A lot of Christians seem to be lacking something. They can’t quite put their finger on it, but they feel like there’s something more out there, something they ought to be doing that they’re not. More often than not, when I talk to believers like this, they’re missing out on mission. They don’t realize that God saved them with a purpose.
In many ways, our purpose as believers echoes that of Abraham. In Genesis 13, you see a man who realized that God had given him grace for a reason. And he gives us three ways our lives change in light of the gospel:
1. If We Believe the Gospel, We’ll Become Like the Gospel—Full of Grace
When you read Genesis 13, it’s easy to miss how revolutionary Abraham’s prayer actually is. God has given Abraham a preview into the coming destruction of Sodom—a violent and ruthless city that had already tried to kill Abraham—and Abraham’s response is to pray for mercy.
You see, I used to think that Abraham was praying for Sodom just because his nephew Lot was there. But he could’ve done that directly: “Hey, God, just give me a couple days to get Lot and his family out. Then you can pelt those disgusting pagans with heavenly road tar.” That would have made sense. But instead of that, Abraham pleads with God (and really pushes it, too) to forgive his enemies. This would be equivalent to the families of recent terrorist attacks actively praying for God not to judge ISIS. It’s that extreme.
Why is Abraham doing this? Because he understood that God had chosen him to be a channel of blessing and mercy to the nations. So he rose up to fulfill that destiny. It didn’t matter that Sodom was full of his enemies, because Abraham remembered that at one time, he was God’s enemy. But God had blessed him anyway. And as the recipient of unfathomable grace, he couldn’t help but extend that to others. Neither can we.
2. Each of us is placed into a community to pray and sacrifice on its behalf.
Wherever you are right now, it’s by design. God has placed you into that family, or that community, or that classroom, so that you could ask for blessing and mercy there. God put you there because he’s got a job for you there.
In Acts 17:26, Paul says that God pre-determines “the allotted periods and the boundaries of people’s dwelling places, so that they might learn to seek God.” In other words, God sovereignly arranges where people live so that they might seek him. Your neighbors might think they just moved into the area because of a new job, but you should know that God brought them there to be your neighbors, because he wants them to hear about Jesus. Do you see your neighbors that way? Your workplace? Your school?
This is why we, as the Church, exist. It is literally our divine destiny to extend mercy to the community we find ourselves in. God is looking for people, and he’s going to use his local church to find them. The Church’s existence is proof that God wants to save the lost. Do you see your church that way?
We don’t do this because they deserve grace. They don’t … and neither did we. But as David Platt says, “Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every unsaved person this side of hell.” We owe it to our friends and neighbors to pray for them and sacrifice for them, because Jesus did the same for us. Where would we be if not for God’s grace toward us? That’s precisely where most of our neighbors and co-workers are today.
3. We can pray and give expectantly because of the worthy sacrifice of Jesus.
When Abraham prayed for Sodom, he kept bargaining with God. “What if there are 50 righteous people there, God? You’d spare the city for the sake of 50, right?” “Well, how about 45? 40? … 20? … 10?” But then Abraham stops. Why didn’t he go all the way to 1?
Evidently, Abraham knew that there wasn’t even one righteous person in the city—certainly not righteous enough to spare the whole city on his behalf. This story, you see, raises a question that only the New Testament answers. Is there no one righteous enough for God to save a city—or a nation, or the earth—on his behalf?
There was someone, and his name was Jesus. His righteousness was so great, and his sacrifice on the cross so immensely satisfying to God, that on Jesus’ behalf we can ask God for forgiveness. That’s what it means to pray “in Jesus’ name.”
When we get this, we are empowered to pray big prayers, to expect big things, and to take big risks for God. God has promised great things for his church and for his world, and because of Jesus, I know he’ll follow through.
A lot of Christians seem to talk about the future like they are discouraged. “Oh, we’ve lost the culture. And the world is getting more closed to missions.” When I hear that, I remember that Jesus has a promise to fulfill, and he’s going to fulfill it. He didn’t die so a group of scared Christians could huddle together and hang on until the rapture, or so we could play church, but so that we could go boldly in his name until every people in every place had a thriving witness to the gospel. God isn’t any smaller today than we was back then, and his greatest works may yet be ahead of us.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
