HoHum:
Daniel Overdorf- I recently traveled with some friends to central Mexico for a week long mission trip. The missionaries we visited function like most I’ve met, using their time and resources on ministering to their community. The leaders of this mission, and the churches they lead, conduct summer camps for youth, provide a home for the elderly, lead medical teams into poverty stricken communities, and conduct VBS for children in area villages. They pour their efforts into ministering to people outside of the church walls. One afternoon, while we bounced in the back of a pickup truck on our way to a village, I wondered aloud to my companions, “What would it look like if our church back home functioned more like this mission?” While the Christians we met in Mexico funneled a majority of their time and resources into their communities, many American church focus time and resources internally- we conduct programs, hold classes, and plan activities for ourselves. Missionaries have a lot to teach us about mission focused ministry.
WBTU:
Imagine that a church spends 80% of its time and resources on programs and activities geared toward church members, and 20% on efforts to bring Jesus to the hurting and unsaved outside that church’s walls. This is typical of an American church. But what if that church dedicated itself to reversing these percentages, 80% outside the church and 20% inside the church?
I recognize this issue holds more complexity than this. Also, God wants His followers to minister to one another (what we have been talking about for over a month). Jesus and the early church, however, managed to do both. They developed intimate relationships with one another, and pursued the mission of the church by drawing others into the fold. I fear many churches today have mainly ministered to their own and lost sight of those outside their walls.
The way Jesus ministered should influence our ministries. There are things that do not apply to our ministries, after all we are not God, but there is much to learn and apply from Jesus.
Thesis: Let’s talk about Jesus’ mission and how applies to us
For instances:
Jesus’ mission
Two weeks ago we talked about how Jesus unleashed the kingdom of God into the world. Through Jesus, Christians can begin to experience this kingdom life immediately- the kingdom “already”. Such immediate experiences serve as a foretaste of the fully consummated kingdom life they will enjoy eternally- the kingdom “not yet.”
Jesus often summarized His kingdom mission: “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”” Luke 4:17-19, NIV. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”” Luke 19:10, NIV. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10, NIV. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” John 17:2, NIV.
Jesus’ earthly life and ministry proclaimed and prepared people for the kingdom of God. He loved, ministered, and showed great compassion to people He encountered, but always kept His eye on the larger, spiritual meanings of these appointments. Those who enter His kingdom enjoy eternal life; those who do not enter it face eternal punishment. Jesus’ compassionate call to repentance was at the heart of His message: ““The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”” Mark 1:15, NIV. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”” Luke 5:32, NIV. “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:3, NIV.
Because individuals’ future destinies depended on their present decision concerning the kingdom, Jesus called them to make such decisions. He called the rich young ruler to “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”” Luke 18:22, NIV. He invited the Samaritan women at the well to partake of the “living water” which becomes “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:10, 14). He confronted the crowds following Him, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34, 35, NIV.
When people refused His message, the eternal consequences of their refusal broke Jesus’ heart: ““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”” Matthew 23:37-39, NIV.
Jesus’ compassion toward sinful people drew harsh criticism from the religious leaders of His day. We find in Luke 15 that the Pharisees said of him: ““This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” Luke 15:2, NIV. Jesus responded by telling of a shepherd who lost one of his 100 sheep, searched until he found it, then called his friends to celebrate. Then he told of the woman who lost one of her 10 coins, turned the house upside down until she found it, then called the neighbors to come celebrate. Third, Jesus grew more pointed toward the Pharisees’ criticism by telling of the rebellious son who took his father’s inheritance, squandered it in the far country, then repentantly returned home to the father’s grace filled arms. This 3rd story, unlike the previous ones, adds an additional character- the elder brother who grew jealous of the grace the father extended to the prodigal. As the parable closes, the father pleads with the elder brother to join the celebration. The parable ends without telling what the elder brother decides. Will he repent of his jealousy, or will he remain on the outside? With this, Jesus even called the Pharisees to repent.
Jesus’ Mission and the Cross
Less than halfway (9 of 24 chapters) through Luke’s gospel, he informs his readers, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51, NIV. Though Jesus would continue to teach, minister, and travel, we find early on that Jesus knew what his mission was. Mark accomplished a similar purpose by repetition. Beginning in Mark 8, Jesus began a cycle of teachings about his impending death. “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:31, NIV. Jesus repeats this same teaching with more details in Mark 9:31, and 10:33-34. Halfway into Mark’s gospel Jesus let us and His disciples know His mission.
The Gospel’s portray Jesus as a man on a mission that led Him straight to the cross. We find many important elements to Jesus’ kingdom, but we must never forget that His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are of primary significance.
If Jesus had simply ministered to hurting people, preached repentance, and announced the coming of the Kingdom of God, His ministry would be no different from any other prophet. More than any prophet, Jesus both proclaimed the kingdom and through His death brought the Kingdom into being. Jesus’ death accomplishes the justification and reconciliation through which people enter the kingdom presently and eternally.
The Church Extending Jesus’ Mission
Jesus unique mission was to provide salvation from sin. Only Jesus Christ can save through His death, burial and resurrection.
However, since Jesus ascended, He has passed the mission of His kingdom to us. The Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. The kingdom Jesus revealed, caused, and founded, He continues to advance through His church.
Jesus’ mission includes a world wide perspective, because of which we advance the kingdom to “the ends of the earth” Acts 1:8. When God established His covenant with Abraham, He promised Abraham that “all people on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Through Jesus, who is from Abraham, this is being accomplished. The final consummation of the kingdom will include ““a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. ” Revelation 7:9, NIV. Advances in technology and travel offer today’s church historically unprecedented opportunities to minister across the globe. Imagine what the Apostle Paul would do if he had air travel, internet, television and radio, and the many opportunities that we have today.
Additionally, Jesus’ mission includes a sense of urgency. When He walked the earth, Jesus ministered with the knowledge that, for every person He met, Heaven and Hell hung in the balance. Today’s church must minister with the same sense of urgency.
In 1879, Charlie Peace, a well known criminal in London, faced execution by hanging. When he was marched to the gallows, a minister walked behind him. In keeping with custom, the minister read aloud this passage from a prayer book, “Those who die without Christ experience hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release which death itself can bring.” When the minister read these chilling words, Charlie Peace stopped marching, turned to the minister, and shouted, “Do you believe that?” The startled minister stammered for a moment, then said, “Well, I suppose I do.” “Well, I don’t” said the criminal. “But if I did, I’d get down on my hands and knees and crawl all over Great Britain, even if it were paved with pieces of broken glass, if I could rescue just one person from what you just told me.”
Erwin McManus said, “The church cannot live when the heart of God is not beating within her. God’s heartbeat is to seek and save that which is lost.”
