Bible Study

December 2003

Becoming an On Mission Christian: Advocating His Mission
by Shane Tucker

What are the four “A’s” to being an on mission Christian?

1) Being Awakened by God.
2) Making Adjustments in your life to His Plan.
3) Total Evangelistic Activation of every gift, ability, or opportunity.
4) Advocating His Mission to others.

For the last few months we’ve been discussing what it takes to be an on mission Christian. We’ve learned that its deeper than just going on a mission trip or praying for an unreached people group. On the other hand, these activities can and should be a natural outcome of becoming more of an on mission Christian. But being an on mission Christian means having some personal, spiritual characteristics. Those are what we have been looking into lately.

And since they are so spiritual, they naturally lead to alliteration. (Just listen to your preacher next Sunday!) Yes. The 4 “A’s.” *

We’ll look at the final “A” this month.

Advocating His mission

Becoming an on mission Christian means that we will become advocates of His mission among our brothers and sisters in Christ.

According to Webster (not the little guy on TV Land), an “advocate” is one who pleads or espouses a cause. If you are to be an advocate, then what cause will you espouse, or marry yourself to?

The cause of Christ. The cause IS Christ. The cause is His Mission. His Plan. His Agenda. Will you marry yourself to this cause? Will you plead the case for this focus to be the focus of the believers around you?

To be a good advocate for a cause, you must first be passionately committed to the cause yourself. That’s what we’ve been discussing in the prior studies: your personal commitment to participating in God’s Mission. Are you fully commitment to being on mission with God? Probably not. Are you at least moving in that direction day by day? Hopefully so.

Here’s where it gets ugly. You, having an imperfect yet growing commitment to the Lord’s Mission, are now enlisted to rally others to His Cause. You get the fun job of motivating the unmotivated to also get on board. But it’s not so bad. Notice I didn’t write “unmotivatable,” but simply unmotivated. They are not incapable of being motivated to be on mission with God, for their created purpose is to know God and to make Him known. They are just like you . . . a year ago, or so . . . before some on mission Christian submitted to the God-given responsibility of advocating His Mission. Those people who just don’t get it: they are YOU, minus a bit of awakening, minus a few adjustments, minus a gift or two activated. There is hope for them, and God wants you to be the vessel of that hope.

“Is there anything in the Bible about this advocacy thing.”

Yes. From some surprising places. Check out Hebrews 10:19-25. Hmm. Read the whole thing in context. Please get your Bible and read it. The context is a call to persevere because of the hope we have in Christ. You see, since we have such a wonderful savior and a wonderful salvation, then we should keep on practicing our faith and practicing it together, even in the face of trials.

Let’s focus on verse 24: “And let us consider how me may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” OK. One of the practices of our faith should be to spur others on to do what’s right. Is it right to be on mission with God? Is it important to the obedience of the Church? Well yes. Of course. Then we are mandated to spur others on to do so.

We are to put a charge in them like a rider does a horse. We are to give them all the motivation it takes, even uncomfortable kinds of motivation, until they are ready to be on mission. This command is given to you to be carried out in the context of the regular gathering of believers. This is the type of behavior you should be engaging in whenever you gather with other believers.

What do you do when you gather with other believers? Do you gossip in the form of prayer requests? Do you bellyache about what is not going right in your church or ministry group? Are you giving up on those believers who just don’t get it?

According to Hebrews, you should be spurring others on when you meet together.

According to Hebrews, you should not give up on other believers, even when they don’t get it.

According to Hebrews, you should be encouraging others as often as you can.

All this sounds like being an ADVOCATE to me.

Be on mission with God. Be an advocate.

*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.