07.04.2006
1. Background from Prayer
Various scenarios; failure to incorporate young people into existing church structures, difficulties of mainly Asian church to reach families of indigenous children
- this raises question of just how do we disciple “nations”?
- picture of nets breaking so the fish swim through
- how to ensure that nets do not break and people are lost are being touched by God?
- there has to be a way, as God is the Father of all humanity, culture and race by creation Acts 17:26-28 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for“‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
- he must have different sorts of nets for different sorts of fish (people groups)
–how to impart understanding to churches that are locked into a closed situation and own culture.
- the Father is seeking to break down the separation (not distinctions) between the nation groups he has brought toPerth
2. This is a New Testament Reality
-Roman Empire, one common language (Greek, later Latin) many different people groups of different background and culture and native tongue e.g. Acts14:11
– yet, one church in each city, though many congregations made up this church e.g. the city of Rome was being discipled by the one church made up of many races etc.
– need insight about this, we do not want to be likeJerusalemchurch which was monochrome (Jewish) and experienced conflict between Greek and Hebrew speaking Christians (Acts 6).
3. Some key Scriptures Given to us
19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:19 – 20
This is the classic text, but the ones below indicate God’s role in discipling/teaching nations = people groups.
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”Exodus 4:11-12 God is able to teach us because he is in our speaking, hearing and seeing..
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge—Ps 94:9-10 God himself disciplines (i.e. disciples) nations because he is the source of hearing and seeing.
4. The Question of Misfit
- not a question of insincerity, but struggle of one ethnic group to reach another
- e.g. JY encounters pastor fromSingapore(godly) struggling to reach white Australians, they “disappear” when the issue of giving to mission comes around
- I had the word “strict” as he spoke to me; I know he will not be able to reach these Aussies until he images a different (less regimented) form of Fatherhood
- primary issue is the Fatherhood of God
- creationally at least (as per Acts 17:26- 28) God has Fathered the various nations/peoples/tribes etc. in various ways; there are different forms of fatherhood (polymorphic fatherhood) that fit the climate, history etc. of different parts of the world.
5. A Fathering without Territoriality
- the Jewish (Jerusalem) church initially failed to realise that the Father was not regionalised/ethnocentric; until the Spirit dragged Peter to the Gentiles Acts 10 and so on
- there is a problem with territoriality impending in Perth after the IWT outreach e.g. pastors who will not want to share the leaderships of groups trying to nurture children and young people outside of normal church programmes/buildings
- in this case the nets are not ready, and will break e.g. 90% fall off in those who responded to a Carlos Annocondia campaign in Argentinean city because of “holes in net” = lack of pastoral unity
6. A Basic Principle: You must Live where you Minister
- you must be in fullest possible relationship with those you are seeking to disciple
– need to live with the people group in the way they live
–negative example, western missionaries living in “compounds” reaching out to poor in third world
- no identification with the people, no communication with their shame
- toxic shame issue (permanent shame part of the culture)
- if you simply visit an area e.g. central Australia, Halls Creek and observe the degradation of the people they will say “What do you know you do not live here!”
- until church sends people to live with the people where they are, how will they see Jesus Christ
- no community transformation will take place except that the missionary be in the community and living their lives, if not, the community will not let you in.
7. A Tragic Example
Vincent Van Gogh – seminary trained – was sent to a mining community – yet, not getting through to the community – got rid of clerical garments – moved out of manse – worked with the people in the underground mines – hierarchy forbade him to remove clerical dress and work underground with the miners, they claimed his actions were belittling to the church
- others have been treated similarly e.g. William Booth, Hudson Taylor had a similar experience – yet, today these are all heroes. –
8. Incarnational Ministry
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Eph 4:9-12).
- ministry equals (Greek) service i.e. “we are here for you and not for ourselves”
- order is vital, “descent” precedes ascent (this refers to Jesus coming down from heaven to be human)
- people like to jump straight to ascent and the five fold ministry gifts without descent – people want the gifts and the equipping of saints but not descending.
- Pastor fromSingaporeexample (above) he has not descended
- Eph 4:8 “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”, there is a connecting when one is “leading”, a taking by their hand, and not just speaking nor forcing . This is missing in many situations.
- Eph 4:8 is quoting Ps 68:18, this is usually interpreted as Jesus taking away the authority of demonic powers
- the key to discipling peoples is to see how Jesus “descent” takes away authority from the demonic powers, for they are what hold people captive (2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:12).
