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HopeLives365

Sabbath School 4th Quarter 2023: God's Mission My Mission

Mark Finley

01 God’s Mission to Us Part 1

Welcome back to another quarter here on Hope Lives 365 of our Sabbath School Lessons.

The title of the lessons this quarter is especially interesting to me, God's Mission, My Mission.

You know, when you think of mission, we often think that we do mission and that it's our mission.

But to sense that mission is God's, that God is working on every heart, he's working in every individual life, he's working in each neighborhood, each city, town, and community to draw people to himself.

When we participate in mission, we participate with God in his mission.

The lesson begins with the title of God's Mission to Us.

And 1 of the interesting things I thought about the lesson as I reviewed it was the fact that you can never understand God's mission and the mission of God unless you understand the God of mission.

It begins by telling the story of Adam and Eve's failure and disappointment to God and Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden.

And here, after Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, the Bible says God goes on his mission.

Sometimes you think mission may begin with Abraham, may begin with the Old Testament prophets who proclaim God's love and grace.

Some people think, well, mission took place when Jesus came, or when the disciples came in the book of Acts.

But actually, mission took place far, far before that.

God's mission began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned.

And it's interesting when you look, for example, at Genesis chapter 3, and I think this provides the basis for our lesson this week.

Adam and Eve have sinned, they run, and they hide from God.

In sin, the Bible says in Isaiah 59, verse 1 and 2, your sins separated you from God.

And here in verse 8, Adam and Eve hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees.

When we live lives of disobedience, when we rebel against God and sin, we feel uncomfortable in God's presence.

We don't feel the oneness that we once felt with God, and our tendency is to run from God and hide.

But when you look at God's question to Adam and Eve, now, they've been placed in a perfect garden, they had perfect natures that weren't fallen, God's love reached out to them constantly, but you cannot have love unless you have freedom of choice, because if you take away freedom of choice, you take away the ability to love.

And so here in Genesis chapter 3 verse 9, it says, the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you?

So here you have the first indication of mission in these words, where are you?

God didn't say to Adam, why'd you do that?

He didn't say to Eve, why did you disobey me?

His voice was not condemnatory, but loving.

The God of mission comes lovingly looking for his lost children.

And if you look at Sunday's lesson, there's an interesting paragraph that says, of course God knew exactly where they were.

Dominated by fear, Adam and Eve were the ones who needed to see what was going on.

But they also needed to be confronted so they could understand the dreadful consequences of sin.

For that, God then began to present his mission, the plan of redemption, the only hope of reconciling the world to himself.

When you look at the entire Bible message through the lens of mission, the whole Bible then becomes God's exposition of his own character in mission.

From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, God has 1 primary goal, and that's to restore us into his image.

That is to redeem us and get us ready for heaven.

Now in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned, God didn't let them go.

God didn't push this planet out into the far reaches of space and destroy it.

And this is the story of mission, the story of a God whose heart longs to be with us.

We see this in Monday's lesson in 3 instances, Genesis 17 7, Genesis 26 3, Genesis 28 15.

We see God saying to Abraham, I will be with you.

Let's just look at 1 of those texts, Genesis chapter 28 verse 15.

If you're following along with your Bible, please take it and turn to Genesis 28 verse 15.

We see this God who longs to be with his people.

In Genesis 20 verse 15, it says, speaking to Abraham and his descendants, the children of Israel, "'Behold, I am with you, will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I'll not leave you until I have done what I've spoken of to you." So you see, all through Genesis, when God is speaking to his people, and particularly speaking to Abraham, what does he say?

The God of mission is the God who longs to be with us.

Now we see that in the ancient sanctuary when Israel built the sanctuary.

Remember in Exodus 25 verse 8, it says, "'Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell with them.'" So God always has longed to dwell with his people.

Sin has separated us from God, but yet God bridges that gap.

And the prime way that God bridged the gap between human beings and God was through Christ.

This is why Tuesday's lesson gives strong emphasis to the angels' discussion in Matthew chapter 1.

And I think this is 1 of the most precious texts in all the Bible.

I think it's 1 of the clearest texts in all the Bible on why Jesus came.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

So what took place in Mary's womb was the union of the divine and human.

Christ was not born naturally, he was born supernaturally.

That which was conceived in Mary's womb was a divine act, Christ conceived by the Holy Spirit.

And notice as you go down through the passage, Joseph is concerned.

He was afraid to take Mary as his wife, so the angel had to explain to him in verse 21, 22, 23, And she will bring forth a son, you'll call his name Jesus, for he'll save his people from their sins.

Christ was to come, live the perfect life we should have lived, die the death we should have died, come forth from the grave as our resurrected Lord, ascend to heaven as our interceding high priest, and come again as our coming King.

This Christ that came once came to reveal the Father's love and grace.

Now notice verse 22, Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son.

They shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.

So Jesus is God with us, God dwelling in human flesh.

This is the God of mission, the God who wouldn't let Adam and Eve go, who calls for them, where are you?

The God who was with Abraham as he called him out of his family and friends, led him on a journey that Abraham didn't even know where he was going, but God said, I'm with you.

And this God that was with Adam and Abraham and each of the Old Testament patriarchs, he is the God in Christ who is with us.

In fact, that's what John chapter 1 says.

The Word was with God and the Word was God.

All things were made through him and without him was made nothing that was made.

In him was life and the life was the light of man.

Now notice, as you go down through this passage, it says that this Jesus that came in human flesh was the light that lights every man, verse 9, that comes into the world.

So Christ is with us through his Holy Spirit, convicting our hearts, drawing us to him.

When you look at Wednesday's lesson, our author does something that I thought was quite surprising.

He says, read and carefully reflect on John 3 16.

How do you see God's love and mission interacting here?

In other words, we know John 3, 16 so well, but sometimes you can know something so well it becomes just kind of rote in your mind.

02 God’s Mission to Us Part 2

Welcome back to our Sabbath School study for this week, God's Mission, My Mission.

This is 1 of the most exciting lessons for me.

You know, I spent my entire life, really, in evangelistic activity, seeing God work so incredibly powerfully.

We've just come back from Africa, where more than 100, 000 people in a two-week period made decisions for Jesus.

And it's thrilling to see what God is doing in mission.

And I'm impressed constantly that mission is God's.

We have the joy, the privilege of participating with him in his mission.

You remember last week we studied the fact that God is with us, that mission has to do with this God who is constantly present with his people.

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God came and called, where are you Adam?

Throughout the Old Testament we see the God who's with his people.

This is specially manifest in the sanctuary where God said to Moses, let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them.

And we see it too in the promise of the second coming of Christ, where Jesus said, I'll receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also, " in John 14.

And this is manifest in the climax of the book of Revelation, Revelation 21, where in those first few verses God says that the tabernacle of God is with men and he will be with them and be his people.

So the theme of the Bible, the golden thread that ties the Word of God together, is the concept of restoration.

That God longs to restore his people back to his image and back to fellowship with him, and that he will do anything he can to accomplish that goal.

We're going to continue that theme of God's mission to us here in our lesson.

Today, our memory text is Matthew 28, verse 19, where Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus gives us that great commission to go out and make disciples.

Now this commission does not originate in human enthusiasm.

This commission doesn't originate in human desire, doesn't originate in human strategies or plans.

Jesus said, all authority is given unto me, go therefore." So the Great Commission comes directly from Christ.

We find this also in Sunday's lesson in John chapter 20 verse 21.

I saw something in this passage that I hadn't seen before.

You know, the more you study the Bible, the more you become convinced that it's divine, because you can study it for years and see new things.

And I saw something in this text brought out in our lesson that I hadn't seen before, and I'll share that with you.

John 20, verse 21, then Jesus said to them, peace to you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you.

It says, peace to you, as the Father has sent me.

So just as Jesus was sent by the Father, So we are sent into the world in mission.

His disciples then model for us God's mission.

So God's mission and the mandate for God's mission comes directly from God himself.

It's interesting too when you look at verse 22 of John 20, where it says, when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.

So here you have the triune God, where you have the Father in verse 21, who sends Jesus, his divine Son.

Jesus sends us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all involved in mission, all involved in saving lost humanity there.

In the last paragraph's second sentence, it says, Christ appeared to his disciples and promised them, I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you've been clothed with power from on high.

He's quoting from Luke 24, verse 49, the New International Version.

Then it says, this sentence, Here we find the reality of the Godhead's mission in 1 sentence, the Father's promise, the Son's assurance, and the fulfillment of the promise, and the promise itself, the coming of the Holy Spirit.

So mission is deeply within the heart of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Now, Monday points out that as we accept that mission, we are committed to make disciples.

And it deals with the elements of discipleship in Matthew 28, 16 to 20.

Let's go back and pause and look at those elements of discipleship.

Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 and verse 20.

But let's go back and look at 16 because there's something key there.

Matthew 28 verse 16, then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee in the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.

First, after Christ's crucifixion, after his resurrection, The first command that he gives is to meet him in the Galilee because he has something significant to say.

I often have been by the bedside, tragically so, of people that were dying.

And I noticed if their husband is there, if it's a wife that's dying, if it's a husband that's dying and the wife is there, the children are there, nobody's playing video games, nobody's watching TV, nobody's trying to find out what's the latest score of the ballgame.

They are straining their ears to listen for the voice of that loved 1.

And here, Jesus' final words are incredibly important, just like the final words of a loved 1 are important.

So Jesus appointed them to go to Galilee.

So that's the first thing you want to notice here in the lesson.

Number 1, Jesus commands his disciples to go to Galilee.

And the third is that Jesus commissions them, his disciples, to a specific task to make disciples.

