Is the Purpose Statement Biblical?

In the last post, I gave as my general purpose statement for the Church the following: “The mission of the Church is to be Jesus on the earth, and bring the world to join us.” The first question to ask is: “It this statement biblical?”

Actually, I’ve taken a good bit of criticism on this statement. It appears in my Bible course published in 2004 and when we sent it out for translation into other languages, one of the earliest questions, and one of the most consistent, was: “Do you really want to say that the Church is to be Jesus on the earth?” Some of the critics thought it was almost blasphemous.

My contention is that it is eminently biblical, but, of equal importance, it is also comprehensive.

First, the biblical nature.

The Church is the body of Christ on the earth.

Paul specifically wrote: “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church , which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

Jesus was the fullness of God. God was pleased to have His “fullness” dwell in Christ (Colossians 1:19), and in Christ is found the “fullness” of God (Colossians 2:9). In the same way, the Church is called to be the fullness of Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder that we, as a people, are Christ’s body. Concerning the Communion, Paul wrote: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body : for we are all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17). The reminder is of our position before God and in the world: to be Christ. When the world looks at us, it is supposed to see Jesus.

This is what Paul meant when he wrote: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” The word “exalted” is from a Greek word meaning to “make large” or “to magnify.” But whether you translate it “exalt” or “magnify,” Paul’s point was that when the world looked at Him, it should see Jesus, lifted up and magnified.

This will never happen if we are not sold on the idea that we are to be Jesus on the earth. As another author puts it: Just as the invisible God made himself visible and tangible in Jesus Christ, so the now-invisible Christ is making himself visible and tangible to the world through his church” Still another author writes: “The Church carries on the life of Christ.”

Deep down, I think the real objection to looking at the Church’s purpose this way is that we don’t want the responsibility of being Jesus. It’s difficult enough to talk about “showing” Jesus to the world (which may be more palatable but has the net effect of narrowing the focus to “appearances”). But to be Jesus on the earth takes things to a whole new level and makes me responsible not just for how things appear, but how things really are! To be candid, the objection to being Jesus on the earth speaks more to a compromise of conviction. We are Christ’s body. We are His family, his brothers and sisters. We have within us the same power that empowered Him – the Holy Spirit -- and we are guided by the same leading that guided Him: the will of the Father.

Let there be no misunderstanding: the call to discipleship is NOT just a call to follow Jesus, but a call to be Jesus.

Please do not write and ask: “How can we be God on the earth?” To do so begs the question and misses the point. I can never actually be Jesus. He was a person in time, just as I am another person in time. But the idea is, and was, that His followers be seen as the Lord was seen in nature, purpose, work, and destiny.

The next part of our purpose statement is easier to handle biblically: Jesus came to save lost people. He calls us to do the same thing (Mark 16:15-16) by calling the world to follow Jesus as we follow Him (Matthew 28:18-20).

The next question must be: Is our purpose statement comprehensive? We will address that matter next week.