Ah, I got it. Welcome, everyone. It's good to see you all here. Good morning. We are starting our new series on missions, and we're going to be covering a lot. Over the next two months, we're going to learn about God's call to missions.
Over all the earth. And we will see a number of things in our series. We will see that God calls us all to participate in this gospel call to all nations. And further, we will understand the biblical reason for missions. We will dwell on the history of missions in scripture and in church history.
We'll also get to know some of the missionaries among us and also some of the kinds of mission work that Trinity is doing or that Trinity supports.
And then lastly, we'll also invite you all to discern your call to support missions here in New Haven and to the very ends of the earth.
I want to give you a foretaste of what we're going to be doing. So today, we're going to look at our God, and we're going to see how he's a missionary God. He's a God of missions, a God who's reaching out. We'll talk much more about that in a moment.
Next week, we'll look at our missionary model, Jesus Christ. Then we'll look at another model, Paul the Apostle, becoming all things to all people.
And then we will take a look at some mission history, missions in the early church. There's some wonderful testimonies and stories about how God reached the nations that I hope will be encouraging for you all.
We'll then take a look at missionary practices, what missionaries do, best practices, maybe not so good practices.
Then we'll move on and look at some missionaries among us. We'll hear from some folks among us here at Trinity and then missions among us, other things that Trinity is doing.
And then we'll also take a look again at missions at Trinity, a final wrap-up class for this series.
And this will go through June 21st. I thought I went one more week, but there's eight of them in there. So I think that's all eight.
So June 21st, at least as we have it set out today.
Today, though, we're going to begin our first class on God being a missionary God.
Today, we are going to journey through the scriptures from beginning to end, from the opening passages of Genesis straight to the final chapter of Revelation.
Obviously, we'll be skipping a lot of things, but we'll cover it all.
And our task is going to be to behold our God reaching the nations, to view him as always sending, always calling, always commissioning his servants to reach the lost.
We'll also answer some common questions like, why does God only get interested in missions in the New Testament?
Sometimes you hear that question and we'll find out that that's not true, actually.
He was always interested in the nations and in missions.
Or another question, why does God want to use others for this task?
Why doesn't God just do this himself?
And we'll see that, well, sometimes he does just do it himself.
And then there's a very good reason why he wants to use people in this gospel call.
This isn't just a random idea that he has.
There's a good reason for it.
Those are some of the things we'll be looking at today.
Before we begin, though, let's open with a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we are so grateful that you are always calling.
You reached out to us, Lord.
You reached out to us through your word.
You reached out to us through your son, Jesus, through the apostles he sent, through the church that they founded over the whole world.
Lord, and after many generations being passed down to us.
Lord, we thank you that you reached out to us.
You redeemed us from our sins, from the kingdom of darkness.
You brought us into your kingdom of light to be your children, to be commissioned as your servants in your kingdom, to bear your gospel to the nations.
Lord, we thank you that you loved us even when we did not love you.
And that you found in us, you refounded in us your image that had been marred from the fall.
Lord, we pray that you would strengthen our understanding of your gospel call.
Help us to reach the nations.
Lord, we can only do this through your spirit and by your grace because we are not sufficient for these things.
Lord, we are jars of clay and we carry this unsurpassable treasure that you have placed in us.
Lord, please help us.
Help us to deposit this like faithful servants.
Lord, make up when we stumble and when we fall that we may bring this great duty to completion.
Lord, we know you are faithful to do this.
And we thank you in the name of your son, Jesus.
Amen.
Let's begin in the opening chapters of Genesis.
Genesis chapter 2.
God's created the heavens and the earth.
And this is a very famous passage.
I'm very familiar with this.
Yes, yes.
Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, God says.
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.
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
Then the passage goes on to say, and God blessed them.
And he said, 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.
In these opening chapters, I want us to discern some principles.
We could call them gospel principles.
But there's some principles I want us to notice about God and his nature, his heart.
And about what he created when he created all things.
So the first thing I want to point out is that God made us in his image.
He made us to be like him in his likeness, male and female, all of us.
This gets at that terrible lie, that deception that the serpent first wrought on us.
When the serpent tempted Eve and Adam with the temptation of being like God.
When the serpent said, you'll be like God if you eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
When God had already made us like him, we already were that way.
And the serpent tempted them with that.
I'm highlighting this because what this means is that in some sense,
we are sort of like God's sub-creators.
J.R. Tolkien says that in creation.
We are bearing his image throughout creation.
And this is a second principle where God wants us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
So if we put these two principles together that God wants us or he desires for us,
for us to fill the earth.
If we put those two principles together,
it looks like God wants his image,
he wants himself,
his image,
his likeness to be over all the earth.
