Jesus Moved

What Did Jesus Do?

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching...proclaiming...and healing.
Matthew 4.23

Some years ago I was the pastor of a small church out in the country. It had been there for over two hundred years. The church had no phone, and consequently no phone listing. They had a sign out front to post the title of the week's sermon, but that was pretty much the only way anyone besides the few folks sitting inside the stained glass windows of the church would have ever known it was still in business. When I suggested that it might be a good idea to think about some ways to do outreach and to intentionally tell others about the church, the response I got was, “We've been here a long time, they know where we are.” Judging by all the empty pews I wasn't so sure anyone actually did know where we were! The thing about ministry is, simply saying, “Here we are” is not likely to produce much fruit for the kingdom. You have to start where the people are, and that means that wherever you are, you will probably have to move. Jesus did.

Jesus could have simply stayed in Nazareth, gotten active in their little synagogue, and waited for people to come to Him. Instead, the Lord got up, got out, and got going. If Jesus had used business cards His might have said, “Have Feet, Will Travel,” because that is exactly what He did. Other than a couple of boat excursions back and forth across the Sea of Galilee (And, He even chose to walk across the sea at least once!), and one short donkey ride into Jerusalem, Christ's practice was to move, and get up, get out, and get going, step by step on foot, from village to village throughout Galilee. From Galilee to the Decapolis. From the Decapolis to Judea. Feet turned out to be an indispensable tool for ministry.

And it was not just Jesus who got up, got out, and got going. The Lord sent out the twelve apostles similarly to teach, preach, and heal (Mark 6.7-13). And then another seventy-two got up, got out, and got going (Luke 10.1). Jesus' followers moved too. And Christ made it clear to His disciples that they were to keep moving, taking the Gospel to all Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1.8). It simply wouldn't do to sit and wait for the world to come to them, “Have feet, will travel.” Jesus moved. His disciples moved. His Church must move. Get up, get out, get going. The world is full of people who will never find us, so we need to go looking for them.

Think of it this way. When someone is lost in the wilderness do we mobilize a sit team to stay put and wait for the lost to find us? No, search teams are organized to get up, go out, and get going to find the lost as quickly as possible before it is too late to save them. Again, does a life guard sit in his chair and watch someone drown, saying, “They know where I am, if they need help, let them come here and get it.” Absurd! Do you know what is happening while churches are sitting around, day after day, week after week, year after year? Hundreds, thousands, millions of the lost die without ever knowing Jesus. If the lost are going to be saved, they have to be found. And if they are going to be found, we have to move. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministrie.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4