#3 The Bible, the Book of Mission
God’s Word is our supreme explanation, example, and mandate for mission. The Bible is teeming with evidence of mission. God’s Word makes clear that ever since the garden of Eden, humanity needed a redemptive mission. God then chose to become that mission’s Savior through Jesus to reunite Himself toHis people. Since that time, Jesus has commissioned His people to live the same missionary lifestyle He lived - the Great Commission. From cover to cover the biblical story repeatedly speaks about joining God in His mission. From God’s first words to humanity in Genesis, to His last words in the gospels, the message remains the same: EVERYONE is to go to EVERYPLACE. The biblical basis for mission cannot be missed!
DISCUSS
#1 What are stories, themes, or verses in the Bible that have to do with missions?
Think of the Garden of Eden. When did God perform his first act of mission? Read Genesis 3:8-21
Defining the Bible
If someone asked you to come up with a definition of the Bible what would you say? How would you define it?
DEFINE
The Bible is not a rule book, but a story book. The Bible is the unfolding story about the saving of God’s people through God’s Son.
The story of the Bible
The unfolding of the Bible can be understood in two conversations between man and God. One in Genesis, and one in Matthew. They are the first recorded words of God to His people and His last.
God has always been about a people. A people to display His glory to and a people to display His glory through.
Steve Timmis
Conversation #1 — Be fruitful and multiply my image
God’s first words to His people are recorded in Genesis 1:26, 27,
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Conversation #2 - Be fruitful and multiply my image spiritually
The last words spoke to His people before the resurrection was also one of image-making in Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Q & A
How has God’s Word to us essentially been the same from the first page of the Bible to the last page of the gospels?
2. Read Ephesians 4:20-24 and Colossians 3:5-11. What is God recovering in us through Christ?
INTERACT
Below is an infographic cataloguing the number of people in our world who still don’t have a translation of the Bible in their mother tongue. They are known as Bible-less peoples.
Q & A
What are the two most surprising details shared in this infographic?
Read Romans 10:14-17. Why is Bible translation so important?
EVALUATE
Commissioned to GO
Read the 4 Great Commission verses at the end of every gospel and note what is similar between them and what is distinct.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16
and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:46-49
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:21-23
PRAY
Prayer for the CO international ministries
Use the video below to pray for our ministry in South Africa. Pray through the prompts at the end of the video.