Embracing Our God-Sized Mission
By Keith Boyette
September 20, 2023
The Global Methodist Church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. Recently as I was praying into this mission statement, I realized that the components of the declaration are vitally interrelated and that there is a progression to those components, one feeding another. Living into the progression and the interrelatedness is essential for us as Global Methodists. You are not fully a disciple of Jesus Christ until you are engaged in worshiping passionately, loving extravagantly, and witnessing boldly all the time, with all your being.
In 2 Chronicles 16:9, the seer Hanani declares, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Fully committed disciples worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly continually as they move through each day. God is searching the whole earth for such persons so He can strengthen them. They are anointed or filled by the Holy Spirit. They are used by God to accomplish that which will glorify God and which far exceeds their human capacity. In John Wesley’s words, when we are so deployed, we are engaged in spreading scriptural holiness across the land. As these words increasingly describe who we are, we are being sanctified by God’s grace – we grow in holiness – Godlikeness.
But some of us struggle with one or more of the components of our mission statement. We believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We have repented of our sins, received God’s forgiveness, and been blessed with new life. The old self has been crucified with Christ, and we have been born again to a living hope. However, we seem paralyzed when it comes to witnessing let alone witnessing boldly. Others of us struggle to love, let alone love extravagantly. Still others would confess that worship is an afterthought, and passionate worship makes us uncomfortable. If our lives were weighed in the balance, little evidence might be found to support a verdict that we are indeed disciples of Jesus Christ.
We do not want to be anemic or lukewarm followers of Jesus. What then are we to do? The Apostle Paul resolutely answers, “The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). If you are to love extravagantly and witness boldly, the journey begins with your worship life which places you at the feet of Jesus. I submit you cannot consistently love extravagantly or witness boldly until you worship passionately. Worship is the fuel that ushers us into the presence of God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – where we are embraced by the One who created us and sustains our lives. Far too many ascribe worship to what they might do once a week for approximately one hour in a building during a “worship service.”
As Global Methodists we are called to worship in spirit and truth in every moment. Worship is the core orientation of our lives. Worship is how we engage every moment of every day. We were made to worship – to dwell in the presence of our Living God, have intimacy with Him, and be continually renewed. You and I are worshiping someone or something in every moment of our day and, if we are honest, we would confess that too often the focus of our worship is on everything else but God. When the focus of our worship becomes God exclusively, we develop a deeper intimacy with God. We begin to receive His good gifts. He takes up residence in our lives. Jesus becomes not a historical figure, but an ever-present part of every moment. The passionate worship of God results from our bringing our whole self into the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in worship so that all of who we are is focused on all of whom God is. Such an orientation results in praise and gratitude for who God is and what God is doing in our lives and around us in His creation. Passionate worship is experienced when we see Jesus – only Jesus – as we move through our days wherever we are and whatever we are doing.
Passionate worship reveals to us the character and activity of God. We experience God’s loving embrace. We know His affirmation of each of us. We experience the depths of our forgiveness and healing. The image of Isaiah in the temple of God in Isaiah 6 beautifully illustrates this place of passionate worship. As we worship God passionately, we are enveloped by His love and this love compels our response.
Experiencing the depth of that love changes the orientation of our lives from ourselves to others. When we realize the depth of His love for us, we cannot help but cry out in the words of Isaiah, “Here am I, Lord! Send me! (Isaiah 6:8).” Once again, the Apostle John captures the moment, “We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).”
Passionate worship leads to loving extravagantly. When we consider the extravagant love God has showered on us through the life and death of Jesus Christ, our lives are transformed to love others with all of who we are – an extravagant love. If you have a love deficit, the solution is to engage in more worship and to do so with all of who we are – to do so passionately.
Extravagant love leads to witnessing boldly. Humans are constitutionally incapable of keeping love to themselves. If they try to do so, it leads to mental illness, stagnation, or breakdown, and ultimately to death. We must share that love if we are to be fully alive. Realizing who God is and discovering His agenda (passionate worship) leads to the realization of what God has done for us – in saving and sanctifying us – which inevitably leads to us wanting to be more loving ourselves – loving God and loving our neighbor (loving extravagantly). Loving extravagantly leads to witnessing boldly as we tell others the good news of this God who has loved us in spite of our rebellion and forgiven us, restoring us to His Kingdom. We cannot keep such love to ourselves – we must share it in word and deed. And we must introduce others to the source of such love.
If you are struggling to witness boldly, then you need to rediscover the extravagant love of God. The path to rediscovering that extravagant love is found in our passionate worship. As we worship God passionately, our lives are filled with His presence, good gifts, and power moving us into loving extravagantly and witnessing boldly.
You and I are on a mission to be fully committed disciples of Jesus and to make disciples for Him. God is searching His creation for those like you and me who are fully committed to Him so that He can strengthen us. He strengthens us through our worshiping passionately, loving extravagantly, and witnessing boldly. He has called us to make disciples of Jesus Christ who do the same. Praise God for entrusting us with a God-sized mission. Are you all in? I am!
The Rev. Keith Boyette is the Transitional Connectional Officer for the Global Methodist Church, its chief executive and administrative officer. To learn more about the Global Methodist Church, visit our website, www.globalmethodist.org.
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