Mission Possible
by Skip Heitzig |The popular TV show Mission: Impossible used to start just about the same way every week: a group of secret agents would gather together and listen to their instructions, which started with the words "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is...." And they had the choice of whether or not to accept the mission.
As part of the church, you and I are on a mission--the Great Commission, given to us by Jesus Christ in Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (see also Acts 1:8). There are two essential things we should understand about the church's mission: it's global, and it's possible.
1. Our mission is global--and it's global for four reasons. Number one: because of God's character. You can't read the Bible without discovering that God is a missionary God; He sends people. Jesus Christ Himself was a missionary: He left heaven and came to this earth "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Number two: because of the condition of the harvest--the world. "When [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest'" (Matthew 9:36-38).
The third reason our mission is global is simply because Jesus said so: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." And number four: because of the coming judgment. Evangelism will one day no longer be possible because Jesus will return to ultimately and finally judge the world (see Revelation 19:11-16). No wonder He was so emotionally compassionate over the multitudes: He not only saw their present condition, but their ultimate condition--the consequence of not trusting in Him. That's why our mission is global.
2. Our mission is possible. How? There are two requirements, the first of which is the filling of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me." This mission is a spiritual undertaking, and it requires spiritual equipping. You wouldn't expect a soldier to go out into battle unless you gave him the right equipment. In the same way, you don't ask a Christian to go into all the world unless that Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit.
The second requirement is that followers become fishermen. Before the disciples were disciples, they were fish, in the spiritual sense. Jesus threw His net out and caught them--but then He said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). When the saved become the sent and are filled with the Holy Spirit, the mission becomes possible.
And once again, that mission--should you choose to accept it--is the greatest mission any of us could ever be part of: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." We all have a part to play, and we can all do something. Will you accept?
As part of the church, you and I are on a mission--the Great Commission, given to us by Jesus Christ in Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (see also Acts 1:8). There are two essential things we should understand about the church's mission: it's global, and it's possible.
1. Our mission is global--and it's global for four reasons. Number one: because of God's character. You can't read the Bible without discovering that God is a missionary God; He sends people. Jesus Christ Himself was a missionary: He left heaven and came to this earth "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Number two: because of the condition of the harvest--the world. "When [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest'" (Matthew 9:36-38).
The third reason our mission is global is simply because Jesus said so: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." And number four: because of the coming judgment. Evangelism will one day no longer be possible because Jesus will return to ultimately and finally judge the world (see Revelation 19:11-16). No wonder He was so emotionally compassionate over the multitudes: He not only saw their present condition, but their ultimate condition--the consequence of not trusting in Him. That's why our mission is global.
2. Our mission is possible. How? There are two requirements, the first of which is the filling of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me." This mission is a spiritual undertaking, and it requires spiritual equipping. You wouldn't expect a soldier to go out into battle unless you gave him the right equipment. In the same way, you don't ask a Christian to go into all the world unless that Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit.
The second requirement is that followers become fishermen. Before the disciples were disciples, they were fish, in the spiritual sense. Jesus threw His net out and caught them--but then He said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). When the saved become the sent and are filled with the Holy Spirit, the mission becomes possible.
And once again, that mission--should you choose to accept it--is the greatest mission any of us could ever be part of: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." We all have a part to play, and we can all do something. Will you accept?
In His strong love,
Skip Heitzig
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