In Part 1 of this section on the “Sent Church,” we explored how the post-resurrection church is first and foremost beloved by Christ, and then sent on mission just as Jesus was sent by the Father. Now we turn to the final two elements that complete Jesus' vision for his church: the empowerment and commission that make mission possible.
The Third Element of a Church for the world - it is an Empowered Church -- v. 22
"And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
This is a parallel passage to what happens in the 1st two chapters of Acts.
In Acts 1, after Jesus explains about the kingdom and answers his disciples about the time of his return, he simply says, "...but when the Holy Spirit comes upon you in power, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, into the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8).
Without the Holy Spirit's power, what we find in the church is
...involved with activities without impact,
...movement without transformation,
...activism without power.
At its very core, the church is a charismatic community. There is actually no such thing as a true non-charismatic church. How can the church be a Christian church without the animating, leading, and empowering of the Spirit of God?
Jesus intended His church to continue His mission, but He did not just give a charge; He resourced that charge with His very life.
"If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever--- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:15-18
This happens in two ways:
We must practice discernment to hear His voice.
Here is a quick question: If you knew for sure what God wanted you to do. I mean, absolutely positive. Sure that His presence would go with you. You knew there was no reason to be afraid of success or failure. For me, that is the telling mark of obedience. If I were certain of God’s Spirit leading me into whatever the venture, I would obey the call. I would not shrink back.
That is what this section is about.
There are hundreds of ways for us to live out our calling.
Sadly, many churches stumble around, hoping to land on something that might work, like throwing Spaghetti against the wall.
The only sure way to approach this is by getting "live" plans from the living Spirit of the Christ.
Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the church.
I was recently asked what success means for me. As mentioned earlier, the answer is to join God in what He is up to.
In doing so, we can enjoy the animation of God's life within us through the Spirit.
Lifeless forms or bones come alive - it animates mission. Consider the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork (poiēma), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
After declaring in lofty language the Gospel of grace in the immediately prior verses, Paul moves, at least in my opinion, very practically. He says that each Jesus follower has an innate uniqueness that is tantamount to a soulful poem or a lovely piece of sculpture. “The word is poiēma, the source of our English word poem. Its meaning, however, is much broader than merely poetry. It springs from one of the most common words in the New Testament. The verb poieō (579 times) means ‘to do, to make,’ and it encompasses every imaginable kind of work. It could involve writing a poem, preparing a banquet, making a pathway, training a disciple, forging an agreement, or reciting a prayer…”1 There is both an individuality and mutuality built into this description…and a level of beauty that speaks of a winsomeness that can only be God breathed. Rightly understood, each of us carries with us a divine-like creativeness, a dignity, and originality reflective of the creator of all things.
That is not all that is game-changing in the text, though. It says that we carry with us something beautiful, but it also says that each of us was created to do good works that are preplanned by God. In other words, we are all called into the life of an activist. And, the key to this activated life is simply, and I don’t want to reduce it to the place where it loses its luster, but to discover what God has prepared for us to do. We have a specific mission, if I can use the language of this chapter.
"Paul, twenty years later, asked, 'Who is sufficient for such things?' (2 Corinthians 2.16). He, like John, gave the right answer: none of us, but God enables us to do it by his Spirit." N.T. Wright
We cannot hope to do something supernatural by only carnal means. To acquiesce to that loss malforms the church and turns it into a club that flails for its survival, yet tries to sustain itself without the means to fulfill its purpose on earth.
The Last Element is a Church for the World - it is a Commissioned Church -- v. 23
"If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
We've already heard Jesus talk about the motive (being sent), the mode (incarnational), and the impetus of mission through the Holy Spirit, but not necessarily the content. Then what are we to do? What is it to be about?
What we find in this passage is an uneasy challenge to extend forgiveness.
In other words, the church is to be a community of reconciliation.
Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."
The quest of every Christian, every community of faith (as ministers of reconciliation), is to recognize and humbly acknowledge the world's brokenness and inclination toward division, not be satisfied there, but live into the future reality that is to come. We recite a directional prayer, "Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is a revolutionary prayer.
