Focus: The Threefold Ministry Of Christ

Text: Mt.9:35

"And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, TEACHING in their synagogues, and PREACHING the gospel of the kingdom, and HEALING every sickness and every disease among the people."

There is a threefold dimension to the ministry of Jesus Christ, and this threefold ministry touches the whole personality of man. He went everywhere, preaching, teaching and healing.

*Through preaching He stirs up the heart of man. He heralded the message of the Father and informed the people. His preaching was charismatic and dynamic.

*Through teaching He arms the mind of man. He instilled in man divine discipline and instructed him in the ways of God. By preaching He informed His hearers and by teaching He formed their minds. His teaching was didactic and authentic. He drove truth home in man's inmost being. Matthew reports that Christ "TAUGHT them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mt.7:29). His words were with power.

*In His healing ministry He restores the body. He made the blind see and made the lame walk. He cleansed the leper, restored hopes and withered hands, and even revived the dead.

He healed in different ways. He healed by a touch and by a word of mouth. He healed by natural means, and also, by calling those who were to be healed to the action of faith and obedience. He had healing anointing flowing through Him. In one occasion, He said, "Virtue has gone out of me." His words and touches were therapeutic and curative.

In Luke 9:11, we read, "And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and SPAKE unto them of the kingdom of God, and HEALED them that had need of healing." Luke writes, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about DOING good, and HEALING all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Act.10:38). In all He did, God was with Him. Paul makes us understand that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.

What Christ did in His time, He has mandated the church to do in this last days. Christ sent out His disciples on a mission, and Luke reports, "And they departed, and went through the towns, PREACHING the gospel, and HEALING every where all" (Lk.9:6). The disciples preached and healed like their master. They did what their master did. 

In the first chapter of Acts, Luke writes, "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus BEGAN both to DO and TEACH" (Act.1:1). By this, Luke is referring to the works of Jesus Christ recorded in his first book - The Gospel of Luke. What Christ began to do and teach in the Gospels, His disciples were intended to do and teach in the Acts of the Apostles. 

The earthly mission of the church is to finish what the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus Christ had started.

Christ Himself said in His prayer to the Father, "As thou hast SENT me into the world, even so have I also SENT them into the world" (Jh.17:18). In the 20th chapter, Christ said to them, "Peace be unto you: as my Father hath SENT me, even so SEND I you" (Jh.20:21). 

The ministry of Christ continues through the church. He has sent us as the Father sent Him. We are on apostolic mission with apostolic authority.

The unfortunate thing is that we are preaching and teaching, but with little or no healing. The early church went everywhere preaching and healing, but today we are preaching and teaching without healing. We seem to be touching the heart and mind, but the body remains untouched and unhealed.

Healing is not following our preaching and teaching, because we are making excuses for our lack of faith and spiritual power. Our traditional churches no longer believe in miraculous healing. Instead we look to medical science for our healing. Truly, there's nothing wrong with medicine, but medical healing is never meant to replace the healing power of God. Rather medical science is meant to go hand in hand with healing miracles. 

Miracle days are not over. God still heals today. The Scripture makes us understand that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. We cannot afford to pick out preaching and teaching, leaving out healing. The three belong together. Christ sent us not only to preach and teach, but also to heal. God has the total man in mind, not just an aspect of him. Let us reclaim the missing power and commit ourselves to the threefold ministry of Christ!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter