The Mission of God

This morning my goal is to share with you an exciting discovery that is found woven into the narrative of scripture. Once this was shown to me it honestly changed my entire life. What I discovered, and what I want to share with you is God’s mission in the world.

Introduction (explaining terms, why this matters, how do we know?)

As we set out to identify the Mission of God we want to acknowledge two things. First, we want to recognize that this is a lofty goal. After all, Isaiah 55:8–9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Any attempt to understand God’s thoughts and plans needs to be approached with humility. However, we also want to move forward in boldness. Jesus teaches in John 16:13 that “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” That Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit resides in every person who has repented and placed their faith in Jesus, so we do want to move forward in boldness knowing that the Holy Spirit which resides in us is able to reveal mysteries to us which we would otherwise be unable to know. And finally, we can move toward this goal of understanding God’s mission because God reveals a great deal to us about himself. He does this in two ways.

We begin with general revelation. General revelation is available to all people at all times at all places in different degrees. We get general revelation by looking at the world around us, through nature, how people interact, and our most innate desires. Psalm 19:1 says that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Scientists of all generations have noticed that the way the world works reveals that there must be some higher power who intelligently designed it. However, we want to move further than knowing there is some higher power. We want to know who that is and why he created this amazing world. It is at this point where we turn to the Bible, special revelation.. Scripture tells us who God is, what He is like, how he wants us to worship him, and so much more. So this is where we look today.

The Start of It All

As far back as we can go we see that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” We know also that he created it good. A key aspect of that goodness was that God walked with Adam and Eve in perfect relationship in the Garden of Eden. There was no sin to separate them. Until there was. A serpent deceived Adam and Eve and they violated God’s law. What was and still is fundamentally good is now stained with evil, and the relationship between God and humans, us, his prized creation, was severed. Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God set forth a series of curses on mankind and the serpent.

Genesis 3:14–15 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

In these curses is also a promise. To the serpent, who is Satan, God says one day a descendant of Eve will destroy Satan and the evil he represents though he himself is injured. What follows in the Old Testament is a series of covenants between God and his chosen people, the Israelites. If upheld, these covenants will bring unity with God and each other back as the norm. But there is a crucial detail in these covenants which can go without being seen, and that is what we want to focus on today: God has a universal intention which includes people of all nations.

One of the first of these covenants is with a man called Abram, later renamed Abraham. God calls out to Abram in Genesis 12:1–3 saying,

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In these verses the Lord promises a great blessing for Abram and his family, but He does not stop there. God also says that through Abram all families of the earth will be blessed. “Families” comes from the Hebrew word mishpaha which can also mean nation, tribe, or people. So, we can properly render this last sentence as “all the people of the earth shall be blessed.” This final phrase is the climax and ultimate point of the promise. Through God’s chosen people, the whole world will be blessed. In fact, this promise is repeated about Abraham, Isaac (his son), and Jacob (his grandson) four times in Genesis 18:18; 22:18; 26:3-4; and 28:14. When it is repeated this way our Bibles usually say “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” In these verses, instead of the Hebrew word mishpaha (family) we see goy which the Israelites used when describing non-Jewish people. The promise becomes even more explicit: God’s chosen people will be the means by which God will bless all people.

The Exodus

Abraham followed God’s command to leave his country and family behind and he passed away, but soon his descendants were numerous and they became known as Israelites. Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph, became the governor of Egypt and all of his family moved there too. Several generations after Joseph passed away the Pharaoh looked around and became afraid of all of the Israelites so he subjected them to forced labor. They cried out to God for freedom from their oppressors and God raised up a man called Moses to lead them out of Egypt and into freedom. Moses does just this and the Israelites leave Egypt to make a nation of their own. On the way there they stopped at a mountain called Mt. Sinai. Moses climbed this mountain and met face to face with God. Here is what God said to him in Exodus 19:5–6:

“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

What God says here is important for us in trying to locate the mission of God. First, God makes a claim over all of the earth. This helps us to know that whatever mission God may have in mind is not limited to as particular place but is for the whole world. Second, note that God does not call Israel a kingdom with priests, but a kingdom of priests. In other words, all who belong to Israel fulfill the priestly role of mediation between God and others. Finally, God says that Israel is to be a holy nation. Holy means to be set a part, to stand out, to be different. It means to be in the full righteousness of God.

After God says this to Moses He gives him the law. This law consists of regulations on who and how to worship, how to organize their society, how to stay safe, and how to live righteously. It is by following these laws that Israel will become just what God has called them to be: a holy nation. And what is the purpose of this? Why does God call Israel to be a holy nation? Moses tells us the answer. In Deuteronomy 4 Moses is addressing the nation of Israel about the importance of keeping the law that has been given to them, he says this:

“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me… 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?”

