THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH by Gary Wilkerson
You may ask, “What is the mission of the church?” I would suggest that in order to answer that question we must look at the mission of Jesus Christ. When we understand His mission on earth, we will know the mission of the church. When we know what Jesus was up to, we will know what we, the church, are supposed to be up to.
Jesus’ mission was the same as the mission of His Father. He came, He spoke, He preached. He opened up His mouth and said, “I want the Father’s will to be done on earth the way it is in heaven” (see Matthew 6:9-13 and John 6:38). “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:28-29, ESV). Jesus is saying, “I don’t do anything unless I hear or see the Father doing it. The Father works through Me.”
All glory, all power, all authority came to Jesus from the Father but then it went out from Him to the world. Oftentimes, in the church, our greatest need is to let what we receive from Him get out to the world beyond us. God gives it to us, we receive it, but then we stop. God wants to continue to pour out more of His blessing on the church, and He will do so as long as we continue to give it away. We receive and then we give and then we receive more and we give more and then we receive again.
Sometimes the blessing of God gets stopped up because we just want to receive and not give. Whenever the church does not to give, it begins to get twisted and it stops looking like Jesus.
Jesus came to earth with the mission of God in His heart. Jesus preaches the Good News to the poor, He sets captives free, He delivers those that are bound and He heals the sick. He proclaims the year of liberty to those who are in bondage — and this is the mission of the church!
Jesus’ mission was the same as the mission of His Father. He came, He spoke, He preached. He opened up His mouth and said, “I want the Father’s will to be done on earth the way it is in heaven” (see Matthew 6:9-13 and John 6:38). “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:28-29, ESV). Jesus is saying, “I don’t do anything unless I hear or see the Father doing it. The Father works through Me.”
All glory, all power, all authority came to Jesus from the Father but then it went out from Him to the world. Oftentimes, in the church, our greatest need is to let what we receive from Him get out to the world beyond us. God gives it to us, we receive it, but then we stop. God wants to continue to pour out more of His blessing on the church, and He will do so as long as we continue to give it away. We receive and then we give and then we receive more and we give more and then we receive again.
Sometimes the blessing of God gets stopped up because we just want to receive and not give. Whenever the church does not to give, it begins to get twisted and it stops looking like Jesus.
Jesus came to earth with the mission of God in His heart. Jesus preaches the Good News to the poor, He sets captives free, He delivers those that are bound and He heals the sick. He proclaims the year of liberty to those who are in bondage — and this is the mission of the church!