Over the past few months, we have immersed ourselves in the Mission Handbook, a document that stands at the heart of our missionary community. The Handbook tells us who we are, what we do, where we do it, and why.
We have looked so far at who we are. But now, what do we do? The answer comes in Handbook Section III – our Mission Statement…
We are a Lutheran community committed to:
- know Christ;
- pray for the advance of his kingdom;
- share the gospel and ourselves with those who do not know him; and,
- encourage Christians everywhere in this global task (¶12).
There is an explicit order to our activities in the world: first and foremost, we are committed to know Christ. Before we pray, we must know the One who invites us into dialogue. Before we serve, we must know the One we follow. Before we participate in the apostolic mission of God in any significant way at all, we must know the Great Apostle himself (Hebrews 3:1).
You may remember a famous scene in the Gospel of John, just following the feeding of the five thousand (6:1-14). The crowds are well impressed with Jesus of Nazareth: they have eaten miraculously. Yet Jesus senses that they are impressed for the wrong reasons. “You are looking for me… because you ate your fill of the loaves,” he tells them (v.26). And he goes on: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (v.27). Now he has their careful attention. There may be more bread in the pipeline… and bread that will last forever! The crowds are ready to sign on.
“What must we do to perform the works of God?” they ask expectantly. “This is the work of God,” Jesus replies, “that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:28,29).
This is still the fundamental “work of God.” It is not our praying, however diligently we may pray. It is not our serving, however impressively we may serve. The fundamental “work of God” is faith. First and foremost, it is knowing Christ. If we don’t have this dynamic right, we will work for the wrong reasons, too.
This is why we pray in Jesus name, if we are to pray in a missional, New Testament way. We come to the Father in the name of the Son. This kind of prayer signifies two things, at least. Our own name is poor grounds for coming into the presence of the Almighty; yet we may come in Jesus’ name, as God’s own child, with bold confidence. “We have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him” (Ephesians 3:12).
This is why we serve in Jesus’ name, if we are to serve in a New Testament way. We enter the world in the name of the Son of God. St. Peter himself set an early example: “I have no silver or gold,” he told the paralytic, “but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Peter’s first-century colleagues continued the pattern: “They set out under the banner of the Name” (3 John 1:7, The Message). Our own name is poor grounds for apostolic ministry: the world doesn’t need more of you (or me) anyway. We serve in Jesus’ name. The world needs Jesus.
We are made who we are and serve as we do in the wonderful name of Jesus. The Handbook puts it this way:
Knowing Jesus Christ centers our life of faith and service in the world. They are not based upon our own efforts or accomplishments: what we ourselves may or may not do. They are based upon Christ: what he has done and continues to accomplish on our behalf (¶210).
Last month we wrote briefly about the three traditional \”solas\” of the Lutheran reformation. A fourth is often added, tying the traditional three together: “Solus Christus” – only by Christ. As Lutheran believers and Christian missionaries, we find in Jesus Christ our only sure hope and the only hope for the world. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved,” Peter announced long ago (Acts 4:12). And there is still no other name: we will not waver in this regard.
We are called to “know Christ”: this is the “work of God” in us. And we are called to invite others to know him, too.
Other posts in this Introducing the Mission Handbook series: