Issues Facing Missions Today 63: Being God's Missional Church

These notes are offered for churches that wish to reflect together on what it might mean for them to be God's missional people.  The main point seems to be that, while God does send out individual missionaries, the people of God--the church or Church--are meant to be God's missional people as well.  The four key Old Testament texts bring this emphasis to the New Testament missional texts: as God's people, we engage in the work of God's mission in the world.  Note how strongly the themes of holiness and righteousness are present: mission is not just a message of God's salvation in Jesus Christ--which it is--but it is also the presentation to the world of a transformed, holy, and righteous life of God's people, a community of God.

The Missional Church: Four Old Testament Mission Texts

Introduction

Mission is the unfolding of God’s OT promises, a story unfolding in Jesus and through the people of God

I.               Matthew 28.16-20

A.    Isaiah 66.18-23 (story of sin, exile, and restoration: survivors going to the nations to bring back the exiles, declare God’s glory, include the nations, establish worship)

B.    Isaiah 2.1-5 (nations coming to God’s people to learn righteousness)

C.    Matthew:

1.     Disciples go to the nations (Mt. 24.14)

2.     Make disciples

a.     Baptizing (repentance, forgiveness, Trinity)

b.     Teaching (Jesus’ commandments)

3.     Jesus’ presence

II.             Luke 2.32; 24.47; Acts 1.8; 28.28 (beginning and end of each volume)

A.    Isaiah 49.6 (God’s servant to restore exiled Israel and be a light to the Gentiles)

B.    Luke:

1.     Repentance and forgiveness of sins

2.     Mission in the power of the Holy Spirit (as Jesus)

3.     Witnesses (of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension)

4.     From Jerusalem to Samaria to ends of the earth

III.            John 20.21-23

A.    Ezekiel 37.9 (with Genesis 2.7)

B.    John:

1.     Peace

2.     Mission as representing Jesus, who represents the Father, to the world

3.     Sent

4.     Made alive by the Holy Spirit

5.     Offer forgiveness of sins 

IV.           1 Peter 2.9-10; Revelation 5.9-10

A.    Exodus 19.5-6

B.    1 Peter:

1.     Chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people for God’s possession

2.     So that you might proclaim the excellencies of Him

3.     Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

C.    Revelation:

1.     Witnesses to Jesus’ ransom of all the nations. 

2.   Kingdom and priests to reign on the earth

Conclusion

Mission is a task of the ‘people of God’—not just missionaries—the c/Church is God’s missionary people to the world