us the motivation which underscores a Christian Missionary's work. "They went forth for His name's sake." Why leave family, friends, opportunities and comforts to travel to an unfamiliar country with a completely different culture? You do it... to bring glory, honor and recognition to the name of Jesus Christ.

God has always been concerned for the honor of His Name. He used the mighty Pharoah in order to display His power and declare His Name throughout the earth (Romans 9:17). He did not destroy the Israelites in the wilderness for the sake of His Name (Ezekiel 20:14). He spared Jerusalem from enemy forces for His own Name's sake (2 Kings 19:34). He restored Israel from exile in order to vindicate the holiness of His own great Name (Ezekiel 36:22).

The first petition which Jesus taught us to make to God in prayer is "Hallowed be Your Name." To follow Jesus means living your life for the sake of His name (Matthew 19:26-29).

Paul's whole life as a missionary was lived for the glory of Christ's Name. When God called him, He told Ananias to go to Paul, "for I will show him how many things he must suffer for My Name's sake" (Acts 9:16). As Paul traveled he knew that his apostleship had been received from Christ "for obedience to the faith among all nations for His Name's sake" (Romans 1:5). When confronted with the prospect of suffering and persecution he rebuked his well meaning friends by declaring, "I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 21:13).

Who should go as Christian missionaries? Those who have already shown a jealousy for the Name of Christ demonstrated in personal devotion, in faithful service, in practical holiness at home, on the job and in the use of time and personal resources. A call to be a missionary does not necessarily mean a change in one’s passion, although you would expect enhanced excitment at the prospect of serving. It simply means a change of location and circumstances in pursuing one’s passion for proclaiming the name of Christ.

A church should send as missionaries only those who have an observable love for the Name of Jesus Christ. Devotion to "the Name" should be evident in the way a man treats his wife and a wife treats her husband. It should be demonstrated in the way that parents train their children. The way a man orders his home, conducts his business, witnesses and reaches out to others, studies the Word, serves the church, and uses his gifts. When such people are commissioned, they must be charged to carry that same passion to see our Lord and Savior's Name hallowed among the people to whom they are going.

It is the name of Christ that sustains a missionary... doing everything in his name and for the sake of His name protects you. When you miss your family back in the states...remember the Name. When you reach points of frustration... remember the Name. When you grow discouraged and lonely... remember the Name. When you are tempted to sin... remember the Name. Above al things, all worries and all concerns a missionary must be willing to spend and be spent for the glory of that Name... Jesus Christ.

As workers for the truth
Christian Missionaries also go out as "workers for the truth" (v. 8). Believers are stewards, not originators, of the truth. We are messengers, not authors. We have had committed to us the faith which has been once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Christian Missionaries work for that truth by taking it to people groups who do not have the gospel. Consequently, they must have a clear conviction of and submission to the Bible as the Word of God. They must also be diligent students of that Word so that when they speak of it and from it they communicate its message accurately.

The mission field is no place to send doubters, skeptics or those with serious doctrinal questions in hopes that they will come to a surer knowledge of God and their own faith. As Missionary Christians in the sending role, we should shudder to think of anyone trying to serve God in whom they have doubts or simply do not believe all that the Bible teaches. The gospel ministry, especially the mission field, is no place for the doubter or skeptic. The work is too important. Souls are at stake. Eternity hangs in the balance God's fame is at stake! His truth has been entrusted to those who go and as they go, they must carry it with integrity, honesty, and devotion.

Christian Missionaries go in close association with the church, for the sake of Christ's name, and as workers for the truth. But, not every believer can be a Christian Missionary. Nevertheless, every follower of Christ must be a Missionary Christian. Part III of this series will be posted by mid month.