One obvious motivation for authentic Christian engagement in our world is found in the 'Great Commission' recorded in Matthew 28:18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 - NIV)
Unfortunately, even though many Christians arrive at this proper place to base a biblical foundation for Christian outreach/engagement, there is great confusion at the point of understanding and applying this passage. People can misinterpret and misuse the 'Great Commission', looking for a program to fuel human effort and rational strategies for reaching out to peoples with the good news of Christ.
Firstly, The foundation of this passage has to be Christ's proclamation that "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to (Him)". The sovereignty of Jesus Christ is the starting point for any understanding of local or global engagement. Our strategies and program are useless compared to the unpredictable, daily working of the Holy Spirit of God, who is doing whatever He desires to do on His earth. He is "sovereign". The early believers understood this, so they did not devise great strategies to motivate others for outreach. They fundamentally trusted in the dynamic leading of God in accomplishing Himself what He promised He would do.
Secondly, the greatest misrepresentation of all, in regards to this passage, comes from the misguided idea that Jesus tells us to "go!" anywhere. The word "go" is not in the imperative verb tense in this passage. It is, instead, a first aorist passive participle. It would be better understood to mean, "While you are going"; while one is at one's daily business (one's regular life routines), one is to do the imperative, which is to "make disciples of all nations".
Now, there will be people whose hearts desire is to travel to another land and make disciples of a foreign people. This is an authentic Christian enterprise in the tradition of Christian missionaries in the bible, and since the time of the bible, throughout Christian history. Yet, we must not appropriate this passage (Matthew 28:18-20) to be a commissioning to "go". Rather it is the great commissioning for every Christian to be a disciple-maker no matter where they are. It is interesting to note that there may soon be more people "coming" to North America as foreign missionaries as there are missionaries "going" from here to anywhere else. Some will go far afield, while others will stay put. It is normative though, that in our daily passive "going" (wherever that finds us) that we are to be Christ's ambassadors and witnesses to what we have seen and heard.
How then does one make disciples of all nations? One makes disciples of all nations firstly by seeing the Holy Spirit meet and draw people "from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5) to Himself on the day of Pentecost. Again, it is the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, and it has been accomplished. Then, the Church carries this role on by making disciples (learners) through the two present, active participles: 1. "Baptizing them in the name of the father, Son and Holy Spirit" and 2. "Teaching them to obey everything (Jesus has) commanded".
1. Baptizing them
"Baptizing" literally means, "to envelop" or "immerse". The authentic Christian public rite of inclusion into the membership of the body of Christ is the visible sign of "envelopment" or "immersion" in the water of Christian baptism. But, the word baptizo itself means simply "to plunge, sink, drench or overwhelm"(Bauer, Walter: Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament, 2nd edition page 131). In Koine Greek literature, near contemporary to the New Testament, the word is used for being sunk in debt: "overwhelmed with debt" (Plutarch, Galba 21, 3) or to be under siege: "he overwhelmed the city with misery" (Bell. 4, 137). The word does not necessarily mean to perform a ritual of water baptism.
I would like to suggest that in Matthew 28:19 Jesus is not primarily encouraging the religious rite of water baptism, but, rather, using baptizo in the broader sense of enveloping people into the community of faith. I believe that he meant here to encourage us to be such a community of grace, that we would include people through unconditional love into our midst, baptizing them into our fellowship, reaching out and welcoming everyone into this body. If the world is drawing ever smaller circles, excluding one another and building walls of hostility, we are to draw ever larger circles to include everyone we meet into this family of lovers of Jesus. I believe that the task of the Church is to be a welcoming body that envelops or immerses people into the grace soaked circle of our community where they can be loved and instructed in "everything" that Jesus has "commanded". We have received by grace, and we are to extend that free gift of grace, including all who will respond. Those who respond with a desire to follow Jesus with us can certainly demonstrate the invisible reality of it through the authentic visible public rite of water baptism.
2. Teaching them
What are we to teach them? What is the "everything" that He has "commanded"? It is the WORD of God; the truth revealed. Jesus is the author of the Holy Scriptures and has Himself spoken through the Prophets and Apostles. We are to be a welcoming community that proclaims the revealed WORD of Jesus Christ found in the Scriptures.
A welcoming community, which listens to and proclaims God's WORD, is a community of grace and truth. The authentic, historic faith community from Abraham through to today has always been a community of grace and truth, because God's nature is grace and truth. The Apostle John uses these two attributes to describe the very nature of Jesus Christ (John 1:14). Here John is drawing on a key Theological statement of God's character found in the Old Testament. In Psalm 89:14 we are told that God is righteous and just (emeth), while also being loving and faithful (chesed).
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (Psalm 89:14 - NIV)
The nature of God is a paradox. The essential nature of God is seen in his righteousness (just, right, hard, even, straight, perfect), which always characterizes his actions. This justice (judgment, governance) is a primary attribute of God. All true judgment finds its source in God, carrying his demands with it. On the other hand, this love (kindness, goodness, fidelity, mercy, grace) is not contractual loyalty, but mercy, freely bestowed on unworthy subjects. This faithfulness (firmness, certainty, dependability, truth) is an eternal attribute of God, manifest in hielsgeschicthe (salvation history) and often linked with mercy or love. On God's left hand is his righteousness and justice (judgment, truth), while on his right are his love and faithfulness (mercy, grace).
