NOT PERFECT

As we read, ’A message came to Jonah from the Lord a second time’ (Jonah 3:1), we celebrate that God is kinder than most of us can imagine – and we are in need of that kindness more than we think too! Part of that liberal kindness is His choosing to use flawed people who are still very much in the process of maturing. Jonah, whose ambition would have been to see the mass incineration of the Ninevites, was given another chance, as the word and call of God came once more.

READ Jonah 3:1

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

I mentioned yesterday that, in my earlier years as a Christian, my approach to mission was zealous but that I was somewhat inept and insensitive in the way that I talked with people about my faith. Yet looking back, I’m grateful that God seemed to use even my faltering words to reach others. I was unskilled and occasionally obnoxious, but still people came to faith through my clumsy efforts – and there were many wonderful moments when I knew a conversation had genuinely helped someone on their own life journey. Mission is always about the mobilisation of profoundly ordinary, works-inprogress people like us, not of sleek, highly trained presenters. Biblical history is littered with those who shrank back from their calling just because they felt inadequate.

Henry Ward Beecher notes: ‘The church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the education of imperfect ones.’8 Feel inadequate for mission? Join the crowd.

To ponder: If there are times when you are reluctant to share your faith, what are the main reasons for your hesitation?

Go

Jonah 3:2

Matthew 28:18-20

It is worth a return here to that key passage in Matthew 28 where Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and fish. Personally, I have tried real fishing, and I hate it. I offer profound respect to anyone who delights in sitting on a freezing, muddy bank for hours, going without basic sanitation and warmth so that you can hook a fish, admire it, (and perhaps photograph yourself holding it) and then return it to the water. But my few forays into fishing have taught me one simple truth – you have to go and get them. No angler spreads out a net on the bank side in the hope that the fish will obediently just hop in. Sometimes, however, when we simply hope and pray people will show up on Sundays, we are doing exactly that, adopting a ‘come and hear’ approach to mission rather than the biblical ‘go and tell’ formula. Yes, going may involve changing jobs, enrolling or leaving college, moving out of our comfort zone to touch a life, mugging a neighbour with kindness, or crossing the street to help someone in need. It may simply mean that we invite someone to come to church with us.

FOCUS

‘Go to the great city of Nineveh...’

Jonah 3:2a

Of course, all of this is costly. It demands we are willing, daily, to be interrupted. And we might not enjoy the experience – there’s no reason to believe that Jonah was any happier about the second call than he was about the first.

I’ve been in some prayer meetings when the cry went up: ‘Send the people in, Lord.’ Perhaps God’s reply is simple: ‘Go to where they are, My people.’

Prayer: Lord, I am willing to be interrupted for You today. Help me to be one who goes where You need me to go. Amen.

TUE 29 AUG

Mission Is Messy

Our church in Colorado faced a huge test the night that Nicki, a former stripper, was baptised. A number of her nightclub friends, leather miniskirted, tattooed and with an abundance of piercings, sat in the front row. Not everyone was initially happy about our new visitors. Not only did they come to visit, but many of them stayed, deciding to follow Christ. They made quite a contrast to the regular, respectable looking churchgoers, but I’m so glad to report that they did receive a wonderful welcome. The church began to mushroom in growth as a result.

READ

Luke 7:36-50

Jonah 3:2

FOCUS

She learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she came there with a special jar of perfume.

Luke 7:37

Going Deeper

lifewithlucas.co.uk/

Mission calls us to reach out to people who are not like us – people we might not be drawn to or like at all, naturally speaking. Mission is messy, and can threaten the unity of a local church, if it is a clan gathering of people of similar backgrounds which is suddenly and wonderfully invaded by people of a very different ilk.

Jonah’s brief cruise in the belly of the fish certainly didn’t prompt any love in him for the people of Nineveh. He loathed them – for very good reason, as I mentioned earlier. Inscriptions found on Assyrian monuments show how vile and cruel they could be, particularly following victory on the battlefield. Captured soldiers were horribly tortured before execution. The Assyrians were the Nazi stormtroopers of their day. The example is extreme, but relevant: mission is a call to love the unlovely. And let’s remember, we are all rather unlovely, whatever our fashion choices.

Prayer: God give me love for those I find unlovely. In the ugliness of my sin, You have welcomed me. Fill me with more of Your love. Amen.

Missio Dei

It was a noisy, exciting meeting. The pastoral team at our church was gathered for a planning meeting, interrogating the vital question: how can we more effectively reach our city? I love being part of that team, because it’s loaded with creative, imaginative leaders; ideas were flowing thick and fast. The whiteboard was filling up with suggestions. But then we made a vital decision: we would very intentionally offer our ideas to God in prayer, and then allow them to ‘simmer’ for a few weeks rather than dashing into action.

Romans 10:1-15

Jonah 3:2

The Lord told Jonah, ‘Announce to its people the message I give you.’ The mission to reach the world is God’s mission, not ours. Translated literally, Jonah was charged to head for Nineveh and ‘speak to it the speech which I will say to you.’ God was the initiator; Jonah was to be a willing responder. Theologians over the centuries have called this ‘missio dei’, the mission and sending of God. One of them, Jurgen Moltmann, says, ‘It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfil in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church.’9

Focus

‘Go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce to its people the message I give you.’

Jonah 3:2

Not that we should be passive when it comes to mission. It’s a good idea to think and pray about how we might intentionally serve and reach our friends and neighbours. But as we remember that mission is God at work through us rather than us asking God to bless our good ideas, we offer ourselves in availability to Him today.

Prayer: Here I am, Lord. Today, guide me to divine appointments, where I can serve, love, and share Your heart of love. Amen.

Show And Tell

Our friends, Christian leaders from America, had spent the weekend speaking to leaders in the UK, and we were reviewing the event. We asked them what they’d noticed about the people they’d met. Both agreed without hesitation that they were stunned by how almost everyone they met was actively engaged in serving their communities. Most had realised that Christianity must be demonstrated as well as spoken (the flipside of our reflection yesterday) and so were engaged in working with the homeless, the care and counsel of victims of sexual abuse and rape, serving in drop-in centres for young people, or labouring in a host of other practical and creative projects.

Matthew 5:13-16

Jonah 3:3

Mission calls us to live the message as well as speak it. Even though he remained reluctant, it was an obedient Jonah who went to Nineveh. He called the Assyrians to surrender to God as one who was living – for a while, anyway – in the place of surrender himself. The messenger was part of the message.

Focus

‘Let your light shine in front of others. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father.’

Matthew 5:16

Years ago, I used to tell people who weren’t Christians, ‘Don’t look at the Church, look at Jesus.’ I now realise I was wrong. First off, Jesus is invisible, and not easy to look at.

Secondly, the Church has been created as a working model of kingdom life. God wants people to be able to look at us and see Jesus. Let’s thank God that it’s happening. And if you are one of those tireless, often uncelebrated heroes, spending yourself for the cause of the kingdom, thank you.

Prayer: Lord, when people look at us, may they see something compelling that speaks of You. Amen.