The role of the church in the world is to proclaim a radiant awareness of God’s nature and a radiant awareness of the Kingdom of heaven coming to the earth.
We represent all that is wonderful about the person of God and his willingness to forgive, redeem and restore. Our very lives are a description of this goodness. Our testimony reveals his beauty and love and kindness. We are the New Testament, not written on paper, but a revelation of God’s love lived out before men and women.
Yet our communities are full of people who distrust God and deny his love. There is a hatred of the church and organized religion and a suspicion of Christians.
The obsession of the church with sin and judgment has created a deeply rooted animosity in our communities towards the gospel. We have much hardness to overcome initially before we can plant seeds of love and truth. The gospel calls people to repentance-literally, to think again about God and turn towards him.
But the image that we portray about God can prevent repentance from taking place. We cannot threaten people into receiving good news. We cannot proclaim the anger and determination of God to punish people and think that we can threaten them into faith.
If anyone told me about a person who was angry, intolerant, negative, with a history of punishing people for wrongdoing, and then invited me to come into an intimate relationship with him, I would decline the offer.
Fortunately, that is not the gospel. There is no good news in negativity. Christians who act like that and preach like that misrepresent the essential nature of God and the importance of the sacrifice of Jesus. In Christ, the father can now abstain from wrath. He is satisfied with the blood of Jesus. We tread underfoot the cross of Christ when we represent God as angry. We are saying that the blood of Jesus does not work effectively.
Does God get angry? Yes, but only at that which prevents his love from being manifested in the earth.
One of the root causes of the malice in our culture is that many Christians have not had a real, ongoing encounter with the nature of God. They require a relational upgrade.
Many people have a distorted image of God’s true nature, which can only be corrected by an upgrade in their experience of his grace, love, goodness, and kindness. We are ambassadors of the king of love, and a Kingdom so radiant with beauty, that our faces shine from being in his presence.
In this Kingdom, love and goodness are huge factors in our relationship with the Lord. Goodness is at the heart of all revelatory gifting.
1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
Everything we do in pursuing love and developing the prophetic gift, is so that people are edified, encouraged, and comforted in the course of life (1 Corinthians 14: 1).
We cannot escape the culture of the New Covenant. Neither can we operate from an inferior Covenant when a new one has been put in place. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Covenant prophets who bowed a knee to Jesus, who is a New Covenant prophet, priest, and king. He is the model for New Covenant prophetic gifting which represents the image of the father and acts in line with the Kingdom principles laid down by Jesus in his ministry.
To prophesy in the style and context of the Old Covenant is now illegal behavior. John came to prepare the way for an entirely different kind of prophet. Jesus came saying, you have heard it said (Old Covenant), but now I say to you (New Covenant).
The ministry of Jesus caused consternation and controversy because he was leading a culture out of its Old Testament way of thinking and behavior into a New relationship with God.
We have similar difficulties today where some churches are quick to judge and condemn others because they themselves are unfamiliar with the gospel of reconciliation and redemption. The world has been reconciled to God.
Through Jesus, the father has reconciled all things to himself-Colossians 1: 20. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. When we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. Jesus died for the ungodly-Romans 5: 6-10.
To reconcile means to change from one condition to another to remove all enmity and leave no impediment to unity and peace. God does not change! Removing his wrath does not violate his immutability (unchanging). He always acts according to his unchanging righteousness and holiness. His love, grace, mercy, goodness, patience, loving kindness and joy are unchanging also! He is immutable in all aspects of this nature and character.
The sacrifice of Jesus satisfies the father so completely that wrath and judgment are deferred in this life. There is no judgment but still there is justice! People will still reap what they sow. We can appeal to God for the exposure of wickedness and evil deeds. We can pray for the light to shine on the unfruitful works of darkness. We can use our authority in Christ to cast out devils and come against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of judgment by revealing that the ruler of this world has been judged on their behalf-John 16: 11. We judge the demonic, not people, in this present world.
