Seek First by Jeremy R. Treat

Author:Jeremy R. Treat [Treat, Jeremy R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310586036
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2019-04-09T05:00:00+00:00

Disciples Who Participate in God’s Work in the World

So the mission of the church is, strictly speaking, to make disciples. But this is where our understanding of a disciple helps to expand our understanding of mission. The mission of the church is not limited to making disciples who simply know how to pray and study the Bible. We need disciples who can represent their king in all of life, including the spheres in which they work, live, and play. The church is to make disciples who are salt and light in the world, who love their neighbors, who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

The opening line of the books of Acts gives a subtle hint at how disciples participate in Christ’s mission in the world. “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do” (Acts 1:1). The “first book” refers to the Gospel of Luke, which includes numerous stories of Jesus’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. And yet, according to Luke, this was simply “all that Jesus began to do.” This means the whole book of Acts, and by implication the mission of the church, is the way in which Jesus fulfills his mission. By sending the Spirit to empower the church, Christ advances his kingdom through his body, his church. Jesus didn’t pass a baton to the church so that he could sit back and take a break. He sent the Spirit so that the church could participate in his mission.

At this point it may be helpful to acknowledge a distinction between the church as an organized institution and the church as an organic community. The organized, institutional church has a clear purpose (making disciples) with structures (elders and deacons) and sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), as well as practices (gathering on the Lord’s Day for the preaching of the Word, corporate worship and prayer, and receiving the Lord’s Supper, and then following Christ together throughout the week as they are shepherded and equipped by the leaders).

The organic community of the church shares this mission and extends it as disciples sent out into the world. Built up through the preaching of the Word, they are sent out as ambassadors of reconciliation and agents of peace. Equipped by the leaders, disciples of Christ seek to love their neighbors, serve their community through their vocations, show compassion to the poor and marginalized, and witness to the grace of God in Christ. Encouraged by one another, we are sent out to be salt and light in the spheres in which God has called us.

The church’s mission to the world should not be confused with merely “making the world a better place.” Our goal is not to “Westernize” the majority world or to teach indigenous communities American business practices. We are driven by God’s love as a part of God’s mission to witness to God’s kingdom. So while we seek the common good, we do so in a way that is informed by the kingdom of God.

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