What is the Mission?
EquipUs has mission teams in Belize a couple times a year. Right now, we are on our way to the Dominican Republic with another team. Are events like that the mission, or are they a means to accomplish the mission?
Whose Mission Is It?
I must quickly say the mission belongs to Jesus. And mission ventures like I lead are a means to the mission, they are not the ultimate mission. What did He say His mission was? One setting of it is in Isaiah 61:1 –
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners…
What is the Message?
Is God good? Yes! He is, in greater ways than we can possibly know. Doubting God’s goodness is at the heart of most, if not all, sin. Sin started that way! Think about it. Satan questioned God’s goodness in his temptation of Eve. The One Who in John 10 declares Himself to be the Good Shepherd:
- Provides
- Forgives
- Protects
- Gives eternal life
- Comforts
- Guides
- Corrects
- Sacrifices
For whom does the Good Shepherd do all that (and more)? His sheep. Part of the reason He does that for us is so we can take His mission and His message to the world. He was sent from God to represent His Father to the world. In doing so, He proclaimed the goodness of the Father to a lost world. Then He gave the job (mission and message) to us:
As the Father sent Me, so send I you – Jesus, John 20:21
A Message of God’s Goodness
When people believe in the goodness of the Good Shepherd, it makes all the difference in the world. The following story is from the life of Corrie Ten Boom, famous missionary to China:
Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. ‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him’.
Soli Deo Gloria!
