Why missions? Why should the church be involved in taking the gospel into all the world? Why should Christians be concerned about mission work? God’s people are called to mission concern and involvement by four “calls.”
First, consider the call from above. God desires the salvation of all people (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Jesus came to seek and to save lost people (Luke 19:10). The Great Commission sends Christ’s disciples into all the world to make, mark, and mature disciples (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus came because of God’s love for the world and God’s desire for the salvation of his human creation (John 3:16). Jesus’ disciples are interested in continuing the work of Jesus.
Can you hear the call from below? The demanding, destroying work of sin urges God’s people onward with the saving message of the gospel. The fact that evil exists in this world and destroys the potential and future of human beings should cause Christians to seek and rescue those who are mired in the emptiness and danger of sin.
The call from around us is the call of countless souls who are seeking a better way but do not know the way. Jesus is the way, truth, and life, but the majority of our friends and neighbors, coworkers and associates do not know how to find and walk in the light that illuminates the way to God. Almost everywhere we look in this world, we see those who are overwhelmed by the consequences of living as if there were no God. Mission work seeks to take the message of Jesus into all the world.
Finally, Christians can hear the call from within. When we have the heart and mind of Christ, our hearts are touched by the plight of those around us. There echoes within our hearts and consciences the desire to do something to help those who struggle to escape the meaninglessness of life without Christ. Our hearts reach out to help with physical needs, but the call within the heart of Christians also demands that we reach out to resolve the spiritual dilemma of life without Christ. The call within demands that we share the Good News of Jesus, because eternal salvation comes in no other name.