The word missional also gets its meaning and understanding from John 20:21 when Jesus tells his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” We must understand that the Father sent Jesus.  God is a missionary God.  God is on a mission to reconcile the entire world to Himself.  Therefore, the Father sent Jesus into the world to usher in the Kingdom of God in order to begin this reconciliation.  This is what theologians call the Missio Dei (Latin for Mission of God).

Jesus then tells his disciples that he is sending them on the same mission.  Jesus calls his church to go into the world and to share that the King has come and that we can be reconciled to the Father.  Being a missional church means that you understand that the church is sent on mission as an instrument and as a sign of the Missio Dei.  Although the word missional has only been used for a few years, the concept has been around since the 1950s.  Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett tell us the following:

By mid-century, the emphasis in mission thought shifted toward a theocentric approach that, in contrast, stressed the mission of God (Missio Dei) as the foundation for the mission of the church.  The church became redefined as the community spawned by the mission of God and gathered up into that mission.  The church was coming to understand that in any place it is a community sent by God.  “Mission” is not something the church does, a part of its total program.  No, the church’s essence is missional, for the calling and sending action of God forms its identity.  Mission is founded on the mission of God in the world, rather than the church’s effort to extend itself.[1]

A missional church exists because of and for the mission of God.

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[1] Darrell L. Guder and Lois Barrett, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 82.

The word missional’s meaning is rooted deeply within the understanding of the church’s purpose. This purpose displays itself in three different ways. The church is a missionary sent on mission as a sign and instrument of the Missio Dei. The first area in which we are called to be missional is as a missionary in our own culture. The general idea of a missionary is a person in a foreign country in a completely non-Christian culture. But in reality, today all Christians live in non-Christian cultures. Tim Keller gives insight into this reality by focusing on the missionary Lesslie Newbigin:

The British missionary Lesslie Newbigin went to India around 1950. There he was involved with a church living ‘in mission’ in a very non-Christian culture. When he returned to England some 30 years later, he discovered that now the Western church too existed in a non-Christian society, but it had not adapted to its new situation. Though public institutions and popular culture of Europe and North America no longer ‘Christianized’ people, the church still ran its ministries assuming that a stream of ‘Christianized,’ traditional/moral people would simply show up in services. Some churches certainly did ‘evangelism’ as one ministry among many. But the church in the West had not become completely ‘missional’—adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community, and service—so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it. It had not developed a ‘missiology of western culture’ the way it had done so for other nonbelieving cultures.

Even if you are in a “Christianized” culture, the reality is that we still need to view ourselves as missionaries. Every culture needs some amount of contextualization of the gospel. This means that you have to be missionary to do the contextualization needed to present the gospel.

For one of my classes last semester, I had to define what the local church is.  Fo the fun of it, I thought I would share with you what my definition came out to be.

This definition is heavily based on Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2009), 38. I took a considerable amount of time studying the different elements of their definition and added where I personally thought it might be lacking.  Since I am a member of Mars Hill Church, I wanted to stay as close to Mars Hill Church’s definition of a church and only tweak it a little bit.

The local church is a community of confessing and covenantal believers of Jesus Christ who are organized under Biblically qualified leadership. They regularly gather physically for preaching and worship, and scatter in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission of God by evangelizing and caring for people everywhere. They observe the Biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, and are disciplined to maintain the purity of the church in order to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission to the glory of God.

What do you think?  Would you change anything?  Do you have a working definition of the church?

We live in a world where those with the most authority do the least amount of work.  Those with the power don’t serve others.  They are the ones that are served.  It is the American dream to gain enough power and wealth that you never have to work again.

Jesus showed us that in the kingdom of heaven it is quite the opposite.  The all-powerful God became a human being and served us by dying on the cross.  Jesus is the perfect example of leading by example.  He constantly served those around himself.  While his disciples were arguing about who is the greatest, Jesus healed countless people, fed thousands, and humbly washed the dirty feet of those that were fighting for ranking in the kingdom of heaven.

A true Christian isn’t noted by their pious self-righteousness but by their humble servanthood.   It is through service that we walk in the same steps that Jesus did when he was here on earth.  Through a kinetic learning experience of serving, we grow in our understanding of God’s heart for the lost and hurting people of this world. Here are some simple tips and steps for developing a discipline of service.

