Missiolatry is a problem. If our “god” is that to which we look for
every good and from which we expect help in every time of need, it’s
clear the “god” of too many “Christians” (especially those that go by
the Lutheran moniker) in this day and age is missions! If you ask 9 out of 10 members of the Lutheran Church what the Church’s primary task is, they’ll answer without hesitating: “Make disciples!”
I think it far better to say that the primary task of the Church is to
worship God. "This is the Christian faith, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity." (Athanasian Creed) Jesus said: "For the Father seeks such to worship Him." John 4.
What is the purpose for the Church's existence? It's purpose does not and cannot cease when time ceases. It's purpose is eternal. This is the way the very first book of Lutheran Dogmatics (Melanchthon's 1543 Loci Communes) puts it: "The human race has been so created and then so redeemed that we as the image and temple of God might celebrate the praises of God, for God wills to be known and worshipped."
The relationship of this to the task of the Church in this age is then
clarified: Christ has sent His whole people into this world to speak
the Word that rescues people from their false worship (their idolatry, which leads only to eternal death), and brings them with us into the worship of Him who alone is LIFE, the Blessed Trinity.
This helps prevent us from thinking about the Church in the shallow
way of a "come on in so that you can go out and get some more" club.
WHAT are we calling people into? WHAT are we calling them away from? We call them into the worship of the Blessed Trinity, which is faith, the receiving of the divine Life of God through the gifts He gives – and one of those gifts is the liberation from individualism and the gift of true communion with each other in His Body. We call them away from the worship of false gods, which is death. As long as the Church is in this world, she is to work tirelessly at this, but it is not her ultimate vocation. Her ultimate vocation is found in that which she does now which she will continue to do forever.
The Psalmist exhorts "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Too many nowadays seem to describe the Church's life not in the "tasting and seeing." Just in the "inviting." But I am convinced that our evangelism efforts falter because our people are not tasting the goodness of the Lord! You see, if you enjoy something, you praise it to others.
Think about it. If you enjoy a movie, you say to others: "You have got
to see this!" If you enjoy a restaurant, you say to others: "You have
got to eat there!" If you enjoy a book, you say to others: "This is a
must read!" We praise to others that which we natively enjoy. We can’t help ourselves!
So back to John 4. The woman tasted the living water (note that she
left her bucket at the well!!!), and then goes to her countrymen and
tells them: "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!"
She drank from the living water, and so she invites others to taste and enjoy it with her.
The answer to solving the wimpy witness is never to beat people over
the head with the so-called "Great Commission." It is to get them to
drink deeply of the living water, and then they too will be crying out
with the Spirit and the Church: "Come, and drink freely of the water of life!" (Rev. 22)
Lord, deliver us from the sin of missiolatry and help us to truly find
our life in worshipping You and receiving Your gifts and grant us the grace so to enjoy Your bounty that we constantly summon others to the Feast of Life, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
