Mere Missions

118 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

more than physical healing. It implied a sound spiritual state. Feeding five thousand miraculously (John 6) wasn’t enough of a demonstration to lead most to faith in Jesus. In fact, only twelve remained of the five thousand. They looked at Jesus and said, “You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” In Jesus’s story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31) we read that the way to repentance is the proclamation of Jesus and upon hearing the good news to then repent and believe. We know the story. A nameless rich man and a poor man named Lazarus both die. Lazarus is, “carried by the angels to Abraham’s side” while the rich man is, “in anguish in this flame,” and is separated from Abraham and Lazarus by a great chasm. The rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus from the dead to warn his five brothers of this eternal torment and separation from God but Abraham replies, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” But the rich man doesn’t think that’s enough and in reply says, “No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He was convinced they needed a visible demonstration of the greatest of miracles – someone coming back to life from the grave. This would turn them towards repentance and salvation. Abraham again states in these last words to the rich man, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” Who is the fulfillment of the Law (given to Moses) and Prophets? Jesus is the fulfillment (Matt. 5.17; Rom. 8.3-4). The only way towards repentance and salvation is to hear the good news of Jesus. The goal of missions is not the transformation of culture. Transformation of culture is a by-product of missions. When the spiritually dead respond to the obedient faith in Jesus Christ, that life is transformed into a new creation and transferred into a new culture, a kingdom culture. John Piper said it right, “The way to achieve the greatest social and cultural transformation