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Speaker: Jerry Cisar
“It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission – God’s mission.” (Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God)
Did you know that God has a mission? The story of God’s Mission begins in Genesis 1:1, so that is where we are going to start our new occasional series, The Story of God’s Mission
Key Biblical Texts to Know and Share in God’s Mission.
Genesis 1 intends to answer the deeper questions of life. Scientist Francis Collins, who led the team that mapped the human DNA, says, “we may well discover from science many interesting answers to the question, ‘How does life work?’ What we cannot discover, through science alone, are the answers to the questions, ‘Why is there life anyway?’ and ‘Why am I here?’” (The Language of God, 88) Science can tell us what we can do but cannot tell us whether or not we should do it.
These are the kinds of questions Genesis 1 speaks to. You might call them worldview questions. Genesis 1 answers questions like who is God and how does He interact with creation? What is the world and why was it created? And who are we and what is our purpose?