He wants us to spread throughout all creation.
Hmm.
This is going to become important for our understanding of missions
and why God wants his kingdom to be over all the earth,
his church.
If we keep going,
we'll see some other gospel principles.
In Genesis chapter 3,
another very famous chapter,
this is where the serpent tempts Eve
and with being like God,
eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And after she does this and Adam is right there,
he also partakes of the fruit.
They both fall.
This is an amazing chapter,
very rich,
and it pains me to skip through it so quickly.
But after God confronts them and kind of offers them the possibility of repenting,
you know,
he says,
where are you?
Where are you?
Come,
come out and talk to me about what happened.
And they don't,
they don't want to.
And they are finally faced with the ramifications of their sin.
And God says to the serpent,
he says,
because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.
On your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
There's a lot of irony in this.
Remember,
the serpent tempts Adam.
Adam is just the word for human,
and it becomes Adam's name.
And remember,
Adam came from dust.
So the serpent has to kind of eat what he destroyed in this.
And he says,
God says,
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He shall bruise your head.
You shall bruise his heel.
This friends in Genesis chapter three,
verse 15 is many scholars believe the first prophecy about the coming of Jesus.
Because here we have this statement that there's going to be enmity,
hostility between the serpent and between the woman,
but also between her offspring and the serpent's offspring.
And her offspring will bruise the serpent's head,
and the serpent shall bruise his heel.
For centuries,
from the very beginning,
Christian theologians have seen in this a prophecy of the coming of Jesus.
This word here for offspring literally means seed.
And almost always in the scriptures,
when we talk about the seed of humans,
it's always the male who has the seed.
But here it's the woman who has the seed,
which is unusual.
Some people see in this a very,
very hint,
a whisper of the virgin birth coming.
That this seed is going to come from a woman,
not a man.
And that this seed is going to bruise the serpent's head,
do a lot of damage to that serpent.
And the serpent,
he's not going,
this seed is not going to be without suffering harm.
He's also going to be harmed in this,
but it's his heel.
It's not,
it's not his head.
It's almost like the seed,
the seed is going to crush the head of the serpent with,
with his heel.
So what do we gain from this?
What kind of gospel principles do we learn from this?
Well,
one thing we learn right there,
because right at the beginning,
or earlier in the passage,
that we have sinned.
We have sinned.
We have not fulfilled God's purpose in us
of bearing his image and of being like him.
We have fallen away from him,
but God is promising to fix this situation.
He's going to make this whole somehow.
We see whispers of it here,
that yes,
there's going to be all this conflict,
but that serpent's head is going to be bruised.
So God is going to somehow bring,
bring redemption,
victory,
whatever you want to call it.
It's a little vague right now in Genesis three,
but something is going to happen.
God is going to redeem.
Somehow he's going to repair this situation.
And how is he going to do it?
He's going to do it through humans.
Somehow the offspring of a woman.
That's how God is going to do this.
Now we know he's going to do this ultimately through Jesus,
who was human,
who became human,
who was a descendant of Adam and Eve,
and Abraham,
and the patriarchs,
and David.
But see what's going on here.
How God made us in his image to be like him.
His desire is for us,
his image to fill the earth.
But we sinned.
God steps in.
He's going to redeem us,
but he's going to do it in a sense through us as well.
He's going to use us.
Now we know the whole story here that,
yes,
he is going to do it through humans,
but that human was going to be God incarnate coming down.
God actually was going to become human to bring this about.
But we see these principles at work in missions.
How God wants to use us to reach the nations.
We see this in Genesis,
in the early chapters of Genesis,
he wants his kingdom over all the earth.
And the opening chapters of Genesis proclaim this.
This continues when we get to Genesis chapter 12.
So there's a lot that happens between Genesis 3,
where the fall occurs,
and Genesis 12,
there's Noah and the ark,
there's the tower of Babel.
But we get to Genesis chapter 12,
and this is where Abram or Abraham is introduced.
And God says,
go from your country and your kindred and your father's house
to a land I will show you.
And then God gives this amazing,
amazing promise and prophecy.
He says,
I will make of you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and him who dishonors you,
who I will curse,
and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Right here in Genesis chapter 12,
we see that God's heart is for every single family on earth.
He did not gain this desire only in the New Testament.
It's right there in the Old Testament.
Genesis chapter 12,
through Abraham and his descendants,
all families on the earth shall be blessed.
This brings us back to this gospel principle.
God desires us for us to fill the earth.
He wants all people and the whole earth to be like him.
And here we see that played out more specifically
in this blessing that's going to go to all families in the earth.
If we keep reading,
we get to Genesis chapter 15.
