Think of obedience to the Great Commission as riding a bike:
Unfortunately, most believers go their whole lives and never even get on the bike.
Other believers get on the bike, but their bike has malfunctioning handlebars or no handlebars at all. Praise God for these people. They are ON THE BIKE!
What we do in Allen with our training of gospel and discipleship tools is this: we give people functioning handlebars.
Many people come to training thinking incorrectly that there is something revolutionary about these tools that has resulted in a group of people on fire for the gospel. They come to the “3 circles training” thinking that this is the “3 circles ministry” and that these tools are going to change their lives. Are the tools special? Yes! They are like functioning handlebars on a bike - extremely essential! But what these people unfortunately miss is this: HANDLEBARS DO NOT MAKE THE BIKE GO.
You have to be the one who decides “I’m going to get on the bike and go”. I don’t care how great the handlebars are. How valuable are handlebars on a stationary bike? They are useless! You haven’t “been through the training” until you have started pedaling.
So get on the bike and go! However, there are three other potential problems that arise even when we agree to get on the bike:
1. Bike riding is designated for Sundays and Wednesdays only. We want you to come join us for harvest time. That’s also essential! In fact, living a lifestyle of obedience to the Great Commission often doesn’t begin until you start going into the harvest to make it a regular pattern. But the point of the training was not to give you handlebars so you can be a part of a bike riding club that rides twice a week. You were not trained to be a part of a “harvest ministry”. The harvest times on Sunday and Wednesday night are for us to come ride together with hopes that you will also be equipped to ride the bike all throughout the week!
2. People say “I’ll get on the bike, but I’ll do it my own way”. First of all, let’s celebrate that you’re wanting to be obedient to God’s mission! But don’t let pride be the reason you don’t want to use the tools/handlebars we have given you. I say that because that was me at first. I learned many of these tools and thought, “that’s cute but I can do it better”. So for a while I insisted on using my own handlebars for no reason other than I thought I knew better. And maybe you DO have functioning handlebars! Use them! But in order to say your tools are truly functioning, ask yourself this:
Are my tools simple?
Are my tools biblical?
Are my tools reproducible/reproducing?
Our tools are not perfect, either. They change with context. They are constantly evaluated and adapted based on these questions and based on the end goal. You ask these questions because maybe you have functioning handlebars to get you down the road for now, but will they get you all the way to where you are riding? That brings us to the third thing.
3. Believers will get on the bike and use functioning handlebars, but they truly don’t know where they are riding. Is there an end goal? Is there an overarching vision? Is there a destination? The answer is yes, and Jesus has asked us to give up our lives for the sake of this vision. This means riding the bike until you reach the destination, or die trying. So what is the destination? Well, it is when people from every tribe, nation, and tongue are worshiping Jesus (Rev 7:9-10). It is when the gospel goes out to every nation (Matthew 24:14). It is when there is no place left where the gospel has not gone (Romans 15:23). So it starts small like a mustard seed (Mark 4) and mushrooms out to every place on this earth. We want to see no place left in our spheres of influence and where we live, and ultimately no place left in the whole world. We are told to hasten the day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:12), when Jesus will return to be presented with a spotless bride. We must come together to do this!
This will require much more than cool new handlebars. It will require much more than a bike riding club on Sundays and Wednesdays. It will require much more than a bike that will get us down the road. It will require our lives. We must own our identity as cyclists. We must live out our identity as kingdom ambassadors!
His mission WILL be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit which will propel you forward. If only you’ll start by getting on the bike. Will you get on the bike today?
