/ Essence Essence = intrinsic nature r indispensible quality f smething Gd, by His very essence/nature is a Missinary Gd (a Sending Gd) As Gd s image-bearers we are made and meant t live life n missin Matthew 28:17-20 18 And Jesus came up and spke t them, saying, "All authrity has been given t Me in heaven and n earth. 19 G therefre and make disciples f all the natins, baptizing them in the name f the Father and the Sn and the Hly Spirit, 20 teaching them t bserve all that I cmmanded yu; and l, I am with yu always, even t the end f the age." What Jesus des here is present the essence and authrity f Christian missin as being based slely in the Triune nature f Gd All authrity in the name f In a pluralistic culture (a culture that recgnizes mre than ne ultimate principle), and where there are numerus cmpeting and ppular truth claims, we need t knw by what pwer, r in what name we d missin. (Cf. Act 4:7) Baptism means a change f allegiance and a cmmitment t a new cmmunity (The cmmunity f the Trinity) That is the authrity that we have t call peple t change allegiance T be a Christian is t be a Trinitarian Smene wh believes in, wrships, bases the meaning and activity f existence n the Triune Gd What des it mean that Gd is Triune What is the Trinity? (Gd as the Three in One) First f all, what des it nt mean? It des nt mean that there are three gds (tritheism) It des nt mean Gd has three mdes f ne and the same being (mdalism) Tritheism denies that Gd is ne (the simplicity f Gd) (Cf. Deuternmy 6:4) Mdalism denies that Gd exists in three Persns (The plurality f Gd) (Cf. Mt 28:19) It des mean that Gd is a triunity 1 = A plurality within unity = Gd has a plurality f persns and a unity f essence = Gd is three persns in ne nature/essence = There is nly ne What (essence r being) in Gd, but there are three Whs (persns r ways f being) in that ne What.1 Nrman Geisler, Systematic Thelgy (Vlume Tw) (Minneaplis: Bethany Huse, 2003) 279.
This is what Jesus was referring t when He said I and the Father are ne (Jn. 10:30) That they are ne essence. One what. Nt that they are the same persn. The Sn is nt the Father. Distinct in persn, ne in essence. Jesus = Gd; The Father = Gd; The Spirit = Gd; but Gd des nt equal just ne f them. Gd = Father, Sn and hly Spirit The triunity f Gd (His unity and plurality) is a mystery but nt a cntradictin. 2 My gal here is nt t carefully articulate the dctrine f the Trinity, r give a defense f it My gal is t help us begin t apply it in the area f missin It is imperative that we d this since missin exists because f the essence r nature f Gd It is in the very being and character f Gd that the deepest grund f the missinary enterprise is t be fund. Gerge W. Peters, missilgist 3 Missin is nt primarily an activity f the Church, but an attribute f Gd. We can t even rightly think abut missin r be inspired t be n missin unless we realize the surce and essence f missin It is nt the Church that has a missin f salvatin t fulfill in the wrld; it is the missin f Christ that includes the Church. 4 If missin is essentially Gd s missin, then the Trinity is fundatinal fr an understanding f missin One f the ways we can begin t apply the essence/nature f Gd (the dctrine f the Trinity) t ur lives (as they pertain t missin) is t think abut the scial r relatinal aspect f Gd s Triune nature r essence Where we start with this is the fundatinal revelatin and statement that Gd is lve (1 Jhn 4:8) What des it mean that Gd is (in essence) lve? Befre creatin, befre all else it wuld mean that Gd has always existed in a plurality r cmmunity Befre anything else was, Gd was. Lve must have an bject, an pprtunity fr expressin, directin, actin (we culd argue therwise I suppse [ex. Self-lve], but that is certainly nt the way we understand Gd as lve) C. S. Lewis explains: All srts f peple are fnd f repeating the Christian statement that Gd is lve. But they seem nt t ntice that the wrds Gd is lve have n real meaning unless Gd cntains at least tw Persns. Lve is smething that ne persn has fr anther persn. If Gd was a single persn, then befre the 2 2 The Nicene Creed establishes that the Triune Gd is ne usia (essence/nature) in three hypstases (instances r persns). 3 Gerge W. Peters, A Biblical Thelgy f Missins (Chicag: Mdy Press, 1972), 55. 4 Jurgen Mltmann, The Church in the Pwer f the Spirit: A Cntributin t Messianic Ecclesilgy (Lndn: SCM Press, 1977), 64 Britt Merrick 2009 1.11.9
