This thread is an invitation to discuss Dr. Cristopher j. H. Wright's teachings about the Mission of God and the Mission of God's People based on the following series of conferences presented at Dallas Theological Seminary:

• God's Anomalous Plan: The Scope of God's Mission - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• God's Anomalous People: Who Are We and Why Are We Here? - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• Solomon's Anomalous Prayer - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• Integrating the Anomaly: Jesus Brings It All Together - Christopher J. H. Wright.

I'll be further building this opening post as I listen to these conferences myself. In the mean time, feel free to provide input based on your understanding of Dr Wright's conferences, research and writings on mission. Following are a few personal notes I took as I listened to God's Anomalous Plan: The Scope of God's Mission, the first of four conferences by Christopher J. H. Wright enumerated in the above quoted post.

Key biblical passages: Genesis 12, Genesis 18-19, Isaiah 1, Ezekiel 16, Leviticus 18, Deuteronomy 10, and Matthew 5:13.

Introductory thoughts. The word "anomaly" can be defined as "something that deviates from what is standard, normal or expected. It is a good way to define what mission is. To be called by God for serving His purpose is always going to be anomalous, because we are in the world, but the world does not own us. I will be asking three questions: What kind of world are we living in? What is the plan and mission of God? What does God require of us? Gen 18 and 19 help us answer these questions.

The story that we read in Genesis 18 and 19 combined answers these questions. It shows us a world which is a mess, and a world that stands under God's judgement. It reminds us of God's promise of ultimate blessing for this word. It shows us exactly what God wants us to be in this world if we are going to participate in God's anomalous plan for this world.

1. What kind of world are we living in?

Sodom as a picture of the world under the judgement of God (Genesis 18:1-15-21, Genesis 19, Isaiah 1, Ezekiel 16). God heard the outcry of the people suffering in Sodom and Gomorrah. There is suffering and cruelty going on. It is a place of oppression, of hostile lust. The prophet Isaiah condemns Jerusalem for being as Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1). Why? It has become a place of social corruption of the legal system and of the political world, of murder and bloodshed. Ezekiel goes even further. He compares the people of Jerusalem and Judah so wicked that they make Sodom and Gomorrah look righteous (Ezekiel 16). This is a picture of the fallen world, as well in the times of Abraham as in our own days.

2. What is the plan and mission of God?

Abraham and the promise of God's mission (Genesis 18:18, Genesis 12:1-3, Galatians 3:8, Revelation 7). All nations on earth will be blessed through Abraham. On His way to judgement, God Himself is going to pause and remember his long term purpose of blessing to all the nations on earth. This promise of Genesis 12:1-3 is repeated five times in the book of Genesis. The apostle Paul in Galatians 3:8 bases his teaching of the Gospel on Abraham's promise. Scriptures show many people from the nations blessed by God.

3. What does God require of us?

A people who walk in the way of the Lord (Genesis 18:19). We see an enormous contrast between the way of Sodom (Gen 19) and the way of the Lord. God says that in a world walking in injustice, he wants to create a community of people walking in justice. God wants a people who are distinct. Leviticus 18. Matthew 5:13. Deuteronomy 10. Deuteronomy 10:17. Deuteronomy 10:19. God wants His people to be different from the people of Egypt and from the people of Canaan. He wants a people that are distinct.

While God rules the universe, where do you find Him at work? He is found amongst the needy, the marginalized, the landless, the foreigners. Do what God does. Walk in the ways of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. Micah 6:8. Genesis 18:19 One sentence sums it up. God calls and create His people (election) so that they live in a certain way (ethics), and so that God will fulfil His promise to bless all nations (mission). As we live as God's people is the vital link between our calling and our mission.

Concluding thoughts. If we choose to live according to the ways of Sodom and Gomorrah instead of walking in the ways of the Lord, we deny the very purpose of our calling, we deny the very purpose of God. To be a Christian in this world can sometimes be uncomfortable. If your desire is to press on walking in the ways of the Lord, if you want to imitate God, if you want to live your life in a way that pleases God, if that is the greatest desire of your heart, you are already contributing to God's mission.

It is my hope that these notes of mine jotted down as I listened to the conference will help convince you to listen to the conference for yourself, for there are many finer points explained and illustrated therein that have not been made justice to here.

See also this forum's French language discussion, La mission du peuple de Dieu (MPD), Christopher J. H. Wright.

