Where Am I On Mission?
Did you know that (according to the 2021 Census data) in the three closest suburbs to our church (Joyner, Bray Park, and Warner), there are over 26,000 people who call these suburbs home? Add Cashmere, Lawnton, Petrie, Strathpine, and Brendale, and that number more than doubles to around 60,000 people. Of that number, over 42% described themselves as being non-religious. That’s over 25,000 people, and that doesn’t include people “who reported Secular and Other Spiritual Beliefs such as Atheism, Agnosticism, and Own Spiritual Beliefs” (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021).
Imagine if just 5% of that number put their trust in Jesus and became part of Oasis Church. Imagine how incredible it would be if 10% (or more) started following Jesus. I get excited just thinking about it! There will be less people spending eternity in Hell. There will be more people spending eternity in the presence of their almighty Creator and Redeemer! I love the depiction of God’s people in the book of Revelation.
John writes in Revelation 7:9-10: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”
However, until that day comes, we have an urgent mission. The book of Revelation is about this mission. It highlights God’s judgment of those who don’t put their trust in Jesus, while it also highlights the incredible hope and life that is to be found when trusting in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. In fact, this is what the entirety of the Bible is about. It’s about God establishing his kingdom through Creation, through the Fall, through the Redemptive life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and through Restoring things to how they should be with the new heaven and the new earth.
This should lend an urgency to our mission. There are people in our lives and in our communities who are facing a future apart from God. Whether they recognise it or not, they need Jesus. We have the good news of the gospel to share with them, but are we willing to actually do so? Is it an important and urgent matter for us? Have our lives truly been affected by the gospel? Or are we distracted by other seemingly important and urgent matters, which won’t actually impact our eternity? What if, every moment of every day we were asking the question, “How can I use this moment… this conversation… these actions to tell people the good news of Jesus?” What if that became the driving force for our lives?
For Paul, the gospel was of first importance, and so it should be for us too. I want to leave you with his words as we ponder the question, “Where am I on mission?”
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
Keep trusting Jesus,
Stephen
