What Drives Us
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the specifics of Disciple Gaming Ministry’s mission, but in this article I’m going to highlight the core beliefs that drive me. It’s one thing to say that I want to bring God and gaming together and reach non-Christian gamers with the gospel. But it’s also important to explain why.
It starts with important Scriptures: John 3:16, 14:6, and Matthew 28:19-201. The first one is so well known I suspect everyone reading this could recite it from memory. In the ESV it reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is a response to the curse that came upon humankind in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) after the first man and woman ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The curse was death, which is a consequence of the sin that also separates us from God. In John 3:16, the writer pointed out that God loves us so much that he sent his own Son, God in flesh through whom the world was created (see John 1:1-18) to take the punishment for our sins so that we could have a restored relationship with God and receive eternal life rather than eternal death.
In John 14:6, Jesus stated, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me1.” This is an incredible blessing for all of humankind because even the law given by God (Genesis through Deuteronomy) could not truly save the people who followed it (see Romans 3:9-20, Galatians 2:15-16). I’ll note that this isn’t the place to go into the theology of the Old Testament and how important it is for us to know God, and I do believe, as a result of study beyond the scope of this article, that many adherents to the Mosaic covenant will be in Heaven with God for eternity. But a quick study of the books of Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and the prophets (e.g., Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah) indicate that people often fail where only God can succeed (see also Matthew 7:21-23). So John 14:6 is good news because, where there was once no perfect way to the Father, now there is.
Which brings us to Matthew 28:19-20, another set of verses many of my readers may have memorized. Again, the ESV reads, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age1.” This is a mission that I take seriously as a follower of Christ. After all, I’ve received very good news (shared above), but if I don’t share it with others, how will they learn about it? Obviously, God can send someone else to the gaming community to share the good news of salvation from sin through Jesus, but as a gamer, Matthew 28:19-20 gives me the responsibility to share that good news with the people around me.
In light of John 14:6, it’s also critical to tell as many people as possible because there is only one way. And it’s not through me, it’s not through any specific church or set of actions a person can fulfill. It’s through belief in Jesus (and I’ll note here that the belief is active, similar to the way a person places their belief in a chair by sitting on it rather than passively believing a specific chair exists simply because they’ve seen a picture of it or heard stories about it). Belief in Jesus provides us with a way to the Father, a restored relationship with God that was broken because of sin. Gamers need to know this, so I’m on a mission to tell them.
Sources and Notes
1 At Disciple Gaming Ministry, we encourage people to read the Bible using an accurate translation that is also easy to understand. With that being said, the translation we use is the ESV® Bible. 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.