The Missionary Nature of God

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20 NKJV).

How much plainer could it be? Here is Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, the Jesus whom they worshiped (Matt. 28:17), giving His people, in even the earliest days of the church, their calling and mission: make disciples in every nation of the world. Period.

It’s not hard, either, to see the link between these words, spoken to the eleven in Galilee, and the words spoken to John on the island of Patmos years later: Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth-to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water (Rev. 14:6-7, NKJV, see also Rev. 17:8-12)

One could say that the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 are the Great Commission contextualized for the last days of earth’s history.

No question: God has told His church, His people, to reach out and spread the gospel to the entire world. It’s what we have been called to do. Spreading the truth about Jesus and what He has done for us (John 3:16), what He is doing now for us (Rom. 8:34), and what He will do for us in the future (1 Thess. 4:16) is, truly, our mission.

The word mission itself means a sending or being sent to perform a service. That is, people go away in order to do something. In the case of the Great Commission, what they do is to spread the gospel to the world.

This quarter we will look at mission first and foremost as God’s means for communicating the gospel to those who don’t know it. Mission is a core part of God’s sovereign activity in the process of redeeming humanity. Thus, we will study how God’s eternal purpose has been accomplished in the lives of individuals in the Bible whom He has used to be missionaries to the lost.

In the end, the Christian mission is God’s mission, not ours. It originated in the heart of God. It is based on the love of God. And it is accomplished by the will of God.

To better understand God’s mission commitment and involvement, this quarter’s lessons are based on the following model of salvation history:

At its most basic level, mission is letting the whole world know about Jesus and about what He has done for each of us and about what He promises to do for us, now and for eternity. In short, we who know about those promises have been called to tell others about them, as well.

Børge Schantz, PhD (Fuller), was a professor at Loma Linda University. He and his wife, Iris, served for 14 years as missionaries in Africa and the Middle East. He passed away in December 2014. Co-contributor Steven Wayne Thompson, before retiring, was president (1984-1990) at Newbold College in England, and then dean of theology faculty and a lecturer at Avondale College, Australia (1991-2008).

The Missionary Nature of God

Memory Text: See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples (Isaiah 55:4, NIV).

Our world is a mess, and as humans we are the big reason it is such a mess. And that’s because we are sinners, fallen creatures whose nature, at the core, is evil. However much we like to think of ourselves as advancing, as improving, the history of the past century isn’t too encouraging. And here we are, not even a quarter of the way into this century, and things don’t look that bright from here either. If the past is precursor to the future, all we can expect, to quote a former British politician, is blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

All is not lost though. On the contrary, Jesus Christ has died for our sins, and through His death we have the promise of salvation, of restoration, of all things being made new. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away(Rev. 21:1, NKJV).

We have not been left alone, abandoned in the infinite expanse of a cold and apparently uncaring cosmos to fend for ourselves. We could never do it; the forces arrayed against us are so much greater than we are. That’s why God had the plan of salvation in order to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

God Created Man and Woman

One of the perennial questions humans have asked is, Where do I come from? In the first two chapters of the Bible (in fact, all through the Bible) we have been given the answer to what many would consider the most important question a person can ask. After all, only by knowing where we came from are we off to a good start in knowing who we are, why we exist, how we are to live, and where we are ultimately going.

Skim through Genesis 1 and 2, but focus especially on Genesis 1:26-28. What great differences appear in the creation of humanity as opposed to everything else seen in the texts? What is it about humans that stands out from other parts of this creation?

Humans are introduced in the Bible in the first chapter, but not in isolation. We exist, but in relationship to God. What does this tell us about how central God should be to our lives and why we are not really complete without Him? See also Acts 17:28.

Free Will

Embedded in the Creation account is the warning God gave about not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9). So, right from the start, we can see the moral element granted humanity, something not seen in any of the other living creatures. As we said yesterday, the capacity for moral judgment is one way that humans reveal the image and likeness of God.

God could have created humans so that they automatically did His will. That is the way the other created things, such as light, sun, moon, and stars were made. They obey God without any element of choice. They fulfill the will of God automatically through the natural laws that guide their actions.

But the creation of man and woman was special. God created them for Himself. God wanted them to make their own choices, to choose to worship Him voluntarily without being forced to. Otherwise they could not love Him, because love, to be true love, must be freely given.

