The purpose of missions is to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, giving opportunity for sinful man to call upon God for salvation. When that happens, God’s name is magnified and God is glorified. This is perhaps one of the greatest aspects of our Christian faith. When we are involved and see how lives are impacted through the gospel, we bring glory to God.
This is the thought behind John Piper's famous quote in his book on missions, let the Nations Be Glad, “Missions exist because God’s glory doesn’t.” Piper was writing that one of the reasons for missions is bring God to places where God is not known. In those places where God is not known, God is not glorified. Therefore, missions exist to bring God glory.
This is why Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples. In Acts 1:8, Jesus prophesied to them that the “Holy Spirit would come upon them with power and that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.” God commissioned missions to be done through us so that the message of who God is and His salvation in Jesus Christ would be known.
One of the ways we are reaching out to our “Samaria” is through Renuevo, which is our new ministry to reach out to the Latino community. Let us pray for Pastor Eric Martinez and his family as they begin this new work. Let us pray about their monthly need of $2000 a month that they need in support. And let us pray that God would bless our efforts to proclaim the gospel to our “Samaria.”
We should be glad that we as a church we are investing to bring glory to God throughout the earth. It is in the proclamation of the gospel that man can know who God is and His Divine glory. This only happens when Christ is made known and Christ is made known when the church is engaged in missions. When that happens, sinful man will hear the goodnews of the gospel and know who God is.