- will pastors prosper (“equip”) ministries at the coal face e.g. mothers having bible classes in their homes for primary school children
- example of this incarnationally shaped ministry, lay ministry of Methodist church in eighteenth and nineteenth century in America, spread rapidly because it was not clerical in nature. Anglican Church did not grow because they were clerical.
- example of the esteem the Salvation Army had from WWII, they stood with the army (JY’s dad an atheist but wanted an officer of the Salvation Army to bury him)
- principle of standing with the people and identifying with them – it is the principle of incarnation, it is a life principle.
“So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.” (1 Thess 2:8)
9. Imaging the Father
- “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” (John 3:13)
- in this way Jesus images the heavenly father as one who stoops down to humanity
Prayer – What does it mean to enter into the mind and experience of a young person or an aboriginal person or any other person? What blocks that? Singaporean Pastor example, what would stop this brother from getting inside the Australian mind.
-it must be his spiritual “fathers” in Singapore, he wants to imitate his “fathers” (mimesis = imitation) he “naturally” wants to be like those who fathered him at home, but this is not an image of fatherhood that God wants revealed here in Australia
-similar situation with the mindset of those who lived in compounds in the mission fields
- imitation is a very powerful reality e.g. aboriginal kids, one generation follows after another in the way of their parents (hopelessness) to follow Jesus is to imitate Jesus.
10. Imitating Jesus
- discipleship is imitating Jesus “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”(1 Cor 11:1)
- real example of wealthy westerners who went to live and work with natives, powerful impact into the culture
- when people see the sacrifices, they have only two possible conclusions either this people who came truly love us or they are crazy.
Everyone wants to go from descend to ascent – only God wants to go from heaven to earth – this is the radical nature of the gospel – everyone wants to make their life work but the difference is that in the gospel is that we are talking about a God who downsizes His life – this is the radical thing that the church has to image somehow.
Example – recent business breakfast run by a church leader, someone present commented that it felt like being in a Los Angeles Hilton. Main question, how was the incarnation and cross (the “descent” Eph 4:9) being imaged there?
Example- going down to the park to feed people, they see time and money expanded , but there is a difference between charity and descent – charity gives of something other than oneself e.g. time and money, descent means going and living there
-whatever the people group we want to minister to we have to live there and enter into their torment and struggle, we cannot disciple the people group until we live there – entering into the fullness of their existential experience.
An example from Christology – did Jesus have one or two wills i.e. divine and human will – for Him to be fully human He had to have two wills- had to have struggles of a human will to fully identify with us, this is what we see at Gethsemane
- principle of incarnation, if Jesus did not take it on the fullness of our condition he cannot heal it e.g. if He did not have a human soul, He cannot heal ours.
– had to have human mind, will, emotion, body, he had to take on all that belongs to humanity, this is what “descent” means
Jesus full identification with our state:
Jn 12:27– “my soul is troubled” (his human soul because God does not have a soul) soul is a created thing (Gen 2:7).
Jn 1:14– Word became flesh
Rom 8:3 – likeness of sinful flesh
Phil 2:7 – emptied Himself and took on the form of a slave = being enslaved to humanity’s bondage to sin and powers of death
Acts 2:24– Jesus is under pains of death
Rom 6:9 – death no longer has dominion over Jesus (it once did)
- like Jesus, living for others will mean entering into the realm of those things that have dominion over people
-“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13), the dominion of darkness = rule of darkness, Jesus came into a place where He was exposed to the rule of the powers of evil. We must do this too. i.e. enter into the place of the captives of Eph 4:8
Positive Examples: group of Christian have felt to move from Sydney to plant a church in Melbourne, group grew to about a thousand in a short period of time with converts – principle is one of sacrifice, entering into the culture of the people in Melbourne. Similar experience in KL with the people in the community and how the church grew because of identification and sacrifice with the people, community begin to accept Christians after they moved and lived with them.
- purpose of descent, identification etc, Eph 4:8 from Ps 68:18 “18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there
- if we identify with others as Jesus identified with us, God will dwell there “they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us).” (Matt1:23)
- a caution, discipling people is not to make them good citizens, but children of God
- most disadvantaged groups experience shame about their earthly citizenship(most do not make it in society), therefore turn to addictions etc.
- heavenly citizenship is opened up and conveyed by the reality of “descent”
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil 3:20
11. Living like Kings from heaven and not Earthly Kings
“24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” (Luke 7:24-26)
- to be baptized by John = to be discipled by him , Pharisees rejected his discipleship (Luke 7:30).
