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Why Intercultural Studies? The Command of Christ

Why Intercultural Studies? The Command of Christ

by | May 25, 2017

Image result for Pictures of the Great Commission

I have given many reasons already as to the importance of missions, and there are many more that could be given. Far above them all however, is the command of Christ, the Great Commission. If there were no other reason than this, it alone should suffice. The reality for Christians is that Jesus has told us what He wants us to do. He has given us our marching orders. No Christian should sit around wondering what God’s will for their life is. He has already given it. He has given it in the many verses of Scripture which declare, “this is God’s will for you”. Furthermore, Christ Himself has told us five times in Scripture what we are to be doing right now.

The Great Commission

The Great Commission is usually the name given to the command of Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. However, the reality is that there are a total of five verses which make up the Great Commission.

  • Matthew 28:18-20 – “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
  • Mark 16:15 – “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole of creation.’”
  • Luke 24:46-48 – “and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”
  • John 20:21 – “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’”
  • Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We have seen how the Great Commission is not the only thing that directs the missionary activity of the Church. Also of importance is, the character of God, the position of mankind, the content of the Old and New Testaments, and the provision made by Christ. However, the Great Commission stands out for several reasons.

The Great Commission Informs Our Mission

The Great Commission guides us in how we do missions and outreach to a lost world. We find the purpose of the commission in Matthew 28, to make disciples. Frequently, when Matthew 28:18-20 is reflected upon, it is said that “go” is a command. However, in the original Greek, “go” is assumed. It would be better translated, ‘as you are going’. The command, the imperative, in this verse is ‘make disciples’. The rest of the verse goes on to explain how that is to be done, by baptizing and teaching obedience to Christ’s commands, one of which is the Great Commission. Mark gives us the method of carrying out the commission; proclamation, or preaching. We are to use words to explain the message to people. Mark and Luke together tell us what the message is, the gospel; the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:1-5). Luke informs us of who is to carry out the commission in both his Gospel and in Acts: witnesses. We (those who have already believed) are witnesses to those who have not. Matthew and John give us the authority for carrying out the proclamation of the gospel message when they declare that Christ is sending us in His authority. We do not go out on our own accord but in the authority of our Lord. Finally, all of the repetitions of the commission, except John, tell us the scope of this mission, the whole world.  Acts 1:8 makes it the clear that we are to take this message to the ‘end of the Earth.’

The importance of the Great Commission cannot be understated. It sharply focuses the missionary thrust and responsibility of Christianity beyond reasonable doubt and disputation. The Great Commission tells us exactly what the Church is supposed to be doing until the Lord returns.  As important as all the ministries of the church are, missions and outreach; sharing the gospel and making disciples are among the only ones that Scripture clearly spells out we are to be engaged in. No believer in Christ should ever ask the question, “Should I share my faith with this person?” The answer is always yes, because the answer has been given already! Its restatement by every one of the gospel writers testifies to its place in the tradition of the early church. The book of Acts serves as a record of the early church carrying out the commission. Other than ‘wait in Jerusalem’ the Great Commission is the single command of the resurrected Christ. We often consider a person’s last words to be of significance because they are the last thing they will say to us. The Great Commission stands as Christ’s ‘last words’ until His return.

The Great Commission and the Church

The Great Commission clearly spells out the mission of the Church and the mission of each local church. Every year, my students are required to memorize the following argument because it shows how clearly the Great Commission applies to each and every local church.

  • The Great Commission was given to the Apostles on each occasion by Christ Himself
  • The Apostles were instructed to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit before carrying out the Commission (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:4-8)
  • The Holy Spirits coming resulted in the birth of the church at Pentecost (Acts 2, 11:15-17)
  • Therefore, the birth of the Church at Pentecost was necessary for carrying out the Great Commission. It is “believers as the Church” that are responsible for carrying out the Great Commission (Luke 24:47-49, Acts 1:4-8, Acts 2, Acts 11:15-16, 1 Corinthians 12:13)
  • The local church is the manifestation of the universal Church, therefore; missions is the responsibility of the Local Church.

