Musings on Spiritual Matters

John 20:21 “Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  What is the nature of this sending?  The sending continues for the Christian.  The Father sent the Son, the Son sent the Spirit, and the Spirit empowered the church.  Since Christians are a sent people, what is the message that Christians proclaim to the world?  The message should be the same as Jesus’.  What was Jesus’ message on earth?  Luke 4:16-21 tells of his mission of proclamation.  “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  Jesus sent his disciples out also to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  Luke 9:2 states “And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to perform healing.”  Christians are to proclaim the reign of God on earth.  This means that Christians identify the areas in which God is moving on earth.  Believers highlight the presence of God in the world.  How is God working, where is He working, and what is He doing?  These are questions that Christians ask in order to declare the reign of God to the Lost.  God is working in His kingdom.  Stories must be told of the present work of God.  One must look at how God worked in the past to see how God works today.  God is a God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  A vision of God that is trapped in the past will not be powerful in the present.  The kingdom is here, therefore where is the King moving?  This is the message that Christians proclaim to the world.

Related posts:

1. Missional Spiritual Formation
2. A Church for Weak Christians
3. A Theocentric Focus
4. Denominational Spirituality
5. Hebrews 7:13-14 and Silence

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.