“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20).
Thus began the greatest religious movement the world has ever seen. God’s church was built upon this mission statement. It is our prime directive. The church exists today to carry on Jesus’ work of “seeking and saving the lost” (Luke 19:10). Spreading the message of salvation was the single greatest passion of Christians in the New Testament. Even in the face of persecution “those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). From city to city and house to house they were announcing the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to save a lost and dying world.
How do we carry on that work today? How do we reach a society that has become accustomed to the message of Jesus, desensitized to sin, and blinded to their need for salvation? What can stir the close-minded to listen and the hard-hearted to respond? This is our dilemma. We want to make the gospel relevant, meaningful, and attractive in today’s world. We don’t want to be cast aside as outdated or out-of-touch. We want to make Christianity cool. We want to make a genuine impact.
When Bible teaching, traditional worship, and spiritual devotion doesn’t seem to cut it, we start brainstorming what else might get people in the door. Our evangelistic efforts start taking the form of ice cream socials, pizza parties, rock concerts, and game nights. We start attracting crowds. Our parking lot is packed and our treasury is full, but have we accomplished our mission? Is this what Jesus called us to do? Is this the model we see in the New Testament church? Maybe it would be helpful to take some lessons from the Master Teacher Himself. How did Jesus approach His mission of seeking and saving the lost?
In John 6 we see Jesus working a miracle to feed an audience of 5,000 people. From five barley loaves and two fish He satisfies the hunger of this massive crowd who had come to hear Him teach. The people are amazed and want to appoint Jesus as their King then and there (John 6:15), but Jesus withdraws and travels to another region to continue preaching. Many in the crowd are determined not to let Him get away. They travel all the way around the sea of Galilee seeking Him. When they finally track Him down, we might think Jesus would be thrilled by their diligent pursuit. These must be truly committed followers to have journeyed so far to find Him. Yet, notice Jesus’ response:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life…” (John 6:26-27). Jesus wasn’t looking for a fan club – He was looking for disciples. He didn’t want popularity – He wanted people’s hearts. While He had fed them before to show His power and compassionately serve their needs, He had no interest in attracting them with free food. If they were not attracted by His message and His identity, then they were not the type of followers He was looking for.
Instead of stringing them along with their worldly interests, Jesus challenges them to see the spiritual needs He had come to fulfill. “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51). Yet, because of their worldly mindset, this was a very difficult teaching for the crowd to swallow. This is certainly not what they had travelled all this way to hear. They were more interested in what Jesus could do for their stomachs than what He could do for their souls.
“Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?’ …As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:60,66).
No! Wait! Come back! You do know we offer free coffee and donuts to visitors, right? Did you enter our church raffle? You could win a great prize. The worship team has something planned for this Sunday that is really going to rock the house. Have you ever been to one of our potlucks? You’d love it.
Jesus didn’t resort to any of these tactics. He wasn’t interested in attracting crowds. He was interested in attracting converts. He would rather turn people away than compromise His mission or be diverted from His message.
Was Jesus a successful preacher? John 6 may appear to us to be a failure. Yet, that only reveals that our priorities have been turned upside down. Jesus was the greatest evangelist who ever lived and if we think that we have found some marketing strategy that will out-perform His ministry, we’d better think again. The “bait-and-switch” approach employed by many churches today may be effective at getting people in the door, but it does not fulfill the mission of our Lord. It does not make true disciples.
Jesus encourages us to be sowers, not salesmen. In Matthew 13 Jesus pictures evangelism as a farmer sowing seed on many kinds of soils. When the seed fell upon the hardened, rocky, or thorny soil, the farmer did not change his approach. He didn’t rummage through his sack to find some seed that could grow better in these adverse conditions. There was no problem with the seed of Christ’s message; the problem was in the hearts of men. God is in search of good soil. And if we are true to His word it will find good and honest hearts.
Our responsibility is not to cater to the stones and thorns in men’s hearts, but to stay true to the mission and message of Jesus Christ. The gospel has never been popular. In the early church it was “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks” (1 Cor 1:23). We should not expect for genuine Christianity to be any different today. It is good that we are passionate about doing God’s work, but let’s make sure that we are doing it in God’s way.
How does “my church” measure up? Are we taking our notes from the Master Teacher or from modern sales tactics? Are we just drawing a crowd or are we making disciples? I challenge us all to honestly evaluate our religious commitments in light of the scriptures. May we all have the courage and resolve to follow God’s word above our own personal preferences and God’s will above the approval of men.