We Believe: The Doctrine of Missions
Even as last week Pastor Kore spoke to us about God’s heart towards us that precedes any directive towards missions, today we will speak about the goal behind missions.
The Bible is not a random collection of writings but a single story - a unified record that communicates a coherent and constant message.
It is the unfolding drama of God’s mission to save a remnant for himself from lost humanity and to shape a new creation from a broken world.
“The Bible presents itself to us fundamentally as a narrative, a historical narrative at one level, but a grand metanarrative at another.
It begins with the God of purpose in creation, moves on to the conflict and problem generated by human rebellion against that purpose, spends most of its narrative joinery in the story of God’s redemptive purposes being worked out on the stage of human history, and finishes beyond the horizon of its own history with the eschatological hope of a new creation.
Missions, then, is not just for missionaries; it is the totality of life.
We all are honored to participate in God’s mission.
Doctrinal Statement: We believe God’s mission is to redeem a people for himself from every tribe, nation, and language and to restore creation for his glory. As the Father loved the world and sent his Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Spirit, the Triune God sends the church into the world to proclaim the gospel, make disciples, and seek God’s justice and reconciliation in the world.
God’s mission is to redeem a people’s for himself.
God sent his Son and his Spirit to redeem sinful humans.
God sends the Church to proclaim the gospel.
God sends the Church to make disciples.
God sends the church to be a prophetic voice to a sinful world.
God’s mission is to redeem a people’s for himself.
Revelation 7:9-12 ESV
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.””
Ever since Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), God has been on a mission to redeem humanists and all of the created order.
God’s redemptive mission is not an attempt of a divine watchmaker to fix a broken creation; it is the work of a loving father to restore a broken relationship with his creatures.
God has always manifested his redemptive work in the world in particular times and places and with particular people - but always with universal implications.
One early example of God’s rescue mission was when he saved Noah’s family from the great flood (Genesis 7).
His mission continued when he called out Abraham with the promise that he would become a great nation and that God would bless all the nations of the earth through him (Genesis 12).
Abraham’s descendants became the nation of Israel - God’s chosen people.
In their unique history chronicled in the Old Testament, God chose and revealed himself to them.
The Israelites were God’s chosen people, but he chose them to be a light to all the nations of the earth.
Deuteronomy 4:5-8 ESV
“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
This promise was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus - the second person of the Trinity who came into the world a Jew in the royal line of King David.
Jesus focused his brief earthly ministry demonstrating to the Jewish people that he was the Messiah, but his final words made it clear that his disciples should proclaim the good news of his death and resurrection to the ends of the earth.
Since then, the Father, through the Son, is still redeeming a people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
This redeemed people from all times, places, and ethnicities is called the Church.
God sent his Son and his Spirit to redeem sinful humans.
John 3:16-21 ESV
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””
The Bible uses different metaphors to describe the saving work of Jesus - the focal point of God’s mission.
One of the most common is redemption.
The modern world thinks of redemption primarily as a “religious” concept, but the ancient world thought of it in economic terms.
*To them, it signified the price paid to rescue a slave or a prisoner of war.
Sometimes the payment was in money (gold, silver, etc.); sometimes the payment was in people (a prisoner exchange).
In this passage (and elsewhere in the New Testament, e.g. Mark 10:45), John uses the metaphor to explain why God sends his Son to earth.
The Bible likens our sinful human condition to slavery or captivity to emphasize that we cannot redeem ourselves.
*This is why Jesus came, to pay the ransom price.
*But Jesus was not only the broker of our redemption - the person who coordinated the payment - he was the payment itself.
Jesus was free, but he gave his life to redeem humans in bondage.
He was perfectly holy, but he gave his life for sinful humanity.
It was his life for our life.
When Jesus explained this to an inquiring religious leader named Nicodemus, he started with God’s motivation in sending him to redeem the world - love.
God’s redemptive mission flows from his love for sinful humanity.
Because he loved the world, he sent Jesus to redeem sinful humans.
*It is crucial to highlight God’s stated motive here because it is also our motive in joining God on mission.
God did not redeem us because he needed us or because he was under an obligation to us.
God sent his Son to redeem us because he loved us.
God sends the Church to proclaim the gospel.
John 20:21-22 ESV
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he charged his small group of disciples to proclaim the good news of his life, death, and resurrection to the ends of the earth.
As Pastor Kore mentioned last week, Jesus used the metaphor of a witness - someone who testifies to what they’ve seen or heard in a court of law.
*Whether we are actively proclaiming the good news of the gospel or answering questions about what we’ve seen or heard about Jesus, the goal is to call all people to repent and believe the gospel.
