The Church

The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into His Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in Him into His own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent His Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of His death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return.

 Let The Church Say Amen (extended) - Andrae Crouch feat. Marvin Winans 

Power of the Holy Spirit

Christians are instructed to teach others about Jesus Christ and the entirety of His truth. We can't profess Christ as Saviour and Lord, while rejecting certain parts of His teachings. As we teach Christ's truths, we can be confident, in faith, that Jesus Christ will support us. This fact has proven trustworthy throughout the centuries as millions of believers have heard, accepted and shared the Good News of Jesus Christ. Yes, Christ has ascended back to heaven, but He is present by the power of the Holy Spirit in every believer!

The apostles, prompted by the Spirit, invited all to change their lives, to be converted and to be baptized. Immediately after the event of Pentecost, Peter spoke convincingly to the crowd: "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 2:37-38). That very day some three thousand persons were baptized. And again, after the healing of the lame man, Peter spoke to the crowd and repeated: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out!" (Acts 3:19)

The Church's universal mission is born of faith in Jesus Christ, as is stated in our Trinitarian profession of faith: "I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.... For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man." The redemption event brings salvation to all, "for each one is included in the mystery of the redemption and with each one Christ has united himself forever through this mystery." It is only in faith that the Church's mission can be understood and only in faith that it finds its basis.

One may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is true that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered toward the kingdom of God of which she is the seed, sign and instrument. Yet, while remaining distinct from Christ and the kingdom, the Church is indissolubly united to both. Christ endowed the Church, His body, with the fullness of the benefits and means of salvation. The Holy Spirit dwells in her, enlivens her with His gifts and charisms, sanctifies, guides and constantly renews her.  The result is a unique and special relationship which, while not excluding the action of Christ and the Spirit outside the Church's visible boundaries, confers upon her a specific and necessary role; hence the Church's special connection with the kingdom of God and of Christ, which she has "the mission of announcing and inaugurating among all peoples."

The kingdom aims at transforming human relationships; it grows gradually as people slowly learn to love, forgive and serve one another. Jesus sums up the whole Law, focusing it on the commandment of love (cf. Mt 22:34-40; Lk 10:25-28). Before leaving His disciples, He gives them a "new commandment": "Love one another; even as I have loved you" (Jn 13:34; cf. 15:12). Jesus' love for the world finds its highest expression in the gift of His life for mankind (cf. Jn 15:13), which manifests the love which the Father has for the world (cf. Jn 3:16). The kingdom's nature, therefore, is one of communion among all human beings-with one another and with God.

Two parts of the missionary task

The traditional view of missions equates the missionary task with evangelism (with winning people to faith in Christ). Missionaries tried to provide education, medicine, shelter, and food through their schools, hospitals, orphanages, and relief work. But the ultimate objective for all mission activity is to make Jesus Christ known to all people as the only Saviour, the only Mediator between sinful humanity and a holy God (Acts 4:12). The emphasis in true mission activity is placed on proclaiming the Good News that Jesus died as a Substitute for us, establishing congregations of people who accept the Gospel message, and nurturing the newly converted Christians in the disciplines of the Christian faith-so that these persons in turn can become agents for further evangelism.

"I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings" (1 Cor. 9:22-23)
 

We must be careful not to assume that any religion or religious writings that bear similarities to Judaism (like Islam) be essentially equated with Judaism. Salvation is not from any other people or religion, nor do any other religious writings have the power to save. New believers who are truly repentant and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ will eventually and inevitably feel compelled to sever all connections with their former Christ-denying religion and way of life. (Acts 19:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore, we should be careful not to violate the teachings of our Lord Jesus, or the consciences of new believers, by instructing them to remain cultural/religious "insiders" (Mt. 10:21-25; Lk. 9:59-62).

