The bible teaches us many things about God. One of the passions of God that we read in his book is his passion for missions. His desire for the nations spreads throughout the pages of scripture.
In light of this, I’m going to write a series entitled “Missions in…” This series will take a while since it’s going to be made up of 27 posts. Why so many? It’s one post for each book of the New Testament.
What I’m going to do is select the passage from each NT book that I believe is most significant for the application of missions to the church. My focus will not mainly be on the content of the gospel but rather upon passages that describe and/or instruct in proclaiming the gospel. For example, I’ll talk less about Christ dying for sins than I will about heralding the fact that Christ died for sins.
This is a somewhat self-serving series. Frankly, I just want to see what I find, share it with you, and discuss it online. I hope it will be beneficial.
Why the New Testament? Why not the Old? For right now my desire is to focus upon the church’s mission, which I believe is described more fully in the pages of the NT. If this series ends up being a positive thing, then I’ll probably eventually write one on the OT books.
I’m going to move in the order of the New Testament canon, with Matthew up first. "Missions in Matthew" will appear (I hope) sometime tomorrow.
You will likely disagree with me some of the time about which text is most critical. Every book, especially the gospels and Acts, has multiple passages that have much to tell us about missions. My purpose is not so much to cheer for a particular passage as it is to look at that passage to see what we can learn together.
Missions is at the heart of our wondrous God. Since this series looks at the NT, I’ll conclude this introductory post with some verses from the OT.
Psalm 96:1-4, “Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.”
2 comments:
Quite an undertaking, brother. The great commision given to us in Matthew applies to the whole of the NT and in fact carries on down through time until Christ's return. I will be praying for guidance and wisdom in your venture. Paul, Peter and all the NT writers did and shared it not only then but with us today. It is a dangerous road to all who will set out to take the Great Commision seriously. Thanks be to God the Our Lord has said to us "never will I leave you of forsake you. Missons is not only in far away lands, but also in our backyards, with our neighbors, with everone we meet,etc. This seems to be all to often forgotten.
With the direction of the Holy Spirit and administering of Grace we can start to fulfill our calling. May the Lord keep you in is Grace brother.
Mac,
This process will take a bit of effort, but I'm looking forward to it. God's large themes tend to run throughout scripture, so I'm looking forward to searching for this one in each book. The difficulty will not be in finding missions related verses and paragraphs; the struggle will be in determining which one to write about. It should be enjoyable and beneficial.
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