Psalm 85:10 offers the image of these two seemingly opposite attributes coming together in the most intimate of embraces. They “kiss each other”. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. (Psalm 85:10 - NIV)
As Donald L. Williams writes in his essay, When Experience Contradicts Theology (The Communicators Comomentary, p.147) "God's throne (authority, rule), however, is not capricious. It is founded on righteousness and justice. "Righteousness" for Israel is defined by the covenant obligation to obey the Law. "Justice" or "Judgment" is exercised by God based on his righteousness. God's throne or rule defines the true moral order, holds us accountable, and judges us accordingly... Moreover, "mercy" ("covenant-love", see vs.1,2) and "Truth" ("trustworthiness") go before you ("meet", "are in front of") your face. To see God's face, to be face to face with him, is to see his mercy (Grace) and Truth."
John uses these same Old Testament words (only in their Greek form - charis and alaytheia) to evoke the Old Testament meaning in describing what we see of God's glory in Jesus Christ. He was full of God's love (Grace) and faithfulness (Truth). "Law came through Moses, Grace (charis / chesed) and Truth (alaytheia / emeth) came through Jesus Christ." (John 14:17). We see in Jesus the perfect expression of grace and truth. He welcomed sinners with mercy and grace, and taught the truth (Luke 9:11, 15:2).
The authentic Christian Community is a "baptizing" (welcoming) community, full of grace, and a "teaching" (Bible listening) community full of truth. One of the greatest tragedies of the contemporary Church is that we are taking ourselves too seriously while not taking God seriously enough. We tend to be communities of "merit" and "opinion" rather than communities of "grace" and "truth". Jesus explains the dangers of living by merit and opinion instead of grace and truth in 'The Sermon on the Mount'. Jesus says that we must not judge / condemn (krinete) another's behavior, but that we must beware / test (prosechete) false teaching. We are being told here to distinguish people based on their Theology (critically distinguishing between true or false teachers), but not their behavior (judgmentally differentiating between "good" and "bad" people). This was certainly Jesus' approach as he railed against the self-righteous Pharisees while he befriended outcasts and sinners (Matt. 11:19). This was also the Apostle Paul's example, as he harshly judged those who would distort the gospel (Gal. 1:6-9, 2:14, 5:121 Tim.1:6,7, 4:1,2, 6:3-5, Tit. 1:10-14). Paul also instructed Timothy to do the same (2 Tim. 4:1-5). He tells Timothy to "correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction". We are all called to rebuke and correct all forms of faulty theology. Of course the instrument for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training" is not mere human opinion, but rather the "God-breathed" Holy Scriptures.
We tend to practice the opposite approach inside and outside the Church today. It is commonly understood that it is fine to judge someone's behavior (we tend to be clear about who's good and who's bad), but we think we have no right, nor responsibility, to be critical of opinions. It is common to believe that one's personal experience is authentic for oneself, though it is not necessarily true for anyone else. Jesus says quite the opposite. He says that we cannot condemn someone's behavior, and that we must critically examine every truth claim (Matt. 7). The World's natural pattern is based on merit (we are good or bad based on our public moral performance) and opinion (we have our own private experience of God - our own private truth). Most people think that this is what Christianity is (obeying outward rules and enjoying your own private God experience). It is not. Jesus proclaims a pattern that is Holy (radically different). Jesus' pattern is based on grace (God's absolute full and free gift of acceptance no matter what one's moral performance is) and truth (there are right and wrong ideas about God and reality, and we must critically decipher which is which). Jesus describes the dangers of living by the false religion of merit (Matthew 7:1-14) and the dangers of living by the false religion of opinion (Matthew 7:15-23).
We do not have the responsibility to point out a fellow believer's moral faults. We are to model and teach a devotion to listening to God's WORD wherein God Himself convicts believers of sin by His Holy Spirit. It is not our job to convict one another of sin. It is the Holy Spirit's job. It is not our job to accuse one another of sin. It is Satan's job. It is our job to merely love God and love one another. Sometimes this will mean speaking the Truth in love, but not as an accusation or a conviction. Our faith is not about religious performance. It is about God's welcoming grace. We do have the responsibility to test every idea about God that comes our way whether through teaching or casual conversation. We are to "correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction" (2 Timothy 4:2b). Our faith is not about people's opinions about God. It is about God's revealed truth about Himself.
We need to get away from the tyranny of religious performance. The only cure for living by the tyranny of religious performance is living by grace; receiving grace from God and receiving grace from each other and giving grace to one another. We also need to get away from the tyranny of living by people's opinions and false religious experience. The only cure for the tyranny of living by people's opinions and false religious experience, is living by truth; listening to God's revealed truth, and listening to and speaking truth to one another.
Authentic Christian engagement is in being a community that lives in grace and truth; extending grace and truth to one another, and scrutinizing every opinion that comes along. Grace means living under the free gift of absolute, welcoming forgiveness and acceptance, and not under the tyranny of having to perform for God or others. Truth means living under the clearly revealed and taught WORD of God, and not under the tyranny of people's opinions about God. Jesus finishes 'The Sermon on the Mount' by saying: "If you hear this and do it (live by grace and truth), you'll be like a wise man who builds his house on a rock." (Matt. 7:24) But, if we try to live the Christian life by the false religion of merit and opinion, we are fools, with houses "built on sand".
I hope that the core value of 'engagement' will be experienced at our church firstly through the ways that we individually and corporately recognize Jesus' sovereignty. Then we can participate with the Holy Spirit as He guides us in "making disciples" through welcoming (baptizing) people, and through teaching them the WORD of God. I hope that we can be the most welcoming community of human beings that anyone could encounter.
After a worship service one Sunday night, I was approached by a young woman who asked me if our church is "a place that welcomed homosexuals?" I said, "Yes, I hope so". Then I said, "I hope that we would accept absolutely everybody who would show up here. But, you need to know that we are a community that takes God's WORD very seriously. And, as we welcome each other here, we all come together under the WORD of God, which has a lot to say about all of our sexualities, as well as a lot of other uncomfortable topics."
