We have a natural tendency to be defined by our work. It is easy to trace the occupational origins of surnames such as Webber signifies “a man who weaves” and Baker means “a man who bakes.” More recently, one of the first questions we ask when meeting someone new is about their work. “Hey, nice to meet you, what do you do for a living?”
The Work of Christ gives us a clear picture of God’s love for His creation. John 3:16 tells us, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Christ came so that he would usher in the Kingdom of God where He would rule and reign forever, and Christ teaches He and the Father are one, and Christ is the way to be reconciled to the Father, restoring all of creation with the Father.
As Jesus was talking with His disciples in John 14, he teaches that the way to the Father is only through Him and that He represents the Father while on the earth. Christ then teaches when He ascends; the disciples would continue his work and continue to be His representative here on earth.
Paul encourages the church in 1 Corinthians 11 to “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” We are to imitate Christ by revealing Him to the watching work, live under His lordship, and continue to be agents of reconciliation to a lost and dying world.