Missional Church

In today's reading of Acts 3, we see the healing of the lame man and Peter preaching the Gospel. In v.3-4, this lame man stared down Peter and John. You know the feeling. They hold up their signs: "Will work for food." They stare you down as you enter various places of business, and when you stare at the ground, trying your best to not make eye contact, they shout, "Hey buddy, can you spare a few dollars?" That's what Peter and John experienced with one exception. Peter didn't ignore the man. Peter made eye contact, and apparently the lame man looked away, because Peter said "[Hey, you....] look at us." And v.5 says the lame man gave them his attention expecting to receive something from them. Did you know that is the attitude of the world? The world expects a handout from the church. They don't want Jesus. They want a handout. But our commission is to give them Jesus. Oswald Chambers said, "The great controlling factor [of our mission] is NOT the needs of the people but the commands of Jesus." [10-26]. In a December devotion he goes on to say, "If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in HIS way--not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world's religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner. But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified--to lift Him up all the time." [12-20]
Are we to help people? Absolutely. The Bible teaches that we are to help those in need; in fact if we don't then our testimony becomes hypocritical [See James 2:14-17; I John 3:16-19 etc.]. But we must never forget what our main mandate is: To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we don't have to apologize for that. Because the Gospel deals not so much with conditions as with causes. Apart from Christ, humanitarian efforts deal with surroundings, but cannot touch a man's heart. And the heart of the problem is a problem with the heart. And the best heart doctor I know is Jesus.
Let me wrap this up by giving you at least three different kinds of churches today.
1. Church + Gospel = Institutionalism. That's the selfish 'member mentality' model. The institutional church--which never gets out of its four walls. It'll preach the Gospel, but only to those who come to the country club to hear it.

2. Church + Culture - the Gospel = Liberalism/Socialism/ humanitarian church. A social ministry without the Gospel is no ministry at all. Jesus taught first, then fed the 5000.

3. Church + Gospel + Culture = Evangelism and Missions. This is the missional/ kingdom thinking model. This was the first century church. Did they help people? Absolutely. They sold their goods and helped anyone who had need--that was in yesterday's reading. But they understood their mission--proclaim the Gospel, and they engaged the culture around them. They got out of the four walls of the upper room and saturated the culture with lifestyle evangelism.
God help us to engage in our culture and become the missional church that God has called us to be.