However, our temptation as Reformed Christians is to pride ourselves on bearing the marks of a true church regardless of whether it is actually adding people to the church. We have the most biblical confession; we administer the sacraments according to Christ’s institution and we have a sound church order. But we can easily forget that all of this exists for the purpose of mission, not so that we can celebrate our purity. “The promise is for you and your children,” we quite properly emphasize, but what about “all who are far off”? The dichotomy between the marks and mission of the church or teaching the reached and reaching the lost would have been completely foreign to the apostles.

The best way of re-integrating the marks and mission is to start with the gospel itself. I have to say that, at least in my experience, traditionalists and radicals emphasize our activity over God’s. We come to church primarily to do something. We come to serve rather than to be served. Many traditionalists oppose seeker-driven approaches to mission contending that what counts is not what we get out of the church service, but what we put into it. Seeker churches typically view themselves as resources for personal improvement, and the Emergent Church movement considers the church a community of world-transforming disciples.

For all of their differences, each of these models practically ignores the central point that God’s mission is to serve us through the marks of preaching and sacrament, so that we will bring our witness and good works to our neighbors in the world.

This does not mean that we do not also love and serve our brothers and sisters in the fellowship of faith. Nor does it mean that while we are church property we are always receiving and never giving unless we are ordained (and weary!) officers. After a coming down with something close to pastoral burnout, Moses was told to appoint 70 elders over Israel to assist him with oversight. While they went out to the tabernacle to hear God speak and receive his Spirit for their ministry, two of the 70 who had remained in the camp began to prophesy as well. “Moses, my lord,’ forbid them!”, a young Joshua counseled Moses. “Then Moses said to him, ‘Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!’” (Num 11:21-30). Pledging to pour out his Spirit on men and women, young and old, alike (Joel 2), God wonderfully fulfilled this promise at Pentecost. From our Lord’s own 70 elders (Lk 10:17), who returned with news concerning Satan’s crumbling kingdom, out to the weakest member of his body, all believers are in their general office what some are in their special office: prophets (witnesses), kings (rulers), and priests (servants) in the kingdom of heaven.

In Ephesians 4, the spiritual gifts that Christ poured out on his church in his ascension are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. Their work is to bring fullness, completion, and maturity to Christ’s body through their ministry. And yet, they are not alone. Not only assisted in their work by elders and deacons, they are surrounded by brothers and sisters who are also filled with the Spirit. So although Ephesians 4 focuses on Christ’s gift of the official, public ministry of the means of grace, it is from this rich bounty that the many other gifts (hospitality, generosity, service, encouragement, etc.) mentioned elsewhere (especially Rom 12 and 1 Cor 12) are carried to completion so that the whole body is functioning and flourishing. All good gifts come from our Ascended Head down to us, even to the weakest, so that we can then love and serve our brothers and sisters with the various graces he has given us and look outward to the world in our vocations. Because we have been served, we can serve. When the Christ-appointed officers fulfill their ministry, the rest of us become joyful participants in the gift-exchange with our fellow-heirs around the table of our Lord.

It is interesting that in German Lutheran and Reformed churches, the covenantal gathering is called the Divine Service (Göttesdienst), out of the conviction that it is primarily God who serves us. Here Christ wraps the towel around his waist and washes our feet. Like Peter, we may bristle at this strange role-reversal, but Jesus said that he “came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28). Of course, Christ’s service to us evokes our praise and makes us fruitful in good works, but the means of grace come before the means of service. Officers—pastors, elders, and deacons—serve us; the primary theater for the service of the people is the world rather than “service-ministries” in the church. Notice again the difference between the spiritual gifts in Ephesians and the expanded lists in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. In the former, it is the special office especially of those who deliver the Word and sacraments that is itself called a gift (Eph 4:11), while in the latter lists spiritual gifts are mentioned that may easily be exercised in any informal setting between believers or with unbelieving friends, relatives, and co-workers. While some are examined and ordained by the laying on of hands to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments (pastors), to govern (elders), and to serve the temporal welfare of the saints (deacons), all believers are gifted for the mutual edification of the saints in word and deed more generally.

The point that we can draw especially from Ephesians 4 is that the gospel indicatives always comes before moral imperatives; receiving and resting in God’s service to us before our grateful service to each other. Apart from the official, public ministry of the Word the body is not led “to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” but we remain “children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” (vv 13-14). If we are forced by moralistic activism to become “self-feeders” who come to church primarily to do something, we will not “grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ…” (v 15). In fact, apart from this ministry, there is no church. Nevertheless, this is where God’s work among us begins rather than ends. God’s Word prepares every believer for every good work.

If we reverse this order, expecting all of our members not only to be priests to each other but to fulfill the work specially assigned to office-bearers, we will end up creating churches of zeal without gospel knowledge (Rom 10:2-3). While the news that not all of the sheep are shepherds may offend our egalitarian sensibilities, it is good news that always keeps the flock on the receiving end of God’s good gifts, which can then flow out to others.

Luther nicely captured this emphasis in his statement, “God does not need your good works; your neighbor does.” God serves us through his means of grace, creating faith and repentance which yield the fruit of the Spirit so that God can then serve our neighbors through our various callings in the world. By contrast, “the righteousness that is by works” strives to ascend to God, offering our works of service to him so that we will be blessed. As the reformers pointed out, this does not really help anybody, since God is not impressed, we are not saved, and our neighbor is not served. Gifts do not go up to God, but come down from God (Acts 17:24-25; Rom 11:35-36). God gives us salvation through the gospel and provides temporal goods to our neighbors through our callings even as he makes us witnesses to Christ in our ordinary relationships—which we can have now, since we are not spending all of our time in church-related activities! Everyone has what is needed: God is served by Christ’s perfect satisfaction; we are served by his gospel, and our neighbor is served by our witness, love, and diligence in our vocations.

It is certainly true that the New Testament speaks of our serving God in our worship, especially in Hebrews 12:28. Yet even here the point is further established that God is the giver: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Precisely because we are not building the kingdom but receiving it, we have the grace to worship God properly. And in what does this service (latreuōmen) consist? Grateful praise and thanksgiving for receiving such a kingdom! The writer adds in the next chapter,

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you (Heb 13:15-17).