Vision 301

WELCOME TO VISION 301

At Freedom Life Church, our MISSION is to help people live free as transformed people, family, church and culture. We help people get Beyond Sunday to live out the kingdom of God in the real world, in their “assigned area of influence,” what Paul calls their “METRON.” (2 Corinthians 10:12-18) We are called to equip and empower people to fulfill their MINISTRY in the world.

We do this through what we call 3D Ekklesia, which is:

  1. Ministry to the Multitude (Serve Team)

  2. Ministry of the Fivefold (Basic Training)

  3. Ministry of the Saints (Groups)

The goal is to help every believer release “the ministry of the saints” in their world.

MISSION, METRON & MINISTRY

MISSION

God created the human family and gave them a MISSION: to fill the earth with the glory of God through dominion.

Genesis 1:28 (NRSV): 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Habakkuk 2:14 (NRSV): 14 But the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

METRON

To accomplish this, God assigned every human a METRON: an “assigned area of influence” to serve as kings and priests throughout the earth.

2 Corinthians 10:13 (NRSV): 13 We, however, will not boast beyond limits, but will keep within the field that God has assigned to us, to reach out even as far as you.

Your mission is fulfilled in your metron.

Or, to put it another way, your harvest is in your field. (Check out Pastor Steve’s book, Your Harvest Is In Your Field, available on Amazon.)

Every person has an “assigned area of influence,” a “sphere” or “realm,” as some put it, where their purpose is realized. However, most people never find their harvest because they never find their field. In other words, most humans struggle to be fulfilled because they don’t how to serve as kings and priests in their own world.

What is your metron?

  1. Your metron starts with you—with your heart. Your heart is the first “realm” where the kingdom of God authorizes dominion.

  2. Then, your metron is your family. Your oikos (household).

  3. Next, your metron includes your community and your workplace.

MINISTRY

In order to fulfill the divine mission in every metron, God gave each human a MINISTRY: the serve as a royal priesthood in the earth through work and worship.

1 Peter 2:5 (NRSV): 5 Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 (NRSV): 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

As we shall see, this mandate to be a king/priest is for every believer. Every believer is baptized and commissioned into “the ministry of the saints” for the sake of restored dominion.

DOMINION & DEATH

DOMINION

God’s goal was that humans would manifest his image and likeness as royal priests and reshape the physical universe into the glory-filled, cosmic temple of God. This co-ruling with God was called “dominion.” Humans were given dominion over the earth so they would expand the Garden of Eden and fill the earth with the glory of God.

The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. (Psalm 115:16)

God’s goal was that heaven would come to earth, that heaven and earth would become one. Jesus summarized the purpose of God in the most succinct, memorable way:

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Human dominion given in the Garden of Eden was the first expression of “the kingdom of God” (sometimes called “the kingdom of the heavens”) on earth. Get this:

→ The kingdom of God is God’s rule with and through humans over heaven and earth.

Human dominion was delegated divine sovereignty, the inherent instinct to rule that God embedded within humans when he created them to reflect him. Dominion is the “kingdom instinct” that God put in all of us. This is why we are not satisfied as humans until we discover our purpose and destiny hidden in God. We all were created to have dominion.

DEATH

However, humans disobeyed in the Garden of Eden, allowing sin to enter the world and abdicating their dominion to death.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned. (Romans 5:12)

Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. (Romans 5:14)

Through death, sin gained dominion over all creation, bringing the entire cosmos under the curse of sin and death. (Romans 8:18-25) Human dominion was not revoked (Psalm 8), but it was brought under the power of death.

So, get this: You were created to have dominion over your assigned area of influence in the earth—but death robbed you of your freedom to rule with God!

This is why you must be “saved.” Saved from what? From sin, death and the devil.

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, [Jesus] himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14–15)

The devil enslaved humans through the fear of death. Because humans were created to be threefold creatures (spirit, soul and body), when we died, we died in three ways: spiritually, psychologically and physically. Thus, we are born into the world in ”mortal fear,” the inherent fear of death. Satan exploits that fear to make us his captives. Just as he did in the Garden of Eden, the devil whispers lies into our terrified spirit and leads us into temptation through fear.

→ Mortality (temporal death) is the core problem, and immortality (eternal life) is the core solution.

Jesus came to set us free from the devil by breaking the power of sin and death at the cross. When we are saved from sin and death, the devil no longer has power over us. When we “live” through the Spirit, we are made “free” from the power of the evil one.

This is why we use the phrase “Live Free” so much at Freedom Life Church!

When we are delivered from the devil, we are then free to rediscover the dominion for which we were created.

If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

You are saved from sin and death and the power of the devil so that you can live out the kingdom of God in your metron, so you can have dominion. Then, at the end of this age, the life that you have now received in Christ guarantees that you will be resurrected at the last day and live forever in the age to come.

This is what it means to be saved.

3D Ekklesia

LIVE FREE: A STRATEGY FOR TRANSFORMATION

At Freedom Life Church, we believe that the church is designed by King Jesus to advance you into your ministry, into your royal priesthood, into “the ministry of the saints,” so that the kingdom of God may come in the world. As you’ve learned already in DISCOVER 101 and SERVE 201, the framework for equipping and empowering believers is the “three-dimensional” church Jesus founded. Let’s look again at 3D EKKLESIA.

MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDE

Jesus trained his disciples to minister to the multitudes (crowds) that followed him. He preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and fed the five-thousand (Matthew 14:13). Here’s how Jesus ministered to the multitude:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38)

The early church followed Jesus’ example. All through the Book of Acts we see examples of ministry to the multitude.

At Freedom Life Church, we recognize that Sunday morning is the best opportunity within our current cultural setting to attract crowds of people on a regular basis. Thus, we see Sunday morning as ministry to the multitude. Through a warm welcome, powerful worship, authentic fellowship, practical teaching and safe, fun ministry to children, we invite people to experience the presence of God and be drawn deeper into his love. It is the love of God that draws people to follow Jesus!

When we serve as volunteers on Sunday, we join the church-wide effort to draw significant crowds to Jesus and invite them to follow him into the faith. Sunday is just the shallow end of the pool! There are deeper waters for those ready to go further. Our goal on Sunday is invite people to go beyond Sunday.

MINISTRY OF THE FIVEFOLD

The fivefold ministry takes people deeper. The phrase “fivefold ministry” is used to describe the multifaceted ministry grace Paul spoke about in Ephesians 4:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some [shepherds] and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–13)

Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of their ministry. The “fivefold ministry” is like a coaching team in the NFL. They train believers to “play the game” of ministry beyond Sunday.

At Freedom Life, we do “the ministry of the fivefold” in what we call “Basic Training,” which happens during the midweek. We also host various training classes, courses and conferences to develop believers in deeper discipleship.

MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS

The ministry of the saints is described in Acts 2:42.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)

The first century believers understood that Jesus had called them to be a “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5, 9), and that the fivefold ministry was given by Christ to train believers how to perform “the ministry of the saints” (1 Corinthians 16:15) from “house-to-house” (kat oikon, Acts 2:46). As Jewish Christians, they believed in the authority of the household (oikos).

Get this: Every believer is called to be a priest. Since the time of the Protestant Reformation (1500s), this biblical idea has been described as “the priesthood of all believers.” To become a disciple of Jesus is to accept the mission of replicating the ministry of the saints—the priesthood of all believers—in every home, neighborhood, city and nation.

At Freedom Life, we do the ministry of the saints in Groups. As we gather in Groups, here’s what we do:

  1. Discuss the teaching (1 Timothy 4:13)

  2. Minister to one another (koinonia; 1 Corinthians 12-14)

  3. Eat together (communion, 1 Corinthians 11)

  4. Pray together (intercession, 1 Timothy 2:1)

The 3D Ekklesia (church) model above attracts, equips and sends people into their ministry and mission in the world. Every believer has “an assigned area of influence” (our metron; 2 Corinthians 10:13-18), and we are called to serve within that sphere.

The 3D Ekklesia functions somewhat like an army:

  1. Recruit (ministry to the multitude)

  2. Train (ministry of the fivefold)

  3. Deploy (ministry of the saints)

Believers who never go beyond Sunday are like soldiers who never get past the recruiting center.

BEYOND SUNDAY

The only hope for the world is the coming of the kingdom of God. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” Earth cannot become like heaven apart from the coming of the kingdom of God.

But the kingdom of God only comes through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. “The kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit comes, he produces TRANSFORMED PEOPLE/FAMILY/CHURCH/CULTURE.

But—get this!—the Holy Spirit cannot come into world without the reconstituted, incarnational body of Christ. “By one Spirit, we are baptized into one body.”

(Look back at Acts 2:1-4 to see how it all began.)

The early church developed and practiced 3D EKKLESIA. Indeed, the Day of Pentecost did not “fully come” until the framework for revival was in place. Jesus spent 3.5 years establishing the framework for 3D EKKLESIA.

→ The early church had a powerful advantage over the modern church: No one told them that church only happens on Sunday! Acts 2 shows us clearly that the early church went BEYOND SUNDAY.

However, though the early church went BEYOND SUNDAY, they still understood the spiritual power of Sunday, the significance of the first day of the week. We cannot get BEYOND SUNDAY until we BEGIN on Sunday. In order to understand what happens BEYOND SUNDAY, we must understand what happens on Sunday.

Sunday matters! (Both in the culture and in scripture.) We must not “throw the baby out with the bath water!”

When “the day of Pentecost was fully come” and mundane time intersected with meta-time, the“fullness of the times” caused a “TIME-TRANSFORMATION” that flowed out into FOUR REALMS OF TRANSFORMATION.

  1. TRANSFORMED PEOPLE (“Repent, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit!”)

  2. TRANSFORMED FAMILY (“The promise is to you and your children…”)

  3. TRANSFORMED CHURCH (Synagogue to church for them, traditional church to ekklesia for us. Daily in the temple and from house-to-house.)

  4. TRANSFORMED CULTURE (Favor with the people, the community impacted, people saved daily, witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth, ”until “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covered the earth as the waters cover the sea.”)

NEXT STEPS

How do we go BEYOND SUNDAY? Here’s how:

  1. Join the MINISTRY TO THE MULTITUDE on Sunday by serving at Freedom Life.

  2. Sign up for BASIC TRAINING, our four-week introduction to the MINISTRY OF THE FIVEFOLD. In BASIC TRAINING, you will be equipped by the fivefold ministry to do Acts 2:42-based MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS, the “king-priest ministry” to which every believer is called.

  3. Join GROUPS at Freedom Life and do the MINISTRY OF THE SAINTS, which is becoming “devoted…to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) within “house-to-house” GROUPS.

Ready to sign up for BASIC TRAINING?