God's mission

Story writing

Most days after I pick my kids up from school, I often ask what they did or learnt that day. Your probably won’t be surprised that generally speaking (and there are exceptions), I don’t get a very detailed response.

But I love trying to dig a bit deeper and finding out what sort of tasks they have to do. And while there are some cool new things they do that I never did, particularly around computers and technology, the bulk of their learning is very similar to what I did. Reading, writing and maths.

But this of course brings back memories. My math memories are okay, because I always did well at that, but I remember often sitting at my desk, pen (or probably pencil) in hand trying to think of something to write on those occasions when they get you to do creative writing.

This is something that my ten year old daughter seems to relish, but I would just get stuck.

Part of my problem was that I would start with some real vague idea without thinking about any kind of plot line. My story would then get to a point where I had to think - well now where does this go? So I would have to add some new crazy plot line to try and make sense of it all. The end product was that it was it was a real mess.

God’s plan B?

Now here’s the interesting thing. Though as Christians we would quickly assent to God as being all powerful and in control, and even that he is all-knowing and can see things through perfectly, yet somehow it is all too easy to think of God as somehow stuffing up his story line for the world.

You see, assuming you’ve been coming to church for a little while now, you would be well aware that there are two testaments in the Bible (the Old and the New), and that there are distinct differences between the two.

The Old Testament predominantly relates the story of Israel’s formation. Whereas the New Testament looks at how Jesus re-interprets the Old.

So it is very easy to form the conclusion that the Old Testament was God’s plan A, and that the New Testament was his plan B.

In this way, God thought out his world with a particular plot line - that being, he’ll form a nation, give them a bunch of rules and then they can all live happily ever after.

But then somewhere along the line God says “oops”, realises that this plot line doesn’t work, and so thought up a new one. And so the New Testament represents God’s plan B.

But, let me tell you, that is actually not the case. In fact it is my intention to show a much better way of looking at scripture.

Understanding God’s mission

But before I do, I want to bring in our understanding of mission.

A typical understanding of mission within a Christian framework is that mission is the activity of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have not heard the good news.

We then have an unfortunate tendency to make a narrow range of what is mission work. The activity that most clearly falls into that category is those who travel overseas, typically to a third world country, and tell them about Jesus.

Now this understanding of mission fits really well with the reading of scripture as the New Testament being God’s plan B.

You see, with God’s plan A, that is, with the formation of the nation of Israel, you didn’t need mission because… well the chosen people were already there.

It was only after God decided he needed a plan B that we need to bring more people in, and so we get the conception of mission. It is then easy to see the Great Commission in , that is, when Jesus tells his disciples post-resurrection to go and make disciples of all nations, as being the start of the mission movement.

A broader understanding

But what if we broaden our conception of mission. I don’t want to suggest what I’ve just described as mission is incorrect, but I don’t believe it fully understands mission.

What if we think of mission, not just the act of telling others about Jesus, but more broadly about being involved in all that God is doing in the world.

Corporate mission statements

You know, in the corporate world, businesses will talk about having a mission statement. These mission statements are usually short little explanations of what that company is about.

In fact, I want to suggest that as I do take you on a very brief journey through the whole bible, where actually going to start to see what God is all about, and in this sense, this is his mission.

So let me suggest that we think of mission in this broader sense of being involved in all that God is doing in this world.

Actually, while we are on corporate mission statements, while the articulation of them might vary after their commencement, the reality is, when that company came into existence, it was for a particular purpose, whether that be to make a product or provide a service.

You don’t normally start with a company and then think - ok, now what are we going to do?

A church for God’s mission

I’m going to suggest that in a similar way God actually established his church for his mission, he didn’t start with the church and then think, okay, now I might give them a mission. But somehow we’ve managed to think of mission as a small subset of what the church does.

But if we think of the church coming out of God’s mission, then we realise that God’s mission is the essence of what the church is. Mission is not a subset of what we do, rather the things we do is a subset of our mission!

Biblical overview

So let’s dive into the Bible and look at how it fits together, but with a particular focus on seeing what God’s mission is.

Creation

Well to start an overview we have to start with creation.

God starts with a perfect creation. There is no sin. But not only that, there was an unadulterated union with God. They were able to walk with God in the garden and communicate clearly.

