Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

1 3 2 /

T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

2. As God’s very own dwelling place, members of the Church must individually pursue lifestyles which display God’s purity, for this is our primary work as the people of God, 2 Cor. 6.16-7.1.

These images of the Church in the New Testament, the family of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Spirit, enable us to understand our work to display God’s own excellencies. Before anything else, we are to demonstrate our unity in mission, our mutual cooperation in doing God’s will, and our pursuit of holiness in our actions and activities.

II. The Church Is to Display the Kingdom’s Righteous Rule through Our Works of Freedom, Wholeness, and Justice, as Christ’s Ambassadors.

2 Cor. 5.18-21 - We are to live and work as Christ’s ambassadors, representing Christ’s Kingdom and asking all people to be reconciled to God. We are in this world, but not of this world.

Phil. 3.20-21 - We are the citizens of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ.

1 Pet. 2.16 - We are aliens and strangers upon the earth, sojourning toward our true home, the New Jerusalem. As ambassadors, we engage in works which reveal the freedom, wholeness, and justice of the Kingdom.

4

A. First, as ambassadors of Christ, we work to display the freedom of the Kingdom.

1. Jesus’ ministry and Isaiah 61: the Year of Jubilee, his ministry to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.

2. This same emphasis on freedom underlies much of the work of God’s people in the Old Testament, Deut. 15.12-15.