MISSION. What is it? What is the significance of Mission? Who is it that is “on the Mission?” What is the purpose of Mission? Are all members of the body of Christ commanded to be actively involved in Mission? The answers to these questions and many others are found in your Bible. Jesus summed up the whole matter of Mission in this marvelous conclusion: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:10)
Jesus “came” with a mission to this world, oh glorious fact! That mission was to search for the lost until He found him; and to save him when he was found. Jesus, in His great high-priestly prayer found in John seventeen, prays for the sanctification of those that are His. To do this mission, they must go on in growth and perseverance to maturity. The ultimate purpose and concern of Jesus in all His petition for them is that they may go forth prepared, as the Missionaries of the Kingdom campaign—the great world movement which He has initiated. He is sending them (and us) out on the identical mission that the Father had given Him to accomplish in the world.
In Matthew twenty-eight, Jesus assigns to His disciples of all time the great task of the Kingdom, that of world evangelization. As a preface to the great commission, the Magna Charta of Christianity which He now entrusts to His larger body of believers, the church, the exquisite realization that the mission is evangelism. Once more for effect: The Mission is Evangelism! We are to go-whether it is to the back room, next door or to another country, and make disciples. It is not an option, but a command to all who call Jesus “Lord.” We are not all evangelists, but we have all received gifts that we can use in helping to fulfill the Great Commission.
Be blessed as we follow Him in Mission.
Pastor J. Amos Jones
