Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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Embracing Your Mission
Jesus' mission was outlined to his parents, even before his birth (Matthew 1:21), and in fact, he was given the name Jesus, because of the mission that he was to fulfill. Whether his parents shared all of this with him or not, though I can't imagine why they wouldn't have done so, Jesus appears to have had a sense of his mission from early on. When he was just twelve years old, on an annual visit to the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus had remained behind among the teachers in the temple and Joseph and Mary had to come back and get him. When they found him three days later, Jesus reminded them simply, "Didn't you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). And, clearly, when Jesus showed up to be baptized by John and to launch out in ministry at around the age of 30, he had a clear sense of what it was that he was supposed to do.
Do you know what it is that God wants you to do? Do I? I know that I felt a strong push to do something significant when I made an initial commitment to Jesus Christ at the age of 9 1/2. Several years later when I got baptized that was even stronger. Even through several years of teenage struggle, that sense that God had something that he wanted me to do was never totally absent. My recommitment to God and later the move to go to Bible school just increased that. Through all of these things, I know that God was leading me forward to the place that he wanted me to be. He continues to do that in all of the experiences of life (see my brief "testimony" on the home page). All of us, though the circumstances of our lives may be vastly different, have a similar story if we look for it. There is a call of God — a mission in life if you will — that is uniquely ours and that God wants us to fulfill.
We can ignore it. We can silence it. We can create our own mission and work to fulfill that. We can run away from it like Old Testament Jonah did. But we can never escape it. "God's gifts and his call are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29). At the same time, if we do these things long enough or hard enough, we can miss it and fail to fulfill that part which God desires us to play. God desires our obedience and participation with him, however, he does not force us to embrace his mission for us. I know this because at one time or another in my life, I have done all of these things. Maybe you have wondered, like I have at times too, whether you simply missed it and it is too late. Novelist Richard Bach said, "Here is a test to find out if your mission in life is complete: if you're alive, it isn't!" The fact that you are reading this means that you still have something to do!
Jesus knew that he had to be about his Father's business (Luke 2:49). He was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15) and received his "call" to public ministry. After this, he "traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God" (Luke 8:1), teaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead. He did, according to his own admission, only what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19) — that which God had called him to do. He knew that he was anointed by God for the task at hand and that it was clear what he was to do (see Luke 4:17-19). He knew that he was, "sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" (Matthew 15:24), but that there were other sheep that would be included later, brought in by others who would go out (see John 10:16). Even opposition to his ministry or attempts on his life could not be carried out because, "his time had not yet come" (John 8:20). Jesus knew that the cross was his ultimate ministry and he told the disciples about his impending death (John 12:20-36 and other places).
Do we know our mission in life like that? Maybe. But if not, why not? Jesus knew from early on and all through his life what it was that he was supposed to do and be. Do we think that God wants to keep us in the dark? I doubt it. I think rather that he loves to reveal his plans to his friends. Jesus said,
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business" (John 15:13-15).
Jesus was about his Father's business. And he wants us to be about his. He wants us to know what it is that we are supposed to do. He says in the very next verse that "I have called you friends for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:16). How was it that Jesus knew so clearly what he was supposed to do? I think that he asked. Father, what do you want me to do? He said that we should ask and seek and knock, "for everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:8). How much more, it says will your Father give to those who ask! James 4:2 tells us plainly that "You do not have, because you do not ask God."
Jesus asked God and God showed him what he was to do. And, I think not just once but each and every day. We need to do the same or we will miss it. Did Jesus ever struggle with his mission? Yes, obviously. Just read the account of him praying in the garden of Gethsemane when the reality and the immensity of his call weighed on him. He struggled, praying so hard that he sweat drops of blood, but here as everywhere he embraced his mission and declared, "yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
What is today's challenge? You have a mission. I know it because you are not dead yet! Ask. Embrace. Do. And, what we discover and accept and accomplish today will prepare us for what God has for us tomorrow and the next day and the day after that until the day when we stand in his presence and he declares, "well done, good and faithful friend" (see Matthew 25:21, 23).
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