Now, let’s unpack that just a bit more. First of all, every time the Great Commission is recorded in Scripture it is Christ who is speaking it. These are the very words of our Lord and Savior. This completely removes the possibility that the commission was a later invention of the Apostles, or the Church. These are the very words of Christ! This is our Lord, giving us our marching orders!  Second, while Jesus gave them the commission, essentially telling them what He wanted them to do, He also told them to wait. Jesus was basically telling the disciples, ‘this is what I want you to do, but I don’t want you to do it yet, this other thing has to happen first’. That other thing was the coming of the Holy Spirit, which gave them the strength and the boldness to proclaim the message. Think about it; prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit the disciples were hiding out in a locked room, afraid of what might happen to them. However, at the very moment that the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they proclaim the gospel with boldness and urgency. The Holy Spirit gave them the power to proclaim the message (Acts 1:8). The only question that remains is; what does this have to do with the Church? Everything! While we readily recognize Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit as the birth of the Church, it is Acts 10-11 that prove it. Acts relates the account of Peter’s visit to Cornelius and the Gentiles receiving the gospel for the first time. In Acts 11, Peter is in trouble with the Jerusalem council because he went into a Gentile home and ate with them! It’s always about food! As Peter gives his defense, he specifically refers to the Acts 2 event and calls it the beginning (Acts 11:15). What else could it be the beginning of, except the Church. So, we see from these events, that the birth of the Church was necessary for carrying out the Great Commission. Before the Church was born, the disciples huddled together in fear. Afterwards, they boldly proclaimed the gospel message, gladly undergoing suffering, shame, and death to tell others of the riches of eternal life to be found in Christ Jesus.

The Great Commission and Strategy

Finally, the Great Commission informs our strategy for engaging all people with the gospel. We are to proclaim the gospel to all people groups. We are to lead people into a personal experience and relationship with Jesus Christ through God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We are to separate people from their old lives through baptism as a symbol of their new walk with God. We are to teach people the value of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how to walk in obedience and dependence on Him so that He can renew and transform their minds. We are to train them to go out and repeat the process of making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, for that is what disciples do.

A Gordon-Conwell study in 2010 listed 2.04 billion people as unreached with the gospel. Two years ago that number was 2.5 billion. Today that number is 3.1 billion people unreached with the gospel. While allowing for differences in how the numbers are counted, population growth among the least reached and unreached peoples of the world is quickly outpacing the Church’s current capacity to reach them.

Missions (the pioneering proclamation of the Gospel to a lost world at enmity with God) is the mission of the Church, as well as every local church. Missions is not just another program of the church. It is not just a once a year conference. It is the church’s every day. Missions is not just 10% of the budget, it is the entire budget. Missions must be the mission of every church because it is the mission of the Church and it is the mission of our Lord.

Why Intercultural Studies? The Content of the New Testament.

Why Intercultural Studies? The Content of the New Testament.

by | May 17, 2017

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In my last post, I outlined how we can see God’s heart for all people groups interwoven throughout the Old Testament. The New Testament presents us with a time of transition in which we can see a shift from God dealing primarily with Israel to opening up the gospel for all nations. There are many reason for this transition, but here I concern myself primarily with how missions to all people is demonstrated in the New Testament.

While the Gospels concern themselves primarily with Jesus’ ministry to the Jews (“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” – Matthew 15:24) and there is good reason for that, we also repeatedly see him interacting with Gentiles. This serves as a precursor of what is to come following His resurrection and that we see demonstrated all throughout the book of Acts.  The rest of Matthew 15:24-28 tells the story of Jesus’ interaction with a Canaanite woman and His healing of her daughter after the woman’s demonstration of faith.  Several other verses in the Gospels present the same kind of interaction and testimony of Jesus’ saving work for all people.

