On January 20, 1961, over twenty thousand Americans huddled in the sub-freezing temperatures of Washington D.C., watching as the Supreme Court clerk held up the large Fitzgerald family Bible. The white marble of America’s Capitol building bleakly blended with the deep snows around; the top of its dome was lashed by the arctic winds. The cold weather likely reminded more than a few of those gathered of an even colder reality; that within the next twenty minutes of any given moment, their world would end.
Tensions had never been higher in the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union. The previous Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, had gone so far as to declare that a nuclear battle with the western powers was inevitable. The unease that gripped the world was felt even more poignantly by some as they watched a charismatic but inexperienced John F. Kennedy steady his hand on the Bible and take his oath of office. Others, less aware of any looming apocalypse cheered as this young Harvard graduate and war hero was sworn in as the thirty-fifth President of the United States. For most Americans, the harsh realities of war had been hidden to them under a shiny veneer. Although the Cold War was real, it wasn’t that real to them.
Kennedy must have known this truth as he addressed his nation and the watching world. In his inaugural speech, he challenged America with words that will not be soon forgotten: “Ask not what your country may do for you, but what you may do for your country.”
Today the people of God are in a Cold War. The Great Controversy that has raged from the very beginning of our planet threatens the eternal safety of every human being, yet many of us who should be the soldiers of Christ have fallen into delusional slumber. While so often we focus on what God can do for us, we give little attention to what we can do for the cause of God. The church is likewise not a body to serve us, but rather a body of service to a suffering world.
The mission for the church is outlined in Matthew 28:19-20, when Jesus commanded, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” The church today is in a crisis of focus, turning most of its attention to doctrinal disputes, religion in politics, self-betterment, or in-reach programs. While aspects of these areas should not be ignored, and certainly revival efforts are critical to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, these are not the burdens the church was called to address and they cannot replace our purpose. Ellen White reflected this specific developing problem when she stated that “. . . [o]ur churches should not feel jealous and neglected if they do not receive ministerial labor. They should themselves take up the burden, and labor most earnestly for souls.”[1]
Nowhere is this crisis of focus more clearly depicted than with us — the young people in our church. Many of us are flooding out into the world, and in search for a remedy to this problem, we focus on what the church should be doing for us instead of what we can do for the church. In an apparent lack of mission completion, we look to church leadership instead of reckoning ourselves among the Responsibles – soldiers refusing or unwilling to fight, or who expect only the “generals” to take to the battlefield. It is rather the young people who are called to lead the mission of the church! Ellen White notes again, “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!”[2] The church, the collection of all believers, will never be stronger than we are as individuals. Organizational efforts will never trump the power of surrendered hearts and consecrated lives.
We should be moving with the efficiency and procedure of firing a gun. First, we need to load, embracing the gospel message into our hearts and incorporating it into our lives. Next, we must aim, setting definite and measurable goals of what we may achieve in God’s service. Finally, we fire, accomplishing the aim with our eyes always on the target. These steps can be large scale; loading may be taking an evangelism training program, listening to evangelism workshops on AudioVerse, or following the ‘Steps to Christ’ guidebook to personal revival; aiming is prayerfully finding a place in the mission field, taking up gospel work, starting a ministry to the community with your local church, joining a canvassing program, or starting up small groups for Bible study; firing, a persistence in the power of God, realizing what the true fruit of accomplishing His purpose is. But this must also be done daily on a small scale. Loading cannot take place without personal devotions every morning, reading something with the goal to share it with someone else, or committing scripture to memory to encourage others. Aiming requires prayerfully asking God to provide at least one person for you to bless and share with, continually searching for opportunities throughout the day to minister to others. Firing is asking for the Holy Spirit to empower you and drawing near to an individual intentionally. We shouldn’t let the day end without having reached somebody; even just making contact virtually, through a text message or a phone call, can have a mighty impact with the Holy Spirit.
So what would the impact be on the church today if we as young people turned our focus from what the church should do for us to what we could do for the mission of the church?
We would first see a transformation of our own experience. The Bible promises in many places that service for others is the only path to a truly fulfilling spiritual experience.[3] Acts of the Apostles also notes that “Strength to resist evil is best gained by aggressive service.”[4] My favorite of the many promises given to those dedicated to service is that sharing Jesus takes away the anxiety from our own walk with God. “In place of growing anxious with the thought that you are not growing in grace, just do every duty that presents itself, carry the burden of souls on your heart, and by every conceivable means seek to save the lost. Be kind, be courteous, be pitiful; speak in humility of the blessed hope; talk of the love of Jesus; tell of His goodness, His mercy, and His righteousness; and cease to worry as to whether or not you are growing. Plants do not grow through any conscious effort…. The plant is not in continual worriment about its growth; it just grows under the supervision of God.”[5]
Not only is our service to the gospel needed for ourselves, it is desperately needed by our world today. As Romans 10:14 explains, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” If we are truly moved by the love of Christ, we will work earnestly to share that hope with others. In fact, that is our motivation; Paul pens in 2 Corinthians 5:14 that the love of Christ compels us. If we aren’t moving, then the motor – Christ’s love – is missing.
Although committing ourselves to sharing the gospel is critical to the spiritual development of both ourselves and others, our motive of service must be rooted in Christ. Since He has given us above what we could ever imagine, should our lives not be committed to Him? I believe that the words of 1 Peter 2:9 are more applicable to our generation even more than any other: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
In this war between good and evil, are we spectators or warriors? In seeking revival, are we looking only to be served, or are we intentional in seeking how we may serve? As Christ is calling us, it is past time we decided to be missionaries and not a mission-field.
There will be no ceasefire; no arms will be laid down in peaceful surrender from the already-conquered side. We are in a brutal war where the opposition does not desire to leave any survivors, and our only hope in this battle is to side with Christ our Victor, bear our arms, and fight. But we must fight. It is indeed God who works in us to will and to do to His good pleasure, but it is for us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.[6] These principles do not stand in opposition; God will work in us, but we must be willing to be worked in. God will fight the battle, but we must put on the full armor of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, or all our efforts will be in vain.
Brothers and sisters, let us awaken from our slumber and fight.
[1] Ellen G. White, Australasian Union Conference Record, August 1, 1902, par. 7.
[2] Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1913), 492.
[3] See Isa. 32:20; Isa. 58; Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 25:31-46; Rom. 10:15.
[4] Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1911), 105.
[5] Ellen G. White, “We Are Responsible for the Use of Our Talents,” The Youth’s Instructor, February 3, 1898, par. 3.
[6] Phil. 2:12-13