What is Missional? Part 2
Now to continue our discussion about What does Missional Mean? To sum up from last month, Jesus proclaimed, and instructed his disciples to proclaim, “The Kingdom of God has come near!” This was explained briefly by saying “We are to show the world what it means to be under the Reign of God.”
This is less than helpful, for most of us are a little fuzzy about what the Kingdom of God is. Plus, since the Great Awakening the “Great Commission” has been used to describe Christian living;
“All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you all. And surely I am with you all always, even to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
This is an incredibly important passage, for this was the LAST thing Jesus told his followers in Matthew. But what does it mean to “make disciples”? And what are we to teach them to “obey”? And why does Jesus speak about “Authority” at all? Why is the presence of Jesus so important as well?
The Great Commission is a sending. When I was a teen my dad would always (ALWAYS!) send me on my way to school every day by saying “Do Good, Be Good.” This sending was important, as it was final instructions before I set out on my own for the day. But this was not the totality of his instruction to me. In the same way Jesus gives a sending to his disciples, but it in no way is complete.
They are to go and make disciples, but that act is contingent upon the entirety of Jesus teaching to his own followers. What did Jesus teach them?
Jesus is the King, and Life is Different in The Kingdom.
In every facet of life we are to show the world what it means to be in the Kingdom of God or following the reign of God. How do we do that? We will take that up next month, but for now please be thinking and praying about what it means that Hamilton Christian Reformed Church, on the corner of 136th and 47th, is Called to be an example of the Kingdom of God
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