When we talk about the idea of being "missional" we have to include the entire story of God. That means the narrative from Genesis to Revelation. The story obviously begins at creation and it ends at the new creation. In the middle God chooses to use a people. The headwaters of that story are found in Abraham. The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3) The charge to Abram was to be a blessing. In Christopher Wright's book The Mission of God's People he writes,
“The last phrase of Genesis 12:2 is actually an imperative in Hebrew – ‘Be a blessing!’, though it is most often translated simply as a consequential statement from the preceding phrases, ‘so that you will be a blessing.’ My own exegetical understanding of the structure of Genesis 12:1–3 sees it as two fundamental commands, each followed by three subordinate or explanatory clauses, climaxing in the last line of verse 3. The skeleton message of Genesis 12:1–3 is this:
‘Go…and be a blessing…and all nations will be blessed through you.’
Is that not a ‘great commission?’ Is it not, in fact the foundation on which the whole thrust of God's mission, including what is usually referred to as ‘The Great Commission’ in Matthew 28, is based? And if so, this has serious consequences for our understanding of the church as well as of mission.”
He goes on by saying, “When God set about his great project of world redemption in the wake of Genesis 12, he chose to do so not by whisking individuals off up to heaven, but by calling into existence a community of blessing. In other words, the missional thrust of Genesis 12 is also ecclesiological. The origins of the church go back, not just to Pentecost, but to Abraham.”
This is quite stirring for me to think about. God has always been a sender and that project didn’t begin at the New Testament.
Many questions arise…like:
- What does it mean to be a blessing today?
- What did it mean for Abraham?
- How do we justify a “soterian” Gospel (NT Wright or see Scot McKnight's book The King Jesus Gospel)?
- How does a “whole story” assessment of mission affect our “pop” understanding of “missional?”
- How about the question of how community (or the church) interescts with mission?
- Why was "a people" so important in God's plan?
"…and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you!"
Let me hear your thoughts by writing in the comments below.
Great input Stephen. It really does simply missionality doesn’t it? Kind of like the concept of Shalom. When we say that we should be shalom sowers, it is very similar to the idea of seeking to be a people of blessing. Those virtues that Wright (and Paul) talk about flesh out what that blessing would look like.
I love it. It’s a great reminder about which direction we read our Bibles. It pick up the Missional narrative in the NT is like starting Lord of the Rings with “Return of the King.” Two thoughts came to mind when I read this: 1) When the people who had gone out to meet John the Baptist asked what they should do, John explained to go and meet the needs of the people around them, and not to extort but to bless; as opposed to just offering sacrifices thinking that alone maintained their status as “children of Abraham.” Hence…”I desire mercy not sacrifice” and showing mercy takes giving yourself away in community. 2) In a presentation to DMin students at Fuller NT Wright talked about the virtues of God (Faith, hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) as being the language of God. “When you encounter someone with these virtues you do not have ask whether these are good things, you simply wish there were more people who had them.” -NTW Your post reminded me to ask myself, “How does this language of God translate to the context in which I now find myself? Thanks Rob
Great thoughts dear! I think it is perfectly normal to go around a neighborhood knocking on doors and singing at the top of my lungs! 🙂
It is just inspiring to me. When I first believed (I was 10 years old), I remember having this feeling like “I have a purpose.” To be a blessing to the world, to other people is really a wonderful thing. I hear so many people talk about wanting to make an impact in the world and feeling so insignificant as an individual in being able to do that. I think God is pretty amazingly smart of course and knows our impact is much greater as a community of people thus the church his body. We each have significance of course but it is quite a beautiful thing to be unified in one purpose with others. Recently a group of us went around our neighborhood Christmas caroling, and it felt like we were a blessing for a few brief moments to the people that willingly stood with their doors open to the cold and our singing. It would have been kind of weird for me to go around by myself singing Christmas carols and I am not sure they would have so readily opened their doors, and it goes without saying probably that I would not have wanted to do it alone. Just some of my thoughts…