Blessed to be a Blessing

Michael Goheen

Burnaby, B.C.

What is mission?

Two most common answers:Cross-cultural work done by mission

organisationsOutreach kinds of activities

Important but mission in Bible much bigger

Starting with God’s Mission

Long term purpose/intention to restore creation, all of human lifeTold in story of BibleThrough Israel—Jesus—church/SpiritChurch is missionMissional identity comes from role people of God play in biblical story

Participation in God’s Mission

Fundamentally, our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission, within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.

- Chris Wright

Importance of Old TestamentWhen we speak about the Church as ‘the people of God in the world’ and enquire into the real nature of this Church, we cannot avoid speaking about the roots of the Church which are to be found in the Old Testament idea of Israel as the people of the covenant. So the question of the missionary nature of the Church, that is, the real relationship between the people of God and the world, cannot be solved until we have investigated the relation between Israel and the nations of the earth.

- Johannes Blauw

Understanding Relationship of Israel to World: Two Key Texts

Abrahamic Covenant: Genesis 12.1-3 (Gen. 18.18-19)

Sinai Covenant: Exodus 19.3-6

Formation of People

Backdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenantBlueprint: Twofold unfolding of God’s

mission

Importance of Genesis 12:1-3

‘. . . these few verses offer a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world’

- William Dumbrell

Formation of People

Backdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenantBlueprint: Twofold unfolding of God’s

missionBlessed to be a blessing

Blessed to be blessing

Blessed: Place of God’s redemptive work

To be a blessing: Channel of God’s redemptive work to others

Formation of People

Backdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenant Blueprint: Twofold unfolding of God’s

missionBlessed to be a blessingChosen so that . . .

Two Orientations

Chosen by GodFor the sake of the world

“The election of Israel is a matter of divine initiative which has as its goal the recognition of God by all the nations over the whole world.”

Formation of PeopleBackdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenant Blueprint: Twofold unfolding of God’s missionBlessed to be a blessingChosen so that . . .Promise fulfilled by way of faithful lives

Keep the way of the LordDo what is right and just

Formation of People

Backdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenant

Exodus 19: Sinai covenantExodus: Formation of a holy peopleA redeemed people (Ex. 1-18)

GOD gods of Egypt

Moses Pharaoh

Israel Egypt

I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

Freed from idols to serve the living and true God.

In the Exodus, the power of the suzerain is broken; the pharaoh, the god-king of Egypt, was defeated and therefore lost his right to be Israel’s suzerain lord; the Lord conquered the pharaoh and therefore ruled as King over Israel (Exod. 15:18). As their deliverer, God had claimed the right to call for his people’s obedient commitment to him in the covenant.

- Peter Craigie

Formation of People

Backdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenant

Exodus 19: Sinai covenantExodus: Formation of a holy peopleA redeemed people (Ex. 1-18)A covenant people (Ex. 19-24)

Vocation: An attractive, distinctive life (19.3-6)

Treasured possession, holy nation, priestly kingdom

. . . a people set apart, different from all other people by what they are and are becoming—a display people, a showcase to the world of how being in covenant with Yahweh changes a people.

- John Durham

Formation of PeopleBackdrop of creation and sinGenesis 12: Abrahamic covenantExodus 19: Sinai covenantExodus: Formation of a holy peopleA redeemed people (Ex. 1-18)A covenant people (Ex. 19-24)

Vocation: An attractive, distinctive life (19.3-6)

Calling foundational for rest of the story

‘The history of Israel from this point on is in reality merely a commentary upon the degree of fidelity with which Israel adhered to this Sinai-given vocation’

- William Dumbrell

Formation of PeopleBackdrop of creation and sin

Genesis 12: Abrahamic covenant

Exodus 19: Sinai covenantExodus: Formation of a holy peopleA redeemed people (Ex. 1-18)A covenant people (Ex. 19-24)

Vocation: An attractive, distinctive life (19.3-6)Calling foundational for rest of the storyTorah: Shape Israel’s life (20-23)

Formation of PeopleBackdrop of creation and sinGenesis 12: Abrahamic covenantExodus 19: Sinai covenantExodus: Formation of a holy peopleA redeemed people (Ex. 1-18)A covenant people (Ex. 19-24)

Vocation: An attractive, distinctive life (19.3-6)Calling foundational for rest of the storyTorah: Shape Israel’s life (20-23)

A people of God’s presence (Ex. 25-40)

God converts the nations by working in the midst of His own People. His interventions, and these alone, make Israel the light of the world. The Church does its work of evangelisation in the measure in which its Lord gives it life; when it lives by Him its very existence is effectual. In contradistinction to what has sometimes been believed, mission has nothing in common with any sort of political or commercial enterprise; it is entirely dependent on the hidden activity of God within His Church, and is the fruit of a life really rooted in God. The evangelisation of the world is not primarily a matter of words or deeds: it is a matter of presence—the presence of the People of God in the midst of mankind and the presence of God in the midst of His People. And surely it is not in vain that the Old Testament reminds the Church of this truth.

- Robert Martin-Achard

Rest of the story

Failure of IsraelProphetic promise: Gathering and renewalJesus gathers his peopleJesus renews his peopleJesus sends his people into the midst of the world

Continuing the Mission of Israel

Incorporated into Abrahamic covenant: Blessed to be a blessing (Gal. 3.7-9)

Taking up vocation of Sinai covenant: An attractive, distinctive life in midst of nations (1 Pet. 2.9-12)

In Christ and by the Spirit (Rom. 8.3-4)

“They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their Redeemer: and his disciples would have to look more redeemed!”

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Look more redeemed todayA community of justice in a world of economic and ecological injusticeA community of generosity and simplicity (of ‘enough’) in a consumer worldA community of selfless giving in a world of selfishnessA community of truth (humility and boldness) in a world of relativism and uncertaintyA community of hope in a world of disillusionment and consumer satiationA community of joy and thanksgiving in a hedonistic world that frantically pursues pleasureA community who experiences God’s presence in a secular world