Matthew 28:16-20
One of the questions that needs to be answered at some point by a congregation (and by the church-at-large) is, "For whom does the church exist?" The answer to that question will determine the basic character and thrust of any congregation. If you say the church exists for the people in the church, your ministry will reflect that answer. If your answer is the same as William Temple once wrote, "The church exists primarily for those who never go near it", that will shape a churches ministry as well.
Notice William Temple used the word, "primarily." The church may exist, secondarily, for people who have already come near the church. But primarily, Temple says, the church is for the unchurched, the non-believers. To put it in traditional language, the church is primarily an evangelistic organization, an outreach tool for Christ. The church is not primarily a Christian club.
Such are the questions the church must ask itself continually. What is the church? Just what is this thing we call the "church?" What is, essentially, the church? What are the core functions that make church church?
One of those core functions is the nasty "e" word: evangelism. I therefore agree with William Temple: the church does exist primarily for those who never go near it. The church must be, at its core, a group of people who have been told about Jesus Christ, have come to believe what they've been told, and then--in a determined way--turn around and tell someone else the Good News of the Gospel. If we as believers aren't doing that, we aren't being the church.
Here's a modern parable. It's called, "The Life Saving Station."
On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was a little life-saving station. The building was just a hut. There was only one boat. The few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night searching for the lost. Over time, those saved gave of their time and money to support the life saving work. New boats were bought. The little life-saving station grew.
Some of the members of the life-saving station were a bit embarrassed that the building was so crude. They enlarged the building, replaced the emergency cots with beds, and added nicer furniture. It became a popular gathering place and it was used for a club. Fewer and fewer missions were sent out. The life-saving motif was at the center of the club's decorations; there was a symbolic life boat in the room where the club initiations were held.
At one of the club meetings, there was a split in the club membership. Many of the members wanted to stop the life-saving activities as being unpleasant to the normal social life of the club. Other members insisted life-saving was their primary purpose. But those were voted down and told if they wanted to save lives in the shipwrecked waters, they could start their own life-saving station down the coast. So they did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club. Then another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself. If you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, and most of the people drown.
That is a unsettling parable. It calls me into question. It calls you into question. It challenges the way we have defined ourselves. It challenges the way we have organized ourselves. If the parable speaks truth, and we feel challenged, then it will also not deal kindly with our excuses and rationalizations for why we aren't being a people and a church who in no casual way, are life-savers, rescuing others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This parable, combined with the force of the two great commissions of Jesus to his followers (recorded in Matthew's Gospel and the book of Acts) puts us in the dock, so-to-speak. It puts us, stodgy, non-evangelistic, non-inviting Presbyterians in the dock.
Do you know what a dock is? It's not the place where you tie up a boat. In the back of the courtroom, there were some jail cells where the accused are kept. It isn't like our courtrooms, where the accused and their attorney sit up front. It's a British-styled courtroom that has the cells--the docks--in the back of the courtroom.
So, there we are, in the back, in the dock, having to listen to the accusations. And what, exactly, are the accusations? They were read earlier. They are in the form of a charge given to the disciples by Jesus:
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
In other words, be a life-saving station. Take a risk to save those who are perishing. Be a life saver.
As we look from the dock at the back of the courtroom, we wonder who is bring the accusations. Is it God who is leading the prosecution? Certainly God would know if we have been faithful in keeping to the task, of steadfastly following through on this essential core piece of what it means to be a Christian and a church.
Or is the world acting as our accuser? Certainly the world would be one of the primary witnesses for the prosecution. The world has cried out in its need. The world even cries out its need when it is being most selfishly disobedient. The church has, most of the time, not responded with the meat and potatoes of evangelism but with the pablum of watered down social programs; or nothing at all.
In a Doonesbury cartoon, (project cartoon) Pastor Scot of the Little Church of Walden is addressing the people. He says, "Okay, flock. I thought I'd run through this week's activities...This Monday, of course, we have a lecture on nutrition from Kate Moss' personal chef...Tuesday and Thursday will be our regular 12-Step nights..."
Someone asks, "Scot, would that be drugs or sex addiction?"
Pastor Scot replies, "Drugs. Sex addiction we've cut down to nine steps. That's on Friday at 6:30 p.m.--right after organic co-gardening...Also, a special treat--Saturday night will be aerobic male-bonding night! So bring your sneakers! Any questions?
Someone asks, "Yes, is there a church service?"
Pastor Scot says, "Cancelled. There was a conflict with the self-esteem workshop."
There is a discomforting statistical analysis making the rounds amongst Presbyterian churches. Most people already know that the Presbyterian denomination is losing members by the thousands each year. When those lost members are interviewed, most say they aren't leaving the Presbyterian church to go to another church. They are leaving and going nowhere. The Presbyterian church counts for so little, people are leaving it for nothing. There is a two-edged meaning to the statement: "Nothing can take the place of the Presbyterian church!"
I don't know about you, but that disturbs me. I hope it disturbs you. People are quietly slipping out of the back doors of our churches and no one seems to care. And then we are being so carefree about the front door work of evangelism.
We're in the dock, people. We are the one's who are being talked about, accused and deliberated over, up there in the front of the courtroom. Our effectiveness as evangelists, as keepers of both the front and the back doors of the church is on the block here.
The fault is not with the instructions, the commission we have been given by the Risen Christ. Does anyone not understand what Christ meant when he said, "Go to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples..." Is that not clear enough?
Off the coast of Scotland is a little island where Christianity first landed and took root in that nation. Tourists and pilgrims who want to make the trip have to go to a shop where you can secure transportation to and from the island. Over the door of the building is the sign, "Visit the holy isle." Then, underneath are the words, "We can get you there."
Every Christian, whether they realize it or not, has a sign around their neck that says, "Visit Jesus Christ." But are there the other words underneath those words that read, "I can get you there"? Do you know how to get a person from out there to in here?
We are in the dock. Evangelism is what the trial is all about. Fortunately, all the evidence isn't in yet. We can still effect the outcome. Are we the church or are we not? Are we taking care of the primary function of the church or are we not? Are we fulfilling the commission of our Lord or are we not?
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon was asked, "Do you believe that those who have never heard the gospel are really saved?"
Spurgeon then replied with his own question, "Do you believe those who have heard the gospel and never shared it are really saved?"
Are we generating fellow believers or are we just generating excuses? What will the outcome of this trial be? What will the verdict be: life-saving station or clubhouse?
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