Missions Week

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slaughtered, and You purchased people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

If you were to scroll through the local radio stations, I am pretty sure that you would not hear the words above. You may recognize them as being from Revelation 5 (the above being the rendering from the Christian Standard Bible). It doesn’t ring out like a Gospel quartet and it doesn’t flow like Chris Tomlin. You probably won’t hear and organ belting out the melody, nor will you gather in awe of a praise band driving home this truth. However, it is a song.

The book of Revelation speaks of the great throne room of God, where He sits surrounded by angelic beings proclaiming His name. There are 24 elders bowing before Him as His praises resound, but they become dismayed as His scroll is left unopen for there is no one worthy to unlock it. Enter the Lamb. The Lamb is worthy to open this scroll, so the 24 elders break into song. The song written above.

So, what does this have to do with missions week? Why a verse about the Lamb opening seals? Because of Who this Lamb is and what this Lamb has done.

Do you see right in the core of the song that the chords of redemption are strummed? Can you see how the work of the Lamb was to bring people to God? People like you and me, people made in the image of God, people for whom Christ Jesus died are made into a kingdom. But, the cool thing about these people is that they are not exactly like you and me. The Bible says that these are people “from every tribe and language and people and nation”.

From this, we can make a couple of necessary inferences:

1. God has a bigger vision for redemption that I do. Logically speaking, individuals are magnetic. We tend to clan as similar types. Diversity can be hard. Living in harmony and unity with people who do not see things as we do adds a new dimension to our lives. Opening our heart and mind to a different perspective for the purposes of truly understanding and building a genuine trust can be a daunting task. Therefore, we tend to clan. The non sequitur of the Gospel is that God has specifically chosen that redemption is broader than my clan for the purpose of building His kingdom and, by extension, growing me.
2. God’s people must reach far and wide. IF the Gospel reaches to the ends of the earth and into the lives of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language and IF I am in the Gospel, THEN I must do as the Gospel does. I must reach far and wide. My church must reach far and wide. I must seek to be on mission in ways that will demonstrate the far reach of the Gospel.

That brings us to missions week at FBC Fairburn.

In the past, we have taken the task of local missions to the streets of our town. Moving forward, we want to better utilize what we do and how we do it. So this year we are taking a slightly different approach. We are seeking ways to broaden our horizons and gain a fresh vision for missions church wide. This is why Revelation 5:9-10 is so important.

Every tribe is the target.

Every language is the target.

Every people is the target.

Every nation is the target.

Missions Week at FBC Fairburn will be June 3-8. We will branch beyond Fairburn into the Atlanta metro area in order to reach far and wide. We will strive to find ways to reach beyond our clan. We will serve apartment ministries in Austell. We will capitalize on what we do well by gathering new ideas and strategies for how our food pantry can serve more families more effectively. We will be exposed to church planters who are striving to build Gospel shaped communities in the beltline in order to find partnerships we can make to help them reach. We will engage refugees from over 60 countries in Clarkston. We will serve local ministries in Fairburn and end with a block party on Friday night to show love to Fairburn, GA.

In all things, we will make our God known. We will do so as we GO together.

Every tribe. Every language. Every people. Every nation.

Join us.