Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/84

Contributor - Elly Van Slageren

Title - Commanded to Serve!

Topic - Missions

In thinking about missions we often recall the Great Commission, God's command to every Christian to go into all the world and preach (teach) the gospel to every person.

But what is mission actually'? According to Webster's Dictionary, mission is "the special duty that a person or group is sent out to do", or "a special task to which persons devote their lives". For a Christian then mission is serving the Lord in whatever way we can, wherever we are or wherever He leads us. God has given every Christian the responsibility of being a witness for Him. He expects this, not as a payment for what He has done, because we can never repay the debt we owe, but rather out of gratitude for what He has done for us.

We are to be witnesses by our lifestyle and our verbal testimony. Both are extremely important and must go hand in hand. Witnessing, our Christian God-given responsibility, should be a way of life. But are we fulfilling our mission? How can God use me? How can He use you?

Through Our Lifestyle

Christ must be a part of every aspect of our daily lives. Our values and our priorities must be patterned after Christ. Are we willing to follow in His footsteps, follow His example? We need to become more like Christ. Are we willing to surrender our all to Christ and allow Him to control our relationships, our entertainment, our vacations, our desires, our all?

Jesus was willing to be open with people and identify with them. He established a rapport with them. We also need to build relationships. We need to let others see our natural selves; let's not be ashamed of our humanity but instead let us present our Christianity.

Jesus was compassionate and so should we also be, always sensitive to the needs of others. We may not be able to touch people at the level that Christ does but by reaching out with His love we can meet their needs. I appreciate the motto of Appalachia Reach Out, "Christ's Love in Action". In every area of our work, whether it be transporting people to doctors, visiting the elderly, giving clothes to a family that lost everything in a fire, visiting families in their homes or having Bible studies, we share Christ's love. This is something we all can practice, reaching out in love.

We need to be perceptive. Christ could see below the surface of people and knew what their real need was but they were afraid to reveal it. He sensed the unspoken need. We cannot always do this but by listening and observing we can learn a lot about a person.

We must be confident, in our message and in ourselves. We know our message is true, it is the gospel of Christ (Romans 1: 16) and our confidence is in Him. We know the Lord works in and through us, yes, in spite of our weaknesses and failures. Our daily actions and attitudes, as well as our words, must reflect Christ.

Through Our Verbal Testimony

Being a living witness does not mean that we preach to every person we see, but it does mean that we live our lives wholly for Christ and take hold of every opportunity that He gives us to share His love and our faith with others. As we communicate the love of Christ and the message of salvation, we must be able to communicate on a normal, natural level, not on a spiritual level where non-Christians have no understanding. We should be able to integrate Christ into any conversation. Others need to see that our relationship to Christ involves every aspect of our life and so it should become natural to include Him in our conversations. We cannot separate Christ from our 'normal living'; in other words, do not keep Him 'in a box'.

In witnessing we should not be overly concerned about technique. People are always looking for techniques or methods for witnessing but if we live by the same values and priorities as Jesus then witnessing should happen naturally. We must recognize that the love we show is more important than the method we use. Too often we feel if we did not present the entire gospel then we have failed, but let us remember that we are only instruments in the Lord's hands. He uses us but it is His Spirit who does the convicting.

So you see we, as Christians, are commanded/called to serve Christ by the very way that we live, act, respond and speak. We are His witnesses, so we must no longer ask, "am I called to serve?" but "how can I respond to His command to serve?". Our responsibility is clear... "Everyone outside of Christ is a mission field, everyone in Christ should be a missionary." Let us then go out and serve! (Quote taken from the Sept/Oct. issue of Our Daily Bread)

(If you would like to read more on mission as a way of life I highly recommend Rebecca Manley Pippert's book entitled Out of the Salt-Shaker and into the World IVP 1979)

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