The Mission of the Church

We began our journey of Understanding the Church by looking at the Grand Narrative of Scripture.

Grand Narrative of the Old Testament, or Old Covenant:

• God created man
• God’s creation rebelled against him
• God destroyed his creation

THEN, God showed what he really wanted, from the very beginning – a relationship with his creation.

• God made a promise preserve his creation through Noah
• God made a promise to bless his creation through Abraham
• God made a promise to free his creation through Moses
• God made a promise to rule over his creation through David
• God made a promise to one day restore things back to the Eden ideal

The goodness of Yahweh and his faithful love were demonstrated by Him pursuing and being present among the people he created even though they rejected him time and time again.

Then we looked at the New Covenant which is really the beginning of the fulfillment of all the covenants made before:

JESUS COVENANT ————-  CHURCH AGE (Present) ————-  FUTURE COVENANT

The OLD covenants pointed to a Messiah, Jesus. Jesus was the ultimate Noah, the faithful Abraham, the perfect Moses, and the obedient and humble David. Jesus FULFILLED the Law.

The Jesus Covenant allows people to be restored to the Father, have the Spirit of God dwell in them, to accomplish the mission of God until the Future and Final Covenant is established.

We are people of the Jesus covenant, awaiting the future covenant, which God has delayed so that his Church can accomplish His mission or reconciling people to God through Jesus.

In the great timeline of God, in the Narrative of the Scriptures, we live in this space, in the church age.

GOD is still doing the work of redeeming mankind, until the Return of the King, and until that time he has chosen THE CHURCH to be his partners in his work of restoring people to him.

So we starting defining what a church is:

The bible refers to the church as a “building”, but not a physical building, denomination or program to attend – but the church is the dwelling place of God. You and I are the tabernacle where God’s glory takes up residence.

The bible refers to the Church as a “body” where each member has a purpose and fills a need. We also looked at the fact that JESUS is the head of the church and is the one who directs and leads and each of us has a function and is needed.

THE church is all of the people who have accepted Jesus as the Son of God and surrendered their lives to him – past, present and future. And this universal church is made up of local gatherings of people who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God wants to use to build his Kingdom.

That’s awesome. We know what the church IS and what it IS NOT. We know that God established the church.

But what does a church do? What is a church supposed to look like, act like and smell like?

When you are looking for a church, what are you expecting to find? The first time you walked through the doors of NCF what did you expect to see… and perhaps what did you hope NOT to see?

A Chosen People for a Chosen Purpose

We perpetually talk about the Bible being our guide. So it would be natural for us to look at the New Covenant books in our Bibles to find out what a church should do – especially since the church was not officially established until after the resurrection of Jesus.

In reality, our calling as a church stems from the mission and heartbeat of the Father that goes back to creation. It continues through the way he interacted with his Creation. And it started to take on more definition with the commands God gave to his chosen people, Israel. When they were in the wilderness, after being rescued from slavery in Egypt, they received over 600 commandments, beginning with what we know as “The Ten Commandments.” They give us broad categories that demonstrate how to be in a relationship with God and with each other.

Jesus summarized all of them, along with the entirety of the Law and teachings of the prophets, in two commandments:

Matthew 22:36–40 CSB

³⁶ “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

³⁷ He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the greatest and most important command. ³⁹ The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

While he was on earth, Jesus showed his followers how to live out the two great commandments. He also explained that their lives were meant to become tabernacles of God’s presence, bringing the light of his reign, glory, truth, and love, to the fallen world around us. [I think you will see more of this as we study 1 Peter]

The New Testament has quite a few metaphors regarding what a church is and does. After all, the early church was trying to figure out what it meant to live the way Jesus commanded. These metaphors help us better understand God’s design by relating complex concepts to everyday human topics.

Justin took us through a few of them: the church being a spiritual building and the church being a body. But there are a few more that really help us understand how we are to live out the 2 great commandments as a church.

The Church is a Bride/Wife

The first example we will look at is that of a bride. This is a beautiful picture of the church’s relationship to God, and, more specifically, Jesus. This metaphor is significant because it emphasizes the love relationship between God and people, while explaining how we as the church should anticipate the return of Jesus.

Ephesians 5:25–32 CSB

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. ²⁷ He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰ since we are members of his body. ⭐³¹ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. ³² This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Describing the church as a “bride” or “wife” is an overt reference to the multi-faceted affection, desire, passion, and love that God has for His people.  It also corresponds to language in the Old Testament comparing God’s people to a (usually adulterous) wife. This is a reminder of how painful it is for God when he is rejected by those whom he loves.

The Church is to Love God.

As the bride of Christ, one of the church’s primary functions is simply to love God with everything we are. This is the first and greatest commandment. God’s desire for his church is for us to be faithful and pure. God has always desired an unadulterated love from his people, as we see when he gave the ten commandments to Moses on the mountain:

Exodus 20:3–6 || “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. [NLT]

We are presently “engaged” to Christ, but some day, at the culmination of the story, there will be a Final Covenant – a wedding to beat all weddings:

Revelation 19:7–9 || Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.” [CSB]

The story of the Bible reminds us that someday our love for God will be complete and pure. In the meantime, we may struggle to remain faithful even to the one who loved us enough to sacrifice himself for us. Still, we can grow in our love for God by obeying, trusting, and submitting to him, and by spending time with him in prayer and his word.

The Church is a Family.

The second metaphor focuses more on our relationships with each other. Thanks to Jesus, we are not just accepted by God, we are adopted into his family.

There is a saying, “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick….” [your family]. While that is true about biological families, many people have picked their families through the process of adoption.

