Go and Do Likewise E-Book

Amy DiMarcangelo

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Learning to Extend God's Compassion to Those Who Need It Most  In love, Jesus came to redeem sinful people and restore a fallen world, and he invites all of his followers to join this good work. But how can believers effectively care for their neighbors when life is so marred by sin and suffering? Is it possible for ordinary Christians to participate in God's mission to restore a broken world? From a theological perspective, Go and Do Likewise explores God's grand story of redemption to uncover how ordinary Christians can extend God's compassion to those in need. Author Amy DiMarcangelo builds on biblical principles and provides discussion questions for everyday application. This practical book encourages believers to joyfully engage in Christ's mission—relying on the gospel to spur mercy, justice, and generosity to those who need it most.  - Explores the Gospel to Shape Christlike Christians: Encourages believers to show mercy, justice, generosity, and love to those who need it most  - Interactive: Discussion questions provide readers with reflection and everyday application - Appeals to Laypeople and Church Leaders Alike: Encourages the everyday Christian and provides church leaders with practical actions for church ministry

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“I was challenged by this book in the best ways. Each chapter quickened my heart to Christ’s. Amy DiMarcangelo reminded me of the real words and deeds and calling of my Savior. That alone was so encouraging. But then she showed me how to go and do likewise in my own life and context. This book is both worshipful and practical. It can feel overwhelming to see the needs of the world and not know how to engage. But I ended the book with both the peace of my sovereign Savior and the urgency of his call to go. If you want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, start here.”

Jen Oshman, author, Enough about Me and Cultural Counterfeits; Podcaster, All Things

“Too often Christians feel like they have to choose between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, between compassion and conviction. Scripture, however, doesn’t allow us to do that. Amy DiMarcangelo walks readers through the pages of Scripture, joyfully inviting them to engage in Christ’s mission to redeem and restore. If you love Jesus and want to follow him into a lost and dying world, you’ll want to pick up this book.”

Daniel Darling, Director, The Land Center for Cultural Engagement; Columnist, WORLD; author, The Dignity Revolution; The Characters of Christmas; and Agents of Grace

“I’ve never read a book that speaks to mission quite the way Amy DiMarcangelo’s does. This is a missions book for ordinary folk—nonheroic Christians who are faithful but need fresh lights pointing in new directions. DiMarcangelo helps us by navigating a wise and compelling course—not veering into guilt motivation, but at the same time not letting us comfortable Christians applaud but stay out of the game. She balances ‘go take risks’ and ‘stay and support well,’ physical needs and spiritual needs, justice and mercy, compassion and wisdom. DiMarcangelo’s writing and life are driven by an infectious passion to glorify Jesus in tangible and self-denying ways. It’s a passion that always circles back to biblical truth and gospel focus. DiMarcangelo speaks challenge to my comfort, faith to my fears, and tasks to my hands. Let her do the same for you.”

Andy Farmer, pastor; author, Ordinary Greatness: A Life of Elias Boudinot

“Go and Do Likewise is a compelling call to ordinary Christians—all Christians—to join the mission of gospel-fueled mercy and justice. With great wisdom and humility, Amy DiMarcangelo challenges and inspires readers with a thoroughly biblical, Christ-exalting view of missional living. This book is equal parts theological and practical. It will do more than encourage and convict you; it will inform and equip you. Most of it all, it will lead you to a deeper love of Jesus and a greater love of those he loves. Go and Do Likewise has gained a permanent place on my shelf, and I plan to reread it—and reorient my heart to its message—on a regular basis.”

Jamie Finn, author, Foster the Family

Go and Do Likewise

Go and Do Likewise

A Call to Follow Jesus in a Life of Mercy and Mission

Amy DiMarcangelo

Go and Do Likewise: A Call to Follow Jesus in a Life of Mercy and Mission

Copyright © 2023 by Amy DiMarcangelo

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Faceout Studio, Molly von Borstel

Cover image: Shutterstock

First printing 2023

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8806-8 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8809-9 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8807-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: DiMarcangelo, Amy, 1988– author.

Title: Go and do likewise : a call to follow Jesus in a life of mercy and mission / by Amy DiMarcangelo.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Explains how ordinary Christians can demonstrate God’s compassion, uncovering practical ways to extend mercy to the vulnerable and suffering in everyday life”—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023001082 (print) | LCCN 2023001083 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433588068 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433588075 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433588099 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Compassion—Religious aspects—Christianity.

