Frank & Mary Kay
There are certain truths which every person seems to accept.
Which of these statements are true? In some contexts, some of these may appear to be true. In other contexts none of them are. How much did you weigh when you were 35 if you are older than that now? When I look around the food-mall, that does look as if it might be true. On the other hand, I see water running up hill every day. It runs up the pipe to my kitchen faucet!
We attended the Wee Kirk Conference this year at Montreat and it was brought to my attention again how often our observations are based upon our own experience and while valid for that context may need reexamination in the context of another. Extrapolation is always dangerous.
Everybody knows that. But we are constantly at risk of making critical judgments based upon information which does not compute. In our human communities, if one obeys the rules, they are good citizens. If one participates responsibly in the community, they are good people. When we attempt to translate that into the Kingdom of God, we find that it does not calculate. There are even some jokes based upon this. You probably have heard about the cannibal who was enabled to attend Harvard University. He graduated with honors. Years later the man responsible for getting him an education found him sitting before a big pot in the jungle. ŇYou havenŐt returned to cannibalism!?Ó he asked in dismay. ŇDonŐt be so downhearted. Now I eat with a knife and fork you see.Ó
In the community of the secular state, we do not ask if a person is a believer. In the community of the faith, it is all important. In the secular state, ethics may largely parallel the ethics which are derived from the nature of God because we were created in the image of God. But these ethics are a moveable feast. They are relative. They depend not upon an unchangeable standard. They are by common consent of the electorate or arbitrarily imposed by the will of the governor as the case may be.
Unfortunately, we forget this fact and since we deal more often with the secular state, our inclination is to allow our secular feelings to rule our religious sentiments.
That is probably the reason that some people wonder if they are hearing correctly when they hear that Missions to Japan are imperative.
Missions, you see is based upon ChristŐs command to take the word of salvation to those who are lost. We do not hear these words very often today, do we? When was the last time you heard someone refer to Ňthe lostÓ? When did you last hear someone say that salvation is based upon our relationship with God. Sin and Salvation is what the Bible is all about. But we forget that. We only deal with that in church, and even there is seems to make most of us a little bit nervous, doesnŐt it?
Matthew preserves the account of what Jesus wants us to do. Look at Matthew 24:25.
Make disciples of all nations. What is a disciple, and how do we make one? Disciple and discipline come from the same word, but this has nothing to do with rules. The root meaning of the word is Teaching. Most people think of evangelism not teaching when they hear the word missions, I imagine. But these words are related. Evangelism means proclaiming, and that which is proclaimed is the Word of God, which is also the teaching disciples receive. The teaching is not the ten Commandments; the Ten Commandments proceed from that teaching. The teaching is that God wants to be our Father. By right of creation, he is our ruler, but He wants to be a parent to us.
