Stopping God's Mission

The man who left an indelible impression upon the world by advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman Empire wasn't on board in the beginning.  He didn't walk with Jesus.  To our knowledge, he never even met Jesus prior to Christ's death and resurrection.

You probably know the story of the man named Paul, called Saul in Acts chapters 8 and 9.  Paul--born and raised a Jew, the son of a Pharisee, descendant of the tribe of Benjamin, living in adherence to the law that few, if any, could match--did not and could not believe Jesus Christ was indeed God.

Paul was a monotheistic Jew. If Jesus is God and Jehovah is God, then there were at least two gods.  This was incompatible.  Furthermore, Paul, like many, believed the hallmark proof of Jesus' deity, the resurrection from the dead, was merely a fabrication because the followers of Christ had stolen His body. Now they were intentionally deceiving the Jewish community.  These perpetrators had to be stopped and Paul's anger burned hot enough to make him the ringleader.

The problem is that Paul was on a mission to actually stop God's mission. By seeking to extinguish the church and snuff out the lives of Christians, Paul engaged in activity that actually did the opposite of what he intended.  Intending to preserve the truth and protect God's work, he was in fact at work to silence the truth and halt God's missional work of redemption.

Herein is the great reminder: If we are not careful, we can actually be on mission to stop God's mission.

If we are not careful, our zeal and passion for God can be misdirected to the extent that we pursue what in the end will not achieve the goal, but tragically achieve the opposite.

The practical application of this abounds.  I leave the many for you to bring to the surface. This is the one that seems to be most front and center these days.

Every believer arguing for a particular method while losing sight of the message is in danger of actually pursuing a mission that will not accomplish God's mission, but rather stop it.  The message has and always will be the same.  Different methods work at different times and in different places.  What we want is for the gospel to advance because the church is advancing and that by whatever method the Lord is pleased to bless.