Motivation for mission

'we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.' (2 Cor 4:13-15)

Mission is founded on personal hope in the Gospel (v.14) and for the sake of

• the salvation of the lost, so that
• thanksgiving may increase, so that
• God is glorified.

So it is not simply an expression of personal joy, or simply to save people from hell, or even simply for God's glory. It is all of those, but in a certain relationship.

(cf. Romans 15)

Incidentally, every time I read Paul these days I see the importance of thanksgiving for him (46 occurrences in ESV). Perhaps I should read David Pao's book.

Unreached Village

Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”

And again it is said,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”

...I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”

(Romans 15)

Paul's ambition is for the whole earth to be full of the praise of God for his mercy in Jesus Christ.

A couple of my friends work for Gospel for Asia, a wonderful mission agency deeply committed to seeing this happen. They believe that the best way to do this is by means of missionaries born and brought up in those very areas, and seek to encourage funds to flow from the West to the East to fuel that.

They've just made a new website called the Unreached Village to raise awareness and to ask some awkward questions.

Imagine the world as a village of 100 people (where one of the North Americans looks suspiciously like me)...

I'm thankful for John Piper who for years has been a prophetic voice on the primacy in missions of reaching the unreached. Like Paul he taught me that mission primarily exists because worship doesn't. Check out his important article here.

1 Timothy 2: The mission of GOD in desiring ALL to be saved

God desires all people to be saved (1 Tim 2:4).

But this is not a dispassionate or passive 'wish'. God is active. The God who desires all to be saved is "God our Saviour" (v.3). We see that in the flow of the whole chapter:

v. 5: It all begins in the reality that there is one God. He is Lord of all the earth, Jew and Gentile, those in authority and those under authority, rich and poor, male and female (cf. both Rom 3:30, Eph 4:5 and Gal 3:20).

v. 5-6: Then it moves on to what God has done in Christ, "who gave himself as a ransom for all".

v. 7: Then Paul moves on to what Christ has done in appointing Paul to be an apostle (cf. Rom 1:1, Gal 1:16).

v. 8-15: Then he moves onto the church's role in spreading the mission. They are to pray, be unified (like their God, cf. Eph), they are to live holy lives.

So for Paul there is a narrative of God's actions in bringing about his desire. But is a narrative that flows from the sending of the Son, to the sending of the Apostles to the sending of the church. There is no unmediated way of salvation. There is one mediator, Jesus Christ, who we know through his body, the church.

[With thanks to Dave and Chris, for reminding me of the pursuing desire of God, and my housemate who is preaching on 1 Timothy 2 in a few weeks.]

Faith is how we feed

Listening to: Mozart: Violin Concertos

[This is an attempt to explain why only those with faith are saved by putting it in the context of the nature the salvation itself. I'm a bit torn whether I've succeeded. Let me know your thoughts if you have any]

1. God lays on a meal for everybody, no matter who they are

In the Parable of the Great Banquet, Jesus begins by encouraging generosity to all types of people.  He says that ““when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:12-13).

It is obvious why Jesus needs to say this isn’t it?

We are nice to those people that we want to be nice to us in return.  Who among us can say that we treat the shop attendant with the same attention we do someone interviewing us for a job?  We will buy a round for someone who we know has a record of buying rounds for us, but we won’t do the same for someone who never offers to get us a drink.

Or we can be prejudiced against whole classes of people who we don’t identify with.  Historically we have treated those of a different race as second class citizens, but perhaps now are more likely to express contempt towards those both above and below us on the class ladder.  Paul seems to be combating just that attitude in 1 Timothy 2 when he encourages the Christians to pray for their political leaders, because God cares for ‘them’ as much as ‘us’.  Although for them it may have been even tougher given the oppression they would have experienced from their leaders.

Like Paul, Jesus sees that how we treat other people will mirror how we believe God treats people.  Often we are tempted to feel that God loves people like ‘us’, not people like ‘them’, and we think that justifies us in our lack of love to those people.  Where we do that we need to be sorry and change because God should be our model and is not like that.  God loves “all” people, as Paul says.

Jesus illustrates how God loves all people in this Parable of the Great Banquet.  He compares “the Kingdom of God”, or as Paul would say it “salvation”, to a great banquet.  It is not a bring-your-own meal and it is not beans on toast, instead it is a lavish feast provided entirely at God’s expense.

And this feast is not just for God’s friends or those who have something to offer him.  He has “made everything ready” for “many” people, even those who we read later in the parable don’t like him very much.  

God models just what Jesus says that we should do.  Love everyone and happily share what we have with everyone.

2. The meal is Jesus and he gives life

But what is the banquet that God puts on?  The disciple in verse 15 talks about “bread”, which doesn’t sound all that lavish.  But in John 6 we learn what type of bread is on offer.

Jesus explains that he is “the bread of God” (v.33) who gives “life”.  When we eat food we are nourished and sustained in life.  The difference with this bread is that Jesus gives not just “life” but “eternal life”.  Normal bread fills us up for a little while but then we need more to keep on living, but in contrast if we eat “the bread of God” then we shall “never hunger” (v.35).

I often feel it is a bit weird and disgusting that Jesus is talking about himself as food to be eaten.  When it says that the disciples said in response that “this is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (v. 60) I have to sympathise with them.

