MOTIVATED FOR MISSION

Our supreme mission in life is to share the good news of God’s forgiveness, salvation and eternal life with a needy world. In this message on the fifth purpose of the Forty Days of Purpose programme, Greyfriars minister Rob Yule defines what mission is, shares how God motivates us to be involved in it, and describes the various contexts where it takes place. He gave this message at Greyfriars Presbyterian Church, Mt. Eden, Auckland on 10 April 2005, just after the funeral of mission leader Pope John Paul II.

There’s a story in the Bible about an army besieging a city, starving it into surrender. Four lepers, outcasts of society, found themselves cut off from the city, starving outside. They discussed what to do. ‘We’ll starve if we stay here,’ they said. ‘But even if we could get into the city, we’d starve there too. So let’s surrender to the besieging army. At worst they’ll kill us more quickly than starving to death. But maybe they’ll spare us.’ So the lepers went over to the enemy camp.

To their surprise they discovered that the enemy had fled. They had heard a sound like the roar of cavalry, and panicked. The lepers walked into a tent, ate and drank, and took clothes, silver and gold. They were helping themselves to the loot when they got pangs of conscience. ‘This isn’t right. Today is a day to celebrate, and we haven’t told anyone what has happened.... Let’s go to the king’s palace right now and tell the good news.’ (2 Kings 7: 9, CEV).

What is mission?

This story gives rise to the simplest definition of evangelism: evangelism is one starving person telling another starving person where to find food ! The phrase translated ‘good news’ is the Greek word ‘evangelion’, from which we get ‘evangel’, ‘evangelism’ and ‘evangelist’.

The Christian message is good news: good news about what God has done in sending Jesus Christ to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. This good news is for sharing with others, not for keeping to ourselves. This is our fifth purpose in life: to share God’s good news. Ministry is your service to believers in the church, but mission is your service to unbelievers, in the world. Mission is sharing and telling God’s good news of salvation.

Jesus was the first missionary. He was a missionary from heaven to earth. When he left this earth to return to heaven, he commissioned us to carry on his mission. ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ (John 20: 21, NIV).

Jesus gave us a simple summary of our mission: ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1: 8, NIV). This verse tells us our role in mission, our motivation for mission, and our sphere of mission.

Our role in mission

Our role in mission, quite simply, is to be a ‘witness’. ‘You will be my witnesses’ (Acts 1: 8, NIV). A witness is someone who saw something happen, who experienced something, and who describes what they saw or experienced. A witness is someone who tells what they know, particularly when they are asked about it.

One of the commonest reasons why people don’t share God’s good news is because they think they don’t know enough. They haven’t studied, they haven’t trained, they haven’t been to a Bible college or a theological course. They don’t think they can be an evangelist or a missionary, because they don’t know enough.

But Jesus didn’t say you need to be a scholar. He just said you need to be a ‘witness’. Witnesses don’t need to worry about what they don’t know. A witness simply tells what they do know. A witness describes what he saw, what she experienced. A witness of the good news simply tells what difference Jesus has made in their life: the joy of Jesus’ forgiveness and the purpose Jesus has given your life. You are an expert witness. You are the expert on your life. So tell it how it is. Tell others the difference Jesus has made in your life.

When I was a minister in Hornby, Christchurch, a punk girl off the street became a Christian. It was quite exciting ! She spontaneously began to witness to the change in her life. One evening, she felt she should go up to the Hornby Mall to witness, but didn’t know what to do or where to start. So she prayed that God would show her.

When she walked into the Mall, she was spotted by the local police constable. ‘What are you doing here ?’ he asked her. ‘I’m wanting to tell people about the change Jesus has made in my life,’ she said. ‘Oh,’ said the policeman, ‘I know just the people you should tell. So he took her across to a bunch of layabouts and introduced her to them. ‘Tell your story to them,’ said the policeman !

Our motivation for mission

Telling the good news shouldn’t be a struggle or a burden. Jesus said, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me...’ (Acts 1: 8, CEV).

