CROSS-CULTURAL MISSION OF GOD

Craig Ott

T he mission of God seeks to enfold people of every nation, tribe, and language into God’s kingdom. Though God has chosen to work through a particular people of His calling—Israel in the OT and the church in the NT—this calling was always with the intent that His people would become agents of His mission to all peoples. We find this beginning with the call of Abraham and the patriarchs (Gn 12:3; see also 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). The election of God’s people was never intended as an end in itself, but rather that they might become a blessing to the nations (Ps 67). Many OT passages point to the day when God would gather peoples from the nations to be included in His purposes and become agents of His kingdom (e.g. Is 56:3,6-8; 66:18-21; Zch 8:20-23).

Jesus taught that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached among all nations before His return (Mt 24:14; Mk 13:10). After His resurrection Jesus commanded His followers to preach in the power of the Spirit repentance and forgiveness through Christ, and to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15; Lk 24:46-47). In short, they are sent on mission into the world as Jesus Himself was sent by the Father (Jn 20:21).

After the death and resurrection of Christ and with the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, God’s mission to the nations bursts forth in a new way through His new people, the church. In Acts 1:8 Jesus indicates that the Spirit would empower His people to become His witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The spread of the disciples’ witness involves crossing geographic barriers moving outward from Jerusalem to increasingly remote regions. This sending also entails crossing ethnic barriers as the gospel moves from the people of Israel to the Samaritans, a people of mixed Israelite and non-Israelite lineage, and on to diverse ethnic groups culturally very different from Israel. Furthermore, religious barriers are crossed as the gospel moves from the people of promise, the Israelites, to the Samaritans, who had a form of OT faith, and on to Gentiles who adhered to a variety of religious beliefs.

The phrase “ends of the earth” underlines the comprehensiveness of the mission and alludes to Isaiah 49:6, which describes the Servant of the Lord: “I will also make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.” These words anticipate not only the work of Christ (Lk 2:32) but also the future witness of His disciples (Ac 13:47).

God’s mission to include in His kingdom people from every nation, tribe, and language will be wonderfully fulfilled (Rv 5:9-10; 7:9). Thus the church today as God’s missionary people can confidently bear witness to Christ and advance His kingdom, near and far, crossing every cultural barrier. We cannot rest until the gospel has been preached in word and deed, and the church is planted among every people, in every locality and from every religious background.