Our Mission: What Jesus Is Already Doing In The World Today
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.—Isaiah 61:1-4
We are not advancing God’s mission. God is advancing his mission, and we’re asking him to let us be involved. In this passage, Isaiah paints a picture of what the risen Messiah is doing in the world today. He is bringing good news, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and so forth. That is the work of the gospel. And our risen Lord is advancing his work today more powerfully than ever before in history.
Here are some stats, to help us see that Isaiah’s vision of our Messiah is not theory. It is not a wish. It is reality. It is the story not in the headlines. The U. S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, a responsible and scholarly organization – I knew the founder, Ralph Winter, personally – they track the growth of the Christian movement this way. By A.D. 1430, 1% of the world’s population were Bible-believing Christians. It took about 1400 years to get to one percent. By 1790, 360 years later, 2% of the world’s population were Bible-believing Christians. By 1940, 150 years later, 3%. By 1960, 20 years later, 4%. By 1970, ten years later, 5%. By 1980, 6%. By 1983, 7%. By 1986, 8%. By 1989, 9%. By 1993, 10%. By 1997, 11%. By 2010, 12%, or one in seven people, which is a small group. There are no perfect Christians in this world, including us, but there are more and more messy believers in a mighty Jesus. He is doing what Isaiah prophesied he would do more and more. He is not asking us to make something happen. He is making it happen. All he’s asking of us is that we would move with him as he’s moving.
This vision of Christ in Isaiah does three things at once. One, it defines relevance. Two, it challenges the status quo. Three, it gives us all hope. And here’s what I’m asking of you today. I am asking that we would all, as one, trust in the power of Christ and offer ourselves to him for his power, his purpose, his glory. There is so much in the world today against comforting sufferers and multiplying churches. We live in a world that marginalizes the very people Jesus came to focus on. And too many churches are centered on themselves and their own comfort. Not only that, but the power of Christ is too often a slogan rather than a reality. Francis and Edith Schaeffer were troubled by that as they were talking one day there in Switzerland. The conversation went like this:
“Edith, I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning prayer, were removed from the Bible. I don’t mean just ignored, but actually cut out – disappeared. I wonder how much difference it would make?” We concluded it would not make much difference in many board meetings, committee meetings, decisions and activities.
This passage shows us God’s alternative. It is sacred. It is authoritative. It is beautiful. And it will triumph. The gospel is the only cause on the face of the earth that will finally succeed. Every other cause is doomed to extinction. But we will multiply churches and comfort sufferers by his power, for his glory alone. We will make many mistakes. But we will go where Jesus is going and do what he is doing, because we love him. And he will be with us. Isn’t that Christianity?
Isaiah 61 defines relevance
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.—Isaiah 61:1-3
When Jesus came into this world, the power of God came down as never before. Jesus had the greatest anointing of the Holy Spirit ever, but not for himself. It was for others. And he came not for other anointed people but for depleted people, for the poor and brokenhearted and captive – for us. And here he rejoices in his power to help people. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord was mightily upon him for a purpose, for a mission.
That purpose is defined by the infinitives of verses 1-3: to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, the proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, to comfort all who mourn, to give mourners a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. How different this anointed leader is from another leader Isaiah tells us about – Cyrus the Great. Cyrus in Isaiah’s literary strategy stands as the opposite to the Messiah. Cyrus was a Persian warlord. He was brutal, and he was successful. Isaiah said of Cyrus, “He tramples kings underfoot, he makes them like dust with his sword” (Isaiah 41:2). But here in chapter 61 is another kind of leader – a man powerful not because he was ruthless but because God was with him, a man who was meek and lowly at heart, a man so gentle “a bruised reed he will not break” (Isaiah 42:3), a man willing to be executed because other people were criminals (Isaiah 53). That’s a new kind of leader. He chooses the rejects, the soothes the wounded, the frees the captives, the cheers the sad. And how does he do this? By bringing the gospel down into their deepest heart: “to bring good news” (verse 1), “to proclaim the Lord’s favor” (verse 2). The Messiah came, and he comes, to preach a whole new world into existence.
