Scriptures mission for the church - Clover Sites

[Pages:2]Q: What do the Scriptures say is the mission of the Church.

A: The mission of the Church is best described by our Lord Himself in the Great

Commission (Matt 28:19-20). We are to first be the Church of Christ, a people set

apart and living in worship of our Lord in Word and Sacrament ministry. Although it

may go against our common understanding of "mission", I do believe that once again

establishing the Church as a Body of believers that are living in worship together "day

by day" in a very practical and literal sense is our top mission priority, and this is

exactly why RPM is not only a Church but a community where we have built places,

spaces and room for the church to live day by day in fellowship, communication and

worship with one another.

No where in the Scriptures does it define our mission as building homes in

Mexico, political activism or offering practical secular services like babysitting or

tutoring. These are all noble services we can do as a bridge to sharing the Gospel,

however, Jesus did not come to serve materially and neither should that be the focus

of His Church. One question must always be asked, "No matter what we have done,

has the Gospel been preached directly and in its fullness? "For I am not ashamed of

the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew

first and also to the Greek...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word

of Christ." - Romans 1:16; 10:17. Scripture is very clear and repetitive in its description

of mission happening in the Church from a personal level in the lives of every believer.

"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God

chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual

house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through

Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:4-5

Here Peter addresses the Church as a spiritual house and a priesthood, but

does so in the sense that they are individual stones. The mission of the Church to the

world, or the Gentiles in the case of Peter's letter, begins with the individual in their

station in life, in their proper edification in the Church first and then the proclaiming of

the Gospel in "their world". This is shown by Peter in his comments directly following

this passage where after he first addresses the priority of being built up in the church,

the mission they are then to carry out is on a personal level as the church lives out

amidst the world, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when

they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on

the day of visitation." Verse 12.

In Ephesians, a book very much dedicated to the unity of the Church and the

resulting life that should emanate from that unity in mission, has this to say regarding

the result and mission of the Church:

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with

his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let

the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no

longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he

may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of

your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may

give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 4:25-29

Once again we see Paul, the great missionary and church planter, exhorting his

church to focus their missionary efforts primarily starting in their individual lives, jobs

"doing honest work" and out in their respective community - "anyone in need".

Time and time again, our Lord Jesus also brings the mission of the Church down

to the personal level, in fact, when Jesus is not preaching or teaching all of our Lord's

own missionary work it seems was done on a personal level: the woman at the well,

Nicodemus, the rich young ruler, the wedding at Cana and the countless individuals He

healed and helped. Of course Jesus did miracles in the sight of hundreds and

thousands of people, but if there was anything we learn from John and his theology,

miracles were not done primarily to plant faith but to confirm and edify faith (as we see

with Jesus' ridicule of the crowd who came only to get their stomaches filled and of the

official in John 4). We can even look to the apostles and their carrying out of the

mission. We certainly do not get the impression that the 12 all walked around together

doing works of charity. No, we see individual apostles on the street engaging their

communities and people with the Gospel.

As we would see in all of these examples the mission of the Church starts with

the stones. The Samaritan woman ran back to her town and that is how many came to

Christ. The blind man in John who was healed in John 9 was seen by his "neighbors"

in verse 8 who then pursued in inquiry, leading to their coming to Jesus and further

witness and ministry before the larger community and the Pharisees. Philip alone went

"down to Samaria" and began preaching in the street and God then sent him to the

Eunuch. Paul himself at the beginning of his ministry just after conversation went

himself to Jerusalem to preach and then from town to town.

The emphasis I am making is not that the mission of the Church with its

individual Christians is to necessarily start preaching on the street corner (though that

would not be wrong if done in faith, love and accuracy), nor is it to say that charitable

outreach and mission is not warranted or encouraged to create opportunities.

However, I am saying that throughout Scripture the mission of the Church is exhorted

and modeled by the apostles and our Lord as starting primarily on the individual level

and this needs to be our primary focus on mission: equipping our people through the

fellowship of believers "day by day" so that they are confident in their knowledge of the

Lord Jesus and in the support they have in the Church in order to engage the world

hostile to Jesus that is around them.

Mission begins in the Church through equipping the Church and is then carried

out first through the stones of the spiritual house. As we have seen, God uses those

individual Christian lives right where they are at now in order to work in the hearts of

non-believers, by using the living spiritual sacrifices of His children to convict the world

much like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman. The cycle then continues on.

Copyright 2011 Eric Jay

*You are welcome to use our information in your own ministry, we only ask that proper reference be given to Pastor Jay and any information be quoted directly.

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