Now I want to suggest that this is more than just a prelude to the main story. In fact, even before we get into what traditionally think of as mission, even at this point we actually see what’s at God’s heart.

At God’s heart is this union between humanity and himself. But I’m actually going to go a step further, because I also believe that in creation we don’t just see harmony between God and humans, but also this harmony and order with all of his creation.

If that is the case, then while we might maintain that God’s relationship with humans has a particular focus, but creation care is also part of his mission.

This really can start to broaden our understanding of mission. Because mission then needs to include care for animal welfare. It means caring about the atmosphere, our waterways and the land we live on.

Now does that mean we all need to become greenies? Well no, our environment care needs to be balanced with our understanding of God’s special place for us as being made in His image. But it does mean that the environment should be taken seriously.

We’re not all called to be environmental activists, just as we aren’t all called to be cross cultural evangelists, but because of God’s creation, we are called to care about it.

The Fall

Well, I’m only got to the first two chapters of the entire bible, and already we can start to see God’s heart and what his mission is.

But then in chapter 3, something happens that’s going to affect everything.

Sin enters God’s good creation.

Adam and Eve eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Despite having this perfect union with God, they wanted more. Being tempted by the serpent they wanted to be like God. And this sin changed everything.

From chapters 3 through to 11 of Genesis, we then see things go from bad to worse. In chapter 4 we see the first murder. By chapter 6, the wickedness is that bad that God needs to wipe humanity out, only saving Noah and his family.

By chapter 11, humanity has again tried to make themselves like God by building a tower to heaven, so God scatters them, confusing their tongue.

These chapter represent to fall away from God’s heart - his mission.

Redemption

But God doesn’t change his mission. His heart is still for his people and his creation, and so he perfectly sets up and executes his plan for redemption.

We essentially see this outworking of this plan from right through to .

During these chapters (which make up the vast bulk of the bible), that we begin to see particular focus areas for our mission. I’m going to give a brief overview of some of them this morning, but my intention is to look at some of these in more detail in the weeks to come.

But let’s look at the unfolding story line and I’ll highlight some of the areas of focus as I go.

Abraham

Well, after everything seems to be going horribly wrong, God chooses a man by the name of Abram, out of whom the whole plan for redemption will flow from.

God makes some very specific promises to Abram, who later God renames Abraham. There is a promise for land. A promise that he will have many descendants and become a great nation. And a promise that he will be a blessing to the whole earth.

Now, I just want to really briefly dig into the first time we see this promise which is in .

The first part of the promise is that he is to be a great nation and that God will bless him, but then says that God will make his name great and that Abraham will be a blessing.

We can easily read that last part, about him being a blessing to others, as just a consequence of what God does, and certainly from one perspective that is true. However, it can also be argued that this is essentially a commissioning of Abraham and his descendants to actively be a blessing.

In other words, we should actually read this as a commissioning of us to mission. And just notice what that commissioning is: to be a blessing to all people!

We can easily see the passage we refer to as the Great Commission, that is as our commissioning, but that call to mission actually happens much earlier.

Becoming a nation

Well, as the story progresses, it all looks doomed to failure as Abraham is an old man and his wife is an old woman and they don’t have any kids. But God miraculously provides and that have a child Isaac.

Isaac then has Jacob, who changes his names to Israel. He has 12 children who then becomes the 12 tribes of Israel, and so begins the nation that will change everything.

Exodus

These 12 sons then had children of their own and suddenly it looks like they just might be the great nation that was promised. That was, at least, until they find themselves in Egypt as slaves.

By the start of the book of Exodus, they’ve spent 400 odd years in Egypt and their Egyptian masters had all of the control. All seemed hopeless.

And yet, despite all these times of hopelessness, and believe me, there are a lot more times that all things seem hopeless, God is teaching them that if they are to stick to the mission, then they need to rely solely on him and not on their own ability.

And so we see God miraculously delivering Israel from Egypt and into the promised land.

Now in this deliverance we again see a number of different missional themes emerge.

We see a direct lesson of treating the foreigner well because they were foreigners. We see a prototype of what redemption is all about.

Frequently throughout the bible this event is referred to, as they look forward to what is to come. And significantly when we get to Jesus, it was of course the Passover, that provides a direct link between leaving Egypt and the crucifixion of Jesus.

God uses the exodus as the imperative to push the Israelites into mission.

