What responsibilities do disciples have in fixing this broken world? If God is a God of love, wouldn’t He want it fixed? This daily devotional looks at what God has called the disciples of Christ to do as we wait for Jesus’ return.
Nuggets
- There is tension when disciples are working out “in the world.”
- This world is not as God wanted it to be.
- God is less interested in our physical existence than He is is our spiritual condition.
- Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the Plan of Salvation that made Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins.
- Jesus didn’t come down as a social savior but rather to be our spiritual Savior.
- When Jesus comes back, judgment is going to be on one criterion: have we accepted Him as our personal Savior or not?
- Our mission as disciples is to go and tell the world of the spiritual Savior.
Recently, I received a question on one of the devotions. My response got so long, I decided to make it into a post.
“Speak some to the tension between being a missional community and working for systemic change. How can you be in deep friendship with people on the margins and help them in their current situation, and also work and advocate for changing the systems that put them in this position?”
There is tension when disciples are working out “in the world.”
That is to be expected because we are to be different from the world. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12: 2 NIV).
Jesus also talked about us being in the world but not of the world. He said that because the world is a sinful world. Disciples of Christ are to look to our eternal lives.
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This world is not as God wanted it to be. But we know that.
When Adam and Eve committed the original sin, that unleashed the results of sin into this world — poverty, crime, disease, death just to name a few.
Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Luckily, God doesn’t want it to stay that way. But what exactly is He wanting to change, and how will He use us?
Glossary
What Does God Want to Change?
God is less interested in our physical existence than He is is our spiritual condition.
God designed a Plan of Salvation to deliver us from the consequences of sin – spiritual death and separation from God.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Because of God’s infinite grace, He devised the Plan of Salvation that made Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins. Grace is a free and unmerited gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers.
God devised a plan that saved us from the consequences of sin that we experience in this world. He didn’t save us from the results of sin. That wasn’t His focus.
- The consequences of sin are spiritual death and separation from God.
- The results of sin are poverty, crime, disease, death just to name a few.
God’s concern is our spiritual condition. Are we spiritually alive or spiritually dead?
Jesus’ Mission
Jesus didn’t come down as a social savior but rather to be our spiritual Savior.
Jesus is our Redeemer. Redemption is where God bestows His gift of grace on us in order to deliver us from sin.
So, how does this mesh with the worldview people wanting Jesus to be a social savior?
Go back and look at How Should We Be Fed by Jesus?
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Yes, Jesus was dealing with physical ailments of people when He performed His miracles. He fed them when they had spent a long time listening to His teaching. He dealt with the results of sin.
But Jesus was sent to earth for one reason: “… so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 NLT). Let’s clarify that by verse 17: “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn. 3: 17 NLT emphasis added).
Why Jesus was sent to earth the first time was to pay the price for our sins. Period. End of debate.
Jesus did not come to eliminate sin. He did not come to decide what was good or bad with this world to fix it.
Remember, a couple of devotions ago, I used a quote about an interesting observation made by Taylor. Jesus didn’t come to wage this great battle against sin. He didn’t defeat it and smash it up into a bazillion pieces so it would just disintegrate and go away.
Resource
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Let’s look at John 3: 17 in another translation. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (Jn, 3: 17 ESV).
Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it, because it was already condemned.
Eventually, Jesus will come back to judge. Eventually, sin and this world will go away. That means the results (poverty, crime, yada, yada, yada) will go away, also.
But that judgment is going to be on one criterion: have we accepted Jesus as our personal Savior or not? That is why Jesus came the first time — to be our spiritual Savior.
When He comes again, I believe it will be to take disciples home before the destruction of this world. So, what do we do until then?
What Is Our Job in the World?
Our mission as disciples is to go and tell the world of the spiritual Savior. “And he [Jesus] said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mk. 16: 15 ESV emphasis added).
The Great Commission tells us what our mission is and where our mission field is. “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.’ (Mt. 28: 18-20 ESV emphasis added).
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
We are sent out to do just that. We are called to come along people as the Holy Spirit is convicting them. That way we can point the way to God. We can answer any questions they may have.
Sometimes, that mission field is across the globe. Sometimes, it is across the room. The conditions we find on the mission field, though, vary greatly.
Making the Connections
This world is broken. Systemic changes do need to be made to bring them more in line with how God wants us to live.
It is understandable that we want to help facilitate change. Usually, we are on the mission field because we are caring, compassionate people.
We have to decide what God is calling us to do. Some may be called to work for systemic change. The bulk of disciples aren’t going to be.
Look at it this way. The world was broken in Jesus’ day. There were many social issues to which Jesus could have directed His ministry.
Jesus did not come as a social Savior. He did not change the systemic problems of His day.
Jesus did heal the sick. He comforted those who mourned.
Jesus did not fix everything. Things continued to revolve as they had before Jesus came.
But people — those who accepted and believed — were changed. Their relationship with God was restored. They found joy even in difficult circumstances.
In my opinion, the systems under which this world runs are not going to change because the world is under the rule of Satan. A broken system causes strife – and Satan wants to cause strife. He wants to cause division not only regarding what should be done but also whether anything should be done at all.
Satan wants God to be blamed for the poverty, crime, disease, death, yada, yada, yada. If those things were fixed, God wouldn’t be blamed. In fact, it may even look as if God fixed them.
This world will not be fixed. This world is scheduled for destruction.
Should we be good stewards of this world? Absolutely!
Should we work to change the system? Maybe – definitely if that is what God is calling us to do.
Should we focus more on whether people have determined if they are going to be a sheep or a goat? Yes!!!!
Glossary
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Our primary job as disciples is to help others to know that they need to admit their sins, believe Jesus is their Savior and Redeemer, confess God as their Sovereign Lord, turn from their sins, and work to live the life to which God has called them.
How Do We Apply This?
We apply this by following God’s Will for our lives. His priorities have to be our priorities.
I’ve said before that the save the kids, save the animals, save the planet organizations do good — and needed — work. But they are not working to expand God’s kingdom. They are working to save this temporary world.
We just have to make sure we are following the greatest commandment first: “… love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Mt. 22: 37 ESV).
Look at Jesus in the gospels. Yes, He taught to large crowds, but when most of the miracles came, it wasn’t for a large group.
Jesus came to be our personal Savior. All but maybe four of His miracles were for one or two people.
God wants us to know He is your God and my God. He wants us to come to Him individually. He wants us to focus on eternal life.
Gracious Heavenly Father. You love us so much. You could have taken Adam and Eve’s rebellion and wrote us off then. You didn’t. Even before You created them, You designed the plan of salvation to fix our spiritual condition. That did not fix the physical condition of this world. Help us to do Your will. May we always put your priorities first. Amen.
What do you think?
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