The Mission of the Triune God

Short teachings from Hillcrest Church further exploring Sunday's teachings.

Transcript

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Hey, Tim here. Hope you're doing well. And uh we're continuing to dive deep into uh this Living Scent series. And I wanted to um I wanted to return to this idea of God being on a mission. God is a missionary God. Uh we James talked about it uh in the message on uh Sunday uh on in the first podcast episode of this week. I looked at some of the kind of the Hebrew scripture background of that. Today I want to just I want to look at some of the New Testament scripture around God being a missionary God, because in the New Testament we really begin to see how um this is reflected in the triune character of God. God, of course, is three persons, one God, uh Father, Son, and Spirit in this eternal divine relationship of love. Um and uh and we can see the how how God is on a mission gets expressed through the triune life, uh the missio day. And so um uh I'm just gonna name a bunch of texts and just kind of bounce around a little bit that that express this. So I think the kind of the first idea that we see reflected in the New Testament is that the the Father, Abba, the first person of the Trinity, sends the Son, the second person of the Trinity. And this wouldn't be in it to think about the Trinity. This is not um to create some kind of uh power hierarchy in the triune God. Like I think uh that that we would want to say the father and son agree together um to rescue humanity, to um to to judge sin and provide forgiveness. And so the father sends the son, and the son is sent. Um but like scriptures that talk about this. John 3.16, God so loved the world, he he gave his only son. Um John 3.17, God did not send his son into the world to condemn. Um uh, you know, um John 20, 21, that um we'll come back to that uh James referenced as the Father has sent me. Jesus is resurrected, Jesus is saying to his disciples. Um in Mark 9, uh 37, Jesus says, Whoever receives me receives not me, but the one who sent me. Um, you know, Paul talks about Galatians 4:4, God sent forth his son. Um and this the, you know, those are just a few of the scriptures, but over and over again you get this this uh reality that um the father is the sender. The father sends the son, um, and the son is the sent one, uh, sent on behalf of the triune gone to rescue uh humanity, to deal with sin, death, and defeat Satan. So uh the father, sender, um, spirit, uh the son, the sent one. And then um uh then you get the idea of the father and the son sending the spirit. Um, and a lot of this comes from the book of John, uh, but like John 14, um uh 26, the helper. This is the paraclete, the comforter, the spirit, um, whom the father will send in my name, Jesus says. Uh John 15, 26, uh the one whom I will send to you from the father. Um John 16, 7, if I go, I will send him, that is the spirit, to you. And so um the father and son send the spirit. They agree to send the spirit to comfort, to teach, to guide, to convict, to empower the church. And so uh the father sends the son, the father and son send the spirit. And of course, um, really practically we see this in Pentecost. First, we see it actually kind of um acted out in the book of John. Remember this weird moment at the end of the book of John, Jesus breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit. Um, and then uh it's kind of this like foreshadowing in the Pentecost Acts 2, the Spirit is poured out on the early Jesus movement. Um and then uh the and then the church um is in the power of the Spirit, is sent out. Um, and I would say probably most accurate is sent out by the whole triune God, um, uh empowered by the Spirit uh to the world. Jesus says in John 20, 21, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. Of course, um the Great Commission, Matthew 28, go into all the nations, um uh making disciples, uh, baptizing in the name and uh the one name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That's you know, that's really interesting, Matthew. The name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what you baptize uh them in. And so uh, you know, Acts 1.8, I'm gonna wait in Jerusalem um until the uh the Spirit is poured out on you. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. And so over and over again, the sense that, okay, um the the Jesus community are sent ones. Um as the Father sent the Son, so the the Jesus community is sent into the world, empowered by the Spirit to announce and enact the good reign and kingship of God. Um and and in this way we are um we are participating. You know, and uh we aren't we don't begin the mission, doesn't begin with us. It's God's mission. It begins with God. Um God is ascending and seeking God, God is at work. Um we are just we are we are participating, cooperating, partnering with what God is already about in this world. I want to read a quote. Um there's a David Bosch, um, who's you know, I I'm not an expert on missiology. Uh missiology is like the study of church missions. Um, but David Vosch wrote a famous book, Transforming Mission, who he's like the man in terms of uh the study of missions, theological thinking around missions. Um and in that uh book, he's got this quote um on the missio day, the mission of God. Um and he says, uh he summarizes it this way, and it's a lot of what I was just talking about, that mission may be understood as being derived uh from the very nature of God. It is thus put into the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. What he's saying there is that the mission is about who God is. It's not just a it's not just a job the church does, it's not just how people get saved. It's actually located. Uh mission is a part, it's an attribute of who God is. God, by his very nature, is ascending and seeking God. So he goes on. He says the classic doctrine on the Missio Day, as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit, is expanded to include yet another movement, God, uh the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world. Mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. Um, God is a missionary God. Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world. The church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. Um, and that's from Bosch's book, Transforming Mission. I'm actually reading it quoted out of a book by Daryl Guter, um, The Continuing Conversion of the Church. Daryl Guter, if you're if you're interested, is a good writer on um the church as a missionary community. Uh, for those interested in diving even deeper, um, those would be some resources um to dive into. Uh, but I just, I just, you know, as we as we talk about our lives living sent, as we even talk about, you know, missions month here and all the ways that get expressed through Hill Crest Church, um, I I want uh, you know, especially those of you who are on this podcast journey and kind of of looking under the hood and thinking really deeply about these things to understand uh mission is not just a task assigned to us. It is it is part of who God is. Uh because, I mean, you know, I would say fundamentally it's because God is because it's an expression of God's love and compassion. Um, it's God's um it is um, and even justice is how God, because of who he is, has to respond to a fallen world, uh to lost people. Um and and because it's part of who God is, that um it's always a participation. God's always leading the way. And so uh, and maybe, maybe the takeaway for today, and I think James touched on this in the message on Sunday, but this one maybe the kind of let's like brass tacks, uh, where's the rubber meet the road? This idea that in any situation you find yourself in, um uh, you know, family member, a friend, um, hurting, there's uh doesn't know Jesus, lost, wandering from God, uh, or you know, whatever whatever uh that there that we um the question is never how can I bring God into this? The question is always, what is Jesus up to here? There's no person you will ever meet who God has not been pursuing before you arrived on the scene and who God will continue pursuing after you. There's no person you'll meet that the spirit is not trying to stir up to bring their attention to the living God. And so to and I think that can in one sense reduce our anxiety, our over responsibility, and it can ask a different question instead of how can I bring God into this, to ask like where is God already in this? What's God up to? How can I join with what God is doing? Where has God already been stirring in this person's life? And honestly, when you get into conversation with most people, um uh even they can recognize like places that um uh the the divine has stirred them. They've wondered about what's more in this world, they've heard uh from from someone that they can't explain, and and to and to look at and and to ask um and to ask yourself, what is God already up to? And so um I don't know what situations you find yourself in this week, um, what relationships. But um, yeah, uh the question I would give you is to reflect on that that relationship, that situation, and just prayerfully, God, what are you already doing here? How might I join you in it? All right, God is on a mission. That is good news. Grace and peace.