Joining God & His Mission in the World

Again Jesus said, Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. And with
that he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:21-22

From the beginning, weve declared that the end game of Faithwalking is missional living within
the context of authentic community. Building upon a growing foundation of personal
formation, our objective is to share, impart, and spread this abundance to others though living
an integrated, missional life.
Being formed in the image of Christ undoubtedly brings Him glory and is for our abundance;
however, the litmus test of mature discipleship is a life lived for the sake of others. Obedience
to Christ's commands always involves an increasing capacity to love God and to love others.
(Mark 12:30-31; 1 John 4:7-21). Ongoing discipleship to Him allows us to reflect His loving
presence to others, to enter in and create authentic community, and to discern and join in His
gracious action in the world.
Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new
life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between
us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world
square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering
forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. Were
Christs representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences
and enter into Gods work of making things right between them. Were speaking for Christ
himself now: Become friends with God; hes already a friend with you. 2 Corinthians
5:17-20 (the Message)
Lets get started.

What is Our Mission? Before jumping into action, take a moment and consider the
following:

What is Gods mission?

What are his purposes?

Who are we and what are we here for?

What is our mission, the mission of Gods people?

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To seek to answers these questions, lets begin with a story. Robert Farrar Capon provocatively
imagines it going down like this:
Let me tell you why God made the world.
One afternoon, before anything was made, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit sat around in the unity of their Godhead discussing one of the Fathers fixations. From
all eternity, it seems, he had had this thing about being. He would keep thinking up all kinds
of unnecessary thingsnew ways of being and new kinds of beings to be.
And as they talked, God the Son suddenly said, Really, this is absolutely great stuff why
dont I go out and mix us up a batch? And God the Holy Spirit said, Terrific! Ill help you.
So they all pitched in, and after supper that night, the Son and the Holy Spirit put on this
tremendous show of being for the Father. It was full of water and light and frogs; pine cones
kept dropping all over the place, and crazy fish swam around in the wineglasses. There were
mushrooms and mastodons, grapes and geese, tornadoes and tigersand men and women
everywhere to taste them, to juggle them, to join them, and to love them.
And God the Father looked at the whole wild party and said, Wonderful! Just what I had in
mind! Good! Good! Good! And all God the Son and God the Holy Spirit could think of to say
was the same thing: Good! Good! Good! So they shouted together Very Good! and they
laughed for ages and ages, saying things like how great it was for beings to be, and how
clever of the Father to think of the idea, and how kind of the Son to go to all that trouble
putting it together, and how considerate of the Spirit to spend so much time directing and
choreographing.
And for ever and ever they told old jokes, and the Father and the Son drank their wine in the
unity of the Spirit and they all threw ripe olives and pickled mushrooms at each other for
ages and ages 1
I hope you enjoy the playfulness, and forgive the liberty, of Capons story. But more than that, I
hope you caught the essence of his thinking. For his narrative illumines several profound truths
and points to an understanding of our purposes in mission. Consider again, the following
questions:

Who are we and what are we here for? We are Gods creation, brought into being by his
desire to share his life, love, and joy with others. We exist because he thought it so. We are
here to share in his joy and bask in his goodness.

Robert Farrar Capon, The Romance of the Word: One Man's Love Affair with Theology, p176

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What is Gods mission? What are his purpose(s)? Out of the overflow of his being, his
mission flows. Capons scene gives us a glimpse of our abundantly joyful God. We see Him
collaborating and partnering within himself to conceive life and to imbue it with meaning.
Thats his mission!

Now of course, in the Fall (Genesis 3 and beyond), this life and purpose was broken by
humanity, but not fully lost. For in himself, God committed, worked, and sacrificed for the
Redemption and Recreation of his design. This is the Scriptural story God engaging with
humans in love and leading toward his good ends.

What is our mission, the mission of Gods people? Reggie McNeal puts it succinctly: God
created [us] to be a people partnering with him in his redemptive mission in the world.2

Before continuing, I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on these points. Where do
your paradigms of mission correspond with whats been presented? Where do they conflict?