Tip #1: Aggressively look for places to serve.  For those of you raised with a strong work ethic engrained in your brains, this won’t be much of an issue.  The rest of us need to constantly seek places to serve.  This is both in the church and out of the church.  Seek ways to serve fellow Christians, but also seek to serve those in your community and at work.  If you ever catch yourself saying, “I wish someone would…” You need to take it upon yourself to be that someone.

Tip #2: Seek a change of heart.  1 Corinthians 13 says that if we do anything without love, it is pointless.  If you have a heart that is begrudging towards service, seek God to change your heart.  Jesus wasn’t reluctant in his service.  It was his joy to serve.  Seek God to give you a heart that takes deep joy in serving those around you.

Tip #3: Use your stuff to serve others.  Everything that we have in our lives is a gift from God.  Therefore we should see our stuff as a gift from God not just for us but also for those around us.  Serve those around you by sharing your stuff with them.  Open your house to share meals with friends and family and host events.  Use the yard tools you have to care for and maintain more than just your yard.  Give people rides in your car.  If you have two of something, give one away.  Develop yourself to see the stuff you have as being used more than just for you but for those around you.

Tip #4: Serve first and ask questions later.  Just like generosity, our tendency is to ask the question “Why?” Why should I serve those around me?  How is this going to develop my relationship with Jesus?  The reality of it is that these questions can’t truly be answered on paper. You can read countless Bible verses. You could hear stories from people’s lives. You could hear hundreds of hours of sermons about Jesus humbling himself as a servant. But you won’t get it. You won’t get it until you mow your elderly neighbor’s yard without them asking or paying you. You won’t get it until you pick up trash in your neighborhood without anybody asking you.  You won’t get it until you serve in your church’s nursery. If you decide that you aren’t going to serve until you fully understand why, you’ll never serve. The reality is you need to serve first and then ask questions, because by serving you’ll find the answers.

Jesus was sent on mission into our world.  God the Father sent Jesus into this world to “seek and save the lost.”[i] As we are made into the image of Christ we are sent too.  From the beginning, Jesus’ desire wasn’t for us to receive his gift of salvation and then be whisked off to heaven.  Jesus’ prayer for us as his disciples was clear and simple.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.[ii]

As Christ followers, we have been blessed with a great gift.  Jesus has trusted us to share his good news with those around us.  This is a beautiful and simple task, but it isn’t easy.  Just as the world was against Jesus, it will be against us.  Jesus didn’t send us into the world alone though.

When Jesus told his disciple to love one another in John 13:34-35, he wasn’t telling them to live in loving community for the benefit of each other (although there are benefits to living in loving community).  It was for the benefit of those around them.  “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[iii] We are called to share the good news of Jesus through the instrument of community.

There are two areas that can hurt our mission to image Jesus to the world that are found in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:14-18.  The first is if we are part of the world.  Jesus was not of this world.  He lived differently than everyone around him.  He handled money differently.  He handled relationships differently.  He handled work differently.  He handled family differently.  He handled love differently.  Jesus lived a life different from the world around him.  We are called to do the same thing.  By living differently than the world around us, we bring the focus to Jesus who is the instrument of salvation.

The second area that can hinder our mission is if we separate ourselves from the world.  Jesus was different as he was in the world.  He didn’t escape the dirt and evil of this world, but instead dived deep into it to shine His light into the darkness.  He ate and drank with alcoholics, corrupt city officials, prostitutes, self-righteous religious leaders, disease- infested street dwellers, and blue-collar workers.  Who cares if we have the hope of Jesus if it doesn’t make a difference in the world around us?  Like Jesus, we are sent into the world and share that hope.  We glorify Jesus when we are in the world but not of the world.  Spend this week focusing on how you are sent to be a light in this dark and dying world.

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[i] Luke 19:10 (ESV)

[ii] John 17:14-18 (ESV)

[iii] John 13:35 (ESV)

Jesus lived in community.  He grew up in a large family.  He spent his entire ministry with 12 close-knit friends.  He had larger groups of people who followed him during his ministry.  He constantly ate meals with people.  He healed people.  He prayed for people.  He preached to multitudes.  His life was marked with constant and continuous community.  Everything he did was within the context of community.

Jesus’ lifestyle of continuous community didn’t start with his ministry here on earth but was just an extension of his eternal relationship with the Father and Holy Spirit.  We are called to live in community because God lives in community with Himself.