And I'll skip through a little bit of this,
but Abraham gets a vision and God says,
Fear not,
Abraham,
I am your shield.
Your reward shall be very great.
This can also be translated as fear not.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.
I love that translation because it means that Abraham's reward is God.
That's the reward.
And Abraham is a little down because he continues to be childless.
God had promised that his descendants,
through his descendants,
the whole earth was going to be blessed,
but he doesn't have any descendants and he's getting really old.
And so Abraham is doubting,
he's struggling and he doesn't know what to do.
And God brings him outside and he says,
Look toward the heavens,
number the stars if you're able to number them.
So shall your offspring.
That's the same word that we saw in Genesis.
So shall your seed be,
your offspring be.
And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Paul in Romans points this passage out,
how Abraham was righteous because he trusted God and God reckoned it to him as righteousness.
God granted it to him as righteousness.
But this promise of that seed that we saw,
that offspring,
that somehow a blessing to all people was going to come from that offspring.
We see that continuing to be brought forth through the opening chapters of Genesis with Abraham.
It wasn't something that just happened with Adam and Eve and then was remembered or brought up again in Jesus.
It's something that is brought through all the scriptures.
And we see this with Abraham and this promised seed that's going to come.
If we keep going,
we see Genesis chapter 18.
This is also with Abraham.
This is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I want to focus on something else though.
Instead of the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah,
I want to look at how God treats Abraham because how he interacts with Abraham in this passage is going to remind us of some of these gospel principles here.
So God has appeared to Abraham.
He's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
He's decided that already.
And look what he says.
God says,
Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do?
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
For I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.
I love,
I love these verses
because we see several things.
We see that rearticulation of that promise about all the nations on the earth being blessed and how God is going to bring about what he promised to Abraham.
But then we see God saying,
Shall I hide what I'm going to do from Abraham?
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation.
God wants Abraham to be part of his plans.
He wants to share with Abraham.
He wants to share with Abraham what he's going to be doing.
And
That gets back to right here.
God made us in his image to be like him.
To be like him.
God wants us to join him in reigning over the earth in his kingdom as his as his sort of sub rulers or sub creators.
He's like a wonderful benevolent king who wants his counselors, wants his people to help him rule this this kingdom.
And here we see that played out with Abraham.
I think we also see that play out with all of us where God in some sense is saying that about each one of us.
I don't want to hide all this stuff.
I want you to be part of this.
I want you to join me in this kingdom promise in spreading my kingdom through all the earth.
And what does that promise or that goal or purpose that God has?
That purpose is for all the nations to be blessed.
This promise is repeated again and again.
We see it in Genesis 22.
This is another very famous story.
Very important story.
This is the story where Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac.
Very intense story.
Dramatic story.
There's a lot of meaning in here.
After Abraham shows that he's willing to offer up his son, then God says this.
I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son.
I will surely bless you and multiply your offspring.
There's that word again.
As the stars of heaven and the sand that is on the seashore, your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.
And in your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
That promise again of all the nations on the earth being blessed.
How?
Through that seed, that offspring that has been promised from Eve, now through Abraham.
And that is a promise for every single person on earth.
Let's pause there for one moment before I switch gears.
But any questions or comments before we hasten onward?
We will see.
We're going to skip a lot.
But this promise continues throughout Genesis.
And throughout 1 and 2 Samuel and the book of Kings and Chronicles.
We see this promise with David, culminating in David and Solomon and continuing on through the kingdom of Israel.
Eventually, we see this culminating in Jesus, where Jesus is this promised seed.
From all the way from Eve, through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, all the way down through David,
and straight on through, straight to Jesus.
He is this promised seed through whom all the nations on earth will be blessed.
We also see this foreshadowed in Genesis 22, where Abraham offers up his son.
And God is here, I think, creating a foreshadowing of what he himself was going to do when he offered up his son.
Yes?
The word offspring can be singular or plural.
So in Genesis, when it first referred to him, was it singular?
And he promised to Eve, your offspring, and here it's plural.
And it means...
That's a good question.
I believe it's a singular plural.
It's like the word fish, where it can mean either singular or plural.
I have to triple check that.
I have to confirm that.
Okay.
So a P for you and a Greek.
Yes.
Yeah.
So it can mean either.
And I think the meaning goes back and forth, I think.
Now Paul can turn the collective into a plural.
Yeah.
Seed and seeds.
But it is a collective.
Yeah.
So it works marvelously well for that situation, because it's kind of everything but one at once.
Fish.
Is it one fish or all these fish?
I don't know.
Sheep, deer, you know, things like that.
We have words like that in English, too.
But I want to switch gears.