- John’s clothing “a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt” (Matt 3:4) recalls the prophetic mantle of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8 )
- Jesus submitted to the word of John, to the word of a human being, in order to fulfil righteousness by identifying with sinful people in being baptised (Luke 3:2, 21).
- in baptism sin is washed away (Acts 22:16), Jesus took a stand as an unclean person ,in baptism he identified with us as unclean people.
(JY experience – Alice Spring ,bus load of people, never wash – overwhelming smell – camping out, etc – yet, they were precious people to God.)
- Jesus on John the Baptist, those in fine clothes are in kings’ palaces, issue is “you cannot speak like a prophet if you live like a king”
- those who would preach kingdom of heaven/God i.e. those who speak of rule of the Father in heaven, cannot live like earthly kings i.e. above the people
- this images a God who is a potentate i.e. One who rules from above without ruling from below
- to rule from above and not below is the nature of the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Col 1:13 and Eph 6:12)
- in the dominion of darkness – the rule is always downwards e.g. Singapore Pastor or trying to reach out to share with kids in High School, as soon as you tell people what they should be doing instead of sharing in their lives they will not listen to you, this is coming from above to below (ascent without descent).
- consider Paul’s usage of words “let us” in his letters (15x), he does not put himself above his readers.
- Paul lived together with people Acts 18:1-3 (“he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade”)
- Jesus left riches for poverty (2 Cor 8:9), he made decision to come down and not lived in kings’ palaces, his parents could not even afford an animal sacrifice (Luke 2:22-24)
- challenge to us – pray this attitude will get a hold of church in the city.
Negative examples: of some ministers looking down on other ministers who do not drive “appropriate” cars (Merc’s), issue of shame culture, which says, “You are less than me because you have less than me.”
- if pastors look successful they expect people will imitate that.
- this is a culture of imitation from below to above i.e. from the material world rather than a culture of imitation from below to above in a spiritual world (following Jesus) – - when Paul says “be imitators of me”, this is spiritual not material exhortation
- what breaks this thing open so that instead of serving mammon we serve God?
- positive example Bill Wilson who lives and works with delinquents in New York, has been knifed and shot, can see scars of Christ on his face
- people like Bill Wilson and David Wilkerson have revealed the scars and the cost and the glory in their visits toPerth
- why do so many still chase the economic boom?
- why do we not seem want to follow Jesus to the lonely and low places – instead much is spoken of the “bible belt” – middle class type places – is it an attitude of superiority? – Is one group more superior than the other?
“3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:3-4)
- Jesus had a hidden life, who actually recognized Him?
- John the Baptist was the first public witness to the identity of Jesus (John1:33-34) – the
- he recognizes the priority of Jesus (v30) not just a temporal priority
- the fact of descent is repeated (John 1:15,30 ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’) because it is essential to Jesus’ identity in the eyes of his witness
12. A No –Shame Father a No –Shame Culture
- John the Baptist’s insight is that in Jesus God is living and dwelling among us, we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son (John 1:14)
- Acts 17:26-28 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for“‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’, means that God is the Father of all culture, race, etc. (though not in every detail)
- the Father’s only Son, the Son in whom no shame dwell, = His choice Son, entered into human race, culture etc.
- Heb 2:10 – 11 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
- “from one” in Acts17:26refers to Adam, but in Hebrews2:11it refers to God the Father
- when the Word became flesh (John 1:14), Jesus entered into the line of men (Adam), through Jesus the Mediator, the children of Adam now have two fathers – an earthly father and a heavenly Father
- in the Word living among us and sharing his Father with us (Heb 2), Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers.
- failure (the shame base) of the natural fathers does not diminish the identification of the heavenly Father with the children of men, he reveals this by His descent in Christ
- shame is learned by imitation e.g. teenagers embarrassed about parents and an “with don’t embarrass me” attitude
- They want to identify with peers rather than with parents
(peer = an equal e.g. if we are peer of the realm (England) i.e. Lords, Earls, Barons and Bishops etc. we can meet with peers in the House of Lords, these are all equal to one another. This is in contrast with House of Commons = below the peers – similar situation to “upstairs, downstairs” expression which relates to servants who live in cellars. – similar situation in places like Hong Kong where servants (Filipinas) live in cellars. Occasionally a servant kills the mistress because they cannot get rid of the humiliation and shame.)
- humiliation and shame drives people mad, they drink and gamble to cover the shame, usually because they cannot cover shame by possessions such as university qualification, sporting prowess, big church, etc., people who lack these things are like the AFL “cellar dwellers i.e. team at the bottom – shameful to be in that position.
