Outward Looking

What is your outlook in life?   Your outlook as a church leader?   What about your church?  On what do you set your sights?  These are important questions in life and ministry.   And your answer to these questions will greatly impact what you do with your life, how you steward everything that God has given you.  Not just you, but also your church.

We have been looking at the Biblical values that shape the culture of the CRCA, a contemporary, Reformed, gospel-focused denomination.   We have already looked at the values of being Contemporary Reformed (confessional and contextual ) and being Word-Based.   Last week we began to look at the core Biblical value of being Gospel Focused as we looked at the idea of being kingdom-orientated.   Today we will consider what it means to be outward-looking.

At the heartbeat of our denominational vision is the idea that we as churches exist for those outside of the church.   Our mission is to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.  Our outlook as churches is really looking outside the walls of our church buildings and our membership to those who are not yet part of the family of God. 

This is the not the first time I have reminded us of this core Biblical value of being outward looking.   You might want to check out the outward mindset.  To be gospel-focused is to be outward looking.   At the core of our response to God is to be concerned for others.   We are told in the Bible to "look not only after [our] own interests, but also the interests of others." (Philippians 2:4)   Paul goes on to explain that this was exactly the attitude Jesus had, resulting in our salvation.  (See Philippians 2:5-11)  This outward looking is evident as God's people "seek justice, encourage the oppressed.  Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."  (Isaiah 1:17; cf. Isaiah 61:1-11; Micah 6:8; James 1:27)   Jesus himself took up this posture of ministry when he lived on earth (see Luke 4:18-21).   And before he returned to his heavenly Father he told us as his followers is that we need to "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 [he] has commanded." (Matthew 28:19-20)   

We are to go, not stay.   Our focus is to be on those outside the church, not simply on those inside the church.   We need to look out for those who need the gospel, who are lost in sin and/or broken by the broken sinful world in which we live.   We are to reach out to them so that they too may find life in all of its fullness and richness, the abundant life that Jesus gives.  (See John 10:10)   

Following our Saviour, our primary task is to seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10)   As a denomination we attest to the fact that we need to see beyond ourselves.  We need to see the lost and broken in our communities, the millions of Australians who are not part of a Christian community.   And we need to look beyond that.   As Jesus reminded his followers: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8)   To look after the interests of others places us outside our suburbs, into surrounding communities.    It places us outside our cultural or ethnic boundaries to people who are culturally and/or ethnically different from us.  And we keep reaching out to the lost and broken in the world to the ends of the earth. 

In the last church I served we were serious about instilling this Biblical value in the mindset of our members.  Every time men, women, and children left the church building they read these words posted as a large banner over the doors:  YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE MISSION FIELD.   The banner was reinforcing the Biblical value that we exist as a church not for ourselves but for others.   We exist to make a difference in the lives of people outside those the church, the lost and broken in our world.

One way to gauge whether or not you or your church is outward looking is to look at how you steward all that God has given you.   Your time.   Your financial resources.  The people in your church.   How much of everything you have is targeted toward reaching the lost for Christ, and bringing wholeness to those who are broken?   What about the lost in neighbouring communities?   Or migrants moving into our suburbs?   What are we are doing to reach these people with the good news of our Lord Jesus?  What about parenting a new church to reach these people?  What kind of financial support have you/your church budgeted to advance the gospel in Solomon Islands (SWIM), India (GOSPEL), among the disadvantaged (WORLD TRANSFORM), through other relief, justice, and mission endeavours?    How you steward what you have been given will illustrate where your priorities are, where your heart is, where your church's heart is, your outlook in life!   To be gospel-focused is to join God on his mission in this world, both in word and deed, to the ends of the earth.  You set your sights to be outward looking!