The Vision of God (a promised good)

Made For : an audio journey

Jesus is the true image of God in human form. And as we serve others, seek the best for others, and love our enemies, we are becoming more like Christ. How does this help God's work in the world?

Full Transcript below, or at missiongap.org/podcasts

'Made for' CONTRIBUTORS:

• Andrew Scott – From Ireland, living in the USA. Serves as President of OM in the US, and author of “Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job With You”
• Belén Peters – From Chile, living in the USA. Serves as Career Advisor with Elevalto, career advisors for Jesus followers looking to take their life and skills to another part of the world.
• Decio De Carvalho – From Brazil, living in Puerto Rico. Serves as Executive Director of COMIBAM, an alliance of national mission groups across twenty-five Ibero-American countries.
• Ewout van Oosten – From the Netherlands, living in the Netherlands. Serves as Global Director of TeenStreet, a youth discipleship movement in over 50 countries.
• Glenn Packiam – From Malaysia, living in the USA. Serves as Associate Senior Pastor of New Live Church, and author of “Blessed Broken Given: How Your Story Becomes Sacred in the Hands of Jesus”
• Jessica Shumba – From Zimbabwe, living in Zimbabwe. Serves as National Director of OM in Zimbabwe, mobilising Zimbabwean Jesus followers to share Gods love.
• Katherine Lee – From the USA, living in the USA. Serves as Content and Creative Director for the Fuller Leadership Platform at Fuller Theological Seminary.
• Lawrence Tong – From Singapore, living in Singapore. Serves as International Director of OM, a global community of Jesus followers, united to share God’s love with those who don’t know it.
• Vaibhav – From India, living in India. Serves among people unreached with the love of Christ, focusing on the Tribals, the rag pickers, farmers and migrant workers. (Last name omitted for security)

Bible readings: Mason Peters, Mariela Morbelli, Carla Moran, Matt Tooker, Anthea Godsmark, Philip Godsmark

Hosted by: Geoff Peters - Geoff is a huge fan of coffee and market research, but what really gets his heart pounding is inspiring people to share God’s love with the world. He is a deep thinker driven to understand the fears, concerns, beliefs and motivations of Christians better. Through the Mission Gap Project, Geoff hopes to encourage believers to step beyond the safety of their comfort zones and love others for Christ.

Transcript: Series 2 episode 3, The Vision of God, A Promised Good

Reader 2:

Colossians 1:15-20. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Geoff :

God, in his grace, is restoring his image through the work of Christ. Jesus is the true image of God in human form. And as we serve others, seek the best for others, and love our enemies, we are becoming more like Christ. Jesus shows us the new way to be human. And as we are filled with the spirit of Jesus, we are able to reflect the gifts of the spirit to others.

Reader 2:

2 Corinthians 3:15-18. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit

Geoff :

When I was talking to Ewout, he took me back to those first days of his salvation and the realization that this incredible new love was not just for him, but that there were billions, with a B, billions of people who were yet to know and understand this love.

Ewout:

I'd go straight back to the beginning. I was so full of God when I'd just got to know him. So blown away by his generosity, his grace, his love for me, which I'd never expected, it was completely unexpected for me that there was no way I could not think it was also for others. The realization that there were billions who had no chance to hear, that was really when that, that needed to be shared with me. That was almost info I needed to hear. So by getting to know God, there was a passion for me, for others to know gods. But me, growing up in a post-Christian society, it's just not an easy message to share because people thought I went back to the Middle Ages, as where I was like, "Hey, you're missing out something." So that was a difficult message to share. To then start later finding out simply by somebody sharing it in a message in a church or at a conference to hear like it's gracious. That people have no chance to hear. It's not even that they don't want to, like what I experienced around me for those people had no chance to hear that needed to be fed to me.

Geoff :

Here's Belén. We talked more about reconciliation and how we can help people to fully understand the love of Christ.

Belén:

I think that the gospel should affect every area of our life. Life is not just that you understand and you have faith, but it affects how you... It transform you from inside out. So when you are transformed, you want people to experience the same. And how can we do that? By loving people, serving them. I think that my example is Jesus, and he talked, but first he served people or he always talk in serve. There was no like just words, but there were actions that were together, you know? So I think that deeds and it are very important to show our love for people in generosity. It's not just... It's everything we have, it's not giving people just love by telling them, but serving and sharing everything we have. I think that financial generosity is a big part of it. And it doesn't matter if you have a lot or you don't. Giving, it shows love always.

Geoff :

This is Vaibhav. Where he serves in India, he is surrounded by 35 people groups where he hopes to see God glorified. We were talking about the importance of aligning our hearts and actions with God's heart.

Vaibhav:

I can't forget the day of my salvation, but it was only a beginning of the journey, and I'm thankful that I did not stop there. I started having this personal relationship with God, intimate relationship with God. I started understanding his heart for me first and then for the rest of the world or rest of the communities that I'm surrounded with. That's when I understood that God's heart really breaks for the people where I live. I would be talking about India. When God sees the people in India and all that they practice, God's heart breaks.

Ewout:

So serving other people is not like taking just care of them, and for us to have some sort of a Messiah syndrome where we feel we always need to help them with everything. That is actually not serving people, that is spoiling them.

Geoff :

That's Ewout again. We were talking about his ministry at Zeist in the Netherlands and the challenge of serving people and sharing Christ's love with others in an authentic way.

Ewout:

We needed to learn to listen to their stories, get to know their real needs, not just what we think they need. So serving started for us to learn to really listen to people. Serving had to start with us, to bite our tongues and hold our horses that we don't barge in with our spoken gospel, but we need to really live it out in a way that connected with their lives. If you nail community, also as Jesus's followers, you become so attractive to those outside of it.

Ewout:

If you truly love one another, like Jesus have loved us, that is such a generous way of living that you have a lot left over to give to others and you become very attractive. So we've noticed that attractiveness is really in living out Jesus loving community. People want to be part of that. I would say form in a business kind of language, it's a unique selling point of the body of Christ to a world that is being shredded by individualism and self-focusness. And to experience true community is an oasis for people to be part of. It becomes with belonging and believing follows then.

Geoff :

And lastly, here's Belén. Considering what God's mission is. I asked her what she would hope for her daughter, or for our daughter, as she grows up in the world.

Belén:

Well, first of all, I really want her to know that she's loved and she welcomed. But this come from my background that I didn't feel, you know? So I hope that she knows that she's very, very loved and she's precious, and she doesn't need to prove anything to anyone because she's so valuable. I want her to get to know God deeply. I guess that's my first desire for her.

Belén:

I want her to know herself. I think that when we're so broken, when you come from... Because it doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian family, sometimes like you can be broken as anyone else because we live in a broken world. But things happen to people and we get lost and we don't know who we are, so we're trying to figure it out and try new things just to know, to find our identity. So I really hope that she knows who she is and God and his talents and passions and her design.

Belén:

There is a design that design her for... God created her, but before he thought about what she was going to be doing. So really hope that she finds that purpose for her life, and in work in this, in this design that God did made for her.

Belén:

So really want her to... I don't have a desire. I don't want her to be a doctor or a lawyer or an artist. I want her to do, to be who God created her to be and I hope I'm wise enough to work her and to... Yeah. Work with her in this journey.

Geoff :

You've been listening to the Made For podcast series, part of the Mission Gap Project from Operation Mobilization with me, Geoff . To find out more, go to missiongap.org. And if you would please rate this podcast in your app store and leave a comment so others can more easily find this series. In the next episode.