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Uniqueness of Christ

To introduce any sort of separation between the Word and Jesus Christ is contrary to the Christian faith. Gospel of John clearly states that the Word, who "was in the beginning with God," is the very one who "became flesh" (Jn 1:2, 14). Jesus is the Incarnate Word-a single and indivisible person. One cannot separate Jesus from the Christ or speak of a "Jesus of history" who would differ from the "Christ of faith." The Church acknowledges and confesses Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16): Christ is none other than Jesus of Nazareth: He is the Word of God made man for the salvation of all. In Christ "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily" (Col 2:9) and "from his fullness have we all received" (Jn 1:16). The "only Son, who is the bosom of the Father" (Jn 1:18) is "the beloved Son, in whom we have redemption.... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his Cross" (Col 1:13-14, 19-20). It is precisely this uniqueness of Christ which gives Him an absolute and universal significance, whereby, while belonging to history, He remains history's center and goal: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Rv 22:13).

The four Gospels bear witness to a certain pluralism within the fundamental unity of the same mission, a pluralism which reflects different experiences and situations within the first Christian communities. It is also the result of the driving force of the Spirit himself; it encourages us to pay heed to the variety or missionary charisma's and to the diversity of circumstances and peoples. Nevertheless, all the Gospels stress that the mission of the disciples is to cooperate in the mission of Christ; "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). Mission, then, is based not on human abilities but on the power of the risen Lord.

In the Gospel John, this salvific universality of Christ embraces all the aspects of His mission of grace, truth and revelation: the Word is "the true light that enlightens every man" (Jn 1:9). And again, "no one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1:18; cf. Mt 11:27). God's revelation becomes definitive and complete through his only-begotten Son: "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world" (Heb 1:1-2; cf. Jn 14:6). In this definitive Word of His revelation, God has made himself known in the fullest possible way. He has revealed to mankind who He is. This definitive self-revelation of God is the fundamental reason why the Church is missionary by her very nature. She cannot do other than proclaim the Gospel, that is, the fullness of the truth which God has enabled us to know about Himself.

The missionary thrust therefore belongs to the very nature of the Christian life, and is also the inspiration behind ecumenism: "that they may all be one...so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21).

Of course Jesus entrusts this work to human beings: to the apostles, to the Church. Nevertheless, in and through them the Holy Spirit remains the transcendent and principal agent for the accomplishment of this work in the human spirit and in the history of the world.

Missionary evangelization is the primary service which the Church can render to every individual and to all humanity in the modern world, a world which has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself. "Christ the Redeemer," "fully reveals man to himself.... The person who wishes to understand himself thoroughly...must...draw near to Christ.... [The] Redemption that took place through the cross has definitively restored to man his dignity and given back meaning to his life in the world.

The urgency of missionary activity derives from the radical newness of life brought by Christ and lived by His followers. This new life is a gift from God, and people are asked to accept and develop it, if they wish to realize the fullness of their vocation in conformity to Christ. The whole New Testament is a hymn to the new life of those who believe in Christ and live in His Church. 

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Missionary Mandate

All the Gospels, when they describe the risen Christ's meeting with His apostles, conclude with the "missionary mandate": "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,...and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:18-20; cf. Mk 16:15-18; Lk 24:46-49; Jn 20:21-23).

This is a sending forth in the Spirit, as is clearly apparent in the Gospel of John: Christ sends His own into the world, just as the Father has sent Him, and to this end He gives them the Spirit. Luke, for his part, closely links the witness the apostles are to give to Christ with the working of the Spirit, who will enable them to fulfill the mandate they have received.

The different versions of the "missionary mandate" contain common elements as well as characteristics proper to each. Two elements, however, are found in all the versions. First, there is the universal dimension of the task entrusted to the apostles, who are sent to "all nations" (Mt 28:19); "into all the world and...to the whole creation" (Mk 16:15); to "all nations" (Lk 24:47); "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Secondly, there is the assurance given to the apostles by the Lord that they will not be alone in the task, but will receive the strength and the means necessary to carry out their mission. The reference here is to the presence and power of the spirit and the help of Jesus himself: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them" (Mk 16:20).

John is the only Evangelist to speak explicitly of a "mandate," a word equivalent to "mission." He directly links the mission which Jesus entrusts to his disciples with the mission which He himself has received from the Father: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (Jn 20:21). Addressing the Father, Jesus says: "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" (Jn 17:18). The entire missionary sense of John's Gospel is expressed in the "priestly prayer": "This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). The ultimate purpose of mission is to enable people to share in the communion which exists between the Father and the Son. The disciples are to live in unity with one another, remaining in the Father and the Son, so that the world may know and believe (cf. Jn 17:21-23). This is a very important missionary text. It makes us understand that we are missionaries above all because of what we are as a Church whose innermost life is unity in love, even before we become missionaries in word or deed.

