Christ’s Mission for Our Lives

Deuteronomy 5:1-20; Matthew 5:1-7:28; Romans 13:8-14

Jim Davis

Church’s have become famous for handing potentially new members a copy of their mission statement. We do it to tell the world our purpose for existing. I wonder how many are seeking to help churches accomplish their mission without ever realizing God’s mission for their personal life. Can I really accomplish the mission of the church without understanding God’s mission for me personally? 

God gave Moses a mission statement when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. His mission statement was very personal. It challenged the personal life of every person leaving Egypt with Moses. It was called the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:1-20). The commandments were a code of ethics that challenged their personal lives. When Jesus came on the scene 1500 years later he reminded the children of Abraham the importance of those commandments. 

Matthew 5:17-20
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. NIV

Jesus doesn’t stop with reiterating one’s need to obey the commandments. Jesus reveals the spirit with which the commandments must be kept—we call Jesus teaching the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Jesus attempted to take the commandments from a list of do’s and don’ts and plant them squarely into the heart of those who would choose to follow him. He revealed the very spirit by which the commandments must be kept. 

Jesus’ mission statement was very personal as he summed up the intent of the law of God. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12 NIV). 

Maybe it is time for churches to embrace the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount as their mission statement. Maybe it is time we stop assuming people already know the Ten Commandments. For those who think Paul abolished the law of God in the book of Romans—maybe they should read Paul’s teaching on how to live a sacrificial life for Christ.

Romans 12:1-2
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV

Paul teaches the church in Rome how to live a sacrificial life for Christ as he reiterates their need to respect the commandments.

Romans 13:8-14
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 

11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. NIV

Some think Paul explained away the law of God in Romans. However, if Paul did anything he reiterated the laws intent. This may be hard to swallow for those who lack a real understanding of the mission of the kingdom of God. God’s personal mission for our lives includes both the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ teaching on the mountainside. For those who doubt this read the above verses again noticing how Paul ties precepts of both together as he explains what it means to live a sacrificial life for Christ. 

If our understanding of God’s grace somehow abolishes our need for God’s law—then we have a much distorted view of mercy, grace and forgiveness. It is clear that God’s law and my need for forgiveness are centered in my need to embrace Jesus’ teaching on the mountainside. Paul clearly teaches that it is the law that teaches us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

For those nail biting Christians who think they are going to be drug back into religious legalism—RELAX. Jesus took away the law’s power to condemn. Jesus abolished the law as a legal code for justification—which it was actually never meant to be. He has taken upon himself the condemnation to justify all those who believe in him. 

Jesus approach to accomplishing his mission began with the individual becoming the embodiment of the law of God as revealed in his Sermon on the Mount. The law only becomes a curse when we trust the law to save us or trust in our ability to keep it to save us. The law cannot save us—Christ saves us from the curse of the law. However, it is clear that Christ’s salvation does not relieve us from our obligation to embrace the law as a guide for our lives.

The law really does condemn a life of sin. The only way to escape the law’s condemnation is through Christ. Christ clearly teaches the law must be respected in his teaching. Not as a means of justification—but as a means of allowing his grace to be revealed through us.  

It was in Jesus’ sermon on the mountainside that Jesus sought to write his laws upon our hearts. Paul sees the church in Corinth having God’s law written upon their hearts. 

2 Corinthians 3:3-6
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 

4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. NIV

When we allow the Spirit of God to write God’s laws upon our hearts we discover the life of God through Christ. When this transformation takes place the glory of the Lord is revealed through his people.

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV

Legalists have given the law a bad rap. They have used it to condemn and justify. Christ seeks to write God’s law upon our heart with the help of the Spirit of God. It is the only way to discover the life God offers us through Christ. It is the only way the church can truly reflect the glory of our Lord’s salvation to a lost world. 

May God help us to grasp the Spirit of his law for this the mission of the church in a lost world.