Bible Study

September 2003

Becoming an On-Mission Christian: Spiritual Awakening
By Shane Tucker

What do you call a Christian who consistently makes an effort to share the good news with his classmates?

On Fire?

What do you call a believer who constantly raves about her volunteer mission project last summer?

Missions-minded?

How would you describe the follower of Jesus who won’t let the mediocrity of others hinder his incredible calling to the nations?

Passionate?

What adjective do you use to give a picture of the one who makes radical changes in her life on a daily basis so she’ll represent Jesus better?

Deep?
Faithful?
Special?
An unusual Christian?
A “real” Christian?

Try this on for size: ON MISSION.

Notice that the characteristics of the Christians listed above all point to two issues:
(1) God has a MISSION He wants to accomplish in this world.
(2) These Christians are ON that MISSION.

Do you want to be a Christian who is ON MISSION with God?

If you do, then you are the one I’ve been praying for. I am praying for students to answer the call to become ON-MISSION Christians. I am also praying for students to pass on what they learn so others will become ON-MISSION Christians.

Over the next five Bible Studies, we’ll be looking at important characteristics involved in Becoming an ON-MISSION Christian.

If you promise to read “ON MISSION” with vigor every time you see it, then I’ll quit typing it in all caps.

Deal? OK.

Let’s begin our exploration of what it takes to be an on-mission Christian.

Awakened to the Plan*

First, becoming an on-mission Christian requires being spiritually awakened to one’s responsibility to obey the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. If on-mission Christians are spiritually awakened, then one would assume that some Christians are NOT spiritually awakened. Maybe they are sleeping in during the test of their spiritual lives.

Bear with me as I bore you with an illustration about the difference between being awake and asleep. The indentation and italics will make the story seem better than it really is.

I had a strange dream once when I was a young teenager. I dreamt that there were some VERY loud birds bothering me. They were squawking up a storm. So, in my dream, I began grabbing them and trying to squish them in my hands to make them stop squawking so loud. But no matter how hard I squeezed, I could not stop their noise. (Kind of cruel, huh?) When I woke up, I was wringing my hands in front of me, while half a dozen birds sat chirping on my window, separated from me only by few feet and a window screen. So I got up, closed my window, and went back to restful sleep. When I was asleep, I was oblivious to the real problem. I may have recognized something was wrong, but I could not understand the solution until after I was awake.

You see, so many Christians are spiritually asleep. They do not recognize what their purpose is. They grasp neither God’s mission, nor their place in it. They are not kingdom-minded. Maybe they are religion-minded, but they do not grasp kingdom ideals. They have some faint clue of what’s going on, but their only solution is to squeeze the noisy birds. Get it? No. OK. Let’s go to God’s Word. I think He can clear it up.

Check out Matthew 28:19-20. Read it slowly and notice the last clause. Jesus is always with us. You see the Great Commission was not given to us to do on our own. God expects our obedience, but not without His help. Jesus seals the deal. He makes the accomplishment of the Great Commission possible.

He further reveals this truth to his disciples days later, as recorded in Acts. Acts 1:8 says “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We see the first characteristic of an on-mission Christian clearly in this verse. Don’t miss the three subject-verb clauses. (Here we go again with clauses.)

(1) You will receive power. Power is the bold focus to do your task. Power is the unction in your gumption. Power is awakening. When do you receive this awakening? When . . .
(2) The Holy Spirit comes on you. Awakening is essentially God’s doing. The Holy Spirit puts the unction in your gumption. That’s why we call it spiritual awakening. The Holy Spirit awakens us to His task. “What task?” you say. Thanks for asking.
(3) You will be my witnesses. On-mission Christians are spiritually awakening to what? Their responsibility to obey the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. They see that they are responsible for telling the good news of Jesus to the people around them.

God wants to awaken us to His plan for our involvement in His mission. This is the first step to us becoming on-mission Christians. He wants to do a mighty work in our lives, just as He did in the early church.

“Well that means it’s not up to me to become an on-mission Christian. It’s up to God. He’s got to zap me or something. Right?”

Maybe there is some zapping involved, but we need to be “zappable.” We can take the lead from the early church on this matter.

For one thing, the first believers were obedient in what they knew. They did not leave Jerusalem, just as Jesus told them. They waited for the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told them. Do you want spiritual awakening? Obey Jesus. Do you want to have a heart for the nations? Follow His commands. As the early church obeyed Jesus, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower and awaken them.

Examining the first two chapters of Acts, you’ll discover many impressive traits of the early church. In each of these traits they expressed obedience to and their dependence upon God. And notice that God chose to keep them at a state of being empowered and awakened.

Take a look at Acts 1-2. Make a list of traits or behaviors of the early church.

I see them praying fervently. They are waiting expectantly. They are learning from the apostles. What else did you see?

As they drew near to God through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit gave them a bold focus to share the news of the saving power of Jesus. They were spiritually awakened to their responsibility to share the good news.

Do you want spiritual awakening? Do you want a heart for the nations? Do you want to have a bold focus on your purpose within His plan?

Ready yourself, as the early church did. Use your list of traits that you gathered from Acts 1-2 and set some goals for yourself.

Ready yourself for awakening.

*The study book, My Purpose, His Plan, has greatly influenced the ideas, the organization, and the wording for the Bible studies for August through December. Thanks to the North American Mission Board for granting permission to borrow the wonderful ideas in the book. There is a companion video to the study. My suggestions: Get this book! Get the video! Put a group together and enjoy! See www.namb.net for more information.

Shane Tucker is the pastor of Santa Rosa Shores Baptist Church in Gulf Breeze, FL.