Saturday, October 31, 2009
Our View of God Shapes Our Zeal for Missions
Jesus’ focus was always on the Father and what the Father is doing. Jesus understood the futility of self but saw His fruitfulness in God alone. Jesus said in John 5:19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”
Similarly, our zeal and commitment to missions task must come from a knowledge that our Father is always at work. Knowing that He is always at work, we must then learn to see what He is doing and join Him. Being willing to join God involves us seeing Him as our Lord and Master. Following Christ demands us to give up our selfish rights and be obedient to His will and yield to His commands. And when the Father shows us what He is doing, we must readily join Him. Talking about believers’ response to the Master’s command, this is what Arthur Mathews has to say.
“The greatest need today is for evangelical Christians to recover the obedience reflexes that have been so largely lost... O that love for Him might empty us of our shallow desires for self-expression and fill us with a longing to please him, to go in the way of his commandments!”[1]
The Lordship of Christ in our lives will shape our commitment in obeying the Lord of the Harvest. If we do not see God as the Lord of our lives, we may not want to yield to Him whenever our will clashes with His.
Secondly, it is important that we understand that God initiates His own program in the salvation of mankind. As we learn from Isaiah chapter 55 that the thoughts and ways of God are not like ours. The emphasis is always on God’s word. From the word of God shall all our missionary programs develop, because God’s word will accomplish His purpose. “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11 NIV)
With this in mind, it is always a challenge for us to ensure that the values that become the major driving forces in our ministry are the values that are according to the word of God. If we do that, we will have commitment and zeal for our missions task even though we cannot see the fruit of the work. But we will still press on because we know that the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished in His time and will.
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[1] R. Arthur. Mathews, Ready for Battle: 31 Studies in Christian Discipleship, p.13.
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