Matthew 24:14 – “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 8:10-11 – concludes the interaction of Jesus with a Roman Centurion, “When Jesus heard this he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you many will come from the east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven…”

Luke 2:29-32 – Simeon’s statement upon beholding the infant Jesus, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Luke 3:4-6 – John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40:3-5, note especially verse 6, “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

John 1:12 – “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

John 1:29 – “The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

John 4 – Describes Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. Much can be written about this one story alone. By the Samaritan woman’s own testimony she indicates the kind of animosity that exists between Jews and Samaritans. The main point that I would like us to see here is Jesus’ statement in John 4:21-23, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”  Jesus explains that true worship will be disconnected from a location or even a people group. True worship is for those who worship God in spirit and truth, regardless of ethnicity.

 

However, it is not only the gospels that carry the idea of missions and God’s heart for all peoples, but the rest of scripture as well. The book of Acts serves as a transitional book, taking us from the dispensation of law to the dispensation of grace. In that process, several things happen that show the inclusion of Gentiles into this new group, this new body of believers in Christ, the Church.  It begins with Acts 1:8 which serves as an outline for the rest of the book, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The rest of the book of Acts is the record of the expansion of the church.  We witness the church on mission and the inclusion of Gentiles into the body.

Acts 2:1-13 – The Holy Spirit falls at Pentecost

Acts 8:4-25 – Philip takes the gospel to Samaria. So from the initial starting point of the Jews we immediately have the expansion of the good news to the Samaritans, bringing to fruition what Jesus proclaimed to the Samaritan woman in John 4. This is confirmed by the Apostles Peter and John, so the gospel has expanded to Samaria.

Acts 8:26-40 – From Samaria Philip witnesses to the Ethiopian Eunuch, the Ethiopian is a proselyte. While we don’t yet have an expansion of the gospel to Gentiles, we do see it expanding to Gentile proselytes. Through this Ethiopian, the gospel would spread right to the heart of Africa. To this day, Ethiopia has a Christian majority, while being surrounded by primarily Islamic countries.

Acts 10-11 – These chapters record the expansion of the gospel to the Gentiles. From Pentecost we have seen Jews included, Samaritans included, proselytes included and now the Gentiles will be included in the growing Church.  First we meet Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman Centurion. God indicates to him that his prayers have been heard and he should send men to contact Peter. Next, we see God giving Peter a vision to demonstrate to him that he should not call unclean that which God has called clean. The illustration uses the Jewish food laws. However, the real meaning is about to become clear to him, as the men sent by Cornelius arrive at the house.  Peter accompanies the men to see Cornelius and upon arrival, reminds him that as a Jew he shouldn’t be there, but God has told him not to call unclean what God calls clean. This demonstrates that Peter has understood God’s message.  As Peter begins to proclaim the gospel to them, the Holy Spirit falls and they speak in tongues. Peter recognizes, because of His vision, that God is granting the Gentiles repentance and proclaims that they be baptized with water, having already been baptized by the Holy Spirit.  This creates a controversy in the church at Jerusalem and Peter must defend himself by going over the entire story, ending with the church in Jerusalem recognizing, “then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”  Acts 10-11 represents a key point in redemptive history, as from this point on the church will continue to grow in Gentile areas until it becomes primarily Gentile rather than Jewish.

Acts 11:19-30 – Immediately following the expansion of the gospel to Gentiles through Peter, we are given the account of the church in Antioch. Antioch becomes the first primarily Gentile church, it is also at Antioch that the followers of Christ first receive the name, Christians. The church at Antioch will lead the way in caring for their brothers in Judea when a famine strikes. Later, in Acts 13, it will be this predominately Gentile church that serves as the launching point for the missionary journeys of Paul.