What is it we are praying? We are praying for the ultimate flourishing that exists in heaven into our realities.
One of the best descriptions of what is actually happening when we pray that prayer was given by the magnificent writer, Fredrick Buechner:
"Thy kingdom come . . . on earth" is what we are saying. And if that were suddenly to happen, what then? What would stand and what would fall? Who would be welcomed in and who would be thrown the hell out? Which if any of our most precious visions of what God is and of what human beings are would prove to be more or less on the mark and which would turn out to be phony as three-dollar bills? Boldness indeed. To speak those words is to invite the tiger out of the cage, to unleash a power that makes atomic power look like a warm breeze.”2
Before you read on, take a moment to reflect on the implications of praying as Jesus taught his disciples.
When we ask that God’s will would be the same where we are as it is in heaven, we are asserting that we recognize our quest whenever we see things out of joint.
Poverty? Can we imagine poverty existing in the New Heaven and New Earth? Absolutely not!
Inequality between men and women?
Separation on account of different nationalities or races? Will that exist when all is put to rights? Certainly not!
A groaning and injured planet? No, it will be healed or, as Paul says, "redeemed!"
One of the most intriguing and compelling pictures of God's reconciled cosmos is the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of Lions lying down with the lamb and the child with the serpent.
Do you see how it plays out? Anywhere we see a discontinuity or misalignment between where we are and what will be illuminates elements of our mission. Ultimately, that includes humanity's estrangement from God. In sum, the Bible describes a picture of reconciliation, the putting all things to rights (Revelation 21)!
Indigenous writer and leader, Randy Woodley, fills this thought out further:
"Simply put, our mission is to align ourselves with God's mission, the missio Dei. Just as God sent Jesus to create, incarnate, and die for a world in which God could allow free moral beings to choose to live in loving harmony with God's self and all God created, we are being sent to serve those same purposes on earth. We are sent with a message of God's love for the whole community of creation that is embodied by the way in which we live our lives and that will cause others to want to hear our message. Our mission is to be inviting others into the community of Jesus, regardless of what it is called and regardless of whether or not they recognize him. We do this by ever extending the circle of joy and acceptance in our particular context."3
He has given us that sacred ministry.
One thing that must be understood, though, is that the church doesn't have the authority to forgive within itself; rather, because of its union with Christ, based on His work on the cross, we have been given authority. It is a conferral or bestowal of authority.
Consider Colossians 1:19-23
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.”
We are called to enter into the ministry of reconciliation---Christ's work. Forgiveness giving, freedom granting, reconciliation.
The mission of the church is to liberate others and free those in bondage. We might even call it the forgiveness of sin.
Lest we think this is outlandish talk, we must remember the words of the prayer Jesus gave us: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Matthew 6:12
CONCLUSION
While hundreds or even thousands of churches are trying to figure out how to survive right now (statistics clearly show that the church in the US is heading toward obsolescence), the “nones” and the “dones” are fleeing like from a burning house, away from an unfocused and politically co-opted version of the true called-out ones. “Men” are gathering in boardrooms across Western culture, trying to devise anything that can make the church appealing enough to attract people. Yet, there has always remained the “ecclesia,” an alternative community.
We don't have to come up with our motive or our message. It is implied in our text that we are the sent ones and are to carry the message of reconciliation to the world.
We are the beloved, and we are the sent (just as Jesus was); we are an empowered church by the Advocate and the ever-present Holy Spirit, to enter into the ministry of reconciliation of all things, declaring that freedom and healing are found in the living Jesus.
He is still risen; he is still risen, indeed!
Here is a possible group question that might insight this chapter even further and more practically: What would you say if you were to imagine what in your city needs to be righted, reconciled, and healed?
https://ezraproject.com/poiema-marks-of-the-craftsman/
Woodley, Randy S. Mission and the Cultural Other: A Closer Look (p. 110). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.