The mission of Jesus

I have said and, maybe you have as well. "Jesus came to seek and save the lost." Here is a good example of how words have the power to not only change sentences, but how we carry out our relationships.
A little word study is needed here. First, even in our English Bible translations the verse actually says"...to seek and save that which was lost." Apollumi, is the Greek word used here. The actual conjugation is helpful. It is a perfect active participle, it is neuter and singular. What does that mean? It means that the word is talking not about persons, but about a singular "thing". So it is not saying that Jesus came to save "lost people" it says that Jesus came to save "something" that was lost. ( Overzealous evangelistic types, hold your stones for the rest of the story)
What could it have been that was lost if not people? Glad you asked and may I refer you to the Bible for the answer. A trip back to the "loosing" might be helpful. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, what had been lost? It is clear, it was the beautiful relationship of personal intimacy that they had enjoyed with God. Having chosen to move God off the throne and place themselves there, they chose to eliminate the beautiful relationship of "I will be your God and you will be my people" That was destroyed ( the word for lost in the verse we are looking at) and that is what Jesus has come to salvage, to redeem.
Now what real application does all this have? I suggest that when we look at people as objects who have chosen the road to hell and not the road to heaven and our task is to save them from the road to hell, we will act towards them out of a lesser motive. Our problem is not that we chose the wrong road, our problem is that in our sin, we chose not to have fellowship with God. Our sin is not limited to "cussing" and "the like". Our sin is rejecting the person of God, thus fellowship with God, by making ourselves the center of existence. Which we amplify by our religious system of making the saving work of Jesus all about us. It is all about God reconciling the world to Himself.
Now if I then look out to the people whom God allows to walk through my world as those living in the lostness of a living vital relationship with God and those whom God is still longing to share such a relationship, I might have a greater chance of actually loving them and not be so anxious to "lasso" them . I honestly believe that this is one of the primary reasons that our evangelistic efforts are so empty and frustrating. It is hard to reach out to people we don't really like much less love. It is hard to keep coming up with the right gimmick to keep me doing what I don't really have in my heart. But if the Holy Spirit can alter the way I look at people and allow me to see them as objects of a loving Father who gave His son that they could be reconciled, I am far more likely to "tell them the good news"
Hey wait a minute, isn't that what the "gospel" is?

Following the mission?

Just how does a mission or purpose statement affect your behavior? To face a truth right away, it all depends on how deeply your are committed to actually accomplishing your mission or purpose.
Take the case of a church. A mission or purpose statement is only as formative as the level of decision to actually see the purpose carried out. It would not be a stretch of imagination to understand that many churches have mission statements that they are not committed to following. How can I say that, because the behavior that you would expect to accompany the accomplishment of that task is missing. Another huge clue is the amount of non related to the mission activity that goes on.
Where does a Church come up with it's mission statement or purpose statement? They can borrow one from someone else or they could actually go to the book most say is their guide of life and living and see what the Bible says. If the church is the Body of Christ, it would seem to follow that the purpose of the church is the same as that of Jesus. Jesus was very clear that His mission was to reconcile the world to the Father. Thus the mission or purpose of the Church is to join with Jesus in reconciling the world to the Father.
The level to which churches allow other activities and interests to find their way into their calendars depends again on how seriously they take the mission's accomplishment. My purpose of writing this is to stir up some thinking amongst church members to ask their leadership if they are being guided by their mission or by their church culture. It is also to stir up a prayerful submission to God to return to the mission and repent of the sin of choosing our ways over God's ways. Just imagine what could happen in your own world if you and your congregation became mission focused?

Idolatry?

Yes, you are right, we are long past the age of carving idols out of wood and stone and to be frank, idolatry was not a sin that worried me very much. I have far greater sins to work on and after all I have moved past the issue of money and materials things as idols.
That is until a few weeks ago when God brought me face to face with a truth that I had failed to grasp up to this point. Several readings through the Ten Commandments confirmed it. Idolatry is any thing that distracts our focus from God. Sure that makes sense, a carved image draws our focus towards the image. But what about that misspelled word in the PowerPoint presentation last Sunday? What about the deacon who tells you that he needs to talk to you right after the service? What about that song that you didn't understand a word of today? What about that music leader who clearly knew he was supposed to call on people to stand as they sing? What about that budget committee that recommended cutting your favorite church program or pet project? What did they all do, they distracted the focus from God.
So what do you call something that distracts the focus from God? Idolatry, right? If all these things, and more that could be added to the list, are a part of church life, how can we keep it from being idolatry? Here is the message God spoke to me. First, I have to confess that it is idolatry because I allowed my focus to be distracted from God. All these things could have happened and I could have kept my focus on God, but I let it distract me, usually because it raised some issue of fear of loss and because I don't especially like losing stuff I have found it too easy to turn from the one thing I really can not and do not want to loose, a constant awareness of God and focus on the possibility of lesser losses.
Sure, I know full well I can not live in a world where there are no efforts to distract my focus from God, but what I can do is to so clearly focus my energy on drawing as close to God as I can and learning more and more to love and long for Him, the distractions loose their power to make me fear the loss they threaten to bring. I can simply say, "I see you there, I recognize that you are an issue to be dealt with but I do not fear you and I will not allow you to turn my focus from God. In fact I am going to use you to turn me even more intently to God as I seek His guidance to deal with you."
Can you imagine what a difference it could make to you and to your Church if you stopped allowing occurrences of life to distract you from God? I have learned and you will too, you can't and don't need to stop the occurrences, what you need to do is trust God more completely. When God truly does become all you want and need, who can take anything away from you and cause you to grasp idolatrously after that which threatens loss?