“Missions is like beets on a plate,” my pastor, David Daniels, said during a sermon. “Do you like beets? I don’t. But I know they’re good for me, so I take a small portion for good measure. For many people, that’s how missions feels—something to tolerate because it’s ‘good for you.’ But what we fail to realize is that missions isn’t the beets—it’s the filet mignon. It’s the feature
His words struck a chord with me. They perfectly captured how many believers view missions today—as a side dish rather than the main course. And I have to admit, I was no different. Even as my wife and I were preparing to move to Spain as missionaries, I didn’t fully understand God’s mission. Despite growing up as a missionary kid and leading short-term mission trips, the concept of God’s mission had never truly clicked for me. But God, in His providence, made my final seminary class a weeklong intensive on missions. That class changed everything. It brought scattered ideas into sharp focus, and for the first time, I understood the depth of God’s mission
Perhaps you already know what I didn’t. But allow me to share what the Lord revealed to me about His mission and the incredible work He is doing worldwide.
It all begins with God. He created us for a singular purpose: to love, worship, and glorify Him. Tim Keller asks a powerful question: “Does God ask us to love Him and glorify Him because He’s an egomaniac?” His answer pierces to the heart of God’s purpose: “Nothing could be further from the truth. He asks us to love Him because anything else will break our hearts and empty us.” Blaise Pascal captured this beautifully: “There is a God-shaped hole in every human heart that only He can fill.” No relationship, no possession, no achievement can satisfy apart from God.
From the beginning, God’s desire was for us to know Him and find our fulfillment in Him. Adam and Eve were created to live in perfect communion with God, enjoying the flawless world He had made. They were given one simple command: “Do not eat from that tree.” Why the rule? I believe it was about love. Love requires a choice. Without choice, love isn’t truly love. By choosing to obey, Adam and Eve would have been choosing to love God. But as we know, they disobeyed. Sin entered the world, severing their relationship with God and bringing spiritual death. In just three chapters, humanity fell, and through one act of disobedience, sin spread to all.
But God didn’t leave us there. In His grace, He immediately set into motion His plan to reverse the curse. In Genesis 3:15, we see what theologians call the protoevangelium—the first gospel Speaking to the serpent, God declared, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” A bruised heel is nothing compared to a crushed head. This was a promise—a prophecy pointing to Jesus, who would crush the power of Satan through His death on the cross and resurrection.
With this promise, God’s mission began. Sin had separated humanity from God, and people turned to other things to fill the void only God could satisfy. Yet God’s mission was clear: to reveal Himself to humanity and restore the relationship He intended from the beginning.
To accomplish this, God chose Abraham to be the patriarch of a chosen nation, Israel. Israel was meant to enjoy a father-child relationship with God, experiencing His blessings so that other nations would be drawn to Him. They were to be a conduit of God’s blessing to the whole world, pointing all nations back to Him.
But Israel failed. Instead of sharing God’s blessings, they hoarded them. Worse, they turned to worship the false gods of the surrounding nations. The very people who were meant to lead others to God were led astray.
God, in His mercy, sent prophets to call Israel to repentance and remind them of their purpose. But Israel ignored the prophets and was punished for their unfaithfulness. After years of exile, God brought them back to their land, but they still didn’t fully embrace His mission. Then came 400 years of silence, broken by the birth of Jesus.
Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. He lived a perfect, sinless life, and at around 30 years old, He began His ministry, proclaiming the kingdom of God and offering salvation first to the Jews. He accomplished this by dying on the cross and rising from the grave three days later. His resurrection proved His victory over sin and death, securing salvation for anyone who would trust in Him as their Savior.
Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. But before He left, He gave His disciples their mission: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” They were to testify to what they had seen and heard, teaching people everywhere to obey God. This was the launch of the Church.
The Church wasn’t a replacement for Israel but a continuation of God’s mission. As Paul explains in Romans 11, God is using the Church to make Himself known to the world and stir Israel to jealousy so that they might return to Him and take up His mission again.
The Church’s first missionary, Paul, took the good news beyond Israel’s borders to the Gentiles Wherever he went, he shared the gospel and planted churches, which in turn spread the gospel even further.
And that brings us to where we are today. Two thousand years later, the Church continues its mission to spread the gospel and make disciples so that people everywhere may know God and come to a saving knowledge of Christ.
This truth isn’t just theology—it’s the heartbeat of missions. It’s the filet mignon of our faith Missions is the main thread woven through the Bible from beginning to end. God is still at work today, revealing Himself so that people may know Him. And He’s inviting us to be part of that work.
The best part? The method Jesus left us to make disciples is one we can begin today! It doesn’t require a stage or a seminary degree. It simply requires obedience. And when we step into this mission, the ripple effects can reach far beyond what we can imagine—changing lives for eternity.