Authority

Matthew 28: 18-21,

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Colossians 2:9-12,

"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."
 

We’re not making disciples of God, we’re not making true disciples, if we’re fighting against Him –it’s as simple as that. And so we must not harden our heads against His command. Instead we must embrace His commands as so much of Scripture tells us, to embrace the commands, to embrace the statutes, to love His words - read Psalm 119. It’s the psalm of a man who sees commands, sees God’s commands, and loves them, and obeys them.

The words baptizing and teaching are the “how.” The “what” is make disciples. The “how” is by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and by teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. They’re participles, if that means anything to you. And if it does not, what that means is that the context refuses to allow the words baptizing and teaching to be pulled apart into separate commands from the word go and make disciples.

The command is to make disciples, not to make converts. Disciples is a big word, much much bigger than converts. And it comes from the same word that we get discipline. And so the word ‘disciples’ is filled in with its meaning by Jesus when He gives the additional explanation of saying, “baptizing and teaching.” That’s how we make disciples, as I said before: teaching them to obey everything that He commanded.

The difference between a convert and a disciple is, a convert has the bare faith–lifeboat saving faith and that’s all they have. But a disciple has been baptized, and a disciple has been taught to obey everything that He commanded. You see the difference? A disciple is way, way bigger, way more work! Way harder.

Father, make us Your people. Make us disciples. Help Your church to fulfill the Great Commission. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who has all authority, and whose kingdom will never end, and who is victorious over death. Amen.

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Dominion Mandate

In order to properly understand the comprehensive nature of the Great Commission one needs to consider the relationship of the Great Commission to the “cultural” or “dominion mandate” given to Adam.

When God created Adam and Eve in the garden He commanded them to have dominion over the whole earth (cf. Gen. 1:26-30). God’s intended purpose for us before the fall was to develop a world-wide godly culture, a culture that honored and glorified God. All of our activities and pursuits were to be done God’s way and for God. All the accumulated labours of people over time: music, art, science, medicine, architecture, economics, infrastructures and so on would be done obediently and would reflect man’s love of God and mankind.

If Adam had obeyed the covenant of works and his descendants had fulfilled the dominion mandate the result would have been a world-wide, obedient, God-loving civilization. This was God’s original preceptive will for us. But our sin, the eating of the forbidden fruit, necessitated the need for a Saviour. God in His kindness and mercy instituted the covenant of grace. God’s original plan for a godly civilization was not set aside. However, because of sin this plan could only be accomplished through Jesus Christ, the second Adam.

Christ’s resurrection is the new beginning, the foundation of the regeneration of the world. The total victory that Jesus accomplished on the cross is to be progressively brought to bear on all nations. “His ‘all authority’ over ‘all the nations’ demands we preach His crown rights over all people and all their institutions, cultures, societies, and nations. The saving of multitudes of individuals must eventually lead to cultural Christianization under Christ’s rule and to His glory by His providence, in conformity with God’s creational purpose. This world order was designed to have us set over it, to the glory of God. This is why at the very beginning of human history unfallen man was a cultural creature.”

Gospel of the Kingdom

"And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come" (Matthew 24:14)

It is the hope and expectation of the Jews that one day God will send a Messiah, an anointed King, who will restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher in a time of justice, peace and prosperity for the whole nation of Israel. This hope, rooted in the Old Testament Hebrew Scripture in several places, will be fulfilled when Jesus Christ, the Messiah, returns to establish the Millennial Kingdom of God.

