Jesus modeled for us the perfect church, the perfect leadership style. He loved God with all of His heart. He loved people so much that he suffered on their behalf. And to prove it, to show God and people the endless bounds of His great love, He did what few are willing to do - He made himself second.
As the church, we should be gratefully thankful that we've been invited into God's family and given an opportunity to work in His Kingdom. We should respect and honor what has been given to us, this abundant life and Kingdom work. And we should be responsible with how we handle it and with what we do with it.
We've geared our weekends and outreach ministries as "in-house", "all-you-can-eat buffet", "one-stop-shop service centers".
Interesting Jesus never chose a mountain or hand-picked a temple to make His job easier by sending mass emails and posting giant billboards along the donkey trails to get the people to come to Him. If anyone could have been successful at one-stop-shop ministry, Jesus could have certainly done it.
Fish & bread? Jesus will hook you up!
Prosthetic leg? Forget prosthetic, He'll get you the real thing!
Trouble with Demon Possession? One word and out they go!
Jesus didn't make the people come to Him. Not to say our churches can't be attractional. Jesus certainly knew how to both attract and wow a crowd. But He was always on the move. And He expected his followers to do the same.
So what does missional look like? That's simple. It looks like loving God and loving people - all people.
Ed Stetzer summed up the Missional Church as movement - A missional church should 1. Serve Locally, 2. Send Nationally, and 3. Adopt or Serve a People Group Globally.
Movement. Action.
If Satan had a strategy to derail the church, what could that strategy possibly be? Perhaps it could be to get the church more internally focused than externally purposed - buildings over people.
If we really walked our city streets, I think it would be nearly impossible not to become missional. Problem is, we don't. We walk the halls of our churches instead. If we truly became outward focused and asked God to break our hearts for what breaks His, I think He'd do it. Problem is, it'd mess up our schedules and suddenly Sunday School classes and softball tournaments would seem a bit irrelevant.
People need Jesus. They also need some practical needs met. And they need to see Jesus in action, through us, His church.
If we really loved our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, what would life suddenly look like for us? What would we keep for ourselves? What would we demand be given away? How would our time be spent? Where would our money go?
Francis Chan said it best when he addressed the financial commitment he and his church had made - If we truly loved others as much as we love ourselves, we'd give as much to others as we keep for ourselves. The church Francis Chan pastored now gives 55% of it's entire budget away. That wouldn't even cover facility expense in most churches! That surely wouldn't cover staff and salary expense in most churches either. Yet, they're doing quite well.
Jesus met both the physical and spiritual needs of the people he met while traveling. He didn't make people come to him. He went to them. And whether it was food for the hungry, healing for the sick or counsel for the emotionally troubled, Jesus did it all.
I guess the point is this.
Remember how Jesus first officially introduced himself to the people of Jerusalem- He rode into town on a donkey.
Then what did He do?
He got off his donkey and got to work.
I think it's time we did the same.
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