As we prepare our hearts for Easter, our team wants to offer a space for you to reflect on Jesus’ ministry as the perfect template for missions. Indeed, He was sent (Jn 20:21), He left (Jn 3:13), He loved (Jn 15:8), He served (Mk 10:45), He sacrificed (Eph 5:2), He commissioned (Mt 28:18-20), and He returned (Lk 24:51).
To begin, join us in pausing to remember Jesus’ ministry. Consider the most impactful stories of His ministry for you personally and thank Jesus for His coming and His work here on earth.
Jesus left heaven and “emptied Himself” (Phil 2:6-8). There is so much He gave up to accomplish His work on the cross that we can’t even comprehend. Have you ever held a baby and marvelled that Jesus was just as small and vulnerable? Have you ever watched a teenager struggle to master their emotions and realised that Jesus endured puberty, just like the rest of us? Have you ever seen someone on their first day of the job and wondered if Jesus ever accidentally hammered His thumb while mastering carpentry?
Reflect on all that Jesus gave up to “make His dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). What has He asked you to give up in service for the Kingdom? Is there anything you’re holding back from Him?
Jesus saw people. All people. The righteous and the sinners, the lovely and the unlovely—and He served them and sacrificed Himself for them all the same. He forgave sins. He reached out to the lepers. He freed the demon-possessed. He restored vision, healed the sick, gave cripples a chance to walk. People wondered why He would let sinners touch Him (Lk 7:39), why He ate with tax collectors (Mk 2:16), or why He would bother Himself with little children (Mt 19:14). Jesus Himself said that He came for sinners — for you and me (Mk 2:17).
Thank Jesus for His gentle heart and His willingness to come for sinners. Who has Jesus placed in your path to challenge you to love like He would? Thank Jesus for His invitation to be His hands and feet. Who has loved you like Jesus? Thank Jesus for tangible, earthly extensions of His love.
In Luke 19:10, Jesus said that He had come “to seek and save the lost.” He had a clear ministry objective that He carried out through a multitude of ministries. There was His compassionate ministry, in which He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and loved the marginalised. There was His preaching ministry, in which He discipled, taught, and conversed, as well as His cross-cultural efforts to the Samaritans and the Gentiles. This may come as a great surprise, but none of us possess the flexibility and gifting to successfully sustain such a variety of ministry efforts, though all our efforts are unto the same end as Jesus’ — to seek the lost and invite them into His family.
Take a moment to consider your own calling. Where has God positioned you uniquely to serve the Kingdom and seek the lost? Which gifts has He given you to partner with Him in His work? Thank Him for your calling, gifting, and the tasks He has set before you. Ask Him for anything you need to see the tasks He sets before you completed and consider if He’s urging you onward in any way.
Every missionary strives to work themselves out of their job. They long for the day that their host country has the foundation and spiritual maturity needed to carry out the Great Commission for themselves! Jesus prepared His disciples for years: He lived, taught, walked, served, and broke bread with them to prepare them for His eventual departure. At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus empowered His followers to carry on His mission without Him (Mt 28:18-20). He promised to send the Spirit (Jn 14:26), who would give them everything they needed to witness throughout the world (Acts 1:8). This invitation is for us, today, just as much as it was for the disciples’.
First, thank Jesus for the gift of the Spirit and the fact that He welcomes us into gospel partnerships with Him. What a blessing to be used by God! Second, consider your disciples: are they dependent on you, or are you preparing them for your departure?
Thanks for joining us for this time of reflection. Our Global Missions Toolbox team is praying every blessing over you this Easter, as we celebrate our risen Lord and great hope. As you conclude this reflection, spend some time praising God for His magnificent plan of salvation, Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and the Spirit, whose same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us today!