Daily Lesson for Wednesday 11th of October 2023
Throughout history, God has always had those who faithfully represented His character and, in obedience, followed His purposes. God’s people are those who have been called and who have accepted His invitation to be partakers of His grace. All of them have been—and continue to be—God’s instruments for the fulfillment of His mission.
Read Genesis 12:1-3 and Deuteronomy 7:6,11-12. What was God’s original purpose for His people in the Old Testament?
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God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants had a specific purpose. They were called, created, and commissioned to be agents of God’s mission—channels of blessings to the nations (compare with Deuteronomy 28:10, Isaiah 49:6). However, they were chosen within a covenant relationship with God, based on an implied conditionality of faith and obedience (Genesis 22:16-18; Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 2 Chronicles 7:14). This process, that of attracting the surrounding nations to Israel, was God’s “mission strategy” in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, God’s mission continues. The risen Lord and Savior now launches a renewed “mission strategy” (see Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8) in which Christ’s disciples—who comprise the church—go out in mission to the whole world instead of, as with ancient Israel, the world coming to it. Mission did not originate with the church. On the contrary, the church exists because God still has a mission to be fulfilled and is using His church to fulfill it.
Yet, a question remains: What is the church’s mission? It is the same as that of the One who called the church into existence: “ ‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’ ” (Luke 19:10, NIV). Though none of us in the church can save anyone, we can and must point others to the only One who can save, Jesus Christ.
“The mission of the church of Christ is to save perishing sinners. It is to make known the love of God to men and to win them to Christ by the efficacy of that love.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 381. What a privilege and tremendous responsibility!
Mission is to the church what air is to our lives. Without air, we die. Without mission, the church dies. What can you do, personally, to sustain the life of your church?
(0)The post Wednesday: God’s People: The Channels of Mission appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-02-gods-people-the-channels-of-mission/
