Managing Your Metron

A practical theology of work, mission, and meaning

Jonathan Nowlen

• Publisher: Jonathan Nowlen
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780578627748
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Workplace Culture
• Index: Business

Managing Your Metron: A practical theology of work, mission, and meaning

"We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere (metron) which God has appointed us..."2 Corinthians 10: 13

Metron - a measure of responsibility delegated by God to you in the midst of creation, culture, and spiritual history.

• Should I feel shame because I lovemy work?
• Is my work secular or spiritual?
• Should I have such a passion formy profession?
• Does God value my work?
• Should I quit my job and do something spiritual?
• How does the work of missions relate to my vocation?

Do you feel trapped in the ordinary? Do you often feel like you should bedoing something extraordinary but your day job is in the way? When youdiscover God’s original design for vocation, then the ordinary becomesextraordinary!We are created in the image and likeness of our Father God, the ultimatecreator, and builder of all things. God worked, and now we work. Workis spiritual and was ordained before the Fall. It is not a result of sin ora form of punishment. Vocation is the very means through which Godintends to build his Kingdom. Managing your Metron will provide you apractical theology of work, mission, and meaning.

Chapter 24

Metrons and Mission

In addition to the 1st and 2nd elements of vocation (cultivate and keep), there is a 3rd element that closes the loop in our exploration of work, mission, and meaning in this study. The third element of vocation is that managing your metron automatically puts you “on mission.”

It may seem strange to those in the body of Christ who are not working in traditional, vocational ministry roles to consider yourself a missionary, but it is true. As a metron manager, you are called to be the cultural apostle with the responsibility to bring the culture of heaven into your sphere of influence. The Roman Empire’s military apostle was a sent one going to a conquered region to “romanize” all areas of the new territory. You also are a “sent one” bringing the gospel and presence of God into every area of your metron. It is likely that within all of your spheres of influence are uncultivated areas that have not been cultured, kept, protected, and watched over.

You might be saying, “I am not a missionary.” But if we view any vocation at any phase in life, through the lens of the Original Commission we find mission.

Mission?

Let’s first get a clear understanding of the definition and origin of the word. The word “mission” originated in the English language from the Latin word missio. Missio originated from the Latin mittere, which means send or sent. Its common Christian use is traced back to the work of the Jesuit workers who went around the world as the first recorded, organized missionary effort. The Oxford English Dictionary comments that the word denoted the “sending of the Holy Spirit into the world.”

This original use of the word mission, with the idea of sending the Holy Spirit into the world, is particularly relevant to our entire study on vocation and the Original Commission. Bringing the ways and presence of God, into an area where it is not known, is by definition, missional.

In addition to the dynamics of expansion found in God’s original design, we say that there is the often-overlooked command to keep what has been cultivated. Keeping can be accurately thought of as actively guarding and protecting. By guarding and protecting, one can “hold the ground.” To hold the ground of your garden you have to occupy the available space. The atmosphere must be spiritually filled by heaven. Either the Holy Spirit will define the atmosphere, via your connection with heaven, or the enemy will extend his influence. Either way your metron will be spiritually occupied. The spirit occupying that space will govern the physical condition of the world around you. I suggest that occupying is the work of shamar and is largely done within the context of your vocation. Your work, your vocation, is entirely significant, and being on mission in your metron is essential.

On Mission

When looking at the Great Commission given by Jesus in the New Testament, many Christians might say, “That command is something other people are called to do.” Too often it is thought that mission, the Great Commission, is work for the “spiritual” or “special” Christ-followers to accomplish. It is quite easy to fall into the habit of separating our regular life activities and vocation into the secular box while assigning the spiritual activities such as missions or vocational ministry, into the sacred box.

Our constant temptation is to live as functional gnostics. It is too easy to align your view of work with the heresy of gnosticism rather than the Kingdom of God. The original design was for the kingdom to be an integrated reality. This was illustrated in the Garden of Eden. In the garden, there was no sacred and secular dichotomy.

In salvation, you are transferred into the Kingdom of God and commissioned to build the kingdom. If the Great Commission is for every believer then every believer is a sent one. Jesus would not give a reality defining command to all believers unless there was a way for all believers to obey. Obedience to the Great Commission is a path that runs through the middle of your metron.

The work of mission is found in the very heart of the Original Commission. If you are committed to fulfilling the Original Commission, you will naturally find yourself functioning as a missionary. It is in the job description of everyone who manages their metron.

The Great Recommission

“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

Looking closely at the Great Commission, we see clear parallels between the Original Commission and the Great Commission. These parallels are stunning. The Great Commission is so similar to the Original Commission that it could be described as the Great Recommission.

From the Great Commission, we embrace the commission to: go, make disciples, baptize, and teach them to observe. The first three elements are fairly straight forward and are generally countable. These are the “quantitative” metrics of the kingdom earlier discussed. The element that is not adequately understood is this word observe in verse 20. This word is translated from the Greek word téreó.26 The phonetic spelling is tay-reh’-o.

Exploring the word téreó (observe/obey) in the Great Commission will cause a sea change in understanding what it means to be on mission. I believe that the restoration of dignity and purpose to the majority of the body of Christ hinges on properly appreciating the mandate of téreó.

As with the Original Commission, the Great Commission contains both quantitative and qualitative commands. It is the quantitative part of the Great Commission with which most missional believers are familiar. First, there is the command to go. It is connected to the origins of the word mission. The command to go inherently conveys the idea of movement or initiative.

The next quantitative command is to make disciples. You can count how many disciples are made since it is numerically quantifiable. Then we see the command to baptize. This command element is also numerically quantifiable. The vast majority of protestant Christian mission thinking and practice has been centered around the quantitative elements of the Great Commission. When you think of “mission work,” you...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Made to Matter
• Called to Work
• Designed to Shine
• Kingdom Context
• Gardens and Kingdoms
• Spiritual Sea Change
• The Great Dissipation
• The Original Design
• Theology of Work
• Welcome To Your Metron
• Cultivate
• The Garden Model
• Culture Matters
• The Formation of Culture
• Ruin or Restoration
• Metron Apostles
• Commissioned and Recommissioned
• The Footprint of Heaven
• Metrons Matter
• Navigating your Commission
• Coding your Metron
• Occupy
• Keep your Metron
• Metrons and Mission
• Managing Expansion