What does the Church exist for?

Here's another way to think about the whole 'give yourself away' idea:

I believe that churches exist for the sake of others. Churches that exist for their own sake take on a survival mentality and lose sight of their calling and purpose. But if churches exist for the sake of others, the obvious question remains: who are the 'others' they exist for? Here's what I think:

Church exists for the sake of God
Worship is our highest priority. As the Westminster Catechism puts it, 'The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.' If that building block is not in place, the rest of the building will collapse. However, if it is in place, out of the overflow of this worshipping relationship will follow my next point.

Church exists for the sake of the world
As Bishop William Temple once said, 'the Church is the only institution on earth that exists for its non-members.' The mission of the church is to proclaim and demonstrate God's love to a hurting world. This involves not just meeting people in their place of spiritual need (and offering only a salvation that deals with their spiritual state), but also meeting them in their place of physical need and emotional need. For this to happen, churches must be fully engaged in their local communities to the point where the well-being of their own local community is intrinsically linked to their own personal well being. Only when that is the case are we engaged in incarnational mission. Without such an incarnation there can be no long-term transformation of a community.

So worship leads to mission. But mission has to lead back to worship. As John Piper states: “Mission is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship therefore is the fuel and goal in missions. It’s the goal of mission because in mission we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory.”

Trust

Give Yourself Away

What a beautiful summary of the Christian calling: give yourself away. Not only is it short and sweet, it's also deeply biblical. Consider the well-known verse John 3:16 - for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son...' In other words, God so loved the world that he quite literally gave himself away. And what is true of the Father is also true of the Son. Consider the christological hymn of Philippians 2. Paul says that Jesus, 'who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing.' The Greek word for this (kenosis) speaks of emptying oneself. So Jesus gives himself away (or pours himself out) for the sake of others. In the context of Paul's letter to the Philippians, he has previously urged his readers to follow this model of Jesus, so it's hardly surprising that Paul goes on to talk about how he himself is following Christ's example. Paul, who has given his all for the sake of the gospel and writes this letter from prison as a result, says that he has 'poured himself out like a drink offering'. The comparison between Jesus and Paul is striking, and it therefore enables Paul to say elsewhere 'follow me as I follow Christ' (1 Cor 11).

But an obvious question remains: who or what do we give ourselves away to? Biblically speaking, the answer is threefold:

1. We give ourselves away to God in the context of worship
As Philippians 2 points out, the greatest example of 'giving yourself away' is seen at the cross, and before anything else, the cross is about worship. Many of the sayings of Jesus at the cross are lifted straight out of Israel's worship book, and specifically Psalm 22. The sacrificial offering of Jesus accomplishes many things, but at its heart it is an act of worship.

Consider also the story of the woman that pours out her expensive perfume over Jesus' feet. The perfume was worth a years salary, and the guests Jesus was dining with could not help but see this as an absolute waste. But Jesus celebrates this extravagant waste and says that wherever the gospel is proclaimed, this story will be remembered. Of all the great stories in the gospels, why does Jesus pick out this one for special mention? Perhaps because nothing in the Christian life is more important than giving yourself away in the context of worship. As Paul reminds us in Romans 12, true (or spiritual) worship always involves offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God.

2. We give ourselves away to each other in the context of community
Jesus states: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The key phrase here is 'as I have loved you'. How did Jesus love his disciples? By giving himself away to them in the context of friendship. So Jesus says, 'Go and do likewise'.

3. We give ourselves away to others in the context of mission
The language of Paul 'pouring himself out as a drink offering' is the language of worship, but interestingly it is used in the context of mission. Paul is describing how he has given himself (his very life) to the cause of preaching the good news to the gentiles. And in doing so he reminds us that it is impossible to separate worship and mission. This idea leads us back to the cross: this perfect act of worship not only demonstrates the love within God, it also demonstrates God's love for the world. The cross speaks of what God was willing to give to reconcile humanity back to himself: he gave himself away for our sake. As Jesus himself stated: 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends'. This is the love that Jesus asks us to display to the world, and specifically to those found on the margins in our society.

By way of conclusion, this ministry of giving ourselves away in the context of worship, community and mission has been described in numerous ways. Some churches talk about having an upward, inward and outward focus. Others talk about communion, community and commission as the core values of their church. But I think the language of giving ourselves away adds a richness that perhaps the others lack. It reminds us of the ministry of Jesus, and in doing so it speaks of the cost involved. And let's face it, there isn't much glamour in the type of worship that involves identifying with the most broken and bruised in our world. That type of ministry demands something from us: it demands that we give ourselves away!

To the Streets

Here's another video we made for use within the small groups: