I grew up in churches that always promoted missions. This was a good thing. I was regularly presented with the need to send missionaries to other countries. I heard about the spiritual darkness that billions of people encounter daily. I met hundreds of missionaries with a genuine heart to tell others about God's love. Their passion, sacrifice, and commitment were inspiring. I even went on multiple mission trips as a teenager.
Visiting Costa Rica as a sixteen-year-old was a wonderful and memorable experience that helped solidify everything I saw and heard in church growing up. The need was real, the commands in Scripture were real, and the heart and commitment of missionaries were equally as real.
While I view all of this as positive, it was incomplete. I was told about the need that existed. I was presented with the biblical mandate to take the gospel worldwide. I even witnessed first-hand the commitment of genuine, hardworking missionaries. However, I was rarely, if ever, presented with the ultimate motivation.
While the need, namely the overwhelming lostness, is a motivation, it is not the ultimate motivation. It is true that the Gospels and Acts contain numerous commands to commit to local and global evangelism. However, obedience to these commands is also not the ultimate motivation. I witnessed the love missionaries had for the people they served. And while this is needed, it is still a secondary focus.
I was missing the ultimate motivation for missions and evangelism. Why does this matter? Regardless of how noble or needed secondary motivations may be, they can become a distraction from the primary motivation.
So, what is the ultimate motivation?
To understand this, we have to gain a more complete understanding of Scripture. Missions is not just a New Testament concept; it is a biblical concept. The motivation of missions is not fueled by need, nor is it driven by obedience.
Biblical missions is fueled by understanding, embracing, and reflecting God's heart for all people.
Once we truly understand God's desire for all people to worship and love him, we will be able to reflect and demonstrate that same heart. Why are more people not passionate about missions and evangelism? It's not because they don't see the need—the need is painfully obvious. It's not because they don't understand the New Testament commands—they are easy to read and understand.
The reality is that more people do not embrace missions and evangelism because they lack the correct motivation. They don't share God's heart. They fail to see that from the book of Genesis (and in every book that follows), God has demonstrated and communicated his love for all people and his desire to be known by all people.
Understanding and embracing this heart is the foundation of biblical missions.
This series of posts will help us better understand, embrace, and reflect God's heart for all people.
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