[Home]

Chapter 5

Knowing our Mission

      After we have responded to God’s recruitment initiative, the next step is to discover how God can use us.  We can’t read the Bible without concluding that God’s overall goal is to reconcile the world to Himself.  He does this by working through His people—His recruits—to expand the Kingdom.  Thus, the question for each recruit is, “What can I do to help expand the Kingdom?”  From the teachings of Jesus, we can conclude that our mission is to serve and to witness.  Although these are closely related, we will look at them separately.

Serving

      An attitude of service to others is the hallmark of a Christian.  Jesus told His disciples:

      You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.

—Matthew 20: 25-28 (NIV)

      To be an effective servant requires that we have the mind of Christ.  This mind-set is the antithesis of the world system, sometimes characterized as a “dog-eat-dog” way of life.  It is interesting that 13 of Jesus’ parables mention servants, and in six of these,[1] servanthood is the principal thrust of the parable.  Jesus not only taught servanthood; His life of selfless service set the example for us.

      Our call to a life of service follows naturally when we are obedient to the command Jesus gave us—“love one another.”  We can do this only when we realize that God loves us.  When we consider the endless treasures that we have received at the hand of God, how can we be unwilling to respond in love to those around us?  Yet isn’t it true that it is easy to love people who are lovable—people who are kind, gentle and affirming.  But how are we to love people who are selfish, hostile, and even hurtful?

      Jesus gave us a parable to illustrate what it means to serve our fellow man.  Almost everyone knows what the words “Good Samaritan” imply.  The words can be found in most dictionaries, and is codified in various “Good Samaritan” laws around the world.

      Jesus told this parable in answer to a question from a lawyer who was an expert on the law of Moses.  In those days, in order to interpret the law, one had to know the teachings of the Hebrew scriptures.  The lawyer was testing Jesus’ orthodoxy.[2]  His question was, “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus countered this question with the question: “What does Moses’ law say about this?”  The lawyer then quoted Moses’ law, which says that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Jesus told the lawyer that his answer was on the mark, and if he did this, he would live eternally.

      The lawyer then asked (“wanting” as the Scriptures say, “to justify himself”), “Who is my neighbor?”  The lawyer probably wanted Jesus to limit the definition of a neighbor.  Rather than give a specific answer, Jesus told the following parable—a parable which gives us a clue as to what it means to serve in the kingdom.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers.  They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.  Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper.  “Look after him”, he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”

—Luke 10: 30-35 (NIV)

Three aspects of the parable add impact: (1) The rescuer was a person whom the injured man had no use for under ordinary circumstances.  Jews viewed Samaritans as half-breeds both physically and spiritually.  A Jew would never associate with a Samaritan—not even in a passing encounter; he might go far out of his way to avoid contact with a Samaritan.  (2) Prior to the rescue by the Samaritan, the victim was totally ignored by two men who professed to be religious.  (3) The much-despised Samaritan did more than would be expected of anyone in this situation.  He went the second mile with the victim.  His actions were above and beyond the call of duty.

      The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable of contrasts.  Jesus wanted his listeners to feel the spontaneous love of the Samaritan in contrast to the blatant disregard for human suffering exhibited by the two religious men.

      When Jesus had finished telling the parable, He asked, “Which of the three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” (verse 36).  There was, of course, only one answer, and it was obvious: “The one who showed mercy toward him,” responded the lawyer.  Now Jesus was in position to drive home the point with great force: “Go and do the same” (Verse 37).

      Our initial reaction to the parable might be to deny that we would ever react as the priest and Levite did.  We might even think that we would do most of the things the Samaritan did.  But isn’t it true that we are more inclined to respond to an emergency situation than to the everyday needs of people?  Do we remember the neighbor who is confined to a nursing home and has few visitors; or the friend in his fifties who has lost his job and can’t locate another; or the person who has lost a loved one, and is lonely and depressed?

      Everyone who reads this parable is challenged by it.  The words of Jesus, “Go and do the same” echo back to us.

      We know that God is in the business of weaving together the destiny of us all.  He is not coercive, however—he has given us free will; therefore, he can weave only as we make ourselves available—as the Samaritan did.  We are meant to be channels for God’s love.  Any form of self-centeredness blocks the flow of God’s love.  Our prayer should be:

Lord, all that I am, and all that I have, is a gift from you.  Guide me to the wounded people you would have me meet on my Jericho road.

