36 Made For A Mission

 

 

 

PURPOSE # 5

 

 

You Were Made For A Mission

 

 

The Fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and he who wins souls is wise.

Proverbs 11:30

 

 

36 Made for a Mission

 

 

In the same way that you gave me

a mission in the world,

I give them a mission in the world.

John 17;18

 

The most important thing is

that I complete my mission,

the work that the Lord Jesus gave me.

Acts 20;24

 

 

You were made for a mission.

God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him.

This assignment is called your mission.

God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ

and a mission in the world.

Your ministry is your service to believers,

Colossians 1:25

and your mission is your service to unbelievers.

Fulfilling your mission in the world is God's fifth purpose for your life.

 

Your life mission is both shared and specific.

One part of it is a responsibility you share with every other Christian,

and the other part is an assignment that is unique to you.

We will look at both parts in the chapters ahead.

 

Our English word mission comes from the Latin word for "sending."

Being a Christian includes being sent into the world

as a representative of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said,

"As the Father has sent me,

 I am sending you."

John 20;21

 

Jesus clearly understood his life mission on earth.

At age twelve he said,

"I must be about

my Father's business,"

Luke 2:49

and twenty-one years later, dying on the cross, he said,

"It is finished."

John 19;30

Like bookends, these two statements framed

a well-lived, purpose-driven life.

Jesus completed the mission the Father gave him.

 

The mission Jesus had while on earth is now our mission

because we are the Body of Christ.

What he did in his physical body

we are to continue as his spiritual body, the church.

 

What is that mission?

Introducing people to God!

"Christ changed us

from enemies into his friends

and gave us the task of

making others his friends also."

2 Corinthians 5:18

 

God wants to redeem human beings from Satan

and reconcile them to himself

so we can fulfill the five purposes he created us for:

to love him, to be a part of his family,

to become like him, to serve him,

and to tell others about him.

Once we are his, God uses us to reach others.

He saves us and then sends us out.

"We have been sent

to speak for Christ."

2 Corinthians 5:20

We are the messengers of God's love and purposes to the world.

 

 

The Importance Of Your Mission

 

 

Fulfilling your life mission on earth is

an essential part of living for God's glory.

The Bible gives several reasons why your mission is so important.

 

Your mission is a continuation of Jesus' mission on earth.

As his followers, we are to continue what Jesus started.

Jesus calls us not only to come to him,

but to go for him.

Your mission is so significant that Jesus repeated it five times,

in five different ways, in five different books of the Bible.

Matthew 28;19-20; Mark 16:15;

Luke 24:47; John 20;21; Acts 1:8

 

Study these five commissions of Jesus

and you will learn the details of your mission on earth—

the when, where, why, and how.

 

In the Great Commission Jesus said,

"Go to the people of all nations

and make them my disciples.

Baptize them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

and teach them to do everything

I have told you."

Matthew 28:19-20

This commission was given to every follower of Jesus,

not to pastors and missionaries alone.

This is your commission from Jesus, and it is not optional.

If you are a part of God's family, your mission is mandatory.

To ignore it would be disobedience.

 

"You must warn them so they may love.

If you don't speak out to warn the wicked

to stop their evil ways,

they will die in their sin.

But I will hold you responsible for their death."

Ezekiel 3:18

You are the only Christian some people will ever know,

and your mission is to share Jesus with them.

The Great Commission was given to every follower of Jesus.

 

Your mission is a wonderful privilege.

Although it is a big responsibility,

it is also an incredible honor to be used by God.

"God has given us the privilege of urging averyone

to come into his favor and be reconciled to him."

2 Corinthians 5:18

 

Your mission involves two great privileges:

working with God and representing him.

We get to partner with God in the building of his kingdom.

Paul calls us "co-laborers" and says,

"We are workers together with God."

2 Corinthians 6:1

 

Jesus has secured our salvation, put us in his family,

given us his Spirit, and then made us his agents in the world.