This thread is an invitation to discuss Dr. Cristopher j. H. Wright's teachings about the Mission of God and the Mission of God's People based on the following series of conferences presented at Dallas Theological Seminary:

• God's Anomalous Plan: The Scope of God's Mission - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• God's Anomalous People: Who Are We and Why Are We Here? - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• Solomon's Anomalous Prayer - Christopher J. H. Wright;
• Integrating the Anomaly: Jesus Brings It All Together - Christopher J. H. Wright.

I'll be further building this opening post as I listen to these conferences myself. In the mean time, feel free to provide input based on your understanding of Dr Wright's conferences, research and writings on mission. Following are a few personal notes I took as I listened to God's Anomalous People: Who Are We and Why Are We Here? - Christopher J. H. Wright, the second of four conferences by Christopher J. H. Wright enumerated in the above quoted post.

Key biblical passages:

Exodus 19:1-6, Leviticus 10, Deuteronomy 33, Romans 15:16, 1 Peter 2, Leviticus 18:3-5, Leviticus 19.

Introduction.

I want to begin with asking two questions: Who are we and what are we here for? What's the meaning of your life? Our answer will depend on what stories we are living in. Everyone lives within a narrative. Some have a sense of living in a broader story that make sense to our life. What govern our culture is the story that things are getting better. Another story is that we go from Big Bang to Big Crunch. There is no story to live by in the latter.

Here is a story : «For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). It is a story. It's got a beginning, and end, a problem, a solution. That is a story worth living by.

So what story are we living in? Let us consider Exodus 19:1-6 for a moment. What story is this little piece, Exodus 19, part of? Who were Israel, in the Old Testament? and what were they there for? What was the reason for their existence? The answer is that they were part of a very much bigger story, not only the story of the exodus, but God's big story, this great biblical drama that fills the whole of the past, the present, and the future. I hope we have a sense that's the story we are living in.

The big story in a nutshell: Act 1, God creates the world; Act 2, Something went wrong; Act 3, God does not leave us there, there is a promise of blessing; Act 4, the whole Gospel story; Act 5, the Holy Spirit is poured out, and the people of God is launched throughout the world; Act 6, Christ return, new creation, new heaven and new earth.

In Exodus 19:1-6, God explains the past, pointing to the future, calling for a response in the present. Grace is there in all parts.

1. Past Grace.

The people of God had seen what God had did, taking them out of Egypt. They had cried for help. God had heard their groaning and was concerned about them, saw their suffering, and he had come to deliver them through Moses. He had intervened in the story of the world's nations, in the story of Egypt. The law was given to people who were already redeemed. Grace came first. The law was given to help people to live as redeemed people. You have seen what I have done. If you will obey, we can move on to something else.

God's grace comes first. All of our lives must be lived under grace. Our obedience comes out of our having received grace. There are imperatives, but grace comes first, and obedience follows. This was true in the Old Testament, and it remains true in the New Testament. That has to be the pattern of our mission. A deep well of the grace of God must be behind any of our other motivation for doing mission.

2. Future Grace of God's Mission.

God at the top of mount Sinai said, you are my special people, but to not think that you are the only people that I love, for all the nations of the earth are mine, all this earth is mine. This is the God of the earth speaking here in Exodus 19:1-6. We have here universality and particularity. God rescued one nation out of another nation. The particular. The specific. But God would also deliver all nations. Who is this God? It is the God we see earlier in the Genesis and Exodus story. The God who had made a promise to Abraham years ago. This is God fulfilling His purpose, with His people, and with the nations, and with the entire world. God is engaged in a future oriented plan. So here we have the past grace as well as the future grace. that's where we always stand.

Who are we? We are the people whom God has redeemed. What are we here for? We are here to be that people through whom God is at work. This perspective helps me making sense of life. I can be me because God has a plan into which I fit. What story are you living in? Are you living into God's story or are you living in the world's story with a bit of a Christian veneer added-on into it?

3. Present Grace.

The Present grace of God's people living in God's world. Exodus 19:6. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. What was the job of the priest in Old Testament Israel? He worked in two directions. Teacher of God's law (Leviticus 10, Deuteronomy 33). Through the priest, God would become known to the people. Hosea 4 says there is no knowledge of God in the land. He accuses the priests. Because the priests had not been teaching God's law. Secondly it was the job of the priest to bring the people to God. This he did through the atoning sacrifices. Because your sins are covered with the atonement, you can come back into relation with God. The job of the priest is to bring God to the people, and to bring the people to God. God said to the Israelites you will be to the nations what your priests are to you. We know today that Jesus Christ is the accomplishment of this priestliness of God's people, but there remain a job of bringing God to the people and of bringing the people to God.