It all started in a synagogue in Nazareth 2000 years ago. Jesus went to a service there, as was his custom. But this Sabbath Day, things were different. The moment had arrived for this prophecy to shift from park into drive. Luke’s gospel tells us Jesus stood up in the service to read the Bible. Someone handed him the book of Isaiah. He opened it up to chapter 61 and read these very words. Then Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). At that moment, the powers of heaven began coming down into the world, through him alone, to restore ruined human beings who were thinking, “My life is wrecked, and I’ll never get it back.” Those are the people Jesus came for.
All the scholars point out one surprising thing, however. The line in verse 2 that says “and the day of vengeance of our God” – Jesus left that line out when he read the passage. Why? Because the Isaiah passage describes the whole of Jesus’ mission, from his humble first coming to his triumphant second coming. And the day of God’s vengeance is the second coming of Christ. This long season of mercy, before his second coming, is “the year of the Lord’s favor.” But the sudden and brief and catastrophic second coming of Christ will be quickly accomplished – only a day. It will be a day of such wrath that people will beg the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16). But until he returns, the year of God’s favor lingers. The healing of broken people by the gospel continues and accelerates. Jesus is living and working today in all these beautiful ways. The door of mercy stands open today. But there is a time limit. We don’t have forever.
Now here is my point. Any church that isn’t doing what Jesus is doing in the power that Jesus is giving – that church is irrelevant. Churches can become distracted from the real reason they exist. Any church that isn’t doing what Jesus is doing, in the power that Jesus is giving, isn’t involved with Jesus, and that’s irrelevance – and disobedience. But any obedient church, of any denomination, of any size, of any style – if that church will give itself to what Jesus is doing in the world today, he will be there with them in power. And what else would we want our church to be? There’s nothing else for us but Jesus Community Mission. Jesus first, because he is our Savior. Then Community, because he said our credibility depends on our love for one another. Then Mission, because he wants to help people in trouble through us. We bring his presence to more and more people – we in our weakness but in his strength. Our weakness, met by his strength, advancing his mission – that is relevance.
Isaiah 61 challenges the status quo
I don’t want to dwell on this at length. I only want to point out one thing. Our Savior is not interested in shallow remedies. He sees “the ancient ruins,” “the former devastations,” “the ruined cities” and “the devastations of many generations” – he sees our personal and social problems in all their massiveness, and he alone has a plan of redemption. We look at our world and we think, “Nothing is ever going to change around here. I’m not going to change.” The risen Christ looks down on our world and he sees how much is going to change. We are not adding a glaze of Christianization on the surface of our deep brokenness. We are walking with the living Christ as he applies the hope of the gospel where it is really needed, down deep, in us, in others. Immanuel is not a religious drive-through for a happy meal of theological junk food. Immanuel is a Christian church, a sanctuary, a haven, where the broken can come and experience the living Christ. And all we want to do is build that up and multiply it for more and more people. That is not a status quo church, because we don’t belong to a status quo Savior. He is a great Savior. And we are great sinners. We need him desperately. And he loves us intensely. The whole point of Isaiah 61:1-4 is to summarize our Lord’s mission in just two sentences, the first sentence (verses 1-3) all about him and the second sentence (verse 4) about how he uses us. And I see nothing small and unworthy anywhere in these verses. I see the grandeur of Christ, I see the greatness of our need, and I see a new humaneness appearing in this world by a power from beyond this world. It is not containable within any status quo, including our own status quo. Do not think you can live a missional life without having to change. Changing the status quo, starting with me and you – that is the mission.
