The Christian Mission: An Overview (part 3)

continued from part 2

These problems, and many others like them, pose no little difficulty to the completion of the great commission. It is the burden of this article that they may be overcome, in God’s grace, only by an intentional and widespread examination of the entire biblical corpus as it pertains to the great mission of the Church. If we would begin to see the winds of change beginning to stir up another great missionary thrust into the final bastions of Satan in this world which must ultimately be brought before the throne of Christ, then let us labor to undergird our efforts with the foundations derived from a rigorous biblical-theological perspective on the world mission movement. And let us seek these foundational principles in true humility and fervent prayer. In order to lay the groundwork for such a monumental quest, I have compiled for consideration the following five underlying biblical principles, which I believe should motivate our shared goal of world-evangelization.

1. The accomplishment of redemption is the focal point of world-history.

As we begin to look for the single biblical principle which gives a proper perspective to all of history, we can find no more all-encompassing truth than the following: everything that God does, he does for his own glory. This is true both of his initial creation (Revelation 4:11, Isaiah 43:7), and of his ongoing governance of history (Isaiah 46:9-13). Because God is by his very nature glorious, we may reshape this principle into the following: everything God does, he does to display who he is (for example, see the oft-repeated purpose statement of Ezekiel, following an innumerable array of God’s proposed acts, namely, “then you shall know that I am the Lord” [Ezekiel 6:7,10,13,14; 7:4,9,27,etc.]). Now, it is equally clear that the greatest display of who God is occurred in the incarnation of Christ, and his subsequent accomplishment of redemption (Hebrews 1:1-3; John 1:18; John 12:27). If all of history is designed to display who God is; and if Christ’s work of redemption is the ultimate display of who God is; then the work of redemption must be the focal point and pinnacle of all history. It must be that for which all of history was designed, and co-terminus with the glorification of God.

2. The work of redemption was powerful enough to secure all of its intended effects.

We have already determined that world history is defined by the accomplishment of the work of redemption. Now, we must make the corollary point that Christ’s work of redemption was powerful enough to secure all of its intended effects. There is no room for potentiality in the reality of a blood-bought throng of worshipers from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation as a consequent to the reality of Christ’s completed redemption. Redemption in all of its intended effects is a certain thing from the foundation of the world, and as sure as the immutable word of God: those whom he foreknew, he unfailingly predestinated, called, justified, and glorified (Romans 8:28-31). This consideration has the effect of assuring us that all of history is indeed the divinely planned and unassailable movement toward the perfect accomplishment and application of redemption. History is not an often-frustrated attempt to prepare for, accomplish, and spread the great work of redemption; on the contrary, it is the actual progression, in every detail, of that mighty unfolding plan. Hence, even evil, in all of its ugly manifestations, is perfectly within the will of God, and is used by him to achieve a greater glory for his name, in the person of Jesus Christ. Of which truth, the most striking reality is that God’s plan to accomplish redemption was carried out by the humans means of wicked hands and motives (Acts 2:22-24; 4:26-28). So then, all of history is in very fact the divinely planned advance of the work of redemption, from the stage of preparation and foreshadowing, on to the actual accomplishment, and then on to the final securing of its every intended effect. It is vital that we keep this in mind: for when we understand this, we are able to make sense of all the obstacles and seeming failures in the Christian mission movement. Every setback is in fact working for a greater victory than could have been won without it. Indeed, it is impossible to understand any event of history, whether biblical or that which is commonly perceived to be secular, without relating it to its function in the advance of the work of redemption.

3. Christian Mission has as its goal the actual realization of the full effects of Christ’s great work of redemption.

When Christ left us on the earth, it was with the explicit task of carrying the message of his accomplished redemption to every nation on earth (Matthew 28:18-20). As we have just seen, the accomplishment of this task is the purpose of God in history. Therefore, we are laboring to accomplish what God is in certain actuality accomplishing through us. This means that, in our pursuit of missions, we are actually pursuing, first, God’s glory, or the worldwide display of who he is; and second, man’s good, or the fulfillment of his divinely intended purpose of enjoying everlasting fellowship with him. Christian mission, therefore, is the attempt to actualize the original purpose of man, as stated in the Westminster Catechism: to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This gives us a perspective on mission which is universal and fundamental to all of reality.

4. Christian mission is the all-encompassing task of believers on the earth.

It is instructive that Christ left us with the command, not merely to evangelize the nations, but to disciple them. The purpose of the church is to display the glory of God by reflecting his own holiness and the image of his Son (I Peter 1:15-16; 2:9; II Corinthians 3:18); and also, to gather together all the elect throughout the world, so that they too might display his glory. The Christian mission, then, involves, not only the calling of the nations to repentance, but also working towards a greater Christlikeness both in them and in us. Hence, every Christian discipline is rooted in Christian mission: evangelization has as its goal the ingathering of a multitude who will reflect his worth and sing his praises, and is thus in pursuit of the realization of the necessary effects of redemption. But furthermore, the laboring for doctrinal precision and practical purity is also in pursuit of the realization of the effects of redemption, and may therefore be subsumed under the general heading of mission. In other words, the Christian mission is one and the same thing as the pursuit of the blood-bought effects of redemption, and is an all-encompassing task. This has clear implications for how we go about the task of spreading the gospel: edification is as fundamental an aspect of mission as evangelization.

5. The Christian mission must ultimately be successful.

This final principle is very clearly derived from those which precede it. But as obvious as it is, it is easy to lose sight of; and a failure to keep it in the forefront of one’s mind has been the occasion of much discouragement and despair. As we prepare to labor for the task of Christian missions, we must ever be mindful of the fact that it is the work which God has determined to accomplish, and that its ultimate success is grounded in his purpose and not our own efforts. This should afford the greatest consolation to those who are laboring in difficult and resistant fields. No matter how grim the battle may at times appear, the outcome is certain. Even by means of apparent failures – martyrdoms, apostasies, political oppositions, and so on – God is working a great and irreversible triumph. As God exhorted the apostle Paul, let us take courage: for he certainly has many sheep in the very difficult and hostile unreached peoples among whom we labor (Acts 18:9-10). We may not see them in this lifetime, but we will surely meet them some day, and learn how our seemingly wasted labors were being used to accomplish a great in-breaking of the eternal Kingdom of Christ.

~~posted by Zioneer