Are You The One?

Yesterday during worship I felt like the Lord led me to Matt 11, and that there was an important encouragement and invitation in the following verses.  Matthew 11:2-6 NIV:

[2] "When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples [3] to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 

[4] Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: [5] The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. [6] Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

I felt like the Lord was inviting us (the Church) into the place where we were going to be re-presenting His ministry in truth and reality.  In the same way that Jesus pointed to the work of the Holy Spirit through Himself, we are going to be able to do the same thing!  

No longer are we just going to talk about the Lord, but the results of our ministry will make Him evident.  People when they met Jesus, were changed! People were healed, delivered, cured, raised, and convicted of sin.  I felt like the days are coming when the signs of Jesus ministry, will be many, and it will be through these that people are going to be able to tell where the Gospel is being preached, and lived.  The ministry of Jesus will be released by people who know Jesus!  

Thus, the invite was to both deeper relationship with Him, and acting like Him (or should I say doing what He asks us to do).  The deeper our intimacy, the more we can represent Him.  

However, I believe one of the reasons John asked the question is that even for John, Jesus' ministry and public persona were not what He expected.  John knew Jesus as his cousin, and also knew he had been sent to announce the coming of the Messiah.  It appears John wasn't sure Jesus was the Messiah, and I can only think this is because Jesus didn't seem to John to be what He thought the Messiah would be like.  Is it possible that the Lord, in inviting us into deeper intimacy, is also inviting us into a changing Church environment, something that might not seem like the church we grew up in?  

What if part of this invitation is for ALL OF US to become active ministers, active representatives of Jesus, not just on Sunday, but everyday, where we live and work?  Is it possible that our idea of church is going to need to change?  Instead of something we do on Sunday, in a particular building, it becomes something we experience every day, everywhere?  If instead of the word "church", we use the other image of the Body of Christ, it becomes easier to embrace.  We have come to associate Church with a building and a time of the week, but Jesus' Body isn't just alive on Sundays, and Wed. evenings, but is alive and well every other day of the week too.

I wonder if this will be the generation when the world asks, "is this the generation that will see the great revival?"

I pray our answer will be, "let us report what we have seen and heard, the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to every nation!"

Let us embrace this invitation to go deeper into intimacy with the Lord, and to live our life as an active part of the Body of Christ, every day, all day long!  Let us listen to what the Lord is saying and do it!  Let us faithfully represent Jesus to our world.

Amen and Amen!