A Mental Model of Mission Beginning, well in the beginning, we can clearly see
Gods intent for His people. Sticking with the
creation mandate, lets return to Faithwalkings
mental model of discipleship Reflective
Living, Authentic Community, and Radical
Obedience.
In light of the current discussion, consider how
these elements emerge from the Biblical story
and relate to our call to mission.
In Genesis 1, we read:
God spoke: Let us make human beings in
our image, make them reflecting our nature

Reflective Life:
where your word
increasingly co-creates
the world with God

Authentic
Community:
that develops around
& sustains a shared
vision

Radical
Obedience:
that leads to a
missional life

So they can be responsible for the fish in

the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting Gods nature.
He created them male and female.
2

Reggie McNeal, The Present Future

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God blessed them:

Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.
Again, from this origin account, elements of our nature and mission emerge:

Authentic Community: God is community - Let us make them in our image. He created
us to know, be known, and to share this love with others. The only personal critique of his
creation speaks to this end: It is not good for [them] to be alone (Genesis 2:18).
Consequently, a companion, a partner was created to fulfill this need.
Reflect for a moment on how this aspect of our creation relates to our mission in the world:

Reflective Life: Created in our image or reflecting our nature, we were created by God
to be a revelation and manifestation of his nature in the world. This relates to Jesus
declaration in Matthew you are the light of the world (5:14; see also John 17:20-26).
Undoubtedly, this image has been dulled and blurred; hence the call to the transformational
life. The promise remains: And we all, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lords glory, are
being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory (2 Cor 3:18).
How does this facet of our being correlate to our mission in the world?

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Radical Obedience: Astonishingly, the Creator immediately invites his creation to join him
in his work. He commands Prosper! Reproduce! Fill! Manage! Be Responsible! all calls
to join him in his ongoing work of creation, and recreation. Unquestionably these directives
flow from his authority, but one cant miss the confidence and faith contained in these
instructions. Into our hands, he entrusts his creation.
Ponder the responsibility that we have been given and what it conveys about our mission in
the world:

Building upon this understanding of mission, leads to several convictions:

(1) We are called to join Gods mission in the world. Our mission flows from who He is and
His eternal purposes what He has done and continues to do.
Christopher Wright, in his work The Mission of God, puts it this way: Fundamentally, our mission
(if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as Gods people, at
Gods invitation and command, in Gods own mission within the history of Gods world for the
redemption of Gods creation. 3
In another place, Wright elaborates his point:
What is your concept of mission?
It seems to me that some people's concept of mission begins with Genesis 3 (which is the
story of the fall) and ends at Revelation 20 (which is the story of the final judgment). Thats
to say they know about the problem of human sin and they know about how we can escape
God's judgment through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But of course the Bible begins at creation in Genesis 1-2 and ends with a new creation in
Revelation 21-22. The whole Bible, therefore, shows us that the mission of God is to bring
about the redemption of his whole creation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God, p23

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This is what the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1: All things have been created through
Christ and for him. (v16). Therefore, the mission of God is to reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on
the cross. (v20)
So creation then is the whole scope of God's redemptive mission; and Christ, the cross of
Christ, is the center. That involves the whole of life all of creation, all nations, and all
human life spiritual, personal, social, economic ecological its all part of the great mission
of God.
Holistic mission then means that it's taken from the whole Bible, that it has to do with the
whole of creation, that it is the whole achievement of God through the cross of Christ, and
will bring us ultimately to the whole of what God has for us in the new creation. 4
(2) We are created in His image; thus, joining Him in mission is as fundamental to our being
as taking our next breath. God created us to be like Him what a privilege! If Gods greatest
desire is to share His life with others, then deep down we must long for that as well. As
followers of Jesus, we are hopefully starting to experience this longing. As we begin to look like
Jesus more and more, we will find ourselves naturally stepping into His mission. This should be
an incredible comfort! Even if we feel like we have a long way to go, we can be sure that His
image is in us and is growing clearer day by day.
(3) A transformed life is the primary gift we offer in mission to the world. Our lives are a
microcosm of Gods overarching mission in the world. In the same way that God seeks to share
His life with the whole world and restore everything to his intended design, He seeks to bring
restoration in my own life. He longs to heal my brokenness so that I can grow into the fullness
of what He created me to be, i.e. His friend working by His side. The more we let Him transform
us, the less our brokenness will hinder us from working with God. As we grow in maturity, we
are more and more free to bring our own creativity and imagination to Gods grand redemption
project!

