Why Mission

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God is Mission

12 Oct 2011

God is not a loner. Social being is the name of his world because, although he is one, God has never lived as a hermit. He is love and love can’t exists in a vacuum but is always reaching outwards. This is seen in the perfect love the Father, the Son and the Spirit have for each other. Creation shows the outworking nature of God, because he gave us a chance at existence when he created humanity in his image. Evil, Satan and death had messed up God’s creation, but he does not just throw us in the rubbish bin. He loves his creation and planned to resolve its problems through his Son. This love is also seen in that Jesus the carpenter of Nazareth is declared to be the Word, who existed in the beginning, was with God and was God himself. A word is an audible or written expression of the hidden thoughts of the mind so as to be a bridge of communication to others. God the Son is a missionary, being clearly stated in Hebrews 3:1 where Jesus is called an apostle (sent one). Jesus himself constantly stressed that he was sent by God and his purpose was to sacrificially love humanity, to die and rise from the grave for us.

After creation, God did not leave us in the dark, but gave humanity guidelines to tell us who he is, what he has done, what he wants of us and what the conclusion is. On rising from the dead, Jesus explained the purpose of Scripture: “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”. (Luke 24:27, 44) Mission is Christocentric! God has righteously loved all humanity from the beginning of creation and invites us to repent and be members of his family. Those who respond are called priests and witnesses to stand between God and humanity to declare his praises. (1 Peter 2:9, Acts 1:8) We too are to be outreaching. The body of Christ is mission; being like its head, Christ. This centrifugal nature of God is also seen in that he created humanity for his glory and he wants to share his glory with those who believe (Rom.8:17).

 

About the Author

Dr. Grahame Martin has worked in missions for over 40 years. He served as a missionary with Pioneers in Papua New Guinea, taught Missions at SMBC and at BCV. He currently heads "Train to Teach" ministries that provides training through short-term missions to Papua New Guinea.