1. The power of conviction

This is illustrated by the woman Jesus spoke to by the well in Samaria: ‘“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did,’ she said. ‘Could this be the Messiah ?” Jesus pushed her button. She was convicted in her conscience. As a result, ‘A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, “This man told me everything I have ever done.”’ (John 4: 29, 39, CEV).

2. The power of conversion

The power of conversion is illustrated by the man Jesus set free by from oppression in Gerasa. It made such a difference to him that ‘The man went away into the region near the ten cities known as Decapolis and began telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him. Everyone who heard what had happened was amazed.’ (Mark 5: 20, CEV).

3. The power of compassion

The power of love is illustrated by the dedication the apostle Paul showed in bringing people to God. ‘Christ’s love compels us,’ he said, ‘because we are convinced that one died for all.... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come !’ (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15, NIV).

Our sphere of mission

‘... You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.’ (Acts 1: 8, CEV).

1. Our ‘Jerusalem’

Jerusalem was where the Christian movement began. So your ‘Jerusalem’ represents those nearest to you: your home, family, parents, children and close friends. Your ‘Jerusalem’ is the area where you live and where you are well-known.

Your ‘Jerusalem’ is the hardest area to witness, because you are so well-known there. A prophet is without honour in his own country. Even Jesus’ close family didn’t believe in him during his public ministry. They tried to stop him, feeling he was taking it too far. Your parents may be waiting to see if you’ve ‘got religion’, if this is just a latest fad. It’s much harder to witness where everyone knows all about you.

2. Our ‘Judea’

Judea was the local province. Your ‘Judea’ is your suburb or local community. This is the most comfortable mission, because it’s among people who share your culture, language outlook, and faith. Because it’s comfortable and easy, it’s not always the most effective. It doesn’t stretch us enough, push us beyond our comfort zone, test our faith or provoke urgent enough prayer. But if we do pray and give ourselves to this, community outreach can be very effective. It’s one of the main catchments for growing churches today.

3. Our ‘Samaria’

The Samaritans were a people of mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry who claimed descent from Jacob, worshipped the God of Israel, and believed that Mt. Gerizim rather than Jerusalem was where God should be worshipped. There was a great deal of tension between Jews and Samaritans in Jesus’ day.

So your ‘Samaria’ indicates those who are culturally, racially and religiously different. It may include new immigrants, international students, or people new to your district. These are people we find it uncomfortable to relate to or difficult to accept. For Jews to accept Samaritans in Jesus’ day would have been as hard for them as accepting Palestinians today.

Yet, the Bible has several accounts of how responsive the Samaritans were to the good news (John 4: 39-42, Acts 8: 4-25). The same is true among their equivalent today. They are much more responsive than the religiously orthodox.

In the late nineteen sixties and early seventies some 3 million hippies, surfies, and members of the Counter Culture came to faith in what was called the ‘Jesus People Movement’. Most established churches missed out on all this fresh life, energy and creativity, because they were too respectable and shut their doors. But the few churches that did open their doors to this motley lot - like Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel or John Wimber’s Vineyard Churches - grew amazingly and produced wonderful music, evangelistic, and healing ministries.

4. ‘Everywhere in the world’

‘Everywhere in the world’ is the ultimate mission challenge. This is your global mission to geographically distant areas. This is the lonely and often heartbreaking cross-cultural mission to people of a quite different ethnic and language group, culture and religion than your own. This is normally a life-time calling - because it calls for immersion in another culture, learning the language, adjusting to unfamiliar idioms, becoming fluent in all the nuances of communicating effectively in another language.

Paul was doing this sort of evangelism: planting churches as bridgeheads into another culture. ‘I do everything I can to win everyone I possibly can,’ he said. ‘I do all this for the good news.’ (1 Corinthians 9: 22-23, CEV).

I challenge you to say today ‘I will play my part in this seamless mission that begins at the church door and doesn’t stop till it reaches the ends of the earth.’

Rob Yule, 10 April 2005

© 2005, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church