On the day judgment they’ll come back into play. Scripture is clear; therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord returns. He will bring to light the things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts. Then each man’s praise will come to him from God-1 Corinthians 4: 5.
Our battle is not against people (flesh and blood) but against spiritual powers. In a sin sick world where evil and wickedness are rampant, we fight the power that is behind it, not the people deceived by it. We determine what is enemy oppression and the spiritual bondage of possession, and we take authority over the enemy in order to set the Captive free.
How much warfare does it take to bring freedom? What are the weapons of our warfare? If we overcome evil with good (Romans 12: 21), then goodness is a weapon. It is the kindness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2: 4), then surely kindness must be a weapon. If God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (John 3: 16), then love is a weapon. If we are bringing the glad tidings of great joy to the world, then joy is a weapon.
The issue in any locality is how do we cast out the devil and bring freedom to this community? Our assessment of the situation must involve this radiant idea. How much goodness and kindness needs to be released so that this community can taste and see that the Lord is good?
Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil acts 10: 38. Our language to all people must reflect the heart of God. He has committed to us the gospel of reconciliation. The price has been paid. There is no longer any enmity between God and man. All men have the potential to be saved, they are pre-Christians. The way it’s open and clear from God’s side. Favor is now possible because of God’s goodness and kindness.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5: 14-21 is breathtaking in its beauty and its heavenly approach to the world in which we live.
Reconciliation is the good news of the removal of wrath in this life and the very real possibility of redemption. Reconciliation is God making the first move in Christ towards humanity. Redemption is our response. Reconciliation puts a person into a state of receptivity to the gospel of atonement. Reconciliation is the process of goodness and kindness leading to repentance and redemption. Reconciliation stresses the promise of atonement.
Reconciliation and redemption are the way to God. People step on to the way in reconciliation and step into redemption when repentance becomes salvation. The journey does not stop at redemption, but goes on into relationship, fullness and being made in the image of God.
Reconciliation is the process that empowers people to come to redemption. People are awakened to love and all the possibilities of goodness and kindness that reveals God’s loving nature.
When the church has a distorted image of the nature of God it is always people who suffer. By representing God as angry, judgmental, and condemning, the church has robbed the world of reconciliation as a process to discover God. They are now blind and defenseless against a malignant enemy who loves to steal, kill, and destroy.
We are ambassadors of reconciliation, representatives of heaven. The good news is that each geographical location has numerous ambassadors who represent God’s intentionality. Each location has several embassies where people can go to a king who would say yes to them belonging permanently and forever in that kingdom.
To reconcile means to restore and bring back to relationship. It means to bring to agreement, call together and render favorable. God is disposed to be gracious. He is full of promise and favorably inclined. What we saw Jesus do in a pre-Christian, pre- redemptive society, we can do in a post reconciliation, redemptive community. We are the good news!
If we see ourselves as ambassadors of good news, what is our proclamation? What image are we giving of the Kingdom we represent? Our voice is critical in the earth. There are lots of voices and ours must become the most significant. It is crucial that our voice matches God’s heart for all people. The gospel is glad tidings of great joy.
A prophet must be good news-even if that news is to repent. Our language towards people is vital. The testimony of Jesus in our lives is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19: 10). What Jesus is to us, we become to others. We can only reveal what God has made real to us. When we are Christ-like, people discover Christ.
The world is desperate to know God. People are hungry for love and significance. People want to belong to and believe in a God of outstanding grace, love, and kindness. People long for the security of daily trust and confidence in a higher power. Many people are broken, destroyed, and discarded. Speaking of an angry, vengeful God only reinforces every abusive relationship they have ever suffered.
Our message to the world cannot be double minded. It must have a focused heart view. We are soul winners not people destroyers. We do not put people down; we raise them up.
If this is true of our relationship in the pre-Christian community, how much more is it of our fellowship in the household of God?