Day 147: Why Are We Here? (The Purpose of the Church)
Today, we discuss the big question, WHY? Why did Jesus entrust His Mission to His people – The Church.
WORDwork:
Matthew 28:18–20
Then Jesus came up and said to them (The Eleven Apostles), “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What does Jesus say has been given to Him in verse 18?
What is the significance of this truth?
What does Jesus tell Apostles to do in verse 19?
How are they to accomplish their mission according to verses 19-20?
After His resurrection and just before His return to Heaven, Jesus gave the 11 Apostles (Judas had already hung himself) these final instructions. This passage is traditionally called The Great Commission. Here, at the end of His earthly work, Jesus is commissioning His men to carry His message out to the world. This mission is the very thing that Jesus had been preparing them for all the time He was with them. It is also this mission that is in view as Jesus prays for His people in His prayer that we studied last week.
First, notice that Jesus has been given all authority in Heaven and on Earth. This reality lays the foundation for The Kingdom message that these men would now proclaim: Christ has Died. Christ has Risen. Christ will come Again! Jesus is now the Head of all things and history is moving toward the arrival and establishment of His Kingdom. Everyone needs to know this.
Secondly, notice that Jesus instructs these men to make disciples from all nations. Jesus was sent to Israel first to proclaim that the promises given to their forefathers had been fulfilled in Him. As He did this, He trained disciples—students, apprentices—in His Way of Life. Jesus now sends His people out into the whole world to make disciples of all nations. The scope of this mission is enormous.
Jesus goes on to tell these first disciples that they would make disciples by
1) baptizing them (identifying them with the Father, Son and Spirit) and
2) teaching them to obey, or keep everything that Jesus had taught them, and
3) remembering that Jesus would always be present with them. The fact that Jesus promises to be with His disciples “even to the end of the age” shows that this mission is not something that would be accomplished in a few years. It is a mission that would take an age. As we read these words of Jesus over 2000 years later, we have a much better perspective on the grand nature of this mission.
Everything in the New Testament after the Gospels is built on this foundational commission by Jesus. In the Book of Acts, Luke (a traveling companion of Paul and the author of the Gospel Luke) traces the history of the early Church as it is built on the foundation of the Jesus’ work and the Apostles’ witness. There we see how the Great Commission is worked out through the guidance of the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ Apostles go out.
At the beginning Acts, the Apostles ask Jesus a question and get an interesting answer:
Acts 1:6–8
So when they (The Apostles) had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Because the Apostles knew that the Lord had promised to restore Israel’s kingdom in power in the “last days,” they now ask Jesus if this is what would come next. If you read through the Gospels, you will see that there is an expectation that Jesus as the Promised Messiah, the Son of David, would reveal Himself in power and glory and raise Israel up among all other nations. What Jesus says here in Acts 1, in a roundabout way, is “No, it is not time for that; we have work to do first.”
Before the “end of the age”, the Apostles would be witnesses of/for Jesus to the ends of the earth. So now the mission of Jesus’ people is not just for an age but also to the very ends (the remotest parts) of the earth. This is a mission that no one person can accomplish. It is a mission that only a multi-generational, multi-national group of people would be able to accomplish. This is the seed idea from which the Church, the Body of Christ, the Household of God would grow.
In the letters of the New Testament, particularly the letters of Paul, we see the Great Commission developed and worked out as new revelation is given and as the Holy Spirit leads the Apostles in the early missionary work. By the time Paul writes the Letter to the Ephesians (the highest writing on the Church in the New Testament), it is clear that the reality of the Church would be defined by the distinctly gifted, diverse people that are necessary to represent the fullness of Christ’s ministry:
Ephesians 4:7–13
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… 11 And he Himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.
We are going to spend the majority of this unit unpacking this passage in Ephesians. For now, understand that The Great Commission and its development in the rest of the New Testament defines the Purpose and Goals of the Church.
Was there anything new for you in the reading today or did you think about something in a different way? If so, what and why is it significant?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
