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| On a Mission Photo Credit. |
As I was reading John 17 today, I found Jesus’ answer to what our perspective on life should be. John 17 is a word-by-word account of Jesus’ prayer for the disciples as he was about to leave them. Down around verse 15 or 16 (I was reading in the Message Remix), Jesus prays, “I’m not asking that you take them out of the world.”
That phrase piqued my interest. Jesus wanted the disciples to remain here in the world. In the few sentences prior, Jesus was talking about how the “godless world” hated him and the disciples. Still, he wants the disciples to remain in that world.
Mission
The first question that popped into my mind was “Why?” A few sentences later, Jesus answers that question:
“In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world.”
That is why Jesus wants the disciples in the world: they have a specific mission to accomplish. They aren’t there just to pass the time leisurely, or to enjoy the wholesome diversions that the world can provide at times. The disciples had a mission to accomplish!
This “mission” isn’t exclusive to the disciples, but extends to all Christians. Because of our relationship with Jesus, we have a mission to spread God’s love and Jesus’s salvation! In Jesus’s words, “they’ll. . .give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me.” (~vs. 22-23 MSG)
These verses dictate how we should live our life: we should live like we’re on a mission!
This theology of life should expand outward from our brains to affect all aspects of our life! It will affect how we spend our time. We should be intentional about the things we do with our lives. We should be intentional about how we interact with the people around us.
As McKay Caston preached to us back in November, no Christian is a civilian! We've got a mission people!
Your turn: How do you think that this theology of life should impact the way we think and live?
We should enjoy our lives. All the while we should focus on Him and have faith that He will see us through. We should not worry or fear. Worry and fear are not compatible with faith.
Lately, I've been examining the concept of eternal security. It's unbelievably frightening.
We should constantly be examining our faith - examining our salvation. Becoming a Christian isn't another vaccine that we can get, it's a complete transformation. I know that for me, this transformation has only occurred recently. My life is completely different than it was a year ago.
From what I've found in scripture, I never want to assume that I'm saved from an eternity in hell - Why? Because I don't want my heart to be hardened to Christ. We need to live missionally - It's an extremely convicting concept. Everything that we do should have Jesus Christ at the center of it. It's so revolutionary, just blows my mind.
Thanks for posting this. It drives home exactly what I've been studying this week!
-AJ
AJ, I would like to respectfully say that I seriously disagree with you. I think that we SHOULD know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are saved and that we rest with God.
Once you're saved, you can't lose your salvation, because really our salvation isn't up to us in the end. Take for instance Romans 9:8 where God talks about "the children of the promise." Down in verses 11 and 12 Paul talks about God's work in election and choosing who will be a part of the promise, and it says in #12: "...not by works but by him who calls." (Speaking of Jacob and Esau). Esau should have inherited the birth right, but God had told Rebekah that he was choosing Jacob.
Also, verses 15 and 16 of that passage are crucial: "For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Vs16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
This does not diminish our role in responding, but I do lean much more heavily to the Calvinistic side of things than I do the Armenian.
You cannot lose your faith because God has chosen you! So you should rest secure in that fact!
As far as verses dealing specifically with eternal security, this passage from Philippians 1 is huge:
"3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
GOD will complete the good work in you, and will carry it out the full course to the day of Christ Jesus. That's all the way into eternity: this is definitely dealing with salvation!
In conclusion, I think that as Clint said, we should not need to worry or fear about our salvation, or really anything in life! We should rest secure in the arms of Jesus.
I would have to agree.
I didn't articulate the first comment very well. What I meant to say by "I never want to assume that I'm saved from an eternity in hell" was that I never want to become hardened to the fact that I have eternal security in Christ because I feel like that becomes the entrance to a dangerous zone. If I become hardened to the idea that I have eternal security in Christ and begin to live my life passively, it may be as far to say that I never had eternal salvation to begin with.
Hebrews 3:1-6
6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
So I don't want assuming I have salvation to become part of a spiritual roadblock as I see it has in so many "Christians" lives.
Some more very intriguing scripture:
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Thanks for correcting the err in my words!
Ok, I see what you were trying to say now! I was pretty sure that we agreed on this point, glad to see it was just a matter of semantics.
Awesome dude! Maybe a good blog post in the future...