Carrying on with the Great Commission

This week’s Gospel (Matthew 9.35-10.23) has some important things for me and for the people I serve to keep in mind as we move forward into change about carrying out and carrying on with the Great Commission.  

First, we are reminded of the itinerant nature of Christian ministry. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, preaching, teaching the Good News, healing every sick person and driving out every demon and evil. One of the things about this lesson is that it reminds us of the amount of work that needs to be done. It is more than one person can handle. Ministry is not just about one person and what that person can do for God (ie. the Minister). Ministry belongs to the community and what the Church can do about it. Jesus called the Twelve by name, and gave them power and authority for ministry. Jesus saw them for who they were and he called them to the work of the kingdom and to share in his labours.

The Gospel reminds us secondly, that we need to do things the way that the Master asks for them to be done. We need to go to the people we are sent to and we must move swiftly because we carry a message that is important – a matter of life and death. The message of the kingdom is of first importance and must be treated as such. Beyond money, loyalty, friendship, the mission to draw people into the kingdom is of utter import. The Church exists to continue the work that Jesus began to redeem humanity and bring them home to God.

We need to keep in mind that in calling people to faith, that faith is more than an intellectual assent to a set of doctrines and precepts, of holding to a particular set of morals and values. Faith is a verb, an action.  It is an ongoing commitment to a relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour and with the missional community that is the Church. Following Jesus into mission and ministry means learning to abide with both him and the others that he has called into ministry. Failing to do that, not working with God and with each other, not testing and examining our faith leads to problems, ruination and the downfall of the local community and ministry.

Even the old devil is capable of saying that there is a God – and he shudders and the thought of God. The devil is capable of having all the right doctrine and all the right words, knows scripture but is not committed to the Master nor the mission that we are called to come and join in. We are called to come and believe into a life with God and those whom God has called to be our family.

In the days since my resignation from my current parish was announced, people have been asking me, “What about us? What is going to happen to us now that you are leaving?” We are asked by Jesus to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers to be sent into the fields. There is a need for a new priest and I believe that if God can call me, he will call another faithful pastor for this flock in his time. As I have recently been reminded by Scripture, “Do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name: you are mine.” (Isaiah 43.1) This is true of all who have been saved by Christ and is doubly true of those of us who are called to the leadership of the Church.

God in his own time and way will call a new shepherd for this people. I believe that! God will not leave this people abandoned, because it is promised in Scripture, “that the congregation of the Lord may not be as a sheep without a shepherd.” (Numbers 27.17) The welfare of this city is dependent on the life of the Church in its midst and God will not leave and abandon his own. He chose us, we did not chose him. God chose us and appointed us to go and in the going to bear fruit that will last. This means that as we are faithful, as we seek, see and serve God in Christ through the Spirit, the demands and needs of the ministry will be met so that people’s lives will be transformed starting with our own. Through it all the kingdom glorified and extended.

In the meantime, we need to recognize that there are people who need to be prayed with and for healing and other matters. There are people who are going to need to raised up, even from death. There are people who need to hear the Good News and to be taught how to follow Jesus. There are people who are going to need you to set them free from the devil and evil. Ministry can be, and often is dangerous work. But remember who you are with – even in the valley of the shadow of death, his rod and his staff is there for comfort and for defense. We will not be abandoned. He has called us by name and we are his. Thanks be to God for that!

Jason+