Global Missions

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.

Amen.

Let's begin in the opening chapters of Genesis.

Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

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.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

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.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

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.

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

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.

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

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,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

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,

Exodus 12:48

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

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

Proverbs 31 · chapter mention

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

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