Spirituality and Mission: Pt II

In the last entry, I briefly summarized the mission of the church as the salvation of God's elect. This was essentially the apostolic mission as articulated by Paul in Col.1:24-29:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Paul here speaks (stunningly) of what "is lacking in Christ's afflictions." Of course, he does not mean that Christ's work of redemption accomplished in his incarnation, death, and exaltation was incomplete in itself. Paul clearly understood the entire efficacy of redemption (including the Spirit's regenerative work, and the individual appropriation by faith) as flowing from the perfections of Christ's cross and resurrection. The atonement of Christ was not then lacking in any way. But there was work left to be done - there was suffering yet to be endured, and especially by his apostles (cf. 1Co.4:9-13) for the fulfillment of God's redemptive purposes in the world.

In particular, Paul saw his task as consisting fundamentally in the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified - the mystery of God (cf. 1Co.2:1-13). And for this gospel he suffered, in order that the riches of God's mystery might be made known among the Gentiles (cf. 2:1-3). And to what end? That he might fulfill his priestly duty (Ro.15:16) to present every man perfect in Christ before God.

And the work of God's unfolding redemption in Christ continues. There is work for us to accomplish. There is suffering yet to be endured. And for us who are united to Christ, this is good news (cf. Phil.1:29; Rom.8:17).

We too must work and suffer to make the gospel known. This is our glory as the church in the world!


At the center of the church's mission then is nothing less than the complete salvation of all the elect of God (cf. Titus 1:1; 2Tim.2:10). But this can only be accomplished within the broader task of the church to proclaim and embody the gospel in the world.

In this sense, the church's task encompasses not only the elect but the whole world. It is only as the church faithfully communicates the mystery of Christ in and before the world that the elect will be saved. In terms of Christ's commission(s) as recorded in Matthew and Mark, we can only "make disciples of the nations" as we "preach the gospel to all creation" (cf. Col.1:23).

Moreover, the preaching of the gospel to all not only yields repentance and faith among the elect (cf. 1Th.1:4-5), but also rejection by the world (e.g., 2Co.4:3-4); and thus the unbelieving world's condemnation is established (e.g., 2Th.2:9-12). This too is God's purpose. Jesus declared that "the gospel must first be preached to all the world," as a testimony (Mt.24:14; Mk.13:10) - both as a testimony to the mercy, wisdom and righteousness of God in Christ (for the salvation of those who believe), and as a testimony against the world in its rejection of Christ (cf. 1Co.2:6). For this dual purpose Christ was appointed (cf. Lk.2:34; 1Pe.2:6-8).

And yet, as awesome as this is (see 2Co.2:14-16), this too fails to capture the entire, wholistic mission of the church.

In embodying the gospel in the world, the church acts to recover (in part, at least) the original purposes of creation in the midst of our 'falleness'. In particular, in our redemption, the image of God is restored in us through Christ (Col.3:10; Eph.4:24), to be what God had intended us to be "from the beginning" (cf. Mt.19:4, 8; Ge.1:27). Thus we Christians work, marry, have children, submit to governing authorities, buy, sell, etc. - in a word, live normal and good lives, in accordance to our original design and purpose (Ge.1:28). In Christ, the glorious purpose for humanity, forfeited in the fall, is now restored (He.2:6-9). And by virtue of our present participation in Christ's exalted humanity, we recover that original purpose, to the glory of God. In particular, we act to vindicate God's original designs for humanity and the world in the present order.

I think of these three overarching tasks as concentric circles or spheres, with each circle becoming more focused and precise. The first and most comprehensive circle is our purpose of vindicating God's ways with and in the world, paritcularly with regard to humanity. Within that (cosmic) circle lies our task of proclaiming and embodying the (particular, historically manifested) mystery of Christ on earth, as the image of God in a broken world, and the full disclosure of mankind's redemption and destiny. And at the center of that circle is our purpose to make mature disciples of all the nations, to the end that the whole church might be wholly perfected (cf. Eph.4:11-16). We thereby function to vindicate the righteousness of God in redemption, as revealed in the gospel.

No small task!

And yet this is not a call to an 'extraordinary' spirituality - to some sort of modern monasticism. It is a call to live our lives in the world as we were called (1Co.7:17), as ordered by God in His providence, and according to His commandments (cf. 1Co.7:19-20). And here, where God has placed us, where he has redeemed us, we are to deliberately make disciples of Christ (Mt.28:19) who likewise worship and serve God according to our original design. As we pursue this specific mandate, we fulfill our broad task of embodying the gospel in the world, and the cultural mandate to represent God's righteous reign on earth!

It is an 'earthy' spirituality, then, calling us to reflect the image of God in Christ as mothers, fathers, children, housewives, engineers, plumbers, artists, doctors, missionaries, etc., to the end that God would be glorified in Jesus Christ - the true man, the true atonement, the true mediator, and the one true God - in the salvation of the elect, the vindication of the gospel, and the fulfillment of God's creational purposes.