10 Things That Keep Us From Mission

• Pastor Duane | The Resolved Church
• Feb 11, 2010
• Series: Missional
• Categories: Gospel

By: Duane Smets | Lead Pastor of The Resolved Church in San Diego

When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, there is one constant, blaring thing about it we cannot escape…Jesus was constantly and radically missional.

No matter what gospel you read (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) Jesus is always reaching out to both the rejected and the religious. Jesus extends and gives himself to both those who are outcasts and to those who are in the “in.” Jesus has love both for the lawbreakers (the antinomians) and the lawkeepers (nomians).

Yet, despite this most obvious feature of Jesus’ life, which he passes on to us as an ever abiding commandment (Mt 28:19-20), many of us find it difficult and challenging to have a lifestyle of mission like Jesus. Why is that? Below are ten common reasons given for what keeps us from mission, coupled with ways we can work to combat their tendencies in us.

1. Too Busy

Most live extremely busy lives. We are constantly juggling all kinds of things. Maybe we do care about mission but it just seems like one more thing added on the list of stuff to do and to be honest it just isn’t that high of a priority.

I think the key to combating the competing things that vie for our time and attention, is to see mission not as something we do but something we are. It’s an identity thing. If we’re Christians hooked up with Jesus then we have become missionaries who are on a mission. When you look at it like that, there are a lot of common ways we can be on mission even in the midst of being extremely busy. Check out this past post which outlines 8 Easy Ways to Be Missional.

2. No Community Support

Sometimes, we can become very passionate about Jesus’ mission and so immersed in it that we become overlymissional. This is happens when all the people you are living with and spending time with are all non-Christians. You may still show up to church on Sundays but you are really mostly sharing life with people who all don’t know Jesus.

This is not good. I believe we are meant to reach out to the those who don’t yet know Jesus out of the strength of our Christian community. If you are not in a community group, discipleship relationships, and finding your primary source of belonging from your Christian relationships, then it is inevitable…your bad company will corrupt you (1 Cor 15:33). I believe that you should have more Christian friends than those who are not yet Christians…otherwise it is very likely that in time you will be overpowered and overcome by non-Christian influence.

3. Uncertainty of One’s Own Beliefs

Many times if we are honest with ourselves we don’t try to persuade others or speak the gospel into their lives because deep down we’re not really sure. We may not be sure of what we really believe or not sure whether it is really relevant or applies to the issues of life that our friends may be dealing with. There are three things I think help with this one.

First, the apologetics level. Apologetics are the reasons for the Christian faith. If you’ve never studied them you should. Christianity is the most reasonable belief system on the planet and gives us sure footing on which to plant our feet so that we can have confidence in its truth.

Second, the gospel application level. Sometimes we can become convinced that the gospel is true but we don’t see how it really plays out practically in our lives, from common things like coming home tired and cranky from work to more intense things like sexual molestation or an addiction to porn. The more we begin to work at applying the gospel in all areas of our lives the more we will see how it can really benefit the lives of others who don’t yet know Jesus.

Third, the discipleship level. when we recognize that we have doubts, uncertainties or are just confused about things, we should find another Christian brother, sister, or pastor and talk them out with them. Just leaving them unaddressed never helps us and continues to hinder our ability to be missionaries for Jesus.

4. Don’t Think You Should Try To Convert

Sometimes we can find ourselves believing in Jesus and really benefiting from having him and his people in our lives but we know we are different from a lot of other people, so who knows if it’s something they’d be into or if it’s even something they need? Or one may feel even more intense about it and believe that one’s religious beliefs are private and personal and are area of life and belief we shouldn’t intrude on with other people by trying to persuade them one way or another.

The interesting thing about this one is whether knowingly or unknowingly it presents proselytizing or trying to convert someone as being a “grey area” so that withholding judgment or influence, keeps one safe and ambivalent, free from manipulation or coercion. The funny thing is, it is not a grey approach. If you have children what will you teach them? You cannot leave it up to them. If you teach them to love God and his Son Jesus then you are telling them such a thing is important. If you don’t teach them to believe in and follow Jesus you are telling them such a thing is unimportant. There is no grey middle road. You will influence them one way or the other.

It’s the same in all our relationships. Plus, what we essentially have with the person of Jesus is him living a life of constantly trying to convert people…which should tell us that you can’t love Jesus and not love his mission. That would be duplicitous and wrong. If we love Jesus we will figure out how to be on mission for him and seek to persuade others. “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others” (2 Cor. 5:11).”

5. Don’t Want To Waste Free Time

Since being on mission necessarily means spending time with other people, as a result we can feel like we won’t have the time to ourselves we enjoy. Free time can be very limited and if we spend that time with others on mission, we may think we won’t have any time to ourselves.

This brings out two things. One, we should have regular alone time. That is good, important and healthy. However, it brings out a second thing and that is we can also have too much alone time, where we spend it all on ourself and look at the hours of our day as “ours” to do with what we want. Each day we live is gift of God, the hours of the days do not belong to us but to him. So there is a natural sacrifice of self and our agenda that moves us to “make the most of our time” for the sake of the gospel (Eph 5:16).

6. Don’t Have Anything in Common

One barrier we can experience with the idea of reaching out as a missionary to people who are unlike us is we can feel as though we may have nothing in common with them. It may seem like we are so different that there is no way to relate or connect. Or in the most extreme cases, we just may downright not like a person or that type of person.

