Intro To Mission - Lecture #3 - Biblical Basis of Missions

Hello, this is Unit 3 of an introduction to missions. I'm Professor Timothy Moore, and we are still looking at the biblical basis for missions. Today, we're going to be examining something referred to as the *missio Dei*. *Missio Dei* means the mission of God, or the fact that we have a missional God.

We've looked at Abraham as the first person called by God to missions in that sense because He said, "You will be a blessing to all nations" in Genesis 12. But before Abraham, before any other person was called to missions, God Himself was the missionary. He's always been missional—the *missio Dei*.

I have a video here, and I want you to pay close attention to how this is expressed very artistically by this lady and see how the *missio Dei* is described. [Music] She expresses *missio Dei*, the mission of God: it is here, it is now, and it is moving. This is more than a story or a rehearsal; this isn't lip service. It is about living God's mission today. The mission of God's intimate relationship with all of creation, expressed through the life of Christ, is an invitation to embrace God's unfolding vision that Christ made living. It's been here from the beginning. *Missio Dei* is a moving mission of discovery and healing and hope; an agenda of significance for all who answer yes to the call to serve. Every encounter with God is an opportunity for exploration and growth. *Missio Dei* is living the message with the community—every aspect of it—embracing the world around us: our home, work, neighborhood, church, school, park, street corner, grocery store, phone call, bus ride—everything. The hope of wholeness is a promise, but we must look outside our doors. God is outward moving; it is expanding, growing, and connecting in a separated world. That constant relational impulse of Christ's mission creates connectedness and hope. *Missio Dei*: God's love; love is enduring and persistent, joining us together through the Holy Spirit, through the living body of Christ; we become one. *Missio Dei*: God's vision, Christ's mission; the Word must become [Music] flesh.

So let's talk about the *missio Dei*. What is it? The first person to elaborate on the *missio Dei* was St. Augustine. What he meant by the *missio Dei* was God being God in time. In other words, God is outside of time; time is a created thing, but God decides to enter into time and bring God's self into time in order to accomplish a specific mission. So, God comes into this world in a way that we as human beings can experience Him with our senses. It's an amazing thing that members of the Holy Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit—come into our space and time and do work for the benefit of human beings made in their image. You remember we've referred to—human beings are referred to as the *imago Dei*, the image of God. And so God on mission, *missio Dei*, comes to *imago Dei* people, created in His image, for our benefit. And so biblical missions is a reflection of what God Himself does in coming into the space or the place of a people, to be involved in an ongoing process that did not begin in the heart and mind of human beings. It is the *missio Dei*; it is the heart and mind of God and the ongoing mission of God on planet Earth. We are invited into a mission.

So let's pray about that together. Father, I pray in Jesus' good name that You would open the eyes of our understanding so that we can comprehend in a deeper way how You have called us into Your mission. You are the missionary God; You have the *missio Dei*, and You've been doing it from the very beginning. And so we live our lives here, and Lord, I pray that You would show us how to intermingle our lives with You, to live in relationship with You, and to be aware of what You are doing around us and simply join You in it, so that people might know the hope and the restoration that You are bringing and have been bringing from the very beginning. We glorify You. I ask for the Holy Spirit to enable me to communicate this well, so that it makes an impact and we can join You together in mission, in Jesus' good name. Amen.

So there are four key aspects to the *missio Dei*, and we're going to look at those four key aspects. It's not enough to just know them, so we're going to move from the knowledge of the four key aspects of *missio Dei* to the personal application of the four aspects of *missio Dei*. And so I'm going to state them, and then we're going to elaborate and explain. Number one: The *missio Dei* is God revealing Himself. And so from the very beginning to Adam and Eve in the garden, God is revealing and unveiling Himself—who He is. And so the second part of it: it is God calling people to Himself. So it's not just God revealing; it's God calling and bringing people to Himself. The third aspect of *missio Dei* is about God weaving our lives together with Himself. And so it's us joining God and living our lives, not just here, but for all eternity with God. And the fourth aspect of the *missio Dei* is about us joining God Himself in His mission—like this is our purpose. God revealing Himself, God calling people to Himself, God weaving our lives together with Himself, and us joining God Himself in His mission.

