What is the mission of God?
Jesus once said that the two most important commands were that you Love God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength & that you Love your Neighbor as yourself. – Mark 12.30-31
But how do we live out what Jesus called us to do individually & as a church in the world around us today?
The simple truth is that we live in a time where people have never been more divided.
We live in a time where it’s all about who can shout their opinion the loudest. We live in a world where people are consumed with taking sides. Where people are more concerned with talking than they are with listening. Where we’re more concerned with winning than we are with compassion. It’s a time when people have never been more divided socially, economically, politically, religiously, you name it. We live in a divided country, in a divided world. It’s interesting to me that one of the Enemy’s greatest weapons has always been division.
We live in a place when people have never been more connected, but have never felt more alone.
Did you know that right now, more than 1 billion people are connected on Facebook? There are 974 million people on Twitter. And there are 600 million active users on Instagram. It’s said that people worldwide will send 8.3 trillion text messages in just this year alone. That’s almost 23 billion messages per day, or almost 16 million messages per minute. And, just in case you’re wondering… According to Nielsen, the average teenager now sends 3,339 texts per month. There’s more, though: teen females send an incredible 4,050 texts per month, while teen males send an average of 2,539 texts. So we have literally never been more connected, but according to all the latest research, people have never felt more alone.
We live in a world where there has never been more need.
Sometimes it may be hard in our immediate community to see the need, but there is need all around us. There are marriages that are breaking apart, there are kids who are falling through the cracks, there are people who don’t have a place to belong, there are young moms who are searching for help, there are men who striving for all the wrong things, there are people struggling with addiction, people struggling to make ends meet, people struggling with depression, there are needs all around us. And you don’t have to drive far to find those who have different kinds of needs. Needs like food & shelter. People who need help to get back on their feet. And the truth is you’re only a 2 hour plane ride away from being in another country where the needs are so vast it’s hard to know where to start! And in some ways we are more aware of the needs around us than ever before. In so many ways, we live in a world where there has never been more need.
And as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, I believe we are called to step into this world that has never been more divided, called to step into this world where people have never felt more alone, called to step into this world where there has never been more need & we are called to Live Different.
How will people taste godliness if you lose your saltiness?
Jesus said it this way…
“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” – Matthew 5.13
I appreciate the way Eugene Peterson says this in his translation of the Bible called the Message.
“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.”
[Tweet “If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? – Jesus”]Have you ever thought about this? What good is salt if it stays contained in the salt shaker?
How often has this happened to a person?
Saved from their sin by the blood of Jesus. Sanctified. Set apart. Purified. Refined. Only to remain in it’s original container. Never using what God has done & what God has created them to do as a new creation in the world around them. What happens when this happens? Nothing. We were recreated for SO MUCH more.
How often does this happen to a church?
How often does a church full of people, sanctified, set a part by Jesus for a purpose, become so internally focused that they never make it out of the container, the four walls of the church, to be salt in the community around it? The gravitational pull of the local church is always towards the inside. How many churches have closed because they never fulfilled the mission & vision of God? Because they never carried forward the mission, vision & ministry of Jesus? They baptized their children but never baptized adults in the community around them. They took food to each other when someone was sick but never fed the hungry in their community. They visited each other when they were sick & in the hospital but never visited those who were sick & hurting in their neighborhood. They sent money to a missionary to help people & reach people but they never went, they were never sent, they never used their time & resources to go on a mission trip to help people & reach people for Christ.
Jesus says that YOU are the SALT of the earth, but that is only true & that is only good if we spread into the world around us, out of the salt shaker, so to speak, & do what we were called to do & be who we were called to be in the world around us!
So what is the mission of God?
Why are we here?
I love what Lesslie Newbigin says in “The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society.” Newbigin says, “The Church is sent into the world to continue that which [Jesus] came to do, in the power of the same Spirit, reconciling people to God (John 20:19-23).”
I think you probably know what the mission of God is. We might find different words to express it. But it’s no secret what the mission of God is. God has always been on mission to bring people into relationship with himself.
[Tweet “God has always been on mission to bring people into relationship with himself.”]Jesus is calling us to be SALT in this world …so that everyone will praise oour heavenly Father. (Matthew 5.16).
Jesus is calling us to a different kind of Life for this purpose! Into a life of being salt.
It starts at home. It starts in our neighborhood. It means living out this different life here in your church. It means living different at work. It affects every part of our lives!
Jesus is calling you to be…
a different kind of husband,
a different kind of wife,
a different kind of dad,
a different kind of mom,
a different kind of stepdad,
a different kind of stepmom,
a different kind of brother,
a different kind of sister,
a different kind of son,
a different kind of daughter,
a different kind of employer,
a different kind of employee,
a different kind of neighbor,
a different kind of co-worker,
a different kind of friend…
…so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5.16)
