To understand the mission of the Church, we must understand the mission of Jesus Christ.
Jesus stated to men why He was here:
Luke 4:17-21 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to PREACH THE GOSPEL to the poor; he hath sent me to HEAL THE BROKENHEARTED, to PREACH DELIVERANCE to the captives, and RECOVERING OF SIGHT to the blind, to SET AT LIBERTY them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, THIS DAY IS THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS.
To the Church, the Holy Spirit says: Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, IN BRINGING MANY SONS UNTO GLORY, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
His mission would be a failure if He lost sight of HIS MAIN PRIORITY.
He shared with His disciples what His mission, work or will, was. It was His Father's will. You could say, His mission was obedience to His Father's will. Demonstrating His love for His Father by abiding in Him and obeying His will led Him to fulfill His work on earth and bear much fruit.
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, even the death of the cross.
The mission of Jesus Christ was to be obedient to His Father's will and allow Him to live in and through Him thereby revealing the character and heart of the Father to man. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father".
John 15 says that if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit. The abiding is first, the fruit is the result of abiding. His mission was to abide in the Father.
"To do the will of Him that sent Him."
John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, and to finish his work.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, NOT TO DO MINE OWN WILL, but the will of him that sent me.
Do you know His will for you today? Is this more important to you than thinking up good ideas and good works?
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? HE THAT HATH SEEN ME HATH SEEN THE FATHER; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Whatever His Father wanted ("not my will but thine") was His mission. It was not what men thought would be a good thing to do, but what His Father wanted Him to do, or say. It was vitally important for Christ to dwell (remain) in His Father so that His Father remained in Him. If He sinned (disobeying His Father's will), His Father would leave Him and His work would be lost.
John 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, THAT THE FATHER IS IN ME AND I IN HIM.
There was nothing more important in life than abiding in His Father's love. In this way, He was a living revelation of God. Everything else sprung out from His abiding (which implies obedience). His priority was His Father's will and pleasing His Father and His work to seek and to save that which was lost would only be successful if He remained in His Father's love.
Do you see where you might come into this picture?
The same is true for us. Our priority is to abide in Christ and be obedient, even unto death. Our mission will be fulfilling His will for us which springs out of our love for Him, demonstrated by hearing His voice and carrying out His will. We are to align ourselves with His agenda and not create our own agenda of "good works".
John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, AND YE IN ME AND I IN YOU.
First and foremost we were called UNTO THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were CALLED UNTO THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST our Lord.
What Jesus received from His Father He gave to the world and we are also a conduit of the Person of Christ and all that He is.
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Jesus was an authority on what action the Father would take if Jesus obeyed His Father's word. Thus He could confidently tell us that HE and His Father would come to us and make their abode with us.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Not, "If a man love me He will prove it by performing many good works." Christ will perform the work through us, we must remain in Christ for this to happen.
1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
The Father was revealed through the Son and the Son continues to reveal Himself through the individual Christian and collectively, the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ continues to love, to speak, to comfort, to warn and to deliver men. The tabernacle of God is not only with man; it is man. John Chrysostom called man the "The true Shekinah."
Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
but in the living temple of the humble, holy heart.
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
The Apostle Paul ask the Church, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
To Paul, it was the knowledge of knowing that Christ was in him and knowing that he was made by Him and for Him and to know that he was designed to be the living temple of His presence. This was the excellent knowledge for which Paul would count all things as loss.
The indwelling Christ, alive in us individually, is more fully realized in the Church as a whole. We are His chosen dwelling place, in which His fullness abides and He has chosen to make His truth and grace known through us. The Body of Christ, is His visible witness of His continuous presence in this world.
Relationship with the Father was the mission of Jesus Christ and our mission is no different. All of our works will spring forth from the One we are beholding and dwelling in us. The mission of the Christian individually and the mission of the Church collectively, is the mission of Christ. To be one with Christ as He was with the Father.
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Being one with His Father was an act of the Lord's will daily.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
It was the abiding that brought forth much fruit in Christ's life and it will be the abiding that will bring forth fruit in our lives. Jesus glorified His Father by bringing forth much fruit through the single eye of obedience to His will.
John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Divine love (God) is to be revealed in a human life. It wasn't enough for God to be revealed by Christ, He was revealed in Him. And Christ who was the revealer of God, was the actual revelation of God. His mission was not so much to preach the gospel as it was for Him TO BE THE GOSPEL. He is Himself the actual substance of the Gospel message and He is the sum of the Gospel message.
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The fruit of our abiding is for Christ to be revealed in us. Some call it a mission, I call it LIFE.
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being...
How is this different than the modern Christendom that you witness today?
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