Witnessing

      John R. Mott claimed that “Religion begins to take hold of a man’s life when he feels a compelling need to share it with others.”  Perhaps that is the reason that Jesus, after He had chosen the Twelve Disciples, sent them out to tell others about their relationship with Him.  He knew that faith grows when it is shared.

      Why is it that many of us find it difficult to share our faith?  Why do we hesitate to talk to others about our beliefs?  We are humbled by what we read in the Book of Acts about those first-century followers of Jesus.  Their triumphant faith undoubtedly bubbled up from the urgency they felt to witness.  We read:

Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

—Acts 5:42 (NIV)

Those early Christians were more than willing to tell others what Christ had meant to them.

      Sometimes we are turned off by witnessing which we perceive as misguided.  Several years ago as I was driving through a small town, I had to stop at a traffic light where a father and his two young sons were on three of the four corners of the intersection.  Each of them had a Bible in hand, and each was belting out a message of fire and brimstone for anyone who would listen.[3]  That same evening, the TV program 20/20 featured the story of a remarkable woman preacher in Chicago.  For 30 years she had ministered to the inmates of a maximum security prison with a compelling message of love.  “What a difference,” I thought, “in those two methods of witnessing!”

      Doing acts of kindness, as the Samaritan did, is always an effective way to witness.  It was Saint Ambrose who brought Saint Augustine to Christ.  Saint Augustine wrote that they had argued endlessly.  We can imagine how those two men—both with brilliant intellect—went at each other like two trial lawyers, using all of their debating skills, and then at the end, St. Augustine wrote the following: “I began to love him not first as a teacher of the truth, but as a fellow creature who was kind to me.”

      Theological arguments—no matter how logical—are not likely to be an effective witnessing approach to those outside the faith.  An outstanding theologian had this to say concerning the intellectual approach to witnessing:

My friends, may I warn you from my own failures that while you will be of immense help to the cause of Christ by being able to defend its intellectual position, you will be a ten thousand times more potent missionary if you exhibit a life that Christ has changed, if you show in your nature those fruits for which all men hunger, if you have that quiet serenity, that endless goodwill, that deep joy and that passionate purpose which are amongst the important marks of a nature surrendered to our Lord.[4]

      A case could be made that serving others is the most effective way to witness.  Two pastors I have known had sharply contrasting approaches to their ministry.  Their situations were similar—each was the only pastor in his church, and their congregations were approximately equal in number.

      Pastor #1 preached eloquent sermons.  He said that he spent about 40 hours per week in preparation for his Sunday morning sermons.  He also served on several high-level denominational committees.  Consequently, there was little time remaining for other pastoral duties.  His sermons were well-organized, polished, and well-delivered.  Those who wanted a typed copy of the sermon could pick one up as they left the sanctuary at precisely 12:00 Noon.  At one point in his pastorate, he took a sabbatical leave and became a “Tower Scholar.”  It seemed that this pastor was more interested in the study of theology than in applying it to everyday life.

      Pastor #2 didn’t limit his ministry to his own congregation.  He was available wherever he felt he was needed in the community.  If he knew that a neighbor down the street—who was not a member of his church—was having a particular problem, this pastor would be at his side helping him.  His sermons were not eloquent; nor were they timed to end at precisely 12:00 Noon.  One could not get a copy of his sermons because the only record of them was a few notes jotted on a 3x5 card.  If a person unexpectedly came to the Sunday morning worship service, and if the pastor felt that this person needed a certain message, he might change his sermon topic at the last minute.  It seemed that Pastor #2 was open to the leading of the Spirit at all times.

      Which pastor’s ministry more closely fit the ministry of the Master who went about doing good?  Which ministry more closely followed the example of the Samaritan?  Saint Francis of Assisi wrote, “Always preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.”  Robert Schuller wrote that pastors fail when they think they are in a denominational or theological business.

      All of us have seen examples of witnessing which were not only ineffective, but produced a negative effect.  Rather than give real-life examples, the following allegory is presented—one which came to me one morning when I was reading the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Nothing in the parable has been omitted or changed.  Instead, fictitious details have been added—details which suggest why non-Christians are often turned off by Christians who have a misguided concept of witnessing.  Although this embellishment is imaginary, the events and conversations are not incompatible with the parable itself; conceivably, they could have happened.

*****************************************************

Scene One: At the Temple in Jerusalem

      In the year 32 AD, a young man from a small town in Galilee was visiting Jerusalem for the first time.  While sightseeing in the area of the temple, he asked directions from two men who were having a conversation on the Temple steps.  After answering the question, the two men introduced themselves; one was a priest, the other was a Levite (a Temple assistant).  They asked the visitor where he was from, and what he was doing in Jerusalem.  The young man was genuinely interested in the Temple and its history, and asked some intelligent questions.  Although the young Galilean had grown up in a nominally Jewish family, he knew very little about the beliefs and practices of orthodox Jews.

      Before long, the priest and Levite were discussing some deep theological questions with the young man.  When they talked about inheriting eternal life, the Galilean asked what one had to do to inherit it.  The priest quoted the two great commandments handed down by Moses, which precipitated the question: “Who should I consider to be my neighbor?”  In answering this, the Levite quoted from the five books of Moses.  The Galilean was particularly impressed by a verse from Leviticus:

      The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native born.  Love him as yourself…

—Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)

      The conversation would have lasted longer, but the priest and Levite had duties to perform.  Before leaving, the Galilean said that he would like to come back to Jerusalem to study under some of the outstanding teachers—“teachers like Gamaliel.”  The priest told him, “I hope you will seriously consider it.  Since you have family connections with the Tribe of Levi, I feel sure you would be accepted as a candidate for the priesthood.”  The two men bid the visitor farewell, and wished him a safe journey back to Galilee.

Scene Two: On the Jerusalem-Jericho Road

      The next day, the young Galilean left Jerusalem to return home.  He may not have been aware that the first leg of his journey—a road that descended 3,500 feet to Jericho—was known as “the Bloody Way.”  It was a dangerous route to travel because bandits hid in the rock crevices and caves along the steeply descending road.  He had walked only about two miles from Jerusalem when he was attacked by bandits.  They stripped him of his clothes and money, beat him, and left him half-dead on the side of the road.  Shortly thereafter, the victim saw a man coming down the road.  As he came closer, the victim cried out for help, but the man crossed to the other side of the road, and kept going.  Despite his badly-wounded condition, the victim recognized the man as one of the men he had met the day before at the Temple.

Note: This was the priest.  He was on his way to the Jericho synagogue where he was to be the guest speaker.  The sermon he selected for this occasion was “Living out the will of God.”  He had been rehearsing his sermon when he encountered the victim, and became irritated when the victim cried out for help.  He briefly thought about helping the victim, but then realized that if he got involved with him, he might be late arriving at the synagogue.  “After all,” he rationalized, “I can’t keep all those people in Jericho waiting.”

      A few minutes later, another man came down the road.  As he came closer, and heard the pitiful cries of the victim, he also crossed to the other side of the road and kept walking.  The victim was incredulous when he realized that this was the other man he had met at the Temple. 

Note: This was the Levite.  He was also en route to the Jericho synagogue.  He wanted to hear his friend speak on the subject “Living out the will of God.”  Others had told him that it was an inspiring sermon.  The Levite recognized the victim as a fellow Jew and he knew he had an obligation to assist him, but he rationalized that it might make him late in arriving at the synagogue, and he had promised the priest that he would introduce him to some of his acquaintances there.  Besides, no one would ever know he had ignored the victim.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity to the victim, a Samaritan came down the road.  When he saw the victim, he felt deep pity.  Kneeling beside him, he soothed his wounds with medicine, and bandaged them.  Then he put him on his donkey, and walked beside him until he came to an inn, where he continued to nurse him through the night.  The next day he handed the innkeeper some money, and told him to take care of the man.  “If the bill runs higher than that,” he said, “I’ll pay the difference the next time I am here.”

Note: The Samaritan was returning to his home from a business trip to southern Judea.  His family was having a reunion, and his wife had urged him not to be late.  He was already running late when he encountered the victim.  Foremost in his mind at this point was an incident that occurred a year earlier.  One of his daughters had a high fever at a time when Jesus was passing through Samaria.  The Samarian had heard of Jesus’ healing power, and therefore asked Jesus to heal his daughter.  When Jesus laid hands on her, the fever immediately subsided.  The Samaritan was so thankful for this that he resolved to show compassion to others whenever it was possible to do so.

Scene Three: At the Temple in Jerusalem

      Several days after their conversation with the young Galilean, the priest and Levite were again on the temple steps.

               Priest:     Aaron, I have been thinking about the young Galilean we met.  Do you think we convinced him that he should aspire to the priesthood?