And I want to look at, in the Old Testament, at some prophecies where the Old Testament launches
to the future and sees all the ends of the earth, all the nations following after the God
of Israel, the one God.
I want to share a couple of these with you.
Psalm 22.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the
nations shall worship before you.
This is just like that prophecy about all the families of the earth being blessed in
Abraham.
And the prophets of the earth shall eat and worship before him, shall bow down all who
go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him.
It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation.
They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn that he has done it.
But the psalmist sees how, yes, this prophecy will be fulfilled.
This is Psalm 22.
That's the famous prophecy of the crucifixion that Jesus quotes on the cross.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
You read it.
It's like a prophecy of the crucifixion.
And then it concludes with this promise of everyone coming to worship God, the God of Israel,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Pause and think on that for a moment.
Because when this was written, Israel was just this small, tiny, insignificant little
people.
And they are saying, no, everyone is going to worship our God.
And we look at the world today and there are followers of the God of the Old Testament,
the God of Israel in every single nation on earth.
There's more followers of this God than any other so-called God.
This prophecy was, we see it being fulfilled even among us at Trinity.
Here's another one.
Psalm 86.
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify
your name.
Or Isaiah 2.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and
all the nations shall flow to it.
And many people shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.
For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations.
He shall decide disputes for many peoples.
So beautiful.
The Hebrew people of the Old Testament saw that promise of all the families of the earth
being blessed and they knew that this would be fulfilled eventually.
And we ourselves have the advantage of seeing this partial fulfillment happening amongst us
with so many nations on earth following the God of Israel, the God of the Old Testament.
Here's a prophecy about Jesus from Isaiah chapter 42.
But it involves all nations, as we will see.
Behold my servant, that's Jesus, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights.
I have put my spirit on him.
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.
You get the idea that Jesus is going to be very gentle, very delicate.
Even a smoldering wick, a faintly burning wick, he's not going to put out.
Even a bruised reed as he's walking through the reeds, even partially broken reeds,
he's not going to completely break off.
He'll be able to pass through them without damaging them.
You get this image of gentleness.
And it says,
He will not grow fainter, be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands.
Wait for his law.
Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it and a spirit to those who walk in it.
I am the Lord.
I have called you.
This is Jesus.
In righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you.
I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.
To open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison, those who sit in darkness.
So beautiful.
This prophecy of Jesus reaching the nations, which we see happening.
I got a couple more of these.
I'll move quickly.
And now the Lord says,
He who formed me from the womb to be his servant.
This is Jesus again.
To bring Jacob, that's Israel, back to him,
that Israel might be gathered to him.
For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.
God says,
It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel.
I will make you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation shall reach to the end of the earth.
God says,
You know, it's too little to just reach Israel.
Through you, my servant, Jesus, I'm going to reach the nations.
You will be a light to all people.
It's so beautiful.
Isaiah 49,
Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother.
He named my name.
This is Jesus.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword.
In the shadow of his hand, he hid me.
He made me a polished arrow.
In his quiver, he hid me.
He said,
You are my servant, Israel, in whom I am glorified.
He's addressing the coastlands, all the people.
This is a prophecy of Jesus crying out to the nations.
And this is not just Isaiah.
Zechariah says, Zechariah 2.11,
Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day,
and he shall be my people,
and I will dwell in your midst.
Or Malachi,
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
my name shall be great among the nations.
This is Malachi 1.11.
This promise of that seed in Abraham
that was first mentioned in Genesis chapter 3,
then in Abraham,
how all families on earth are going to be blessed.
We see this promise developing
and reiterated and rearticulated
throughout the whole Old Testament,
culminating in Jesus himself,
who we will hear about next week.
So,
I see this.
I see the prophecies of God's heart for the nations
in the early chapters of Genesis.
We see this come up in the Psalms and the prophets.
But if I'm honest,
you kind of wonder about
the other parts of the Old Testament.
What about the Old Testament law?
All those laws,
where are the Gentiles in those laws?
Aren't they bad in those laws?
Aren't you supposed to avoid them?
What about those laws?
It's very easy for us
when we think of Old Testament laws.
We think of lots and lots of them.
We think of them being very rigid,
very strict,
very exclusive,
exclusionary,
limiting the Gentiles.
The Gentiles are unclean in these laws.
But I want us to be careful
because often our perspective
on these Old Testament laws
is really informed
by how Jesus treats the Pharisees
and their interpretation
of the Old Testament law.
Even subconsciously,
we often think about that,
of the Old Testament laws being cruel,
as being harsh,
and then Jesus ushers in this new law
that's better.
But if we sit and read
what the Old Testament law says
about Gentiles
and about foreigners,
it's extraordinary.
