The Mission Motive
The Mission Motive
God’s Mission is Motivated by God’s Compassion
God's motivation for His mission is God's compassion.
Welcome to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.
Our sermon soundbite today comes from Matthew 9:35-38, "And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them." Notice the motivation is not fear. It's not guilt. It's not anger. God's motivation for His mission is God's compassion, His compassion, His love, because God is love. To quote the Jesus Storybook Bible ... Who here has read the Jesus Storybook Bible? Okay. It's for little kids, but I tell you what, if you read it, it's like a theological education. Please buy yourself that regardless of your age, read it to your grandchildren. Read it to your children. It's a beautiful book.
As Jesus Storybook Bible says about God's love, "It's a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love." That's God's love. That means that the moment that humanity walked away from God, the moment Adam and Eve walked away, ran away from God, God was running after them because God is full of compassion. That means every time that you make a decision where you turn away from God, what is God doing? He's running after you.
Notice that it's Jesus that goes out. He doesn't wait for people to come. He's the one going out from village to village, healing and bringing his good news. Compassion. it comes from this Greek word that's related to the gut. It's that feeling you get, that intense feeling when you see someone in need that compels you to move forward into their pain. It compels you to join them in it, to bring them what they need. That's compassion. And that is the heart of God.
It's God's compassion that led Him to His mission. When He saw our situation, it's His compassion that brought Him to join us in our suffering on the cross, so that as He's connected to us in our suffering, He brings us the healing we need. He brings us Himself.
So likewise, when we think about God's mission, about being on God's mission with Him, because He's inviting us into His mission with Him, we need to think about our motivations. Not guilt, not fear, not anger, but compassion.
Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer. The collect for World Mission Sunday can be found on page 604.
Almighty God, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
