The Mission

Daily Reading: Exodus 32; Acts 8

…A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1b

There is a lot happening at the beginning of Acts 8. We have just experienced the first martyrdom of the church, and we have just met Saul, the zealot persecutor of Christians, who is soon to become Paul the great missionary of the gospel. The biggest thing I see happening is our missional God doing whatever it takes to make sure we continue to be a missional people.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus had told the newly forming church that their marching orders were clear––they were going to witness to the world Jesus, in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth. Already by Acts chapter seven we find the church closing in upon itself, within Jerusalem, starting to pull away from the missional call of Christ. How easily we do the same thing today. I am amazed at how many “mission” or “evangelism” meetings I have attended where we sit around a table and for hours plotting a campaign to share the gospel, where we do not have to leave the confines of the church building. 

The most common creative idea that I hear is we need to invest in an advertising campaign. The problem with this is that God’s call to his people is that we physically are missional in nature. We are called, as the body of Christ, to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Statistics have proven over and over that 98% of people who come to Christ come through the invitation of a close friend or family member. 

To read the story of God is to experience the missional nature of God. From Genesis through the Old Testament God worked through his people, the nation of Israel, to try to get them to live up to their call to be a missional people. Yet they never would do it. So, God left Israel and moved his covenant to a new people, to us who claim to be disciples of Christ!! But our call is simple and the call is to be missionaries to the world. Are we willing to love our neighbors enough to live authentically as Christians before them? Are we willing to leave Jerusalem and get out into Judea and Samaria? God will do whatever it takes to continue to make his name known, the question is, will we be part of his great plan?

Lord God, use me to be part of your glorious plan to bless all the peoples of the earth. Amen.