Acts 13-21 – Much could be said about the missionary journeys of Paul and the places that he visits. Indeed we teach an entire class on the book of Acts here at Calvary University. However, since my intention is to give a brief overview of missions in the New Testament, I will hold to three examples:

Acts 14:8-18 – This passage tells the interesting story of what happened when Paul healed a man in Lystra. The people began to worship Paul and Barnabus! It is evident that at first, the apostles did not know what was going on because the crowd was speaking in a language they did not understand. It was only when they started to sacrifice to them that they realized the mistake. This story serves as an amusing example of what can happen when missionaries do not properly understand the culture of the people they are trying to share the gospel with!

Acts 16:6-10 – The Macedonian call serves as the impetus for the gospel to be taken to Greece. This one event, and Paul’s obedience spreads the gospel to largely non-Jewish areas and also gives us the books of Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

Acts 19:1-7 – Up to this point in Acts the gospel has spread to Jews, Samaritans, Proselytes, and Gentiles.  When Paul arrives in Ephesus, he meets some individuals who are disciples of John the Baptist.  Through their interaction, Paul explains the gospel more clearly and they place their faith in Jesus. At this point, the gospel has come full circle, demonstrating the superiority of Christ and His provision for all mankind.

 

As already shown, many of Paul’s letters would not have been written if it had not been for his missionary journeys and the expansion of the gospel to all people groups. Many passages in Paul’s letters and the other epistles demonstrate God’s heart for the nations. However, to close off this post we will examine only three more.

Romans 10:13-17 – “For, ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of who they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10 represents the ultimate impetus for the missionary enterprise. If we understand correctly that all are destined for Hell apart from Christ and the only way for them to be saved is to hear the gospel, then we must preach the gospel, and someone must go, and someone must send!

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 – “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – Earlier we saw in the Old Testament how Abraham was blessed in order to be a blessing, and how the nation of Israel was blessed in order to be a blessing to other nations. In the same way we who have received salvation in Christ are blessed in order to bless others with the knowledge that we possess. There is no wiggle room in this verse, Paul makes it clear that anyone who is in Christ has the ministry of being an ambassador for Christ to those who do not know Him. This doesn’t make us all missionaries, but it does make every single Christian a witness to everyone around them of the power of Christ to save.

Revelation 5:9-10 – “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’”

 

The end is assured and the testimony of Scripture is true. There will be a multitude of every nation, tribe, tongue, people, and ethnic group there with Christ at the end of this age and the beginning of eternity. The New Testament clearly demonstrates the primacy of missions in the plan of God. It is not an add-on. It is not just one ministry among many in the church. It is not just an extra activity for those few who are called to it. Missions is the primary activity of the church. The testimony of Scripture is clear and if that were not enough, so is the command of our Lord!

Why Intercultural Studies? The Content of Scripture, OT.

Why Intercultural Studies? The Content of Scripture, OT.

by | Apr 25, 2017

Does the Old Testament point us to God’s heart for the nations, or is it only all about Israel?

In the previous two posts, I have covered two issues related to the importance of missions: the incredible need for the gospel in areas and among people who have never heard it and also how the very character of God demands the missionary nature of His people.  Both of these arguments are backed by the Bible, however, in today’s post we will walk through Scripture and see the imperative nature of this message in the Old Testament. I will follow up with the New Testament in a later post.

Missions in the Old Testament

George Peters wrote, “The Old Testament does not contain missions; it is itself ‘missions’ in the world.” For a more thorough treatment of this topic, I would direct you to his book, A Biblical Theology of Missions. What he is saying is that, unlike in the New Testament where we find clear proclamations to go and preach the gospel, the Old Testament demonstrates God’s missionary actions in the world. The missionary heart of God is evident throughout all four sections of the Old Testament. Let’s look at some examples from each:

In Genesis chapters 1-11, God has been dealing with the entire human race. However, when we come to chapter 12, the focus of the book narrows down to one man, Abram. From this point on, the Old Testament will deal primarily with Abram’s descendants, Israel.  However, while Genesis 12:1-3 marks the beginning of God’s covenant with Abraham and ultimately the people of Israel, He still makes it clear that the whole world is His focus by including in verse 3 the statement that, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” We understand now that this is a direct reference to the fact that the Messiah would come from Israel. Even so, He is not for the Jews only but for all people. To drive the point home further, on both occasions in which God repeats the covenant statement to Abram’s descendants, He repeats this line as well. In Genesis 26:1-4 it is repeated to Isaac, and in Genesis 28:10-14 it is repeated to Jacob. Clearly, while God has a special call upon the nation of Israel, it is not just for Israel’s sake.

