Early in the week in my devotional, I was reading Mark 13 and it got me thinking about Ian’s sermon last Sunday, “Grander Vision Living” (if you haven’t heard it, go to our website). Jesus was about to leave the Temple in Jerusalem when one of his disciples remarked how breathtaking it was. Indeed, the buildings were very impressive and opulent.
Here was Jesus’ response, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another” (verse 2). From here, he went on to speak about His future return which will be preceded by chaos and anguish while the gospel is preached to all nations (verse 10), culminating in the establishment of what is referred to in Scripture as the kingdom of God. For those who continue to rebel against God, Jesus’ return will be a terrifying day but for believers, it will be a day of unspeakable joy and celebration.
Everything will be made new and perfect. His creation will be restored through judgement and healing. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Evil and all of its symptoms such as sickness, death and injustice will be wiped away along with our tears.
But that is not all. The apostle John in his vision of the future saw a great multitude of people that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, worshipping Jesus and giving thanks to Him for their salvation (Rev 7:9).
That is the reason Jesus was sent: to seek and save the lost; to proclaim the good news of salvation and the kingdom in words and deeds. In the same way, we have been sent, to disciple non-believers God has placed in our lives, to faith and in their faith (Matthew 28:18-20, John 20:21, Acts 1:8). This is at the heart of what ‘grander vision living’ is. It is about prioritising what God prioritises and God prioritises people and the state of their relationship with Him above all else.
Whether you’re a student, an employer, an employee, mum, dad, grandma, grandad, brother or sister, don’t be ‘stuck on the fish’ (Luke 5:1-11) as it were. You have been called to be fishers of men’, to lead ‘those living in the land of the shadow of death’ (Matthew 4:15) to Jesus, the light of the world; to become intentional in living for the worship of Jesus in Revelation 7:9.
McClung writes, “…Church is not a templelike building to attend on Sundays, but a community of revolutionary people who make Jesus the Lord of their whole lives and live to accomplish His mission. If Jesus is the Lord of every day and every part of life, and the church is the people who live for His mission, then church happens every day, everywhere! Church is not limited to a holy-day meeting, led by a holy man; it is a mission force of radical people invading every vocation and every nation of the world.” That’s grander vision living!
Following Jesus,
Mark Ng
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