So why do we need to grasp and understand the *missio Dei*? I want to speak to this first theologically. So how does it impact us theologically? And our theology is just how we understand God, and the *missio Dei* affects one aspect of theology that's referred to as theology proper, which is: Who is God and what is He doing? I mean, that is the *missio Dei*. And so the theology proper is about having a proper theology, a proper understanding of who God is and what He's doing. And so the aspect that I want to focus on in regard to theology proper is this concept of joining God in what He is already doing. And so in order to understand that, we have to focus on God's unchangeable attributes first, and then our appropriate response to those unchangeable attributes. God's attributes: there are words for them, but the way they're expressed, it always begins with: He is all-powerful, He is all-knowing, He is all-sufficient; He needs nothing from us. And so we can't add anything to God or take anything away from God. So God being all-knowing (the word for that is omniscient), God being all-powerful (that's omnipotent), Him being unchangeable (that's immutable). There are words, there are theology words to express all of this. It's sufficient for us to know that He's all-knowing, all-mighty, all-sufficient, and He needs nothing from us. We can't add anything to God, and we can't take anything away from God. God needs nothing. God created everything that exists, including time, and He holds it all together and is outside of it. He exists outside of everything that He has made, and in order to come into it, it's a missionary—it's a mission trip for God to come into the time and space and creation. And so He does that, and all that we can do and all that we're expected to do is join God in what He is already doing around us.

