Mission: "Knowing Christ and Making Him Known" (Jer 9:23-24; Phil 3:7-11)

Knowing God is life’s most important pursuit. Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). In this context, "eternal life" denotes quality, not duration (cf. Gal 6:7-8; 1 Tim 6:12). Therefore, to the degree that we "know" God the Father and God the Son, we will experience a richer quality of life on earth and in eternity. This ought to drive us to grow continually in our knowledge of God (2 Pet 3:18).

The knowledge of God is an all-encompassing pursuit that will affect every area of our lives. As we get to know Jesus Christ, our lives will begin to change (gradually, sometimes radically). The Holy Spirit performs this transforming work (2 Cor 3:18). His primary role is to glorify Jesus (John 16:14). This means the Spirit’s finest work is accomplished whenever and wherever Jesus is being glorified.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis observed, "It is so easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objectives-education, building, missions, holding services.. The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs . If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose" (emphasis mine).

Each of us must make a fundamental decision if our lives are to have eternal significance: Will we make knowing God more important than serving Him? Knowing Him isn’t as important, but more. It’s more important because ministry is always the spillover of the fullness of Christ’s life from within.