If you aren't familiar, or need a little reminder, you have 4 pawns that you move around the board according to the cards you draw that determine your fate: forward 5 spaces, or back 4 spaces, or forward 11 spaces OR trade places with an opponent. Then there's the famous "Sorry" card which allows you to pull a pawn from your own "START," trade places with an opponents pawn of your choice AND send said opponent back to his or her start. The goal is to get all 4 pawns "HOME." HOME, as you can maybe see in the picture, is preceded by 5 spaces of "Safe Zone," in which you can't be bothered by other pawns or sent back to START.
When we think about missionaries and whatnot, we usually think about going out and saving souls. Tell the unreached about Jesus, get them into their Bibles, and get 'em saved, Hallelujah! You get a lot of pawns into the "safe zone;" safe from eternity in hell.
When I play Sorry, I want to get as many pawns out of START as possible, get them on the road to safety. Next, I try to get the pawns who are close to the safe zone INTO the safe zone. That way they don't get sent back to start by nobody; I can just wait for the right card to pop up to get them HOME. But it don't matter if I've got all 4 in the safe zone, the winner gets all his pawns HOME.
There are very few "unreached" people in Guatemala. When we started talking about the Lord's prayer the other day, at least half the kids knew it by heart. But none of them knew it IN their heart, didn't know what the "your kingdom come" really meant, or what "your will be done" really meant, or how God's name could be hallowed. It's the same with many (not all) adults, who have been around faith and God-talk for the majority of their lives, but when it comes to articulating what that faith means to them, there isn't a lot of convincing evidence for maturity and discipleship. Abuse in homes, treating family members, neighbors, and kids in a way that does nothing to display the gospel, not engaging in the body of believers, complaining about rather than investing in struggling youth, etc. Where are the marks of maturity.
The Biblical pattern of salvation isn't just justification. It isn't just getting people saved by a prayer or a sermon. It's a little like a game of Sorry. God's sovereign call to put them on the road towards salvation, passing through experiences and knowledge and setbacks until at last you reach the safe zone of justification in Christ. But it doesn't end there; the Bible is clear that sanctification by the Spirit, continued discipleship and knowledge and growing in Christ-likeness and living for the purpose of God's glory are just as much a part of "salvation" as the moment your heart passes into the safe zone.
Walk with those pawns in your life. Out from START. Around the board. Through the setbacks. Into the safe zone. And continue towards HOME. We don't just need saved souls, but fully mature Christians, who understand and know God in his FULLNESS so that as we undertake our life, our days, our hours, we undertake them with a true gospel focus, with a confident knowledge of God and his will, with the guidance of the Spirit, and the joy that we have in hope of Christ.
Shall we play, then, Christians?
Colossians 1:28-29
"[Christ] is the one we proclaim, teaching and admonishing everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I labor with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me."
Colossians 1:9-12
"We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light"
p.s. I think of my friend Alejandro when I write this. He grew up Catholic, and appreciates the moral foundation that gave him. As he grew older though, he took more of an interest in sports and science, where he saw clarity, progress. He became turned off to religion..."They do a lot of arguing and fighting about things that don't matter to me really, about whether God is this way or that way or should we do this thing or that, so I just do my own thing. I believe and God but I'm more of an agnostic, I guess.
He believes in God but doesn't love him by any means. He believes in God but doesn't know God in his fullness nor believe in God in his fullness. I hope for Alejandro to be able to see God anew in his fullness, not just the religious or moral God that he came to know in his upbringing.