Jesus' command finally realized?

Right before his ascension Jesus told the disciples, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Gost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)  What required a dispersion in the New Testament to get the baby Christians off their behinds in Jerusalem and spreading the Gospel to the rest of the world is now seemingly done with the typing of fingers on a keyboard anywhere there is Internet.

Is New Media God's way of helping us fulfill Jesus' prophecy?  The missions explosion of the 18th and 19th centuries nearly spread the Gospel to the uttermost reaches of the earth.  Yet there are still tribes, tounges, and peoples who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.  While it may be easy to post our Christian convictions online and then call to the world, "Come and get it!," there must be people who physically travel to remote places, proclaim Christ, and help the people get copies of the Scriptures in their own language. 

Thankfully, online media can help missionaries stay in close contact with their sending organizations to provide prayers, money, and physical resources for the proclamation of Christ.  And when the missionaries have trained disciples of the local peoples and packed up to move where God is calling them next, they can in turn stay in close contact with their new brothers and sisters in Christ -- through satellite phones, smart phones, and solar chargers if there are no land lines or power stations.  Using a blend of old and new schools, we are within striking distance of being Christ's witnesses unto the uttermost part of the earth.    

Paul on Twitter

We have been comparing social media to old-fashioned forms of communication in my fall semester class, "The Virtual Church."  A question which keeps coming up in our readings and discussions is, "Would the apostle Paul tweet if he was alive today?"  The answer is, "You bet your last parchment he would tweet!"  The apostle Paul was all about disseminating God's word to everyone who could possibly receive it.  He sent letters to various churches, then instructed those churches to read the letters he had written to  other churches.  Scribes received his letters, copied them, and sent them to the far reaches of the Roman empire and beyond.  In a way he already was tweeting, 1,800 years before we had the technology to send or receive those messages instantaneously. (Notwithstanding the 3,000 year-old telephone systems discovered last century in Egyptian tombs and Hindu temples.)

When in prison Paul called for his cloak and some books, but especially the parchments (2Timothy 4:13).  He wanted the best technology of the time to be able to reach his churches.  A Christian pastor sitting in Libyan prison today might exclaim, "Get me the BlackBerry!"  What used to be accomplished with smoke signals and talking drums now occurs with cell phones and iPads.  The apostle Paul would not only be using the latest technology; he would be reading the latest tech blogs to see what was coming next. 

As Christians we should be out on the forefront of digital and all other media.  We must not miss the opportunity to proclaim Christ crucified, buried, and risen wherever people are gathered.  If that is the slam poetry festival, sister Proverbs will be there.  At the Kirking of the Tartans brother Taber will remind fellow Scottsmen of John Knox and their rich Scottish -Presbyterian heritage.  In digital media Professor Watkins will preach Apple, then help us use our limping PC's to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.  When people gather in the malls and street festivals, we ought to be the presence of Christ there.  And when they open their laptops to kill time on a long flight, we should be waiting for them, offering them the love of God so that they may experience it anew and bear it to whatever far destination they may be traveling.     

Dynamic Tension

The words "In the world but not of the world" never appear in the Bible, but their meaning is clearly implied in Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, John 17:15-16: "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

Jesus said we would remain in the world, but are not of the world even as he is not of the world. 

After wrestling with my faith through adolescence and early adulthood, one of my favorite Scripture passages has come to be Jeremiah 6:16: "Thus saith the LORD, 'Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls . . ."

The right way has existed for a long, long, time.  And the wrong way has existed for almost as long, ever since humanity realized that God had given people a choice about following in the old paths or not.

In the Church debate over new technology (which has been ongoing since the birth of the Church), I find it easiest to ask this question:  Is this [fill in the new technology here] good for disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and does it keep us on the old paths or get us into the thicket?  There is nothing wrong with technology.  The Protestant Reformation was fueled by Gutenberg's movable-type printing press.  A quick search of the Internet will reveal searchable Bibles, commentaries, sermons in print, audio, and video, daily blogs, devotions, and general encouragement in the name of Jesus Christ.

The question is not whether these new tools are good or evil within themselves; they are neither: they are  neutral.  The question is whether this tool, that tool, an old tool, or some yet uninvented tool will best help us fulfill Jesus' charge to, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."