Here's Exodus 12.
This is right
when the Old Testament law
is coming out.
If a stranger
shall sojourn with you
and would keep the Passover
to the Lord,
let all his males
be circumcised.
Then he may come near
and keep it.
He shall be as a native
of the land.
But no uncircumcised person
shall eat of it.
There shall be one law
for the native
and for the stranger
who sojourns among you.
This promise is shocking.
It's amazing
that if there is a stranger
who wants to worship
the God of Israel,
then they can.
They have to follow the law
just like the Jews.
But Exodus 12, verse 48 says,
they shall be as a native
of the land.
They shall be as a Jew.
There shall be one law
for the native
and for the stranger.
Leviticus 24,
you shall have the same rule
for the sojourner
and for the native,
for I am the Lord your God.
One rule.
If there is a Gentile
who wants to follow
the God of Israel
and is willing to follow
this Jewish law,
then they're considered
to be Jewish.
Numbers 15,
for the assembly,
there shall be one statute
for you
and for the stranger
who sojourns with you,
a statute forever
throughout your generations.
You and the sojourner
shall be alike
before the Lord.
One law
and one rule
shall be for you
and for the stranger
who sojourns with you.
Isn't that beautiful?
The most powerful passage
is Deuteronomy 29.
The background for this
is Moses has led
the people
right up to the gates
of the promised land
and he is giving
his sort of
valedictory address,
his farewell address.
He knows that God
is going to
take him home
to be with him
momentarily
in a few days
and Moses
re-articulates
the law
and he says,
you are standing today
all of you
before the Lord your God,
the heads of your tribes,
your elders
and your officers,
all the men of Israel,
your little ones,
your wives
and the sojourner
who is in your camp
from the one
who chops your wood
to the one
who draws your water
so that you may enter
into the sworn covenant
of the Lord your God
which the Lord your God
is making with you today
that he may establish
you as his people
and that he may be your God
as he promised
and as he swore
to your fathers
to Abraham,
to Isaac
and to Jacob
it is not with you alone
that I am making
this sworn covenant
but with whoever
is standing here
with us today
before the Lord our God
and with whoever
is not here
with us today.
Here he names everyone
elders, tribes,
officers, men,
the children,
the wives
and the sojourner
who is with the camp
every sojourner
from the one
who chops wood
to the one
who draws water
they are entering
into this covenant
of the Lord your God
that he may establish
you as his people.
The sojourner
is becoming
part of the people
of God
and why?
It's about that promise
what he promised
to Abraham
about all families
on earth
being blessed
about that
that offspring
that seed
coming down
and blessing
all people.
So
we see this
in the law.
God's heart
for Gentiles
are in the law.
If they were willing
to follow the law
like all
the Hebrews
the descendants
of Abraham
Isaac and Jacob
had to do as well
then they were considered
to be
as a native
of the land
if they were willing
to follow that law.
There's another aspect
I want to
also highlight
about God's
mission
in the Old Testament
and
this is
you've got to read
between the lines
a little bit here
but
it's very easy
for us
when we think
about ancient history
to have
a very kind of
flat view of it
like
there's Abraham
there's Isaac
there's Jacob
the law comes
there's all these laws
and then eventually
Jesus comes
but if you pause
and you think
but what was it
really like
for individuals
back then
when they were
living in ancient
Israel
in the times
of the patriarchs
or the times
of the kings
or the judges
what was it
really like
for them
as worshippers
of the God
of Israel
imagine
they're out
most of them
are farmers
they're with their
crops
or their flocks
and what are they doing
they're bumping
into their neighbors
all the time
they're seeing them
who are their neighbors
well
especially the ones
who lived on the
periphery of Israel
they're Gentiles
they're seeing Gentiles
they're seeing non-Jews
they're seeing people
worshipping
other gods
and if we read
the law
God's heart
for the Gentile
in the law
if we see
God's heart
for the nations
in the opening
chapters of Genesis
I think it's
a very fair bet
that a lot
of those
faithful Jews
back then
would have been
evangelizing
their neighbors
they would have been
telling them
about the God
of Israel
and we see this
in Psalm 47
where
the psalmist says
clap your hands
all peoples
shout to God
with loud songs
of joy
where there's this
call to the nations
come and worship
the God
of all peoples
or this
Psalm 66
shout for joy
to God
all the earth
sing the glory
of his name
give to him
glorious praise
say to God
how awesome
are your deeds
so great
is your power
that your enemies
come cringing
to you
all the earth
