How Does the Sovereignty of God Shape an Understanding of Missions?

How does the sovereignty of God shape an understanding of missions?

Well, the sovereignty of God shapes understanding of missions in a couple of ways.

First, it's because God is the King. He's created all things, and therefore He governs all things. Because Christ upholds the universe by the word of His power, and therefore everything He says as the One who has all authority in heaven and earth, everything He says, we need to obey. So the first way sovereignty of God plays in missions is: we go because He commands it. This is not a command coming from a subordinate. This is a command coming from the King of kings and Lord of lords, the ruler of all the kings of the earth, the Creator of all things. And we need to obey that command and take it as seriously as if it comes from God because it does. And so we need to obey Him.

So that's the first way sovereignty plays in mission.

Secondly, that we understand that everything comes from the Lord. Everything is decreed by Him, that He works all things according to the purpose or the counsel of His will. And so everything that we're doing is under God's watchful eye that He is a Father who cares for us, as He sees the sparrow and cares for the sparrow, as He numbers the hairs on our heads, as He numbers the days of our lives. So the Father cares for everything that we're involved in. We need to know that He is with us. That Christ has promised to be with us, to lead us in this and empower us as we do this. And that nothing that happens to us is a mistake or an error, but it's all coming from God's good hand, to the end that Christ would be known to the ends of the earth.