In Romans 15:16, Paul, who did not qualify to be a priest, according to Old Testament law, described is evangelistic activities in terms of the Old Testament priestly language. Peter applied these very concept in the same manner to the entire people of God (1 Peter 2).

How do we be that priestly people? By being a holy people. That means to be different. God wants people not to be religious but to be different. Leviticus 18:3-5. You must not do what they do in Egypt or Canaan. You must rather follow my ways. Leviticus 19. You've got to be a people that is different. Leviticus 19 talks about day-to-day matters. Holiness is a down-to-earth way of living. Leviticus 19. Family life, social welfare, employment law, criminal justice, racial equality under the law, honesty in business. This is God's idea of what holiness means. We are called to be salt and light in the world. Salt and light are different. They are distinctive.

Obedience meant living in God's law. This has nothing to do with work righteousness. This is all about grace. This obedience in Leviticus 19 is not a condition of salvation. It is a condition of mission. God says, I have saved you, you are my people. Now on the basis of my grace, this is how I want you to live. And by living this way you can be in the world amongst the nations to have a mission amongst the nations. What we have is the grace of obedience responding to the grace of redemption for the sake of what God wants to do in the world.

Conclusion

Who are we? What are we here for? We are people who have experienced the past grace of God's saving work at the cross of Christ. But also, we are people that God wants to use in this mission to bring the blessing to all the people of the whole earth. And we are also called to live in the present grace. We are as 1 Peter 2 describes us. Live a good life amongst the nations so they can see how you live. Live in that story for the sake of what God is doing in this world.

Why this post?

It is my hope that these notes of mine all too quickly jotted down as I listened to the conference will help convince you to listen to it for yourself, for there are many finer points explained and illustrated therein that have not been made justice to here.

See also this forum's French language discussion, La mission du peuple de Dieu (MPD), Christopher J. H. Wright.

Following are a few personal notes I took as I listened to Solomon's Anomalous Prayer - Christopher J. H. Wright, the third of four conferences by Christopher J. H. Wright enumerated in the opening post. Key biblical passages: 1 Kings 8, Ephesians 2.

Jesus after his resurrection spent time with disciples to show them from Scriptures (Old Testament), not only that he had come to fulfil Scriptures, but also that repentance and forgiveness must be preached to the nations, which is mission. Solomon's prayer is quite significant in the story of Israel. This was the day when the temple would be dedicated to the Lord, and the Lord would be invited to declare his presence in this place. Above all, this would be the place where God's name would be placed. I want to look at this prayer to see what it can teach us about missions. I'm not suggesting Solomon was a missionary. What I am suggesting is that in this part of Scriptures, Solomon's prayer includes some affirmations of truth about God in His relationship with the world. In other words, it is part of our theology of mission. I'd like us to see three things, the first of which is this: the God who keeps his promise.

The God who keeps his promise (1 King 8:22-26). Solomon in his prayer focuses on God Himself. There is no God that does this. Solomon is virtually quoting Deuteronomy 4:35, 39. That in itself is a mission truth. He is a holy God. He is a living God. Micah 7:18. There is no God like the Lord in pardoning sin. Other gods don't do that. In fact He is the Only God there is. This is a mission statement. Solomon focuses on a God who kept His promise to David in particular. Solomon took us back to David, but also to Abraham and the promise God made that all nations on earth would be blessed.

The outsider who seeks God's blessing (1 King 8:27-43). Solomon said I know you don't actually live here, but I'm asking you to keep your eyes in this temple. When our people pray to you, would you please listen and answer them. 1 Kings 8:41 : as for the foreigner who does not belong to your people, when he comes, then, hear, and do whatever the foreigner ask to you so that all the people of the earth knows you. The temple was a building. A very local place. It was where the name of the Lord was being put. There was a universal vision integrated within Solomon's prayer. The Lord of the name is here, but we want the name of the Lord to be all over the world.

