The Ministry Model of Jesus: Your Life Mission

By Frank A. DeCenso
Guest Writer

CBN.com – Numerous books written in the last several years have given the believer food for thought regarding their purpose in this life, yet long before these books were penned and published, a purpose had been given to believers by Jesus Christ.

Coming from the Author of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), this purpose is not subject to cultural contextualization or seeker-friendly fads. It transcends time, space, and nationality, and involves all those that believe.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.”

—John 14:12, NASB

To do the very same works Jesus did—what other purpose in life can match the awesome privilege believers have been given? The opportunity to engage in the life-changing ministry Jesus engaged in should be enough motivation for us to wake up each morning with great anticipation for what God may want to do through us for His kingdom.

It’s important to notice Jesus didn’t say that only the apostles, members of the clergy, or a particular denomination would be the ones doing the works. The only prerequisite is “he who believes in Me.” No special callings; no anointed ordinations; no distinctions.

“Did He mean little old me?” He sure did. He meant all believers, for all time. So if you are a believer, your purpose is to participate in the very same ministry works that Jesus did, and by so doing, advance the Kingdom of God; nothing less will fulfill this awesome honor.

There are three components to His ministry that we can adopt in order to satisfy this mandate:

Mission
Empowerment for Mission
Method of Empowered Mission

Together, these three components make up what I term “The Ministry Model of Jesus," and by extension, the ministry model we are to follow.

Mission

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

²¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing"

—Luke 4:18-19, 21

Jesus announced His ministry by telling His hearers that the mission articulated in Isaiah 61 was His mission. He had come to:

Preach good news to the poor
Proclaim freedom for prisoners
Bring and proclaim sight to the blind
Release the oppressed
Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor – the forgiveness of God

At least three of these probably involved the miraculous—dealing with those in some sort of captivity (“prisoners”), those who were sick or infirm (“blind”), and those who were “oppressed.” In addition, the preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom by Jesus and His disciples was usually accompanied by miraculous works:

As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

—Matthew 10:7-8

Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

—Mark 1:38-39

He appointed twelve--designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons.

—Mark 3:14-15

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

—Luke 9:1-2

but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

—Luke 9:11

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'

—Luke 10:9

This wasn’t a ministry simply of wise words and gentle counseling. It couldn’t be. The recipients of the mission had needs that were too profound. Therefore, this ministry reached out in power to those hurting in the deepest recesses of life—places that the religious leaders of the day were unable to touch.

Today, we can appropriate the first part of this ministry model by incorporating into our lives the mission Jesus undertook: that is, a mission that reached the hurting with God’s presence and power. Mere words aren’t enough in a world where the needs are vast and the hurts are deep. It was true then and it is true today. Only with God’s power can we effectively engage this mission.

In the second part, we will examine the empowerment for mission, and the method of empowered mission.

Frank has been teaching the Bible in churches and other venues for more than 20 years. He is currently the Ministry Resources Director at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Virginia Beach, Va. He is an employee at Regent University in the Information Technology Department. Frank is married and lives in Virginia Beach.