There are many adequate reasons for following Christ into the world, in lives of commissioned service. I have found through the years, however, that they are not equally compelling.
The sheer need of the world that surrounds us ought to be compelling enough, I have sometimes thought. Material need is mushrooming everywhere – from places like Haiti, to our own backyards. Spiritual need is mushrooming, as well. It is estimated that one third of our human family has yet to hear the good news of redemption in Jesus Christ. Two and a half billion souls, approximately. It ought to be enough.
I have sometimes thought that simple, biblical compassion ought to be enough, too. When Jesus saw the crowds, after all, his heart was moved to compassion. The crowds were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). It was enough for Jesus: compassion for the helpless ones moved him to radical action. Compassion ought to be enough for us, as well.
And then, of course, we have the clear command of God’s own Word. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). “Follow me,” Jesus said again and again, employing the imperative. If need and compassion do not get our attention, the command of our Lord, at least, ought to be enough to send us into the world in service to the King.
Yet even biblical imperatives (to judge, at least, from my own experience) are not sufficient to equip and commission me in Christ’s service. I know what is right: I hear the command. Yet I do not find it within me to respond as I should. If following Christ in commissioned service depends upon the compassion I can muster or the obedience I can produce, then “commissioned living” is an illusion in the end. Then I will never find a doable, attainable “commission” in my day-to-day life and work.
But there is something more powerful than compassion and command. The Apostle Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians, that most poignant and personal of his missionary letters. It is the love of God in Jesus Christ. “The love of Christ controls us” (2 Corinthians 5:14, RSV). “The love of Christ urges us on” (NRSV).
New Testament Greek is a wonderful language. Paul employs here something called a “genitive case“: it is the love of Christ (genitive case) that urges and controls us.
The genitive case often connotes simple possession. But it carries additional layers of significance, just beneath the surface. In particular, the case may be “objective” or “subjective.” It may indicate the object of some action or the action’s subject. And sometimes both.
Such is the case here. The “love of Christ” means Christ’s love for us (the subjective genitive) and our love for Christ (the objective genitive) – and both equally well. It cannot mean one, in fact, without the other. The love of Christ for us produces our love in response. In a similar passage, the Apostle John captures the idea perfectly: “First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first” (1 John 4:19, The Message).
This is the heart of “commissioned living” and our mission in the world. It is about need and sacrifice – but not exactly. It is about compassionate response – but not quite. It is about marshalling our energies, and applying our careers, and pouring out our lives in glad Kingdom service. But not entirely.
“Commissioned living” is about a Love that first overcomes us. It is about a Savior who pours out his life before he asks for anything in return. It is about the subjective genitive – Christ (the Subject!) loves us – before the objective response. “The love of Christ controls us,” Paul exclaims (2 Corinthians 5:14). Therefore… we live for him (v.15)… we are made new (v.17)… we are ambassadors (v.20)…, etc.
This, oh yes, is cause and equipment enough to follow the Savior with our entire lives and energies. We follow him because it is he who calls us. We love because it is he who loves us. The love of God in Jesus Christ has found us out – and calls us into the world.
Other posts in this Elements at Our Heart series: