Four Compelling Reasons to Be on Mission with God: Reason #1

1. God’s Command is Clear

Imagine you are in the military and your General came to you, called you to attention, and told you clearly, “this is what I want you to do with your life...this is your #1 mission...whatever else you do falls under this clear, direct order I am giving you today?”  HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?  ...Apathy?....Hesitation?....Skepticism?....Obstinacy?  

Well we have that direct order from God Himself.  There are many places where God clearly commands his people to be a missionary people.  The most well known is commonly called The Great Commission:  Matthew 28:16-20  

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 I think sometimes we get used so used to thinking of God in terms of the gracious salvation and merciful blessing that he gives us that we forget that Jesus is not just our Savior, He is our Lord and King.  And as King He issues commands that He expects to be followed!  God is not pleading with us, pandering with us, begging us to Go.  HE IS ON THE THRONE COMMANDING US TO GO!  Yes, the Great Commission is an invitation to join God on His Magnificent Mission, but before it is an invitation, it is a command.  This command isn’t just for extra credit Christians...it is inseparably part of what it means to be a Christian.  God is a missionary God.  God’s people are a missionary people

This should be the most motivating Reason to be on Mission - GOD COMMANDS YOU TO BE.  

But God doesn’t just give us a command and leave us to ourselves to figure it out, although He has every right to do that.  But in His grace and love and wisdom He makes His command to proclaim His Gospel to the Nations into an invitation to join Him in His Spectacular Plan.  We'll look at that in the next post.