Missio Dei: #2 The Role of Israel

We’ve been talking this month about the Mission of God (the Missio Dei) and looking at what he has been doing in our world… what he is doing now… and what he wants to do in the future. And we’ve asked this question… because we want to know what He wants US to do as a church… what role WE have to play in this mission? We’ve seen that his intention/ goal is… to reconcile “all things in earth & heaven” back unto Himself. (cf. Col. 2) It is a rescue operation! He wants to RESCUE his fallen creation from the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ! That is what he has been up to since the very beginning and will continue to work towards until all things have actually been brought back unto him.

     As we think about the Mission of God… and as we try to find OUR mission as a church within God’s mission… I want to zero in on the role that Israel has played in that mission. How did God use his chosen, covenant people to further that plan? I realize, we don’t usually begin here. Usually when we’re talking about the mission of the church we only go back so far as Acts and the “birthday” of the church on Pentecost. Or we talk about the acts of worship and Rick Warren’s five purposes of the church. But I believe it the mission of the church today is not only rooted in the mission of God but is also seen in the mission he gave Israel! WE are the chosen, covenant people of God… chosen IN CHRIST to fulfill his mission… to continue that mission!

     Let’s go back to the Biblical story… as we have it in the OT. The situation presented by the end of Gen. 3 is a bleak one! Sin had entered into God’s good creation and wreaked absolute havoc! With sin had come death, disease, decay, the curse of the ground, fracture in human relationships, separation & alienation from God! Mankind is cast out of the Garden of Eden and into a world of sin & death… ruled by the one who deceived them in the first place! And as you read further… things don’t get much better! In fact, they get progressively worse! In ch. 4… brother kills brother… the sons of Adam & Eve turned against one another. In ch. 6 & 7… things had gotten so bad (in fact it says that every inclination of their hearts were evil all the time) that God decided to bring judgment in the form of a massive flood to wipe the slate clean… choosing to save only Noah & his family.

     But the fundamental nature of man hasn’t been changed… and by the time ch. 11 comes along civilization is right back where it was before Noah. At the height of human arrogance and pride… mankind chooses to build a tower that reaches into the heavens. Driven out of an ambition to “make a name for themselves” they set about building the tower of Babel! When God acts to scatter them across the land… we get a sense for just how far mankind has fallen. Instead of glorifying God… they have sought a name for themselves. Instead of spreading out & multiplying… they have come together to see if they could be gods themselves. Instead of tending to God’s good creation as He had intended in the Garden… they had to work the cursed ground it by the sweat of their brow. Even the blessing of childbirth… would come with pain & labor!

     By the end of ch. 11 the reader is left to ask… “What can be done? What could God do?” Then he does something only God could have come up with! God sees an elderly, childless couple in the land of Babel itself and decides to make them the launching pad of his whole mission to rescue all of creation! The call of Abraham in Gen. 12 is the beginning of God’s mission to restore his fallen creation and fix once & for all the sin-problem within the human heart. Who would have thought?

Our mission begins here.

GOD CALLS ABRAM AND PROMISES HIM GREAT BLESSING!
Genesis 12:1-3
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." NIV

     In spite of everything that has happened… in spite of the sin, the rebellion and all the chaos that has ensued… God still wants to bless his people! The word “blessing” is used 5 times here… in 3 verses! And indeed he was greatly blessed! As an old man he became the father of Isaac, the child of the promise! And the patriarch of a great nation! His descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashores! His flocks were bountiful and his family prosperous. But look at the WHY…
“I will bless you… & you will be a blessing.” “I will bless those who bless you & all peoples will be blessed through you.”
The purpose of the blessing wasn’t just to make Abraham or the nation of Israel healthy, wealthy & wise… it was to bless others! But the story doesn’t end there…

AS WE READ ON, GOD ACTS AGAIN IN A MIGHTY WAY TO REDEEM/ RESCUE HIS PEOPLE WHEN THEY FALL INTO SLAVERY IN EGYPT.

     Exodus tells of the incredible Rescue Operation… the sending of Moses, an unlikely hero, back to secure the release of his people from the clutches of the powerful Pharaoh! It isn’t accomplished by clever diplomacy or military might… but by the power of God as the mighty Pharaoh pits himself up against the power of God… and loses! The children of Israel are led up out of the land and into a land flowing with milk & honey. And again, so long as they were obedient & faithful they were blessed by God. They received the land of promise just as God had said.

