#3 Mission of the Church
#3 Mission of the Church
Mission Impossible: How Can We?
Introduction:
For the last two weeks, we studied and learned about the origin and the purpose of the Church and final consummation of the Church. It began with God the Father and the Son will take His Church to hand it over to His Father. This is the identity of the Church. If this identity, as originally given by God, is intact in our lives, the Church could be the most powerful entity in the universe But, realistically, we know this is not the picture of the Church in church history.
Many years ago a survey was conducted in the one of the Universities in the
land of reformation, Germany: A Survey In Reformation Country
At the great Erlangen University in Germany a religious survey
was conducted among the thousands of students. Some very revealing
facts came to light. Among the questions asked were the following:
1. Who is Christ? Only 16 percent could answer the question.
2. How does one become a Christian? 92 percent were ignorant.
In the land of Martin Luther only 8 percent knew the way.
3. Would you like to know more about how to be a Christian? 70 percent
revealed a hunger to know more about becoming Christians.
(Prairie Overcomer)
What happened to the Reformation fire in the country where it began? We observe the same account with the 7 churches in the book of Revelation: thriving, zealous churches in Asia Minor but losing their testimonies they vanished from where God placed them. What happened to them?
There are so many different churches and each one has unique way of doing the Church such as: Mainline churches, Fundamentalist churches, Evangelical churches, Holiness churches, Pentecostal churches, Baptist churches, Charismatic churches, and Roman Catholic churches so on. When we look at their philosophy of doing the church: there are: soul-winning churches, social action churches, Lighthouse churches, classroom churches, special purpose churches so on. The globalization, especially in Canada, has brought the multi-cultural ethnic churches in our midst. The most of these churches are striving to please the Father, utilizing their backgrounds and theological understandings of the Church for the growth. Those are all good ways of doing the Church but if we miss the ultimate purpose and mission of the Church, it would be the most pitied endeavor in the world.
We must define then the Mission of the Church to fulfill the purpose of the Church. That will lead us to a proper understanding of doing the Church within the context of its own theological, historical and philosophical framework. We have learned that the ultimate purpose of the Church is to be the “praise of the glory of His grace.” How then, should we fulfill this purpose so that our Lord Jesus will take up the Church of His glory, one day, to His Father to present us as God the Father has intended it to be before the beginning of the time. From this perspective, an author Darrell Guder in his book “Missional Church” said: “We have come to see that mission is not merely on activity of the Church. Rather, mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purpose to restore and heal creation [to Him]” (Guder, Missional Church, p. 4, emphasis added). I believe he is right. The Mission of the Church, therefore, is not what we come up with as goals and objectives for the local church but it is to fulfill the purpose of the Church which God has planned before the foundation of the world. “Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church’s effort to extend itself” (Guder, Missional Church, p. 82). This aspect of Mission of the church gives us a fresh outlook toward our churches. We go through the motion of setting the goals and objectives, even mission statement of the church. All are commendable and good, nothing wrong in themselves, but if these are not based on the theology and the purpose of God, then we must ask a serious question. So many cases, we set up our own mission statements (it became a trend among the Evangelical churches) and try to achieve its goal. But just going through the motion of setting the mission statement does not mean we are fulfilling the ultimate Mission of the Church. In order for us to find out the purpose of the Church, as we have done for the last two weeks, we must establish the theology of the Church, the Ecclesiology. As we saw, the doctrine of the Church includes: the knowledge of God (Theology), the knowledge of Christ (Christology) and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology). The Trinity. We established the theology of the Church by looking at the involvement of the Trinity for its conceptualization and consummation. Now we can tackle the Mission of the Church. It lies between the origin (conceptualization) and the end (consummation). It’s the process we engage in between them.
