Mission in the Gospel of John

If I were thrown in jail, and could only bring one book of the Bible, I would have a tough decision to make. Obviously Leviticus probably wouldn't make my top five (or sixty). But my final decision would probably be between Romans and the Gospel of John, with John probably taking the cake.

Now, imagine that I am in jail with only this great gospel. And I am wondering about how to think about “mission.” How would this gospel shape the way I think about interacting with non-believing people who are not like me?

When we think about “mission” in the gospel of John and in his letters, we may originally feel hard-pressed to find how we, as followers of Christ, are to be on mission. There is no “Great Commission” like Matthew has. However, just because John does not include a Great Commission does not mean mission is not on his heart. In fact, I think that John's approach is particularity powerful: John roots the Christian's mission in that fact that Jesus was the ultimate missionary, sent by God.

Jesus is the primary missionary getting all the airtime in John's gospel.

However, there are a few points in the gospel where we see that Jesus is not Heaven's only missionary. The Spirit is said to be sent when the Son leaves, and there is language of both the Father and the Son sending him. What is absolutely fascinating is that the Spirit and the disciples are sent together. The Son sends the Spirit, and the Son sends the disciples. We see the two “missionaries” converge together in this powerful and staggering verse: “As the Father sent me, I am sending you. . .receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22).

For you linear thinkers, here's how it breaks down:

I. The Father sent the Son (mentioned over thirty times).¹

II. Then the Father and the Son simultaneously send the Spirit.²

III. The Son sends the Spirit AND the disciples.³

Now that we've established that mission is on John's heart, what are some ways that he sees this goal achieved?

One different way that Christian mission is stressed in the gospel, a way not as commonly seen in other biblical books, is found in John 17. Jesus prays to the Father and asks that believers “may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (Jn 17:23). For John, Christian mission is useless without genuine love among believers. This theme permeates 1 John, as the contrast stress is “love one another.”⁴ And why do we love each other?

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Our love for each other is inspired and fueled by God's love for us. According to John 17:23, this kind of love for fellow believers is evangelistic. When non-believers see that way that believers selflessly lay down their lives for each other (figuratively and literally), this powerfully displays Jesus.

However, lest we be tempted to only love ourselves (Christian communities) and forget about the lost world, we always ought to turn our eyes back to the ultimate missionary: Jesus. He loves the Father, and the Father loves him.⁵ Their love is special in the highest sense of the word, perfect and endless. The Trinity has shared eternal communion for eternity (17:24). If anyone could have stayed in the comforts of a community, it was Jesus. But this is not the heart of God. 

John 3:16-17 reminds us that God loved the world and gave his Son, who was a more than willing participant in this cosmic plan (John 17:24). Jesus laid aside his rights and power and became a servant (Phil 2). The love of the persons in the Godhead for each other does not diminish God's love for a lost world. Likewise, our love for God and fellow Christians should then overflow to the lost world in the same way that God's did by sending Jesus, instead of restricting our love (time, focus, energy, devotion) to only fellow believers.

1 John 3:16, 3:34, 4:34, 5:23-24, 30, 36, 6:29, 39, 44, 57, 7:16, 18, 28-29, 33, 8:16, 26, 29, 42, 9:4, 10:36, 11:42, 12:4445, 49, 13:20, 14:24, 15:21, 16:5, 17:3, 18, 21, 23, 25, 20:21.

2 John 13:20, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7.

3 John 4:38, 17:18, 20:21-22.

4 1 Jn 3:11, 28, 4:11-12, 2 Jn 1:5.

5 John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 14:31.

Repetition in Musical Worship: Friend or Foe?

As a worship leader who desires to lead others in a true and passionate worship of God, I have often wrestled with the way in which we use repetition in worship songs. I'm not the only one who wrestles with this; last week, I met a worship leader in the midwest whose pastor would not allow him to play the same song twice in three months (not kidding). Another worship leader living in Oregon expressed that her pastor would not even allow her to repeat the chorus in any worship songs, ever.

This kind of aversion to repetition appears to be reactionary: “We don't want to be like those charismatics,” they assert, “so we're not going to repeat anything in musical worship.” I wonder if these pastors have ever read the Psalms or other passages of scripture where repetition is a vital part of teaching and worship (see Psalm 136 as the perfect example of this).

But, on the other side of the spectrum, we see that the charismatic/contemporary worship scene abounds in repetition. Two songs in particular come to mind: “Fill me up” and “Break every chain,” perfect examples of songs that employ ceaseless repetition. Will Reagan, the writer of these two songs, spends about seven minutes (each) on his recorded songs (which is actually relatively short when you think of United Pursuit or Jesus Culture concerts, where after ten minutes, the song is just beginning.)

This worship style is incredibly popular, catchy, easy to learn, simple and sincere. And lest you think that I am a Will Reagan/Jesus Culture hater, much of this kind of music is on my Ipod, and I have led both of these songs on a number of occasions.

But, the more I think about and sing songs like “Fill me up,” the more I feel like something is lacking. When I'm struggling with sin, needing to be encouraged, weighed down by heartache, or whatever the case my be, singing “fill me up” has instead left me empty. Why is this? It seems to me that

The repetitious singing of “fill me up, God” ironically misses the means by which God actually “fills us up.”

How does God “fill us up?” How are we encouraged in our faith? How are we “filled” in our love for God and our satisfaction in Him alone? By a greater vision of Christ, by seeing Him more clearly. So when I sing “fill me up,” It's possible that I'm not actually getting "filled up," because the lyrics are vague, shallow, and are not necessarily pointing me to the greatness and goodness of Christ.  There is something to be said about the simplicity and dependency expressed in the song, but by itself, the song is woefully insufficient to provide a Christian with a clearer vision of Christ.  

I'm going to upset a number of people with my critique of “Break every chain,” because a lot of my friends love the song. But after a lot of thought, I really think that

The repetitious singing of “break every chain” misses the means by which God actually breaks every chain.

Why? Because Paul says in Romans 1:16-17 that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because THE GOSPEL is the power of God unto salvation. Singing about God breaking chains is not really that powerful. Recognizing that God shattered the chains of sin and Satan through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection? Dynamite. So, I can sing for seven minutes about the general fact that God “breaks chains,” or I can specifically worship him for the way that He ultimately defeated sin and Satan at the cross through a song that more specifically displays this truth.

Repetition is biblical, and repetition is important. But repetition will serve the church best if we repeat soul-anchoring and Christ-exalting truth as opposed to vague, subjective, open-ended songs (or if we are not willing to abandon these kinds of songs, that we would at least provide some sort of soul-anchoring, Christ-exalting foundation before/after them.)

Thoughts about repetition in musical worship? Examples of songs that are unhelpfully repetitious? Examples of songs that are not repetitious enough? I'd love to hear your thoughts.