I now want to cover the following questions in 1 Kings 8:43. What were the assumptions Solomon needed to have to pray such a prayer? I'd like to look at the content of what he actually prays for. I also want to look at the motivations for what He asks in His prayer. He assumed that the name of the Lord will be heard by the nations around, and that they will be attracted to come, and that the God of Israel will want to answer the prayers of people from within the nation that would be drawn to this temple and to pray to Him. When Psalm 96 invites to declare God's name amongst the nations, they did not have to go anywhere since Jerusalem was a hub of activities drawing people from everywhere. Many examples are presented in both Old and New Testament. There is something in Solomon's assumption that we need to consider. God is attractive to the people of the nations, even if they don't clearly understand who He is. Do we see as part of our mission to be that living face of God? Our we making the Gospel attractive by our behaviour?

What was the content of Solomon's prayer? What did Solomon actually ask God to do? Is it not surprising, anomalous that Solomon would ask God to do for foreigners what God never had guaranteed to do for Israel. Whatever the stranger ask you, do it for them.

Why should God want to answer Solomon's prayer. Solomon suggested to God reasons He should be answering his prayer. Lord, if a foreigner comes to your temple, and he prays, and you answer his prayer, then he will tell his family, and more people will come to you. Solomon's motivation ultimately is the glory of God. Is this not a missionary prayer. Is this our motivation for mission today? That the name of the Lord will be known to the end of the earth, will be believed in, to bring honour and glory to God Himself. Psalm 138.

If this is our motivation, I trust it is, then our attitude towards outsiders, should match our motivation. Even Jesus got in trouble because he was being attractive to the outsiders seeking God's blessing. Today, who are the outsiders? Who are those who for one reason or another don't seem to belong? How are we reaching out to them in our missionary strategies? Even if they don't know who they are praying to, that God will answer them, that they would be blessed, that they would glorify God. All of us started outside. Ephesians 2.

That brings us to the people. 1 Kings 8:60-61. We have again this Old Testament vision of this is what I want to do to the nations, but I also want you to live in a way that is consistent with the character of God. We need to live as God want us to live before we go and say to the people what God wants us to tell the people. Obedience is not a condition of salvation, but it is a condition of mission.

There is a quest for the living God in the human heart. The challenge and the question is whether we will be the type of persons God wants us to be in order to contribute and not hinder his mission.

Why this post? I hope these notes of mine all too quickly jotted down as I listened to the conference will help convince you to listen to it for yourself, for there are many finer points explained and illustrated therein that have not been made justice to here.

See also this forum's French language discussion, La mission du peuple de Dieu (MPD), Christopher J. H. Wright.

Following are notes I jotted down as I was listening to Integrating the Anomaly: Jesus Brings It All Together - Christopher J. H. Wright, the third of four conferences by Christopher J. H. Wright mentioned in the opening post.

Presentation of Dr. Christopher Wright: You have made it very very clear to us this week that there is a unifying theme in the Scriptures, and that mission does not start with Matthew 28:19-20, but starts right out there with the promise God made to Abraham.

Key biblical passages: Ephesians 1:9-10; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 11; Galatians 2; Colossians 1.
Key Document mentioned: the third Lausanne Congress of world evangelism statement (in 2010).

It is important to see the whole of Scriptures from the perspective of mission and indeed eventually getting to the great commission, namely at the end of Matthew, the text where we usually go as a basis for mission. I would like us to see what mission is as a whole. How do you talk about mission in general? Some talk of holistic mission, meaning you need to be addressing all of people needs. Another phrase that attempts to describe mission is the missional church. But, if its not missional, its not church. If a church is not concerned with the mission of God, it is not a church. The question still arises, what are we to do as a church by way of mission. Mission of God is another way to talk about this. What is it legitimate to include in mission. Listening to the apostle Paul offers one of the best short summaries of that in Ephesians 1:9-10 where he talks of the mystery of God's through Christ in all things, in heaven and earth. That's Paul idea of mission. The statement on what God's mission read from a document of the third Lausanne congress of world evangelism, echoes of the comprehensiveness of the Bible about what is the Mission of God and of the Church.

Five marks of mission, according to a document produced in 1994 by the Anglican Church: the mission of the Church is to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, which is evangelism; to teach, baptize and nurture new believers; to respond to human needs by loving service, which is works of compassion, and love, and mercy, and caring for the poor; to seek to transform unjust structures in society; to strive to protect the integrity of God's creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth, or creation care. Those five marks of mission do provide a fairly comprehensive view of what mission should be and all have roots in the Scriptures, and can be connected to the great commission. So these are not simply things the Church does. It stems from the whole of Scriptures.

