A CALL TO ACTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The Lord said to Moses: "Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out. When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you. When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the same signal.”

"The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies. Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God."

Numbers 10:1-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the end of Numbers, chapter 9, we saw how the Lord led people through the wilderness from Mount Sinai to the promised land of Canaan. You’ll remember that the divine guidance system involved a cloud that the Israelites were to follow every time it lifted from the tabernacle and began to move. This cloud could even be followed through the night as it became like fire to light up the dark sky.

As we move to the opening verses of chapter 10, we find the Lord commanding Moses to fashion “trumpets of hammered steel” which would be used to sound signals to alert the people of God to do what He wanted them to do.

There were to be two of these trumpets and we read where the Israelites would know what the Lord desired by number of trumpets sounded. The scriptures tell us that if both trumpets were sounded, then the people would assemble at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting but if there was only one trumpet blown, then just the "leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel" were to assemble.

There were also different kinds of calls, ones that would come from the trumpets but with different, easily distinguished sounds such as when the Israelites were to set out from their camps. When this particular trumpet blast was sounded, "the tribes camping on the east" were to get up and move out. Then, at "the sounding of a second blast", "the camps on the south" were to go.

Finally, we read where these trumpets were also sounded when the people of Israel were going into battle or rejoicing during "appointed feasts and New Moon festivals" which included "burnt offerings and fellowship offerings."

Today, believers are still called into action like the people of Israel were but that calling isn’t from a trumpet but from the Lord and Savior Jesus Himself as he gave His Great Commission contained in the following words from the Gospel of Matthew:

“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

Note that these words aren’t passive in nature. Rather, Jesus commanded that His followers should go and make disciples, to baptize them, and teach them all He had commanded. There is no questioning that our Savior called every single one of His followers to take action and to do so in His name out of the authority His Father God had given Him.

Given this, how well is the church of Christ doing today? How effective are the efforts to make disciples of all nations?

Frankly, let’s say there’s a lot of work to be done.

For when we look at the world’s population today, we find that it’s in or around eight billion people.

How many are Christians?

It’s believed that there are approximately two billion of the aforementioned eight billion and in case math isn’t your strong suit, that’s only 25 percent.

I don’t think I have to tell you that there’s a lot of potential for disciple making or as Jesus put it:

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Matthew 9:37

And so, it’s time the church gets to work, not disempowered by the fragmentation caused by a multitude of denominations, but rather united for the cause of the One we all believe in and serve, the Lord Jesus. Go back to when the church started and it was one group of Christ believers with a singular purpose to carry on His work and help others find their way to the salvation that was only possible through Him. It’s time to get back to that, for all Christians to stop focusing on denominational differences and instead living out this exhortation from the Apostle Paul as He wrote to the church in Ephesus:

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

Christ’s Great Commission was first given to His disciples who had no denominational separation. They set out together, united to do His will in accordance with the calling they received, with one common goal: to spread the good news of Jesus to others, witnessing first in Jerusalem, then in all Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). And as they witnessed to others and planted new Christian churches, therefore increasing the number of believers, they never grew comfortable of complacent in carrying out their Gospel mission. With every moment the Lord gave them, they were committed and devoted to the cause of Christ.

Fast forward now to today and ask yourself these questions:

Where is the common cause evident within Christian churches today?

What has happened to the unity of Spirit within the Christian church of the 21st century?

I’m afraid that many churches have become too comfy within the confines of their own congregations. They perform localized efforts and then pat themselves on the back so they feel good about what they’ve done.

But what if this is just what the enemy wants from the church of Christ today? What if he is loving this, seeing how Christian churches are reluctant or even unwilling to join hands together to make disciples, to baptize, and to teach all that Jesus commanded?

Friends, if the Christian church is truly going to make a dent in the six billion people who are unsaved in the world and destined for an eternity in Hell, we’re going to need to get back to basics, back to when the New Testament church was born, back when everyone worked as one within the Gospel mission field.

And just in case you think this is a hopeless cause, it’s not. In fact, true, exponential revival in this world is as close to us as the noses on our collective faces. For if all two billion Christians in the world would unite for the cause of the Gospel, there would be a powerful groundswell of a spiritual movement, the likes of which the world has never seen as the Great Commission power of Jesus is maximized to the fullest. And the multitude of people lost and looking for the next great thing to follow after would get caught up in the Christ movement, all rescued from Hell and destined for the glory of Heaven. Further, this world would be transformed, moved more to a place where peace and love dominate over hatred and conflict.

As I close, I hear way too many Christian believers speaking out in condemnation of this world, saying something like this:

"I’m sure that the end times are just around the corner and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus comes back right this very moment."

There’s only one part of this that is acceptable and that’s the part of Jesus coming back at a time that no one knows. Outside of that, this kind of mindset is exactly what’s wrong with our current evangelistic attitude in the church for it’s a lot easier to just give up and wish for Jesus to return than it is to do something, like getting to work to do something to impact the vast number of unbelievers in the world and how their sinfulness impacts the world we live in.

The bottom line is that all Christians have a sure calling from Jesus, a call to action. It’s time we all do as much as we can collectively as believers to carry out the Great Commission and bring the Gospel to the unsaved of our world.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.