A Spiritual Perspective of the Great Commission

~ Jim ~ Leave a comment

In an earlier post, I looked at the term “ends of the Earth” and saw how, in addition to the obvious physical meaning, it pointed to Gentiles and ultimately, to those who are far from God. Jesus’ statement in Acts 1:8 described the church expanding through various levels of spiritual commitment until finally it broke out into those areas where there was no connection with God at all.

It became clear that today, spiritually, the ends of the Earth today are all around us, not just in far distant regions.

In a similar manner, I think we can revisit the Great Commission in Matthew and note that there is a spiritual application for today that challenges us to think about evangelism in a new way. A way that, at least for me, encourages getting away from standard Christian contexts.

Let’s start by revisiting the passage.

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.”

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

Note that the command is to go into “all the nations”.1 This is generally taken to mean something similar to the physical interpretation of “ends of the Earth” – to go even to far distant lands. It also is often taken to mean that every “people group” is to be reached.

However, just as “ends of the Earth” was also associated with Gentiles and not just distant lands, the term “the nations” was also the way of saying “Gentiles”. In other words, Jesus used a term that meant both the physical reality of different people groups all over the world, and the spiritual reality of people far from God (wherever they might be).

This latter meaning of spiritual lostness gets obscured with standard translations so that the emphasis is on going far away – things like international missions and the like. In order to apply the command to our local lives, the word “go” is often rephrased from into “as you go” and then becomes a command to witness as we go through our normal lives.

For myself, however, the neglected spiritual perspective reveals the need to be deliberate and proactive about reaching into the darkness around us. I feel led to go away from church, both physically and metaphorically – away from Christian services, concerts, programs, ministries, and other forms of Christian context, and to find ways to present the Gospel in those spiritually distant places that are all around us.

I think the deliberate act of taking the Gospel into dark contexts involves actions that go beyond our normal activities, and that this is the difference between “go” and “as you go”. In other words, we need to look for ways to go into secular contexts, things we might not otherwise do, that can be used to speak truth.

We need to go to the ends of the Earth that are all around us.

So, what might this look like in practice? Obviously, the first step is prayer, seeking the Lord for new ideas, perhaps meditating on encounters in Scripture for specific principles to use. My previous essay briefly described a technique I’ve been led toward. I’ll write more about that later. But for now, I think that a regular practice of prayer and Scripture meditation is a way to let the Spirit lead one towards options.

This is part of what this blog will work towards.

1. Even though the ESV translates this as “all nations”, it seems the Greek actually says “all the nations”, and more literal translations present it that way.

Signs and Messages

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In the previous post, we saw how Antioch was the church’s true breakthrough to the ends of the Earth, and how it represents the parts of our society that are the furthest from God. A key purpose of this blog is to seek fresh insights for reaching into this darkness. A different post described the spiritual principle that the Spirit will guide us to speak in the ways that are needed.

This was indicated by the direct mention of God’s involvement at the Antioch breakthrough:

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:19–21 (ESV, emphasis mine)

We can expect the Lord to guide us how to speak today, but we still need to get people’s attention, engage with them in a way that leads into the words that God will give us. The early disciples seemed to realize this, for when they prayed for boldness to go out and speak, they also asked the Lord to lead the way with signs and wonders:

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Acts 4:29-30 (ESV, emphasis mine)

Miracles were not the only way that messages were introduced, and in some cases messages were given without any sort of clear pointer. In any case, there seem to be a handful of places where messages are associated with a clear lead-in, miraculous or otherwise, and although I think more work is needed, there does seem to be a pattern that relates the introduction with the message. We can see that by considering these events at Pentecost, the Gate of Beautiful, Cornelius, Lystra, and Athens.

At Pentecost, people noticed the strange behavior and heard them speaking of the “mighty acts of God”. Peter described how the strange behavior was the fulfillment of prophecy, and described how the mighty acts that God performed through Jesus validated who He was.

When Peter healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate, he did so in Jesus’ name. Then when he preached to the crowd that formed in Solomon’s portico, he pointed to that sign as an example of God’s power validating Jesus as the Messiah.

