Mission
This week we are going to use our devotionals to go through a different one of our values or cultures each day, and to spend time thinking and meditating on what it looks like for us to live these out even in lockdown, in this unique time that we’re living through.
Pause:
Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus.
Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.
Read:
Romans 1:14-15: “I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
Going Deeper:
It is difficult to fathom the billions of plans that have been cancelled over the past month and the many more that will continue to be cancelled in the near future. Weddings, conferences, concerts, sporting events, campaigns, family reunions, vacations and productions – all cancelled (or postponed) due to a microscopic virus. There were several events that I was excited about attending that were immediately deleted from my calendar when the pandemic hit LA. After the frustration and heartbreak set in over those events, I also began noticing that not every event that was canceled brought heartbreak – some brought relief. Some events that I had originally committed to, whether out of reluctant obligation or fear of man, were now disappearing from my calendar. With a half-guilty grin, I would click “delete” while thinking, “That’s convenient.” Maybe you felt the same over that family reunion back east, the annual work conference or that long lost friend’s wedding.
I don’t think anyone would choose this current season over those obligations, but even in the midst of this difficult season, most of us have felt that moment of relief when we realized a previous commitment vanished.
There is one obligation (and I use that word intentionally) that I fear many of us have felt relief from in this season of shelter at home – and it is the obligation we have as ambassadors of Jesus to proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel. Whether it has been a conscious or subconscious reality, I wonder how many of us have, with a half-guilty grin, deleted the “mission,” “evangelism,” and “discipleship” button from our mental to-do list. I have several times this past month and have had to wrestle with Jesus about the messiness of my heart. The heart of what I am saying is this:
You have never had a greater excuse to get out of prior obligations than you do in this season – so pay very close attention to the things you are grateful to opt out of.
The Apostle Paul has to be one of the most remarkable followers of Jesus the world has ever seen. His love for Jesus and the church, his passion for unsaved people, and his relentless drive to see God’s Kingdom advance on earth are admirable to say the very least. To Paul, making disciples and seeing the lost saved were an obligation (Rom. 1:14) he desired to get out of, but rather an obligation he was eager to accomplish (Rom. 1:15).
Has this season of quarantine made making disciples, living on mission and sharing the gospel with others more difficult? Yes, it has. But has it been a difficulty that you are eager to resolve or grateful to remove?
What drove Paul to eagerly live on mission? The answers are many, but perhaps all we need to do is look at the beginning of his letter to the Romans:
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures— concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, including you who are also called by Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1-6)
Grace drove Paul. Not Guilt. Paul was a man who had been forever gripped by the reality that God was under zero obligation to save us. He was under zero obligation to love us. He was under zero obligation to call us. But the good news of the Gospel is that our God was eager to do so. Making promises for centuries and fulfilling them through the God-man Jesus, we get to freely receive Him.
Rather than giving us a practical way to live on mission by proclaiming and demonstrating the Gospel in this season of COVID-19, let us sit with the Spirit and let Him stir up in us an appropriate response to His grace.
Pray:
Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.
Listen:
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?
Apply:
What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?