What would bring the praise and glory of His grace to God the Father? It is the work of grace to which we participate that no human being would take credit to but God alone. This includes all areas of the Church in its scope and activities. The Mission of the Church is aligned by the origin of the Church and its consummation of it. What we fill between the two becomes very crucial for the Church, either we become what God intended us to be in His grace or we become the product of mere human enterprise. Guder says,
The church is not simply a gathering of well-meaning individuals
who have entered into a social contract to meet their privately defined
self-interests. It is, instead, in intentional and disciplined community
witnessing to the power and the presence of God’s reign.
“The church is the place in which the freedom and reconciliation opened in principle by Christ must be lived in social concreteness”
(Guder, p. 159, emphasis added).
The Mission of the Church is to exercise the reign of God in His power and presence that the Kingship of God becomes evident. The Church is the entity that enjoys the presence of God and the power of God. This is the most basic and important theological understanding on the Mission of the Church. It is the Community where God is the King and He rules with His power through grace. This understanding of the Mission of the Church surly affects the methodology of everything what the Church does. There are two sides to the Mission of the Church as I see it. One is that the Church becomes Community as the way God intended, that is the internal authenticity. Then, the other side is that the Church fulfills what God entrusted to the Church, this is external authenticity. The Church that God intended can not and should not ignore either one of them. The Church must have two wings to fly high above the earthly reign. Paul asserts:
but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects
into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole
body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint
supplies, according to the proper working of each individual
part, causes the growth of the body for the building of itself in love.
(Eph. 4:15,16, emphasis added)
This is internal authenticity, exhibiting the reign of Christ in togetherness for growth. Jesus is the King and we follow His order with gladness. Then, the external authenticity. Paul again asserts:
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the
Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God,
who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might
now be made known through church to the rulers and the authorities
in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:8-10, emphasis added).
What Paul is saying is very intriguing. God gave him grace to preach the unmeasurable blessing of Christ for mankind, in order that man be saved? I am sure that is a part f it but Paul did not say that. What did he say. “So that the manifold wisdom of God be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.” Here “manifold wisdom” means “variety of colors; many colored. In another word, church declares many colored (rainbow) wisdom of God which is sufficient for any human affairs. Either it is a pride problem, money problem, relationship problem or moral problem. We declare that God’s wisdom is sufficient to resolve any issues. This is the external authenticity. Many workshops and seminars are conducted that give techniques and skills to accomplish the mission of the church. But if they are rooted in a non-Christian, secular philosophy, it is not the wisdom of God. Guder asserts:
“this factor does not invalidate the insights but indicates how our Ecclesiology are shaped by factors other than a biblical understanding of the church and its leadership. What we have lost in the ascendancy of technique is the openness to mystery and the understanding of God’s own inscrutable work [reign, power and presence] in our midst” (Guder, p. 198).
See, everything what the Church is and does must be the expression (or the revelation) of the power and reign of God. This is the most fundamental Mission of the Church. We can not make God small to fit in our own understanding and perceptions. God’s way is different from ours and His way is much higher than ours. This is not to say, we can sit back and let God do all the works. God works through the Community of His people who understand the reign of God and commit themselves under it. It is the Divine and Human cooperation. God and the Church work together. So let us think theologically when it comes to the business of the Church. When we pray and plan, we may ask ourselves;
· Does this become the praise of the glory of His grace?
· Does this make Jesus proud of presenting us before the Father?
· Does this witness to the grace of God that His name is magnified?
· Is this the manifestation of the reign and wisdom of God in our midst?
List goes on. Are we authentic? Are we genuine models of God’s ruling in our lives and in our community?
Post-modernity became the main thrust for cultural contextualization in the churches. The idea is “Make the Gospel relevant to the culture.” So we imported secular cultures into the church. But there is a difference between contextualization and adaptation. The contextualization without the reign of God is adaptation. We must ask the question: who is reigning in the Church, culture or God? Does God have authority over the culture? Unless the Church experience the reign of God, we may present our own perception of God that may not be the God of the Bible. The author Van Engen in his book “Mission on the Way” says,
“So in addition to looking outward at the increasingly non-Christian Western culture of post-modernity we should also be willing to look inward and ask about our own authenticity and faithfulness to the biblical gospel” (Van Engen, Mission on the Way, p. 210).