The Law

But while the Israelites are on their way to the Promised Land, the significantly receive the law.

This law shows them what it means to be the people of God.

Interestingly, this is where we often get confused thinking that somehow the Old Testament was God’s plan A that didn’t work. That would only be true if God thought that somehow the law was going to save them.

But he never did. Rather the law here was given to show them how to live.

In fact, I’m going to pick up on this theme next week, as we look at the way in which we can be missional by taking up the identity that God wants for us, and it is in the law where we begin to understand this identity.

While the law doesn’t save, we are called to be holy people because God is holy. This takes us back towards where we were in the garden of Eden. As we do, we become the salt of the earth. A people that shines the light of Jesus to the world.

Into the land

The Israelites then move into the promised land, and in the interest of time, I’m going to move quite quickly.

We then

They subdue the inhabitants of the land, but not perfectly. In fact, while it looks like they are going to find the rest which will take them back to the ideal, it never happens. It doesn’t happen because evil is still in the world and sin is in their hearts.

But God continues to work through them.

Kingship

He establishes a kingship. First through Saul, but then establishes an everlasting kingdom through David.

Now this is far more than just a political move. In fact, this kingship will provide an important theme that will point us towards Jesus, the one true king.

Prophets

But even with the kingship established, things go off tack. In fact they get so bad that it looks like the whole thing was a waste of time.

But God raises a number of prophets to bring them back on track.

I would love to explore all of these parts in more detail because in this period of the kings and the prophets there is much to learn about God’s heart and his mission in the world.

Jesus

But we need to come to the one in which all of this points - Jesus.

The whole Old Testament points us towards Jesus. Abraham, the exodus, the whole law system, the kings and the prophets. All of it points to Jesus.

Before I spoke about an interpretation that considers the Old Testament as plan A, but that didn’t work so God tried plan B which is the New Testament.

But what I want to suggest is that the Old Testament should not at all be thought of as some failure. Rather it was perfectly planned to point us to Jesus, the one that would fulfill God’s plan.

And so in Jesus we see God’s mission. A mission that reconciles God’s great creation back to what it was designed to be.

In Jesus we see order being restored, which you might note included order in nature as well. He cared for the vulnerable, healed the sick and showed the way.

Ultimately he died on the cross, bringing the sacrificial system to completion.

If you want to understand the heart of God, look no further than Jesus and all that he is and all that he does.

The Church

But while Jesus brought the fulfillment God’s plan for redeeming us, it did not end there. This is not because God wasn’t capable of finalising the whole thing, but because he chose in his wisdom to allow more people to come into his kingdom.

And so started a time when the original promise to Abraham to be a blessing to all nations, took on a renewed focus. Following the resurrection of Jesus he commissioned his disciples to take the good news of what God has done to all nations.

This then becomes the focus as we look at the book of Acts. The church as we know it today takes its form and spreads like wild fire as the Holy Spirit goes before them.

This is then what we clearly think of as mission today in the church, but what I hope I’ve argued is that it was not as if this was the start of it.

Jesus return

As we get to the final two chapters of the entire Bible, we then see the whole story come back to God’s ideal.

We started with God’s good creation - and we end with (dare I say it) something even better. Starts with a garden, ends with a city!

But in it we again see God’s heart revealed. Humanity has been restored, and creation has been brought back to order.

When Jesus returns, all will be restored.

This reveals to us God’s mission, and our mission is to be part of it. The Spirit is with us now, so that we can move towards this goal.

While this restoration will only happen through God’s power, he wants to partner with us as chaos is restored.

Conclusion

I started by talking about my poor attempts to write a coherent story when I was younger. But don’t ever think that God has some how made a mess of everything just because we don’t fully understand it all.

It is because our perspective is so limited that sometimes it seems wrong - but as we read through the Bible, with the help of the Holy Spirit we can begin to see that it all makes sense.

That God had it sorted right from the beginning.

This month is May Mission Month - and while there is a great need for cross-cultural workers to spread the good news, my hope is that we can begin to see that if you are a Christian you are called to be in mission. That mission is to participate with God in seeing his work being done.

You can do that in whatever situation you are in. If you work in a job that is not directly ministry related, you still are on mission. You are God’s hands and feet in this world.

If you’re retired, you are still on mission.

No matter what we all have a part to play in God’s mission. You just need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your role.

Let’s pray...