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Note: On 15th June 2014, our young church had a farewell ceremony as the Lord has used us to send our first missionaries to an unreached place in Maharashtra. The following is the message delivered on this occasion.
Introduction
A local church should not only be a praying community, a worshiping assembly and a loving fellowship; it should also be a missional community. Without being missional, a church is still incomplete in its existence and function. In fact, it is dysfunctional.
Our modern day churches are busy having church programs and focusing on gaining large numbers under one structure but neglecting one important thing, i.e. missions. By using the term “missions”, I mean, “spreading the gospel of Christ and planting churches.”
When we look at the Holy Scripture, particularly the book of Acts, it is hard to ignore observing the missional work of the Holy Spirit through the local communities of Christ. Remember, there were no mission organizations in the early church; a local church was itself a missional community.
Why missions is so important to local churches?
Three Facts
Fact One: God exists for Himself, for His own glory. The Lord says, “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another” (Isa. 48:11).
We learn from the word of God that God exists for Himself and for His own glory. He will not give His glory to another. Indeed, for God to be God, He has to exist only for Himself, for His glory. It may come as a surprise but it is sin on the part of God to exist for anything other than Himself.
Why God exists for Himself?
In order for God to exist for something else, that thing should exist eternally. But since God alone exists eternally [nothing exists before Him or after Him], and since all things have come later into existence because of the creation by the eternal God, God has to eternally exist for Himself.
Further, if God exists for something else other than Himself, that thing becomes greater than God, for that becomes the purpose for His existence. Since there is no one greater than God, no purpose is superior than His own, God has to exist for Himself.
As God alone is eternal and sovereign, it is the right of God to exist for His own glory. He cannot exist for anything else because there is nothing there which exists without Him.
Fact Two: God has created us for His glory. The Lord says, “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isa. 43:7). It is also written, “All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).
The message is obvious from the above Scriptures—We do not exist on earth for ourself, i.e. for our ambitions, our career, our personal pleasures and happiness, not even for our family. We exist only for the One who created us for Himself. Life is meaningless, purposeless and joyless unless we know and live by this fact.
Considering the fact that God has created us for Himself, some suppose it as a selfish act. Imagine, if the president of United States of America chooses me for himself and to serve him as His secretary, how will I view this opportunity? Would I say, “You know, the president of America is a very selfish person. He chose me for himself. He appointed me as his secretary”? It requires insanity to say this.
A sane person would be excited and expresses, “Hurray! You know, I am president’s secretary. He chose me for himself. What a great privilege and honor it is to serve the president.”
Now think, the Lord of all the princes of the earth, the Maker of the heavens and earth, the Creator of the whole universe, says, “I have created you for Myself.” Is it not a great privilege and honor to live for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?
Fact Three: All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. The Scripture says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
What does it mean “fall short of the glory of God”? It means that all of us have fallen from the glorious purposes of God. We have forsaken to live for Him and began living for ourself. We are not living for His glory but for our own glory. We have given up His glorious standards and living by our own feelings and thoughts.
In short, man is not living for the purpose for which God has created him, i.e. for the glory of God, and thus committed sin against Him. Know—sin is nothing but living against the purpose for which God has created us.
The Remedy
So, what is the solution? How can man live according to the purpose for which he was created? How can he be restored back to live for the glory of God?
There is only one answer: THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST JESUS IS THE ONLY REMEDY FOR MAN’S TRAGEDY.
The Lord Jesus has become a man, lived an exemplary life on earth, suffered for our sins, offered His body as a sacrifice, shed His precious blood, gave His life on the cross and has risen from the dead. The Lord had done all these things for one purpose—to reconcile man to God so that man would live again for the purpose for which God created him, i.e. for the glory of God (2 Cor. 5:18, 15).
Salvation, which is received through the gospel of Christ, is nothing but the restoration of man to live for the glory of God. [Click here to go to Part 2 of this article...] |
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