A common misconception that many have when thinking about missions is that it starts with us, the church. The idea is that we bring others to God, and God doesn’t necessarily play a role in the mission other than being that ultimate goal. This misconception has been so off the mark that even a belief system arose known as Deism. In the belief of Deism one believes in God and that he created the universe, but has little to no involvement with the way it ultimately turns out. Basically He built and wound the clock, but after that the clock works on its own. This morning I want to share with you the idea that God is a missionary God and just how off the mark we can be when we think that mission work is totally our doing.
First of all I want to show you that God is a God on a mission, or a missionary God. To start this off I can begin the same way Moses began the book of Genesis. “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Here in the very first line of the Bible we see God on a mission. As we read on we see that every day God embarks on a new element to His mission to create the world, until he comes to His ultimate goal of creating man. At this point He does take a break as we read that on the seventh day He rested, but this is not where God says goodbye and leaves us to our own devices. Shortly we find the story of the fall of man and God’s mission changes from creating to redeeming. We see this mission in several stories throughout the Bible. The story of Noah tells how God rid the world of its wickedness and saved a family of righteousness. The story of Moses tells how God saved a nation from the wickedness of Egyptian enslavement. Jonah tells about God sending a man to redeem a corrupt city and the book of Amos is drenched with God promising the redemption of His people. All these stories show us that God’s mission is now the care and redemption of His creation.
John 3:16 tells us that “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.” God’s concern is for the world and His mission is turning to the world to care for and redeem us all so that the world will once again have the perfection in which He created all things. God is so taken up in this mission that He was willing to send Jesus to die so that His mission could be one step closer to being accomplished. This was not God’s final action either. Next came the sending of the Holy Spirit to guide this now “redeemed” world to the acceptance and practice of redemption. But this is not the end of the line for our missionary God. He uses another tool to accomplish His mission, the church.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” This scripture should change the way we look at mission. Instead of thinking that mission work starts with the church, this scripture shows us that God has laid out His mission and we are the instrument with which He carries those plans out. We were created to carry those plans out. This idea is further illustrated in 1 Peter 2:9-10, using the Message translation, “But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.”
These passages show that in the field of missions, the church is not the sender, but rather the church exists to be sent. This also leads to the realization that the church exists for those who are not members of it. The church is a servant community, meant to reach out to others. Philippians 2:5-8 tells us “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Jesus himself even said in Matthew 20:26-28 “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We cannot view ourselves as elite, though we have been chosen by God, and we cannot view ourselves as truly set apart, though we are not of this world, because our very existence and reason for being is to serve those who have not yet answered the call. Our thoughts should change from creating church-centered missions in which we look to accomplish a goal of filling our pews and being the ones bringing others to know God to being mission-centered churches which strive to participate in God’s mission of caring for and redeeming His creation. This means that church should no longer be viewed as simply a place to go and praise God, but as we disperse we should look to serve God in the opportunities He gives us everyday to serve others. I want to close with that thought and offer the invitation to come for prayers or baptism, but I have one more thing to present to you after we stand and sing.
Not only are we called to serve God and others in our communities, but world wide as God’s concern is for the entire world. John 3:16 doesn’t say that God so loved Texas or the USA, but that “God so loved the world.” And it says in both Isaiah 56:7 and Mark 11:17, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Let’s Start Talking Ministry is a ministry at the heart of this part of God’s mission. I want to let you know that this year the KFC Ministry will be sending 4 teams (16 students, including myself) who have taken up the call to serve others in Germany, Brazil, Thailand, and possibly Malaysia through the LST Ministry. I mention this because we need your help. Dedicating ourselves to raising funds for the LST Ministry is one of the first and biggest “missions” we engage in. Part of our fundraising involves meeting two deadlines, one of which is having half of our funds raised by Feb. 15, while the other is having all of our funds raised by April 15. I would like to bring this to your attention and ask that a donation be given your consideration.
You can make a donation two ways. The first is to go to www.lst.org/2011projects/zaachary to make an online donation to my personal web page or go to www.katsforchrist.com, select LSTU, select Current Projects, and browse the teams and individuals you might like to donate for. The second is by mailing a check, with the name of a student in the memo line, to:
Let's Start Talking
P.O.Box 99321
Fort Worth, Texas 76199-0321
11 years ago