Dr. Henry Blackaby beautifully captured this concept in his book, *Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God*. I had the opportunity to know Dr. Blackaby, and even in the church that I pastored in seminary, Dr. Blackaby's son was a part of our church. And so he personally impacted my life, and he wrote this incredible book that it's worth reading; it's worth everyone reading because it is such a good expression of *missio Dei*. Dr. Blackaby, thanks for making time for us today and welcome back to Canada. I bet a lot of people don't know that you are a Canadian. I am a Canadian. Do you still consider yourself a Canadian, even though you're transplanted? Oh, yes. And I've been asked to be in the Oval Office of the White House several times, and I sit there saying, "What's this Canadian doing counseling the president?" Well, good for you. We're proud of you. And you know you're really well known, of course, as a writer and speaker, and you're really well known for *Experiencing God*, which sold 4 million copies. But what a lot of people might not know is that you actually are really involved in the business world. The group that has formed, starting with two that I work with, we call the CEO Forum, and it basically touches the lives of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies. So it started with two, and we're over 170 now. And these are the top companies of all kinds—from medical to financial planners to bankers to builders—I mean, every aspect of life in the nation are involved in this group. So now, is this training business people to share their faith at work? Is that what part of it is? It's helping these folk to be authentic believers and have an authentic, genuine, real relationship to the Living Lord in the marketplace. When they get into a board meeting, I'll tell them how to function in the board meeting, how to recognize the presence of God. I said, "God was there before you got there; you don't have to invite Him in," and but you do have to recognize when He's guiding you. If He's going to give you wisdom, you better know when He is, and when the Holy Spirit is teaching you, you better know when He's teaching you. Well, nobody's ever discipled these folk. I would say that 95% of all the CEOs have never been discipled. So when you say an authentic believer, some people may not really have an idea what that means. There's only one Guy, and He has told us how He wants to relate to us, and He tells us what the prerequisites are and what it—what it is in our life that will prevent Him from helping us. For instance, if I hold sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. When God speaks and you don't obey, that is sin. And I'll illustrate from the marketplace, and they, "Oh, that's what you mean," or they'll come back the next month saying, "You know, God really dealt with me, and for the first time I knew it was God, and I obeyed immediately. And let me tell you what happened: doors open, things happened that I have been trying to see happen for years, but once God had my attention and had my obedience, then He could open a door." And this is all from really them opening up their hearts and their spiritual ears, I guess it is, to what is God saying to me? Where is God leading me? And inviting Him to take over and direct things. Yeah. And they had no idea that they could be doing that. Yeah. And you see, for the—for those top CEOs of the top companies of America, our CEO Forum is a safe house. They don't have any other safe house where they can be themselves, where people aren't always trying to get them to influence and give them money. And in the process, our group, the CEO Forum, has had two White House briefings where the White House heard about Christian businessmen and said, "Would you come to the White House, and we want to brief you in what's happening?" And here I was as a Canadian. So they're saying, "What am I doing here?" And God says, "Because I put you here, and because you—you, like you said, you've been obedient." I've been obedient one day at a time. Yeah, that's right. And He cannot give you a larger assignment, which affects eternity and affects the direction of the world, if you don't have a track record where you're absolutely immediately obedient. And that sounds really easy because, I mean, honestly, when we come to God, we give Him our lives; that means He gets control; He's Lord, as we say. But but you say that people aren't really living out there that reality; they still want to be in control. The essence of sin is the refusal to acknowledge that He has the right to be Lord. So we always come with our agenda, and we say, "Well, we want to do this for God," and He'll say, "Don't," or we ask Him, "What do you want me to do for You?" and He'll say, "Nothing. I want you to be available so that I can do whatever I want through you." Now, is there a difference between between you and me doing for God and God doing what only God can do through us? Different is night and day. Well, give me an example then of—of what you would say to them when you're trying to teach them this. Here's an example of how you know the Holy Spirit is opening your mind or telling you this is something. Well, I'd say, when you open the scripture, He's your teacher. You need to have a notepad where you write down what truths are you saying—being that you've never seen before—been through that passage many times. Why now? And why this truth? That is a Holy Spirit teaching you. Well, I think a lot of people would say, "You know what, Dr. Blackaby, this sounds like a great idea, involving God in my workplace, and He's gonna just bless my work and everything," but you say another challenging thing that I don't think people would suspect, and that's that God is not interested in our success. That's if we're going to put Him in charge and in our—of our business; that's scary. Well, He's concerned about your character, and He will be developing your character, because character determines assignment. He'll never give a large assignment to a small character. And so He's going to develop your character, and He's going to put you in situations that will press areas of your life that need changing. If He were to give a success in the business world, it would cancel the opportunity to develop as a believer. We would be with the success, and it would go to our head, and all kinds of things. Success is much more difficult to handle than stress and failure. So are you saying He never gives us success? Oh, no, He will. He will. And He'll put you in a very significant position, and He may make you the CEO of a whole company, but you just need to know your position is not so you can be recognized by men, but but you can be used by God. And whether men recognize you or not, you want the approval of God. If we let the world shape our objectives and our goals, we'll miss 90% of what God wants. And He's going to touch your life globally, and you may—you know—have recognition and be given an award for the most effective CEO in the company and miss entirely what God could have done. And I'm—I'm listening, you know, with an utter amazement. I'm listening to these CEOs as they develop. I've been working with them for 12 to 14 years. Wow. And I have seen the growth and the development in their lives. And what Dr. Blackaby teaches us is that God Himself is always at work around us, and His will for our lives is never to do anything for Him; it's simply to join Him in what He is already doing. And so to say we need to do something for God is actually improper theology because God's all-sufficient, all-knowing, all-powerful; He needs nothing from us. And so it's not what we do for God; it's what we do with God that is our involvement in the *missio Dei*. And so having a proper understanding of who God is and the fact that God's always at work around you—it doesn't matter where you are—if you're on a bus, if you're in a classroom, if you're at work, if you're at home, God is always at work around you, and He will always allow you, if you are yielded to Him and have a heart to obey Him and be yielded to Him, like Galatians 5:16 says—"Yield yourself to God"—God will invite you to join Him in the work that He's doing. And the—the—the beautiful and powerful thing about that is God never fails in His work—never. It's not dependent on us. And so if it's God's work, God's work is going to succeed, and we get the blessing of joining a sovereign, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-sufficient God in the work that He is doing. And that should give us an incredible amount of confidence. We lose that confidence when our theology gets skewed and wrong, and we think that God needs something from us. He doesn't. He's the Sovereign God; He holds everything together by the word of His power, and He is on mission; He is *missio Dei*, the missionary God.

