God the Great Missionary's Mission

Christianity's personal Great Commission
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  ¹⁸And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;  ¹⁹To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  ²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.  ²¹For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

In this past several series of blogs we have been sketching out the Eternal Career of God the Great Missionary.  Today we will be concluding our brief look at God the Great Missionary by noting  how God aims to use Christians in His activity as the Great Missionary.

The Triune God - The Author of Reconciliation
Note the three phrases I underscored in the above text.  2 Corinthians 5:17-21 stands out as the believer's personal great commission.  If we identify the Great Commission's pedigree beginning at Genesis 12:1-3 and being reitterated by Jesus to the Apostles in Matthew 28:18-20, then we can say that it is being personalized here in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.  The theme of course is reconciliation.  God's act of reconciliation was His idea from Eternity.  There is no contradiction between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 

It wasn't that God the Son was alone in His compassion towards unsaved human beings, with God the Father being unwilling and angry and the Holy Spirit having to decide between the two.  Rather all three Persons of the Trinity, sharing in the same undivided divine Life as God, chose to act.  The Father planned reconciliation, the Son purchased reconciliation and the Holy Spirit applies reconciliation by gifting folks with faith and repentance to believe on their Reconciler.

God's use of believer's in His mission
 From the three underlined phrases above, I want you to note the three aspects of how God the Great Missionary desires to use all true Christians in His great missionary cause:

1. The Mission's purpose is supplied by Him 5:17-18
-God is desiring to take those whom He has set His affections upon and make them new creatures.  If any man be in Christ refers to the reception of such truth by faith.  The purpose of all this, the gifting of faith and the actual reconciliation of believers to their Savior is all from God. 

2. The Mission is personal  5:19
-God has given us this ministry of reconciliation.  This reveals just how personally involved God desires every Christian to be in this endeavor to reach the world for Jesus Christ. 

3. The Mission is powerful  5:20-21
-The most remarkable thing about this text is that it is God who is making the appeal through us.  Missions truly alligns Christianity with the heart of God. 
-To realize that the salvation of sinners is not up to us, but up to God, and that He so chooses to work through those willing to allign with Him is both a humbling and encouraging truth.
-To realize that God not only indwells Christians at salvation, but desires to work through believers reveals His intent from all eternity, to have a redeemed group of human beings through which He can display the riches of His glory.  May everyone who names Christ in their hearts and on their lips manifest His name in their lives.  Let us all be His mouth and hands and feet in reaching this world for Jesus Christ.