The mystery of the holy Church is manifest in its very foundation. The Lord Jesus set it on its course by preaching the Good News, that is, the coming of the Kingdom of God, which, for centuries, had been promised in the Scriptures: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." In the word, in the works, and in the presence of Christ, this kingdom was clearly open to the view of men. The Word of the Lord is compared to a seed which is sown in a field; those who hear the Word with faith and become part of the little flock of Christ, have received the Kingdom itself. Then, by its own power the seed sprouts and grows until harvest time. The Miracles of Jesus also confirm that the Kingdom has already arrived on earth: "If I cast out devils by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you". Before all things, however, the Kingdom is clearly visible in the very Person of Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, who came "to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many:"

Joined with Christ in the Church and signed with the Holy Spirit "who is the pledge of our inheritance", truly we are called and we are sons of God but we have not yet appeared with Christ in glory, in which we shall be like to God, since we shall see Him as He is. And therefore "while we are in the body, we are exiled from the Lord  and having the first-fruits of the Spirit we groan within ourselves and we desire to be with Christ"'. By that same charity however, we are urged to live more for Him, who died for us and rose again. We strive therefore to please God in all things and we put on the armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and resist in the evil day. Since however we know not the day nor the hour, on Our Lord's advice we must be constantly vigilant so that, having finished the course of our earthly life, we may merit to enter into the marriage feast with Him and to be numbered among the blessed and that we may not be ordered to go into eternal fire like the wicked and slothful servant, into the exterior darkness where "there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth". For before we reign with Christ in glory, all of us will be made manifest "before the tribunal of Christ, so that each one may receive what he has won through the body, according to his works, whether good or evil" and at the end of the world "they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but those who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment". Reckoning therefore that "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us", strong in faith we look for the "blessed hope and the glorious coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ who will refashion the body of our lowliness, conforming it to the body of His glory, and who will come "to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all those who have believed".
Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among people, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.

The transition from This Age to The Age to Come will not occur at a single point. There is an overlapping between This Age and The Age to Come. There is not a single resurrection of the dead, but two resurrections which are separated by the Millennium. There are two stages in the defeat of Satan. At the beginning of the Millennium he will be bound and thrown into the abyss. At the end of the Millennium, he will be loosed, only to be cast finally into the lake of fire for ever. There is to be an overlapping of these two ages during the millennial period. The earth will enjoy a new measure of the life and blessings of the Kingdom of God before the final consummation in The Age to Come. God's reign, His rule, will express itself in two great acts, one before and one after the Millennium.

Is the defeat over sin and Satan altogether future? Or has God already acted in His kingly power to break the power of Satan? In other words, has the Kingdom of God invaded the present evil Age—the domain of Satan - Hebrews 2: 14: " Since therefore the children (that is, those whom God would make His children) share in flesh and blood (i.e., since we are human beings), he (Christ) himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him that has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." 

The same truth is set forth in Romans 12: 2: "Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God." How can we live in the midst of the evil Age and not be conformed to it? We are to experience an inner transformation which is itself the result of the power of The Age to Come reaching back into this present evil Age. While the evil Age goes on, God has made it possible for us to experience a new power that we might thereby prove what is God's will. This overlapping of the two ages is fundamental to our understanding of the Biblical teaching of redemption.
Such sayings lead to the conclusion that there is not only a future overlapping of the ages in the millennial period but also a present overlapping of The Age to Come and This Age, and that we are now living "between the times." We are in fact caught up in the conflict of the ages.

This is what the Kingdom of God means: the defeat of the enemies of God. The Kingdom of God means the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ until all His enemies are put under His feet. And who are His enemies? Wicked men? Antichrist? Godless nations? We have already found our point of departure in the Scripture. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death." Paul defines the Kingdom of God in terms of the conquest of such enemies as death.

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An invitation to mission

You were not placed on earth to do nothing or just live for yourself. God invites you to participate in what he is doing in the world. Whenever you see God at work, its an invitation to join Him.

 "The Book of Acts records the earliest steps in the spread of Christianity from the central point of

Jerusalem outward like radiated light into the lands beyond. “And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). How comfortable to think that the proclamation begins at home (we do, after all, refer to our “home church” when we speak.) But how uncomfortable to be told that the proclamation must be taken to those we consider so unlike us, those not a part of our culture and values, those we otherwise avoid because they are “unclean” (our modern day “samaritans”). If we could but stay at home with our proclamation, we could nestle into a preoccupation with doing the practices and rituals of the church. When we are asked to take the message beyond home, we are being asked to risk and to change. Yet it is our duty and delight “as each has received a gift, (to) employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace"  1 Peter 4:10

 

So evangelism is not programmatic marketing techniques, but rather it is pragmatic interactions

with others as Christ’s loving relationship with his church is lived out in his sisters and brothers

here on earth. How do we, the ecclesia, the church, live out this practical understanding of

evangelism as an ongoing outgrowth of right relationships? It is then that we will truly be living

the good message, evangelism.