So our theology is impacted in terms of joining God and doing mission with God—not for God—it's with God. But also our understanding of the Bible; in seminary terms, in theological terms, we call that hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is understanding, interpreting, and expressing the scripture properly. And 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Be diligent"—so it's talking about—it's talking to rather ministry leaders. First, Second Timothy, and Titus in the Bible are called the Pastoral Epistles, meaning their instructions to ministry leaders. And so 2 Timothy 2:15 says we as ministry leaders are to be diligent to present ourselves approved to God, workers that do not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, that word that's translated "rightly dividing" just means to understand it correctly. So we understand it correctly; we express it clearly—that's hermeneutics. And so in order to have good hermeneutics, in order to have that ability to rightly divide God's word, we must understand what we call the *missio Dei*. It transforms our view of the Bible. So without the *missio Dei*, without the four aspects of the *missio Dei*, the Bible becomes—can become—just a collection of stories, like Aesop's Fables are a collection of stories that we may or may not have an interest in. If we read them, we can get some type of moral out of the story, which is a suggestion for how we live our lives better. So that's possible with Aesop's Fables; it's possible with the Bible if the *missio Dei* is not applied to scripture. But the Bible is not a collection of stories. The Bible, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, is an expression of one thing: the *missio Dei*, the mission of God. And if we understand that, the whole Bible becomes one unit; it becomes one book, one narrative of how God is revealing Himself, how God is calling people to Himself, how God is showing people how to—we interweave their lives with Him in relationship, and how God is calling us into His mission for planet Earth. That's what the whole Bible is about. So it's impossible to understand the Bible fully and express it accurately if we don't grow in our understanding of the *missio Dei*, the mission of God.

So we've talked about the three aspects of our—of our life with Christ: our devotional life, our relational life, and our missional life. The reason that one needs to flow into the other—so your relational—your devotional life with God flows into your relational life with other spiritual friends who are walking with God, and then that flows into missional life. The reason all three of those things have to happen is because that's the only way to cooperate with the *missio Dei*; that's the only way to be engaged in the mission of God and fulfill His purpose for your life here on planet Earth. And so the *missio Dei* has to move from these impersonal concepts—like we—we think of them as these four principles—it has to shift from that to becoming incredibly personal. And so instead of—it just being—you, like, for instance, you open your Bible, you're reading a chapter of the Bible, and and you're asking yourself the four questions of the *missio Dei*; it's absolutely going to help you to understand what the Bible is saying, but it's not enough. Here's what I mean by that: If you are reading a chapter of the Bible and you have in your mind the four *missio Dei* aspects, the four principles—how is God revealing Himself to people? That's number one. So you're reading a chapter of the Bible: First question, "How is God revealing Himself to people in this chapter?" Second question, second part of the *missio Dei*, "How is God calling people to Himself in this chapter? How is God drawing people to Himself?" The third question: "How is God leading people to weave their lives together with His life here in this chapter?" And then the fourth question is: "How is God lead—you know—how is God inviting people to join Him in in His mission in this chapter?" Okay, that's still over—over there; you're looking at something; you're trying to answer those questions, and it absolutely helps you understand that chapter better, but if you don't put it into your—into your own jacket, into your own lap, into your own life, we fall short. And so here's the difference: Instead of saying, "How is God revealing Himself to people," you have to make it, "How is God revealing Himself to me?" And instead of just, "How is God calling people to Himself," "How is God right now in my life drawing me to Himself?" Because we can walk away from the Lord; we can distance ourselves from the Lord; we can forget God and walk into besetting sins. And so, "How is God drawing me back into—into fellowship, into relationship, into an awareness of His presence in my life? How's God drawing me to Himself right now?" And so instead of it just being, "How is God leading people to interweave their lives with Him," it—the question is, "How's God leading me to weave my life into His life?" And the fourth question: Instead of, "How's God calling people to be on mission," "What assignment is God—how is God revealing where He's working around me and inviting me to join Him in that work?" So it's got to become intensely personal. This is not just a theological principle or precept; this is how we walk with God. The *missio Dei* is how we walk with God. How's God inviting us right now into His mission? How—how are we supposed to join God? And when people in the Bible express this—I think about the Apostle Paul—he—he cannot—the people in the scriptures talking about this missional connection with God, it seems like they're overstating it. Like in Acts 20:24, Paul says, "My life is worth nothing"—that seems like an overstatement, but it's not, because it's what we're made for. He says, "My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus"—this work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God. God invited Paul in an incredibly tangible way when he is persecuting Christians and on his way to the town of Damascus to get more—to arrest and persecute more believers—the Lord appears to Paul; Jesus appears to Paul in a blindingly powerful way; it literally blinded Paul, and Jesus asked him to join Him in calling people out of darkness into light, from the power of Satan, the Bible says, to the kingdom of God. And so this is God in an amazing, tangible way saying, "Paul, join me; here's your assignment." And from that moment on, Paul is saying, "My life is worth nothing to me unless I join God in this."

