I
love my church. I love the people, the worship, the contagious sense of God’s
presence and the abandoned crazy in love with Jesus atmosphere. And I love that
my teenage son loves it too. We were talking over a truck stop lunch after
church a couple weeks ago and I asked him why? He said, “It makes me want to
worship. And it makes me want to listen to the sermons. They’re real. They
remind me that God is real…But mostly it’s because when people come up and ask
you how you’re doing, they really want to know. If you’re happy, they’re happy
with you. And if something’s bothering you, they really listen. Then they want
to stop and pray with you…right then and there.”
When
it comes right down to it, isn’t that what being God’s people is really about? Jesus spent most of his time talking about
the Kingdom of God. And when his listeners asked what that meant, he told them
stories…about real people living real lives doing real things just like them.
Then he showed them what the Kingdom looked like by forgiving sins and healing
and driving off devils. And when they
started asking about who the honored leaders were going to be, he turned the
discussion upside down. “Anyone who wants to be great among you needs to be a
servant to everybody around.” This kind
of love is what the heart of the church should look like, because it’s what the
heart of God looks like. And the heart of His Kingdom.
As I
thought about this, I was reminded of a conversation with our friend Tim
Vink. He was talking about all the
different theories and programs for evangelism and discipleship and church
building, and finally he paused and sighed and said, “If we just read
the New Testament carefully, we quickly discover that 'the church' is not the
model for the church. Jesus is the model for the church!"
So this
past Sunday we had a guest speaker. I loved what he had to say, and I heard
every word. I promise! But as is often the
case, there was that one brief point that caught in my spirit and summed it all
up. “God doesn’t have a church to which He gives a mission. He has a mission to
which He gives the church.” And something
inside me said YES!!! The church, the people of God, are His gift to the world.
Out of the seats and into the streets. He doesn’t give His Kingdom to the
church. He gives the church to His Kingdom! In Jesus, He pours out His love,
His power, His glory…and Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to pour those things out
through us. All of us. Every one. In every context. At home. At work. Wherever.
Right where we are.
And
this is the topic of our latest episode of Marketplace Kingdom: “Everywhere—A Kingdom
Conversation.” We hope you’re blessed!
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