My friends Dave Ferguson at Community Christian Church in Chicago and Troy McMahon at Restore Community Church in Kansas City have taught me a lot about the Jesus mission. They put it very simply:
The Jesus Mission is helping people find their way back to God.
That was the mission of Jesus. Jesus said “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
If that is the mission of Jesus – then by default, it has to be the mission of His followers.
Mark Roberts elaborates, expanding the Jesus Mission to three expressions. Jesus was sent by God in the power of the Holy Spirit to:
Proclaim the good news.
Enact the good news.
Form communities of good news.
So again … if this is the mission of Jesus, then by default, it is our mission as well. We are sent by God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit to:
Proclaim the good news.
Enact the good news.
Form communities of good news.
Let’s unpack that.
We are sent by God. Sent by God. Not our own idea. Not our own calling. Not our own mission. God’s idea. God’s calling. God’s mission. We must be convinced of this sending. Until we are convinced it is God’s mission for us, we will not embrace it and go all in on being sent.
We are sent by God in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not sent out in our power. I for one am grateful for that. The task before us – helping people find their way back to God – is undoable in our own power. It is only doable in the power of God.
David Yonggi Cho, former pastor of the world’s largest church with 800,000+ members, was once asked what he thought about the American church. His answer was sobering. “I am impressed with how much you get done without the power of God.”
Wow – it that the epithet we want? “They got a lot done without the power of God.”
We are sent by God – it is His idea. We are sent in the power of God – not in our own power. We are sent to do three things:
First - we are sent to proclaim the good news. This means we have a story to share. That means we must speak up. I have heard that we should “preach the gospel – and when necessary, use words.” The implication is that our lives alone say all that needs to be said about the gospel. That is so not true! We are called to speak up. We are called to go and tell. We are called to share the story of what Jesus has done for us.
Second – we are sent to enact the good news. This means we have to live the gospel. The gospel is something we share, but it is also something we do. The gospel must be lived out. Jesus came and lived among us and that is how we were able to see God. We live the gospel out when we let our light shine before those around us in such a way that they can see God.
Third – we are sent to form communities of good news. Gospel centered communities. Communities where we gospel each other. Communities where we share the gospel together and live the gospel together. Following Christ is not a solo sport. It is a team sport. It requires that we do life with others who are also following Christ. We do church for one another.
I read an Ed Stetzer article in an October 2018 issue of Outreach Magazine. In the article, Ed offers this sobering declaration:
‘The gospel came to the Greeks, and the Greeks turned it into a philosophy.
The gospel came to the Romans, and the Romans turned it into a system.
The gospel came to the Europeans, and the Europeans turned it into a culture.
The gospel came to America, and the Americans turned it into a business.”
The gospel is so much more than the business of the church. It is the mission of the church. It is the mission of every Christ follower. It is why we exist.
N.T. Wright says it this way: “The church exists for what we call “mission” – to announce to the world that Jesus is Lord.” That is the Jesus mission.
The Jesus mission means we share the good news, live the good news, and do life with others who are sharing the good news and living the good news. And we do all this to help others find their way back to God.