The Missionary God

Genesis 12:1-4 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

This chapter marks a change from macro level perspective to just one man, Abram. Genesis now focuses on this man and his family line.

God's Missionary Heart

Throughout Genesis, we notice a pattern of human sin and judgement. But if we look closer, we should notice that each judgement includes an element of grace. Protection for a murderer, promise of life after the fall, dispersal of people who do wrong... God has a heart for sinners. God could simply end it for all of humanity. Yet He does not. The heart of God is underestimated. He wants and loves sinners. Especially those who grew up in the church, we can overlook the heart of God. The bible is about God, the great missionary, searching out sinners to bring them home. From creation to new creation. He takes on our clothes, our language, comes to us, so that we could be saved. A note of application, Abram was blessed to be blessed. It is the same for us, we are blessed to be a blessing. After you have met Jesus, there is only one reason why you are still here. You have a part to play in expanding the kingdom of God. This call does not end when you finish college, when you have children, when you get a job, when you retire... it ends when we go home or Jesus comes back.

God's Enormous Enablement for Missions

Abram is called to leave when he is an old man. He is called to leave his family. That meant leaving everything that meant security in those times. It is a crazy call. But what follows is a set of crazier promises. God calls him to leave his family to make a universal family. He is asked to leave his nation, but will become a father of nations. The promise for those who answer the call of God is much more than what we are leaving behind.

Mark 10:29-31 ESV

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

In this life, missionaries will find themselves as spiritual parents. They are enabled by God to give birth to new believers. Also, missionaries will get more of God. The presence of God is with those who walk in the path of God. Our experience of God becomes richer with our walk in His mission and plan for the salvation of every tribe and nation.

God's Method for Missions

God uses very ordinary people to reach the nations. The foolish and the weak are those who he uses. He picks an old man with a barren wife. The nation of Israel was considered least of nations. Jesus was a normal guy, son of a carpenter. He chooses disciples...fishermen. Normal people. Weak, scared, and normal people...those are the ones God uses.