Thoughts which carry me to Jesus and to the Cross

“For this reason I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named. I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14–19, NET)

953         I think it is very natural for you to want the whole world to know Christ. But start with the responsibility of saving the souls of those who live with you and sanctifying each one of your fellow workers or fellow students. That is the principal mission that the Lord has entrusted to you.

Just as the early Church did not attempt to save its existence either by trying to make a concordat with Nero, Domitian, and Decius, or by stirring up a revolution against these tyrants, or by making an alliance with the Persian Empire, but simply by confessing the truth of the Gospel and building up a truly confessing Church whose members were prepared to die for the faith, so Luther and the early Lutheran Church confined themselves to do what the Church, according to its nature as an ordinance of God, can and ought to be doing.

There is a desire in most churches to see the world saved, I will never doubt that. But i think our idea of salvation is weak, and it confuses the ministry we are to share in as the church. I think St. Josemaria’s words here are profound – evangelism isn’t about what missionaries we send out do — it is about what we are doing in our communities, within our family structures, within the places where we live. Our work places, our doctor’s offices, and the stores we shop.

We are the evangelists, the missionaries, sent by God to this place–whereever you are reading this–and if you look around–there are plenty of people who trust in God, who don’t know Him.  That’s why Sasse said that Luther and the early church weren’t content with becoming the state church-they had a mission – what the church was to be focused upon–what they were willing to die for… and did.

And it is not about making “converts.”

Not at all…

Look at what Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus…conversion wasn’t the experience he prayed for the church in Ephesus.

He prayed for them to experience the Love of God – to be filled with that which goes beyond any measure, that which cannot be fully explained. To encounter and experience the love of God who created us, and re-creates us in His image. When they do, a change certainly occurs, but not one generated by man. It is only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Get used to that, it is not us that converts people, we simply reveal the love of God, the very reason we have hope.

And it is so valuable a experience that martyrs across time have willingly given up their lives if it would help their captors know this love of God.

That is our mission – that is the good news we share with those whom we know, whom we love, and hate and are even indifferent towards..

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Escrivá, Josemaría. Furrow (p. 161). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Sasse, H. (2001). This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar (pp. 203–204). Wipf and Stock Publishers.