If you have heard objections like these or even thought them
your self, you will be well-served by considering this capable scholar’s
answer. Carson
wrote:
Christians, of course, cannot forget that during his
lifetime Jesus himself trained people to go and herald the good news.
Christians remember that Jesus was sent by his Father, he insisted, to
seek and save those who are lost. So it is not too surprising that he in turn sends
his followers. That's what our word "mission" means: it derives from
the verb "to send." "As the Father has sent me,"
Jesus once said, "I am sending you" (John 20:21 NIV). Among
his last recorded words are these: "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" (Matt 28:20 NIV). So Christians,
understandably, will entertain a high view of those who actively seek to
discharge Jesus' mission.
There are two common objections raised against this
Christian view of missionary endeavor. It's worth reflecting on them before we
contemplate the most convincing reason why missionary work is essential.
First, Jesus
himself insists, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matt 7:1
NIV). Doesn't this mean that if we follow Jesus' teaching we should refuse to
make moral and religious evaluations? Certainly that view is common on the
street. "I don't mind Jesus," we hear; "it's Christians I can't
stand. Christians run around self-righteously telling people how to live,
condemning other religions, sending missionaries off to meddle in other
cultures. Why don't they follow the instruction of the Jesus they claim to
serve? After all, he said, 'Do not judge, or you too will be judged.'"
When I was a boy I learned a few of the first
principles of interpreting texts. I learned, "A text without a context
becomes a pretext for a proof-text." So I suppose we better remind
ourselves of the context where Jesus says, "Do not judge, or you too will
be judged." It's found in the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon contains
quite a few teachings of Jesus. Here, for example, Jesus criticizes the man who
looks at a woman lustfully, on the ground that such a man has already committed
adultery in his heart (Matt 5:28). Here he teaches us not to store up treasures
on earth, where moths and vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
rather, we must store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, knowing that where
our treasure is, there our hearts will be, too (6:19-21). Here he tells us to
watch out for false prophets, which presupposes we must make distinctions
between the true and the false (7:15-20). Here he insists that on the last day
not everyone who says to him "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of his Father who is in heaven
(7:21-23). In all these utterances, Jesus is making moral, religious, and
cultural evaluations. He is, in short, making judgments. So after
making all these judgments, what does he mean by saying "Do not judge, or
you too will be judged"? The context shows that he means something like
"Do not be cheaply critical, or you will be subjected to the same
criticism." In other words, there is no way on God's green earth that this
command prohibits his followers from making moral judgements, when making moral
judgements is precisely what the sweep of his teaching demands that they do.
But he does insist that when they follow his instruction and make evaluations
and judgments they must do so without cheap criticism of others-a notoriously
difficult requirement. There must be no condescension, no double standard, no
sense of superiority, no patronizing sentimentality. Christians are never more
than poor beggars telling other poor beggars where there is bread. This humble
tone ought to characterize all Christian witness, all Christian missionary
endeavor. But to argue that Jesus wants his followers to make no judgments at
all merely betrays biblical illiteracy.
Second, people
often protest, "Yes, but isn't missionary work, indeed all attempts at
trying to win another to your faith, terribly intolerant?" Well, no-not if
one operates with older definitions of tolerance. Tolerance used to be
understood to be the stance which, while disagreeing with another's views,
guarded the right of those views to be heard. The new tolerance insists that
disagreeing with another's views, saying they are wrong, is intrinsically
intolerant. But frankly, that notion of intolerance is incoherent. The Labour
Party doesn't agree with the Conservatives; Marxists don't agree with
Capitalists; Muslims don't agree with Christians. Each pair may acknowledge
some commonalities, but on many fronts, they differ. Yet each tolerates
the other if each insists that the other has equal right to speak and convince
others of their position. Intolerance is introduced, not when one says another
party is wrong, but only when the views of others are quelled by force or
corruption. If missionaries try to impose their views on others by force of any
kind, they have lost the richest Christian heritage; where they seek to teach
and put their case, all the while loving others sacrificially, they are
upholding the highest standards of both intellectual integrity and tolerance.
But the best warrant for Christian mission is Jesus
himself. He claims all authority is his, but he speaks not as a cosmic bully
but as the crucified Lord. He insists that men and women have rebelled against
his heavenly Father, but he joins himself to the human rebels so as to identify
with them. He declares they deserve punishment, then bears the punishment
himself. He claims to be the Judge they will meet on the last day, and
meanwhile entreats them to turn to him, to trust him, and live. If one is going
to follow a leader, what better leader than the one who demonstrates his love
for his followers by dying on a cross to win them to himself? What political
leader does that? What religious leader does that? Only God does that!
And then, in a small piece of mimicry, his followers
are challenged to take up their cross and follow him. If one of the results is
a worldwide missionary movement, I for one will pray for it to thrive.
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