Moving forward, we see God’s special plan for Israel in Exodus 19:6, “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel was to be a kingdom of Priests. The role of the priest in the Old Testament was to represent the people before God. Throughout the Law we have provisions made for how Gentiles could be a part of the community of God. When the Temple was constructed, it was made with an outer court especially for the Gentiles to be able to come and worship.  It is this outer court that Jesus cleanses in the gospels. Mark 11:17 includes the additional statement by Christ that the temple is to be a “house of prayer for all the nations.”  Solomon further drove home the purpose of the Temple in relation to Gentiles in his prayer of dedication in 1 Kings 8:41-43 and capped it off in verse 60, “that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other.” One need only recognize the unique placement of the nation of Israel at the crossroads of all major trade routes between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor to recognize the significance of placing them there as a testimony to all nations of who God was. Israel was to be a lighthouse to the nations, testifying to the one true God, and in this calling to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” they repeatedly failed by going after idols. Missions in the Old Testament is frequently described as being ‘come and see’ while the message of the New Testament is ‘go and tell’. That ‘come and see’ speaks directly to God’s purpose in raising up Israel as a testament to all nations of who He is.

The Psalms give further evidence of God’s heart for all people:

  • Psalm 22:27 – “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.”
  • Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
  • Psalm 66:4 – “All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.”
  • Psalm 67 – “May the Lord be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth…”
  • Psalm 145: 10-12 – “All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.”

The prophets also proclaim God’s heart for the nations:

  • Isaiah 45:22 – “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other.”
  • Jeremiah 3:17 – “At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.”
  • Micah 4:1-4 – “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…”
  • Habakkuk 2:14 – “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
  • Zechariah 2:11 – “And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
  • Malachi 1:11 – “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”

The Old Testament clearly shows God’s heart for the nations, for all peoples and ethnic groups. It does prescribe missions as we understand it today; it is missions as the record of God calling a people to be His kingdom of priests and a holy nation that they may represent him to the other peoples of the Earth. The prophets make it clear that all nations will know Him and come to Him, and that the whole Earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. This testimony leads us directly into the New Testament where we begin to see the fulfillment of these statements.

Why Intercultural Studies? The Character of God

Why Intercultural Studies? The Character of God

by | Apr 12, 2017

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In 1910 Robert E. Spear made the statement, “It is in the very being and character of God that the deepest ground of the missionary enterprise is to be found.” What is the character of God? What attributes come to mind when you first think of Him? Perhaps more well-known than Robert Spear is A.W. Tozer, who most famously said, “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” So, what comes to your mind when you think about the character of God?

In Introduction to Missions, we cover three aspects of God’s character that demonstrate His heart for all mankind. There may very well be many more, but this is a short blog, so we will focus on a select few: His attitude, attributes, and actions.

His Attitude

In thinking about God’s attitude regarding missions, I want to zero in on one aspect of His character—that He is a God of relationships. We see this demonstrated first of all in His very nature. He exists eternally in relationship with the members of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We find them at the very beginning of creation in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image…” All three are involved in the creation of mankind, and later, all three are involved in the redemption of mankind. We find them at Christ’s baptism (Matthew 3:13-17), the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and in our daily experience (John 14:15-17).  God is so involved in His relationships that He identifies Himself by them. In Exodus 3:6 Moses meets God for this first time, and he knows God to be God because of how He identifies Himself. “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This is not some random tribal deity, Moses; this is your God! Though He does not need us, (Acts 17:25) He longs for us (John 3:16). God desires a relationship with each one of us (2 Peter 3:9), and this relational attitude demonstrates the importance of proclaiming the Gospel to all.