So let's expand to the—to the world. Like, why is there a global need for *missio Dei*? Why do human beings in general need the *missio Dei*? So as opposed to God needing us or us accomplishing anything for God—again, God has been actively doing redeeming, saving, restoring work from the very beginning of the world, even though people made in the image of God exercise their wills continually to forget God and rebel against God. God is constantly actively doing redeeming and saving and restoring work. This global need for the *missio Dei*—we can't speak of the global need without talking about sin. Sin, as a concept, refers to anything that separates us from God. It's doing things our own way instead of God's way, and God's way is the only way to hope and healing. There's no other way; there's no other path to hope and healing than God's way. Our way without Him always—and when I say "our way," I mean human way—the human way without God always diminishes life; it diminishes hope; it diminishes relationships. And so life without God cuts us off from the source of hope and healing, from the source of abundant life and blessed relationships. And so sin is anything that we do that—that causes that to happen. And so that's why the *missio Dei* is always in effect; God is always reaching out to human beings. That's why we studied in the biblical basis of mission in Unit 2, the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20—like this mission is—is something that God is doing to the nations, to the world, and He calls us to join Him in it. And and Jesus says, "All power is given to Me; go you therefore, join Me in this and make disciples of all the nations." And so what I want to focus on now in regard to that is like, why—why would God be motivated to constantly be engaged in drawing people to Himself if He has no needs? Why—what motivates God to do that? Why is He constantly engaged in saving, rescuing, redeeming, and restoring work on planet Earth? And in order to understand that aspect of *missio Dei*, we have to back up into *imago Dei*; we have to back up into what it means to be created in the image of God. And there are two main words to express being created in God's image and why God would be motivated to do the work that He does, and those two words are "worth" and "will." Worth and will. And when we're talking about worth and will as it relates to us being in the image of God, worth equals value, and our will equals heartfelt wishes or desires. Because we are created in the image of God, we have a certain worth, a certain value, and because we're created in the image of God, we have a will of our own. Our will, which is what motivates us, what drives us—it's the Greek word *thelēma*; *thelēma* means the desires of our heart, our—the wishes and motivations of our heart. Worth and will. We're created in the image of God. Genesis 1:22, 27 is a conversation among the Triune God. It doesn't say God—doesn't say, "I am going to make man in My image" in Genesis 1:27; He says, "Let us make man in our image." And so there's a conversation in the eternal relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to create this being in the image of the Triune God. And because we're made that way, we have incredible value before God; that's expressed in a verse that I've used often, and if you've been listening to other lectures or me teaching in person, I've probably used this verse six or seven times because it's a great verse to express our worth: Ephesians 2:10, and that is that we are the masterpiece of God. The Bible says you're the craftsmanship, the masterpiece, the Greek word *poiema*—you're the poetry of God—and you're created for a specific purpose. God has ways that He wants you to join Him in His work. Ephesians 2:10 says He has the work marked out for you, and He did it even before the foundation of the world. So you have great value as the masterpiece of God. Human beings do—all human beings have value, and all human beings have a purpose within the *missio Dei*. People miss it; people can do it or not do it. In order to join God, we have to come into relationship with God; we have to exercise our will, our desire to be in relationship with God. Worth is ultimately expressed—worth and will—worth is ultimately expressed in what someone is willing to pay for something. I've used this illustration; I think it's a good one. I can say the watch on my wrist is worth $1,000; I can say that all day long, but if somebody's only willing to pay $10 for this watch, it's not worth $1,000; it's worth $10. So worth is determined by