Classification: LCC BV4647.S9 D56 2023 (print) | LCC BV4647.S9 (ebook) | DDC 205/.677—dc23/eng/20230417

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023001082

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-08-14 02:00:01 PM

To the women who cared for our daughter until we could—

words aren’t sufficient to express my gratitude for you.

Contents

Introduction

1  God’s Story Shapes Our Perspective

2  Who Is My Neighbor?

3  Imitators of God

4  Orphans and Widows and Sojourners and . . .

5  The Power of Words

6  The Mission of Money

7  Our Homes Are a Base for Mercy

8  Where Do We Go from Here?

Acknowledgments

Appendix: How Can I Discern Which Organization to Support?

Recommended Reading

General Index

Scripture Index

Introduction

India is a beautiful country. But driving past the sprawling slums of Mumbai does something to a person. I first saw them when I was fifteen, and I haven’t forgotten them since.

My dad was teaching at a pastors’ conference in India, and knowing my desire to serve there in the future, he invited me to join him. Our trip was only two weeks long, but it changed my life. I was so moved by the ministry being done by my Indian brothers and sisters in Christ. Planting churches in remote villages, offering quality education to impoverished kids, caring for orphans, comforting the persecuted, sending young women to nursing school, providing jobs for people who’d been marginalized because of their disabilities—it seemed they had a hand in every part of serving their communities. Faced with overwhelming physical and spiritual need, this ministry faithfully demonstrated the good news of Jesus Christ in both word and deed. It was something I wanted to be a part of, and I dreamed about life and ministry there.

When I returned home, it was difficult to wrestle with the culture shock. Hitting me like an avalanche, I was suddenly aware of all the blessings I experienced that other people didn’t. Who was I to have a dresser packed to the brim, when so many live in tattered clothes? Who was I to have plans for college, when so many women around the world had no access to education? Who was I to live with my family in the suburbs, when so many families had been torn apart because of wars and violence? God used that trip to stir me to live more generously and find ways to serve those in need, but I also began to struggle with nagging guilt about the “goodness” of my life.

I still wrestle with it today. Whether hearing a story from one of my refugee friends, or reading one of those convicting, inspiring, hard-but-good books (I’m looking at you, David Platt!), the struggle hits me afresh.

Who am I to have this life? How can I be radically generous, compassionate, and servant-hearted when I live among the middle class? What does it look like to follow Jesus in his mercy-filled mission?

As I’ve wrestled through this, I’ve had to grapple with my own misunderstanding of radical faithfulness to the mission. It’s not some nebulous pursuit only in derelict cities or developing countries. It’s here. It’s now. God has equipped all of us to be doers of mercy in different ways and in different places. There are biblical mandates we’re all called to obey, but there’s no one-size-fits-all answer about how to obey them. The principles of God’s word are timeless, applicable to every person in every season in every situation and in every place.

Just like the saints who have gone before us, we live among sinful people in need of forgiveness, broken people in need of healing, afflicted people in need of comfort. Sin and suffering sear the earth and would relegate us all to damnation and despair if not for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came to redeem fallen people and to restore a fallen world. And he’s chosen to work through those in the church—instruments of his very body—as a means of this restoration. He’s chosen to work through us.

I want this book to leave each of you excited and equipped to become a doer of mercy as you take part in God’s mission to the world. He doesn’t need any of us to accomplish his good work—which is as humbling as it is relieving—but he graciously invites each of us to participate in it. A. W. Tozer explains it this way:

Let us not imagine that the truth of the divine self-sufficiency will paralyze Christian activity. Rather it will stimulate all holy endeavor. The truth, while a needed rebuke to human self-confidence, will when viewed in its Biblical perspective lift from our minds the exhausting load of mortality and encourage us to take the easy yoke of Christ and spend ourselves in Spirit-inspired toil for the honor of God and the good of mankind. For the blessed news is that the God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension stooped to work by and in and through His obedient children.1

Brothers and sisters, God doesn’t need our help—yet he chooses to work through us. This is a privilege. A blessed calling. An exciting endeavor. Without bearing the crushing weight of responsibility to heal a broken world, we have the joy of partnering in God’s redemptive work. Most of us won’t do this by becoming full-time missionaries or by founding charitable organizations. Most of us will live unremarkable and ordinary lives. But our ordinary lives can be just as devoted to his kingdom.

This book is for those of you who feel overwhelmed by the suffering you see and care passionately about the oppressed and impoverished but feel frustrated that you don’t know how to respond. It’s also for those of you who—whether intentionally or unintentionally—live blissfully unaware of such needs.

