The Missionary Nature of God (Part 1)
A requirement to understand an attribute of God’s nature is that the attribute had to exist in eternity past since He has existed in eternity past.
Example: God is love (1 John 4:7). But how did He love before his love had an object in his creation? The Christian answer has been that the trinity has perfect love between the three persons of the godhead. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father perfectly. We can repeat that for all the connections including the Spirit of God.
So, how can God have a missionary nature in eternity past before there was a fallen humanity to rescue?
Consider if we might find our answer in these two passages:
Ephesian 1:4-6 “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect… according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood…”
God’s sending nature, his missionary nature was present with Him in his planning of all things before He created all things. This is not easy to understand as creatures who have a beginning. Every thought we have ever had in our little minds had a beginning when it dawned on us, when we thought it for the first time. But God has thoughts that have no beginning, that have existed in the past as long as He has existed. One of those thoughts is his missionary thought to elect a people, a specific people to be His dear children from every tribe and tongue… before there were tribes and tongues.
Consider what G. William Schweer wrote on this topic:
”Mission existed in the heart of God even before the Testaments were written and before God had sent forth a single command. The missionary mandate is a revelation of God’s inner being. It is the outflow of his heart.” (Missiology, 1998)
We are going to send a family far, far away in a few short days to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to a tribe and tongue where few have heard and believed. This was a new thought to them at some point in their journey to the field. It was a new thought to us when they told us about it. But it was not a new thought to God. It was a tiny yet massive part of His plan before He even formed the land that they are going to or placed the people there.
This is a great comfort to us. Why?
1. Could any man or government thwart the eternal counsel and plan of God by their resistance? No more than a fly could stop a train.
2. Could they be making a mistake and going into harms way by leaving the “safe” shire from whence they are being sent on mission? We are all only as safe as the eternal plans of God are wise. That’s pretty safe.
3. What can they expect to find where they are being sent? A person, a people whom God has elected before the foundations of the world to be adopted to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. All they have to do is speak his message.
What further conclusions do you draw from the eternal missionary nature of God in our missionary effort? Imagine there are 100. I only quickly thought of 3.