“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
As Paul writes, saving Grace comes through the hearing of the gospel and the believing in the works of Christ. For how can one believe in someone they have never heard of? As the Christian church, it is not our duty to "save souls", rather to preach the good news. God alone saves. Thus, Some are to be sent forth to preach while the rest are to be sending (financing, praying for, etc). ALL of us are called to be witnesses and to proclaim the good news in our own lives. Imagine an American church that only came together to worship God, pray, and fund missionary work. Would this be too difficult? What if every Sunday involved missionary reports and/or the interaction with them (via Skype, FaceTime, etc). What if the majority of our giving went directly to such work? What might our churches look like? Would such a church survive in modern America?
Here's a quote that struck me from a guy named Michael Frost: Not sure if this applies to your post here, but I think it somewhat parallels this thought:
ReplyDelete"When we have no impressive buildings and no swollen budgets to sustain our work, often only then do we we realize that the best we have to offer this post-Christendom world is the quality of our relationships, the power of our trustworthiness and the wonder of our generosity."
I agree with what you write here Josh. This is exactly why we're here, to live out the Kingdom of God near and far, proclaiming the Good News of our Risen King.