You see, the reason why Israel ought to follow these laws, indeed the reason why God commanded them to be a holy nation is that all nations, all peoples would look at Israel and see the wisdom of their God; it is so that by the example set by Israel the whole world could come to know their creator. It is the same intention that underlies God’s covenant with Abraham: that all nations would be blessed.

One group of these laws is of particular importance to us today. This is a set of laws which describe the way Israel ought to treat a foreigner who was traveling through or residing in Israel. Numbers 9:14 sums it up well:

“You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.”

In other words, the same law that applies to you, the Israelite, the chosen people, also applies to the foreigner. Do you see the significance? In the Ancient Near East, where our story takes place, it was a dangerous thing to be traveling through a country which was not your own. To be a foreigner somewhere was to be unprotected by the courts, preyed on by criminals, taken advantage of in the marketplace, and treated as an outsider. But this was not to be so under God’s law. Why? Because of this principle of universality which started with God’s covenant in Abraham and continues here. In fact, it does not merely continue here, but in a way it is upgraded. No longer are non-Jewish people only to be blessed by Jewish people, but they are to be taken in, counted as the same. Another law says that whenever God’s people gather to worship they are to include even the foreigners among them! What is the result of this? Well, when foreigners look upon Israel and see the wisdom among them they may well come and investigate to see what is happening. And when they come they may well be blown away by the hospitality with which they are treated! And then they may come to realize that that the God if Israel is the true God.

Even here at the very beginning of the story of God’s chosen people we see that God’s mission is that all people everywhere would come to know him!

The Kingdom of Israel

But of course, we know that Israel did not follow God’s laws. The other nations did not look at Israel and see the wisdom of the Lord and a God that so closely guides them and loves them. Instead, the opposite happened. Israel looked out at the world around them and thought their ways were good, better than the law God had given them. Having been ruled by judges, Israel decided to have a king. The people chose for themselves a man named Saul to be their king. Saul was not the most godly of men and ultimately did more ruin to Israel than good. However, God had something special planned after Saul. He had raised up a young man named David to become the king of Israel. Among his many titles, nicknames, and accolades two things stand out to us today. First, David is most known as a magnificent poet, he wrote many of the Psalms. Another is that he was a man after God’s own heart. This does not mean that he was perfect, he was far from that. However, when he sinned he repented with genuine sorrow, and, importantly, when he was in line with God, the things that he expressed were in line with God’s desires.

Early in his tenure as king of Israel, David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the capital city, Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God’s presence resided on the earth, so this was a big moment! As he approaches the Ark he cries out to God with a song of thanksgiving. This is recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 16. Among the praise that he gives to God he invites all of Israel to join him in expressing their thankfulness. He tells Israel to make known the works of the Lord among all peoples, to sing to the earth and proclaim His salvation, and to declare His glory to all peoples. In this moment, David is certainly in line with God’s heart; and, when his son, Solomon, builds a temple to permanently house the Ark he dedicates the temple with this prayer, recorded for us in 1 Kings 8:41–43:

“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”

At these crucial moments in Israel’s history, and with God’s presence immediately there, Israel’s kings recall God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: that Israel would be the means by which all the peoples of the earth are blessed. David and Solomon recall what Moses told the Israelites, the nations of the world will look upon Israel and see God’s goodness through it. This continues throughout the prayers and songs recorded in the Psalms. The Psalms, the hymnbook for Ancient Israel which the Holy Spirit has preserved for us to this day, is replete with petitions for God’s glory to be made manifest to all the nations of the earth, praise for God for his sovereignty over all the nations of the earth, and prophecies that all the nations of the earth will worship God. Hear just a few of them now:

Psalm 67:1–4 ESV

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.

Psalm 22:27–29 ESV

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.

Psalm 86:9–10 ESV

All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Despite the righteousness of some of these kings of Israel, most of Israel continues to reject God’s law and embrace the same wicked rebellion which kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden. I say most because in each generation God raised up prophets in Israel to call the wicked to repentance and give hope to the righteous who were being oppressed by the wicked. In these rebukes and encouragements God, through the prophets, reminds Israel of their purpose to be a light to the nations, and makes clear that his redemptive purpose in the world is larger than just the people of Israel. He gives these prophets visions of what is to come, and it paints the same picture that we see in these Psalms: all the nations of the world will come and worship the true God in His temple. Particularly, Isaiah speaks to this:

Isaiah 2:2–3 ESV

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 49:6 ESV

I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Even the prophet Jeremiah joins in, reminding the Israelites that if they become that holy people which God chose them to be, he will bless the nations:

Jeremiah 4:1–2 ESV

“If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”

God, in His infinite knowledge, sees that His chosen people will not choose Him. Not unless they are reminded of His great love for them and shown His way more clearly. In this knowledge he speaks these words through Isaiah

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

We see here that out of Israel will come God’s servant. But this servant will be different than the rest of Israel. He is chosen, God’s soul is pleased with him, and he will unconditionally bring justice to all the nations.