It’s for those of you who dream of glamorous ways to serve the Lord and need vision for the ministry found in the mundane. It’s also for those of you who are too preoccupied with your daily lives to remember the broader mission of God’s redemptive work.

It’s for those of you who had happy childhoods, loving families, and financial security and are uniquely positioned to use those advantages to bless those in need. It’s also for those of you who grew up in broken homes, have experienced poverty and oppression, and are uniquely positioned to do for others what you wish had been done for you.

No matter where you come from or where you are, know this: God has put you where you are for a reason—to live as an extension of his loving compassion and mercy in a suffering world.

1  A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), 36.

1

God’s Story Shapes Our Perspective

I’m an avid reader and love a good story. The problem is, I read multiple books at once and have a terrible memory. As you’d imagine, this can lead to a bit of confusion. Sometimes I’ll forget where I am in a story arc and mix up characters. If I’ve taken too long of a break between one book and another, I have to skim the chapters I’ve already read just to remember major plotlines. No matter how good a story is, we won’t enjoy it if we forget where we are.

This also applies to life. God has written—and is writing—a beautiful story of redemption, but we can forget where it is and our place in it. And when we overlook major plot points in Scripture, we’re left confused, aimless, or hopeless about our present age. We need a perspective shift. If we want to be faithful doers of mercy, we need to get ourselves oriented in God’s story of redemption.

The Grand Narrative

In the beginning, God created a beautiful world and supplied everything it needed to thrive. He made Adam and Eve to enjoy communion with him and each other. The garden of Eden was fruitful and flourishing, and the cultural mandate to steward the earth wasn’t one of drudgery, but delight. Relationships were good. Work was good. Everything was good. That was the setup—from the start, God designed us for abundance, joy, and love.

Then came the conflict. A wicked serpent tempted Adam and Eve to disobey their generous Creator. When they chose to rebel, evil stained the world. What was once perfect became broken, shattered into an array of sin and suffering. But in the rubble, God revealed a glimmer of hope. Through Eve’s offspring, he would send someone to crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

We don’t know much at first. But as the story develops, God reveals more about the promised one and all he would accomplish. Through the prophets and the covenants and the history of the Old Testament, we get glimpses of what was to come. Each story of deliverance, redemption, and atonement ultimately points forward to Jesus—the serpent crusher. The deliverer from bondage. The one who would reign as a king and be a blessing to all nations. And yet there was a confounding detail often misunderstood—this victory would happen through suffering.

Then we approach the climax. Jesus came to earth as the God-man. He lived in perfect obedience and embodied love, righteousness, justice, and mercy. He showed the world what the Father is like and how man is called to live. He succeeded where Adam failed. And through many miracles, he revealed his power to reverse the curse. He was the one who would heal the shattered world.

But then came a major plot twist: he died.

The promised one died.

The person supposed to restore all things died.

Don’t let your familiarity with the story make it lose its impact.

The hero was rejected and condemned and died.

And yet somehow—in a subversive turn only God could design—Christ’s death was how he secured his victory. As he was high and lifted up on the cross, he was establishing himself as King. All along, he planned to crush the head of the serpent by being crushed for us. And when he rose three days later, he proved his power over sin and death. The promised victory was won. He gave us a hope and a future.

But no story ends at the climax. There’s a falling action—and only after that, a conclusion. Jesus won, but we’re still awaiting the final resolution. We’re in the in-between, the already-not-yet part of the kingdom. Jesus is making all things new, and someday he will return to complete that work. His atoning work for sins is finished, but his redemptive work to restore his kingdom isn’t. Victory is certain, but there is still sin and suffering, brokenness and pain.

What’s the relevance of all this? Why skim the redemptive story in a book about mercy? It’s because it deeply shapes how we think and feel and live. We must know God’s grand narrative in order to understand our place in the plotline. We need to understand what our Savior did and what he’s doing. We need to remember how the world was originally designed to see how far it has fallen. This perspective shows us what needs to be redeemed in the first place. It helps us recognize what’s gone amiss so that we can play a part in its restoration.

We live in the already-not-yet. Jesus won, but the world is still reeling in pain, groaning for him to make it new. As we follow Christ our King, we’re called to take part in his work of healing the world.

