Comments on: Word, Spirit, Gospel and Mission (Part 5)

By: Abraham Nial

Abraham Nial — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:44:40 +0000

Thank you M. Joshua for your encouragement and prayers.

By: Ben Toh

Ben Toh — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:15:15 +0000

Dear Admin,

As humble commenter #1006, this is far more and far better than I deserve! Quoting Mary, I submit myself as the Lord’s unworthy and ever erring servant, and “May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38, 1984 NIV), or “may your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:39, NIV 2010).

May God bless and use this website for His glory alone, and for the advancement of His kingdom!

By: Ben Toh

Ben Toh — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 07:08:26 +0000

Thanks, Joshua. I love your point that the foundation in Christ must be right and continually reassessed. If we build upon a “method” that is fixed and inflexible, we will soon get off base, even get off Christ. Your comments have been quite encouraging and uplifting because you are not assuming anything from your past, but re-discovering and finding over and over again our solid rock in Christ. If you are able to meet me in Chicago on Thu 2/24, call me at (312) 363-8578.

By: Joshua Yoon

Joshua Yoon — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:27:22 +0000

I agree to John’s words of admonishment, “we must remember what God has done and faithfully build upon the foundations laid in the past. But we must also be willing to put aside our current ideas and follow the Spirit wherever he leads.” What should we do if the foundations laid in the past have flaws? Isn’t it necessary to fix them first before adding more on the faulty foundations? If our life and ministry are grounded in something else other than the solid rock, Christ, expanding the church would result in crumbling down someday. It would be good to check on which foundation we are standing. Then putting aside our past, current ideas which are contrary to inspiration and revelation from God, welcoming new ideas and following the Spirit would be more smooth and natural. As seen in Peter’s case, we usually do not initiate the change, especially the radical one but the Holy Spirit does. All we need to do is to discern the guidance of the Spirit and obey Him, even if it requires radical, foundational changes and even if it causes confusion and pain for a while. If you read my comments and questions, you may have noticed some of the changes that had occurred in my view and thought. I can testify that it is the result of the work of the Spirit who lives in me and guides my steps, for even a few years back I had never imagined myself what I would be. I see the same things happening in some people. The Holy Spirit is working hard to bring changes! I hope we will all obey Him.

By: Joshua Yoon

Joshua Yoon — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:38:39 +0000

Abraham, good to hear your voice again. I am glad to hear that articles about Word, Spirit, Gospel and Mission are reassuring your convictions and reminding you to follow the leading of the Spirit. I have been also very blessed by this series a lot. May God fill you with the spirit and power of Elijah as you serve God’s mission with burning passion for His Kingdom.

By: Admin

Admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:44:19 +0000

Prize for #1006: To serve as a UBFriends contributor and discussant for life.

By: Ben Toh

Ben Toh — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:21:08 +0000

So, I am now comment # 1006!
Based on reading theologians such as Michael Horton, this idea or impetus of man doing something (or carrying out his mission) to expand the kingdom of God and the church for God came from Charles Finney, the main person of the 2nd great awakening. Today, there are biblical scholars who regard him as a heretic.
Besides some questionable doctrine, Finney promoted the idea of revivalism orginating from man. It comes across as though man and not God is at the center of the expansion of God’s kingdom. When it is up to man, rather than God, to expand God’s kingdom, then “those efforts (were) confounded with military campaigns, colonialism, economic opportunism and cultural imperialism.”

By: Admin

Admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:18:55 +0000

Yes. That person shall also serve as a UBFriends contributor and discussant for the remainder of his life.

By: John Y

John Y — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:59:50 +0000

Surely a prize exists for the one who most often comments on his own comments that also comments on another comment of his own comment.

By: Admin

Admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:49:07 +0000

His prize is to serve as a UBFriends contributor and editor for the remainder of his life.

By: Yongha Lee

Yongha Lee — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:36:53 +0000

Hi Admin,

Is there any prize for Henoch? Congratulations to Henoch and all who did comments!!

By: Admin

Admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:19:17 +0000

Congratulations to Henoch! He has just posted the 1000th comment on UBFriends.

By: Henoch

Henoch — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:01:44 +0000

Joe, thank you for this series and for these valuable insights. It is very shocking for me to see how little i know about missiological theology and how little interest i used to have in these things.

Since you are talking about Acts so much, i was wondering... Last week we studied Acts 19 (which might belong to the Top 25 favorite passages in UBF :) ). What struck me was that the uproar in Ephesus by Demetrius was not directly caused by Christians or the gospel. Rather, it was due to financial reasons and thus indirectly caused: the gospel had transformed the face of the city so radically that people in the city displayed a changed value system and changed consumerism. Furthermore, the uproar was quieted by the speech of the city clerk. It is evident that this city clerk was NOT a believer. Yet he still defended Paul and his followers by saying that these people had neither robbed the temple nor blasphemed their goddess.

i think that this statement speaks volumes about the church of Ephesus in terms of their sensitivity towards the culture they were evangelizing in. Despite the fact that the gospel was running absolutely counter-cultural against the idolatry with which the Ephesians identified, Christians must have evangelized with uttermost care avoiding any needless offenses and insults.

in comparison to the early Ephesus Christians, i fear that my way of doing mission might have more resembled a bull in a china shop.

By: Ben Toh

Ben Toh — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:12:32 +0000

Oh my gosh, John. How did you know that I pray like that!

By: John Y

John Y — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:45:00 +0000

I once was asked by a spiritual mentor: Are you primarily involved in building God’s kingdom or expanding your personal “ministry” empire? He also asked whether I would be willing for my ministry empire to crumble if that meant the Lord could build His kingdom anew from the ashes and rubble of my crumbled ministry empire.

I will always remember this gentle, life-transformative rebuke.

Nevertheless, I confess my continual prayer seems to be in practice:

“Father in Heaven, Your Kingdom Come…but say, I was thinking…can your kingdom come while also expanding my ministry empire? That can’t be too much of a request, is it? All for YOUR glory of course. But is it too much to ask if I shared in a little bit of THAT glory? Either way, YOUR kingdom come. Even if it means my empire must decrease, may your kingdom increase!……I guess.”

As you can see, this prayer is in the process of being sanctified by the Spirit to be a bit more beautiful to God…

By: Abraham Nial

Abraham Nial — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:59:07 +0000

Amen and Amen! May we, in the grace of God, “be willing to put aside our current ideas and follow the Spirit wherever he leads, because the mission always belongs to him.”
Thanks Joe for this article. In fact, I have been keenly following this series of articles about the theology of mission: Word, Spirit, Gospel and Mission. I am glad you mentioned about Donald A. McGavran and Lesslie Newbigin. Both of them have been blessings to my land and to the international Body of Christ, but in specific ways to me recently. In the past months, I was exposed to their works through Peter C. Wagner and others. Reading your articles, I was reassured of my convictions and reminded to listen and follow the Spirit’s leading ever more.
My last comment stirred up a lot of emotions and it is understandable. This time, I hope and pray that we will pay more attention to the point you have made in your article. God bless.