Acts 11:18 18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
We had a great Missions Conference last weekend. Calvary truly has been blessed, not only to have a rich history of supporting missionaries, but to have long-term missionaries return to serve in our body. Also, we have current local missionaries, and regular members who are always reaching out with the Gospel. Praise God this is part of our church’s spiritual DNA!
Remembering missions has such a healthy way of recalibrating what the church is all about. The ultimate goal of the church is worship, but the means to realize that goal is missions (2 Cor. 4:15, Rev. 7:9-10). Evangelism through the local church, and missions beyond her reach, have one and the same purpose – to make disciples, who love and worship Jesus. The central task is to proclaim the gospel, baptize those who believe, and teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). Missions recalibrates our purpose as a church.
Even more so, missions uniquely reflects the heart of God. It’s easy to become distracted with Christian causes other than the central cause of God. In this dispensation it is to gather His people from every nation, tribe and tongue. This staggering new reality is what ignites praise in Acts 11:18. The young Jewish Christians of Jerusalem took issue with Peter’s Gentile ministry (11:2). Peter’s defense is simply, “This is what God is doing! How could I stand in His way?” Gentiles – through faith in Christ – receive the same spiritual rebirth as Jews did at Pentecost (10:44-48; 11:15-17). This is what God is doing! How can we do otherwise? At that, they “quieted down and glorified God…” (11:18).
The same reasoning holds for CBC today. Apart from all the other causes pulsing through American evangelicalism today, the cause of God remains the same: to make disciples of the nations. It is our mission and will be until He returns (Matt. 24:14). The pandemic, the social upheaval, the cultural moral decay – the church has faced all those things before. Yet in it, and through it, Christ is building His church one soul at a time. That’s His cause…that’s His heart. Missions should recalibrate our heart as a church.
Is God’s cause your central cause today? Is your heart in stride with His?
Thanks! See you Sunday,
Pastor Dave
