The Mission of the Church

Written by Pastor Nuckols Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:32

          As we discern from New Testament references, the mission of the Church to the nations was an apostolic ministry, which is nothing other than the sending of Him who is the Apostle from the Father. In the New Testament mission is understood Christologically, and this means that through the preaching of the apostles the death of Jesus is proclaimed as a call to faith, as a call to confession, and as a call to the acclamation of Jesus as Lord and Creator in whom and through whom we receive again that life with God which we had lost through sin. "I preach only Christ, the Crucified, the power and the wisdom of God," says Paul (1 Cor. 1:22). Only in the preaching of the cross is the Lordship of Jesus proclaimed, and only in faith in Him who is the Crucified as Lord is the Lordship of Him who really is Lord acknowledged. The cross therefore becomes the sign and the center of the Church's mission to the nations, for through it alone are the nations brought once more under the kingly rule of the true and only God. Preaching the Crucified, being born again to the Lordship of the Crucified through baptism, and the liturgy of acclamation to Him who in His Body and His Blood, given and shed for us, is our God and Lord as the constitutive 'stuff' of mission to the nations. When Jesus entered Jerusalem to die, riding in lowly pomp upon an ass, Matthew's gospel tells us that this fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your King comes to you, triumphant and victorious is He, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass" (Matt. 21:5; Zech. 9:9). It is, however, the following verse of Zechariah 9 (v. 10), which sets this event in the context of redemptive history: "and He shall command peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth." The passion of Jesus begins the universal mission of God. More than that!--the passion of Jesus contains within itself the universal mission of God. More yet!--the passion of Jesus is the universal mission of God.

          That is why Pilate, unknowing yet prophetic, placed upon the cross of Jesus the testimony that the man upon the cross was the King of the Jews, and this was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, indicating the universal rule of this final Davidic King. The other side of this equation also bears repetition: the mission of the Church to the nations is nothing other than the mission of Jesus in its universal proportions. Little wonder, then, that early in the Church's history the acclamation of the people of Jerusalem to the coming of the final and perfect Davidic King, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," became an acclamation of the resurrected and ascended Jesus in His coming in the Bread and Wine. Mission has as its internal purpose and intent the communion of the nations with their Lord in His Body and Blood. Mission without that is finally a mission without its reason to exist.

          The mission of the Church makes Jesus Lord, that is, establishes a new, and to the fallen world an alien worship. This implies that the address of the Church to the nations not only invites the world in to become a confessing, doxological world, but also that the address of the Church to the world reveals the distinction which exists between the Church and the world.

          The fact that Christian mission intends to distinguish between the Church and the world is illustrated by many mission stories from the first centuries of the Church's history. The construction of a church was among the first things missionaries did. The church building was itself a witness to a new worship, to a new allegiance to an alien God in a pagan land. Not surprisingly, therefore, churches and monasteries were the frequent hatred and violence. Also to be noted here is the fact that the construction of a place of worship did not simply fulfill the utilitarian interest of a worship place, but signified that this was a place now conquered for the worship of the new King, the Christ.

          Paul proclaims that the true and real Suffering Servant whom God will exalt is none other than Jesus. It is His Name, which is above every name, and at mention of His Name every knee shall bow, in heaven and upon the earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the doxological confession spoken out of that peace which the prophet Zechariah promised to the nations. Not surprisingly, the Church for centuries has concluded her liturgy in which the Lord has come in Body and Blood as the new and final Davidic King with the blessing of peace: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you His peace." In the face of Christ there is peace, and in the peace of the Lord there is hope.