Mission first, differences aside

by | Feb 10, 2021 | Kingdom of God

Remember what our mission is

Through faith and repentance in Christ, we each make a choice to join the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ has one common Kingdom mission and ministry: to love others as Christ has loved us, which includes proclaiming the Good News of His Kingdom. When we surrender our life to Christ, we become citizens of the Kingdom of God and are now ambassadors or representatives of this same Kingdom. As Kingdom citizens we are supposed to be a preview of the Kingdom of God, individually and collectively, before a watching world. This requires that we have to stop living out the culture of hell and start living the culture of the kingdom of heaven.

Our mission is not political

One key area where many Christ followers are currently living out the culture of hell is politically. We’re letting our politics get in the way of making disciples of ALL people. Our business is not about making disciples of Donkeys and Elephants. Ours is a higher calling to make disciples of Christ. Putting the mission first requires an appeal for unity, which is nothing new. In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul appeals to the churches that there should be no division among the believers. In Romans 16:17, he urges churches to be unified in their purpose and judgment, avoiding people who cause divisions and who create obstacles contrary to sound doctrine. Believers should speak, act and live differently than the world around them, focused on God’s business of making disciples of ALL nations.

The Mission is centered on Oneness, not sameness

This requires that God’s people focus on oneness, not sameness. Ephesians 4:1-6 speaks of the kind of oneness God has in mind for the church, “…one body and one spirit….one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God commands unity among believers because once conflict enters, we are weakened and vulnerable to attack. As Jesus said, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself with fall.” The aim of Satan is to destroy God’s kingdom, to obscure truth, to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10; 1 Peter 5:8). As followers of Christ, we must stop contributing to the divide that still exists among believers politically, denominationally, and racially. We need to do our ministry as reconcilers who can bring different kinds of people together.

The Mission is The Kingdom of God

Jesus lived, died and rose again so that He could have One People as part of One Church, united by One Culture, called the Kingdom of God. This was the revolution He began that He has commanded His followers to continue. So, if you claim the name of Christ, you are supposed to be part of the revolution! Christ is calling His people to rise up and live revolutionary lives – lives that are undeniably surrendered to Christ. Lives focused on the mission, not distracted or destroyed by our different politics, shades of melanin or church affiliations. Lives evidenced by loving ALL people and living out the culture of the kingdom of heaven now.

To learn more about the Kingdom of God and living it out, join one of our groups or upcoming trainings. Thewelltraining.org/groups