Pastoral Note - 20th June 2007

Have you ever met a 'rabbit-hole' Christian? A 'rabbit-hole' Christian is one who lives in a Christian ghetto. She turns up at university, goes to a lecture or tutorial and looks around the room to find a Christian friend to sit next to. She then goes to the university café for lunch and sits with all her Christian friends. And then the rabbit-hole Christian goes to a cell group in the evening and prays for all the unsaved in his tutorial group.

Then there's the 'undercover' Christian. An 'undercover' Christian is one who doesn't live in a Christian ghetto, but is so indistinguishable from his unsaved friends that no one knows he's a Christian. He goes to work, has lunch with his unchurched friends, never speaks of his Christian faith, appears to share their values and views on work and life. After work, he spends all his time with them socializing and enjoying life. And then on Sunday he turns up at church and prays for all the unsaved at his work.

It sounds harsh, but most of us if we don't fall into one of these two categories have a bit of both in us. How can we be the salt of the earth if we have never gotten out of the saltshaker? How can we be the light of the world if we have never shone? The truth is we fear ‘evangelism’. The fear of ridicule, the fear of being rejected, the fear of being labelled, the fear of failure, the fear of not knowing what to say. So we fall into our Christian rabbit-holes or we go undercover. The challenge for us is to overcome this.

Jesus' command to his first disciples assumes that the ongoing proclamation of the gospel will continue in the life of future disciples - you and me.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:18-20

The command to go and make disciples among all people is to continue in subsequent generation of Christians as they teach others to do the same.

When we turn to the book of Acts we again find in the words of Jesus the assumption that the proclamation of the gospel will continue to the very ends of the earth through his disciples.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8

And when we get to the end of the book of Acts, you find that the witness of the first disciples to Jesus has spread all through the known world. In fact the book of Acts is an open-ended book, because the story hasn’t ended – it continues with you. The witness of the first apostles to Jesus continues in the ongoing proclamation of the gospel in subsequent generations of Christians who have done likewise - Christians in every generation who have taken the gospel to the ends of the earth, from Sydney to Bathurst to Vanuatu to Bolivia. The fact that we meet as Christians in Burwood 2000 years on is witness to the words of Jesus and the faithfulness of generations of Christians before us.

God has always used men and women like you and me in bringing the gospel to the world – a gospel that is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Rom.1:16-17). Good news should and must be shared.