Bottom-up Ministry - Letter From Pastor Evan

Dear Praise Family,

It is often noticed in Scripture that Jesus didn’t fit what people were expecting of the Messiah. Early in His ministry, people dismissed Jesus’ teaching in His own hometown after He had read Isaiah 61:1-2 declaring that He was the one who was sent, “to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This was the Messianic hope, and Jesus said, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” (Luke 4:21).

You would think that the people would rejoice at the coming of the Messiah! But instead, they said, “’Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him.,.” (Mark 6:3). He didn’t look like the Messiah. He looked like a carpenter.

In the people’s rejection of Jesus and in the Pharisee’s rejection of Him, they couldn’t see Him as the King that would rescue them. He didn’t look like one who would overthrow the Roman government and give the people freedom. He didn’t look like the warrior who would stand up for His people in battle. And this is what the people were expecting. They expected Him to rescue His people by establishing His throne on earth and effecting change politically, from the top down. They were expecting an earthly king.

But this isn’t how Jesus worked. He didn’t work from the top down. He didn’t establish His Kingdom by sitting on a throne. Instead, He went to the blind, the lame, and the sick. He went to those who were considered the outcasts of society. He healed them, and in the process helped them to see that He was not just an earthly king, but the King of Kings, before whom “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:10-11). And as people come to faith in Christ and recognize Him as King, Jesus builds His church.

Jesus builds His kingdom from the bottom up, not the top down. He doesn’t need to use political systems, or earthly powers, rulers or dominions. Instead, He builds His church on the faithful, who through His power at work in us, minister to those who are lost, hurting, and broken because of sin and bring the message of forgiveness, healing, and hope promised to us in Christ. To God be the Glory, forever and ever!

In Christ,
Pastor Evan