A Movement Together: The Purpose of the Church, Achieved
Ptr. Noel Pabiona, Outgoing President, Compassion Philippines
As you work with the community of the Compassion Ministry, you find yourself using the PCA acronym a lot. There are lots of PCAs in Compassion: Proactive Church Alliances, Proclaiming Christ to the Alienated, etc.
There’s also another PCA more used by the more administrative folk, and that’s Program Cycle Adoption. Take note that the word used is Adoption, and not ‘Enforcement‘. Compassion Philippines does not always apply everything from the Main Office blindly. They circle back for questions and clarifications.. as we all should. It’s something we ought to be doing automatically as we move together with the Lord.
Yet another PCA that is emphasized is: the Purpose of the Church Achieved. What Purpose is this? Well, before we even gauge or declare it achieved, we ought to make sure we all have the same purpose to begin with. Unfortunately, some refuse their purpose, and even worse, some insist on their purpose. The Fig Tree that Christ encountered refused to bear fruit as it was created to do, and the Moneychangers He chased out of the temple… well, in hindsight, not only did they insist on profit as their own personal purpose, they imposed it on others; Which is probably why Christ went to the extremes in lovingly, passionately rebuking them.
The Purpose we all ought to consider and eventually take in as fellow members of the body of Christ is simply covered by:
- The Great Commission, Matthew 28:16-20: 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.”
- The Great(est) Commandment, Matthew 22:37-40:“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
At around this point Pastor Noel quoted a line by Pastor Rick Warren, which effectively placed emphasis on said Commission and Commandment… only Pastor Noel also wanted to add emphasis that we do it all to the glory of Christ… and here another PCA was brought to our attention: Praise Christ Alone.
In our praising Christ, our Savior, we’re reminded that though we are to take heed of ALL His commands, it is His last command (The Great Commission) that is the first priority. And before we get all excited about the prospect of following all sorts of methodologies or procedures concerning discipleship, Pastor Noel was quick to point out: There is no mention of ‘discipleship’ in the Bible, but you read a lot about ‘disciples’.
To his point, Pastor Noel tells us a fictional story involving his children, who play a lot of soccer and get dirty really fast. This isn’t the exact progression, but it impacted me enough to remember enough:
Pastor Noel’s boys come home one day, all muddy and filthy from soccer practice, and he tells them, commands them plain and simple: ‘Take a bath’. He steps away, does his own thing in the house, and when he calls them for dinner, he is surprised to see them still muddy and filthy. He asks them what’s up, to which they tell him that they’re ‘on it’: They’re reading a book, ‘How To Take A Bath’.
The next day, Pastor Noel comes home and sees that his boys are not only STILL muddy and filthy, and they brought friends home with them, who are ALSO muddy and filthy. He asks them what’s going on, and they say that they’re ‘on it’: They’re holding a fellowship, a small group sharing best practices and testifying on ‘How To Take A Bath’.
Pastor Noel lets it slide, and tells himself that he will toss them to the bath himself if they are still muddy and dirty the next day. He goes about his business and comes home. He is pleasantly surprised to see that the house is absolutely spotless with no stink of muddy, filthy boys. Wanting to see them finally clean, he calls for them, but is told that they aren’t around. In fact, they were out of town.
When he asks where they went, he’s told that they left, with their muddy and filthy friends, to attend a Leadership Conference on How To Take A Bath.
Now see, it shouldn’t be so complicated. Pastor Noel’s point is that Discipleship is as natural as Love for all of us in the body of Christ. We love as Christ loves us, and we make disciples as Christ has made disciples out of us. Here, again, we see another argument for the superiority of application over knowledge, considering that in your application, you actually learn more, and you actually get more done.
Another point that I took from Pastor Noel from hereon is how the actual Gospel itself is more done than learned. Case in point: within the disciples of Christ, Simon the Zealot could have easily killed Matthew the Tax Collector, but it’s the grace that Christ demonstrated to each of them that brought them to be gracious to one another. As applied to us, so we apply to each other.
Christ didn’t give Peter a lecture on provision, but instead told him to catch a fish, and that fish had a coin which was enough for their taxes. Only after the fact do we learn that God provides where we lack. As we apply, so the lessons and knowledge run deeper.
Indeed, what a Gospel we have! What good news we possess! The world would have us standing up for what we believe in, taking no compromises and going as far as killing anyone who questions our message, but the Gospel had bitter enemies – a Zealot and a Tax Collector – working together.
In this reality, if we aren’t told to rebel against authorities, we’re told that they have their own agenda, and that we really shouldn’t be yielding to their calls for taxation and community contribution.. But Christ was the One who not only wisely responded to the traps of those who hate Him (responding, ‘render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, give to God what is God’s’), but also took supernatural steps to ensure they were compliant.
‘…These men …have turned the world upside down..”
Acts 17:6
Consider all the PCAs and all the methods, procedures and systems we come up with to achieve a goal. It’s easy to get caught up in all of them, and to be focused on them, more than the goal itself.
Pastor Noel was very correct in appending Pastor Rick Warren’s statement regarding the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, because he was essentially moving our focus from the Commission to the Commissioner, and from the Commandment to the Commander.
Jesus Christ loved us first and forever, so we can love one another.
Jesus Christ made us disciples beyond following a three-step program, so we are able to make disciples naturally.
And while we like to limit the miracles of Christ to the healings and the provisions, I challenge us to see the so-called ‘greater things’ He says we would do, not as greater healings, and greater provisions, but in the outright miraculous harmony of bitter enemies not only tolerating but loving one another, and in the confounding humility of supernatural provision conforming to man-made systems of authority.
And again, I’m not trying to put these miracles on the pedestal, more than I am emphasizing the Commissioner more than the Commission, and the Commander more than the Command. It all comes from His glory, to His glory alone.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:36
(To be continued)
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