"The Great Commission: A Passion for the Lost"

(Theme of EMCCED Conference May 6-8/02)

Lk.13:34f; 19:41-44 May 26/02

A) "Who cares?"

Deep down inside us, deep within at the heart of our being if someone could peel back all the layers, there is a question. That unspoken question is this: "Does anybody out there really care for me?" Now we probably have all kinds of questions at various levels, but from birth to death we're secretly yearning to discover the answer to that: "Does anybody out there really care for me?"

             The basic Christian symbol is the cross. That cross on which Jesus died translates into two words: it's Jesus' way of saying, "I care." The message of the cross is this: "I care so much for you that I'm not going to let anything get in the way of my loving support for you...not your uglies, not your grossest sins, not the corruption-proneness of your mortal body, the fundamental bentness of your soul, or the rotting of the grave. I'll go all the way for you, to hell and back if that's what it takes to show I care."

             The lost person cries out silently, "Does anybody care?" When we are found in Jesus, we know He cares. That's what the Great Commission is all about: making disciples, answering that unspoken question for people, bringing them into a loving relationship with the Lord who died and was raised to wipe out their sin and restore them to holy fellowship with God. The theme of the 9th annual EMCCED Conferences was "The Great Commission: A Passion for the Lost". In order for Christians to carry out Jesus' command to "make disciples", we need first to be motivated, to have a passion for the lost, to care about them and their eternal destiny. Only as we begin to care for others will we start to pray for them. That facilitates the Holy Spirit's drawing and convicting work in their own spirits. Then when God makes them receptive, peeling back the hard calloused skin protecting their hearts, we can convey effectively the Good News of Jesus' offer of grace, forgiveness, power and purpose. Evangelism means sharing good news, a message best heard not just through words but loving action.

B) Spiderman Motivated by Web of Relationships

I'm told that in the current movie "Spiderman", Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically modified spider and develops amazing powers. He enters a wrestling competition in an attempt to win some money. Though he wins the contest, he's ripped off through the excuse of a technicality, and earns only a fraction of what he should have won. When the opponent who ran the contest is robbed, Parker doesn't care. But when the robber shoots Peter's uncle who's been waiting to give him a ride, that's different. Peter Parker becomes motivated to fight crime as Spiderman. His uncle's sad fate spurs him to devote his amazing powers to fight evil from then on. He didn't respond at first when his opponent was robbed, because that person was unrelated and had just ripped Peter off. But his uncle's death affects him much more profoundly: his uncle was Peter's own family, he "identified" with him. Taking personally the injury of another, Parker finds a passion kindled within him to defend the oppressed and fight the dark forces of evil.

             Too many Christians today are not involved in evangelism because we shrug off the pain and punishment of others just as Peter Parker ignored the robbery of his opponent. We don't identify with the lost, we distance ourselves from them, we ignore them and really don't care. What's missing is for us to identify with their pain, their hopeless fate, as Peter felt personally the crime and misery of what happened to his uncle. We will never be effective in evangelism unless we learn to identify with the lost, to weep and grieve over their doomed destiny without Christ.

C) Beside Oneself for Others -- Examples from Scripture

One example of a person in the Bible who learned to care deeply for the fate of others was Moses. In Exodus 32 the Israelites make an idol, a golden calf. God suggests He might destroy the offenders because they are "stiff-necked". Moses prays, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed...please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." (Ex.32:32) Moses identifies with the sinners, he doesn't distance himself from them; he even asks, if God's going to wipe them out, that God then blot out Moses' own right to eternal fellowship. He lays himself on the line because he cares about the fate of the lost. And God shows mercy by not destroying the Israelites.

             We see a similar sympathy in the great prophets of the Old Testament, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Foreseeing that many of his countrymen would be killed and taken prisoner, Isaiah calls out, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people." (Isaiah 22:4) He's not pointing his finger and going, "Na-na-na na-na-na! Told ya so!" No, he cries "bitterly" because so many will suffer.

             Jeremiah witnessed Judea being taken captive by the Babylonians and led into exile. In Jer.8(21) and 9(1) he says, "Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me...Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people." Jeremiah is sometimes called "the weeping prophet" because he shared so much in the suffering of the Israelites through the captivity and exile. In fact he wrote a book titled "Lamentations". He cared, he identified with the people's suffering as a result of their rejection of God's ways.

             Skip ahead a few hundred years and we come to Jesus, who said he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel" (Mt.15:24). The chief city was Jerusalem, and more than once Jesus grieved over that city's rejection of Him and His message. In Luke 13:34f He pines, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate..." And at the time of the triumphal entry, which should have been a high point for Him, we hear Jesus actually weeping as He gazes at the city and bemoans its hard-heartedness. "If you...had only known...what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes...Your enemies...will dash you to the ground...because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." (Lk.19:41-44) This is the very city that would crucify Him a few days later, but Jesus weeps for them rather than being hostile. He cared more for their fate than for His own.

             A final Biblical example is Paul. In Romans 9(2-4a) he admits, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." In chapter 10(1) he adds, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." Do you hear that same willingness as Moses had to be cut off for the sake of his people? That heartfelt longing for others to be saved, even at cost to oneself?

D) Fearful Fate, Risky Response

The temptation is to treat lightly the wound; to dismiss the eternal destiny of the lost as not something that concerns us. This doesn't mean that church people should always be talking about hellfire and brimstone: that's the bad news, not grace. Yet we won't have a passion to invite the lost to sample Christ's invitation if we ignore sound teaching about judgment, either.

             There is a hell. The Bible uses a variety of images, but however you depict it, you don't want to go there! Even Jesus taught about its reality. In Mark 9(47f) he said, "It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where "‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire." In Matthew 8(12) Jesus describes it as being "thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" - something He mentions repeatedly (Mt.22:13; 24:51; 25:30). In Mt.13(41f) we're told, "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Darkness - fire - weeping - this is NOT a place you want to go! In Matthew 25:46 Jesus calls it "eternal punishment". Jesus doesn't over-dramatize it, but He doesn't sugar-coat it either: eternity without God is an awful place to be, a truly fearful fate. How much better by far to found in Him at the last! For His followers, He prays that we may be with Him where He is, and see His glory (Jn.17:24).

             What response ought the fate of the lost prompt in God's people? What did it motivate Jesus to do? "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost," He said (Luke 19:10). And that was no easy task - He knew it would mean surrendering His life. He describes it in Jn.17(19) this way: "For them I sanctify Myself" (that is, He sets Himself apart to do God's will - to die on account of their sins)..."For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified" (made holy, acceptable to God). In response to our lostness, our doom, Christ emptied Himself, took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself even to death on a cross. He cared.

E) Portraits of Grace: Bob and the Bum

Last weekend at Pitch'n'Praise, Peter Olsen and students from Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener presented a series of dramatic vignettes. These mini-plays or sketches were based on the students' encounters with street people during a field trip. One drama showed Bob, a yuppy in leather jacket with cell phone, becoming upset with a panhandler asking for 50 cents. Bob knocks the old man over and kicks him. But Bob loses all his money in a mail-order scam; his wife leaves him; and soon he is the one on the street, getting kicked by passersby. He who was so fiercely independent, despised the poor, and was going to take advantage of the system, found himself down and out through evil's scheming. He didn't realize that the street person he detested might one day be himself.

             Meanwhile, the bum is the one who comes back and discovers Bob groveling in his alley. The bum sells the cell phone Bob left behind, buying waterproof pants and some TimBits. He's about to enjoy a meal with paper napkins "just like in a restaurant" when he notices a young woman who's about to kill herself. He persuades her to throw away a sharp blade and join him for a meal of TimBits. This is her lucky day, he explains, because "I never shared my food with anybody ever before." The box of donuts becomes a communion table: by showing love to another person, the bum has saved a life, and two lonely individuals experience a glimmer of friendship and hope.

             Enemies in life dash to the ground those who don't recognize the time of God's coming. Jesus' Spirit in believers moves us to truly care for those who might miss out on God's grace - a passion for the lost that draws us to see their need, identify with them, weep over their destiny, and dare to express Christ's message in a meaningful way. "If you had only known what would bring you peace..." And in sharing the Good News, we find ourselves blessed. We celebrate a surprising communion in the One who really cares for each one of us. Let's pray.