God’s tri-Personal reality is intrinsic to his existence as the one God who alone is God.  He is a socially related being within himself.  In this tri-Personal relationship the three Persons love one another, support one another, assist one another, team with one another, honor one another, communicate with one another, and in everything respect and enjoy one another.  They are in need of nothing but each other throughout all eternity.  Such is the richness and the fullness and the completion of the social relationship that exists in the Trinity. [i]

In John 13:34-35, Jesus tells us the way that we image him to those around us is by living in loving community.  He puts it this way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[ii] When Jesus says we will have love for one another, he isn’t talking about the typical-everyday-pithy love that we come across.  He is talking about a deep, never ending, never failing, all-encompassing kind of love.  It is the same kind of love that he showed his disciples by loving them at their best and at their worst.  It is the love Jesus is talking about when he said; “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”[iii]

Because of this love, it is in community that we help each other grow.  It is in community that we pray for one another.  It is in community that we repent.  It is in community that we care for one another.  It is in community that we spread the gospel (more on this next week).  It is in community that we bear the image of God and ultimately bring glory to Jesus and find deep joy in our lives.  Spend this week focusing on how you are called to live in loving community with brothers and sisters in Christ.

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[i] Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance (Crossway Books, 2005), 25.

[ii] John 13:34-35 (ESV)

[iii] John 15:13 (ESV)

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2

In the beginning, God created us in His image.  Like a mirror, we were created to reflect God’s glory to the world around us.  Unfortunately, sin entered the world and our reflection became distorted.  Our mirrors became bent and broken.

The story doesn’t stop there though.  Jesus entered our world and imaged the Father perfectly.  He reflected God’s glory to the world perfectly.  Everything he did showed us a perfect image of who the Father is.  Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”[i] Jesus imaged the Father.

We are called to image Jesus in the same way that Jesus imaged God the Father.  As disciples we are being conformed into the image of Jesus.[ii] Bruce Ware describes our imaging this way:

Created and finite representations (images of God) of God’s own nature, that in relationship with Him and each other, they might be His representatives (imaging God) in carrying out responsibilities He was given to them.  In this sense, we are images of God in order to image God and His purposes in the ordering of our lives and carrying out of our God-given responsibilities.[iii]

In the next three weeks we will focus on three distinct areas in our lives in which we are called to image God.  We are called to worship Jesus with all of our lives, live in gospel-centered community, and be on mission in the world around us.  For now we will simply focus on the thought of imaging God.

Now that our identity is in Jesus, our lives are called to be a reflection of Jesus.  Our mirrors are being repaired so we can image Jesus in everything we do, think, feel, and say.  This is only possible because of the relationship that we now have with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit as we are continually purified into the image of Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus, it is our goal that every aspect of our life would reflect God’s glory.  Our families should reflect God’s glory.  Our finances should reflect God’s glory.  Our relationships should reflect God’s glory.  Our jobs should reflect God’s glory.  Spend this week focusing on how you are called to be an image-bearer of God.

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[i] John 14:9 (ESV)

[ii] Romans 8:29

[iii] Wayne Grudem, Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood (Crossway Books, 2002), 79.

We ended yesterday with the following definition to answer the questions, “What is a Disciple of Jesus?”

A disciple is someone who is on the path to becoming like Jesus by the grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  As the disciple becomes more like Jesus, they find their identity in Jesus and image Him by worshiping God with all their lives, living in gospel community with other disciples, and going on mission to make more disciples of Jesus.

Let me break down this definition a little bit more.  As the lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler, sings in his song Amazing, “Life’s a journey, not a destination.”[i] Being a disciple of Jesus has no ultimate connotation that you have arrived in any way.  You see in the Apostle John’s gospel that those who were called disciples were simply on the path to being made into the image of Jesus.  Some only took a few steps, whereas some followed Jesus to their death.  The reality is that being a disciple of Jesus means that you are on the path, following Jesus.

Now like most journeys, there are going to be points of interest along the way (salvation, joining a church, special callings in your life, etc.), but these aren’t the ultimate focus.  The ultimate focus of a disciple is Jesus himself.  A disciple isn’t marked by their experience, knowledge, actions, or expertise.  A disciple is marked by whom they are following.  For a Christian, that is Jesus himself.  Our ultimate goal is to be transformed into the image of Christ.

