Being Missional

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul discusses in Chapter 3, verses 21 through 31 the ‘law of faith’. He writes, “But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…. Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”

I would like to examine these passages within the context of the discussions we have been having over the past several weeks. Simply put, I have been discussing the conflict between an emphasis upon ‘outcomes’ or an emphasis upon ‘processes’. By focusing on outcomes, I have argued, people emphasize the results of ‘works’. By directing their attention in this way, the ‘works’ can become idolized and become the ultimate concern of the individual. This was the problem that Paul ran into in his younger years. And, it drove him to the brink of despair.

If we focus on ‘process’, however, we take the emphasis off of specific outcomes and direct our attention to our approach to God, to ourselves, to other people, or to creation. We concern ourselves with relationships, rather than with objects. The relationships can become our ultimate concern, rather than the objects, themselves. And, for the person who stands within the Jewish/Christian tradition…what is the focus of this relationship?

Our focus is on God! Paul tells us that “the righteousness of God has been disclosed…” And, what is this righteousness that has been disclosed? That God loves us!

God loves us! Imagine…

And what does God’s love of us, mean for us? On March 28 I discussed the work of Franz Rosenzweig and quoted him on this point. He writes that we “are always in the presence of God” and, therefore, there is “essentially just one commandment, the commandment to love God.” Revelation is always ‘an event between the two.’ Thus, a ‘religious experience’ is known ‘again and again’—“For we know it only when—we do.” For God calls us to love him…and we respond “Here I am!” We do not always hear this voice saying “love me”, but it is there. The request is for us to step outside of ourselves, to enter into relationship.

Our revelation that God loves us is an offer of relationship. In loving us, God calls us to love him…to respond to him…to enter relationship. Thus, Jesus tells us that the “greatest and first commandment” is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” “And,” Jesus goes on, “the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22: 37-40)

The great teacher Hillel, in agreement with Jesus, and in agreement with Paul, tells us that beyond these two commandments, all the rest, the “law and the prophets”, is just commentary or explanation of what these two commandments mean. The crucial question here pertains to the need for the law and the prophets if we have the two “Great” commandments? Aren’t the two commandments enough?

Here we see the difference between ‘outcomes’ and ‘process’. When we have a preset idea of what love means, that which is loved becomes an ‘object’ and we then record the ‘outcome’ of applying our preconceived concept of love to that ‘object’. The problem here is that ‘love’ cannot be a ‘thing’ because if it becomes a ‘thing’ then it becomes the focus of our action…it becomes a ‘law’!

What the commandments tell us is that love is a relationship…it cannot be either a ‘thing’ or an ‘outcome’. The first commandment is “to love” and the second is like it, “you shall love” which implies that we must respond to that which is loved as unique and not as an ‘object’. Our model of this relationship is Jesus, who revealed to us “the image of God” in what he did and said. Jesus revealed to us what it means to love. And, this is why we need all ‘the law and the prophets’. This is why we need a further two thousand years of theological and philosophical reflection. We need commentary and explanation as to what it means to be in relationship with God…within ourselves…with others…and with creation. It is not easy to love because love is not an ‘outcome’ it is a ‘process’!

And, this, to me, is what Paul is talking about when he talks about “faith in Jesus Christ” and the “law of faith”. It is this that Paul talks about when he says that “a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” Paul is talking about faith in the two commandments…the commandments to love. This faith is not in Jesus Christ as an individual, because if we do this we make Jesus Christ into an idol. We have faith in the model that Jesus Christ showed us: the model to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is a model of relationship and, as Paul says, Jesus showed us that a person is justified in this faith in loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves by “stepping outside ourselves” and “entering into relationship”.

At this point Rosenzweig writes that we are therefore called to reveal the image of God. “Once one becomes God’s lover, however, one can no longer be completely enclosed in oneself, but one cannot escape that fate simply by returning God’s love…To return God’s love properly involves imitation dei—‘Be thou holy, for I the lord thy God am holy’…love of God cannot have a, so to speak, ‘vertical dimension’ without a ‘horizontal dimension’; ‘love of God’ without a direction out to other fellow human beings is not really love of God at all.” Furthermore, “I have to be able to love each and every human being as a human being.” Therefore, “To sum up: the whole purpose of human life is revelation, and the whole content of revelation is love.”

Jesus says, “As God sent me, so I send you.” As Jesus reveals the image of God in his actions, so are we to reveal God to others through our actions. Our relationship with Jesus becomes the imago dei, the call to act in the image of God. To love God is to love the “Other” as God loves us. But, this is the call to be missional…and it begins with those that are closest to us and then moves on out. Jesus began with his disciples and then sent them into the world. But, they were missional within their community before they became missional to the rest of the world.

In my post of February 29, I invoked the ideas of Blaise Pascal of why people enter into a community of faith. They enter a community because they want to live in a way that will bring them to belief in God. The members of that community represent the way of life, the model of being loved and loving that individuals want to experience so as to grow in faith. In terms of the Christian Church, people join the community because they want to experience the example of love exhibited by Jesus and by those that are followers of Jesus.

Thus, mission begins within the community, itself. We live in community because the models used by the community are successful and lead to a life that we would like to achieve. We live to attain that life…and we are interested in the process, not individual, current outcomes. Mission starts ‘right at home.’ It starts there because we don’t know where everyone is within the community, itself. There are the new people that have joined because they like what they see…but need to be led and re-enforced. They need people to show them the way. There are others within the church body…even long time members…that need to be supported or re-enforced or re-converted. And, all of these people need to understand that they need to be Missional as well. “Do I really believe this stuff?” “Can I say this stuff to others in the face of rejection?” We learn this within the community…within the local church.

Then we spread out into the world at large.