We should want the Lord’s Kingdom to be realized now! In us! In our words and deeds! In other

words, in the relationships we establish with others. Evangelism is the good message of Jesus.

Christ manifesting not just in our breath, but also in flesh and bone, in our very being! But what

is to be manifested in us?

John gives us insight when he records Jesus’ charge to his disciples as he prepares to leave them,

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for others.” (John 13:35)

Love of others is a key element for our identity as Christ’s messengers. So Christian evangelism

can be nothing other than relational, and within the scriptures relationships are to be lived out

rightly or righteously. Righteousness means right relationships, and relationships must be lived

O God, bring to our minds and hearts the conviction that our lives are not about ourselves, but about you and the Kingdom that you are drawing together. May we see beyond our own experience,

and experience instead the saving work you are doing through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, among all the peoples of the earth. Amen.

 

 

 

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Worthy of the Gospel of Christ

As the life of the "children of God": "recognizing in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life 'worthy of the Gospel of Christ' (Phil 1:27).

This vocation to perfect love is not restricted to a small group of individuals. The invitation, "go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor", and the promise "you will have treasure in heaven", are meant for everyone, because they bring out the full meaning of the commandment of love for neighbour, just as the invitation which follows, "Come, follow me", is the new, specific form of the commandment of love of God. Both the commandments and Jesus' invitation to the rich young man stand at the service of a single and indivisible charity, which spontaneously tends towards that perfection whose measure is God alone: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes even clearer the meaning of this perfection: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36).

When we talk about walking in the light, there seems to be an attempt to set freedom in opposition to truth, and indeed to separate them radically, is the consequence, manifestation and consummation of another more serious and destructive dichotomy, that which separates faith from morality.

This separation represents one of the most acute pastoral concerns of the Church amid today's growing secularism, wherein many, indeed too many, people think and live "as if God did not exist". We are speaking of a mentality which affects, often in a profound, extensive and all-embracing way, even the attitudes and behaviour of Christians, whose faith is weakened and loses its character as a new and original criterion for thinking and acting in personal, family and social life. In a widely dechristianized culture, the criteria employed by believers themselves in making judgments and decisions often appear extraneous or even contrary to those of the Gospel.

The light of God's face shines in all its beauty on the countenance of Jesus Christ, "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), the "reflection of God's glory" (Heb 1:3), "full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14). Christ is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6). Consequently the decisive answer to every one of our questions, our religious and moral questions in particular, is given by Jesus Christ, or rather is Jesus Christ himself.  "In fact,it is only in the mystery of the Word incarnate that light is shed on the mystery of man. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of the future man, namely, of Christ the Lord. It is Christ, the last Adam, who fully discloses man to himself and unfolds his noble calling by revealing the mystery of the Father and the Father's love".

To imitate and live out the love of Christ is not possible for us by our own strength alone. We become capable of this love only by virtue of a gift received. As the Lord Jesus receives the love of His Father, so He in turn freely communicates that love to His disciples: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love" (Jn 15:9). Christ's gift is His Spirit, whose first "fruit" (cf. Gal 5:22) is charity: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). Saint Augustine asks: "Does love bring about the keeping of the commandments, or does the keeping of the commandments bring about love?" And he answers: "But who can doubt that love comes first? For the one who does not love has no reason for keeping the commandments".

The moral prescriptions which God imparted in the Old Covenant, and which attained their perfection in the New and Eternal Covenant in the very person of the Son of God made man, must be faithfully kept and continually put into practice in the various different cultures throughout the course of history. The task of interpreting these prescriptions was entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and to their successors, with the special assistance of the Spirit of truth: "He who hears you hears me" (Lk 10:16). By the light and the strength of this Spirit the Apostles carried out their mission of preaching the Gospel and of pointing out the "way" of the Lord (cf. Acts 18:25), teaching above all how to follow and imitate Christ: "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil 1:21).