Jesus!

However, as the prophets go on, an image become more and more clear: Israel is not returning to God, rather they are becoming more and more rebellious against him. This cycle of rebellion continues until all of a sudden there are no more prophets; it seems as if God has abandoned Israel. For hundreds of years there is no more prophecy. Israel is conquered by the Greeks and eventually the Romans when all of a sudden the most miraculous part of the whole story happens. God, not content to abandon all of humanity, much less his chosen people, to the death of sin sends his son Jesus. Jesus, mysteriously both fully man and God lives the life of a good Jewish boy. He studies the scriptures, asks good questions, and His family even makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. One day Jesus is baptized in the Jordan river when God’s voice comes down from Heaven announcing:

Matthew 3:17 ESV

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

And as the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and he launches into a new phase of his life. Jesus is to be a traveling teacher, and His first sermon is apt. Referring to himself he quotes the Old Testament saying: Luke 4:18-19

Luke 4:18–19 ESV

“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.”

Don’t you see? Jesus is the servant who Isaiah prophesied! God is pleased with Him, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him, and he comes to bring justice. Jesus’ ministry is just getting started and as He teaches more and more it becomes more and more clear to those around Him that He is God. This is seen in his miracles, in what He says about Himself, and in the way he fulfills the Old Testaments prophecies, but it is also seen in His teaching. What he says, and what he calls His followers to be is identical to what God said in the Old Testament. Hear this: we read earlier in Isaiah 42 that Israel is to be a light to the nations. Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:14

Matthew 5:14 ESV

You are the light of the world.

Another important episode is Jesus’ discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. The Samaritans were sort of a splinter group of the Israelites. The main issue that divided them was that while the Israelites worshipped God in the temple, the Samaritans worshipped a false god on the top of a mountain. Jesus is asked by this woman at the well which is true worship. Jesus’ response is revelatory, the God of the Jews is the true worship, but a time is coming where one will not need to travel to a temple to worship, but people will worship by the spirit. This alerts us that a change is coming. If before one could only engage in true worship by coming to Israel, and now a time is soon approaching where that barrier is removed, all the nations can worship God where they are. We move now towards the end of Jesus’ life on earth. Just before he is to be arrested, Jesus prays what we know as the high-priestly prayer. In this prayer, Jesus prays for himself, for his 12 disciples, and for all who would come to follow Him. And in this prayer, Jesus reveals something about himself and about his followers. He prays to God:

John 17:18 ESV

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

See, our English word for mission comes from the latin missio, or, “to send.” So here, when Jesus says this to God he is saying “Father, with the same authority, purpose, and boldness that you sent me into the world, so I send my followers.” After Jesus prays this prayer He takes His disciples with Him to the place where he will be betrayed and handed over to the authorities who will execute Him. After a mock trial, betrayal by his closest friend, and brutal torture, Jesus is killed. Jesus, the servant who Isaiah prophesied would bring peace to the world, is dead. Jesus, the one whom all the nations are to come bow down to, is dead. Jesus, the God-man who promised that if Israel remained a holy nation that all the peoples of the world would be blessed, is dead. Jesus, the descendant of Eve who would bruise the serpent’s skull, is dead. But wasn’t that a part of the prophecy? Did God not say that the one who bruised the serpent’s skull would likewise have his heel bruised? Indeed, he did. This death was not final for Jesus, but He rose from the dead three days later. In His resurrection, Jesus broke the bonds of death. The curse of sin which originated with Adam and Eve in the garden is no more, humanity can again have perfect relationship with God, and the promise of Jesus is that all one needs to do to escape it is to have faith in Him. For forty days he continued to teach His disciples.

The Church

His final instruction for them is known as the Great Commission,

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

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.

