Church On Mission | Share
About this series:
The opening lines or pages of a book are often designed to set the context for all that follows. For example:
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair’ (A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens).
‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen’ (1984, George Orwell).
The same is true of the Bible. The opening pages set the stage for all that follows; it’s long, unfolding story can invariably be traced back to these scenes. In particular, we see God eternally existing and then choosing to create all there is out of nothing. He commissions mankind - the pinnacle of his creation, made in his image - to, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule…” (Genesis 1:28). Then sin enters the world and there follows a spiralling downward away from harmony with God and with people. And yet there is the gospel promise of Genesis 3:15.
And then, following a restating (to Noah) of the commission to, “be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it” and the establishing of a covenant (Genesis 9:1-11), we’re introduced to Abram (from Genesis 11:26), called by God to become the one through whom he will accomplish the mission given to mankind and through whom God’s intended blessing of mankind will come about.
This series is designed to explore a few points in the biblical journey that flows from these opening scenes in the Bible, the story of how God’s blessing will fill the earth. It’s clearly only a very few of the many stages on that journey that we could talk about, but they will serve to show how God’s people have always been on mission and how the church today is still on mission today.
Importantly, it is God’s mission. Christopher Wright has said, ‘God doesn’t have a mission for his church, he has a church for his mission.’ God’s intent has always been to fill the earth with his blessing and his people have always been his means for bringing that to pass. It’s important that we have an understanding of the biblical storyline and that we see our involvement as being in God’s mission rather than imagining that we are asking God to bless our mission.
This eight-part series will begin with three practical steps we can all engage with in order to become people on mission - Prayer, Care and Share. These three words represent vital practical elements of a missional lifestyle and they contain a logical progression too. Please keep these three words in mind as we work through the series, especially as ways to apply what’s being said - for example:
What does it look like to be sent? Prayer, care & share.
How can we still be on mission against all the odds? Prayer, care & share.
About this talk:
There’s a logical progression here: as we regularly pray for our friends and family who are not following Jesus, God will warm our hearts to them and their need of salvation (Prayer) ➝ As our hearts are warmed, we will want to be more involved in being a blessing in their lives (Care) ➝ As we increasingly share life with people, intentionally looking for ways to be good news to them, we will look for opportunities, 1 Peter 3:15, to “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (Share).
A famous quote attributed to (though probably never said by) Francis of Assisi is, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.’ The point being made is that the whole of our lives should speak to people of what we stand for, hope for, trust in. But the weakness of the quote is that there comes a point when part of sharing life with people must involve speaking about that which matters to us. As we get to know people, it’s natural to explain where we come from, what we do as an occupation, what our interests are, who our family is, etc. To include our relationship with God, our involvement in the church and our faith-based stance on certain things would also seem to be an entirely natural part of building healthy relationships. Perhaps the quote should be adjusted to, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and when opportunity allows talk about the gospel.’
Here in Colossians 4, Paul is in a seemingly very unpromising situation for having any opportunity to share his hope in Jesus with anyone - “I am in chains” (v 3). And yet he is undaunted and asks, much as the believers in Acts 4 did, that God will enable him to “proclaim [the mystery of Christ] clearly, as I should” (v 4). He is asking the Colossians to pray that God would open a door for the gospel, confident that God has plans to work at ‘the other end’ too. When the Channel Tunnel was being constructed in the early 1990s, two teams of engineers worked from different ends. Both teams continued their dangerous and difficult work until, with great precision, they met beneath The English Channel. The investment that each team put in had been met by another team working from the other end, meaning that the task was completed. This is our great confidence as we invest our time and attention in those who do not know Jesus yet - that he is working too, often in ways we have no idea about. As the Bible says, “God our saviour…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) - we are partnering with him to see his great goal accomplished. It is, after all, his mission.
In vs 5-6 he then turns from his own witness to theirs and gives three instructions:
That they should be wise in how they behave with those who are not believers.
That they should make the most of the time they have to be a gospel influence.
That their conversation with unbelievers should always be gracious and carefully presented so as to be well received.
If we were to summarise vs 2-6, we might say that our interactions with those who are not followers of Jesus, particularly how we speak to them about Jesus, must be soaked in prayer, from a lifestyle that is consistent with the message and graciously presented. Beyond that, what God does with our attempts to speak for him is up to him. Our role is to be obedient and leave the outcome to him.
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