Mission Questions: The Perfect Past?
Movies, songs and theater are great tools of expression. I have used I Robot to help ask the right questions. In this post, Back to the Future will provide some necessary help. Answers to the future lie in the past. But wasn’t the past filled with hate, murder, adultery, war, treachery, and evil? How is it perfect? Recently, it isn’t. But if we travel back far enough, and we will arrive at a time of perfection.
Mission Questions: The Faultless Future?
What about the future? Isn’t it going to be filled with human imperfections, wars, prostitution, human trafficking, and false worship? Yes; all of that is true. But travel far enough ahead, and you will come to a time of perfection. And believe it or not, perfection has a great deal to do with our mission!
Mission Questions: What’s the Connection?
An old-fashioned time line may help here. It will give us a necessary perspective. Notice:
<——————– eternity past ———- [………] ———- eternity future ——————–>
The perspective we need to gain is marked above by [ & ]. On the left is [. That marks the moment in time sin entered God’s perfect creation. To the right is ]. It marks the time foretold in Revelation when God passes final judgment on sin and it is no more. At that point, perfection is again the norm, forever. What is in the middle? The middle is where we live, in sin. Our whole frame of reference and perception is from within the ‘parentheses’ of sin. For the moment, let’s keep our focus on the outside of the parentheses.
Before sin, all was perfect. The world was good and everything in it was good. There was no need or want; no poverty. The account of Creation and of Adam and Eve in the Garden is a picture of all God intended for His ultimate creation: Man. If we just look at God’s created order, here is what we see:
- Creator and Created in communion – God walked with Adam in the cool of the day
- Adam had responsibilities – It wasn’t good for Adam to sit and do nothing; God gave him a job!
- Adam and Eve – There was perfect harmony between human beings
- Created order – Perfect harmony between Man and the whole creation
- More than enough to eat – God gave Adam the plants for food (one notable exception!)
Mission volunteers always needed. Comment below – we’d love to connect.
Do you see a theme here? There is no verse to cite in order to say it exists, but it’s all through the account of Eden until sin entered the picture. Now, if you “jump over” to the right side of, you’ll also find it there.
What picture does Scripture paint for us about the time after sin? We know at least this much:
- Redeemer (Creator) and Redeemed will have perfect communion, our faith will be sight
- The Redeemed have responsbilities – ruling/reigning with Christ, worshiping, and more
- Redeemed human beings will be fully perfect – have complete harmony with each other
- Redeemed will have perfect harmony with re-created Creation – lion will lie down with the lamb
- More than enough to eat – the Tree of Life in the city of God yielding its fruit all year long
Mission Questions: The Word Not Used
In a previous post, I asked a closing question. In this post, I have worked very hard not to use a particular word. Before I use it, let’s revisit the previous question:
What existed in the Garden of Eden, as well as in the final chapters of Revelation, that does not exist right here on Earth today?
And the survey says…Right Relationships. We will examine this in an upcoming post. For now, what do you think relationships have to do with mission(s), poverty, and ministry?
Soli Deo Gloria!
Relationships have everything to do with missions. 1st, our relationship with the one who sent us (Jesus). 2nd, our relationship to those we are sent to. 3rd, Their relationship to the Jesus we are trying to introduce them to. Without the first relationship their is no urgency or opportunity it for the 2nd and 3rd mentioned.
Relationships has everything to do with everything! God is in His very nature a relational God; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit eternally in perfect relationship with one another. And, that very relational nature of God is something of the image of God that He has imprinted in and on us. Just as Jesus leaving heaven was the greatest Missions Trip ever taken so that He might reconcile our relationship with God, so our ultimate goal on our Missions Trip is to extend His ministry of reconciliation with God to others. Poverty isn’t all bad; it depends on your perspective. Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit”: in other words, blessed are those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before God and receive His grace of reconciliation. And for ministry; our ministry extends from our relationship with Christ to others in His Name. It’s all about relationships!
I Beileve that if our relationship with Christ was not somewhere close to where it needed to be we would have no desire to read these blogs,and especially travel to a foreign nation to spread the Gospel. Without a relationship with The Creator we in our selfs are nothing. Relationship is where it’s at!
Relationships have everything to do with missions and ministry. We are compelled to reach out to the lost because of our relationship with God. It’s through our relationships with other men, women, and children that the Gospel of Jesus is both shared and modeled. For instance our relationship with our spouse is a picture of Christ and the church for everyone to see. Relationships and community is a foundation of making disciples.
As to how relationships relate to poverty, I believe that those “with” have an opportunity to share with those “without” and in doing so glorify the name of Christ. This is accomplished again through relationships.