As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged Jesus that he might be with him. And Jesus did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. Mark 5:18-20, ESV
There are major truths in this passage that speak to being sent and being on mission that we often miss. I want to focus on what my friend Jerry Breedlove calls “crossing the great divide.”
Jesus healed this man who had been demon possessed. He changes the man’s life forever. And the man naturally wants to remain with Jesus and the disciples and enjoy the overflow of watching Jesus work and the fellowship of the already convinced. He wants to leave his old secular world and life behind and journey into the new spiritual world and life in front of him. He wants to hang with Jesus and the church crowd and soak it all in.
But Jesus has a chasm crossing in mind. He sends this man right back into the world he has been living in. And He sends this man back with very specific instructions: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
Does Jesus call us to simply build church programs and to conduct outreach activities to draw men and women into the church? Is our focus to be primarily on building a sacred institution where people can come and learn about Jesus? Is our primary message to those that are far from God “come and see my church?”
Or does Jesus call us to develop and mobilize a force of missionally minded believers who cross into the secular realm in order to bring gospel influence into all of life? Does He send us back into the world we are from to share with others what He has done for us, and how merciful He has been to us? Is our primary message to those that are from God “would you like to know my God?”
There is certainly room for both. But for most of the past century of American Christianity, we have mostly been centered on “come check out my church” and not at much at all on “would you like to know my God?”
Jake Mailhot says it this way:
Christians often fall prey to the notion that the “secular” and “sacred” should be separated. While it’s true that Jesus has called us into his Kingdom, he has also called us back into the world from which we were rescued. Our faith must be grounded in the here-and-now; Jesus’ example was one of engagement with, not detachment from, the physical realm.
Jesus calls us to cross the great divide. He calls us to go back to the home and the neighborhood and the workplace where we are from and show and share the good news of Christ.
Had this formerly demon possessed man stayed with the disciples and the crowd that followed Jesus everywhere, he would have been one of many whose lives had been changed by Jesus. But he would not have been with anyone that could see how big that life change truly was. They did not know him before he encountered Jesus. When he goes home to his people and his neighbors and his workmates, all of whom had known how messed up his life had been before, they can all see the obvious change. Where would he be the most effective? Where could he shine the most light? Where could he see the bigger harvest?
His mission field is not the church. His missional activity is not just inviting people to the church. His new life is not to be primarily based on hanging out with the already convinced.
Jesus sends him back across the sacred – secular divide because His mission field is his home, his friends, his community. His missional activity is telling them what Jesus has done for him. His new life is life is to be based on hanging out with those that are far from God and telling them how to find their way to Him.\
Which side of the sacred – secular divide are you living on?