Three Speed Transmisssion

Greg Gilbert:

Our  generation tends  to think  about  motivation in two speeds and two speeds  only—there are things  that  are of the utmost  importance, and  things  that  are of no importance. There’s  no in-between. That’s one  of the  reasons  this whole conversation about  the mission of the church is so difficult. The minute you start arguing  that  good  works are not of the utmost importance, people accuse you of saying that they are of no importance at all. The thinking seems to be that good works have to be motivated by the highest imaginable reasons—We’re building for the kingdom! We’re doing the gospel! We’re joining God in his mission! We’re spreading shalom!—or else people will think they’re not important at all.

We need  another speed. We need  a speed that’s somewhere between of the utmost importance and of no importance. Something like really, really important might  do the  trick. The  fact is, we as Christians have a lot of things on our plate. There are many things that the Lord calls us to do that are not of the utmost importance, in the  sense that  they are earth-shattering, kingdom-building, eternity-making things. And yet they are really, really important, and  we are called to be faithful  in doing  them.  If we’re honest with ourselves, we already have this speed, and we use it all the time. Think  about  our  marriages, for example. Our  marriages are not  going  to make  it into  eternity; they’re  not  of the utmost importance (Matt. 22:30). And yet they are really, really important, and  we give much  of our  lives and  our  love and  our  energy  to them. We don’t default  to saying that because they’re not of the utmost  importance, they must be of no importance at all.

So why must those  be our  only two options  when it comes to good works and social ministry and culture building and our occupations and all the rest? Why can’t we be content with saying simply that we do those things, and we do them  well, out of love for people and  obedience and  love to God? It seems to us that such an understanding, such a set of motivations, would not only be more  faithful to Scripture, but also be better at motivating good  works for the long haul because  we won’t be discouraged from doing  them  even when our cities don’t change over a decade or two. We will be sufficiently motivated by loving God, loving people, and being  ”faithfully present”  as we wait on the Lord Jesus to return. (What is the Mission of the Church?, 230-231)