Blessing continued

I want to say at the start that, although I began this blog with the idea that I could just summarize the things I was learning about missions in the Perspectives course, it has become evident that I will not come close to sharing the full depth and breadth of what this study exposes one to. My son-in-law, Matt, who introduced me to this course and is taking it with me, likened the input of the course to trying to take a drink from a fire hose. With that in mind, I will share some "snippets" of the input thus far.

Although the impression we often have of missions is that the concept was invented in Matt 28 with the "Great Commission" and in Acts 1:8( be witnesses to the ends of the earth), our first lesson shows very clearly that God's intention all along was to witness to the nations from the very beginning. The old testament contains all kinds of clues to this if we look for them. God told Abraham in His covenant with him that he would be a great nations and all the nations would be blessed through him. On Mt Sinai, God told the Israelites that they were to be a kingdom of priests. If they were a kingdom of priests ( by definition a bridge to or ambassador of God) then who were they to be a bridge, ambassador, or priest for except those outside of themselves to the nations of the world. In 1 Pet 2:9 we are called a royal priesthood. Why that title if we are not also to be the "bridge" between God and the nations? How can we even claim that title if we do not? We can follow God's word all through the old and new testaments and find references to God calling His people to be witnesses for Him and to glorify His name among the nations. The reason we have the impression that God only wanted to work with the Israelites in old testament times is that they began looking to their own interests, became pious about their relationship with God, and God had to work through them in different ways than He would have liked to. Take Jonah, for instance. He did not want to go to Nineveh because they were gentiles. He did not want to give them the opportunity that God wanted to give them because he knew God was compassionate and there was a risk that they might repent and win God's compassion and forgiveness. When they did,Jonah became despondent and angry with God, and, as far as we know, never gave in to God's way of thinking. By the way, one of our lecturers mentioned that an Iraqi who he converted to Christ in Kansas City, went back to Iraq recently with the idea of beginning a ministry among the people of Basra(spl?), Iraq (ancient Nineveh) and found a tomb of Jonah, the prophet. What a way to begin a witness among Mulems!