What a privilege!

"We're Christ's representatives.

God uses us to persuade men and women

to drop their differences

and enter into God's work

of making things right between them.

We're speaking for Christ himself now:

Become friends with God."

2 Corinthians 5:20

 

Telling others how they can have eternal life is

the greatest thing you can do for them.

We have the greatest news in the world,

and sharing it is the greatest kindness you can show to anyone.

We must remember that

no matter how contented or successful people appear to be,

without Christ they are hopelessly lost

and headed for eternal separation from God.

"Jesus is the only one

who can save people."

Acts 4:12

 

Your mission has eternal significance.

It will impact the eternal destiny of other people,

so it's more important than any job, achievement, or goal

you will reach during your life on earth.

Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as

helping people establish an eternal relationship with God.

 

"All of us must quickly carry out

the tasks assigned us

by the one who sent me,

because there is little time left

before the night falls

and all work comes to an end."

John 9:4

 

Get started on your mission fo reaching out to others now!

We will have all of eternity to celebrate

with those we have brought to Jesus,

but we only have our lifetime in which to reach them.

God wants you to share the Good News where you are.

 

Your mission gives your life meaning.

William James said,

"The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it."

The truth is, only the kingdom of God is going to last.

That is why we must live purpose-driven lives—

lives committed to worship, fellowship, spiritual growth, ministry,

and fulfilling our mission on earth.

The results of these activities will last—forever!

 

If you fail to fulfill your God-given mission on earth,

you will have wasted the life God gave you.

"My life is worth nothing

unless I use it for doing the work assigned me

by the Lord Jesus—

the work of telling others the Good News

about God's wonderful kindness and love."

Acts 20:24

 

If just one person will be in heaven because of you,

your life will have made a difference for eternity.

Start looking around at your personal mission field and pray,

"God, who have you put in my life for me to tell about Jesus?"

 

God's timetable for history's conclusion is

connected to the completion of our commission.

"It is not for you to know the times or dates

 the Father has set by his own authority.

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Acts 1;7-8

"No one knows about that day or hour,

not even the angels in heaven,

nor the Son, but only the Father."

Matthew 24;36

 

"The Good News about God's kingdom

will be preached

 in all the world, to every nation.

Then the end will come."

Maatthew 24;14

It is easy to get distracted,

because Satan would rather have

you do anything besides sharing your faith.

 

When that happens, remember the words of Jesus:

"Anyone who lets himself be distracted

from the work

I plan for him is

not fit for the Kingdom of God."

Luke 9;62

 

 

What It Costs To Fulfill Your Mission

 

 

To fulfill your mission will require that

you abandon your agenda and accept God's agenda for your life.

You must say, like Jesus,

"Father,... I want your will,

not mine."

Luke 22;42

You stop praying selfish prayers like "God bless what I want to do."

Instead you pray,

"God help me to do what you're blessing!"

 

"Give yourselves completely to God—

every part of you...

to be tools in the hands of God,

 to be used for his good purposes."

Romans 6;13b

Jesus has promised,

"[God] will give you

all you need from day to day

if you live for him

and make the Kindom of God

your primary concern."

Matthew 6:33

 

 

One More for Jesus

 

 

"Save on more for Jesus! Save one more for Jesus!"

If you want to be used by God,

you must care about what God cares about;

what he cares about most is the redemption of the people he made.

He wants his lost children found!

Nothing matters more to God;

the Cross proves that.

 

I pray that you will always be on the lookout to reach

one more for Jesus"

so that when you stand before God one day,

you can say, "Mission accomplished!"

 

 

 

DAY THIRTY-SIX

Thinking About My Purpose

 

 Point to Ponder: I was made for a mission.

 

Verse to Remember: "Go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28;19-20

 

Question to Consider: What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission

God made me to accomplish?

What keeps me from telling others the Good News?

 

 

 

p 279~288

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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