I once heard a succinct definition of the Church that I found fitting for at least my biblical knowledge. The Church is a group of individuals empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue the work and ministry of Jesus. Following this definition, a question begins to invade my thoughts. What exactly was the work and ministry of Jesus? Through a casual reading of any gospel account it becomes apparent that Jesus focused and did many things for many purposes. How do we then as the Church sift through Jesus’ work and ministry? What are the specific things we should be doing?
The Bible makes it clear, but we often do not like the answer. We often desire a list of actions. Putting them into a nice list and daily taking stock, checking off actions we feel are completing our role as part of the Church. Unfortunately, thinking like that is unbiblical. What then is Jesus’ work and ministry if it is not a list of actions to accomplish? Jesus’ work and ministry was to simply preach the good news of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 4:17, Mk. 1:15, Lk. 5:43). That’s it. It appears general and that’s because it is. Often when things are defined generally it is difficult to get traction and start going in the right direction. Most of us become frustrated and give up all together. This is big though. This is what Jesus’ work and ministry was about and we are supposed to emulate it, so it cannot be tossed aside.
Now, think about the vastness of God, and then think about the kingdom that God would rule over. It would be big. The Kingdom of God is a big enough playing field for His followers to play well. It is by the grace of God the Father that the Kingdom of God is large enough for his followers to respond to the wide grace shown to us by King Jesus. If you want a wide and big enough view of the Kingdom of God then get to know King Jesus whose sacrifice and love for you is wide and big. Then we as a Church can begin to play in the general, big, and wide Kingdom of God. Just as Jesus did.