Missional Motivation
What Drives Us? One of the most important questions we need to consider as we begin this
journey of joining Gods mission is whats driving us. Jesus makes it clear in his Sermon on the
Mount that external action is much less important than the heart behind that action. In fact,

Transcript of The Mission of God (video) by Christopher Wright, author of The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's
Mission (see http://bit.ly/1Ag3pgg)

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mission driven by a heart seeking to please others or earn Gods favor will actually bring death,
not life.
Different Motivations There are hundreds of answers to the question above and, chances
are, we are each driven by a combination of different motives, both positive and negative. Here
are a few examples of some common, unhealthy motivations:

Obligation: Fulfilling My Duty This motivation flows out of a head knowledge that
mission is what Christians are supposed to do. All along in Faithwalking, weve been
telling you that following Jesus means mission so, you think to yourself, I had better get
going with this mission stuff if Im going to call myself a follower of Jesus! The problem
comes when we move forward even though we havent experienced the call to mission in a
personal way. Do I believe that Jesus calls all of his followers to this kind of life? Absolutely!
But I also believe that hearing the call requires us to be still and listen, and until we do that,
were in danger of building a mission around a sense of obligation.

Merit: Earning Gods Favor God has blessed me with so much, so its my responsibility to
bless others. God expects it of me. While I do believe that God has showered us with
blessings and does call us to share those blessings with others, the idea that its our
responsibility to pay it forward often flows from a place of fear rather than love. So how
can we tell the difference? Ask yourself this question: What would God think about me if I
didnt live a missional life? If your answer includes words like disappointed, displeased,
frustrated, etc., then consider the possibility that youre approaching mission as a way to
earn/maintain Gods favor, rather than as a response to a deep experience of Gods
unshakeable love.

Reputation: Impressing Others If you find yourself getting frustrated with a lack of
progress in your mission, theres a good chance youre trying to please others. Its also
possible that youre trying to live up to your own sky-high standards (a common problem
for perfectionists.) Either way, your primary audience may be someone other than God.
When were working with God, we can trust in His timing and can walk in peace even when
things go differently than we expected.

Symptoms of unhealthy motivations Do you feel overwhelmed when you think about living a
life on mission? Does it feel like a burden? Do you feel like God expects too much of you? Have
you experienced frustration or bitterness when youve tried to live this kind of life in the past? I
have fantastic news for you youre probably operating out of an unhealthy motivation! Why
do I say this is good news? Because that means that your negative experiences arent the
fullness of what God is calling you to. Far from it! In the same way that habitual disobedience

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points us to wounds that God wants to heal, feeling burdened by mission is a sign that were
trying to work for God instead of working with God. The answer isnt to work harder, its to
change the way we think about work altogether. If youre feeling any of the symptoms
described here, take some time to have an authentic conversation with God before moving
forward with mission.
Working with God is life. Working for God is death.

The Way Forward

Consider for a moment that possibility that
mission isnt a chore on our spiritual to do list? What if its not a task God needs help
with? What if God is actually offering us a huge gift? Hes calling us into an adventure, the kind
of life we were created to live. The only kind of life that will leave us feeling satisfied and
fulfilled. Its an invitation to the eternal kind of life.
theres more of Gods love to be had? What if our experience of His love thus far has only
been a shadow, a glimpse of something infinite and eternal? What if joining Him in His work is
the only way to go deeper into that experience? What if non-compartmentalized, incarnational
mission is the only way to grow in our capacity to give and receive the love of God? Its an
opportunity to deeply experience the God who is Love.
Gods love for us so overwhelms us that were not going b/c we should, but because we
desperately want to. We want to spend time with Him, working by His side. And His love for us
has taken root in our hearts and is growing so that we actually love the people were
ministering to. Its the natural outflow of being filled with the life and love of God.

Conclusion
In conclusion, may these passionate words of Paul stir in you a similar affect to what they
undoubtedly had for the first century saints in Ephesus:
I, Paul, am under Gods plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you
faithful believers in Ephesus. I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by
God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! Hes the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ,
and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earths
foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole
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and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus
Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration
of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, were
a free peoplefree of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not
just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything
we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all
out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together
and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
Its in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first
heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious
living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
Its in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your
salvation), found yourselves home freesigned, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This
signet from God is the first installment on whats coming, a reminder that well get
everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.
Thats why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring
of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldnt stop thanking God for youevery time I
prayed, Id think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I askask the God of our
Master, Jesus Christ, the God of gloryto make you intelligent and discerning in knowing
him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is
calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh,
the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust himendless energy, boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in
deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments,
no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He
is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the
church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the
church. The church is Christs body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything
with his presence.5
We are His people. We serve His purposes. We live from His power. Amen!

Excerpts from Ephesians 1 (the Message)

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