Sunday, December 25 2011 07:19

The vision statement for our church is "Through Christ, Blessing the World." It is a simple way of describing the larger purpose behind everything we do at Coon Rapids Free. But it also needs a bit of explanation, so let me take a few moments to unpack this idea with some Old Testament background.

In Psalm 67 the purpose of God's blessing upon Israel is that all the nations may fear him and know his salvation: "God, be merciful to us and bless us [our nation, Israel], and cause his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God! Let all the peoples praise you. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!"

 

The Gentile response to God's blessing upon Israel was supposed to be one of jealousy, or that of wishing that they could also be treated with such love and grace (Deut. 28:10, "then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD"). There are many passages throughout the Psalms where the conversion of Gentiles is considered to be the ultimate sign that God was blessing Israel in the way he had always intended (Pss 22:27; 66:4; 786:9; 102:15-16, 21-22). Solomon prayed that the central confession of Israel's faith ("know that the LORD himself is God; there is none other besides him," Deut. 4:35) would someday become the expression of faith for all the peoples of the earth ("that all the peoples of the earth may know your name [Yahweh], to fear you, as do your people Israel," 1 Kings 8:43).

A brief example: The Syrian king Naaman had come to Israel not as a convert to its God but in order to be cured of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-19). Not the best intentions, of course! But Naaman responded to the miracle of his healing with an amazing confession: "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel!" Naaman then loaded his mules with Israeli dirt in order to spread God's "land" inside Rimmon's temple floor when he got back to Syria. It would be an ancient way of trying to worship Yahweh in a foreign land—no little strange!—but let's give him credit for trying to do the right thing! The story ends with a Gentile king being blessed by Israel, more specifically by Israel's God.

So here is the connection to our church's mission statement: To say "Through Christ, blessing the world," we are simply admitting to the fulfillment of what the Old Testament had always envisioned. The chosen means of God's blessing to our world has now come through the person of Jesus Christ, and we therefore do everything with him as our focus. It will be through him and no one else that true blessing will come to our world, whether collectively or individually.

If you have never visited our church before, take this as an invitation to step inside a building where Jesus Christ—not politics, not denominational heritage, not money, not even a "successful" ministry—is the focus. This is our vision.

God bless,

Pastor Ronn

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