               Levite:    He seemed to be receptive to what we told him.  I’m glad you mentioned that if he wants to be a priest, he must give God first place in his life.  And, as you convincingly pointed out to him—and also to our sister synagogue in Jericho—he must love his neighbor as himself.

               Priest:     I don’t know if you have noticed, Aaron, but there are many in our fellowship who just don’t seem to care about spiritual matters.  Take Eleazar, for example.  He hasn’t been to our meetings for a long time, and someone told me that he has stopped tithing.

               Levite:    I have also heard that.  And Eleazar is typical of many others.  It’s a sad commentary on the times in which we live.  There is too much affluence, and too many recreational distractions in this city.

               Priest:     Getting back to the young Galilean, I do hope he will decide to study for the priesthood.  We need more men who take religion seriously—men who are on fire for God!  We have enough nominal Jews.  What we need are effective Jews—those who will do the will of God at any cost.

Scene Four: At the Inn

      It had been three weeks since the Samaritan had brought the battered young Galilean to the inn.  As he recuperated, he and the innkeeper became friends.  One evening, they were sitting on the roof of the inn enjoying a spectacular sunset.  In the course of the conversation, the Galilean told the innkeeper he would be leaving the next day.  He asked the innkeeper if he knew the religious affiliation of the Samaritan.  The innkeeper didn’t know.  The Galilean then told him about his conversation with the two religious leaders at the Temple, and how they talked about the importance of religion.

      “They tried to convince me that I should become a priest,” he said, “and then, the very next day, those same two men came down the Jerusalem—Jericho road, several minutes apart.  As each of them got close enough to hear me calling for help, they crossed to the other side of the road, and kept going.  If that Samaritan had not come along when he did, I certainly would have died.”

“You may find this hard to believe, Reuben,” the Galilean continued, “but those men talked at great length about how important it is to love your neighbor as yourself.  They even had some disagreement among themselves as to whom one should consider to be his neighbor.  Obviously, neither of them considered me to be their neighbor.”

“I’m surprised by what you say about the two religious leaders,” said the innkeeper, “but I am even more surprised that a Samaritan would do anything for a Jew.  Surely that Samaritan must know that if he had been in your shoes, no Jew among us would have lifted a finger to help him.  Most Jews wouldn’t give a Samaritan the air in a jug!”

“Yes, and that’s one reason I admire him,” said the Galilean.

      “Reuben, although we Jews believe we are God’s chosen people, don’t you suppose that God loves everyone?  And if this is true, shouldn’t we consider everyone to be our neighbor?  By the way, when the Samaritan comes back here, please find out how I can contact him.  I want to pay back the money he gave you to care for me, and I also would like to know why he did what he did.  For some time now, I have been searching for ways to apply religion to everyday life.  That Samaritan has demonstrated what I have been looking for.  His religion is practical!”

*****************************************************

     This embellishment of the parable illustrates both negative and positive witnessing:  The priest and Levite, after giving the Galilean a lecture on loving one’s neighbor, and trying to recruit him into the priesthood, left him to die on the Jericho road.  Their hypocrisy was painfully obvious to the Galilean.  From what we know about the two religious leaders based on their conversation with each other, and from other insights which are mentioned in the story, we can see that their main concern was to look good in the eyes of their peers.

On the other hand, the Samaritan witnessed effectively to the Galilean—a person from a different culture.  It caused the Galilean to want to know the religious beliefs of the Samaritan, and presumably to emulate his actions.

      It is unlikely that the two religious leaders were ever aware of the negative effect of their witness to the Galilean; it is quite possible that the Samaritan never knew the positive effect of his witness in this situation.  This should remind us that we are constantly witnessing—whether we are aware of it or not.

      For witnessing to be effective, it must be sincere and spontaneous.  It should not be contrived, as in the case of the man and his two sons preaching fire and brimstone at a busy traffic intersection.

      As we read the biographies of effective Christians, we need to remind ourselves that God does not want us to present the gospel according to Schweitzer, Mother Teresa, Wesley, or any other outstanding Christian.  He wants us to present the gospel as it is in our lives.  There are people who happen to be on our wavelength and they pick up our vibrations.  They are to us what the young Galilean in the allegory was to the Samaritan.  They may never get the gospel at all unless they get it from us.  What a great responsibility, but what an opportunity!

      What is our mission?  It is to witness and to serve.  We witness to our fellow man when we serve.  We serve God when we witness.  We will do these things as a matter of course when we love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.

[Home]