Tonight we’re thinking particularly about the church’s mission, as we welcome one of our mission partners and hear of her work in Africa. But what is the motivation for mission? Why should we seek to spread the gospel, whether overseas or to our neighbour?
Our reading tonight gives us the motivation - God has spoken, through his Son, and we have a gospel to proclaim. First of all, God has spoken. This morning Tim was saying that it’s not about our search for God - we can never reach up to find him. Yet God in his grace has revealed himself. The God who spoke creation into being has spoken, first through the prophets in choosing a people for his own possession, but latterly through his Son.
As the writer to the Hebrews talks of Jesus, the Son, he lists seven facts about him. So who is Jesus, the one through whom God has spoken his final and great revelation of himself?
The Son is the heir of all things, the one through whom and for whom all was created. Indeed, he also sustains the universe by the word of his power. We do not have an absentee God, who kicked off creation and left us to ourselves. Rather, our God is intimately involved in his creation, giving us every breath by his command.
The Son is also the one who can perfectly reveal what God is like - because he is the radiance of his glory, and the exact imprint of his nature. For us to know what God is like, we look at Jesus. For us to hear what God is saying, we listen to Jesus in his word.
And what is it God is saying to us in these last days? What is the message that we hear through the Son? As a hymn reminds us: We have a gospel to proclaim - good news for all throughout the earth. As Hebrews tells us, Jesus has made purification for sins, dealing with our sin, and opening the way of access to the Father. Having completed his work, Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the place of honour and power, where he lives to intercede for us.
Jesus is the heir of all things. His blood offers peace to all people, as they trust in him. God has spoken to all, through his Son - and so we must go; we must tell everyone of the good news of Jesus.
This wee word introduced our mission update night in St Elizabeth's Dundonald on Sunday 27th September 2009.
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