“Missions exists because worship does not.” That quote is
attributed to John Piper who has a gift for making truth memorable. “Worship is
the fuel and goal of missions,” he continues. Because God would make worshipers
from all people (Psalm 67:3-4), and of all people (2 Peter 3:9) missions is the
natural outflow of that purpose.
The Markets have established Black Friday and Cyber Monday
as ways of marking the holiday spending season. Investopedia estimates that the
average American will spend $885 on Christmas gifts this year. Someone said, “We
spend money we don’t have for things we don’t need to impress people we don’t
like.” Well, maybe we like them. One quarter of all Americans expect to go into
debt to buy Christmas presents. Forbes estimates Christmas spending in the US
will total $1 Trillion.
My wife and I watched a child throw a toy down under a pew
at a church’s Santa giveaway years ago exclaiming, “I don’t want it anymore!”
It underscored for us the disposable nature of a lot of Christmas commerce and our
sometimes misplaced efforts to do good at Christmas. I’m not trying to say that
we shouldn’t give gifts to one another at Christmas; I think it’s fine. But at
the same time I believe Advent is a great season to practice missional
generosity.
Advent Reminds us
that God Himself was a Missionary. Jesus came seeking the lost. John 3:16
tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that
whoever believes in Him won’t perish but will have everlasting life. God loved.
God gave so that people might be redeemed. This looks like a pretty good model
to imitate. It is patently obvious that we should be leveraging advent into disciple
making behaviors.
Advent season compels
us to support Missions. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by all the options:
Samaritan’s Purse, Backpacks for Appalachia, Lottie Moon, and all the rest. We
think, “It’s too much.” Ok. You don’t have to do everything, but do something.
Be generous. Give. “I don’t have much.” God only tells us to give in proportion
to our ability (2 Corinthians 8:12-15). As we do this we are reminded of the
one who gave to each of us an “inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
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