This instruction, this sending of of Jesus’ followers sparked the greatest and most substantial movement in world history. After being empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter, the leader of the disciples, preached a sermon to a gathering of Jews from all across the world which saw 3,000 people come to know Jesus as their savior. Tradition tells us that sometime after this Peter went to Rome and began to make disciples of all nations. We also the story of Philip. Philip was told by God to go walk on the road to a city called Emmaus. While walking on this road a eunuch from Ethiopia came alongside him in an impressive chariot. This man was reading from the prophet Isaiah a prophecy about Jesus much like the one that we read earlier. Philip, hearing this, asked the man if he understood what he was reading and, after the man said no, he began to explain to him all about who Jesus was. Filled with joy, this Ethiopian eunuch was baptized and became a Christian that day. This man is important to us for two reasons. First, he was a eunuch. Eunuchs were barred from entering the temple under Old Testament law, so they could not worship God. However, now that worship is done in the Spirit and not at a particular place, that barrier was removed. Second, he was Ethiopian. This does not necessarily correlate to the modern country of Ethiopia but rather was a Greek word which simply means someone from Sub-Saharan Africa. At this time, that was the furthest place in the world that the disciples would have known about. There is evidence that Christianity thrived in Sub-Saharan Africa around this time period and before any missionaries were sent. The only logical conclusion we can arrive at is that this Ethiopian Eunuch took the Gospel with him. Already we see that truly all nations will be blessed by God’s people and that that is his directive.

Next of course we want to look at the ministry of Paul. Paul went to each of the major cities around the mediterranean, preaching the gospel and establishing the Church. The modern equivalent would be him going to New York City, Paris, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, New Delhi, and Lagos. Everywhere he went he brought the blessing of Jesus with him, and everywhere he went, all the people of all nations were blessed by God’s chosen people. And wherever he went he gave them this charge: spread the Gospel. Spread it in your town and give money and means to people you send to spread the gospel even further.

To close, we turn to Revelation. John, one of the original twelve disciples, sits on a prison colony called Patmos. One Sunday while he was worshipping God he had a vision of heaven and of God’s judgement of the world. In Heaven, John sees the throne room of God where all who come near to God’s presence fall down and worship Him. And here at the end of the story, at the end of the world as we know it, we see an incredible scene. He says this in

Revelation 7:9 ESV

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,

God’s plan has come to fruition. Here in Heaven, at the end of the world, more people than anyone could count from every tribe, nation, people group, and language are worshipping God.

So there is the full story. From the beginning of humanity on this world, to the very end. And throughout we see that God has one singular purpose: that all people everywhere would come to know Him. And he only has one way to accomplish that: by his chosen people living holy lives and proclaiming the gospel so that all will see the wisdom of God and all will hear of their savior. This did not begin with the great commission, it goes all the way back to the beginning. We saw the end of the story, we know that this will come to pass. But where do things stand in between Paul’s missionary journeys and this vision that John has? Where are we right now?

As of right now, there are approximately 6,602 people groups in the world who do not have adequate access to the gospel. That is 3.9 billion people. 3.9 billion souls who will perish not knowing who Jesus is. 6,602 people groups whose language and voice are not yet heard among that heavenly choir. This is not 3.9 billion people who have rejected God. It’s 3.9 billion people who do not even have adequate access to hear the good news that evil has been defeated.

What is God’s plan for those people? It’s His church. It’s me. It’s you. God’s mission in this world is that all peoples everywhere would see His chosen people and hear them proclaim His good news so that they can be blessed by the relationship to Jesus that you and I have.

Among those 3.9 billion people is the nearly 12 million people who live in Belgium. That is why we are going, and that is why we are asking you to be a part of sending us there. God’s purpose for Taylor and I is to go to Belgium. To teach truth, bring hope, and proclaim the gospel. But God’s purpose for each of us is that we would be significantly involved in seeing to it that no one in the world would die without having heard the good news of Jesus. Me, you, the church… we are plan A. And there is no plan B.

Response

So what do I ask of you today? Three things. First, I ask that you would pray. God works and moves powerfully through prayer. Please pray that God would turn the hearts of the people in Belgium, and all of the unreached people in the world, towards him. Please pray that more missionaries would be sent out from churches all around the world to those who need to hear.

Second, I ask that you would give. Would you consider making giving to missions one of if not the highest priorities in your budget? Missionaries cannot get to where they are going and live where they are going to live, without money. Consider this question: if God’s mission in this world is accomplished by missions, and if I want to be inline with God’s mission, do my bank statements show that?

Third, I ask you to be willing and open to the call of God on your life. Taylor and I had no plans to be missionaries. When God called us, Taylor was studying for a Masters degree in a scientific field at Purdue and I was content pastoring in West Lafayette. But when God called us, we said yes. If God calls you, please be open to being obedient to that. Prepare your heart by telling God that if he would send you, you would go. Even ask God in prayer to call you and make it abundantly clear if that is his plan for you.

Let’s close in prayer.