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The fame of God

When people are pursuing their pleasure in God, they will seek their happiness by spreading the fame of God to the nations. It is an infallible connection. The question I am asking is how do I and how do we overcome our lethargy, our indifference to the rest of the world? How do we become a people that are so energized by the glory of God that we cannot help but spread his glory to the nations? I believe that Psalm 67 holds the key to unlocking our hearts and our lives for the sake of all the unreached peoples of the world.

God is saying that He is saving His people in order to become famous; He is acting in behalf of His glory or fame among the nations.

 

Everything God does is for the sake of His name, for His own reputation, for His fame and His glory. The wonderful result? We come to know that He is the LORD, and He gets the praise!

 

Does it surprise you to learn that the driving force in God’s heart in restoring your soul and providing guidance for your life and enabling you to walk in righteousness is the fame of HIS name?

 

God Is Passionately Committed to His Fame. God’s Ultimate Goal Is That His Name Be Known and Praised by All the Peoples of the Earth.

 

Fame is the reputation gained by individuals or groups of people as a result of their achievements. Scripture shows how God’s fame among the nations rested upon His saving actions and, in the NT, how the miracles of Jesus Christ brought Him widespread fame. God’s people are to rejoice in His fame, without lapsing into arrogance.

 

 

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Restoring relationship between creation care and mission

We live in exciting times. All over the world the church is recovering the truth that the gospel is concerned with restoring three areas of relationship. Principally it brings peace between people and their God, through Jesus Christ the Redeemer. Secondly it can restore relationships between people, through Christ who breaks down all the walls of hostility. Finally it makes possible a renewed relationship between people and God's Creation itself.

At the very moment that Isaiah’s yearning heart was mourning over the defects of his spiritual life, saying, “Woe is me,” the seraphim (types of glorified prophets) were crying, “Heaven and earth are full of God’s glory,” for they saw the presence of God moving through every atom of nature and providence.

“I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields”—Job 5:8-10.

I do not know how it may be with you, but I scarce ever hear the rolling thunder but I begin to forget earth and look upwards to my God.

Is not God the King of kings, and the Ruler of the whole earth?

I love the picture that God paints for Job when he is interrogating Job about creation. In Job 38:4-7, God queries, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements–surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy.”

The future, even more so with the unknown when we think, "But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13

Today, there is the “The Green Bible” has been published, the New Revised Standard Version with 1000 verses dealing with the care of the environment highlighted in green.

Two biblical principles: First, that the Bible grants to humanity a ‘dominion’ over nature, which has encouraged us to exploit nature for our own ends. Second, that the Bible privileges humanity – which alone is created in the image of God and alone will be redeemed – over the remainder of the creation.
In Jesus we see God's paramount expression of love, compassion, reconciliation and justice. In Jesus we experience God as a caring shepherd who is faithful to the flock, who knows them intimately, who frees and saves. Jesus demonstrates by his own life what we have been created to be — fully human, fully alive and able to participate in the life and love of God.

Some who consider themselves more spiritual than technological, are exploring the world’s ideologies and religions in search of non-Christian spiritual resources for the healing of the earth. As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that the Bible calls us to respond in four ways:

First, God calls us to confess and repent of attitudes which devalue creation, and which twist or ignore biblical revelation to support our misuse of it. Forgetting that “the earth is the Lord’s,” we have often simply used creation and forgotten our responsibility to care for it.

Second, our actions and attitudes toward the earth need to proceed from the center of our faith, and be rooted in the fullness of God’s revelation in Christ and the Scriptures. We resist both ideologies which would presume the Gospel has nothing to do with the care of non-human creation and also ideologies which would reduce the Gospel to nothing more than the care of that creation.

Third, we seek carefully to learn all that the Bible tells us about the Creator, creation, and the human task. In our life and words we declare that full good news for all creation which is still waiting “with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God,” (Rom. 8:19).

Fourth, we seek to understand what creation reveals about God’s divinity, sustaining presence, and everlasting power, and what creation teaches us of its God-given order and the principles by which it works.

Only in the larger story of God’s action and reconciliation in Christ can we see such places not only as the deeply broken places they are, but as sites where God’s “new creation” has come to interrupt our stories of division, violence, and fragmentation, making conversion and new history possible.

