Kevin De Young –
Session 2 – The Mission of the Church
The ministry of church / gospel / mission
Mission – not a biblical word in our English Bible – but Latin,
sent, Gk, apostle, sent
Not every good thing Xians may do but what is the church
gathered as institution and scattered as organism sent to do? What is the
church’s task?
How do gospel proclamation and social action / justice /
mercy ministry relate in the mission of the church? 2 wings of a bird / plane?
The ministry of J and the mission of the church – Mk
(1) Jesus ministered to bodies as well as to souls
A prototypical day in Jesus’ ministry
(a) teaching
(b) exorcism
(c) healing
Mk 3 – apostles sent to preach and cast out demons – cf. Mt
10 - healing
Compassion for hurting people motivated J to minister to
bodies – healing of the Leper – moved with pity
Mk 8:2 – compassion on hungry crowd
Mercy on Bartimaeus
Lk 7:13 – compassion
The heart of Jesus is moved with compassion for hurting
suffering people and their bodily needs
Kevin de Young, What is the mission of the church? (Book)
(2) Within this ministry to body and soul, Jesus made
preaching his priority
Opening summary: Mk 1:14ff – proclaiming the gospel of God
and saying...
G E Ladd, Gospel and Kingdom, passive verbs related to
kingdom – you enter and receive the kingdom – not build the kingdom
Gospel proclamation of J as king / lord is only good news if
you preach repentance and faith, the means of entering the blessings of the
kingdom, being reconciled to Jesus as your king and Lord
1:21
1:38 – the disciples want to prioritise healing but Jesus
wants to preach elsewhere – that is why Jesus came
Jesus never went into a town with the explicit purpose of
healing or casting out demons. He came out to preach, though of course he
healed and cast out demons along the way.
Mk 2:17 – I came to call sinners – proclamation
Mk 6 – the people of Nazareth scandalised by Jesus – v5,
their unbelief was so counter to his purpose that he would not heal there – he
did not come just to put on a show nor to be useful to them in their physical
infirmities
Feeding of the 5000 – 6:34 – compassion because they are
like sheep without a shepherd, so he begins to teach them many things –
compassion ministry is bible teaching, telling lost sinners how to be saved
(3) In the end Jesus ministered to body as well as souls and
made preaching his priority so that those with ears to hear might see his true
identity and have faith in him. This was his purpose, his ultimate aim. He came
to die for sins and he aimed for people to know who he was and trust in him.
The healings and exorcisms intended to show who Jesus was.
1:1 – the purpose of Mk, what Mk wants to prove
3 Acts in Mark
1:1-13 – prologue / introduction
Act 1: 1:14-8:21 – Jesus demonstrates he is the X the Son of
God, most miracles here, wonder and amazement about Jesus – 5:43; 7:37 –
reactions to Jesus, what the miracle says about J – Mk 2 – healing of the
paralysed man, priority of forgiveness of sins, the miracles demonstrate J’s
authority and true identity
Parable of the Sower – faith
Calming of Storm
Who is this man?
Act 2: 8:22 – end of Ch. 8 – Jesus clarifies what it means
to be the Son of God
Turning point: Peter’s confession
The Father and the demons have said who Jesus is but now for
the first time a human being gets it
Peter does not really get the nature of X’s messiah-ship as
suffering servant
3 miracles in this act, all to do with clarifying Jesus’
identity and true faith in him
Healing of the boy in ch 9 – what is real faith?
2 healings of blind people – ch 8 & 10 – Bethsaida and Bartimaeus
– humility of Bartimaeus and the pride of James and Jn
Ch 8 – 2 stage healing – men like trees walking – Peter sees
something but cannot yet see clearly – Peter is like this blind man
Act 3: Ch 11-end – Jesus proves he is the X
Only the cursing of the fig tree (and the resurrection here)
– the overthrowing of the temple / Israel
Jesus finally says I am the Son of the blessed one (ch 14)
This man truly was the Son of God, the centurion confesses
at the cross (ch 15)
The promise of the title of 1:1 proved at cross and
resurrection
16:8 – the ultimate cliff hanger – what about you, your
response, who do you say that I am?
In Mark, then, Jesus DEMONSTRATES, CLARIFIES and PROVES who
he is
Applications / conclusions:
(1) If we are becoming more like Jesus, we will have
compassion on the needs of the world and we will want to help
Gal 6:10
1 Tim 5
Priority of family and church family but do good to all as
we have opportunity
(2) Proclamation must remain the church’s priority
Jesus could have just had a great healing mission and
avoided the cross
If the church only does what would make Bono and Oprah
proud, we are not being Christ-like or
The Great Commission – the task that the church was sent to
do
Making disciples of X as servants of others is the task of
the church
(3) Whenever we engage in compassion / mercy ministry, there
should always be an aim that Jesus might be known and believed in for salvation
Finite time, resources etc.
Peter Ducker: You don’t really have priorities until you
have posteriorities
What are you not going to do so that you can do what you
have really be sent to do?
The church as church is sent primarily to proclaim the
gospel of salvation
Keep the main thing the main thing
J Gresham Machen at height of depression and liberalism –
what is the purpose of the church in this new age? The same as in every age to
testify about human sin, God offers communion with himself, no other salvation
full and free that whoever possesses it has a treasure which all the kingdoms
of the earth are as the dust of the street
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