The Mission of GOD

The best part about plane flights is the opportunity to read stuff on my When-I-Someday-Find-Time-To-Get-To-It list.  One of those books, The Mission of God by Dr. Christopher J.H. Wright from John Stott Ministries, has kept me busy back and forth from Los Angeles to Grand Rapids and Colorado Springs.  At a hefty 581 pages, it’s a heavy book, in all senses of the word heavy.

I first heard about The Mission of God from Dave Rahn from Youth for Christ.  When he recommends a book, it’s worth the time.

Early in the book, Wright defines God’s mission (which seems appropriate given the book title) as “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” (page 23).  That definition alone is worth the price of the book.

What stands out to me is that it is God’s mission.  God invites us and commands us, but it is God’s mission.

Wright believes that Scripture portrays God’s mission as evolving in stages:  it began with God’s mission with and through all of humankind.  As sin and rebellion entered the world, God’s mission was concentrated within Israel.  Then Jesus was sent as the next phase of God’s mission.  Finally, it is the church that now participates in the mission that started in Genesis and was exemplified by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

It’s so hard to balance the two complementary truths that the mission is God’s and yet God invites you and me to participate in it.  Most youth workers I know camp out on the second part of that sentence about their calling and forget the first part of the sentence about the mission being God’s.  I know that’s my own daily struggle.  God, by your Holy Spirit, would you please help us walk with one hand holding onto the truth that it’s your mission and one hand holding onto the joy of seeing your work on earth as it is in heaven.

©2008 Fuller Youth Institute