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What does it mean to be a blessing?

Steven Hawthorne shares these thoughts --

If our only source were the book of Genesis, we would still learn a great deal about the idea of blessing. In Genesis, the word “blessing” is used to describe a pronouncement or endowment of blessing. It is an act in which a future destiny or goodness is spoken, and thus bestowed upon the person or entity being blessed. The term blessing is used to describe the fulfillment of what was promised, whether material or otherwise. God pronounced blessing at creation, empowering animal life and humanity to fulfill the mandate He had given, to “be fruitful and multiply and fill” their respective domains. Throughout the rest of Scripture, when blessing is fulfilled in creatures, people, households or nations, they are enabled to flourish and to move toward their intended fullness and destiny.

In Genesis we also see clear references to how the promise of blessing was fulfilled in tangible ways. Near the close of Abraham’s life we read that God “had blessed Abraham in every way” (24:1). What exactly were these diverse ways that Abraham had been blessed?

We can find three broad categories of blessing in the Genesis story. First, we see blessing as material wealth and fruitfulness (24:35, 30:27, 30). Second, we see blessing as favored relationship with God and the experience of His presence (14:19-20, 21:22, 26:22). And third, we see blessing bringing about a measure of peace amidst families and peoples (21:22-23, 26:18-29).

Most Christians have been taught well about Jesus Christ coming to provide a way for people to be adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God. In the book of Galatians, Paul says that “when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son… that we might receive” adoption as children of God (Gal 4:4-5). But a few verses earlier in the same book Paul says that those who believe in Christ have been joined with Christ in such a way that they become part of Abraham’s family. “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:29).
The way the promise was given to Abraham, blessing would be fulfilled in the “seed” of Abraham. This word is often used as a “collective singular,” speaking of many seeds. Thus, the term can refer to one descendant or to a multitude of descendants. Which is it?

Paul answers the question this way: Both are true. There is one pre-eminent son of Abraham: “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ” (Gal 3:29). Christ is the one seed of Abraham, but Paul also declares that since people become sons and daughters of Abraham’s family by faith, the promise is being fulfilled by their faith as those who inherit the promise:
“It is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham” (Gal 3:7-9).

Christ has now ended the curse and opened the family of God. Now people from every family on earth can be part of Abraham’s family by faith in Christ. They inherit the full family heritage of being blessed in order to be a blessing to the nations.

God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham’s descendants carries mandate force for all who have been joined with Christ by faith. The promise so clearly reveals God’s purpose, that Christians rightly consider it to convey God’s mandate to serve as His agents of blessing among all the peoples of the earth. We are blessed in Christ in order to bring forth the blessing of Christ among all the nations. But what are we hoping for? What does it mean for the nations to be blessed? And how are we to pursue it? The promise of blessing shapes and integrates our mission in two important ways.

The greatest blessing imaginable is the privilege of belonging to God’s people, and therefore, belonging to God as His children. Christ has opened Abraham’s family to all. We now participate in bringing people from every people, tribe and clan to be joined with Christ by faith and enfolded into the people of God. Extending the invitation to belong to God’s family is the greater part of what it means to bring blessing to the nations. We cannot consider that the Abrahamic blessing has visited a people today if the gospel of Jesus Christ has not yet been clearly conveyed to them.

What will it look like when this aspect of God’s blessing is fulfilled? We can look forward to the day when we will see at least some from every people on earth trusting and following Christ. The blessing of the nations means much more than evangelism, but it certainly can mean no less than the evangelization of every people.

We have seen in the book of Genesis that God displayed evidence of His dynamic presence with His people. God will be no less present amidst the peoples of the earth as groups of obedient followers of Christ emerge and grow among the nations. As in the book of Genesis, the presence of God with His people in our day is the beginning of all of the more tangible aspects of blessing that God brought about. This means that evangelization has a special priority (in order, not importance). God’s promise to bless the nations is the framework in which Christ’s commission makes sense. This same promise authorizes Christ’s followers to hope and to work for God’s life to abound in every people.

