No one human description of Jesus Christ could adequately convey the fulness of His person in comparison to other so called religious leaders, but Roland Allen is masterful with his words.
“Christ did not merely impart a doctrine more true, more exalted than Moses, or Confucius, or the Buddha or any others who had preceded Him. He did not merely introduce a new understanding of the nature of God and of the manner of approach to Him. He imparted His own Spirit, He implanted His own Divine Life in the souls of His People! The others gave commands…it is impossible to compare a system of directions with a Spirit. It is impossible to put into the same class commands and motives. The others gave commands: Christ gives motive power. They told men what they ought to do: Christ imparts the Spirit from which the command emanates. Their commands remained an external burden to be taken up with sorrow and laid down with despair: Christ gives an internal power which grows stronger and stronger and works out our salvation in Him. They gave words: Christ gives Himself!” (page 27-28). WHAT A SAVIOR!!
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It is a good reminder for evangelizing and mission anywhere in the world, anytime and under any conditions. Jesus ends His command in Matthew with this promise; “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20).
Regarding this promise, Roland Allen says, “the promise of the presence of Christ, the gift of the indwelling Spirit, is not a reward offered to those who obey. It is the assurance that those who are commanded will be able to obey.” (Essential Missionary Principles, page 25). Jesus confirms this in John 15; ““But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (15:26–27). In other words, the Spirit in us is motive, ability and power to be Christ’s witnesses “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Our sufficiency for witness is in the Spirit plus nothing! In the next few blogs, I want to explore the life and principles taught by Roland Allen. Through experience in China and exploration of Scripture, he documented the dangers in missions that many have fallen into. As I think of our own ‘in the field’ experience, it is very refreshing to read from a man like Allen, principles that confirm what we have found in Acts and Paul’s letters.
The crises of his early experience led him to a radical reassessment of his own vocation and the theology and missionary methods of Western churches. He was an early advocate of the Nevius plan to establish churches that from the beginning would be self-supporting, self-propagating, and self-governing. He wanted the forms of the church to be adapted to local cultural conditions and not be mere imitations of Western Christianity. To accomplish this, missionaries would have to hand over responsibility to the local leaders in the community, who would not be professional clergy either in their training or in their compensation. Allen criticized missionaries for their paternalistic and protective attitudes and their failure to trust in the Holy Spirit to guide the new church in its development. This is radical thinking challenges most of our Western concepts of missions. But we should ask ourselves if our methods are better than the Early Church and is the Holy Spirit not to be trusted? Words like “urgency” have largely lost their meaning. Yet, the disciples heard urgency in Jesus’ call to them in Luke 5:11. “And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” Is He asking us to leave our jobs and families and head to the desert? No, but He is asking us to demonstrate urgency in the way we live. Does that mean we are always in hyper-tension, stressed out and frazzled? NO! But it does mean that every decision is made with God’s will in mind and living in close intimacy with Him.
Seven times in Acts and Paul’s letters, he uses the word “urge” and one time the word “entreat,” that meant there was a deep appeal and earnestness in his words. The force of “urge” is that the person making his appeal wants to persuade those listening, of something very important. In his letter to Titus, Paul expresses this kind of deep emotion when he says, “urge the younger men to be self-controlled” (Titus 2:6). Paul knew that in every generation and culture, there would be temptations for young men to give in to the immoral lifestyle of the age. The only way to counter these trends was by self-control. I am urging the young men to “be self-controlled.” We can make all sorts of excuses about the power of media and peer pressure, but these have no comparison to the power of God working in you! Paul tells the Philippians, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (2:13). Let God work powerfully in you today and for the rest of your life! When we pray for the Lord’s work and those who venture across this world to share the gospel, is there a disconnect in our prayers. As Randy and Jonathan go to Burkina Faso and Nigeria, Africa, Tim was thinking about the prayers recorded in 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5. They are in the context of suffering, affliction, and persecutions. Notice the details of Paul’s requests. He prays that:
1. The Word of the Lord may speed ahead 2. The Word of the Lord may be honored 3. Paul, Silvanus and Timothy would be delivered from wicked and evil men 4. The Thessalonians be established and guarded against the evil one 5. Direct their hearts to the Love of God 6. Direct their hearts to the steadfastness of Christ This is a very different prayer list than we usually hear from others in our churches. Why? Paul did not ignore the physical needs, but the spiritual needs of believers and the spread of the gospel has a higher priority. If we fail to intercede for the most important thing that is on God’s heart, we have failed seriously. Be that ONE person who starts a prayer movement that moves God’s heart. After several years of silence, the Lord has revived a connection with someone in Morocco. Through this contact it looks like we will have the opportunity to introduce God’s Plan for His Disciples and God’s Plan for His Church. Here are some statistics that will stimulate prayer for these people.