Know Your Setting

Knowing our place in the context of the biblical story of redemption also helps us make sense of our cultural context. We live in a particular time and place, where there are particular ways to seek God’s kingdom. When we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we have a part to play. As the body of Christ, we move in conjunction with him to restore what sin has broken.

This restorative work has looked different throughout history. Sociologist and historian Rodney Stark argues that one of the main reasons for explosive growth in the early church was that Christians showed mercy to the suffering. During two devastating plagues, Christians throughout the Roman Empire risked their lives to care for the sick—both those in and outside the household of faith:

What went on during the epidemics was only an intensification of what went on every day among Christians. . . . Indeed, the impact of Christian mercy was so evident that in the fourth century when the emperor Julian attempted to restore paganism, he exhorted the pagan priesthood to compete with the Christian charities. In a letter to the high priest of Galatia, Julian urged the distribution of grain and wine to the poor, noting that “the impious Galileans [Christians], in addition to their own, support ours.”1

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Christians across Europe established leper houses and hospitals to care for the poor and sick.2 In eighteenth-century India, Pandita Ramabai founded Mukti Mission, a Christian charity devoted to aiding destitute girls, widows, and temple prostitutes.3 The church has a long and rich history of caring for the vulnerable, with Christians establishing many of the first hospitals and orphanages and social programs. The needs are different now, as are our means to meet them. So it’s important to consider our current setting. How is God moving now? What has he called us to do now? When the church faithfully stands on the front lines to care for those in need, it strengthens our witness. When we don’t, it damages it.

It’s easier to lament suffering in bygone ages than grieve it today. We denounce past atrocities—and those who ignored them—without seeing our own propensity to do the same. This is the danger of generational pride, where we judge previous generations for their errors but are blind to our own. Blatant expressions of wickedness in history are easy to identify. Chattel slavery was barbaric. The Holocaust, unimaginable. The abuse of the mentally ill in early asylums, criminal. All of it, unjustifiable. But it’s important for us to understand how each of these historic evils happened through the compounding nature of sin. Subtle prejudices and small exploitations grew into something monstrous. That’s just how sin works. It’s sinister, blinding, and deceiving us as it grows and devours. Satan doesn’t care if we condemn sins of the past so long as we ignore the sins of the present. This is why it’s so important for us—as individuals and local churches—to honestly and humbly engage hard questions, like: Whose exploitation are we blind to? Are there any ways we’ve been complicit in the mistreatment of others? How might future generations look back on the church today, grieved by our apathy to evil? God is faithful from generation to generation. He will help us walk in both repentance and righteousness and give us wisdom to engage the evils of our present day.

It’s uncomfortable though. We don’t want to live in a bubble, and yet many of us do just that. Life is already painful, and we’re naturally self-focused. When we’re consumed only with our own struggles, our own heartaches, and our own desires, we’ll be blind to the hurting neighbors God puts in our path. We can’t be doers of mercy if we don’t see the person bleeding on the side of the road. And if we’re narrow in our concerns—only worried about how practices and policies affect our own community or country—we’ll miss God’s heart for all nations and buy the lie that those “other” bloodied bodies aren’t our concern. Remembering God’s heart for all people and all nations helps us fight this tendency. As we consider the hardships being faced here and around the world, we begin to recognize how God might use us to aid in its healing.

Remember the Author

God is the author of life. When he made man and woman in his image, he endowed them with inherent dignity. Our worth as humans isn’t something we attain but something we receive. Likewise, God is the author of salvation. We never could have rescued ourselves by our own effort or merit, so he wrote the script of salvation: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). Though we may recognize him as the source of these great and glorious gifts, we tend to undermine his role in the day-to-day. But it is God who sovereignly knit us together in our mother’s womb, determining our hair color and height and health. He’s the source of our gifts and talents, the engineer of our boundaries and limitations. Our physical capacities, intellectual faculties, and contextual opportunities have been designed by him.

Remembering God’s authorship keeps us from the kind of arrogance that ignores our neighbors out of self-righteousness and judgment. It keeps us humble. What do we have that we did not receive?

Too often, we attribute our success to our own merit and feel entitled to a certain level of “blessing.” We assume we deserve a particular lifestyle and view our various manifestations of covetousness, greed, and selfishness as perfectly reasonable. We might conclude that as long as we work hard, we have the right to use our resources in ways that primarily benefit us. But everything we have is from God and belongs to him. Anything we’ve accomplished or earned or built is ultimately due to him creating, sustaining, and empowering us. We’re not, in fact, entitled to anything. It’s all from him—which means that all we are and do should be used for his glory and our neighbors’ good.

