“.
. . the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, . . .” – Ephesians 4:12
On the rear exit way leading
out of our church is a sign that reads “You are now entering the mission field.”
Having thought about this, I believe the same sign should be placed on the outside
for those entering the church. The Church is a mission field. I believe this is
true of all churches.
Church is not only a place
where we come to be fed and spiritually equipped. It is a place where the saints
are equipped so they can do works of ministry in their everyday lives. But that
is really only a part of what church is all about. Those who come to church
only looking to receive will get only half of what God offers them. Church
should be a place where we come to receive, but it should also be a place where
we come to give.
The Body of Christ is
composed of many different parts. And those interconnected parts are the
instruments Jesus uses to minister to His flock. When we come to church we
should come not only with a mindset to feed ourselves spiritually, we should
come with a mission mindset looking for how God might want to use us while we
are at church. Church is a mission field. It is a place where hurting people
come and God might just want to use you to bring healing and comfort to those
hurting. People who come with problems that need solving or questions that need
answering, or simply with life issues, these people can be ministered to by the
members in the local church body. This makes the church run more efficiently. The
Church is built on the One Man Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:11). But there is no other
man or individual upon which the
Church universally or locally should rely. Paul was inspired to point to the
church and say, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually” (1
Corinthians 12:27). And like a physical body we are to work together to
function properly as God intended. There are times when you might be one of
those in need. There are other times when you might be the one helping someone
in need. The Lord comforts us so that we can later be used by Him to comfort
others (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Jesus has provided His
church with ministry gifts such as apostle, prophet, evangelist, and
pastor-teachers (Ephesians 4:11). These are given to those entrusted with
overseeing the church and equipping saints to do ministry (Ephesians 4:12). But
there are also a host of spiritual gifts that are distributed by the Holy
Spirit to all born again believers in
order that they might serve purposefully those they come into contact with
either in or outside of the church, wherever the mission opportunity presents
itself. (For the types of spiritual
gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit see Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14).
When we look at the seven
churches of Revelation we see that Jesus finds issues that need attending to in
five of the seven churches. Two of the churches receive no criticism from Him.
But all of these representative churches are part of a Christ’s mission field. There are needs in all of
them. There are needs all around us. We need to be open to the Spirit for His
empowerment as well as to how and where He might want to use us. Spiritual
growth comes through service; through applying in real life what we learn from
the Lord in His word. There are opportunities for such service both in and
outside of the church. The world is a mission field, but so is the church.
Jesus
expressed that one of His main purposes for the Church was to bring a unity to
His followers that would be representative of the unity He experienced in the
Triune Godhead (John 17:20-23). It glorifies God when people come together who
are steadfastly devoted to the Bible, fellowship, worship and prayer (Acts 2:42-47). God is glorified by the unity of those who hold
to "the foundation of the apostles and prophets” with "Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone" and where the Holy Spirit dwells (Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:4-6; Philippians 2:1-2).
The Bible reveals that in the Last Days there will be a one world
religion. This religion of unity is referred to as Mystery Babylon and has
its roots at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). This false religious system will
ultimately be brought down by God (cf. Revelation 17). The Mystery Babylon “church”
system is not glorifying to God but opposes God with all deception and
rebellion against Him and His word. This false unity is on the rise today. There
is an attempt by the enemy today to absorb the true Church into this Babylonian
“whore” of a church. It is a “Church” that is unfaithful to the truth of God
and in fact is a cheap substitute for the real Bride of Christ. “Unity” is
good, but not at the expense of God’s truth. This threat to the Church of God is a big part
of what makes the Church a mission field.
Jesus
acknowledged diversity in ministry (Mark 9:38-41). He initially came to give the gospel to Israel
but thank God He also spoke of opening the gospel to the diversity of the
Gentile world! (John 10:16). When people of different
races, nations, actual biological genders, financial means, intellectual
capacities, cultural backgrounds, and spiritual gifting come together in
Christ, it glorifies God. When people who worship God differently come together
it glorifies God. Whenever people who agree in the essentials of the faith but
differ in nonessentials of the faith come together, it glorifies God.
Diversity
in the body of Christ is good. We can all learn from those who are different
from us. And diversity is necessary to make us whole. God Himself is diverse in
that He is One God in Three persons. My wife and I are different in many ways.
She is a woman. I am a man. She is practical. I am not always practical. I am
big and strong. She is delicate and soft. She sees things I do not always see.
I see things she does not always see. Separately we might be vulnerable.
Together we are strong and watch each other’s back. The same is true of the
church.
When
churches unite regardless of denomination, location, or mode of worship, it
glorifies God. This is a big part of our Church mission. People in the
church are different in many ways but our differences make us stronger. Our
differences make us more versatile, perceptive, sensitive to the needs of the
lost and empathetic. Our differences enable us to watch each other’s back. Such
diversity does not only glorify God; it is the will of God.
But,
having said that, part of the mission of the Church is to remain pure. The
ambition of Jesus is to wash His Bride the Church with His word, “that He might
present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians
5:26-27). Division based on prejudice,
ignorance and a lack of love is sinful and never glorifies God. Division
characterized by backbiting and gossip in the church is sinful and does not
glorify God. Our mission in the church should be to eliminate such sinful
practices.
We
see in the Bible that God glorified Himself when His people separated from
Egypt (Exodus 4-14). And when God’s people were about to enter the Promised
Land He warned them through Moses to remain separate from the pagan peoples,
false prophets and their false teaching (Deuteronomy 7; 13 and 18). God tells
us to watch out for those who cause division because of doctrinal deception and
false teaching and that we are to "keep away from them" (Romans 16:17; cf. also Jude). It is not doctrine or the
teaching of God’s word that we are to keep away from; we are to unite in the
truth of God’s word. We are to stay away from those who teach false doctrine. That
is part of our mission in the Church. Whether a person or group holds to the
teaching of God’s word determines whether they belong to God and so this is
eternally important and therefore worth dividing over (2 John 9).
