Mission Check
Our reading from Matthew 16 comes as a bit of a shock. We are excited at Peter’s discovery that Jesus is indeed “the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God” (v 16) – blessed indeed! And then we share Peter’s alarm that the destiny of the Messiah should include harsh opposition and a cruel death. How could Jesus direct to the same disciple “Blessed are you, Simon…” and “Get behind me, Satan!”? Peter had grasped – by divine revelation – the true nature of Jesus, but had failed entirely to understand the mission of Jesus.
And then in John 10 there is the beautiful picture of Jesus as the good Shepherd. We rightly love to link it to the parable of the lost sheep (Lk 15.1-7). Some of us recall the big Sunday School picture of the shepherd carrying the sheep home on his shoulder. That’s us, and we sense the warmth of the Saviour’s love for us. But that reading from John 10 also contains these words, “ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (v 16). That became an issue in the early church. Jesus is the “Messiah” – he fulfilled our Jewish hopes. But what about this other lot, these non-Jews, these Gentiles?
Could Peter and the early church have become a barrier to the fulfilment of Christ’s mission? And for us – nearly two thousand years later with our modern culture, our mechanisation, our communication and other technology, our globalisation… – the Great Commission is still committed to us, but can we as a modern church and modern Christians become a barrier to its fulfilment?
We are at a stage of our church life when we are to call a new minister. Here are a couple of questions:
· Are we wanting someone to come and fulfil his mission and ministry here? OR Are we wanting someone who will share with us in our mission and ministry?
· Are we wanting someone with all the gifts who can do it all? OR Are we looking for someone whose gifts will complement ours so we encourage one another as we work together?
Our Life and Mission
A
few weeks ago we talked about the Great Commission – the “
The Great Commission in Matthew 28 contains one imperative and three participles – “Going, make disciples, teaching, baptising.” Jesus was clearly setting “Making disciples” as the task of the church.
We noted, however, that God himself is at the heart of the church’s life and that worshipping God is our central activity. It used to be said that all meetings of the church must be “constituted in prayer.” This isn’t to say that every church activity is to have an extended “worship service”, but that the presence of God is acknowledged, the guidance of God is sought, the grace and blessing of God are received. After all, we are God’s Church – purchased with Christ’s blood, left here on earth to fulfil Christ’s mission.
We noted the way evangelising and serving need to be linked, and the importance, not of Christian Education as such, but of nurturing and equipping. The graphic is intended to reinforce the important relationship between these broad aspects of the Church’s life.
Evangelising and nurturing relate especially to the call of Christ to come – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” Equipping and serving relate to our going – “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls…” (Mt 11.28-29). All are related to the life God has given us in Christ and our mission to make disciples.
Going
and Coming
Today I give you a second graphic. It is based on the first one, but focuses on the “going” and “coming” of God’s people.
Perhaps you have come across the concept of “the church gathered and the church scattered.” An important truth is taught here. The life of the church is not restricted to what we do together. We are still the church, the Body of Christ, when we are not together. The whole life and mission of the church will only be seen when we think of what happens when we are scattered and as well as what happens when we are gathered.
The line representing the cycle of the Church’s life will encompass many different groups and activities. The health of the Church’s life will be evident as it moves from worship to the equipping of its members and the involvement of the Body in service. One of the current ecclesiastical “buzz-words” is “unconditional love”. This is a fine concept when we realise that God has loved us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5.8). The real danger is that we turn it into “non-directional love”! The heart-desire of the Shepherd is to gather in the “other sheep”. So our serving will naturally lead us into evangelising and nurturing, so that together we worship the Lord.
Mission Check
We need to do a “mission check” of the life of the Church. We have many groups and activities – often begun with practical faith worked out in committed action and relating to a particular aspect of the Church’s life and mission. The problem is that we become tired (or lazy!) and lose our focus. What began as an expression of faith ends up being “done” because it has “always been done”.
I’m not suggesting that we necessarily rule out anything we are doing. Of course, as we begin “thinking missionally”, we may well discover that some things just “don’t fit” or that others need to be “allowed to die”. What I am calling on us all to do in every church activity is to look again, refocus, recapture the vision… as we begin to look at what we are doing from a truly “missional” perspective.
To what extent do the activities of our congregation relate to the commission that our Lord has given to us? Do they indicate “going” as well as “coming”? To what extent do the basic concerns of our members reflect the heart-desire of the great Shepherd? Are we eager for opportunities to “go”?
The Healthy Congregation
Sadly, some congregations rarely (if ever) go. Their life is locked into a maintenance mentality. At all costs, they are concerned to maintain what they’ve got in case they lose it. We need to recall the words of Jesus, “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 will find it” (Matthew 16.25,26). Those words present a personal challenge to all his disciples. But they also represent a spiritual principle which is true for congregations.
The healthy congregation looks, not for its own glory, but Christ’s. It rejoices in every advance of the Kingdom wherever it occurs and doesn’t seek to grow parasitically by snatching at members from some other Christian fellowship. Its worship and life are controlled by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Prayer pervades its decision-making and all of its life. Every activity is characterised by faith and love – faith which is trust in God and obedience to God, love which warmly appreciates and encourages one another and which is ever reaching out to others. Its missional understanding responds in practical and relevant ways to the Great Commission itself.
The risen Christ is here as we receive Holy Communion – the reminder of our total dependence on what Christ has done for us. The risen Christ is here to commission us afresh as his people for his mission in this part of the world. The risen Christ is here to guide us as we seek a minister to share with us in the mission and ministry he has committed to us.
© Peter J. Blackburn, Halifax &
Ingham, 1 November 2009
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture
quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible
Society, 1984.
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