And fourthly, he promises to be with them.

So Jesus commands, Jesus comes, Jesus commissions, Jesus promises.

He promises never to leave them, never to forsake them.

He promises to be with them in mission constantly.

And so the mission that we have comes directly from Jesus Christ.

And notice in the second to last paragraph under Monday's lesson, It's important to highlight that the only action verb with imperative force in the Great Commission is make disciples.

Teach everyone, baptize everyone, share Jesus' teachings, are characteristics of the discipleship process.

They are taught, they are baptized, and they then go out to witness.

A disciple is a follower of Christ who's been taught the principles of the Word of God, baptized into the family of God, and sent out in mission.

So every church member who is a disciple of Christ is sent out in mission.

Mission, witnessing, is not a spiritual gift, it's a role for every single believer.

Well, in Matthew chapter 28 it says, go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We find that also in Tuesday's lesson in Revelation chapter 14.

You remember in Revelation 14, John says in verse 6, I saw another angel flying in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on there, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

It is to, yes, to our neighbors, family, neighbors, friends, but it's beyond that, it's to our community.

But it's beyond our community, it's to our nation, but it's beyond that, it's to our community.

But it's beyond our community, it's to our nation, but it's beyond that, it's to the world.

So Christ sends us out into the world in his mission.

Here in the lesson, it points out in the Tuesday's lesson, second paragraph, nevertheless, the fact that this message is eternal is remarkable.

You remember Revelation 14 6 says, I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven with the everlasting or the eternal gospel.

It will remain the same until the mission of God is fully established.

03 God’s Call to Mission

Welcome back to our Sabbath School lessons for this quarter titled, God's Mission, My Mission.

We've been studying the fact that we can only understand God's mission if we understand God.

You can't understand the mission of God until you understand the God of mission.

And we've looked at the last 2 weeks, the first 2 weeks of our quarter, at the fact that God longs to save men and women.

He wants us to be restored into his image.

And we've studied the fact that all through Scripture we have this golden thread of God working to restore human beings to his image.

God, the God of mission, working to save people.

In this week's study we're going to focus a little more on God's call to mission.

We brought that out last week some, but it's more definitely brought out in the lesson this week.

In God's call to mission, we look at our memory text in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

This text becomes the theme of this week.

Acts 1, and we're looking there at verse 8.

It's a familiar Bible passage, but there are some emphasis points that bring the passage into a fresh light for us, a new revelation.

Acts 1 verse 8, You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Now notice what it says, you'll receive power.

The power to witness does not come from us, it comes from God.

We can have a variety of strategies to reach people for Christ.

We can have radio stations and TV stations and marvelous presses and educational institutions and hospitals.

We can have all of this machinery set up, but unless the power of the Holy Spirit fills each of our hearts as believers, we will be powerless in witness.

So Jesus said, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

Notice Jerusalem Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth Jerusalem What do you know about Jerusalem in the days of Jesus?

You had the Jewish population there and priests that yelled, crucify him, crucify him.

But more than that, because many of those Jews of course became Christians when the Holy Spirit was poured out here in the very book of Acts, they had sensitive hearts.

It was the Jewish leadership that turned their back on Jesus.

Romans dominated Jerusalem in the first century.

It was Roman soldiers that put the nails through his hands, Roman soldiers that put a crown of thorns upon his head, Roman soldiers that sealed up the tomb and stood guard over it at the resurrection.

What do you think was going on in the mind of those disciples.

Jesus says to them when he's about ready to ascend to heaven, go back to Jerusalem, but go back in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I mean, go back into that hostile environment, go back into a Judaism that hadn't accepted their Messiah, go back to Romans who had crucified the Messiah, go back to that environment, and Jesus said, you go with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Go therefore, first to Jerusalem, then go to Samaria.

Samaria, Lord, are you sure you got that right?

Go to Judea, then go to the ends of the earth?

You know, in the days of Christ, the Roman Empire probably had about 60 million people.

There are about 120 that met in the upper room.

About 1 Christian to every 500, 000 people?

The task seemed overwhelming, but Jesus said, you go armed with the Holy Spirit.

God never says mission is going to be without its challenges.

But what God does say is I'll be with you and I'll empower you.

When you go to Sunday's lesson, it's titled Moving Out of Our Comfort Zone.

Is it to moving out of your comfort zone, to knock on your neighbor's door and hand him a book, like Steps to Christ, Desire of Ages, or Great Controversy?

Is it out of your comfort zone to share, to pray with your work associate who's just lost his wife to cancer?

Is that of your comfort zone to counsel with that woman going through the trauma of a divorce?

Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zone to give a Bible study, to get involved in the lives of other people.

He calls us out of our comfort zone to conduct an evangelistic meeting.

Now in Genesis 11 we start with what I thought was a kind of an interesting way to start with the building of the Tower of Babel.

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