We've concluded our thoughts on passing faith on to the next generation...
We've looked at Mission as SERVICE, TRANSFORMATION, SHARING and BEQUEATHING.
Our last three devotions will focus on the great calls to Mission that we find in Scripture.
Our devotion today is by ALAN MAKER, one of our retired (but still very active) ministers.
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Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew28:18-20
The second Creation Story in Genesis centres God's action in a garden. We spend too much time arguing about whether it happened neglecting to try to extract the meaning. Paradise is the place of what AN Whitehead, the British philosopher, called the "manifold harmonies" -- God at peace with humanity, humanity with nature, and nature with God.
The forbidden tree was the one opening the way to the knowledge of good and evil, a Hebrew idiom for everything. If you know everything, you are God. Humanity, unhappy with being a creature, wants to be the creator. Something very similar is told in the story of the tower of Babel. That desire leads to disharmony. The garden is destroyed. The Bible is the story of God's trying to get humanity back into the garden.
God called Abraham to found a people to be be God's instrument to restore harmony to the world. In Genesis 12:3 we read: "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing". God gave the people a specific task -- to be a blessing to all humanity.
Some within Israel interpreted the blessing as an end in itself. They created an exclusive and nationalistic attitude. Within Israel great souls, the prophets and especially Isaiah, held fast to the wider vision. They saw the larger truth and dared to proclaim it.
Jesus came preaching the kingdom, another word for the garden. In that kingdom God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Perfect harmony would be restored. Jesus' teaching so offended the leaders of his time they executed him but God had the last word by raising him from the dead. This gave the assurance good will triumph over evil, justice over injustice, love over hate, and life over death. That is the good news
Jesus handed on to the church (his followers) the task of working with God to make that kingdom a reality.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