worships you
and sings praises
to you
they sing praises
to your name
come
and see
what God
has done
he is awesome
in his deeds
toward the children
of man
bless our God
oh peoples
let the sound
of his praise
be heard
and then here's
my favorite part
verse 16
come and hear
all you who fear
God
and I will tell
what he has done
for my soul
there's this
like they're sharing
this news
it's
the book of Hebrews
talks about how
the gospel was preached
to the patriarchs
just like how it was preached
to us
now this gospel
was not as specific
it didn't have the name
Jesus
in this gospel
but that gospel
of trust God
trust God
like how Abraham
trusted God
and it was credited
to him as righteousness
that broader gospel
was there
in the Old Testament
and we can
be sure
that the
Jews
in the Old Testament
were sharing
this message
with their neighbors
in fact
we know
they kind of were
because we have
examples
in the Old Testament
of non-Jews
following the God
of Israel
these are
people like
Ruth
there's a whole book
in the Bible
devoted to Ruth
about how she did not
want to follow
her own gods
she wanted to follow
the God
of Israel
and she was honored
with an entire book
of scripture
devoted to her faithfulness
and she becomes part
of David's lineage
and therefore part of
Jesus's lineage as well
we see this with
Rahab
the prostitute
in Jericho
a Canaanite
who wants to follow
the God of Israel
and she also becomes
part of
the lineage of David
and also of Jesus
and that's not just
an honor
remember the entire
promise is about
this seed
from Abraham
being passed down
through David
to Jesus
they are part
of that
they are part
of that family tree
fulfilling that promise
to Abraham
to bless all
peoples
it's extraordinary
we have other examples
Jethro
Moses'
father-in-law
was a Gentile
but yet a follower
of the God of Israel
there's that mysterious
Melchizedek figure
who is this guy
is he
you know
there's a fair interpretation
that maybe
he was
actually
sort of like
Jesus
like the angel
of the Lord
sometimes is thought of
as a theophany
and a pre-appearance
of Jesus
there's other theories
that he was just
an ancient king
who knew the God of Israel
we have other
examples
as well
if you read
Proverbs chapter 31
there is this king
King Lemuel
who
chapter 31
is devoted to
his Proverbs
that he learned
from his mother
we don't know
who King Lemuel was
there was no king
in Israel
named King Lemuel
he seems to be
a Gentile king
who was a follower
of the God of Israel
Job is another example
where Job
is often thought of
we can't be totally sure
but thought of
as a
non-Jew
who is a follower
of the God
of Israel
we don't know
that for sure
but he's often
thought of that way
so we see
examples
of Gentiles
coming to know
the God of Israel
in the Old Testament
and some of them
are not simple
side stories
some of them
are very much
features
of the text
we also see this
in Exodus
when the people
leave Egypt
and it says
several times
and a mixed multitude
was with them
from the Egyptians
or from the surrounding
nations
who were going
with them
into this promised land
okay
I want to though
speak about
God being
a missionary God
God having a heart
for the nations
in the Old Testament
with one final example
and this is
the example
of the prophet
Jonah
so we see examples
of God's call
to the nations
his heart for the nations
his promise
for the nations
we see examples
of Gentiles
coming to know
the God of Israel
we see provision
for this given
in the law of Moses
but we haven't yet
seen an actual
missionary to the nations
yet
in the Old Testament
but we do have
this in Jonah
the entire book
of Jonah
can be read
as
a missionary
commissioned
to reach the nations
to give a brief
overview
before I wrap up
of the book of Jonah
the empire
of the Assyrians
arguably the first
empire on earth
certainly one of
the early ones
they come to power
they conquer
the northern tribes
of Israel
and they do horrific
things
they enslave
ten of the tribes
of Israel
they destroy them
they deport them
they murder
they pillage
they rape
they do all sorts
of horrible
horrible things
Nineveh
the capital
of the Assyrian
empire
is called
the city of blood
because of how
bloodthirsty they were
what the Assyrians
did
I won't even
I won't even go
into further detail
it was so horrible
and they were pagans
they were worshipping
false gods
they were
they were destroying
God's people
in fact
in some sense
they were working
to destroy
that seed
that had been
promised
from Abraham
and God
appears to Jonah
and he says
Jonah I want you
to go preach
to Nineveh
this is like
a death sentence
for Jonah
he's supposed
to show up
at this city
and preach repentance
and he says
you gotta go
preach repentance
to this city
and Jonah
doesn't want to do it
and he runs away
we know this story
he keeps running
from God
and God
sends the sea beast
to swallow Jonah
there's a lot
