Go Before You Know

We must watch out for the dangerous theology that says, “You may be healed or saved but you have a long, long way to grow before you can go. You must first attend the Alpha class, the Bible Class, and the Hearing God, the Inner Healing, the Deliverance and the 20-week missionary training.” One of the reasons people don’t come to maturity is simple: we keep them in the Christian Nursery instead of putting them on the battlefield. I admit there have been some casualties of ill-equipped people sent out on their own, but that is why we have teams, missionary bands are what they used to be called. The far bigger danger is from the inertia, apathy, boredom and under-deployment that comes from people being told they must go through three years of training before they can be useful in the kingdom of God. 

I believe in training. We run a 20-week training on kingdom business: it is not a general coverage of business topics with a light sprinkling of Christian aspiration and ethics. It is, what some have called, a Kingdom MBA. We also have a 15-part training on Transforming Society, not to mention classes on Kingdom Economics, Entrepreneurship and more. So, I am an advocate for being properly prepared, but...

Jesus encountered people in debilitating situations: leprosy, blindness, near death, even demonized. If I were Jesus I might have enrolled them on some of the “equipping” courses listed above or at least given them some time to get grounded before telling them to do anything. Yet Jesus seemed to counter my common sense, at least in some instances. 

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. Matthew 8:13

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:51-52

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:7-9

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid...

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Mark 5:15-20

Better to risk being commissioned too quickly than inoculated and bored

The longer we stay in a learning bubble without putting truth to the test in the marketplace the more likely we will have all the jargon and buzzwords without the lived experience. This makes us more susceptible to becoming religious rather than radical. The more we are cluttered with unapplied truth the less probable we will actually “go”! Speaking to Christian businesspeople for a moment, in an age of never-ending kingdom business conferences where we can go to be seen to be with this group, or hang with a successful businessperson or investor, or glean crumbs from the table of the latest prophet of prosperity... we can go from event to event, gathering to gathering, and think we are part of a movement but never obey our “go!”

Run a self-test: what percentage of your time is spent going to events about kingdom business vs. going to do kingdom business, including transforming towns, cities and nations? Gatherings to celebrate what God is doing, to learn, to network: these can be good, but only if we are not duped into thinking that this is “do business until I come.”

What if “Go” preceded “be healed”?

 Sometimes our reason for staying home is to get healed, grow in maturity, build experience, gain wisdom, etc. etc. But what if the kingdom way includes “Go, and be healed as you go?” Recognize that the enemy of your soul will do everything to keep you from getting a Kingdom Passport. Until you have wheels, until you discover the pilgrim leg of the Church AND the planted; until you play home games AND away games, you are of little threat to the kingdom of darkness. Beware of making a god out of theology; it could become an idol that is an obstacle to kingdom advancement.

Every business trip can be a mission trip. Every customer interaction can be a divine encounter. Every workday can be a worship day. Every business expansion opportunity can be an invitation to expand the kingdom of God. Jesus expects us to be “open for business” and this includes “open to go.” Go before you know, and be healed as you go.