Starting in early January of
2015, we will be starting the excellent Focus on the Family video series “That
the World May Know” with historian/teacher Ray Vander Laan on Wednesday night
at our church. The introduction states that because God speaks to us through
the Holy Scriptures, studying them is a rewarding experience. God’s use of
human servants in revealing Himself resulted in writings that clearly bear the
stamp of time and place. The message of the Scriptures is, of course, eternal
and unchanging , but the circumstances and conditions of the people of the
Bible are unique to their times. More than 3800 years ago, the nature of God’s
covenant relationship with His people demanded a place where their faith could
be exercised and displayed to all nations so that the world would know of
Yahweh, the true and faithful God. God intended for the Israelites to exert
influence on the nations around them through their righteous living.
Matthew 5:13-16 “You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be
made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built
on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither
do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same
way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father
in heaven.”
Western Christianity tends
to spiritualize the concepts of the Promised Land as it is presented in the Bible.
Instead of seeing it as a crossroads from which to influence the world, modern
Christians tend to view it as a distant, heavenly city towards which we are
traveling as we ignore the world around us. We focus more on the destination
than the journey, and in a sense, view our earthly experience as simply
preparation for an eternity in the “promised land”. We have separated our walk
with God from our responsibility to the world in which He has placed us, which
distorts our perception of the mission God has set for us. Many Christians
today have forgotten that the mission of God’s people has always been to live
so that the world would know that their God was the true God. It was true for
the disciples of Jesus who followed Him as their Lord and obeyed His command to
go out into the world and make disciples.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “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.”
The introduction concludes
that the life of faith is not a vague, otherworldly experience. Rather, it is
being faithful to God right now, in the place and time in which he has put us. Our
mission as Christians today is the same one God gave to the Israelites when
they possessed the Promised Land, the same one Jesus gave to his disciples. We
are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with
all our might, and to love our neighbors as ourselves so that through us the
world may know that our God is the one true God.
It’s going to be a great
series and learning experience. I'll be sure to post the lessons.
Flavor and influence the world for the kingdom of God.
In Christ, Brian
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