His Attributes

God’s attributes as revealed to us in Scripture demonstrate a heart that longs for His creation. For the sake of space, we will examine only three here. “God is love.” 1 John 4:8 is such a powerful verse. For, while the pages of Scripture demonstrate God’s love very clearly, here we have proclaimed that love is one of His defining characteristics.  God’s love defines every action He makes, even His discipline. God demonstrates His love to Adam and Eve in the garden following their disobedience when He casts them out (Gen. 3:22-24). The text itself tells why this is an act of love; had Adam and Eve then eaten from the Tree of Life in their fallen state, they would have remained forever unredeemable. God demonstrates His love for us again at the cross. That well known verse, John 3:16, makes it plain that God gave Christ over to redeem fallen humanity. It was love that drove Christ to the cross, love that held Him there, and love that compels us to share the message. As Paul spoke so clearly in 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we have concluded this that one died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” I can find no more powerful verse that speaks right to the heart of Western Christian culture today and the need to give all for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.  “God is Light.” 1 John 1:5 gives another one of God’s defining attributes, that He contains no darkness but is light in His very essence. We see this aspect of light several times in Scripture when various individuals encounter God on His throne. He is clothed in light. Among other things that are significant about this attribute is the reality of light’s revealing power. Darkness, hides, it is dangerous, you can’t see, you don’t know what is coming, and this inherently brings fear. Last night, I stubbed my foot because I was walking around in the dark. Darkness hides reality. Light reveals the truth and helps you to walk straight; you can see obstacles, and you can see reality. This revelatory power can be seen in God making Himself known to us. He doesn’t have to; God could leave us stumbling around in the dark for eternity and it wouldn’t hurt Him one bit. But that is not who He is. He reveals to us who He is, He tells us how we can seek Him, and He makes a way for us to find Him. He is, as Francis Thompson describes, “The Hound of Heaven.” John 4:23-24 gives us the final attribute to examine, “But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John Piper has famously said, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” While it is far from being the only reason why missions exists, as demonstrated by Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well, it is certainly a large portion of it. God is the only one deserving of such worship, and while people of all tribes and tongues worship anything other than Him, missions will continue to be of importance.

His Actions

Far from being a high in the sky non-involved deity, God acts on behalf of His people. The pages of Scripture are filled with Him taking the initiative to pursue His creation. He called Abraham, He called Moses, He initiated salvation, and He did it all of His own initiative.  Throughout Scripture nothing shows His initiative in saving mankind more than when He sends others on His behalf. At the very beginning, when mankind was lost in decadence and depravity, He sent Noah. For 120 years (Genesis 6:3) Noah was a testament to mankind while building the Ark.  When the time came to call Israel out of Egypt, he sent Moses (Exodus 3:10). Throughout the book of Judges, God would send different individuals to call the people back to Himself. Throughout Kings God sent prophets time and time again to bring Israel back to Himself (Isaiah 6:8). In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, Jesus (John 5:36, 37). Following the resurrection, God sent the Holy Spirit to help us walk in obedience (John 14:26, 16:7). In Acts 13:1-4, we have the Holy Spirit clearly involved in the sending of Paul and Barnabus. The pages of Scripture are filled with the sending work of our Father. He sends us out to proclaim His truth, His name, and His gospel. He sends us out to be His ambassadors, He sends us out to raise up worshipers; He sends us out to turn a fallen people back to their God, their creator, the one who loves them even though they turn away.

Why Missions? Because the very character of God demands it. Why Intercultural Studies? Because we must be properly equipped to do the work He calls us to do, and that involves understanding the people He calls us to reach.