IN THAT PROCESS… GOD DOES SOMETHING UNHEARD OF! HE ENTERS INTO A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

     That was the point of Sinai and the giving of the Law. God says to his people, “I’ll be your God and you be my people.” This is the way I want you to walk… and in turn, I’ll always be there for you. I’ll give you this land and again, I will make you a light unto the world! And the bulk of our Old Testaments is the telling of this story… how as Israel did what God had for them to do… everything went well… but how so very often they forgot or failed… and God used every tool at his disposal to discipline them… to rebuke them… to teach them. He used prophets & priests & kings…

     We understand the mighty things God did… all of the mighty ways he acted in the Old Testament… but to what end? For what purpose? Again… “to bless the nations.” Over & over again in Scripture… we are told that Israel existed for the purpose of “blessing the nations.” God hadn’t called Abraham just so he could save Abraham or even Abraham’s family… but so that he could save the world! In Isaiah 49 (the text that Paul had quoted from at Antioch.) God spoke to Israel directly and says, (vs. 6) “Its too small a thing for you to be my servant and for you to just restore the tribes of Jacob… or rescue those of Israel.” In other words… I’ve got BIGGER plans for you! I want to make you a light for the Gentiles.. so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth! God chose Israel and he blessed them… so that they would be a blessing to the nations. Isn’t that what Jesus meant for the church when he told his disciples to go and make disciples of the nations?

     Israel WAS a blessing to the nations… As long as they modeled God’s character before the nations…! Did you ever wonder why the OT Law seems to be so… difficult? So harsh? Why was God so hard on the people he loved? Its because their mission was to model God’s character before the nations! God called Israel to a higher standard than everybody else—NOT because they were better or because God loved them more—but because their job was to show the world who God was! They wore the name of God… in a sense… and their conduct was a reflection of who HE was! He said in 2 Chronicles 7:14
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” NIV
Did your Momma & Daddy ever tell you as you headed out the door with your friends… “Remember who you are”? You bear the family name and what you do out in the world comes back as a reflection on the whole family… and particularly your father.

     God didn’t want Israel doing anything out in the world that went against His nature, His character…. b/c they were representing him! Lev 11:45 God tells them, “Be holy because I am holy.” The ethical standards for Israel were high because they were representing God! By the way, that admonition is repeated in 1 Peter 1:16 to the church! “Be holy… because I am holy.” As long as they modeled God’s character before the nations… and so can we!

      Israel WAS a blessing to the nations…As long as they were faithful to God’s covenant before the nations. The promise of blessing was dependent on their obedience to the covenant. They hadn’t done anything deserving of being God’s chosen people per se… BUT in order to receive the blessings that were promised… they had to abide in that covenant relationship! As long as they were obedient, they were blessed… but as often happened, when they were disobedient, there was trouble! That’s because God created this life and he knows how to live this life in a way that brings great blessing! Israel was supposed to live the righteous life and provide an example to the rest of the world.

     It wasn’t the Pavlovian idea of performing certain behaviors and God rewards with certain blessings. That’s how you train dogs, but that’s not what God was doing! Rather, its more the idea of being in a relationship with someone… like in a marriage. As long as you are in that relationship, you receive great blessing from being in it. The relationship itself is the blessing! It’s the same with God! As we walk with him, we enjoy the blessing of fellowship with our Heavenly Father! With that comes so many good things! As long as they obeyed the commands of God… and so are we! Israel was a blessing to the nations as long as they were faithful to the covenant… and so are we!

     Israel WAS a blessing to the nations…As long as they prepared the way for Christ before the nations. Part of their mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah! John the Baptist took that on as his personal mission… but it had been what Israel was supposed to have been doing since Sinai! THAT had been the purpose of the law!
Galatians 3:24
24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ…. NIV

     The people of Israel were supposed to be looking for the Messiah and pointing the people to Him! Of course, we know this is where they didn’t do such a ‘bang up’ job because when the Messiah DID come, so many of them didn’t believe. This is what Paul & Barnabas were pointing out to them in Antioch… how they had failed in this.

Are you still asking… What does this have to do with us?
Galatians 3:29
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV

     If we are in Christ, church, then we are in Abraham as well… we are Israel today! We are his heirs… heirs of his promise… AND (could I add) heirs of his mission? So, today, WE bless the nations (as Israel) by doing the same thing! WE, too, are called to represent God’s character before the nations! (1 Pet. 1:16 “Be holy because I am holy”) WE, too, are called to abide in his covenant… to be obedient to Christ. (Jn 14:15 “If you love me, you’ll do what I command.”)

     The church is the one organization on earth that exists to bless OTHERS… those outside the church! THAT is our mission! The church does not exist for us… it exists for them! God has blessed us, not just so we can sit back in our comfortable, warm pews & nice buildings singing catchy songs about him… He has blessed us so that we will go out there and bless others! What are we doing, church, to be a blessing to the nations? Our “Give Thanks” bags are great… but they are just the tip of the iceberg of what we could be doing!