It is pretty offensive that a lamb is slaughtered so we can eat it, but it is even more offensive that Jesus is crucified so that we can eat him. There is no getting round that. You cannot prettify death, but Jesus’ death is the major event of the Gospels and Christianity as a whole so you cannot avoid talking about it.

But as well as an offensive image, there is a sense in which this is the most beautiful image you could imagine. It is a beautiful thing when someone empties their fridge to lay on a meal when you visit. It is an even more beautiful thing, although also more tragic, when a single mother goes out to work all the hours she can manage to put food on the table for her family. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard of that Jesus died so that everyone can have eternal life. That is why it is at the centre of what Christians believe.

It is interesting how Jesus defines life in John’s Gospel though. The image of food suggests that Jesus is just the source of life. However, later in the same Gospel he also says that he is “the life” itself (14:6).

Jesus explains that “eternal life” doesn’t mean just existing for a long time, living a life of leisure or having lots of stuff. Instead he defines it in terms of a relationship: “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ” (17:3).

If Jesus stayed dead to give us life, then that would be no kind of life at all. One of the best things about life is the people, but the very best thing, and source of all other good things, is knowing God and his Son, Jesus. The reason that Christians celebrate Easter is that Jesus was raised from the dead after 3 days being dead, so that we could have a relationship with him and his Father by his Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the feast that God the Father has put on for us, and his company at the table is what makes it worth looking forward to.

3. God invites people to the meal through people speaking about it and eating bread and drinking wine

God has provided a feast which he wants every single person to come and enjoy. But how will people come and enjoy it?

In the first place they need to know that there is feast to enjoy.

In the Parable of the Great Banquet Jesus says that the host sends out his servant to tell everyone that the banquet is ready to be enjoyed (14:17). In a similar way at the end of every Gospel Jesus says that the invitation to him is to go to all the nations. It is not just for the Jews, because God wants everyone to come, so the disciples will have to pass on the message to people all over the world (Matt 28:18-20, Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21).

This message is passed on by preaching and by the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, all of which have a fundamental role in the life of all Christians. When Paul preached he said he aimed to preach “Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:22). Not advice, not rules on how to live and not philosophy, but an offer of a death to give us life. Jesus’ death is also prominent in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper which originates from when, the night before he died, Jesus told the disciples to regularly eat bread and wine as his body and blood given for us.

When the bread is broken in two at the front of a church meeting, or when we hear someone talk about how Jesus died so that we could live knowing him, then we are invited to come and eat at the feast. We will only get tasters now, but when Jesus comes again then we will sit down to a great feast (as many other Bible passages talk about).

It is a sobering thought that if people do not receive the invitation they will not come to the feast. If we love people like God loves them then as his servants we will carry out the task Jesus gave to his disciples at the end of each Gospel and go to every corner of the earth to tell people invite people along. And that is what thousands of Christians have done, even if like Jesus it cost them their life.

4. Eating the meal by faith

This odd concept of eating Jesus, even though it is rich and meaning-packed, begs an important question: ‘how do we eat someone who is alive but we cannot see?’

Jesus makes clear what he means by eating in John 6:35-40. To eat him is to come to him (the feast) and we do that by believing in him.

In the Parable of the Great Banquet the invitation goes out to lots of people who come up with excuses not to come. But why would someone not want to come to a free party?

You only don’t accept an invitation because you believe that the alternative is better. If you don’t think you will enjoy the company, or that the food won’t be that good you make your excuses and don’t come. That is what lots of people do in Jesus’ parable. They thought that staying at home has more to offer than Jesus.

As any host the Father is offended by this. He has been the great giver, but people refuse to receive the gift. It is irrational and morally reprehensible, but people do that to other people and they do that to God. God is angry with those who despise his beloved Son.

The offer still stands until Jesus comes again though. Jesus says that he is offered “so that one may eat of it and not die” (John 6:50). It is important to remember that the reason people will die in hell is because they have chosen to refuse the invitation to eat. This seems mad, but people do have their reasons. They refuse the gift of salvation in Jesus because they that they have a better offer of salvation somewhere else.

That people do not hear about this great feast is a terrible tragedy and the fault of the church. That people hear about this great feast and yet believe it to be a poor offer not worth taking up is also a tragedy, but it is their fault not God’s.

The truth is stark, but if you don’t believe you don’t eat and you don’t live. But if you do believe Jesus is the bread of life he promises and you do eat of him visibly at the Lord’s Supper and by invisibly by listening to the Bible taught, then you will live and feast with him when he comes again.

Really outward-looking prayer

Tim Chester, in his excellent BST volume on Prayer, comments on 1 Timothy 2:1-8:

In the UK the traditional midweek church meeting often provided a focus for missionary prayer. But the house groups that have in many cases replaced it can all too easily become insular and self-regarding. Paul's call is for our churches and small groups to become hotbeds of missionary activity - outward-looking and inclusive with a vision for the nations.

(p. 219, The Message of Prayer)

It strikes me that it is one thing to move a house group, which because of our distorted human hearts, is self-serving to serving others by praying for the salvation of friends and family. It is another thing to get a house group praying for the world!

Tim Chester's fellow traveller, Steve Timmis, challenged me several months ago with his pointed comments on the Resurgence blog:

Is your church doing mission for its own glory or God's? Want a cunning test to help you answer? Check out how much energy and passion (evidenced by money, prayer, interest) is invested in situations in other parts of the world for which you will get no credit.