When Peter encountered Cornelius, they obviously shared a profound experience. Peter built on that by pointing to the events throughout Judea that they all knew about concerning Jesus, emphasizing his personal experience of the resurrection, something that Cornelius would have had sympathy with considering the profound experience that they had both recently experienced.

At Lystra, Paul healed a lame man, but the people completely misunderstood what happened, even after Paul tried to explain the truth to them. His message seemed to have little to do with the miraculous event that started the incident. Could that be why there seemed to be no fruit? There’s more worth investigating there, but perhaps it could be an example of how some important principles need to be applied consistently.

There is no miracle reported when Paul was in Athens, but his message on Mars Hill built directly on the reactions of people to his message in the marketplace. They apparently didn’t understand about the resurrection, but realized he was talking about some “foreign gods”. Paul used that by starting with their knowledge of “gods”.

There are other miracles and other places where messages are presented without an obvious sign, but these examples demonstrate the power of a “pointer” to introduce the gospel message in some situations. This also needs to be investigated further, but perhaps something is needed to help introduce spiritual concepts in this post-Christian culture for those who aren’t interested in Christianity.

So, this leads to some encounters consisting of two pieces – first a sign or pointer, and then a message.

Working with this concept of a sign, or a pointer, it probably doesn’t need to be a miracle if Athens is any indication. This raises the question of what else might be a pointer today. Perhaps some things that are used in apologetics, such as arguments from science or morality. But I think of pointers more as introductions with context, so they may also include things like art. For example, a compelling work may evoke emotions that lead into a presentation of the gospel that starts with that emotional perspective.

In that way, I’ve been led to explore a type of photography that seems helpful in getting people to think beyond the natural and creating openings for spiritual discussions. It is sometimes called “virtual reality” or “360” photography, and consists of pictures that are viewed in a window by clicking and dragging the viewpoint around. Initial experiences with unbelievers have been positive, and I am starting to expand that work to provide clearer pointers in a photography blog called “Whole Reality”.

Since the photography is intended just to point to spiritual concepts, there needs to be additional content to further develop the ideas that have been raised and take them to the gospel. I plan to have a second blog for this work, called “Kelvin’s Clouds”, for such content. The photographs will point to this section of writings. The approach used in this blog is based on years of prayerful listening to unbelievers, and will help place Christianity within a rational framework that recognizes the profound unknowns existing in even the best materialist descriptions of reality.

This is just a start of digging into this spiritual framework, but gives enough basis to continue work on the two efforts mentioned above. In addition, I hope that simply walking this path myself will lead to a deeper understanding of these principles that may be helpful to others.

The Ends of the Earth Today

~ Jim ~ 1 Comment

In the previous essay, I discussed where the Gentile mission really started and concluded that it began in Syrian Antioch when some unnamed believers began evangelizing Gentiles, walking through the door that had been opened with Cornelius. This helps us understand the Acts 1:8 sequence a little better, but leaves open the question of how to apply this today.

Jesus’ sequence of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the Earth is sometimes applied physically to us today by starting with our local neighborhoods as our “Jerusalem”, and continuing out until we get to distant lands. Other times, the sequence is used as a picture to describe people instead of location, so that we start with those who are like us, but strive to reach those who are very different from us. These differences may be economic, racial, cultural, and so on.

In either case, these modern applications tend to place ourselves in the center.

However, I think that Jesus’ sequence hints at another way to think about this, by looking at Cornelius. First, recall that the term “ends of the Earth” was closely associated with Gentiles, and physically would have been beyond Samaria, the last region on Jesus’ list.

Now, Cornelius is clearly highlighted as the first Gentile believer, but he was physically in Samaria, not even beyond Jesus’ own travels.1 Also, he was familiar with God, in fact he was explicitly described as a God-fearer — someone who worshipped God, prayed to Him, and gave alms.

Thus, Cornelius was something of a spiritual mixture, just as Samaria (where Cornelius was located) was a religious mixture.2 This suggests another way to look at the Acts 1:8 sequence — as a spiritual sequence from nearness to God, to complete separation from Him.

Importantly, this approach places God at the center rather than ourselves. A spiritual perspective like this can be applied directly today.