I could have been born in an impoverished agrarian society where my hard work consisted of growing just enough crops to survive each year. I could have been born in Somalia, where more than 10 percent of children die before their fifth birthday.4 I could have been born to an alcoholic mother or an absent father and endured devastating trauma. I could have been born in a war-torn country and spent the majority of my life displaced. But I wasn’t. God ordained for me to be born in a country and situation that provided me with countless advantages others lack. I did nothing to deserve this life. It’s a gift from God.

It’s easy to take whatever gifts we’ve received, whether it be our upbringing, natural talents, or education, for granted. We must remember that much of the success or prosperity we’ve enjoyed (and worked hard for) is objectively inaccessible to some, or accompanied by far greater hurdles to others. This will help us live with humble hearts and open hands as we care for neighbors in need. The more we appreciate God’s provision for us, the more we’ll want to steward our lives for the good of others.

God writes each of our stories. Some are marked by hardship and others by ease. But all of our stories—whether they are happy or tragic or somewhere in between—are meant to testify to the faithfulness of God, the author of redemption. Why is this so important to remember? Mercy never thrives among the proud. It’s only when we embrace the fact that all we have is from Christ that we’ll have the humility to offer it all for his service.

Understanding Our Roles

There is only one hero in this story: the triune God. Apart from him, there is no hope. There is no redemption. But even though he’s the only hero, our roles in his story still matter. Usually tempted to either dismiss or exaggerate our roles, it’s important to keep them in perspective. This affects not just how we look at ourselves, but how we see others—especially our neighbors in need. To be faithful doers of mercy, we must see ourselves and others in an accurate light.

A Holistic View of Neighbors in Need

There are multiple traps to avoid when we consider the poor and oppressed. One trap is to view them only as victims—victims of people or victims of tragic circumstances. Narrowly defining people in this way fails to regard their whole personhood. They are not just victims, but glorious image bearers of God. They have unique personalities and talents and may be incredibly resilient, creative, funny, or loyal. They may show great ingenuity amidst their poverty and bravery amidst their abuse.

People are more than their hardships. Though we should cultivate compassion and show love through action, we must never view people merely as spectacles for sympathy or projects we’re trying to fix. To do so undermines their inherent dignity as human beings and alienates them from “the rest of us.” It also makes our concern contingent on their state of suffering. When an orphan is adopted and ceases to be an orphan, do we no longer care? When a sexually trafficked woman is freed and rehabilitated, do we no longer care? To love as Jesus loves, we need to see the whole person and not just their pain.

It is also unhelpful to judge or romanticize those in need. We should never assume that people are suffering because of their own laziness or poor choices. Such a posture is arrogant and judgmental. We don’t know what someone has gone through. We don’t know what they’ve had to overcome. We don’t know what injustices they’ve faced. Some of us are surrounded by environments far more conducive to human flourishing than others.

At the same time, being impoverished or oppressed doesn’t make someone inherently virtuous either. Though we need soft and compassionate hearts, we should be wary of discounting the truth that all people are sinful and fraught with weakness. Otherwise we’ll be left disillusioned and discouraged when we’re inevitably awakened to the flaws of those we serve. This will ultimately limit our ability to be faithful extenders of mercy. Compassion simply will not endure if it’s directed toward a fantasy.

Even when there’s evidence that people are partially—or even entirely—responsible for their suffering, our call to mercy isn’t extinguished. God has been so gracious to us, even when we’ve known better. It was the prodigal son’s own fault that he found himself homeless and hungry, but that didn’t stop the father from running to embrace him and throwing a feast to welcome him home (Luke 15:11–32).

Viewing the poor with level-headedness also grows our discernment about how to extend mercy. The more we understand the multifaceted reasons behind poverty, the more clarity we’ll have to seek effective solutions. This helps direct our endeavors of mercy and enables us to identify ministries worthy of support.5

Worthwhile ministry models don’t act as Band-Aids but seek to get to the root of problems through developed, long-term, and holistic approaches. There are times when short-term solutions are necessary. Some situations require a quick response—problems like natural disasters that leave so many lives wrecked, wars that displace people from their homes and countries, disease outbreaks. However, short-term solutions don’t typically fix long-term problems (and often even exacerbate them). There is no cookie-cutter method to address poverty and injustice, and solutions that work well in one part of the world might not work in another. For these reasons, we must carefully implement and support endeavors of mercy that take the whole person into account.