truth or love.
There is a constant tension between two very different believes on the best way to share Jesus and the Gospel with those who don’t know Him. One way generally holds the perspective that it’s best to show love to people through grace and look past any sin in their life in the hopes that ultimately, they will recognize and accept the love that Jesus offers because they were shown unconditional love.
The other way generally holds the perspective that it’s best to share the truth Jesus speaks and reality of the Gospel with those who don’t know Him, by pointing to the sin in their life (and their own life) that is the very thing standing in the way of the love that Jesus offers and ultimately the reason He offers this love, so they can see the purpose and value of the unconditional love of Jesus.
Thankfully the Lord is far greater than either of these perspectives, and can surpass both, blend both, or provide what may seem to be an impossible revelation to any of us, at any given moment in time.
There are certainly extreme versions of both of these perspectives that can be dangerous by not fully revealing the complete truth of His complete love, or His complete love in complete truth. Both are equally essential to the Gospel.
For those of us that believe and follow Jesus as our Savior and Master, our final mandate from Jesus before He left this earth was to go and make disciples (Matthew 28). This commissioning was given to us from Jesus Himself!
Jesus came to them and said, “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.” Matthew 28:18-20
One point of note… He didn’t just tell us to do this, He first gave us “all authority in heaven and on earth” to be able to go and share this to all nations. Why would we think we could do anything less? We have all authority form Jesus Himself to go, to make disciples, to baptize them, and teach them to obey everything Jesus commended us.
He doesn’t stop with this instruction. He adds protection and safety for us in the last sentence he said before departing this earth until his return, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Wow – what a relief and provision of confidence for us and of comfort! He didn’t just say “I’ll be with you,” no – He said “surely I am with you always.” And if we still had any doubt or concern, He added “to the very end of the age,” just to make sure we understood there wasn’t a single chance He would leave us high and dry. What a promise!
When someone says all they’re trying to do is having a “safe space” through a ministry for people – I have to question that. I haven’t seen anywhere in scripture that we commissioned to solely create a safe space. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with creating a safe space, of course. But if we don’t use that safe space to actually share the Gospel of who Jesus is: our Refuge, our Protector, our Defender, our King: we’ve missed it!
The early church certainly did not paint a picture they ever had a safe space. They were under constant persecution. So many of the letters that Paul wrote to the early churches clearly revealed the persecution they would endure to prepare believers for what they would encounter as they fulfilled the commission from Matthew 28.
A safe space is not what they were able to do. They had no way to create that. But they still went and they made disciples, even in spite of the shadow of persecution! They even counted it joy to be crucified with Christ.
I hope and pray we can be even half as bold as those who were a part of the early church. Not simply creating safe spaces, but boldly sharing the love and truth of Christ!