wrld was made, He was nt lve. [Christians] believe that the living, dynamic activity f lve has been ging n in Gd frever and has created everything else. 5 3 One f the ways that we can then think abut Gd as lve and as a Triunity, is Gd existing as a family r cmmunity This understanding is called The Scial Trinity because it uses a scial analgy fr the Trinity This puts an emphasis n the dynamic nature f Gd s life In Gd s threeness, Gd is related t Gdself. 6 Intertrinitarian lve and cmmunicatin (This is nt a freign idea t us, thugh the language might be new t us. We see Jesus relating t, cmmunicating with, and lving the Father in the Gspels all the time. This is familiar grund.) The Father, Sn, and Hly Spirit enjy a dynamic life tgether, glrifying and lving ne anther. The threeness f Gd reminds us nt t think f Gd as static r as an individual. Rather, we must think f Gd as eternal, dynamic fellwship. 7 This understanding then infrms what we think abut the statement: Gd is lve Lve is active, never static, always reaching ut, cmmunal, and always seeking the betterment f and best fr thers. Lve des nt permit the lver t rest in himself. It draws him ut f himself, s that he may be entirely in the belved. -Pseud-Dinysius the sixth century spiritual thelgian 8 What we see in the Gspels is this eternal mvement in Gd, made manifest, in human flesh and histry: We are tld that the Father lves and glrifies the Sn That the Sn glrifies and beys the Father That the Spirit glrifies the Sn and is the gift f the Father wh is sent by bth the Father and the Sn We als see in the Gspels this radical fcus n the ther: The Father tells us t lk t and listen t His belved Sn The Sn says t wait fr the Hly Spirit The Hly Spirit is sent t glrify Jesus Jesus directs us t the Father s glry This circle f lve, hnr, deference What this illustrates is the essence f lve the essence f Gd (Gd is lve) Since Gd is lve, Gd is n missin (In His very essence) The nature f lve is t g ut f itself T be ther-centered, nt self-centered r egcentric T reach utward (nt being inward riented) Out f the cmmunal lve within the Trinity flws Gd s lve fr the wrld utside the Trinity. 9 5 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New Yrk: Macmillan, 1960), 151. 6 Jnathan R. Wilsn, Why Church Matters: Wrship, Ministry, and Missin in Practice (Grand Rapids: Brazs Press, 2006), 55. 7 Wilsn, 55. 8 As quted in Stephen Seamands, Ministry in the Image f Gd: The Trinitarian Shape f Christian Service (Dwners Grve, Ill.: IVP Bks), 163. Britt Merrick 2009 1.11.9
4 We are created in the image f Gd but that image is marred by sin and the Fall When we are brn-again, we are re-made in the image f Gd What was marred is restred We are new creatins We are re-made are re-riented We becme redeemed image-bearers Part f what it means t be a redeemed image-bearer is t recapture the essence/nature f Gd in the actin f ur lives T be n missin because Gd is a Missinary Gd T be sent because Gd is a Sending Gd T lve thers because Gd is lve Missin has its rigin in the heart f Gd. Gd is the fundatin f sending lve. This is the deepest surce f missin. Missilgist David Bsch 10 Part f ur understanding f the wrk f salvatin is that Christ is in us (Cf. Cl 1:27) But we are als in Christ (Cf. Rmans 8:1; Jhn 17:21) (Thrugh being baptized in the name f) One f the ways that we can understand what it means t be in Christ r in Gd is that it is t participate in His life in Gd s life 11 The life f the Triune Gd f the Trinity Nw Because the very nature/essence f Gd is t be a missinary Gd (sending lve), ne culd almst say that there is n participatin in Christ withut being n missin with Christ! Put in a less cnfrntatinal way: Missin is nt smething we can d utside f Gd, it is ur participatin in the life f the Triune Gd! T participate in missin is t participate in the mvement f Gd s lve tward peple, since Gd is a funtain f sending lve. Missilgist David Bsch 12 In Jhn 17:26 Jesus prays t the Father That the lve with which yu have lved Me may be in them, and I in them. S, Gd s ging ut f Himself t create, redeem, and renew the wrld (and ur participatin in that) flws frm the lve relatinship the Father, Sn, and Hly Spirit have with each ther. The cmmunin and cmmunity that we have been baptized int And then flws thrugh us! (missin) 9 Seamands,163. 