This isn’t by any merit of our own.  The fact that we are disciples of Jesus is strictly by the grace of God.  It is through the blood of Christ that we are called to be His disciples.  You see this over and over again in the gospels when Jesus called his disciples: they were not called base on merit.  There was simply Jesus’ call into their lives to “follow me.”[ii]

Our growth and progress as we follow Jesus is also nothing for us to boast in either. Sanctification doesn’t happen because of our own will, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Apostle Peter encourages some exiles of gospel in 1 Peter 1:1-2 by telling them:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.[iii]

We are called by the grace of God and sanctified by the Holy Spirit to become more and more like the Son of God…Jesus.  This is what it means to be a disciple.

My definition of a disciple ends with the sentence,  “As the disciple becomes more like Jesus, they find their identity in Jesus and image Him by worshiping God with all their lives, living in gospel community with other disciples, and going on mission to make more disciples of Jesus.” 

As a disciple is being transformed into the image of Christ, there are some clear areas in the life that will be transformed.  Disciples will begin to find their identity in Jesus, worship Jesus with all their life, live in community, and be on mission to make more disciples of Jesus.  That is the out powering from who the disciple is.  These are the actions of a disciple. Over the next few weeks we’ll focus on each one of these more.  Until then, I pray that you grow in your walk with Jesus.

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[i] Aerosmith, Amazing (Geffen, 2001).

[ii] Matthew 4:19, Matthew 8:22, Mark 1:17, Mark 2:14, Luke 1:3, Luke 5:27, John 1:43

[iii] (ESV)

My week at Re:Train for the Spiritual Formations class truly helped me to solidify what my concept of a disciple is.  Before then, I had only given minimal thought and study towards the question, “What is a disciple of Jesus?”  Let me clarify my definition of a disciple before I move forward with the implications this has on my ministry.

Before we can understand what a disciple is, we first have to take a look at what a disciple isn’t.  While each of the following is an aspect of a disciple, none of them by themselves give us a full picture of what a disciple is.

First, a disciple isn’t a mystic.  A mystic’s whole life’s goal is to seek to be in the presence of Jesus.  While this is a noble task and one that we should all seek to some degree, it is not a disciple.

Some would say that a disciple is a student.  A student’s goal is to gain knowledge from a teacher.  While we need to grow in our understanding of Jesus and the gospel everyday, a student and a disciple are two different things.

Third, some think of a disciple as a practitioner, focused on actions.  They want to do what Jesus did.  They love seeking out the methods of Jesus and seek to do the same thing as He did.  While we need to learn to do what Jesus did, this isn’t a disciple.

Lastly, some people think of a disciple as a professional.  In his or her mind, a disciple is someone who has finally arrived.  They have read several books, taken classes, and probably hold some kind of title in the church.

So if a disciple isn’t a mystic, student, practitioner, or professional, what is a disciple?  To begin, we need to take a look at what it would have culturally meant to be a disciple during the time Jesus was on earth.  Ray Vander Laan talks about the education system and the relationship between a rabbi and disciples.

A few (very few) of the most outstanding Beth Midrash students sought permission to study with a famous rabbi often leaving home to travel with him for a lengthy period of time. These students were called talmidim (talmid, s.) in Hebrew, which is translated disciple. There is much more to a talmid than what we call student. A student wants to know what the teacher knows for the grade, to complete the class or the degree or even out of respect for the teacher. A talmid wants to be like the teacher, that is to become what the teacher is. That meant that students were passionately devoted to their rabbi and noted everything he did or said. This meant the rabbi/talmid relationship was a very intense and personal system of education. As the rabbi lived and taught his understanding of the Scripture his students (talmidim) listened and watched and imitated so as to become like him.[i]

A disciple doesn’t want to know what the rabbi knows or do what the rabbi does or simply be in the presence of the rabbi; he wants to do all these things to become who the rabbi is.  The disciple’s sole focus is to become who the rabbi is.  So this shapes my definition of a disciple:

A disciple is someone who is on the path to becoming like Jesus by the grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  As the disciple becomes more like Jesus, they find their identity in Jesus and image Him by worshiping God with all their lives, living in gospel community with other disciples, and going on mission to make more disciples of Jesus.

Tomorrow we’ll break down this definition a little more…

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[i] Ray Vander Laan, “Rabbi and Talmidim,” Follow the Rabbi, http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2753.