HOULD WE CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, our mission is to love the Lamb and the lost as much as the Sabbath. Revelation 14:4 describes a group of people standing on Mount Zion at the close of earth's history that "follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (TEV). They follow Him there, because they've followed Him here. They've had a relationship with Jesus. They've listened to His voice.¹ Every day.²

Revelation 14:4 says "They follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (TEV). Do you? If you don't, how can you invite anyone anywhere to "come out of her, my people" (Rev. 18:4), seeing that you aren't one of them yourself? That is why our mission, should you choose to accept it, is to love the Lamb and the lost as much as the Sabbath.

Luke 19:10 states that Jesus "came to seek and to save the lost" (TEV). To seek and to save are action verbs-like when Jesus left heaven, with all its glory. He came down to this earth; was born a baby; grew up amid rumors, gossip, and hearsay; lived a perfect life; died a perfect death; was resurrected; and then anointed in heaven.

But what would have happened if Jesus had come only as far as Orion's belt to save us? What if He had not actually become incarnated-had not actually become flesh? I don't know the answer. Maybe God would have designed and drawn an intergalactic blood transfusion so that the remission of sins could occur.³ But that is not what happened. In the words of one preacher, Jesus came to this earth, becoming like an ant, so to speak, to save a colony of ants.⁴ That's the magnitude of the Incarnation we're talking about.

According to 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, some people in the first century A.D. thought this Incarnation thing was complete foolishness. But those who "follow the Lamb wherever he goes" see things differently. Amazing, yes. Breathtaking, absolutely. Almost too good to be true, definitely. Which must be why Ellen White says in The Great Controversy (p. 651) that we will ponder the mysteries of the Incarnation for eternity. But the Incarnation is so much more than that. It's the most outlandish, unorthodox, innovative event that has ever occurred.

Think about it. What could possibly be more unconventional than God Himself wrapped in rags, lying in a stone feeding trough filled with hay, surrounded by the creatures He created?

We Must Go All the Way
So with that in mind, must we limit our seeking and saving of lost people to the verbal evangelistic proclamation found in Revelation 18:4 ("Come out of her, my people")? I do not think so. If Jesus had done that, He never would have had to make it past Orion. I'm not saying we should abandon traditional Net-type evangelistic reaping events. Evangelistic technology already is and can be a surprisingly affordable part of reaching the visual generations watching television and living in our neighborhoods.⁵ All I'm saying is: Don't you think Christ could have done most of that from Orion? If that was all it took, then He did not have to go through this outlandish, unorthodox, and innovative event called the Incarnation.

Why the Incarnation? In the words of Luke, He came "to seek and to save" lost people (Luke 19:10). Jesus knew He would be most effective that way. And we would be too-if we were convinced that, from the standpoint of eternity, loving the Lamb and the lost really is more significant than debating which tradition, worship format, or musical style is right. With our understanding of prophecy and end-time events, and the enormous amount of Bible truth the Adventist church has been blessed with, one might think we'd be the cutting-edge pioneers in loving lost people. But instead-in the United States, anyway-we find that Christians in certain other religions⁶ are leading the charge, so to speak, in loving lost people.

Like the disciples of old, we too might have to listen and learn humbly at the feet of Jesus before we can become effective ambassadors for Christ, best known for our love for the Lamb and the lost.⁷ Think how much more focused the identity and mission of our church would be if we agreed to treat all other issues as secondary.⁸ Imagine the impact that 12 million united Adventists could make in the lives of lost people if we purposed in our hearts to declare our love for the Lamb and the lost as much as for the Sabbath till Jesus comes again! I long for the day when my church is best known for its love for the Lamb and the lost, and not just for being among the healthiest people on the planet, don't you?

The Heart of the Matter
So let's not make this more complicated than it really is. Nothing we create, sing, suggest, implement, or attempt in our effort to love lost people will ever come remotely close to being as outlandish, unorthodox, and innovative as the Incarnation.

So what are we waiting for? Unfortunately, the answer for some of us is that having come to Christ once, we've quit coming-and deep down inside we know it. For some others the answer is that we don't know how to love lost people. For still others it's that we simply don't know any lost people, since most of our friends are Christians.