We can expect the blessing of belonging to God to become a reality amidst every people. But we can look forward to so much more! We can expect to see significant displays of the abundance of God’s life. We should not expect a utopian perfection. But we can work and pray with a strong hope, partly informed by what we see in the book of Genesis, that God will be with His people to bring forth significant measures of blessing among the nations.

And so we ask again, what will the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the nations look like? Of course, it will be different in every place and people, but we should expect God to bring forth every kind of blessing, such as economies that flourish with justice and righteousness, agricultures and industries that abound with plenty for all, and peace throughout communities and between peoples and races. We can expect that God will enable His people to wage war with disease, to break the vicious cycles of poverty, to provide water in desert lands, and to be present with healing in the midst of catastrophe.

We should expect that some of Abraham’s children by faith will be used by God to preserve life after the example of Joseph. We are probably seeing now in many cities an answer to Abraham’s prayer for the city of Sodom in Genesis 18. In that prayer God said that an entire city would be spared the immediate consequences of their sin because of the righteousness of a few. In Abraham’s day there were less than ten. Now there are millions of his faith family spread throughout many of the cities of the earth.

Recently the term “transformation” has helped many express hope that Christian mission can be directed beyond successful evangelism to also seek lasting changes in society which reflect the justice and character of Christ. The biblical ground for integrating evangelism with social action is usually found in numerous biblical texts dealing with the hope and reality of the kingdom of God. It could be that we have been overlooking another body of biblical truth that supports a robust and strategic holism. God’s ancient promise of blessing provides a vivid, rich and powerful framework for integrating the pursuit of societal transformation and the completion of world evangelization.

We find in the Genesis account a remarkably clear prophetic sketch of the broad scope of God’s purpose for His people. Since God’s promise to Abraham embodies His purpose and our mission, then we are right to expect that our mission will lead to social and material change or transformation. But the main lesson to be learned is not that God’s mission includes concerns for social and physical issues. The greatest lessons we may find are those which show us how to co-work with God to bring forth His blessing. To be God’s blessing among all the peoples will require our utmost effort somehow blended with the exertion of God’s miraculous, life-giving power.

As God continues the fulfillment of His promise in our day, we can learn important lessons about how we can co-work with God from the lives of Abraham’s family. Perhaps the person in Genesis that best exemplifies the mystery of God at work with His people to bring forth blessing is Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph.

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Blessing as a theme

Satan became proud of his beauty and intelligence. He forgot that everything he had was a gift from God, and instead of being thankful for the multitude of blessings God had given him, he wanted more and more. He even became dissatisfied with the second position in heaven; he wanted the first. But the only position above Satan’s was God’s. Yes, he wanted God’s position, God’s authority, and God’s power.

He was the most beautiful and the most intelligent being that God ever created. Human eyes have never beheld an angel in all his glory, and when Satan walks the streets of the cities and towns of earth, performing miracles and claiming to be Christ, practically the entire world will fall down and worship him. Satan will raise his hands in blessing the people, and the people will prostrate themselves before him, worshiping him, believing that he is Christ. Almost everyone will be hypnotized by the overwhelming glory, beauty, and power which the devil will display. He will repeat in a soft, comforting voice many of the words which Jesus spoke when He was on earth. He will heal the sick and perform other miracles and great works, claiming that he is Jesus Christ. His demonstration will be thoroughly convincing to virtually everyone on earth.

The reason that deception exists is because the curse came into effect the day Adam and Eve sinned. They allowed curse into the world, at every level and area. The Bible has to talk about blessing: because God wants to bless the people against this back drop! He wants to make Abraham blessed, to make a distinction between the blessing and the curse.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, so that the blessing of Abraham may come on us. 

What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you." -- Galatians 3:8 NLT

People—alienated from their Creator, unaware of His love and work—wander off to seek after their own way. By their own efforts, they try to find meaning and purpose in life. They are on a path that leads nowhere. They become corrupt in their thinking and behavior. They exchange a lie for the truth of who they are and why God created them (Romans 2:25).

Humanity’s deepest need is to turn away from seeking after its own way and return to the way of the Creator God.  Returning to God gives us new identity as members of His household.  This identitygives us honor. It gives us value. It also gives us purpose: to connect others to the Great Story.

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