Well, to answer that one in a nutshell: He is looking for faith on the earth! (see Luke 18:8) That’s what He wants to start with. The bigger picture is that He is looking for a glorious Church, a beautiful Bride, a body of people that will radiate His Love and Presence, and fill the earth with the knowledge of His Glory (Habakkuk 2:14)
Jesus promises “I will build……My Church…. and the gates of Hell will not stand against it.” (Matt 16:18). So what kind of Church is He looking for that will make Him and His ways known throughout the earth?
1) A Supernatural Community – a Gateway that brings heaven to earth in the community around. If you read Genesis 28 and the first mention of a House of God in scripture, you will notice that it contains several defining marks: The manifest Presence of God, His voice, a ladder or gateway connecting earth to heaven, angels and supernatural manifestations for starters. Then at Jesus baptism in Mark 4 we see the same marks: a gateway or open heaven, the manifest Presence of God’s Spirit, the voice of the Father, supernatural happenings and angels attending Him as he goes into the desert. These are the defining marks of any dwelling place of God whether in a geographical location, the person of Jesus or the people of God (the Church). All these things are there in the Acts of the Apostles and are the normal and expected signs and marks of a community of believers….
2) A Community of Honour – reflecting the very nature and heart of God. “God is a community, a family (Father, Son and Spirit) so when He creates in His own image He creates community and family where each of the members honours the other.” This means we are called to live in humility, considering others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3). “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love and honour one another above yourselves” (Romans 10:12). Wow! That’s radical living! A community where everyone is living for the sake of the others. In 1722 the community of Count Zinzendorf covenanted to wear a ring as a constant reminder of their purpose. Each ring bore the inscription: “None of us lives for himself” No competition, criticism or superiority, just a simple desire to honour the others. “By this shall all men know you are my disciples, that you have love for one another ” - Jesus (John 13:36)
3) An Apostolic Community - where an apostle is defined as one who is sent with a divine mandate to change the prevailing culture to reflect the heavenly one, just like Jesus. A Roman General’s mandate in conquering other nations and lands would be to make them home from home, or more specifically to make them “Rome from Rome.” Our city of Bath is a prime example of this. Likewise, the community of believers is here on earth in order to live out the culture of Heaven and to bring the Kingdom of God on earth, releasing His goodness all around, freely and without prejudice (religious, evangelical or otherwise). When an ambassador of any nation moves to foreign soil, his home and land there belongs to the nation he represents not to the one in which he now lives. Our homes and workplaces are now heavenly soil, they do not belong to the evil one; it is God’s world we are walking through! We are called to overflow with heaven’s goodness, mercy and power.
4) A Missional Community - where we join God in intentionally loving the world around us. God’s Will needs to be done in God’s way and with His power. We are called to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt 28) to make every nation passionate followers of Jesus, by living out the Great Command: Loving God and our neighbours with all our hearts (Matt 22:37f). Literally loving others on purpose! When God came to earth He didn’t send knowledge, information, a set of instructions or a committee. Rather “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1). For so long we have given the world just a snapshot, a photo of Jesus, and often, sadly, not a very good one. The time has come to re-present Jesus to our community and nation, to be Jesus to the world. This of course is impossible on our own, but with God all things are possible. Only believe.
This is our mission, should we choose to accept it.
This is excellent Andrew.. I really want to come back to this again and again. I do think this is a prophetic and key word for us in this season.