In the final pages of our Mission Handbook, we find a chapter titled “The Heart of Mission.” Jesus stands at the heart of mission, we have come to learn. And if we find Jesus there, “everything has become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Here there is grace instead of fear, if Jesus stands at the center of things. We don’t need to cower before this Lord, though he has hung the planets into place and breathed the fire into stars. The Creator of the Universe smiles upon us, in the face of his beloved Son. The Redeemer of the world invites us to his side. He pours out his life for us.
Here there is love instead of duty. Here is a love that creates love as its irrepressible response. Duty will use you up and wear you out, if you base your life upon it: but the love of Christ urges you ever onward (2 Corinthians 5:14).
There is glad surrender here instead of brittle compliance. If our gracious Lord stands at the center of things, we have nothing to prove, nothing to earn by our fret and our care, nothing to twist or contrive for the sake of imagined appearances. Our surrender to this Lord becomes glad.
With Jesus at the center of things, there is heaven at work – above anything that we can possibly think or imagine (cf. Ephesians 3:20).
St. Paul captures this radical perspective in one of my favorite chapters in all of the New Testament, referenced already above.
Since Christ has died on our behalf and risen again for our justification – since Christ stands at the center of God’s mission in the world – “we don’t think of anyone from a human point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16, GW). Not even ourselves! “A new way of living has come into existence” (v.17). And it doesn’t depend upon us.
From a “human point of view,” there are “winners” and “losers” – and the categories do not easily mix. If you are brainy enough, or wealthy enough, sufficiently attractive, or maybe well-born, you are “in.” You “win.” The rest of us remain at the margins, from a human point of view.
We find a “new way of living,” with Jesus at the center. Now an old woman’s penny is worth more than surplus thousands (Mark 12:42,43). Now a boy’s meager lunch is sufficient to feed a multitude (John 6:9-11). Now a wrong-headed persecutor may become a Great Apostle (1 Corinthians 15:8-10). And a doubtful fisherman’s weary cast may catch so many fish as to break the nets (Luke 5:4-6).
And it doesn’t depend upon us! “Not many of you were wise from a human point of view,” St. Paul reminded the Corinthians. “You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes” (1 Corinthians 1:26, GW). You are made servants of God by his own choosing and grace – not by your own graces. “You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin” (v.30).
The final pages of our Mission Handbook attempt to describe this “new way of living.” It is a way of living that depends upon grace, with trusting intentionality. “Jesus opens the way to God’s wonderful throne of grace (Hebrews 10:22),” our Handbook affirms (¶211). “Because of Jesus and his work of redemption, we may depend upon God for everything necessary for life and service (2 Peter 1:3, Matthew 6:33).” “[T]he Lord will never fail us (Deuteronomy 31:8). We may put our trust in him above all” (¶213).
It is this “way of living” that stands behind our distinctive commitments as a missionary community. If you know anything about the World Mission Prayer League, you may know that we are committed to non-solicitation, non-indebtedness, deliberate generosity, and a humble, sacrificial style of service in the world (cf. ¶214). You may not know ˆ. It is not because we judge these commitments holier than their alternatives: plainly, they are not. We are committed to these things because we judge them consistent with the dependable grace of Jesus. If we rest in the grace of Jesus, we might not fret about finances or drumming up support. If we trust in his faithfulness, we might exercise generosity. We may dare more, if the Unfailing One walks beside us.
And he does! The grace of Jesus stands at the center of Christian life and mission: we aim to live in the light of it.