Christian Missions Advance the Kingdom of God

Even before the time that Jesus commissioned the disciples prior to the great commission, in Matthew 16:16-19 Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ and upon that confession (that rock) Jesus promised to build his church and he also promised that the gates of Hades would never overtake it. The public advance of Christianity in Jesus commanding the making of disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) resulted in the advancement of God's government while the hellions would be forced back into the realm of darkness; moreover, John 1:9-14 confirms the point by describing Christ as the light that came into the world to give light to all men and John 8:12 reinforces the point by saying that everyone that follows Jesus will never walk in darkness. Overall, the point is that in all places that the light of Jesus shines no darkness can exist (this means that darkness is forced back), but an exception exists in that some people are blind to the light of Jesus (John 12:37-41) in such a way that obstacles exist that prevent the light of Jesus from fully penetrating into all places and times.

Old Testament and New Testament texts related to Mission

The message of mission occurs in the Old Testament in several places, and missions often become the focus for New Testament writers and for the work of Jesus Christ. Seminary text books today are often littered with such statements as, "Isaiah calls Israel a "light for the Gentiles" (Isa. 42:6; 49:6). God did not bring Israel out of Egypt without reason; God's people are to serve in a mediatorial role. ...In Exod. 19:4-6 God tells Moses to announce to Israel that because he himself brought Israel out of Egypt, they will be his special possession, his kingdom of priests, [and] his holy nation. " (Moreau, 36) The point in Israel being a light to the nations is that they would cause gentiles to increasingly walk in light instead of darkness.

Matthew 24:14 explains that the gospel will be preached to the entire world as a testimony of all nations, and then the end will come. Various verses in the scripture talk about God's people as lights in the world that illuminate the earth, and James 1:17 links the father of the heavenly lights (God) with every good gift coming down from heaven. The point is that when Genesis 18:18-19 shows God confirming that Abraham will be a blessing to all nations while relating this to Abraham directing his children and his household to keep the ways of the lord, what is being said is that, Abraham by being a light to the world and by giving that light to others would eventually bless all the nations in the entire world (with light). Revelation 20:14 thus describes the end of time as a time when death is destroyed causing no more death, and Matthew 13:30 gives a parallel with Jesus describing the weeds being gathered and burned at the end of time.

When Matthew 28:19 shows Jesus commanding the disciples to go out and make disciples, he is giving a command that would result in all nations being filled with the light of the gospel in such a way that the promise of Abraham (in that he was to be a blessing to all the nations) would be fulfilled through Christ being a physical descendent of Abraham (Lea, 173) that would cause the blessing to be fulfilled through those in Christ doing his work of blessing through him (consider John 15:3-5). Christians are thus, "...(1) a chosen race (1 Pet. 2:9-12) (or elect generation [from Isa. 43:20]); (2) a royal priesthood (Exod. 19:6); ...(3) a holy nation (Exod. 19:6); and (4) a people for God's own possession" (based on Hos. 1:6-10; 2:23). (Moreau, 67) Throughout all the obstacles presented by all the barriers that cause the light to be restricted from shining forth, the light of the gospel nevertheless manages to light the entire world until the 'crop is ripe for harvest.' Once the harvest is 'ripe', then Jesus will return and usher in a new order causing nothing but light (Revelation 21:23).

The Nature of God as related to mission

Perhaps the best question related to mission regarding the nature of God is the question of God's all powerful nature and his personal choice to take advantage of his all powerful nature. Scott writes the following about how basic the understanding is that God relates to the universe in a way that it should operate, "A corollary to the Hebrew belief in the existence of God is his presence and activity within history and in the material world as well as beyond it. From this comes a general understanding of how God relates to the universe and how it should operate." (Scott, 269) For example one could argue that for God to be all powerful and expressing of his all powerful nature, then he must control every instance of time and space all of the time without exceptions such that nothing could ever exist independent of God predestining all things to be as they are and as they will be. The question thus is, "was the temptation of Adam and Eve a display of God's personal choice for history to forever change, or was it a choice of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, or was it both the choice of God and the choice of man."

Many people would thus argue that if sin entered the world through the choice of Adam and Eve, then sin could be removed through the choice of man to choose Christ as the cure for sin (this is the idea underlying most Arminian mission work). A major problem is that the personal choice of God is responsible both for making Christ crucifixion happen (John 19:11), and the personal choice of God is responsible for making the promise of eternal salvation possible through belief in Christ (John 3:16-17). Since salvation is not possible with man (including any of the works of man such as personal confession and choice), thus salvation is only obtainable through God as all things are possible through God (Matthew 19:26). The question is that if faith comes from God (Luke 17:5) as the disciples indentified (or at the very least the increase of faith), then would God always have a loving nature to give or to increase faith? The reply of Jesus to the inquiry of the disciples asking for an increase of faith (Luke 17:6) both suggested that the disciples had not had faith and that Jesus was not yet willing to give faith to them, and this could arise the question as to the nature of God to be all loving and expressive of that love to all people at all times.

