Christ’s mission to the world (1)

This time of the year, the world celebrates the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ with so much pomp and banal consumerism. The greatest pity, however, remains that the world is mostly ignorant of the object of their revelry. Christ’s mission of coming to the world was, simply put, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” After man succumbed to the deception of the Devil and lost the favour of God, the proclamation was made that the Messiah would come and redeem humanity. He kept this mission and purpose of His ministry in mind in all His activities on earth.

Like Christ, we must keep the purpose of mission and ministry in mind. If we lose, miss or misunderstand His purpose, then our entire religious activities will become meaningless. Following His method without upholding His message will mean nothing; practicing His pattern without pursuing His purpose will not achieve anything. Seemingly walking in the footsteps of Christ without obeying the commandments and the will of God will not make us achieve heaven’s goal.

The builders of Babel, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, the Pharisees and Sadducees, all pursued objectives that were not heaven’s goals. As we commit and consecrate ourselves to doing the work of God, including evangelism, we must ensure it is Christlike and purposeful. Christian leaders and members must have Christ’s mind, not just His method. The foundation of the work of God is possession of Christ’s mind, nature, purpose, thought, concern, self-sacrifice, willingness and pursuit to fulfill and achieve heaven’s goal.

When we go out to preach the gospel, we must tell sinners about Christ and let them see the danger of sin and the reasons they should make haste to come out of their sin and have the kingdom of God established in their hearts. The Lord wants sinners to be free from sin, disgrace, degradation and defilement. He wants to forgive, cleanse and bring them to glory.

Christ was truthful and faithful. He emphasised and demanded repentance in His evangelistic message. There is no real evangelism if we are not faithful to the Scriptures or truthful to sinners. No one can gatecrash into heaven. Being a member of a particular denomination is not repentance; and without repentance, there is no salvation. We must make the people we preach to understand that church membership or mere religion does not save.

A person can only be saved if he “repents… and believes the gospel.” As believers, we must be faithful like Christ. Although many people claim to identify with His name and associate with various Christian denominations, their impact on society remains mooted.

While religion is on the rise, corruption, the evil in the society is on the increase. They profess to know God, but in action, they deny Him. They neglect their duty of faithfully preaching repentance to those who do not know our Lord, Jesus Christ. We must ensure that “repentance and remission of sins are preached in His name among all nations.”

Without repentance, there is no heaven for a sinning churchgoer. Those who are still in the darkness of occultism and secret sin must repent, receive forgiveness “and sin no more.” Such forgiveness is not a licence to keep on committing sin. Only those who “continue” in His ways, Christ says, “are … (His) disciples indeed.” Someone who has not repented of his sins does not know God. He may know the doctrines of the Bible, yet he is not free from sin. It is only when the truth gets to the heart, soul and spirit that it shall “make you free.”

• Further reading (King James Version): Matthew 4:17; 9:13; 1:21; Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 2:10; Acts 15:14,28,29. Mark 1:14,15; Luke 13:2,3,5,23-29; 24:47; John 8:11,12,30-44; 2 Peter 3:9. Matthew 23:15,25-28,33; Acts 8:13,18-21; Titus 1:16; 2 Timothy 3:5,7; Revelation 3:1-3; Matthew 7:21-23. Luke 19:5-10; John 17:6,14-16; Acts 2:37-42; 19:18,19; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10.