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I feel that I should recap on part one of this blog. I was made aware of a rally in
Sydney in support of the Muslim burqa for women, and this resulted in a discussion
which finished up as a Christian defence of the Australian culture against an Muslim
claims that ³Western secular society was flawed.´
I then went on to examine overall Israel¶s performance in prosecuting the Plan God
had given them to be a blessing so that the other nations would be drawn to them
and in the process toward The God of Israel . The record shows that they failed in this
endeavour as a generalisation but there were some spectacular successes. This is
where I wish to pick up the story.
One of these accounts is the story of Queen of Sheba. She had heard reports of how
God had blessed Israel under King Solomon, and came to do her own assessment.
This was what she had to say to Solomon in 1 Kings 10:9. u

 

















 









 


 




 
In the Old Testament there are
other accounts where other rulers gave recognition to the God of Israel but few
turned from their gods
Then came the event that changed everything for the ³Gentiles.´
Jesus (Saviour) Christ (God with us), is born in a stable somewhere in Israel, at least
that was how big a deal it was fo r Israelis who were known as the people of God.
Suddenly the deal is changed, almost like an overnight sensation here was this man
who was so counter cultural that the establishment had no idea what to do with him.
He was talking about the Kingdom of God as if it was a pres ent reality and told his
followers to do things that were wrong according to Israeli law.
Eventually he is killed by the establishment but not before He has trained a group of
believers in the new plan God has for men. He summed it up in two vision
statements. First was when He was asked about the greatest law, he answered with
³love the Lord your God with your entire being and also to love your neighbour as
you love yourself´
The statement was about the New Missionary Plan, it wen t this way ³Go to all parts
of the world, make believers, and teach them all I have taught you. This plan is still in
effect today and is applicable to all His followers today. For almost 2000 years
Christians have followed this plan to a greater or lesser degree. Of course there
have been more forgettable moments in the history of world mission for example
there was the Conquistadores in South America who used the Old Testament
method of colonisation, take the lands and put the natives to the sword.
The other significant example was in the colonial push into Asia and more
specifically a continent called Australia. While there was some ea rly purging of the
local people, allegedly in self defence, the bigger thing was the assumption that the
culture of the colonialists was superior to that of the indigene. The natural
consequence of this assumption was that the Aboriginal culture was all but wiped in
just over a century of colonialism
Nowadays we are more informed as missiologists, it would never happen now. Now
we have learnt what the early followers knew the best missionaries are ³local,´ and
most times the best culture for a people group is their own. Obviously there are
exceptions to this rule, but after all what is so great about the culture that we have
come from.
So then where do we stand from a Biblical basis? Not much has changed from the
early church, apart from the fact that we do not have the constraint of preaching to
the Jews first. The mandate still remains to Go, to Make Disciples, and to teach them
about the faith that they have entered into. The fundamental paradigm of Love is still
foundational, in fact it is the thing that lifts a follower of Jesus out of the muddling
crowd. It is the way that we treat others that makes people think that we may have
something worthwhile.
What is different is that we in Australia have large numbers of people from other
cultures within our local areas. We can go to a people group without leaving our
state let alone, country. One other thing about today is that we no longer live in a
country that is even notionally Christian. this is a challenge to all of us, or should be.
We who know the words of life that also have the mandate that Jesus placed before
us Go, make disciples, and teach them the way of life.
What is Jesus saying to you, about God¶s missionary mandate?