Seeking a Pattern -2

In my previous post, I mentioned that I felt I was looking for a pattern in the wrong place. This is a difficult idea to explain and to some it will probably seem as if there is no difference in my choices. It can be called just a shift of emphasis but it is a shift I want to make. The shift is looking at Jesus and his relationships to be my pattern for living as a Christian, disciple, and follower of Jesus. (One side note, this change is not about right or wrong.)

Have you ever thought of God as a “sending God?” Didn’t the Father send the Son, and then the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit and now the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are sending me (us). Sending me to do what, to continue what Jesus started and the disciples kept doing. Each of the gospel writers may have had a different way of expressing Jesus’ mission, but it seems they agreed on the results.

Matthew 4:23 says he went preaching the good news and healing people.
Mark 1:14 says Jesus went proclaiming the good news of God.
Luke 4:18 says Jesus was anointed to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and to release the oppressed.
John doesn’t use the word gospel or good news but the story in John 4 with the woman at the well I think carries the same theme.

Jesus’ mission was an all encompassing one. He had compassion on all aspects of their lives, their physical as well as spiritual. This is where I feel we have been too limited in our thinking. I know I have in the past been primarily (almost exclusively) only concerned about getting someone baptized. Relationships and concerns about a non-Christian’s physical life was there, but it was “on the back burner” until they were saved.

David Dunbar phrased it this way.
"We stressed the importance of teaching and preaching the gospel
clearly--most of it within the church and for the church. Good
works were encouraged as a response to the gospel and as a way of
saying "thank you" to God for his mercy."

I see the relationships Jesus had with people encompassing all aspects of their lives. The gospel message is more than just a way to get heaven. There is a life to be lived here and Christians are apart of God’s continuing plan to restore the relationships that were broken and are broken because of sin.

We no longer live in the age of Christendom, a time when the church was a partner and an influence in society. We have to earn our right to be heard again. We have to follow Jesus out of our buildings and among people who don’t know Jesus.