Being, Becoming and Doing as the Church

Last week I used football as an illustration of how, as followers of Jesus, our 'being and becoming' leads to doing Jesus' will, and how as we grow in 'becoming' like Jesus, we grow in 'doing' too. If you missed that post, click here to read it.  But did you realize the same growth cycle applies to our life in community as the church?

Some people misunderstand being a disciple of Jesus, tacking on discipleship after salvation, when it's really all one package. In the same way, sometimes we try to tack on something called "mission" to our 'being' as the church, and it sounds too difficult! If we think that way, we overlook something important: the very life and presence of the Triune God in our lives. It's like this:  God the Father, out of free and open love for this fallen world, sent his Son in the power of his Spirit to save us. That sending, freely from the Father in his love, continued as he sent the Spirit on that mission, reaching out to every person on earth, drawing people to see and experience the love of God by seeing the love of the Son for them. Those people became the church, at Pentecost (Acts 2) and those people were not only saved through the Spirit, at the same moment they were filled with the Spirit and so sent by the same Spirit on the Spirit's mission. And so are we.

Jesus was "sent" by the Spirit (Luke 4:18-19) in the love of God on a mission to set people free by preaching, touching, and healing them. As the church, united in God's love by the Spirit, we are sent into this world as a continuing expression, or "outreach," of that same love, openly living in God's love and as we can, speaking those words of love. That's where the 'being' and the 'doing' of the church are joined.

Jesus sacrificed his life every single day out of God's love (Luke 22:27), to travel, preach, heal, and work miracles, sharing meals with people, even providing the food for their meals sometimes. The Holy Spirit's love in us motivates us to serve like Jesus did, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves to serve others like Jesus did (see Mark 8:34-38). Those acts of sacrifice are being "missional" because we're being "sent" by the love of God to join Jesus in loving people.

And since we are all together in the one Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), then we work together as one (Romans 15:6) to bring the love of God into the lives of others. (Like the football team practices together and plays together, right?) Each of us has different gifts, strengths and opportunities, so each of us gives as the Spirit leads us, as an offering of love to God and as a contribution to the koinonia, or community, that we are in Christ. That's the 'doing' of the church as an expression of our 'being' in Christ. As we follow Jesus together as his church, we will see lives changed! So let's keep at it, shall we?