All of us can afford to love lost people, and I know this from personal experience. Last summer I traveled with some good people from Ohio to southern Asia. Talk about poor people! Most of us in the West have more change in our couch cushions than some of the people over there do in their bank accounts! But the gospel is growing like mad in Cambodia, although they have nothing. Yet I hear some say back in North America, where we're blessed with so much, that we cannot afford the cost of evangelism. It's an attitude that stems from a misunderstanding of the magnitude of the Incarnation and the all-inclusive, no-excuses nature of the Great Commission. Jesus loved the lost and did not need a multimillion-dollar evangelism budget to do so.

And loving lost people is tons of fun. Take the example of some of the women in our Wooster, Ohio, Seventh-day Adventist Church. The members of their Care Group⁹ periodically gather together and distribute Hershey's Hugs to shoppers in parking lots, with messages taped to the bottom saying "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Brought to you by your Seventh-day Adventist friends."

Then there are the Pathfinders. Instead of eating potluck in the church basement, they take it on the road to the "highways and byways."¹⁰ Or in one case, to the nearest college dormitory, where they'd arranged to feed a group of hungry college students who'd remained on campus during spring break. And they did it all for free, because salvation by grace through faith is free.¹¹

I'm looking forward to joining the Pathfinders in both of my churches on their next wild idea-that of taping a sign spelling J-E-S-U-S on huge garbage bags and (with permission) marching through the local dormitories at the end of the school year, collecting trash and saving exam-weary college students a few trips to the dumpster as they clean out their dorm rooms.

You need not preach a sermon when you do these kinds of things. Most people, especially college students, are smart enough to get the message that if you allow Jesus to come into your life, He will collect all your trash and throw it away. The bag will also read "Brought to you by your friends at your local Seventh-day Adventist church."

Hands-on Service
Jesus came out of heaven to this earth. He did not isolate Himself by stopping at Orion. Instead, He incarnated Himself, becoming the Son of man for eternity.¹² That identity with the people led to His being called a wine bibber and a glutton.¹³ Luke 19:10 says that Jesus "came to seek and to save the lost." Will we do likewise? Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to love the Lamb and the lost as much as we love the Sabbath.

It's a relationship with the Lord of the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath itself, that saves us. So doesn't it make sense for us to put the same amount of passion and energy and resources that we have rightfully placed on preserving and protecting the Sabbath into loving the Lamb and the lost, as well? In doing so, we abandon nothing. We embrace and defend all Bible truth till death do us part, so to speak, or till Jesus comes again. Boldly clinging to Christ alone for our salvation, we creatively incarnate ourselves to seek and to save lost people through every means possible.

That is why our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to love the Lamb and the lost as much as we do the Sabbath.

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¹ John 10:4.
² Luke 9:23.
³ Heb. 9:22.
⁴ Morris L. Venden, Common Ground: Foundations for Faith (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1984), vol. 1, p. 41.
⁵ For more information on how your local church, like ours, can have a presence on regional cable television in your area for the same amount of money typically spent producing church bulletins, contact the Seventh-day Adventist video ministry of Steeple Productions at (509) 829-3648 or at www.steeple.tv.
⁶ The Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago is an example.
⁷ John 13:35.
⁸ For further reflection, read Will Eva's editorial "Making Faith and Freedom One," Ministry, May 2002.
⁹ A Care Group consists of six church members meeting in homes at least twice a month for mutual support and spiritual encouragement. Because they love the Lamb and the lost, they each bring a friend with them, simultaneously evangelizing their friends and discipling each other. Together they initiate and implement by themselves their own ministry activities in the community at least twice a quarter, explaining that they are supported by their local Seventh-day Adventist church.
¹⁰ Luke 14:23.
¹¹ Eph. 2:8.
¹² Dan. 7:13; Heb. 2:11; Rev. 1:13; 14:14.
¹³ Matt. 11:19.

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Michael S. Fortune pastors the Canton and Wooster, Ohio, Adventist churches.