With the potential of reaching the unreached in Morocco and other North African nations, this is an opportunity we must pursue and seek the Lord. Will you join us? The official language is Arabic, so finishing our translation work will be very important. Please add this to your prayers. In our weekly Bible study, we were letting the wonder of God’s grace in the gospel feed our souls. There is something so amazing about salvation by grace alone that cannot be put into words. Before Adam or Eve could try to correct the ‘forever consequences’ of their sin, God moved toward them and “made…garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). What a picture of what God has done in Christ for all who accept “by faith” God righteousness.
There was no possible way Adam or Eve could undo or correct their disobedience. Later, God gave Israel the Law, but that could only give the “knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Neither the Law or attempting to keep the law would ever make anyone righteous before God (Galatians 2:16). It is ONLY by faith in what Christ has done for us that anyone is made righteous and accepted by God! As we contemplate such extravagant mercy, we must agree with Paul when he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). Since we are incapable of understanding God’s mercy toward us, what can we do? WORSHIP! We have been examining some important details of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. The matter of making disciples has been emphasized many times in this blog, so I move on to another detail that is just as important as recognizing the authority of Christ in this connection.
There is another gift besides the indwelling Spirit who provides power for presenting the gospel in such a way that others hear it, receive it, and are brought into the kingdom of God. This gift I am referring to is the presence of the Lord. “And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age” (20). The Lord who promised to send the Spirit when He ascended to the Father is also promised that when the Spirit comes and fills us, He will also be with us (see John 14:23). With this understanding, it does not matter where we are, or what the circumstances may be (good or very difficult), we have the presence of Christ and power of the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel in power and make disciples of those who receive it. “GO THEREFORE…” As I think and pray about how we carry out the Great Commission, I realize there are other ingredients that must be included in this all-important task of preaching the gospel to all nations.
Roland Allen said, “Obedience to the command to preach the gospel to all nations except as an expression of the Spirit of Christ indwelling the soul is an absurdity, a contradiction of itself.” (Essential Missionary Principles, pages 22-23). We may agree with Allen but in actuality place more emphasis on man-made programs and ideas than truly relying on the Holy Spirit for the method, place and power. How can we experience the Spirit’s indwelling power and leadership? Just before Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, He left the disciples with this instruction; “He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father”(Acts 1:4). I know, He was referring to the Day of Pentecost, but I wonder how many times we rush into ministry needs without making sure we are guided and empowered by the Spirit? Imagine the difference He wants to make in our discipling all nations! A few days before Acts 1, Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). It was not that the Spirit filled them at that moment, but Jesus prepared them for Pentecost. Are you waiting and wanting Jesus to prepare you so your work for the Lord has His hallmark of power? We looked yesterday at the authority of Jesus which precedes His command to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
I believe we have made a serious error when we talk about the “Great Commission” and start with verse 19. The word “therefore” means that something came before verse 18 that is critical to understanding how to carry out this command. If I can, let me paraphrase this to make my point; ‘Because of the authority Jesus has in heaven and on earth, you are to GO and make disciple anywhere in this world with all His authority provides.’ The understanding that we “GO” under His authority has a double meaning. First, we are totally responsible to Christ for the way we go, where we go and how we make disciples. This prevents us from using man’s methods in seeking to accomplish God’s work in fulfilling the command. It also means we proclaim the gospel of grace with boldness because we know the authority that stands behind the message and that sent us out as a messenger. This was behind the boldness of the apostles and the Early Church in Acts 4. Has anything changed since then? If anything has changed, it is we who have lost the correct view of the authority of Jesus and the gospel of grace! |
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