Because of its divine origin, human free will is protected and respected by God. The Creator does not interfere with the deepest, persistent choices of men and women. Wrong choices have consequences, sometimes very terrible ones, too, but it is against the character of our sovereign Lord to force compliance or obedience.

What are some of the free moral choices you have to make in the next few hours, days, or weeks? How can you be sure you are using this sacred gift in the right way? Think through the consequences of the wrong use of it.

The Fall

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves (Gen. 3:6-7, NIV).

Eating a little fruit was not a sinful act in itself. However, we have to consider the circumstances in which it was carried out. Adam and Eve were agents with a free will, made by God in His image. This included the freedom-but also the duty-to comply with God’s expressed will. They ate the fruit, not out of any stern necessity but rather by choice. It was an act of Adam’s and Eve’s own free will in defiance of God’s clear and specific instructions.

Likewise, we must choose for ourselves whether or not to follow God and whether to cherish or to defy the Word of God. God will not force anyone to believe His Word. He will never force us to obey Him, and He can’t force us to love Him. God allows each of us to choose for ourselves which path we will follow. But, in the end, we must be prepared to live with the consequences of our choices.

By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve in effect told God that He was not the perfect ruler. His sovereignty was challenged. They proved disobedient, and as a result, they brought sin and death to the human race.

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen. 3:23-24, NIV).

Adam and Eve had to leave Paradise. It was a necessary yet merciful consequence. The Lord would not allow rebellious humanity access to the tree of life. With loving care He kept Adam and Eve away from the fruit that would make them immortal and thus perpetuate the terrible condition into which sin had brought them. (Imagine what eternal life would be like in a world filled with such pain and suffering and evil as ours is!) Adam and Eve were driven out from the lovely garden to work the less friendly ground outside (Gen. 3:23-24).

In the context of today’s lesson, read 1 John 2:16. How were the elements warned about in this text seen in the Fall? In what ways do we have to deal with these same temptations in our lives, as well?

God’s Initiative to Save Us

The Bible shows that after the Fall of our first parents, it was God who came looking for them, not vice versa. On the contrary, the man and woman tried to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord. What a powerful metaphor for so much of the fallen human race: they flee the One who comes looking for them, the only One who could save them. Adam and Eve did it in Eden, and unless surrendered to the wooing of the Holy Spirit, people are still doing the same thing today.

Fortunately, God did not cast aside our first parents, nor does He cast us aside either. From the time that God first called out Where are you? to Adam and Eve in Eden (Gen. 3:9, NKJV) until today, He is still calling us.

In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.-Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 68.

Of course, the greatest revelation of God’s missionary activity can be seen in the incarnation and ministry of Jesus. Though Jesus came to this earth to do many things-to destroy Satan, to reveal the true character of the Father, to prove Satan’s accusations wrong, to show that God’s law can be kept-the crucial reason was to die on the cross in the place of humanity, in order to save us from the ultimate result of sin, which is eternal death.

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us (NKJV). That is what it took in order for us to be made the righteousness of God in Him (NKJV). This idea has been called the great exchange, Jesus taking on our sins and suffering as a sinner so that we, though sinners, can be counted as righteous before God as Jesus Himself.

Metaphors of Mission

Mission is God’s initiative to save lost humanity. God’s saving mission is motivated by His love for each one of us. There is no deeper reason for it. God sent Christ on a mission to bring salvation for the whole world. John’s Gospel alone contains more than forty declarations of the cosmic dimension of Jesus’ mission. (See for example, John 3:17,12:47.) As Christ was sent by the Father to save the world, He in turn sends His disciples with the words as the Father has sent me, I am sending you (John 20:21, NIV).

Read Matthew 5:13-14. What are the two metaphors used for mission in these texts, and what do they stand for?

The metaphors of salt and light express core functions of Christian influence on humanity. While salt operates internally, joining the mass with which it comes in contact, light operates externally, illuminating all that it reaches. The term earth in the salt metaphor refers to men and women with whom Christians are expected to mix, while the term light of the world refers to a world of people in darkness that needs illumination.

The children of Israel were encouraged to live up to the moral principles and health rules that God had given them. They were to be a light, illuminating and attracting-you are a light for the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6, NIV). Their collective existence in a state of health, prosperity, and loyalty to God’s Sabbath and other commandments would proclaim to the surrounding nations God’s mighty acts of Creation and Redemption. The nations, observing their prosperity, would approach them and learn to be taught of the Lord. (That was the idea, anyway.)