10 Seamands,157. 11 Jnathan R. Wilsn, Why Church Matters: Wrship, Ministry, and Missin in Practice (Grand Rapids: Brazs Press, 2006), 55. 12 David Bsch, Transfrming Missin: Paradigm Shifts in Thelgy f Missin (Maryknll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 390. Britt Merrick 2009 1.11.9
As fr this eternal mvement breaking int the time/space cntinuum, ne thelgian explains it this way: Gd is Sender, Sent, and Sending 13 5 The Father is the first missinary 14 He ges ut f Himself in creating the wrld And in sending the Sn t redeem the wrld Gd the Father sends the Sn (Jn 3:17; 5:36; 6:57; Gal 4:6; 1 Jn 4:9*) The Sn is the secnd missinary He redeems all f humanity and creatin thrugh His life and death and resurrectin and exaltatin The Father and the Sn send the Hly Spirit (Jn 14:26; 15:26; Acts 2:33) The Hly Spirit is the third missinary He cnvicts the wrld f sin righteusness and judgement He creates and empwers the Church The Father, Sn, and the Hly Spirit send the church int the wrld (Mt 28:19-20; Jn 17:18*; 20:21*; Acts 1:8; 13:2-3) As the Father has sent me, I als send yu (Jn 20:21) Our being sent is patterned after, and is participatin in the divine sending We (the Church) becme the furth missinary An extensin f the life f the Triune Gd This helps is recapture ur sense f sent-ness and gives us a better impetus fr missin. We realize nw that it is nt an bligatin, r a gd idea, r the mere beying f a cmmand (thugh that is gd), r simply a matter f serving the church, r f helping humanity (all gd) But it is actually participating in the life and lve and essence f Gd The very essence/nature f Gd, which transcends all ther causes When we jin in Gd s missin (Gd s heart) we are cnnecting with Gd n a much deeper level than when we are ding things fr Gd. Nw we are truly ding things with Gd. T participate in missin is t participate in the mvement f Gd s lve tward peple, since Gd is a funtain f sending lve. 15 Our missinary activities are nly authentic insfar as they reflect participatin in the missin f Gd. 16 What this means practically (tmrrw): We need t begin t see what Gd is ding arund us Read life missilgically (Cf. The expsitin r descriptin f life) Once we understand that ur call t missin is really a fact f ur being re-made as the image-bearers f the essence f Gd we begin t see things differently 13 Paul Stevens as quted in Seamands,161. 14 This sectin frm Seamands, 161. 15 Missilgist David Bsch as quted in Stephen Seamands, Ministry in the Image f Gd: The Tinitarian Shape f Christian Service (Dwners Grve: IVP Bks, 2005), 157. 16 David Bsch, Transfrming Missin: Paradigm Shifts in Thelgy f Missin (Maryknll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 391. Britt Merrick 2009 1.11.9
6 Understanding the Trinitarian basis fr missin is crucial because it enables us t ask the right questin. Cnfrnted with an absence f passin fr missin we ften ask, What must we d dispel ur apathy and rekindle ur passin fr renewed missin invlvement? S we issue calls t prayer and devise strategies t mtivate urselves and thers. Of curse, gd may cme frm ur effrts, but ur apprach is wrngheaded because it s based n the faulty assumptin that missin is primarily abut what we d fr Gd. If, hwever, we begin with the assumptin that the Father, Sn and Hly Spirit are already passinately engaged in missin t the wrld the questin gets reframed. Instead f What d we have t d t stir up ur passin and increase ur engagement in missin? it becmes What s hindering us frm jining the missin in which the Father, Sn and Hly Spirit are already engaged? 17 (Stephen Seamands frm Ministry in the Image f Gd) That is what we need t ask urselves. What is keeping us frm participating in the very essence and life f Gd? 17 Seamands, 168-169. Britt Merrick 2009 1.11.9