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E K K L E S I A
The Three-fold Mission of Christ
* This article is taken from Chapter Five of The Irresistible Kingdom, available from TheSchoolOfChrist.Org."My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." (John 4:34)Jesus was most definitely a Man with a mission. Even though the first thirty years of His life are mostly hidden from us, we do get a glimpse of Him in the Temple at the age of twelve: After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. (Lk. 2:46-50, ESV) Jesus was entirely cognizant of Who He was and what He was sent to accomplish: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has 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. (Lk. 4:18,19) And this He did with passion and persistence, always moving towards the fulfillment of His Mission with single minded determination: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." And towards the conclusion of His time on earth He could pray, "I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which You gave Me to do." With His dying breath He cried, "It is finished!" What was this work that He was so intent upon finishing? With the Scriptural record before us we can summarize just about everything Jesus said and did beneath three main objectives. Each of them are critically important, each of them vitally necessary. 1) Jesus came to accomplish the work of redemption. He accepted this appointment before the foundation of the world; so His appearing was necessary to bear the sins of mankind and die a substitutionary death for all men. This is the most obvious aspect of His mission and receives the most study and attention, but the other two are essential as well. 2) Jesus came to demonstrate, in word and in deed, the true nature and character of His Kingdom. This we gather from the fact that the overwhelming majority of His teachings revolve around the Kingdom of God. It is the first topic He takes up as a theme for preaching, and it is the last topic He discusses with His disciples before ascending to Heaven. But it was more than a topic for discussion and teaching. His was not merely an intellectual dissertation about the Kingdom of God, but a demonstration of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, "If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you." Paul emphasizes that "the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" and declares, "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power." Let us seek first the Kingdom of God - not as an idea, or a doctrine, or a theological position, but as a way of living! At least Paul could say, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Is anyone frustrated by the fact that all too often the only thing we have to offer people in the name of Jesus are pretty words? At some point sermons and songs fail and something of the very Life and power and glory and majesty of God must come forth to meet real, practical needs. Healing the sick and casting out devils was (and is) as much a part of the Kingdom of God as preaching and teaching. Everyone we pray for is not instantly healed and delivered, but let us pray for them anyway. We may not yet see all things submitted to Him, but can we not at least expect to see some things submitted to Him? When people are healed and delivered it gives us a taste of what conditions are like when Christ has preeminence over all things. Miracles give us a glimpse of a future time when He will make all things new and there will be "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." What we consider miraculous in this Age will be commonplace in the Age to come. This may explain why Christians today exhibit so little genuine power and authority over demons and diseases compared to the Early Ekklesia. These "signs and wonders" are meant to demonstrate the preeminence of Jesus over all things and are intended to show the world something of the power and glory of Christ and His Kingdom. There is little reason to expect genuine signs and wonders if we do not have a genuine Gospel. On the other hand, false signs and wonders seem to accompany false Gospels, false apostles, and false prophets in abundance. If someone claims miraculous works that glorify the flesh and do nothing to increase Christ or His Kingdom then it casts serious doubt on the authenticity of the spokesperson. 3) Jesus came to establish His Ekklesia in the earth as the divine agency of His Heavenly Kingdom. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Jesus planted the seeds of the Irresistible Kingdom in a handful of men and then returned to Heaven. He did not take His disciples with Him. He did not tell them to build a monastery and separate themselves from the world; in fact, quite the opposite. He purposely sent them into the world to proclaim the Good News. Out of all the multitudes of people who followed Him around, Jesus "chose twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach." The first order of business was not the preaching or the sending forth; it was simply being with Jesus. During those times of being alone and apart with Christ He revealed Himself to them in a deep way. They walked with Him, watched Him, and listened to Him for three and a half years. Just as importantly, they learned to walk with each other. They learned how to serve one another in love. When Jesus finally did send them forth to preach they actually had something worth sharing and worth listening to. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." The Ekklesia exists as the divine agency through which Christ will increase in the earth. The Kingdom of God already has preeminence in Heaven. It is here, in the earth, that we have yet to see all things submitted to Christ. It is here, in the earth, where we pray for the coming of His Kingdom and the fulfillment of His Will. We do not pray, "In heaven, instead of earth." We pray, "In earth, as it is in heaven." That is the divine purpose for earth: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." His goal is not to evacuate the saints out of earth and into heaven, but to establish the Heavenly Order in the earth by way of the saints. The Ekklesia that Jesus established, a spiritual house of living stones, is the means through which this Kingdom is demonstrated. † Chip Brogden is the founder of The School of Christ and the publisher of Christology Journal. His writings and audio messages are available through his website at TheSchoolOfChrist.Org. |
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