When Christ came, He also talked about salt, another way to witness. By their influence in the world, Christians are to curb the world’s corruption. Unbelievers are often kept from evil deeds because of a moral consciousness traceable to Christian influence. Christians not only have a good influence on the corrupted world by virtue of their presence in it, they also mingle with people in order to share the Christian message of salvation.

Light and/or salt, how good a witness are you and your church to the surrounding world? Is the light dimming? Is the salt losing its punch? If so, how can you learn that revival and reformation begins with you, personally?

Further Study: We have dealt with some aspects of the missionary nature of God. Mission is an enterprise of the triune God. Mission is predominantly related to Jesus Christ, whose Incarnation is central to Christian faith and mission. By His life and death, Jesus has paved the way for the salvation of all the human race. We as His followers, His missionaries, have to let people know the good news of just what Jesus has done for them.

The church of Christ on earth was organized for missionary purposes, and the Lord desires to see the entire church devising ways and means whereby high and low, rich and poor, may hear the message of truth. Not all are called to personal labor in foreign fields, but all can do something by their prayers and their gifts to aid the missionary work.-Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 29.

Discussion Questions:

Think more about the question of origins. Why do origins matter? How does a proper understanding of our origins help us better to understand who we are and what the purpose of our existence really is?
How does the following quote help us to understand the existence of free will, love, and evil in our world? Thus, if God wants to create loving creatures (in imitation of his perfect love), God has to create free beings who can cause suffering and evil in the world by their choices. The dynamics of love and freedom require that God allow us the latitude to grow in love through our human freedom. God’s only alternative to allowing free beings to choose unloving acts is to completely refrain from creating loving creatures.-Robert J. Spitzer, New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy, Kindle Edition (Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010), p. 233.
The death of Jesus was a single act that occurred in a small nation amid the vast Roman Empire almost two thousand years ago. Yet, this act is of eternal significance for every human being. What responsibility rests on us, who know about this act and what it means, to tell those who don’t know about it? How else will they learn of it if those who know about it don’t tell them?

Inside Story ~ The Philippines ~ By Max de los Reyes

The Gun Would Not Fire—Part 1

Fernando Lopez grew up in a town 60 miles south of Manila. Like many in the Philippines, Fernando’s family didn’t have much money. And like many young boys, Fernando quit school to help his parents by selling small items and running errands.

Fernando was active in his church, which helped to ease the boredom he often felt. More than anything Fernando longed for an education so he could serve God better, but he knew that humanly speaking, this wasn’t possible.

Then one day Fernando heard about the 1000 Missionary Movement, a program to train volunteer missionaries who serve God for one year in the Philippines or in one of several countries. Excited, Fernando asked his parents’ permission to join. With their blessing he applied and was accepted.

The training Fernando received helped fill his desire for education and prepared him to serve God somewhere in the Philippines. When the training phase ended, he eagerly awaited his assignment to a territory, but had mixed emotions when he learned that he was assigned to work in an area some 400 miles from his home.

Fernando arrived in his new field and began seeking out those who were interested in learning more about God. Soon he was giving several Bible studies a week. Some of the people taking Bible studies lived in a small settlement in the mountains, a four-hour ride by bicycle from where he stayed.

Despite the hardships, Fernando became so involved in his work that he often spent most of his small monthly stipend to buy materials to build an Adventist church, leaving him without money to buy food. This tested his faith and prepared him for even greater tests that would come to him. But throughout his experience, his faith in God did not waver.

Angry Husband

One of Fernando’s converts was Julie Taguinod. She and her sister, Essie, had studied the Bible with Fernando, then attended his evangelistic meetings. Julie and her sister had been baptized recently in spite of the objections of Julie’s husband, Lem.

Fernando knew of Lem’s objections to his wife’s interest in religion. Lem had forbidden Julie to attend church and had threatened to harm her if she continued going. But Julie had stood firm and continued to attend church. Fernando appreciated her sincere desire to honor Christ. And lately Lem began to ignore Julie’s church attendance. Perhaps he realized that his objections would not stop his wife from following Christ.

To be continued

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ADULT SABBATH SCHOOL BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

Biblical Missionaries

July, August, September 2015

The Great Commission