Participating in the Missio Dei | Part 9
In part 8 of our series, we learned three significant ways in which Jesus was reshaping Israel to live up to her God-given mission of being a light of God’s good rule and reign to the nations. Jesus was also doing this mighty work of forming Israel by declaring, demonstrating, and demanding that his followers display a distinctive way of life that would stand in stark contrast to the surrounding culture and make clear that God’s kingdom had arrived and that they were God’s faithful missional community.
What did Jesus declare, demonstrate, and demand from his followers? Or another way to put it: what were the essential marks of God’s people that indicated they were a distinctive missional community? Here are four key characteristics:
The Life of God’s People is a Life of Love
Jesus points to love as God’s fundamental creational design and intent for human life. When the Jewish leaders ask Jesus which is the greatest commandment, he replies:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)
The law has outlined a way of life for ancient Israel that shows what it means to love God and neighbor in their context. This provides an essential insight into what it means for Israel to live as a light to the nations. Jesus speaks clearly against the idols of the Jews and shows what a life of true love for God and others would entail. This is seen in Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5-7. Here, Jesus shows how his people are to be a community that embodies suffering love against the hatred and vengeance prevalent in the first century—and this is to extend even to their enemies:
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45 NIV)
27“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. (Luke 6:27-29 NIV)
Radical, sacrificial, God-centered love was a distinctive characteristic of God’s missional people. They are to love Jesus as Jesus loves the Father, and this love will show itself in obedience to him. They are also to love one another (John 15:9-17). Jesus’ love demonstrated reconciliation and forgiveness; therefore, God’s people were to love through reconciliation and forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35). Jesus’ embodied peace and joy; therefore, God’s people were to represent peace and joy (John 14:27; 15:11). Jesus’ love championed justice; therefore, God’s people were to be a people characterized by justice:
33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33 ESV)
The word “righteousness” has often been understood merely as an individual’s ethical obedience, but there’s more to it. Justice involves setting things right in economic, political, and social relationships so there may be harmony. Justice is primarily concerned with protecting the rights of the poor, the weak, and the otherwise vulnerable in society in the face of unjust structures that favor the powerful (Luke 4:18–19). The community centered on Jesus is characterized by this serious concern for justice.
The Life of God’s People is a Life of Suffering
Jesus and his disciples challenged the false gods of both Roman and Jewish cultures and thus earned a hostile response. Jesus forms a missional community whose very existence challenges both Rome’s legitimacy and the “gods” that support the Roman ideal of culture. They can expect to suffer whenever God’s people challenge the prevailing order. Jesus warns his disciples that if they remain faithful to him, they can expect to suffer:
18“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:18-20 NIV)
The Life of God’s People is a Life of Prayer
There is no way God’s people could live a life of love and suffering without his power! As we mentioned in an earlier post, the gift of the Holy Spirit would be the power God’s people need to be a distinct community among the culture. The kingdom of God is, first of all, God’s power to restore and liberate human life from the power of sin. The Spirit has come and is at work renewing human hearts. But the power of the gospel, the work of the Spirit, and the renewal of the heart come only in God’s answer to prayer and in our abiding in Christ.
As Jesus gathers his disciples and invites them to live the distinctive life of the kingdom of God, he also teaches them to pray (Matthew 6:5-13; Luke 11:2-4). Jesus teaches that the kingdom’s coming is a matter of power – God’s power by the Holy Spirit – to restore God’s rule. It is a work of the Spirit in the community to form their life together, and through their words and deeds to make them “salt and light” of the coming kingdom (Matthew 5:13-16). Human beings do not build God’s kingdom; it is the work of God. And it’s prayer, calling on God to do his work among his people, which is essential to the missional community Jesus forms.
Yet before Jesus’ community could fulfill their calling, the reign of evil and the power of sin had to end. Jesus’ disciples would need the power of the age to come, to bring new life into them and equip them to take up their vocation. And all this was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which we’ll look at in our next post.
