“For in Him we live and move and exist.” Acts 17:28 (NLT)
“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” Acts 4:33 (NIV)
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”
Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
We often fall into the trap of thinking that the work of God is something separate that we do as part of our lives. We divide our lives into parts accordingly: our work life, our home life, our recreational life, our spiritual life. It is a false categorization. It is an arbitrary and untrue way of viewing life.
We have one life. And if we are Christ Followers, that one life is in Him. “In Him we live and move and exist.” I like the KJV even better: “In Him we live and move and have our being.”
It is wrong to think that only part of life is spiritual. All of life is spiritual! All of life is a gift from God. All of life we are on mission. In every aspect of our lives, we are sent.
We talked in a previous chapter about the truth that God is always at work around us. It has been helpful to me to think of mission and sentness in three dimensions.
Missiologists have coined the phrases first space, second space and third space to help us grab this concept. Here it is in simple words:
Where I live – that is my first space to be on mission.
Where I work – that is my second space to be on mission.
Where I play – that is my third space to be on mission.
It is a three dimensional way of looking at mission. Let’s combine it with the truth that God is always at work.
God is at work where I live – in my home and my community – and wants me to join Him on mission. That is my first space.
God is at work where I work – in my workplace – and wants me join Him on mission. That is my second space.
God is work where I play – in my hang out place – and wants me to join Him on mission. That is my third space.
God is at work where I live, work and play – and wants me to join Him in that work.
That changes everything!
I am very resistant to the idea that my mission from God is to find one thing to do and to do it with one part of my life. I am very open to the idea that the God who is always on mission is already on mission where I live, work and play and wants all of my life to be on mission with Him.
Mission is not something I sometimes do. Being missional becomes something that I always want to be.
If we live and move and exist in Christ …
And if Christ is already at work where we live, work and play …
Then we are always on mission.
I grew up with a strong sense of family. I had two parents, six grandparents (that is a long story) and more aunts and uncles and cousins than I could count. We were almost the Waltons! There were plenty of people in my life to show me and teach me and remind me what it meant to be a Southerland. Being a Southerland was a way of life. It was a creed. It was a mantra. It was who we were.
Years after I moved away from my Texas based family to South Florida, I learned that I was still a Southerland. That way of living had crept into my soul. It was not a geography based thing. It was not based on geographical distance from other Southerlands. It was in me! And I have passed it on to my kids and grandkids (or as I call them, my chickens and grand chickens).
How much truer is that of our identity in Christ? If Christ is always on mission, and He lives in us, then we are always on mission. Being on mission is not an issue of geography. If Christ is always working where we live, work and play, then we are always on mission where we live, work and play. Missions is not a matter of geography. Missions is a matter of culture. If I am a missionary – than I am on mission wherever I am. Missions is not something I do. Missional is something I am!
Rick Warren says it this way:
“The mission that Jesus had while on earth is now our mission since we are the Body of Christ. What he did in his physical body, we are to continue as his spiritual body - the church. What is that mission? Introducing people to God! The Bible says Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others His friends also."
If my identity is in Christ, then I must embrace my sentness. If my mission is the mission of Christ, then I am always about the mission of helping others find their way to God. That mission will impact every area – every dimension – of my life.
Jesus – use us where we live, work and play as we are on mission with you.