Probably the greatest missional passage in all of scripture is Acts 2.
Holy Spirit is poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Immediately the disciples are enabled to communicate ‘the wonderful works of God’ to all the nations of the world in their own languages!
If this doesn’t impact you with the breadth of Gods love for all people then check out this next bit.
Peter stands up and addresses the representatives from the nations (not the Christians) and quotes to them from a prophecy from Joel 2.
17 “And it shall be in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And in those days I will pour out My Spirit upon My menservants and my maidservants, and they shall prophesy.
Notice vs. 18, the prophecy adds ‘menservants and maidservants’ as distinct from ‘all Flesh’.
The point being; if servants in vs. 18 refers to those that have committed themselves to serve Jesus, then ‘all flesh’ really does mean all flesh. Not just Christians. They will dream dreams, see visions and even prophecy. This means that Right now God by His Spirit is working in the hearts and minds of every person on the planet to draw them to Himself. To give all the opportunity to call on the name of Jesus and be saved.
Our part is to recognise in people what Holy Spirit is already doing and saying, point it out to them and simply help them listen. Put another way, we declare to them in their own language/culture/context/experience/journey the wonderful works of God.
So go and be the church to your world
March 9, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Thinking about this could make some profound changes in the way we respond to spiritual experiences and spirituality that are not “Christian”.
I know the Bible is really clear that there are spiritual practices that we should not be involved in as Christians, but at the same time, if God is really speaking and revealing himself to “all flesh” in all kinds of different ways, then I guess, for me at least, it means I need to be much more “prayerfully listening” to others, before I open my mouth!!
I think “Church culture” has taught us to be afraid of the spirituality of others, and to write off anything that is not “orthodox”, according to whatever denomination or group we ascribe to. We need to be a whole lot more open to what God may be doing/saying in the lives of others!
March 11, 2009 at 3:00 am
Yeah I totally agree, Kerry and Josh. Two years ago, I went through an incredibly narrow phase in my life where my mantra was ‘no fulfilment outside of god’ I remember not even watching Cricket all summer (except when We went to Josh’s place for lunch one sunday) because I felt that sport was a god competing for my, and others devotion. I felt as though God was only to be found in Bible study, Prayer and worship. Luckily a friend of mine told me that He felt God was saying that He was happy with the direction I was heading, but that it was like I was looking through a telescope through the wrong end, and making something big very small. This totally liberated me and I began to see God in all the places I never thought He’d be, and in all the people I never thought He’d hang out with. At the same time I was reading Brian McLaren’s generous orthodoxy which really helped me see that I or my religious tradition doesn’t have a monopoly on God. I also had one life changing moment with a non christian Greenpeace guy that totally changed the way I thought about God at work in the world. I wrote a column on it if anyone is interested
http://realitycheckcolumn.blogspot.com/
March 11, 2009 at 3:36 am
great article Jaemin. and great coment from both of you. If you dont mind I would like to put a link to your blog on the homepage.
March 11, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hey Jaemin – I’ve been checking out your blog – great stuff!! I will definitely keep reading!