To Seek and To Save
I am writing to you today about one of the most important aspects of our church…reaching people in the community for Jesus Christ. It has been on my mind for some time that many things we do in the church are planned for those inside the church. We have worship and Bible studies…we have dinners and meetings…things that keep us busy and moving from one Christian relationship to another. It is almost as if we spend so much time at church that we never have the opportunity to connect with unbelievers.
If you look at the life of Jesus, he had a single focus in his ministry which he stated in Luke 19:10… “the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost”! Jesus came to help people experience a relationship with God the Father. So He spent time with the lost, with those who didn’t know the truth of God. He spent time with tax collectors, people who were despised by most common folk. He was with those who needed His presence and His love!
The priority of being with non-Christians and reaching people in our community for Jesus Christ is commanded in the Great Commission Jesus gave to us. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 19-20, NKJV). Jesus’ words are filled with action and the plea for all His disciples to take the message of His love and truth to the world. You may ask, “How can I do this?” Bill Hybels, in his book Becoming a Contagious Christian, suggests that a Christian can be an evangelist because he has experienced a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out this important work. Peter and John give us a great example of this in Acts 4: 12-13. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” They were just regular people like you and me…ordinary people who had received the power of the Holy Spirit in them. We need to become confident in our faith and know that if we remain faithful to the call of God, God will do the rest of the work!
Here is my point. As a church, we need to strive to keep our focus outward and not inward! We need Bible study and fellowship groups, but that is not all we need. Every ministry of the church needs to begin to think outwardly…asking questions like “How will the ministry I am part of reach someone for Jesus Christ?” or “Is this ministry just for Christians, or will it have an impact on the lives of people in our community who don’t know Jesus?” This change of mindset much be a priority for each of us as individual believers and as a whole church.
I would challenge each of you reading this newsletter to stop right now and ask God for a heart for the lost. Ask God to give you a holy discontent for lost people. In so doing, God will give us the opportunity to build a church that is ready to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. Go in the name of Jesus…so the lost world can know Him!
Pastor Greg