The
words we share with loved ones at the end of our lives tend to be important.
That’s why some have said, “Last words are lasting words.” These words tend to
be the thing most remembered and leave a lasting impression on those left
behind. The last words that Jesus shared with His beloved disciples before He
left this planet are very important. They are so important, in fact, that they
are repeated in all four gospels and the beginning of the book of Acts.
We
refer to these words as the Great Commission. You get the sense that Jesus
wants us to remember them and obey them, and you would be right. Simply
summarized, we are to go into all nations and, in the power of the Spirit,
preach the gospel and create obedient followers of Christ starting where we are
at and extending to the ends of the earth.
There
are many who are speaking and writing about what the gospel is in these
transitional days. The conversation is helpful because, as is often the case,
for far too long we have minimized God’s multifaceted and deep truth to reflect
our shallow knowledge and skimpy experience. Unfortunately, in all the
writings, many have extracted what was there to replace it with what wasn’t.
The baby has been flushed down the drain with the cloudy bath water.
Keith
Giles, in this book, contributes to the conversation. One of the most important
things he adds is that he has put back into the gospel the redemptive atonement
and compelling need to speak the truth to others, which has been sadly lacking
in many other contributions.
The
DNA of the body of Christ is both profound and simple at the same time. It is
expressed as:
Divine
Truth: God revealing Himself to us with both a human and divine connection but
perfect in its original communication. Love the Lord your God with all your
heart mind soul and strength.
Nurturing Relationships: a building of healthy
and vibrant family based on a love relationship with our Father and His
Son-Jesus Christ. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Apostolic
Mission: Going into the world to bring the Good News of Christ’s kingdom to
those who are lost and broken. Go into all the world and make disciples. In
essence, the great commandments and the great commission summarize the most
important truth for the life, health, expansion and embodiment of the kingdom
of God.
It is not recommended that we add to, take
from, or compartmentalize any of the DNA. It must remain whole, unpolluted and
powerful together, each part informing the rest.
Unfortunately,
most churches in the West are strong with either the D or the N but frankly,
they need a kick in the A (apostolic mission)! Instead, many have changed the A
in the DNA to reflect “attractional mission”. Rather than going into the
darkness to bring the light to the lost many have merely expected the lost to come
to us. Our approach to mission has been so shallow as to become an attempt to
bring the most people possible to our Sunday morning party. This “he who dies
with the most attendance wins” approach, a hold out to the church growth era,
reflects a poor understanding of the gospel, the church and the Lord of the
Harvest Himself. It fosters a competitive, consumeristic environment that is
toxic.
Every
day small family style churches die out as their people flock to the
mega-warehouse brokers of spiritual goods and services. Because some of these
churches boast large attendances we assume they are successful and parade them
as the best thing happening today. In
fact, very few are growing because of transformed lives, but rather, they grow
at the expense of maller churches that cannot compete with the programs offered
at the “Walmart-esque” mega churches in town.
We can no longer afford to cheapen the
Good News for which Jesus paid the ultimate price. Jesus didn’t die so that we
can have a good service on Sunday mornings. His Gospel is much more then a
reason to meet for an hour and a half once a week. His Gospel is not about me,
it is about Jesus, and it is given to me to give to others. As Jesus said,
“Freely you have received, freely give.”
In this book, Giles gives us a healthy
and helpful kick in the Apostolic Mission of the church. For me, this is a very
welcome kick that can potentially send us back into a dangerous and significant
presence in this world. It seems that most writing in today’s emergent church
scene avoid the sharing of the Gospel and focuses on being nice people who keep
their mouths shut and do good things. Giles reminds us that the message itself
is worth proclaiming on the rooftops, but not at the expense of being kind people.
This book manages to replace the bathwater and keep the baby. So many focus
attention today on being “incarnational” but not vocal about Christ’s presence.
While the word “missional” is popular,
it doesn’t seem to include any sort of proclamation of the Good News itself-for
fear that we become unpopular. Giles shows us that we can be incarnational and
missional and still break the sound barrier and share the Good News without
becoming belligerent and obnoxious about it. In fact, we cannot be incarnational
or missional without the gospel. Good News is to be told as well as
demonstrated.
Keith is a masterful teacher who
weaves divine truth with apostolic mission in a relational manner. In this book
the DNA is whole, complete and informing. Simply for this reason alone, this
book will bring health and wholeness to the body of Christ. He hits on the
areas where we are most out of balance and does so in a compelling manner.
We can no longer expect the
professionally led programs of the mega churches to do the work of preaching
the gospel for the rest of us. We must all take up our cross and follow the
King into the world and proclaim His kingdom. This book can help each of us to
see this call, this great commission, as a task worthy of our lives.
Using easily understood examples and
insightful commentary, Giles brings out a multifaceted understanding of the
implications of the gospel in our context.
This book is challenging, compelling
and a quick read. I recommend it to all who would wish to live a life of significance
and break free from the status quo of an irrelevant and unengaged life.
