missional living // part the fourth
In actuality, I think there is only one answer to “why more people don’t live missionally,” but we’ll get to that later. Here’s an idea I’m kicking around right now about the reason why. Bear with me:
In Exodus, God leads the people out of Egypt. As they journey in the wilderness, on day one, they immediately begin grumbling. It makes me mad. But I realize it makes me mad because I am just like them. (It still makes me mad). Then God acts on their behalf and performs one of those great miracles that we’ve probably dumbed down too much over the years, he presses back the waves of the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) and the Israelites walk across on dry ground. The Egyptian army makes an attempt to follow (let’s face it, this is not a bright group of people since they continue to pursue the Israelites after ten plagues [though God did harden their hearts, but that's a post for another day]), but they are swallowed up by the sea and drown as the Israelites have already crossed to safety. God demonstrates his power. The people respond. It’s the order of worship we see from beginning to end in Scripture. Revelation of who he is and then response to that revelation. The Israelites respond with this great song of praise that takes up most of chapter 15.
What I find interesting for the Israelites, and the same is true of us, is that they praise God in this time of great action and working on their behalf. But their worship is not so grand, in fact it is not even focused on God during what we may call the “mundane, everyday events.” Our worship is small because we think small. We have not learned to appreciate the grandeur of taking another breath or burn with love for the fact that our heart has been allowed to beat once again.
As I said before, worship and mission are connected.
When a tsunami strikes, we jump to action. We send vast quantities of money and resources as well as teams of people in to rescue and rebuild. When Haiti happens, our response is similar. When Chile happens, our response is the same. It is a crisis response. A great injustice has happened and so we respond in a big way, much like the Israelites did when God acted in a big way. The flip side is also true. In the “mundane, everyday,” we don’t see the crisis occurring and so we don’t respond. I don’t see the crisis of not loving my neighbor so much that I’m willing to do anything to serve him. I don’t see the injustice of not knowing the name of the single mom down the street who is in desperate need of someone just to help her out on Thursdays. I don’t see the crisis of the college student serving me coffee who thinks that no one loves her and that she has no purpose here. I could go on. But I think I’ve punched myself in the face enough. Its not that I can’t see, its that I won’t see. It would cost more and take more sacrifice to reorder my life in that direction. Plus, I mean, its much neater if I just keep him in his box, away from the real life stuff that happens Monday through Saturday…where all the crises and injustice are happening.
What do you think? A valid reason we don’t respond?
