Jesus "Missioned"

What Did Jesus Do?

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will
but the will of him who sent me .”
John 6.38

Jesus didn't come to earth for a vacation from heaven. In fact, it wasn't the Lord's idea at all to come to earth, it was the Father's doing. The Father needed someone to fulfill his will on earth, because all the children of Adam and Eve sinned and fell so far short of the glory of God, so the Father sent the Son. Jesus was the Messiah on a mission. There was a plan for and purpose to everything he did. There was some urgency too, for Jesus did not have forever to get his work done. The Lord knew that he was headed to Jerusalem, and he knew what awaited him there. So he stayed focused on his mission right to the very end, and then he reported his mission status to the Father, “It is finished.” (John 19.30)

But before he returned to the Father, the Son commissioned (co-missioned) his Church:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Matthew 28.19

As it turns out, mission is not merely something the Church does, it is what the church is. Now, if everyone in the world was a believer, this would not be so, the world would not be an outpost, but a fully integrated and holy part of the Kingdom of God. But, as things stand, there remains an incredible amount of work to be done. No church, anywhere in the world, can say “Mission accomplished!” Mission, if you will, is “Job #1” for the Church. None of us have to look far to find a field for mission, it begins just beyond the end of our nose. At home, at school, at work, in the community, at church(!), mission opportunities surround us; none can make the excuse that they can't “go” and do mission, for all of us can do mission, should do mission, must do mission, right where we are. The Church is in the world to make a difference in the world, and in all the world. And remember, the world is right past the end of your nose.

Yes, the majority of folks in the pews are never going to go on an overseas mission trip. And relatively few of them will ever even travel to another part of their own country on mission. But there is not one single community in the United States without great need, and this means that every member, of every local congregation, everywhere, has countless mission opportunities at hand right in his or her own neighborhood.

I wonder, rather than receiving people as “members” of a local church by virtue of public profession of faith, or reaffirmation of faith, or letter of transfer, it might be better to commission them as missionaries of Christ's Church. How might a congregation's understanding of itself change if it was reinforced over and over again that it had no “members” to receive, but only missionaries to send? Imagine what might occur if each Lord's Day the worship service included the commissioning of missionaries who were going to serve the local schools, the community library, the Department of Social Services, the Police Department, the YMCA, the Housing Projects. Somehow, I think the number of missionaries commissioned week after week by local churches might have some impact, not only on the needs and problems of their community, but ultimately on the number “day by day who were being saved” in the local community. The Church as a mission. I believe it make sense for the Body of Christ, after all, mission is what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4