What will we do?

Missio Dei: Pursuing the Mission of God

     Over the next few weeks I want to talk about MISSION… the church’s mission, but more importantly, the MISSION OF GOD in our world.  What’s he up to? What is he doing and what does he want to do? 

             I’ve borrowed the term ‘Missio Dei’ to describe this series of lessons because it makes me sound a whole lot smarter than I really am!  Actually, it is a Latin term meaning “the Mission of God” and It comes from a German theologian named Karl Hartenstein who, in 1934, coined it to describe the context and motivation for mission in the church.

“When kept in the context of the Scriptures, Missio Dei correctly emphasizes that God is the initiator of His mission to redeem through the Church a special people for Himself from all of the peoples of the world.  He sent His Son for this purpose and He sends the church into the world with the message of the gospel for the same purpose.”  (Hartenstein)

            The mission of the church… is rooted deeply in the mission of God.  We don’t often think about it that way, but I think it really is the correct way to view it.  That is to say:  The church doesn’t have a mission… God has a mission!  And he has invited the church, those called out from the world to be His, to be a part of that ongoing mission to the world!

            It has been pretty standard operating procedure these days for companies, organizations and even most churches to come up with a “Mission Statement.”  Mission statements help define purpose.  They help organizations focus on what is really important to that org.  It helps them be able to set goals & objectives… and then provides them a way to make decisions that will help them reach those goals.  Its also a way to communicate to others (customers, clients, even employees, etc.) what is really important to that organization.

• Some examples of famous mission statements…

 McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience.  Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

The Walt Disney Company's objective is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information, using its portfolio of brands to differentiate its content, services and consumer products.  The company's primary financial goals are to maximize earnings and cash flow, and to allocate capital profitability toward growth inititatives that will drive long-term shareholder value.

Interesting, huh?

            Washington Street even took a stab at it a few years back.  Do you remember what our mission statement is?  After much thought, reflection and prayer, our Elders and deacons at that time settled on the phrase “Seeking, Serving & Sharing Christ” to describe what we are about here at Washington Street.  That means that everything we do, every ministry we’re involved with, every decision we make ought to have some function in either Seeking God… Serving Others… or Sharing Christ in our community.  How are we doing at that?

            Ever wonder… what would God’s mission statement be?  How do you think he would define his mission in the world if he had to put it into words?  I realize “mission statements” are a fairly new thing… He probably wasn’t that interested when he was inspiring Scripture in coming up with a catchy slogan or a slick marketing strategy, but… Here in the text we read a moment ago, Colossians, Paul does a pretty good job summarizing the mission of God.  Let’s back up just a bit to get the context… 

           To the church in Colossae, Paul was writing to encourage them… and he makes the statement in vs. 6 “…all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood it!”  Doesn’t that sound good?  Wouldn’t you like to know how this was happening?  So that it might happen again?  Notice Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church.

10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

            Paul’s aim, his wish, his desire, his prayer is for the Colossian Christians to be successful… to continue to grow & bear fruit… to be strengthened and to grow in every way!  And so it is interesting that in doing this… he reminds them of God’s mission.

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Mission of God is essentially a RESCUE OPERATION!

            God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness… and set us safely in Kingdom of Christ.  I think about those Chilean miners rescued last month on t.v.  After an explosion rocked the mine where they were working, 33 miners were trapped thousands of feet underground for 69 days until rescue workers finally pulled them out (Oct. 13, 2010).  The whole world was glued to their television sets watching it unfold live!  I don’t usually get claustrophobic, but the few times I have… it has been in caves.  The thought of thousands of square feet of nothing but rock overhead and below… darkness… I can’t imagine how these miners must have felt!  But through determination and ingenuity and working together, rescue workers got every single one of them out alive!  The mission of God is like that.  He is all about RESCUING us from out of the darkness!

            We live in a fallen world… a dark world.  As we reflect back on the Biblical narrative… we remember that things started off pretty good!  Genesis 1 & 2 are bright & cheery!  God creates the heavens & the earth… every living thing… and everything is “good.”  In fact he says about humanity that it is “very good.”  And chapter 2 comes along… and Adam gets a wife… which makes him happy… and everything seems even better!  What could go wrong?  But then comes ch. 3… and the serpent… and the lie… the temptation… and the SIN!  And the story is forever changed!  Nothing is ever the same again!  With sin came death, disease, decay, the curse of the ground, the fracture in human relationships, alienation & separation from God.  Mankind is cast out of the Garden of Eden… and into a world of death… characterized and dominated by Sin… and ruled by the Tempter himself!  And this is the world WE still live in today!  Where else but in a fallen world will people celebrate the birth of the Messiah by getting up at 3am, driving to the mall and fighting one another over parking spaces and door-buster deals?!  What sense does that make?  Our world is fallen, there is no doubt.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 NIV

BUT… God chooses to act to rescue us from that darkness!