It is very true that often there are people who are unlike us that Jesus has called us to reach out to. Yet, similar to Jesus who being God was very unlike us, became a man in order to reach out to us, we too have the ability come down the ladder and find commonality with others (Phil 2:5-11). We may be different in our music or movie tastes, hobbies, or the way we dress…but all people share the most important things in common. We all come from a creator and we have all experienced and participated in sin and are in need of a savior. The real stuff of life, the heart stuff like eternity, morality and relationship we do have in common and we can relate and connect on those levels in a very real and powerful way.

In fact, interestingly it’s often the people who are the most unlike us in our outward interests who can break through the things that can sometimes hinder our ability to get beneath the surface with each other. Sometimes it’s the people who are the most unlike you that really force you or enable you to grow in the ways you need to.

7. Fear of Condemnation

For Christians there can be a fear of what their other Christian friends, family, community or church will think if they see them or hear of them spending time with non-Christians. Christians historically have the bad track record of being some of the most unkind and judgmental people out there. So guilt by association can be a common fear. The thinking goes like this, if I’m seen in a “sinful place” with a “sinful person” then that must mean I condone sinful behavior and am participating in it.

This fear, while a common and frequently felt one is based both on a faulty idea of mission and of community support for mission. It’s a faulty idea of mission because it turns mission into something that merely means being different and letting people comes to us because of our difference (centripetalism). This approach commonly misquotes Jesus’ words in John 17:15-16 as being a command to be “in the world but not of the world” and says because of that we shouldn’t have anything to do with non-Christians because that would be “being of the world.”

Besides the fact that this is a misquote of Jesus’ words which actually focus more on us being in the world as agents of Jesus for people, it also fails to see that the gospel must be appropriated to varying contexts (contexualization/adaptation) through us. The unchanging message of the gospel must tailored in particular ways for various people(s). The apostle Paul modeled this for us well, “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings (1 Cor 9:21-23)”.

8. Fear of Corruption

When you ask why some may say that we should only let people come to us rather than going to them, often at the root of it is a fear that spending time with sinful people in sinful places will corrupt us. The thinking is non-Christians will rub off on us, so rather than risking it we should just completely cut ourselves off.

While there is a genuine concern here that “bad company will ruin good morals (1 Cor 15:33)” as mentioned above….this is an overreaction akin to not driving because of a fear that we might get in an accident if we get on the road. As Jesus reminded us, it is not what is outside of us that corrupts us, it’s what we do with it, how respond, how our heart corrupts it (Mt. 15:10-20). If we are genuinely walking with Jesus and in community with his people there ought to be enough natural restraint and protection to guard us while we sojourn in this wicked world (3 Jn 1:2-8).

9. Fear Of What To Say

Many are good at making friends with those who are not yet Christians but actually bringing up Jesus or talking about the real stuff of life and how the gospel relates is a whole other thing entirely. While there may be other things at work holding back a person from opening there mouth, sometimes there is just a plain of simple fear of not knowing what to say.

It is good and right that we should not just give a pat answer and say the same thing every time. Silently in our heads we ought to be in prayer and be led by Jesus’ Spirit to rightly handle his word and deliver it accordingly (2 Tim 2:15). Jesus seemed to be very aware of this apprehension and he addressed it directly. Jesus said when the time comes for us to share about him to, “not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say (Lk 12:11-12).”

10. Fear Of Damaging The Relationship

One other potential downfall for those who are very good at making friends and keeping friendships with those who are not yet Christians, is a fear can then arise about bringing up issues concerning sin and the need for Jesus because such conversation has the potential to drive a wedge in the relationship or even eventually end it. The fear is you will then come across as being so different and unlike your friend that they will no longer want anything to do with you. If you have genuinely been loving the person, you have most likely grown to enjoy their company as well, and besides losing the opportunity for mission you simply don’t want to lose your friend.

In response to this one three things come to mind. One, if you’ve really been a good friend and care for the person’s life, then it will not only be difficult for you to share the gospel in an unloving way but it will be difficult for the gospel to be received in such a way. Very rarely will the expression of a loving concern be rejected as oblique judgmentalism.

Two, the most unloving thing you can do for a friend is to withhold the gospel from them. The gospel is the gift of love and without it we run headlong into hell. If my daughter is unknowingly running toward the street with rushing cars the most loving thing I can do is tell her to stop and go pick her up.

Three, it is a real reality that there may be cases where bringing the gospel into the relationship will end it. Jesus promises this and had it happen to him. He says that there will be those who reject him and our word of him and when that happens we are to kick the dust off our feet (Lk 10:1-16). In these cases we must remind ourselves that knowing Jesus is the richest and most rewarding relationship we have, one not worth compromising if there is a relationship with another person that becomes directly opposed to him and our love for him and his mission.

Conclusion

I’m sure there are other things that hold us back from mission at times. These have been ten common things I have both experienced in my own life and witnessed and heard from others. What it comes down to is Jesus knows no such thing as a follower or disciple of him who is not living a life of mission for him. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth his calling to his first followers was an invitation to become fishers of men. At the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth his last instructions were to go be his witnesses.

Being a Christian is being a person who is on mission, a missionary. Let us beware of the tendencies in our heart that would keep us from being that which Jesus has called us to be and the example he has left us to follow. There is no greater joy for us in this world than knowing Jesus and making him known. Go into all the world and preach the gospel! (Mk 16:15)

- Pastor Duane
 
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