In Exodus 33, after the exodus, God identified that if he would go with the Israelites even for one moment, then he would destroy them (Exodus 33:3). The solution to the problem of God dwelling with the Israelites without destroying them was to institute the tent of meeting (Exodus 33:7-11). The tent of meeting thus shrouded God as an outer expression of his glory, and this idea can be seen in the following context, "...Moses said, 'Now show me your glory.' And the LORD said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." - Exodus 33:18-19 (NIV) In other words the tent of meeting acted as God's glory as it became the boundary of God's transforming power of light so that he could have mercy on those that he choose to have mercy on and he could have compassion on those that he chooses to have compassion on. Romans 9:14-18 thus refers back to Exodus 33:19 as it describes God rising up Pharaoh for God's own purpose in displaying his power. Overall, the point is that for Jesus Christ, the light of the world, to dwell among the darkness he had to restrain himself even to the form of a limited infant so that he could develop and grow in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52) but he did not take on qualities that he did not already have but instead expanded the boundaries that restricted his light from blinding and destroying everyone.

Mission Theology with themes and motifs

Mission theology can drive other fields of theology because a person's mission that is ordained by God (such as making disciples) can actually change a person's understanding of God and worship of God as they develop and mature. Organizing mission theology can thus be best done in motifs, "a motif is a recurring pattern or element that reinforces the central guiding theme of the house [God's house (in this case)]." (Moreau, 79) David Bosh organized a theology of mission based upon the motifs of (1) the incarnation, (2) the cross, (3) the resurrection, (4) the ascension, (5) Pentecost, and (6) the events related to the return of Christ, but Wilbert Shenk (unfortunately) recently developed a mission theology that contains the motifs of (1) the reign or kingdom of God, (2) Jesus, (3) the Holy Spirit, (4) church, (5) the world, and (6) things that relate to the end of history. (Moreau, 80) Moreau and his colleges improved upon the work of Bosh and Shenk to generate a really awesome and complicated model that is rooted in biblical revelation that includes the motifs of (1) the kingom of God, (2) Jesus, (3) the Holy Spirit, (4) the church, (5) shalom, and (6) Jesus return. (Moreau, 80) Overall, according to Moreau, "in summary, we define the mission of the church centrally in terms of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20; cf. Luke 24:47; John 20:21; Acts 1:8)." (Moreau, 86)

Moreau writes that, "the mission of the church is that it be used by God (1) to witness to people about the reconciliation offered in Christ; (2) to invite people to worship their creator by leading them to Christ; (3) to incorporate those led to Christ into local church contexts; and (4) to teach them, as people reconciled to God, to obey all that Christ commanded in being salt and light in the world. All four components are necessary and integral to the mission of the church." (Moreau, 88) The problem is that in some Calvinist circles that are perhaps unfamiliar with Moreau's work none of the bloodshed on the cross was wasted on attempting to redeem people that would never be saved anyway. Jesus made very clear after he fed the multitude that none should be wasted (John 6:12) and that once a work is started by Christ he will not leave it only part done (Philippians 1:6 and Luke 14:28-30). Overall, the question that could thus be raised is how a theology of mission, if taken seriously, could drastically impact the systematic theology of God commonly held by a church, and the better question is how atonement theories can be impacted.

Mission theology, church leaders, and lay people not in full-time ministry

In some Calvinist churches (that do not practice the 'Moreau motif') worship is often taken in priority to everything else, and this worship is sometimes defined in terms of covenant theology that is drawn together from ancient Hebrew scripture and often from the Law of Moses. If Mission theology is taken seriously by evangelists that work hard to bring new members into church, then it can cause in influx of new members that are not accustomed to all the systematic covenant theology that a church may have developed as a result of allegorical readings of the ancient Hebrew law. A problem could soon emerge as older members try to impose the 'rules of faith' onto newer members that may proclaim a freedom in Christ from having been washed of their sins (or better yet 'whitewashed' or their sins) without any need to do good works that correspond to the 'laws of God'. Full-time Calvinist pastors could soon have a mess to deal with as long term members feel jealously for the new members that have, (so to speak) "done nothing to earn their salvation", and soon enough transgressions of the social rules that hold people together may escalate tensions causing older members to petition for justice to be rendered on new members causing new members to be either disgruntled with the faith or handed over to Satan without probable cause. Church ministry that is not full-time could let their light shine in cases like this by acting as buffers between the angry older members that may feel that their order is being violated and newer members that are just experiencing the freedom of Christ for the first time, and then tension could be gradually reduced between the laypeople in their 'class struggle' with the newer members. Overall, implementing the motif of Moreau to cause the light of Jesus to expand the kingdom of God into a Calvinist church may not be an advisable strategy.

BIBLOGRAPHY

Lea, Thomas, and David Alan Black. The New Testament: Its Background and Message, 2^nd ed. Nashville, Tennessee: H&B Academic, 2003.

Moreau, Scott, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical Historical, and Practical Survey. Grand Rapids, Michigon: Baker Academic, 2009.

Scott, Julius. Jewish Background of the New Testement. Grand Rapids, Mishigan: Baker Academic, 1995.