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8NIV

Jesus is at the Center of that Rescue Operation… from the very beginning!

Col 1:15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

            Now, God had begun to put the plan into motion way back with Abraham and the promise made to him… then he used Moses to rescue his people… to forge the ‘children of Abraham’ into a great nation (Israel) that would be a light to the rest of the world and bless the nations… and he gave them the Law to lead them to the Christ.  Then the Bible says… when the “time had fully come… God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”  -Gal 4:3-5 NIV 

            The plan was Christ the Messiah… from the very beginning!  Some have misunderstood God’s intention… thinking that the OT was God’s “Plan A” at rescuing the people and when that didn’t work he put into motion “Plan B”… and sent Jesus.    No, Jesus was there in the very beginning… and notice the goal.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

But, wait!  The Goal of the Operation isn’t just to rescue US… but to rescue… “all things!”

            God was interested in our souls, to be sure!  But that’s just a part of a larger rescue mission!   God intends to redeem, to restore, to rescue all of creation!  “All things… on earth & in heaven” thru the blood of his Son!  That’s what he’s about!  He doesn’t just want to pull us out of the world… he wants to re-make the world!  Ever notice how the Bible begins AND ends with creation.  In Gen. 1 its creation… “God created the heavens & the earth”… but in Revelation 21 its “New Creation.”  “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…” John writes.

            This tells us that God has an “END” in mind for the entire creation… a goal that he is working towards… and that he is moving all history towards.  He speaks of it again in

Romans 8:19-24
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? NIV

            THAT is our hope!  Not just in going to heaven when we die… but in the redemption of God’s creation!  In its liberation from its bondage to decay & death!!!  In this final reconciliation of all things back unto God!  Back to Colossians…

Col. 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. NIV

Its interesting to me that this is also how Paul thinks of his own mission… in terms of reconciliation… in terms of what God did.

2 Corinthians 5:16-19
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. NIV

            Paul very much saw his ministry, his mission… in light of God’s mission!  This is what I mean when I say, the church doesn’t have a mission… God has a mission, and the church is called to participate with God in that mission of reconciling the world unto Him!

And God is relentless about this pursuit of His Mission!

            He is determined… he is set on it… nothing in all of creation is going to stop him from making it happen!  I told you last week about losing Michael at host.  Well, while I was looking for him I didn’t stop to talk to anyone.  I felt bad and went back to apologize to a few friends later… folks I dissed and didn’t talk to.  See, I was a man on a mission!  And I was single-minded… determined.  I wasn’t going to stop until I found him!  You see, God is a God on a mission… and he’s not stopping until “all things” are reconciled unto Him!

            If that doesn’t get you fired up… I don’t know what will!  But what do we DO with it?

But what does all of this tell us?  What does it mean?  How does it change what we do or how we think?

Implications for us…

It ought to give us a new respect for God.
God has not quit or gone anywhere!  He is still living and active and working in his creation to bring about his intended goal… the restoration of all things.  Some have the mind that God created and then left the world to wind on its own… but I don’t get that sense from Scripture.  On the contrary, it tells us that there is an END, a goal… a purpose towards which God is moving us, and thus a purpose for us!

It ought to give us a new sense of Purpose.
It tells us that we have a mission… and it is not ours, its God’s!  We are partners (in a sense) with God; Paul calls himself a “coworker” with God.  Like the Blues Brothers… we really are “On a Mission from God!”  There is no loftier purpose than that!  There is nothing better that you can give your life to!

It ought to change the way we think about ourselves as the church.
‘Missions’ is not just one of our many programs… MISSION is who we are, because it is Who God is!  In other words, it is not just another ‘activity’ of the church… it becomes our ‘identity’ as the church.  We are a people on a mission! 

It ought to broaden the scope of how we think about Mission.
I used to think about missions as something we supported ‘missionaries’ to go off to foreign lands and do.  Now I realize that its something we are all called to be involved in wherever we are and wherever we go.  I used to think that mission work was primarily as preaching & teaching; door-knocking & studying.  Those things are certainly included in mission… but the mission of God is even larger.  Wouldn’t it also encompass… ministry to the poor, the sick, the weak, and to the brokenness of our world.

What implications do you see?  How does thinking about our mission in the context of the larger mission of God affect how you think or what you do?  How should it?