how much someone is actually willing to pay for something. Another thing that determines worth is who made it. So the watch that I'm wearing—I didn't buy it; someone else paid for it. This is the benefit of having six children that are grown and have jobs. I've never owned an expensive watch, but my children all got together at Christmas and said, "We're going to all pitch in and get Dad an expensive watch, a watch like he—he wants; he loves the outdoors; we're going to get him a Garmin smartwatch." And because Garmin made this watch and they have a reputation for making high-quality products, this watch is a pretty expensive watch—more expensive than any watch I would ever think about buying for myself. So the Creator, the person that makes it, gives it value. So value is determined by who makes it and how much someone's willing to pay for it. And so when you talk about a human being, the *imago Dei*, who made human beings? The artist, the manufacturer, the creator of human beings is the almighty, all-knowing, all-sufficient, unchanging God. And because He is the ultimate artist, He's the ultimate manufacturer, human beings created in the image of God have a value that cannot be expressed using human language. Every human being has a value that is beyond expression. So the *imago Dei* is not just created by God—how much is paid for the *imago Dei*? Who is willing to pay what amount for human beings? "For God so loved the world," John 3:16, "that He gave His only begotten Son"—the second person of the Trinity, *missio Dei*, comes into time and space 2,000 years ago approximately, and He lives on mission for 33 and a half years, and He gives His very holy, perfect life to pay the price that also—we don't have words to describe; we can't describe the—the—the amount; we can't fully understand what it cost God the Son, God incarnate, to pay the price for all of our sin and shame. But what we can glean from that, what we can understand from that, is human beings, no matter who they are, no matter what they've done, no matter what they're involved with, no matter how far away from God they are, their value is beyond anything that we could even express with human words. That's why Jesus was willing to come and create this opportunity for us to come into relationship with God, for our lives to be intertwined with the life of God, and for us to join God in His mission, the *missio Dei*. So Jesus comes and creates this opportunity because the *missio Dei* exists because it is the framework for God's purpose in this world. Jesus Christ creates opportunity; there always exists an opportunity as long as we are breathing, as long as someone is alive, the opportunity exists. But God only works by invitation. Jesus said, "Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you; ask and it will be given to you." He said, "If anyone opens the door," Revelation 3:20, "I will come in and dine with him and he with Me." If we open the door, if we invite Him in, if we receive Him, John 1:12, "As many as receive Him, to them gives He power to become children of God, to those who believe on His name." It is by invitation only. And the Bible is very clear; Jesus is very clear; we can reject—reject the opportunity; we can forget God; we can go our own way and not engage in the *missio Dei*. And as we do that, everything that makes life and existence worth happening diminishes—diminishes—keeps diminishing. Matthew 23:37: Jesus, before He was crucified, He sat overlooking Jerusalem and He said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to you, how often I've longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." Worth and will. People are the *imago Dei*, and because of that, they have incredible worth, and they have a will. And when Jesus said, "You were not willing," that's an expression of wish, desire, motivation. If we don't have the wish, desire, motivation to have a relationship with God and to engage with God in His mission on planet Earth, the *missio Dei*, then we miss out. We miss out. And ultimately, if that—if—if we never engage with that and we don't intertwine our lives with God, we don't have that relationship with God, we miss out on that for all eternity. That was the message of Jesus. But Jesus said, "I am the way," John 14:6, "I am the truth; I am the life." He said, "This is eternal life," John 17, "that they may know You, Father, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." God wants us to come into relationship with Him; God wants us to be on mission with Him. This is His purpose for our lives—the *missio Dei*.