Galatians 4:4–7 || When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir. [CSB]

God sent the Messiah to liberate us from sin and reunite us with our heavenly Father. Jesus came to make us a family with God.

1 Timothy 3:15 CSB

^… I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

We are members of God’s household, his adopted children. That means we are also brothers and sisters with everyone else who has been adopted into the same family! Regardless of where they live and with whom they gather to worship, no matter their denomination, education, rank, skin color, or income, we are all part of God’s family.

Not everyone in this room grew up in a healthy family culture. Some of you might have grown up in abusive or dysfunctional families. Sadly, many church families can also be abusive and dysfunctional.

To be a healthy family, local churches meet regularly to share in the basic components of everyday life, such as worship, meals, friendship, scriptural study, and more, from a Jesus-centered perspective. This may look very different from one community (church) to the next, but the purpose for gathering is to “share life” through loving and meaningful relationships.

I love how many of you in this church family get together on a regular basis. You get it! This is not something you program. It is something that must be a core value for each individual in the family. It must be a part of the way you live.

NOTE: If you are thinking, “No one has tried to get together with me” then you miss the point. When someone says that to me I will respond with this question, “Who have you invited over this week?” 99% of the time the answer is “no one”. The church is only as connected as each member of the family is willing to reach out and connect with others. YOU are the church – reach out, make the connection.

For some of you, the church is the only family you have. Others it is the surrogate family that helps while you are separated from your biological family. I am blessed with a loving family. But I am also blessed with a loving church family. One of the blessings of a healthy family is that they watch out for one another – take care of each other.

Hebrews 10:24–25 || And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. [CSB]

You cannot watch our for each other if you do not know each other – which is why that verse says we need to be gathering together, and that is not just for Sundays. Familial relationships are cultivated through people sharing in the natural rhythms of life.

The Church is to Love Others.

Living out our identity as a family is one of the great joys of the Christian faith. As we experience true love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we gain a greater understanding of God’s love for us. The more we understand God’s love for us, the more we love others. When we show love for other people, it shows God’s love to the world around us and proves that we are followers of Jesus.

John 13:34–35 || “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” [CSB]

Love others Outside the family.

You and I are in this gathering, and even in the Family of God, because someone told us about Jesus. That means that at some point in time, someone in the family reached out to someone outside the family and shared the love of Jesus with them – with you.

Love for others, true love for others, would not be complete if we never shared Jesus with them.

Just before he left the earth, after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them some instructions:

Matthew 28:19–20 || Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [CSB]

Those who have been redeemed by Jesus should live to help others come to know the love of God and the restoration that comes through Jesus.

This is called the “gospel” or “good news.” The command was to go and bring the good news of Jesus to the world, and to keep going until the end of the age.

This passage is often called the great commission, because Jesus commissioned his followers to tell the world about Him. The first disciples started a chain reaction which we are meant to continue today. We are called to be disciples who make disciples.

The two greatest commands and great commission together provide a great summary of what a church is supposed to do:

Love God. Love Others. Share Jesus.

This simple purpose goes back to the time when God created humans and gave them their identity and purpose. To put this in light of the creation narrative, the church is meant to live in such a way that we love God and reflect him to the world around us.

A healthy, productive church is fruitful and multiplies and fills the earth with the good news of Jesus.

We are God’s chosen partners, his missionaries, for accomplishing his work of reconciliation in the world around us. He has chosen us, sinful people, to accomplish his mission, through his spirit, until he returns. It is a beautiful privilege for a bunch of imperfect people to represent God’s perfect son together.

2 Corinthians 5:20 || 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” [CSB]

Being ambassadors for Christ means we need to share Jesus with people! Inevitably, that involves interactions and relationships with people who do not yet trust Christ. Some people go to other countries to do this, and they become known as “missionaries.” However, all believers are called to be messengers bearing the good news of Christ to all those who have not heard, no matter where we are or where we go. In that sense, we are all called to be missionaries, whether it is across the globe or right here in Jefferson and Lewis counties.

We live out our missionary identity through gospel intentionality. Intentionally looking for ways to share the good news of king Jesus (the gospel) with those that do not know Him yet. We pray for them, love them, and explain the hope that we have in Jesus. We do not save them, that is God’s work. We simply allow God to use us for his mission.

1 Peter 3:15 NLT

¹⁵ Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

So let’s go back and revisit our question, “What does a church do?”.

A church loves God, loves others, and shares Jesus. This is the summation of the 2 Great Commands and the Great Commission.

You and me, WE are the church, the ones God has chosen to do his work in this world until Jesus returns.

The days we have on this earth are meant to be lived with intentionality. We are to be loving God, loving others and sharing Jesus.

The majority of your New Testament is letters to gatherings of disciples, to churches, who are trying to figure out what it means to live like this. HOW do I love God? (check out 1st John!). How do I love others? (check out James!). How do I share Jesus? (see the book of Acts).

Don’t miss the mission.

You and I get to partner with God.  He chose, before the foundation of the world, to use broken people like you and me to help lead other broken people back to their perfect, loving, heavenly Father.

• How YOU love God is how the church loves God.
• How YOU love other Christians is how the church loves its family.
• How YOU love the people in your community is how the church loves the world.

When the WHOLE BODY (church), that is when each and every one of us is committed to loving God, loving other and sharing Jesus, we are faithful to the work God has called us to do.

Brothers and sisters, you and I were created by our Father’s hand, and saved by our Groom’s grace, and we have the amazing and beautiful mission and calling of helping others meet our gracious heavenly Father through faith in Jesus.

This is what a “church” should be doing. May God grant us the strength and