The Missionary God
Dr. John Neufeld examines the concept of missions from a biblical perspective and what it actually means. Missions is not a mission where no churches are built and men and women are not called to follow Jesus. Missions is about God’s glory first and human need second. A 10-message series.
Missions when it is truly understood is the glorious news of the Creator who has no needs and who has never relinquished His ownership of all things.
God’s long agenda with Israel is not the story of God’s lack of interest in the world. Rather what God did with Israel means the earth will be filled with His glory
Whenever missions is secondary we fail to capture either the message of the Bible or even the heart of God.
This gospel of Jesus is really a gospel made for the whole world.
Christianity does not end with an individual relationship with Jesus. It always moves from individual salvation to corporate living.
And when we stand before God in judgment we will say what the hymn writer sang. “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. That’s the gospel. And that must be shared with all the people of the world.
The missionary enterprise of the church is fraught with danger. Persecution, malaise, a willingness to tolerate false teachers from within and disputes between believers. But the promise still remains. The gates of hell will not hold out the gospel
What is the nature of our God, this missionary God? How is it that He who has declared that all the earth will be filled with His glory has allowed so much of the world to remain in darkness?
Yes missionaries when they are biblical and godly find that the nations do not deserve the gospel. But they also find that we ourselves who have been found in Christ did not deserve the gospel. But God loved us and we now find that we must love as we have been loved.