Isaiah 61 gives us hope
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.—Isaiah 61:4
What is the antecedent to the pronoun “they”? Who are these people who will build up the ancient ruins, and so forth? Let’s go back to verse 3, the first line: “those who mourn.” Go back to verse 2: “all who mourn.” Go back to verse 1: “the poor,” “the brokenhearted,” “the captives,” and “those who are bound.” What kind of people, then, does the risen Christ use in his great work? The most unlikely people. The very people we would not hire he delights to employ, because then he gets all the glory. And we’re glad that he partners with unlikely people, because that’s us. Isaiah 61 is an Old Testament way of saying what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1, that “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” comforts us in our pain so that we can comfort others in their pain with the comfort God has sent down to us. God does not use perfect people living ideal lives at the top of heap. God uses real people living real lives. Stop waiting to serve the Lord until your life is perfect. Start now, even as you feel unprepared. It’s not about you. It’s about his power in you. Trust him, and step out. And we love this, because everyone can serve, if we’ll just stay open to him.
One of the great things we’re all sensing these days, as we consider the magnitude of multiplying churches and comforting sufferers is that it’s too big for us. That’s good. When we’re struggling to figure out how it’s all going to happen, that’s good. We have no glib answers. We have only openness. Then we can give first place to the Lord. I love the way Randy Pope down in Atlanta puts it: “Attempt something so great that it is doomed to failure, unless God is in it.” The reason we’re all having to think through what this will look like and what it will require of us and how it will change us – the reason our mission isn’t easy and obvious is that it’s like Isaiah 61:1-4. There is nothing small and manageable about Christ. We can’t snap our fingers and make him happen. He makes us happen. We’re looking to him to give us wisdom and courage. We are so open. And our openness means he can use us. It’s all he’s asking for. Are you available to Christ today? Have you told him? Will you tell him now?
The people God uses are the people who need God. Jesus said he was like a doctor coming to help sick people (Mark 2:17). Isn’t that what we see here in Isaiah? I love the way Dan Fuller put it:
We must entrust our sick selves to Christ as the Great Physician, with confidence that he will work until our hellishness is transformed into godliness. One implication . . . is that while he will prescribe certain general instructions for all his patients to follow, he will also make up individual health regimens for the particular needs of each patient. For example, he may direct some to leave their homeland to go proclaim the gospel in a foreign land [or do brave things right here in Nashville]. There is great temptation in such circumstances for people to revert to the legalism of thinking that they are being heroes for God because they are leaving their homeland to endure the rigors of living in a foreign land. Those who are dedicated to do hard jobs for God must remind themselves that these rigors are simply for their health. These difficulties help them become more like Christ. People who regard themselves as invalids rather than heroes make excellent missionaries.
Do you realize what you need, in order to help multiply churches and comfort sufferers? What you and I both need, before we figure out exactly what to do, is to see ourselves as sick people being wonderfully cared for by the universe’s foremost expert on sin-sickness. We are the poor made rich in Jesus, the brokenhearted made whole in Jesus, the captives breaking out through Jesus, the bound throwing off their shackles by Jesus, the mourners laughing out loud because of Jesus – it is these who build up the ancient ruins of long-standing sins and dysfunctions that no government program can begin to touch. Law enforcement – we thank God for them – law enforcement can do what they do. They can break down motel doors and get people out. But we can receive broken people as friends, and we can all get down on our knees together and invite the Lord into our deepest hearts, where we all need so much help. And we can multiply that ministry of comfort to one another and to others coming in among us – we can multiply it in more and more churches in our city and far beyond. Jesus himself will do this through us. Our part is to keep saying yes as he leads us forward, step by step. We don’t have to be something we aren’t. The doctor loves his invalids and makes them healers. This great work will change us. Don’t think you can fit this into the margins of your current routine. Don’t think you can serve Jesus, even in the power of the Holy Spirit, without getting tired. Jesus himself got tired. If we will give ourselves to him, we will all be very tired and very happy. But the cause of Christ belongs to Christ. It’s his work, by his power, for his glory alone. He will succeed. Is there any reason not to trust him and jump in?