For His Glory

Ed Stetzer post:  Monday is for Missiology: God's Mission, Our Mission

Yes, God has a mission.

In many ways it wouldn't really matter what his mission is. If it is God's mission, then it outranks whatever other mission we've decided we want to build our lives around as Christian believers. If it is God's mission, then it should define what his redeemed people are more concerned about than anything else. If it is God's mission, then it should also be the church's mission. It should orient our schedule and priorities. It should dictate our activities and why we do them.

Because actually, the church doesn't have a mission; the mission has a church. God, who by nature is on purpose and on task, has invited people like us, gathered in churches like ours, to join him in fulfilling his chief desire.

And that mission is this: for God to be glorified.

"The heavens," for example, "declare the glory of God" (Ps. 19:1). He has done this on purpose, Scripture says. The beauty and precision of nature work together to advance his stated goal. He has deliberately fashioned the world so it manifests his glory and gives ample, visible evidence of his power, wisdom, and grandeur.

But something happened on the heels of creation and at the center of paradise. Sin entered the hearts of God's image bearers. The fabric of God's good creation was stained and torn. Men no longer desired God's presence; they hid from him. Relationships at every turn were affected. Between God and humanity. Between man and woman. Between brothers. And this story continues for all of history.

To restore God's perfect place for creation, the wonders of creation weren't enough. So God selected a historic moment in time to send his only Son to walk the earth in human flesh, to reveal himself and his goodness to creation (John 1:8). This Son came to establish a kingdom and redeem a people. And knowing that mankind would naturally reject this humble, loving initiative on his part, God chose the perfect vehicles of Christ's death and resurrection to redeem fallen sinners through his "glorious grace" so that we who put our hope in him "might bring praise to His glory" (Eph. 1:6, 12). God is known ultimately by his glory being revealed in the face of the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). His kingdom expands through the salvation of people (Col. 1:14-15).

God's mission is God's glory.

He is creating a kingdom for his glory.

He saves people through the gospel for his glory.

His purposes will all be accomplished for his glory.

And so he has placed us here in the church for one reason: to participate in his mission.

To bring him glory.
So for us to be invested in declaring the gospel is not just the memorization of bullet points and Bible verses. It's not the development of a hunter's mentality, seeing how many people we can witness to in a given period. It is so much bigger and more all-encompassing than that. What we do in living, breathing, sharing, and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ--in a wide and ever-growing number of ways--we do for his glory. That's it. This is your purpose and mine every day of the week. To bring him glory. That is God's mission.

And because it is his, it is ours as well.

And because it is ours, we perform it through his church.

Adapted from Subversive Kingdom (2012, B&H Publishing Group)