In an effort to simplify, these five marks of mission can be regrouped and structured as follows: regrouping evangelism and teaching together; works and compassion and justice to the world are grouped together, we are serving society out there; and the care of creation I would say is to be obedient to the first great commission, to serve and care for creation of God. So that great commission which is part of our humanity. When we become Christians we don't stop being humans. God has us accountable for our humanity.

We serve society because God is Lord of society, whether society acknowledges it or not. We serve the Church, because Jesus is Lord of the Church. We protect nature because God is lord of heavens and earth. I would suggest something of a triple focus to missions. The mission of God addresses individual persons. It addresses society and culture. It addresses creation.

Our concept of mission must have this integrating dimension. It needs to have an integrating heart and focus.

1. Building the Church. Evangelism and Teaching.

To evangelize is "to gospel." There is a story you can be part of by putting your faith in Jesus. When people hear that, and turn in faith to that good news, they are baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ. That is central to our mission, not because it addresses our human needs, but because it connects us to what God has done. I'm using "central" not in the sense that everything is peripheral or non important. It's central in the sense that a hub is central to the wheel. A wheel is an integrated object. You have to have a hub, and you have to have a rim, and they have to be connected. Otherwise it has no power, no direction. Similarly in evangelism, the Gospel has to be lived in the context where the world is.

Teaching. Make disciples the way I made you disciples, by teaching. The Old Testament is the oldest and longest program of theological education. Here is this great curriculum of teaching the truth about God, about what it means to be human, teaching through Psalms. It is not surprising that Jesus did just that with his disciples. He was a recognized rabbi. The apostle Paul, wherever he could stay long enough, we find him teaching, for three years in Ephesus for example. He said he has been teaching the whole counsel of God. Then we find him teaching Titus and Timothy to teach believers in the Church to. Apollos was also amongst the teachers. Apollos was engaged in theological education. He was doing Old Testament hermeneutics, apologetic, and christology.

2. Serving society through works of justice and compassion in the world.

This is almost pure Deuteronomy. That is the language of God. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. Again and again, Israel is being told that they must walk in the ways of the Lord. God defends the fatherless and the widow. You are also to live in compassion and justice. Jesus echoes Deuteronomy. Not only to be like that, but to create disciple who are to be like that. A right relationship with God requires a right relationship with people. Micah 6:8. Who are we? What are we here for? Genesis 18, Exodus 19, Leviticus 18-19. 1 Kings 8. This is a dimension of Old Testament teaching that we cannot ignore when we move to the New Testament. When Jesus says "you are the light of the world" in Matthew 5. What would they have understood him to mean? Did he mean that they were to teach the Gospel and bring light into their heart through this means. But, let your light so shine so that they can see your good works. The word used there is not primarily about being morally good, but about being attractively good.

3. Caring for creation.

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. This had become a sort of phrase that meant the whole of creation. Again I urge you to see how deuteronomic this is. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, says the apostle Paul in Colossians 1. This is not a green agenda. We do it for the Lord's sake. We cannot claim to love God and abuse His creation. We cannot separate our relationship to Christ with how we related to the earth and to the caring of creation. I find it baffling as well as sad that this whole issue of caring for the creation is not only weak, but sometimes rejected, by some Christians. Perhaps because we've got damaged Bible, from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, but without Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21, beginning with creation and ending with the new creation.

3. Conclusion.

God's whole mission is for God's whole Church. One person cannot do all things. That's why God created the Church. Every member's mission is to be concerned with the whole of life. There is no job or profession that is excluded from the great commission.

See also this forum's French language discussion, La mission du peuple de Dieu (MPD), Christopher J. H. Wright.

Bobbie Jamieson's Book Review: The Mission of God's People, by Christopher Wright, published at 9marks.org can be useful to read, as it provides a bit of context through which one can understand this book, and the analysis provided by Bobbie Jamieson provides some help in understanding where the book is coming from and where it is going along with some areas of perceived weaknesses.

Hugh Whelchel's article What Is the Mission of God’s People? published at Institute for Faith, Work & Economics quotes Christopher Wright and other authors to help correct a tendency found amongst Evangelical Christians to underestimate the value of work.