This is the most important desire the Church should have and always in check of its attitude. Then the practical Mission of the Church would be blessed of the Father. When the Church becomes authentic internally before God, faithfully reflecting the reign of God, and the true external mission of the Church
is realized. The best Illustration is an example of Paul in Acts 16: 6 – 10.
Paul wanted to go up to northern Asia but the Spirit of Jesus forbid them. Now going into the all the world is the commission that was given by the Lord Himself. But in this instance somehow the Lord did not permit them. They had two choices: ignore and go ahead to get there. Or submit so the reign of God. Paul submitted. We have so many activities we would like to do for the Lord but more important is the reign of God. We must let God reign us.
Then the Community gains the credibility and to be bold to preach the coming kingdom and the judgment.
Mission is the people of God intentionally crossing barriers
from church to nonchurch, faith to nonfaith, to proclaim by word
and deed the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ;
this task is achieved by means of the church’s participation in God’s mission of reconciling people to God, to themselves, to each other,
and to the world, and gathering them into the church through
repentance and faith in Jesus Christ by the work of the
Holy Spirit with a view to the transformation of the world as a sign of
the coming kingdom in Jesus Christ.
(Van Engen, Mission on the Way p. 26,7)
This is what I believe it to be the primary Mission of the Church: to submit to the reign of God. God originated and God will consummate the Church of His love. Meantime we are here on this earth to enjoy the reign of God to be the authentic community of God to reflect Him to the world. We are here on this earth to engage in this process to be the praise of the glory of His grace. Then whatever our hearts desire to do will be blessed of God and bring honor and glory to Him. Nothing too difficult about it. Nothing too complicated. We see this from the example of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to save that which was lost. His method? Authenticity to demonstrate the power and reign of God the Father. Thus He submitted Himself to the Father’s will. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). This is the Mission of the Church. It is not the numeric growth, though it is a part of it. It is not evangelism, though it is a part of it. It is not social activism, though it is a part of it. It is not fellowship, though it is a part of it. It is not learning the Bible, though it is a part of it. It is not meeting the special need of the people, though it is a part of it. It is not worship service, though it is a part of it. It is not feeding the poor, though it is a part of it. It is not against abortions, though it is a part of it. It is not the prayers, though it is a part of it.
All these are the parts of the Mission of the Church but not all of it. The Mission of the Church is yielding to the reign of God and let His power flow though the Community to do the will of the Father. How about us? Do people see the power of God in our church? Does everything we do and say reflect reign of God the Father? This is the mission impossible without the power and presence of God. It is said that in an average church, 20% of people are doing the 80% of work. Not too many of us are willing to get involve. Could it be because God is not reigning in our lives? Could it be that we are not sure of our internal authenticity therefore external authenticity does not flow out of it?
There are only two responses: To submit or not to submit
One man was hiking up on the mountain and lost the footing and fell into the valley. On the way to the bottom he managed to grab the tree brunch. He yelled for help but nobody was around. In his desperation, he called on God. “God help me. If you save me I would do anything. Please help me.” Then big voice came from heaven and said, “Let it go.” “Trust me, let it go.” He thought little while and yelled again, “Is there anyone else up there?” Does this describe you? Or,
A few hundred years ago in Ireland. The revival broke out and many people are saved. The churches are packed. At one service, the appeal to the giving of self was made, afterward the offering plate was passed for the missions. A little boy who sat at the back of the sanctuary was so touched by the message and asked the usher to put down the offering basket, strangely moved young land stepped into the basket and said, “Lord I have no money to offer but here I am
I give myself to You.”
The following dialogue appears in C.S.Lewis “The Chronicles of Narnia.” In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Susan and Lucy ask Mr. Mrs. Beaver to describe Aslan. They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies.
“Aslan a Man? Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the song of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Oh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
God is strong and wise and good. OH, Let God reign us. Let us pray.