A Christian Guidebook: Introduction (4)

We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. 2 Corinthians 10.13

 A guide to the Guide
It’s important that we keep in mind the purpose for which this Guidebook is intended.

Our primary objective is to guide readers more deeply into the Word of God concerning certain foundational aspects of our great salvation. In that sense, this Guidebook is a guide to our True Guide, the Holy Spirit speaking in the Word of God. Our prayer is that we should see more clearly, deeply, and convincingly into the teaching of Scripture on topics which will be important to share with those who are seeking a better explanation for life and the world than the failed secular model.

You will be using this Guidebook as we intend if you find that you are spending more and better time in God’s Word, thinking about it more often throughout the day, applying it more firmly to your life, knowing greater refreshment in your soul, and having a greater sense of readiness to run with the Word to any who will listen.

This Guidebook will accomplish its objective if it leads us into the Word in deeper, more wonderful and delightful ways, so that we will run like Philip to help any who may be seeking a new perspective on life.

But we can’t run everywhere. We must make sure to understand the course God has chosen for us, where we may run our race and realize more of His Presence, promise, and power.

Stay in your lane!
In certain track and field races, a runner can be disqualified by stepping outside his lane into the lane of his neighbor. The dashes, hurdles, and shorter relays are intended to be run in specified lanes. They run best who know their lane and invest all their focus and strength in running well. They are disqualified who fail to stay in their lane.

Paul says that each of us has a “lane” in which to run our race. He refers to his as a “sphere which God appointed” to him, a specific calling within the larger calling of God’s Kingdom and glory. Paul’s sphere was large and expansive. Beginning in Damascus it extended to Jerusalem, Antioch, Asia, Macedonia and Achaia, and ultimately to Rome and perhaps beyond. In all the places and with all the people he encountered in his sphere, Paul’s focus was to bring glory to God through living and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus (2 Cor. 10.14-18).

And we, imitating Paul and Jesus, have our own sphere within which to run our race (1 Cor. 11.1). For our purposes, we might think of this “sphere” and “race” as our Personal Mission Field.

Called and sent
As Christians we are a called people, called to the Kingdom and glory of God. This calling entails a new perspective on life, new desires and aspirations, and new values and priorities. We are not only called to this new context and reality, but we are also sent to the dying world as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom (2 Cor. 5.20).

Jesus said to His disciples, and through them, us, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Jesus was sent to bring near the salvation and Kingdom of God, to release those who were captive to sin, false worldviews, wrong beliefs, and inescapable conditions to new freedom and transformation. He came to bring joy and peace to the world, and He was sent to a particular place and the people within that place. This was His Personal Mission Field. And now He sends us, as He was sent, into a confused, deceived, lost, and dying world—not all of it, but our own space in it—with the Good News of forgiveness, life, power, transformation, righteousness, peace, and joy.

And He commands us—again, through His disciples—to make disciples “as we are going”.

Sent to make disciples
The verb typically translated “go” in Matthew 28.19 is more accurately rendered “as you are going.” As we are going, wherever we’re going, whatever we’re doing, our mind and heart should be set on extending the grace of God to others, that they may become followers of Jesus unto righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus did. It’s also what Paul did, imitating Him (1 Cor. 11.1). And it is what God has appointed to us.

In all the “as-you-are-goings” of our lives, or, as Dallas Willard puts it, unto the “reach of your active will” (The Divine Conspiracy), we are ambassadors of Christ and His Kingdom, bearers of Good News, runners who bring grace and hope and forgiveness and joy to a broken and searching world.

Your Personal Mission Field, like those of Jesus and Paul, is appointed to you by God the Father. He has invested talents of gifts, resources, and opportunities in us, and He expects us to make the most of these and bring to His glory a return on His investment (1 Cor. 4.7; 12.7-11; Eph. 5.15-17; Matt. 25.14-30). God does not expect us to reach the whole world with the Good News of Jesus. But He does expect us to make disciples and increase the knowledge of His glory (Hab. 2.14) in that portion of the world which He has appointed to us. The people we see and interact with week after week, the places we regularly go, and all the things we do provide abundant opportunities for us to be agents and spreaders of God’s grace, increasing praise and thanks to Him from believers and non-believers alike (2 Cor. 4.15).

But to fulfill this high and holy calling and do the work for which we have been sent, we must be equipped (Eph. 4.11, 12). And only the Word of God is sufficient to teach and equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3.15-17). This Guidebook wants nothing more than to encourage you to spend more time waiting on the Lord in His Word, to listen more carefully for His teaching and leading, to be refreshed in your soul by His Spirit, to incorporate more of His Word and power into your daily life, and to prepare you for your daily race and running.

Let the studies that follow in this series renew your joy in the Lord, refresh your soul with His strength, and give you more confidence and grasp of the Word of God, that you might be more effective and consistent in running to bring good works and Good News to all those to whom Jesus sends you day by day.

For reflection
1. Have you mapped out your Personal Mission Field? Doing so will clarify God’s calling and mission for you. Watch this brief video, download the worksheet, and get started running your race with greater clarity and purpose today.

2. Do you believe that God has appointed a mission field for you? That He has called you to a specific “race”? That you can be an agent of His grace and joy everywhere you go and to everyone you meet?
 
3. Why do we need to keep growing deeper in the Word of God if we are to fulfill our mission and calling?

Next Steps—Preparation: Take stock of your own time in the Word of God. Of what does it consist? When do you do it? How do you benefit from your time in the Word? Would you like to go deeper, learn more, and be better equipped to know, love, and serve the Lord?

T. M. Moore

Resources for your race
Many Christians have a “too small” view of what it means to be saved. Two books can help. Such a Great Salvation outlines the broad scope of what we have received through faith in Jesus Christ. Learn more about it and order your copy of the book (click here) or the free PDF (click here). And don’t let the title of this next book fool you. Our salvation is “small” because it takes in everything in our lives, as we point out in our book Small Stuff (click here for the book or here for a free PDF).

Support for ReVision comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.

And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or you may send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.

Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.