For example, just as Jerusalem was the center of religious activity, perhaps we can think of our Jerusalem as those places filled with people who are in close relationship to God. Church services, Christian charity and service, Bible studies and prayer meetings, and so on.

Judea was the land of the Jews, but not explicitly religious. It was where Judaism was lived out in the rest of life, so perhaps today we can think of this as places where Christianity is practiced outside of church — festivals and concerts, non-profit organizations, Christian businesses, and so on. Still primarily populated by Christians, but not church-centered environments.

Samaria was a land of mixture, where some Jewish beliefs, practices and ethnicity were mixed with Gentile influences. Today this might look like places where Christian beliefs are practiced in non-Christian environments. Secular workplaces where Christians live out their beliefs but are not the majority, families that include a mixture of believers and unbelievers, and so on.

The ends of the Earth represented those places where recognition of God was minimized, that were completely dominated by secular Gentile belief. Such places would exist today wherever secular influences dominate, especially where Christian influences are deliberately ignored or even rejected. This may include many businesses, universities, cultural events, and so on.

In a sense, we can think of such places as populated by “spiritual Gentiles”. Gentile, not in the original sense of non-Jewish, but in the sense of being separated from God.

The idea of using the Acts 1:8 sequence to represent spiritual realities can probably be applied in several ways; the descriptions above are just one possibility. My primary focus is the last stage — how do we bring light to those places that are spiritually dark, that are the furthest from God?

People in these modern “ends of the Earth” are right around us — our neighbors, co-workers, civic leaders, teachers, and so on. They may live near us or far away, be like us or very different, but spiritually they are Gentiles in the sense of being far from God. This group is growing, partly because our culture is growing more secular, but also because people who are spiritually seeking often don’t see Christianity as a good path. In addition, there is a steady stream of people leaving the faith.

Because of this group’s spiritual perspectives, they are often unaware and even uninterested in church, in going to Jerusalem. As such, they are less likely to respond to things like invitations to religious or church activities. They need to be reached by Christians going to them, just as Jesus originally said.

My interest here is to seek the Lord about reaching this growing population of spiritual Gentiles. Given the growth of this darkness and the related struggles of current evangelism, it seems that there is something missing. By studying how the Spirit worked in Scripture to reach those furthest from Jerusalem, I hope to learn principles that can make a difference today.

  1. Cornelius was in Cesarea, in Samaria. Jesus went beyond Samaria, to Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24).
  2. Samaria was populated largely by Jews who had mixed with Gentiles. Their religion was based on only the first five books of the OT, and had many differences from Judaism. See, for example, John 4:19-22.

The Ends of the Earth in Acts

~ Jim ~ 1 Comment

Given the challenges of sharing the Gospel today, continued reflection on Scripture seems key. I’ve often pondered the expansion of the church in Acts as Jesus described it, from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the Earth, and sought lessons to apply for today. In particular, the opening of doors to the Gentiles, the “ends of the Earth”, seems significant, and is worth understanding this better.

For example, when did the breakthrough to the Gentiles happen, and who was involved? Were the Apostles involved, such as Philip’s foray outside Judea? Were the Samaritans the start because some considered them Gentiles? Obviously Cornelius is a breakthrough case, but no more is mentioned until the Hellenists in Antioch, and were they Gentiles or just more Diaspora Jews?

The following represents some initial investigations into these questions, concluding that the breakthrough happened in Antioch, by unnamed disciples who were not part of the leadership.

Regarding Philip, there was an early church tradition that the Apostle and the one chosen as one of the Seven were the same person, and some have continued that view since there is no explicit statement of a difference in Luke. However, it seems most modern commentaries consider them to be two different people — the Apostle who was one of the Twelve, and the Evangelist who was one of the Seven. Although it seems impossible to be sure, I tend to agree with the latter view since Scripture says the Twelve did not want to deal with serving tables, so the fact that one of the Seven does exactly that seems to indicate they are different people.

This means that it was not one of the Apostles who went into Samaria initially; they followed later to validate the work.

Regarding the nature of the Samaritans themselves, it appears they were mostly thought of as a form of Judaism. It appears they worshipped Yahweh and shared roughly the same Pentateuch, and Josephus described them as Jewish apostates. Some ancient rabbis felt they were Gentile, but the predominant view now seems to be that they were a type of Jew, not Gentile.

I think there are a couple other reasons that evangelizing the Samaritans was not the same as reaching the Gentiles.

First, a big deal is made of the conversion of Cornelius as demonstrating that the Gentiles were accepted by God. Seems like this wouldn’t be a big deal if they had already worked through that with the Samaritans. Yes, it was also a big deal to reach the unclean Samaritans, since the Jerusalem church sent Peter and John to see what was going on (Acts 8:14), but I think that’s a separate big deal than reaching the Gentiles.

Second, Jesus’ sequence in Acts 1:8 specifically lists Samaria as different from the “ends of the Earth”. Although the latter term does sometimes mean just distant lands, it’s interesting that Isaiah uses that very phrase in relation to Gentiles in Isaiah 49:6, and Paul quotes that passage when “turning to the Gentiles” in Acts 13:46-47.

Thus, Cornelius is probably the first true Gentile convert but interestingly, nothing really happened as a result of that. God used the event to teach that Gentiles were accepted, but it doesn’t appear that anyone acted on the teaching. In addition, Cornelius wasn’t a pure Gentile in the sense that he was described as a God-fearer (Acts 10:2) and was physically still in Samaria. After this, Gentiles aren’t really in view again until the believers get to Antioch in Acts 11:19.

So Cornelius represented a theological or spiritual breakthrough, but not the next step in the mission. If Jesus and Paul were pointing to Gentiles when they used the phrase “ends of the Earth”, so that it really represented the next stage in the mission, then maybe that really happened at Antioch, when the Hellenists were reached in Acts 11:20.

But who were those “Hellenists”? Did they represent Gentiles or a different group of Jews?

Regarding the term “Hellenists” in Acts 11:20, it seems pretty universal to consider them as Gentiles. Some ancient transcripts actually have “Greek” in that verse, and many translations use the word “Greek” instead of “Hellenist”. Some commenters say the term really refers to the language, and perhaps some culture, adopted by the people being described. So in Acts 6, they are Jews who speak Greek, while in Acts 11:20 they are Syrians who speak Greek. In any case, it would appear that the new group being reached were Gentiles.

So, it seems that those initial events in Antioch represent the real start of the Gentile mission, the first real encounter with the “ends of the Earth”. It may be that some Gentiles were encountered elsewhere before that, but Scripture doesn’t describe that.

An interesting picture emerges when we bring these points together. Top spiritual leaders (the Apostles) stayed primarily in and around Jerusalem. Then the lower-level leaders (the Seven) reached into Samaria. The final breakthrough, to the Gentiles, was led by unnamed believers in Antioch.

It’s interesting how much commitment there must have been in those unnamed believers to break through to the Gentiles; clearly they were taking Jesus’ “go” command seriously. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised though, given the example prayer in Acts 4:23-20. It is a prayer for boldness to continue proclaiming the Gospel, right after some of them had been locked up for doing so! Clearly, proclaiming Jesus was seen as vital to believers at all levels of the church.

Now, what spiritual principles might we draw from this picture, and how would they apply today? That will be the subject of a future post.

The Spirit Empowering Evangelism

~ Jim ~ 1 Comment

A key Christian truth is that we are to proclaim the gospel. This often seems daunting, especially in today’s increasingly skeptical world. For me, looking at Scripture reveals an encouraging truth about the Spirit’s role in this. The following collection of passages explores this a little, starting with Jesus’ own teaching.

When Jesus sent out the 12, He told them not to worry about what to say when they were brought before leaders and Gentiles:

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10:17–20 (ESV)

Although Jesus was talking to His disciples, it seems this applies beyond that context based on the mention of persecution and Gentiles. In other words, it seems that the principle of being empowered by the Spirit for evangelism, including explicitly those at the ends of the Earth (Gentiles), is a general principle.

In fact, this very thing seems to be pictured at Pentecost. The believers were given the Holy Spirit, then began to speak in languages that the listeners recognized:

And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Acts 2:8–11 (ESV)

They were speaking in foreign languages as a result of the Spirit’s influence, then Peter got up and gave a sermon that resulted with many being saved. Although the focus here is still on Jews, this clearly seems to be what Jesus described — the Spirit speaking effectively through the believers.