The first disciples did this with great zeal and courage, which is what every subsequent generation of Christians has tried to do (with greater or less success) for the last two thousand years.
Effective gospel proclamation is only possible when we recognize who is involved.
*First, it’s important to note that this is the Church’s calling.
Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by the task and feel like everything is up to us as individual Christians.
However, knowing God has called and sent the Church to do this massive work is freeing.
John 17:15-19 ESV
“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
*It is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational team with different gifts, strengths, and social connections.
*And it is only as the whole Church that we will effectively proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth.
As the body of Christ, we are called to continue God’s redemptive mission in the earth.
*It is not just about us finding our place of belonging or getting our personal needs met.
God gives us these things, but as in the Abrahamic call that set all of this in motion - we are blessed to be a blessing.
As the Father sent the Son to redeem the world, so he sends us - the Church - into the world to bring that good news of his redemption to all people.
It is important to remember that when God sent the Church into the world to be his witnesses, he did not send them alone.
He sent his Holy Spirit to empower them to be his witnesses.
*When we preach the gospel, we are not alone.
*We are on a mission with the whole Church, and the Holy Spirit empowers us.
”…when you are in your place in the Body, God will give you the gifts you need for that place. A lot of people are just interested in spiritual gifts - and I agree, they are exciting. But they are not to be sought in detachment from the Body. In fact, until you know your place in the Body you do not know what gifts you will need. My experience has been that when I get in the right place, I have the right gifts.”
-Derek Prince
God sends the Church to make disciples.
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
*Gospel proclamation is crucial and primary, but our mission does not stop with preaching or even conversion.
Jesus commissioned us to make disciples.
Disciples are people who follow Jesus, fellowship with other believers, and fish for people (Matthew 4:19).
So we must preach the gospel to make disciples and also teach people to follow Jesus.
Conversion is a one-time event when people surrender their lives to Jesus, but discipleship is a lifelong process of following Jesus, becoming more like him, and bringing others on the journey.
We cannot underestimate this call for all followers of Jesus not only to be disciples but to make disciples.
So often, people assume that making is the role of professionals (like pastors or campus missionaries), but Jesus made no such distinction.
Following him in a discipleship relationship implicates us (the Church) in his mission of bringing lost people into a relationship with the Father.
*We are all called to be disciples and disciple-makers.
*We all have unique spheres of influence.
*We know people who will only hear the gospel if we share it with them and will only start on the road of discipleship if we walk alongside them.
***There are many things to learn in our discipleship journey and many things to pass on to others, but Jesus highlighted one foundational principle that undergirds everything else - obedience.
As disciples, we are on a journey of obedience - daily learning how to die to ourselves and submit our lives to the lordship of Jesus.
And as disciple-makers, this is what we must teach and encourage others to do.
This is hard work, but we must never forget that as we go and make disciples of all nations, Jesus is “with us always to the end of the age.”
God sends the church to be a prophetic voice to a sinful world.
Luke 4:18-19 ESV
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””
Jesus began his ministry by reading Isaiah 61 aloud in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth.
After reading this ancient messianic prophecy, he said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
At that moment, Jesus claimed he was the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Profound concern for human suffering would mark his ministry and result in transformative liberation.
He would bring healing and freedom to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.
*In other words, Jesus’ mission - and by extension, his Church’s mission - had an other-world and a this-world orientation.
Jesus called his Church to preach the gospel and make disciples.
He also called her to heal broken bodies and liberate people from unjust systems.
Jesus set the example by preaching to multitudes, healing the sick, and liberating the oppressed.
As a consequence, historically, Christians have spearheaded the most significant abolition movements over the last two thousand years and have been at the forefront of providing health care to those who need it most.
This is why C.S. Lewis wrote:
“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
To quote Isaac Watts in “Joy to the World”, it is the work of the Church to seek God’s justice and reconciliation in the world “as far as the curse is found”.
To be a prophetic voice is to see the world’s injustice and join with the prophets of old in decrying the oppression of humans made in God’s image.
To be a prophetic voice is to engage the world with a kingdom-inspired imagination and a Christ-centered hope - to work to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
However, we must remember Jesus called us to be prophets, not saviors.
We must accept that our work will always be incomplete and unfinished.
Only Jesus can finish this work when he returns.
Our role is to bear witness to it in small (and occasionally big) ways.
“The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts it…). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.”
-N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking, Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
This is why Jesus taught his disciples to pray:
Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
*This prayer is an ongoing posture that both orients us and motivates us for the mission of Christ until Jesus’ inevitable return.
“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.”
-N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking, Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
We are not the savior of the world - Jesus is.
And our mission is to point people to him.
Next week begins the Advent (Christmas) season celebrating the very reason that Jesus came.
