We shouldn’t be surprised at this simple approach to missions. When we consider missions through the lens of Scripture, we find that these twin roles of giving and going reflect the Lord’s approach, and this approach predates even the creation of the world. This is revealed clearly in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. In these intimate words of the Son to the Father on the eve of the crucifixion, we discover three important truths that affect our understanding and support of missions.
In the spring of 1982, just months after my life had been won to Christ, two missionaries visited my church. They captured my heart as they shared stories of their ministry in the remote interior of Papua New Guinea, recounting in both humorous and heartbreaking ways the difficulties they faced, the fruit they saw, and the Lord’s redeeming grace in it all. They also challenged our church to join with them in the support of missions through two simple means: by giving and going. Though it was a simple challenge, it changed my life.
The God of Missions
We shouldn’t be surprised at this simple approach to missions. When we consider missions through the lens of Scripture, we find that these twin roles of giving and going reflect the Lord’s approach, and this approach predates even the creation of the world. This is revealed clearly in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. In these intimate words of the Son to the Father on the eve of the crucifixion, we discover three important truths that affect our understanding and support of missions.
First, we learn that the Father has eternally loved the Son (John 17:24). It is amazing that the most detailed picture we have of eternity past is the Father gloriously loving the Son. Second, we learn of the special love of God for His people. Jesus prays “that the world may know that you . . . loved them even as you loved me” (v. 23). What is hinted at by Christ is fully revealed through Paul to the Ephesians: our heavenly Father “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world. . . . In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4–5). In other words, not only was the Father eternally loving the Son in eternity past, He was also eternally loving us in the Son. Third, we learn that this love of God moves the Father to send the Son, and the Son to faithfully go. It is difficult to miss this point because Jesus mentions it six times in His prayer. For us, therefore, supporting missions begins devotionally: we love the Lord, who has eternally loved us and is the architect and builder of missions.
We support missions not only by loving the God of missions but by loving missions itself and faithfully participating in it. As Jesus prays: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). These words of our Savior orient our lives and remind us that we have a divine calling in this world.