- Jesus became a commoner, John the Baptist was able to recognize Jesus because he listened to the Father from heaven, and not the fathers from the earth –
- the fathers of Israel = scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees , they had status, respect, learning and money e.g. Sadducees were extremely wealthy and despised by the people; the Pharisees were pious and were admired for their piety – they were the perceived spiritual fathers and ruled a shamed based culture – tax collectors, sinners, shepherds were marginalized people – yet, Jesus met with the shamed people.
- more shame going around than people realise e.g. not prosperous, sexual and racial put downs, do not have high intelligence, last one to be picked in a sporting team
- Jesus identified with us and is not ashamed of us nor ashamed to call us brothers because of the heavenly Father
- this revelation of the identifying stooping Fatherhood of God is essential for the discipling of this city
- Pharisees made it a point to attempt to shame Jesus – by using most shameful method of execution (Phil 2:8 “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”)
- crucified outside city (treated like a gentile) Heb 13:12
- Jesus “despised the shame” (Heb 12:2)
Elijah – Elisha succession in 2 Kings 2:9-14 – Elisha is the sole son of Elijah just as Jesus is the sole son of the Father. This revealed in the fact that because Elisha, out of all the sons of the prophets, is the only one who knows that his “father” (verse 12) has departed permanently from the earth. He knows this by the double portion of his spirit (verse 9) (“double portion” equals inheritance, the right of the firstborn son to double the amount of the other heirs) and by the authority of the mantle (verse 13). The mantle outwardly signifies the Spirit inwardly –Jesus outward flesh was the reality of his descent from heaven in obedience to his Father, for this reason he was filled with the Spirit and power (John 3:32- 34).
The flesh of Jesus is about chosen humiliation (Phil.3:20-21). Through the body of humiliation, Jesus is identified with us; in His descent and subsequent ascent, he has made us citizens of heaven so his Father is not ashamed of us.
13. Conclusion and Application
The cluster of concepts from this morning i.e. humiliation, descent, ascension, Spirit, authority is concentrated around the events of the crucifixion, ascension, day of Pentecost and the ministry of the apostles. They entered into a deep shame because of the cross, they were witnesses of the glory of the ascension, they received the Spirit at Pentecost, they had authority to minister. That takes us back to the question of discipleship with which we began. Matthew 28:18 speaks of “all authority” being given to Jesus to go and make disciples because of the descent- ascent sequence…
Jesus himself, in his descent, is disciplined by the Father on our behalf at the cross. As the Messiah he is disciplined with the rods of men (Ps. 89:26, 30-33, 2 Sam.7:14- 15).
Under the Adamic father, it is a shameful thing to be punished by fathers. But under the Fatherhood of God, such discipline is a sign of love so no shame attaches to that discipline (Heb. 12:5-11), it is to share in the same order/ type of discipline Jesus received for us from His Father upon our humanity on the cross.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isa 53:5)
If someone goes and lives among the poor or identifies with the outcasts, vilified etc., that expresses the Word that the Father is not ashamed of those people.
Through Jesus’ descent, the Father (indwelling Father) makes Himself appear to all humanity in the midst of its shameful experience so that He might give them the Spirit and translate them to heaven.
Prayer: We pray for spiritual fathers across this city. Those who would identify with the condition of humanity. On the outside, everybody seems to be okay – before You, they are naked and ashamed. Pray – not just about aboriginal people, but about the great mass on the outside. That You would raise up children of God that would image the Father as Jesus did. JY sees a picture of God the Father stooping down over the city of Perth and then standing up. As a father that stoops down to pick up a child, this does not seem spectacular but this is what the city needs. The image of a father who bends down so that his eyes are at the level of the eyes of the child, his mouth at the child’s mouth etc. He then raises up the child as he stands and takes it to his heart to that elevated position. This is the reality of the descent and ascent of humanity in Jesus. Give us that spirit in the city to go down to their level.
Prayer: Your ear is on the level of the human ear. Your eye is on the level of the human eye. You see things and hear things at this level. That is the pleasure of the father to stoop down. You stooped down, and did not find it easy, this is what you long to do in the form of Your servants (Eph. 4). We have a problem here – we have too many elevated apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, pastors. Pray that the fivefold ministry will come down to the level of the saints, then the saints can to the same thing in the whole city. As these fathers in the fivefold ministry come down to live and act, then the saints will do the same right across the city, entering into the world of people in this city. Make that a chain reaction. But it has to start with You Lord because You are the one who descended.