of fascinating
theological reflection
where Jonah
has this prayer
where he's in Sheol
and he's in the belly
of this sea beast
and eventually
Jonah spit up
and he is sent
to Nineveh
he's like
fine I'll go
and he goes
to Nineveh
and he preaches
to these people
about how judgment
is coming
to this city
and what shocking
thing
happens
the people repent
they actually repent
and they turn
away from their sins
and Jonah
is not happy
about it
he's angry
he says
God I knew
you were going
to do this
that you were
going to relent
I didn't want
to go talk
to these people
because imagine
what Jonah's thinking
he's thinking
either I show up
and it doesn't work
and I get killed
or I show up
and it works
and these people
avoid judgment
I don't want to go
it's a lose-lose
for me
and so then
Jonah leaves
and he sits down
he's still in view
of the city
he sets up
pitches a tent
he's in the heat
of the day
he wants to see
what's going to
happen to this city
he's still hoping
maybe judgment
will come
maybe I can watch
it be destroyed
like Sodom and Gomorrah
or something like that
I'm reading between
the lines here
but that's the sense
you get
and then
God appoints
a plant
to grow
to shade Jonah
Jonah likes the plant
and then God
appoints a worm
to eat the plant
away and it dies
Jonah's really upset
about this
he's depressed
he just wants to die
and God says
you know
you're so upset
about this plant
but he says
should I not pity
Nineveh
that great city
in which there are
more than 120,000
persons
who do not know
their right hand
from their left
and also much cattle
shouldn't I have
mercy on them
you were sad
for the plant
that died
why aren't you sad
for the city
of Nineveh
when 120,000
people were going
to die
that's how
the book of Jonah
ends
and
you see here
number one
God's call
his care to the nations
even a wicked
wicked people
like the Assyrians
he sends Jonah
to preach repentance
to these people
and
we also see
that
the missionary
Jonah
was also a mission
field
himself
that God
was
still
shaping Jonah
to be like God
to love his enemies
he was still renewing
that image
in Jonah
as well
this
lays a foundation
for us
viewing God
as a missionary God
where
he has these promises
from the very beginning
of scripture
they're carried throughout
about his heart
for the nations
but
he wants to involve
us
in some sense
God does do it
himself
he comes down
in the person of Jesus
he literally becomes human
but he also
wants us
to be part
of this gospel
call to the nations
but in becoming
part of that call
we also
are still
a mission field
ourselves
we're always
needing to draw
closer
to God
Jonah was
preaching repentance
and he still
needed to repent
himself
and to grow
in his knowledge
of God
in Genesis language
to grow
being like
the likeness
of God
or the image
of God
we've got
a few minutes
left
let's pause
there
next week
we'll be talking
about Jesus
and what Jesus
does
as our
as
God on earth
and then
we'll be talking
about the apostle
Paul
and we'll go
from there
but any
comments or
questions
before we
conclude
I so appreciated
all your
illustrations
of
mission work
and I'll just
add
from
one of the
greatest ministers
Daniel
being a witness
King Nebuchadnezzar
you're right
or
the little
servant girl
who ends up
in Naaman's
household
who tells
Naaman
the prophet
of the Lord
and then
Naaman
becomes a believer
that's so beautiful
yes thank you
yes you're
exactly right
yes
I personally
believe
that God
is a good
minister
Amen
and that he
helped
and that he
helped Abraham
sacrificing Isaac
even though he
didn't kill
Isaac
yeah
Amen Sammy
thank you
Josh
so
a lot of
what you
touched on
sort of
I don't know
a lot of
what you touched on
is sort of
addressing this
but still
like how do we
address the
objection of
the kind of
particularity
of choosing
one family
to then
you know
slowly over time
influence the whole world
bless the whole world
you've already
sort of like
poked a lot of
holes in that
talking about
you know
the Hebrews
and the neighbors
and even
sending out
whole testimony
but
like what
immediately
comes to mind
for me
is
well he
sent Jesus
to a very
particular time
and place
and then
I don't know
I've had all
kinds of
thoughts too
about like
thinking back
to Genesis
right
the profundity
of our
separation
of sin
and like
sometimes I think
of Cain and
Abel
am I my brother's
keeper
it's like
yes
yes you are
exactly
you know
like Abraham
tried to take
care of what
and say like
no you need to
walk in the ways
of the Lord
but like
divergent
separated
so in some
ways I feel
like
there's
there's been
a failure
if
people take
issue with
you know
oh why
why is
God
so in some
sense
like we
we dropped
the ball
very early
on
and not
you know
being good
enough
evangelist
to our
neighbors
and our
family
but at the
same time
it's like
the profundity
of our
separation
requires
incarnation
but it's
still tough
because it's
like what
