American Christianity.
We live in a unique nation, where the large majority of its citizens claim to be Christians. There are little to no threats against American Christians. We are able to practice our beliefs without fear of persecution or prosecution. Unlike our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia, Laos, Turkey, The Maldives, North Korea, and China (and the list goes on and on), we do not have to fear being punished and possibly executed for our beliefs. We do not know what it means for our faith to matter.
The greatest challenge facing the American Christian Church today is safety. By this I mean that we are content living life in such a way that we don’t ruffle too many feathers. We spend far too much time trying to keep our lives at some sort of equilibrium that we totally forget what this life is all about.
Jesus’ Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:18-20, stands as a constant reminder of what our purpose here on earth is. The verses read this way, “‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the 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.’”
We know in our heads that the cause of Christ is important, but because of the culture in which we live, we fail to realize the gravity of what Christ accomplished on the cross. Thus, the Church in America has become complacent. We must remember the Great Commission and Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations.” What does this look like practically in our lives? It can look like any number of things, from becoming a missionary to showing love to our next door neighbor. We are all Christ’s ambassadors and as such have the responsibility to be His witnesses wherever we go. We must be missionally minded. When we realize that our sole reason for being here is to witness to others, it changes the way we live our lives. We no longer can think of a trip to the grocery store as simply a way to quench our hunger, but rather an opportunity to share the gospel. This does not mean that we are to live as nutty evangelists on the side of the street calling people to repentance. What it means is that we must view every encounter and every moment as an opportunity to build relationships. It is easier to think this way when we are in the mission field, but in the comfort and safety of the States, it is easy to not think missionally and become the complacent individuals we find around each and every turn in America today. Some may say that to live missionally requires risk. Risk is the essence of Christianity. Paul risked everything, yet he kept preaching the Gospel, even from his cell in Rome. It has been said that without risk there is no reward. Think then what the reward or mission of the Christian is. The answer to this is to love others as Christ loves us and them. We are to be Christ to the world. For this to happen there is an element of risk that is involved. Jesus encountered much risk, yet He never lost sight of the people He came to save and neither should we.
It is easy to be unsure about living the missional life because it is something few of us have experienced for any real amount of time. It is in this instance where the final sentence of the above passage begins to take hold of our lives. In it Jesus says, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” That is so wonderful! It is in the knowledge that Christ is with us always that we should find solace. He is the only place where true safety is found. When we risk ourselves for the sake of spreading the Gospel, we may experience suffering or at the least, discomfort, but I find solace in the fact that Jesus is with me to the end of the age.
My point in writing all of this is not to say that I wish Christians in America experienced suffering, rather that American believers would not take their faith for granted. My challenge is for us to get outside of ourselves and step out beyond our comfort zones. We need to stop hiding behind our churches and our schools and realize that there are people all around us who need to hear the Gospel. The Church does not exist solely for believers. It would be naïve to believe that believers are even the main focus of the Church. The Church exists to equip believers to go beyond themselves and reach their worlds for Jesus Christ. It is the Church’s responsibility to push its members to live missionally.
Just because we live in a “Christian” nation does not give us license to just sit by in the hopes that someone will reach out to those around us. We need to live missionally and to do this requires we take some risks.
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