The Mind of Christ (6)

“…I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16.18

Jesus’ agenda
When people share the same views, ideas, goals, and convictions, we say they’re on the same agenda. The Lord Jesus has an agenda, and all who have the mind of Christ will be concerned to make His agenda theirs.

Exalted in glory at the Father’s right hand, Jesus Christ is pursuing the agenda He declared on the outskirts of Caesarea-Philippi: He is building His Church. He has sent His Spirit into His people and given them His Word and His mind, so that they might take up His agenda and carry on the work He began while He was among us. Christ is fitting us to glorify God, seek and save the lost, and encourage and equip our fellow- disciples for lifestyles of worship and ministry. And the way we make sure we’re attending to all these things is by engaging with Christ in the work of building His Church.

The Church is the sign of the Kingdom of God, Christ’s billboard to the world that a new realm has come and a new rule is unfolding on earth as it is in heaven. And the Church is the outpost from which that Kingdom makes progress against the dark night of sin (1 Jn. 2.8).

The work of building the Church requires the mind of Christ. It is a primary reason why we have been given the mind of Christ, in the form of His Word and Spirit. If we’re thinking with the mind of Christ, we’re thinking about what we can do to contribute to the work of building His Church. The members of Christ’s churches must be equipped in their minds – and in their souls and bodies – to understand the will of God and take up the work of ministry with the people immediately around them.

Expressions of the Church
We cannot satisfy the intentions of Christ for the mind He has given us until we begin serving others in His Name with a view to building His Church (cf. Eph. 4.11-16). The Church is the Body of Christ, and just as my mind is careful to plan and care for the wellbeing of my body, so the mind of Christ in the Church is set on building-up His Body to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.

In the New Testament, the Church appears in four expressions – as a household and neighborhood entity, a local congregation made up of many house churches, a regional church consisting of many congregations (as the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3), and as the Church universal. With so many levels of Church, each of us can find some way to contribute to the growth and health of the Body of Christ, and to devote our minds to Jesus’ agenda.

A healthy, growing Church
Christ is calling every believer to join with Him in building His Church. But what does the Church look like as it is being built-up? Paul tells us that a healthy, growing church is characterized by two dominant traits: It is growing in unity and it is growing in maturity (Eph. 4.13-16). The better we understand these concepts, the more we will be able to contribute to the work of building the Church.

Jesus prayed in His high priestly prayer that His followers, who are all members of His Church, might be one. He has sent His Spirit to give us a bond of unity so that in what we believe, how we care for one another, and how we worship the Lord, our oneness might be visible to the watching world (Jn. 17.21). All who possess the mind of Christ must therefore use their minds to strengthen the unity of the Church in ways appropriate to their own callings. We must deplore the divisiveness that characterizes the Church of our Lord in these last days, and give ourselves to thinking, praying, planning, and collaborating with other believers for the greater unity of the Body of Christ.

But we must also think, plan, and work to help the Church become mature: strong in truth, faithful in witness, sacrificial in love, and growing in character and numbers year by year. Thus the Church, at every level of its existence, expresses the reality of the living Christ to the world.

Building the Church must be a high priority for all who possess the mind of Christ, for this is the agenda on which Jesus has set His mind from the right hand of God.

We are building the Church when, using the mind of Christ, we are working to bring greater degrees of unity and maturity into the Body of Christ by as many means and in as many ways as our minds can think and our opportunities permit.

The Church doesn’t grow simply because we want it to grow. It takes careful planning, thoughtful preparation, efficient ministry, and diligent review to help the Church grow consistently in unity and maturity. But this is why Jesus has given us His mind, that we might think more pointedly, plan more specifically, and work more reflectively toward realizing this great challenge and calling.

For reflection
1.  What opportunities exist for you to contribute to building Christ’s Church?

2.  What can you do to help the Church grow in unity?

3.  What can you do to help the Church grow in maturity?

Next steps – Preparation: How do your church leaders determine the health of your church at any given time? What criteria do they use? How do they focus ministry activities to improve the health of the local church? Talk with your pastor or some church leaders about these questions.

T. M. Moore

This is part 1 of a multi-part series on the Christian mind. To download this week’s study as a free PDF, click here.

How’s your Christian worldview? Are you stretching your mind to think about life and the world as Jesus does? Our free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview, can provide the categories, terms, and framework for you to begin nurturing a more expansive Christian mind. For more information and to register, click here.

The mind of Christ is set for the Kingdom of God. Is yours? Our book, The Kingdom Turn, provides a concise and practical overview of what it means to live for Christ from within the framework of His Kingdom. Order your copy by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.