Thursday, July 22, 2010

Go Global...

Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

Recently I was listening to an interview with Joel Houston, Worship Leader for Hillsong Australia.  In his interview he discussed the idea of the Global Church.  I would normally hear something like this and think, "wow, that's great...it is good to reach out and touch the nations with the Gospel..."  and then I would move on and not give it much more thought, simply because I do not feel personally called to serve in the mission field in another country.  But this time when I heard him speaking of getting people to understand that the church is not just this small thing rather a huge conglomoration of people all striving for the same goal.  That we are all here for a purpose and that is to glorify God in ALL the Earth! 

I started really meditating on what the Word says about going out into the world, about ministering.  I started considering the local church.  The local church is just an extension of the Global Church and the Global Church is a beautiful representation of all of creation.  We are created in His image yet we tend to get so caught up in our own image.  We get focused on the image other people see in us.  I believe if we were to start seeing our calling beyond our own forehead we might stop having some of the issues that we face.  I've even found myself wondering over the past several months what it is that makes Hillsong Australia pump out so many CD's, how do they have church services with thousands upon thousands of people, why are they so influential in the Christian community. Then, after I heard Houston discuss this idea of the Global Church, I realized it is that which allows them to be so successful - they have discovered what it means to be the Church.  I'm sure they have their issues and their situations but I'm also certain that their foundations consist of a group of people who are able to see beyond themselves and into the real purpose of our calling - to be used by our Saviour to save a lost and dying World.  If we were to realize what we are really here for we'd stop concerning ourselves with worldly issues - repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community (if that doesn't sound familiar pull out your Bible and look up Galatians 5, I took this from The Message Bible).  Unfortunately, even the local church is riddled with lives that look like this.  Why do we continue to be okay with this in our own lives?  Why are we not aspiring to go global by taking on a more Godly lifestyle - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity...develop[ing] a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people... find[ing] ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

I have no doubt if we were to focus more on the World around us and get outside of our own motives and "all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants" we would see such a change in our personal lives and then it would bleed over into our service for Him. 

Something to think about....

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