Last night was the kickoff event to our 2008 Trinity Missions Conference, "Ordinary People in the Kingdom of God." Our plenary speaker was Dr. Richard Pratt, founder and president of Third Millennium ministry, which provides free theological education to anyone, anywhere.
Richard knocked it out of the ballpark last night, expressing a gospel vision that is the heart of the Session at Trinity. I urge you to listen or download the audio of the talk (go the bottom of the linked page). Here are some main points from Richard's teaching last night. I didn't take notes on his talk last night - I hardly ever do take notes during sermons because I want to let the main force of a sermon really settle into my heart, especially knowing that I'll learn much more when I download it and listen to it a second time. So this isn't a precise outline of his talk - just some of my general remembrances.
1. The Gospel is for Rome.
We think of Rome as a great vacation spot today, but for Paul going to Rome would be like us going to Mecca. It wouldn't be a vacation. It wouldn't be visiting museums and throwing coins into beautiful fountains. Our lives would be at stake. Yet this gospel was so valuable to Paul that he had to take it to the center of the world, despite possibly losing his own life in the process. Do we have that passion that our world needs this powerful gospel so much that we are willing to give up our comforts to get it out?
2. The Gospel is Powerful.
Paul had the confidence to take the gospel to Rome because he knew that it was the power of God for salvation. Richard knew a guy in high school that had a very ugly car, but under the hood was a powerful engine. He didn't think much of the car until he raced against it and was blown away. The gospel might not be outwardly impressive, but inside it has the very power of God. When was the last time that you truly experienced the power of the gospel in your own life? When was the last time that the story of Jesus really changed your life? If you are disconnected from the power of the gospel, you're not going to have the confidence to take it out into your world.
3. The Gospel has long arms.
Mike Tyson had a very powerful punch, but his arms were so short that he had to get in close to hit you. The gospel is very powerful, but it also has long arms. It can reach Jew and Gentile. It can reach both Jerusalem and Rome. The reach of the gospel is so extensive it can even reach me! Paul says that the gospel is for the Jew first. This is the religious person who grew up going to church, Sunday school and VBS. This is the person who feels that he needs to be moral in order to go to heaven, and knows a little about Moses and Jesus. That gospel is for that kind of person. But the gospel is also for the Greek. This is the non-religious person. This is the person who doesn't know if Moses came before or after Jesus. This is the person who doesn't even necessarily believes he has to be moral in order to go to heaven. This is the next door neighbor. This is the gay couple across the street. This is the poor person who cuts your lawn. This is the co-worker struggling through divorce. This is your son or daughter who isn't walking with Jesus. The gospel has power to reach the farthest Gentile. The gospel has long arms. Do we have confidence in the reach of the gospel? Are we participating in God's Kingdom plan to take this gospel out to our relational networks, with a conviction that this gospel really can reach these people and that all the trouble it takes to build these relationships is actually worth it?
Other Impressions
The lines between national and international are now mixed and greatly blurred. Geographical zones have been replaced now with relational networks, many of which cross national borders and time zones. So that the local Hispanic family has a stronger connection to a community in Mexico than our own missionaries might have. So that the local Asian community talks to their family in India far more than any of our own missionaries possibly ever could. The world is at our doorstep. Are we awake to this? Do we sense our call to this mission? Do we see the array of interconnections and mission opportunities that exist around us?
Last night I also had a keen sense of the lethargy of the American church. We are vitally awake when it comes to issues of personal success, kids education, politics, etc. But when it comes to the all-important vision of what God desires to do in and through us, we are largely asleep. We are unaware. We aren't giving our money. We aren't giving our time. If the good news that Jesus is King and that he is redeeming this world and recreating a new heavens and a new earth were to really take root in the heart of American Christians, we would be passionate about getting this gospel out to our relations. We would be passionate about using all of our resources to see the Kingdom grow. But we sit in church like little consumers of religious goods, filling our cups for the week so that we can have a little more success in life. Dr. Pratt called us to get back in touch with the power of the gospel. That's what I want to see happen in our church. I want to see that gospel confidence and that kingdom vision spread through our church as strongly and as quickly as a virus on the playground. A key to this is prayer. We have forgotten how to pray. We have lost a vision for simply persisting in prayer until God moves.
Holy Spirit, move upon Trinity Presbyterian Church and make us a missional community of your people with gospel confidence and kingdom vision!
These are my thoughts from last night's talk. What about last night's talk struck you? What did you think?
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