Believers seemed to understand that they needed the Spirit to continue this work as they prayed later on:

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:29–31 (ESV)

They prayed for boldness to proclaim the truth, and God responded by not only granting them that, but also filling them with the Spirit. Given the picture at Pentecost and Jesus’ statement, it seems reasonable that they were empowered to speak effectively. The success of the early church would seem to confirm that. But this picture of Spirit empowerment for effective speaking is even clearer in Paul’s writings.

Paul’s request for prayer in Ephesians reflects the idea that we are empowered to speak effectively:

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:18b–20 (ESV)

Not only asking for boldness, but specifically for words to be given him to speak the gospel, almost exactly what Jesus had said.

It’s interesting that this request comes right after describing our weapons of spiritual warfare, echoing his teaching in 2 Corinthians that our war is waged with spiritual tools, not according to the flesh. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). Speaking according to the Spirit’s leading certainly falls in this category!

Of course, Paul had written to the Corinthians earlier that we hear truths from the Spirit and share them in words taught by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), echoing in yet another way Jesus’s words and the picture at Pentecost.

In a sense, Paul describes the practice of these principles as becoming whatever is needed to share the Gospel:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

1 Corinthians 9:19–22 (ESV)

It seems this was essentially letting the Spirit empowering him to speak, and a review of his ministry in Acts supports that. But it also seems the case that Paul was not the only example. Consider various ways the Spirit led people in different contexts:

When Paul talked to intellectuals on Mars Hill, he spoke with Greek poetry. But when he addressed Jews in the synagogues, he argued from Scripture.

As noted above, when Peter preached to the devout Jews at Pentecost, he spoke from Scripture about Christ. But when he spoke to Cornelius, he spoke of current events that they both knew about.

When Jesus preached to crowds in rural Palestine, He used simple examples from their daily lives. But when He talked with the Samaritan woman, He spoke of her life, her beliefs, and from the world at hand.

Over and over throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit led believers to share spiritual truths in ways that their listeners could understand. Not just the languages that they spoke, languages of their ears, but in the languages of their hearts. The listeners heard things they cared about, in ways they could relate to.

These examples provide a narrative description of the Spirit’s empowerment that parallel Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings and also the prophetic picture at Pentecost.

Now, it is commonly recognized in secular communication that we need to know our audience and craft the message appropriately. So in a sense this insight is nothing new, but I think there’s a difference with evangelism. In the natural world, we learn of the listener’s perspective by getting to know them, taking surveys, etc. Could it be that in God’s work we determine what to say by asking Him? It seems that is what’s taught in these passages.

In that case, we need to let the Spirit speak through us, but what does that mean? The fact that Paul requests prayer for this very thing implies that Jesus’ statement is not necessarily something that happens automatically. Instead, I think that we need to actively seek the Spirit about proclaiming the gospel and for myself, this involves focused prayer, a plan to walk through Scripture with an eye towards this principle, and applying what I learn to Whole Reality and Kelvin’s Clouds.

About This Blog

~ Jim ~ Leave a comment

This blog is my personal journey to understand how to share the gospel with a growing number of people who don’t seem to be reached through common evangelism techniques. In many cases, these are people who feel they already know enough about religion and who are comfortable relying on the natural world. Often, this is because of the growing success of science and technology in explaining the world and providing solutions. In many cases they are atheists with no interest in Christianity, while in other cases they are people who are spiritual, but have become disenchanted with Christianity.

Using Jesus’ Acts 1:8 statement as a metaphor, it seems to me that most evangelism occurs fairly near existing religious structures — in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, often by inviting people into existing Christian contexts.

However, a growing number of people are at the ends of the Earth, requiring deliberate efforts to go to them even though physically they are all around us. So, this is an exploration of ways to go into that spiritual darkness and proclaim Jesus in ways that fit those distant contexts.

The exploration works through both prayerful reflection on Scripture and prayerful, listening awareness of what’s going on in the world. The former involves listening to the Spirit, while the latter involves listening to the hearts of the lost.

The results of this exploration are documented in this blog; comments welcome.