What
makes this issue of division a bit more complicated is the mindset expressed by
the Arabian quote the enemy of my enemy is my friend. There are certain
circumstances and situations in life where we are tempted to join with those
who we had previously opposed to unite in confronting a common foe. Is it ever
right to unite with a secular group or religious group who has unscriptural or
Christ denying ways? There are many diverse groups that oppose abortion,
immorality, and what we would call sin. We see this in political circles. One
of the accepted mottos of such circles is “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
There is a labyrinth of deception and twisted alliances in the political world.
That is because the objective is, for the most part, to attain and maintain
power, not bring glory to God. In this realm of politics and elsewhere, uniting
with those who believe differently than God says in His word is permissible if
and only if you can maintain your scriptural Christian identity. But don’t
allow yourself to be manipulated into a situation where you compromise the
truth of God’s word. Our mission here is to proceed with caution and never go
beyond the parameters of Gods’ word.
If
uniting means approving of or condoning sin or scriptural heresy and falsehood,
of even giving such a compromising appearance, then it would be better to fight
whatever cause it is separately. God put Joseph in a position that was second
in command to Pharaoh of pagan Egypt to save the messianic line (Genesis
37-50). God used the pagan Persian King Artaxerxes to help Nehemiah rebuild the
walls of the holy city of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1-2). God can use the unsaved for
His purposes. It is by infiltration of rather than isolation from such groups that
we can be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). In such situations we serve as a
restraining force against evil (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7). This can be an
effective part of mission strategy.
But
the Bible also says we are to "come out" and not be "unequally
yoked with" unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6). We are not to be united with
unbelievers in a way that disregards the holy difference of God’s people. The
Church should never become so associated with and sensitive to “Seekers” that
it forfeits its identity as the Church. The trend of our day in the Church is
to be so trendy, relaxed, informal, modern, worldly and comfortable that the
lost will mosey on in. The problem with such thinking is that it fails to
recognize that the true Gospel, which includes the cross of Christ, is by
nature offensive to sinful people (cf. Galatians 5:11). And to such perversion
of Church mission we should say with Paul, “But God forbid that I should boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
Unity
with globalist groups, eclectic ecumenical religious groups that sacrifice
truth for unity, racist organizations, or other entities that we are warned
about in scripture, for say, political reasons, would not glorify God. Dividing
from them would glorify God. An ecumenical worship service where Christians
unite with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions where the message
being sent is “All religions are basically the same; all roads lead to heaven” would
be inappropriate. All of these groups define "God" in unscriptural
and even blasphemous ways not to mention conflict with the truth of God’s word.
Would
it glorify God to unite with churches that ordain homosexuals or who perform
same sex marriages or who approve of abortion, even partial birth abortion? Not
if it meant condoning such sin and compromising God’s truth. In seeking to
fulfill our mission we should not play fast and loose with who we align with in
causes. We should never pooh-pooh challenges to God’s truth. Our trust is to be
in God not worldly alliances. In our preparations for battle, we should never
forget that deliverance is of the LORD (Proverbs 21:31). We don’t want to
forfeit God’s vital involvement because of unholy alliances. We should seek to
be involved in things that God can put His signature upon. Our confidence needs
to come from our relationship with God. “For the LORD your God is He who goes
with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deuteronomy
20:4). “Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people”
(Psalm 3:8). Our mission should involve seeking His blessing. Then there is
victory and most importantly, then God is glorified.
The
mission to the Church and through the Church is a holy mission. We aren’t to fight like the world fights. “For though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). There are a lot of high proud things and ways
in this world. In our mission we need to guard against being polluted with the
things of this world. We must use holy means to fulfill our holy mission both
in and through the Church. How about looking to God in prayer, deep heartfelt
prayer, maybe even fasting, before we
look to secular marketing techniques in religious packages? Who knows, maybe
God will give us a revival is we do.
God
is clear on how He feels about those who misrepresent Him; His judgment is on
them. God barred Moses from the Promised Land because he misrepresented God (Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13). God allowed His people to be defeated and
taken into captivity because of their associations with pagan sinful peoples
and adopting their sinful religious practices (2 Chronicles 36:14-21). The New Testament
is full of exhortations to maintain purity and unity in the teachings of God’s
holy word (for example Jude 3-4). When we divide from those who disregard or rebel
against God, it glorifies God. It glorifies God because it demonstrates we put
Him and His word above the comfort that comes from tolerance of sin and
compromising the truth He has revealed (for example Matthew 5:10-16; 10:32-39).
But
even if we disagree with someone and have to remain separate from them, it
should still always be in love (John 13:34-35). Making
the distinction and separating from the groups I just mentioned is clear cut to
anyone who respects and holds dear God and His word. We speak the truth in love
and share the gospel with such groups, but we do not unite with them. Division
sometimes glorifies God.
The
only place we see Jesus write a letter in Scripture is to the seven churches of
Revelation (Revelation 2-3). The Church is important to Jesus. The Church is
His bride. Like any groom Jesus is deeply in love with His precious Bride. He
has a seven year (!) wedding feast planned for her (Revelation 19:7). As His
Bride we have been entrusted with a mission. That mission is both to the Church
and through the Church. It is a holy mission both in and without. Let’s fulfill
this holy mission in a holy God ordained scripturally sound way.