about
North and
South
America
like
the Mormons
have this
whole like
solution
Jesus went
over there
right
yeah
there is
you're right
there's the
particularity
so
I will
say this
when we
think about
this is the
question of
what about
the people
who've never
heard the
gospel
they're still
around in
this world
I mean
you can
still find
people groups
in Papua New
Guinea and
deep in
rainforests and
things like
that
what about
them
the foundation
we always need
to remember
when we think
about that
is we're
talking about
the same
God who
sent Jonah
to Nineveh
we can
trust him
with these
questions
scripture does
not provide
absolute
clear answers
for things
like this
what it does
say is we
can trust
him
this is a
God who
loved his
enemies
even horrific
nations like
the Assyrians
and had a
heart for
them
another thing
to remember
is that
we never
want to
take the
Old Testament
and think
that is
100%
of what
everybody
knew about
God
back in
1000 BC
or 2000
BC
because
scripture
actually tells
us
there will
be lines
like
well if
you want
to know
more
go read
this book
we don't
have that
book anymore
and so
they obviously
have more
knowledge
than at
that time
we see
this when
shortly
before and
after Noah
it will be
like then
men began
to call
on the
name of
the Lord
well how
did that
happen
we don't
know
yeah
so
what we
do know
is God
wants us
to spread
his gospel
to the
nations
God
I hope
it's become
clear
is totally
capable
of stepping
in
and sending
angels
or sending
prophets
or doing
miraculous
things
when he
wants to
and he
does do
that
but he
wants to
use us
so
we can
hang
our
trust
on those
two ideas
that we
can trust
God
with this
and we
do know
that people
knew more
than we
know
back then
we know
other things
now
but you
know
there were
all sorts
of prophets
in the
Old Testament
that never
wrote anything
down
and we
don't know
where they
went or
what they
did or
what they
were saying
so
just keep
that in
mind
and trust
in God
on those
issues
and there
are in the
history of
missions
I don't
know if
we'll
you know
there are
remarkable
stories
where we
show up
to a
people group
and we're
like oh
there were
people here
before
how did that
happen
I mean
that's
happened
more than
once
where people
will show up
in a faraway
land only to
find out
missionaries had
been there
hundreds of
years before
so
we never know
Barry you had
was that your
hand
yeah I was
coming to
this meeting
I was
thinking
well we're
starting at
Genesis
and I
thought
I thought
there was
the missions
I thought
that was a
great place
to start
so thank
you for
starting there
I thought
that was
great
number two
I love
I never
thought about
Jonah
being a
missionary
and the
thought of
what you
shared
that even
missionaries
is a
mission
and then
what Matt
said about
Daniel
and then
God bringing
Daniel to
Babylon
it's like
people who
come here
to Yale
Yale is
their Babylon
God is
calling people
here
and going
off that
Daniel reference
you gotta read
between the
lines
but Daniel
is in
Babylon
this is
where the
Magi
are trained
and 600
years later
these Magi
show up
because they've
heard this
prophecy of
this coming
Messiah
we know
there were
tons and
tons of
Jews in
Babylon
even at
that point
and afterwards
for hundreds
of years
so we
have no
idea what
was going
on in
Babylon
in terms
of
pre-Jesus
evangelization
if we want
to call it
that but
something was
going on
and there
are plausible
scenarios where
these Babylonians
knew about
this God
of Israel
some of them
were converting
becoming Jews
who knows
where these
Magi got
their idea
of this
star
indicating
this
coming
ruler
but
you
can
potentially
index
that
back
to
people
like
Daniel
who were
witnesses
in
Babylon
friends
service
starts in
just a few
minutes
so let
me
close
those
in prayer
father
we
thank you
for your
scripture
witness
to us
we thank
you for
your words
in the opening
chapters of
Genesis
and carried
on through
the many
generations
the thousands
of years
up to our
present day
lord we
ask that
you would
help us
to continue
to fulfill
your gospel
call
to let
your spiritual
kingdom reign
over all
the earth
help us
to call
all nations
to you
lord help
us to share
your gospel
to be
witnesses
like so
many of
those
Hebrew
people
of old
we know
were
and we
don't know
many of
their names
but we
know lord
that they
served you
in your
kingdom
help us
to be
like them
lord we
know our
hearts are
also mission
fields
reform us
shape us
renew us
to be like
you
lord we
know we
are all
Jonah's
here
we are
called
to preach
your gospel
but lord
our heart
is not
always right
before you
make it
right before
you in the
name of
Jesus
wash us
clean by
your
grace
lord bless
the service
and the
congregation
that is
about to
gather
help us
to hear
your words
and to
rejoice
in
worshiping
you
the king
of kings
and lord
of lords
we pray
all this
in the
mighty name
of Jesus
amen
thanks so much
folks