Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions.

I’m so glad you have joined us for episode 243 of Missions on Point. I hope you have enjoyed our series about preaching about missions from the entire Bible. We have focused mostly on the Old Testament, because we probably need the most help there. It’s much easier to see the mission of the church in the New Testament. In fact, today’s episode will be the last in this series. We may pick up on preaching about missions from the New Testament at a later time. Today we consider the 5 remaining books of the Old Testament that we haven’t addressed yet, which is a lot to cover. So, we’ll make a few general principles and just give some highlights from each book.

We are considering what is generally categorized as the wisdom literature in the Old Testament. These books are notoriously difficult for theologians who try to articulate a central unifying principle in the Old Testament. For the most part, they stand outside of the narrative and prophetic message that is centered on the covenants with Abraham and David and the law. Yet there are many touchpoints to those themes, even if they are not the main point. But this is good for us because we should be careful not to pigeonhole all of scripture into one kind of genre. Wisdom literature excels at forcing us to wrestle with the dynamic reality of life. We can’t always have a didactic teaching or an historical illustration. Wisdom literature is especially good at pushing back against our tendency to put everything into a law. Wisdom allows us to act differently depending on the situation.  

The most helpful interpretive tool for wisdom literature comes from 1 Corinthians 1:24 which tells us that Jesus Christ is God’s wisdom and power. He displays God’s perfect wisdom and he is the perfect example for us too. The maturity that Christians are to obtain in Christ is characterized by wisdom, by walking by the Spirit rather than by the letter of the law. The New Testament teaches us that the law was like a schoolmaster that led us to Christ.

So, here is my number one challenge to consider today. The wisdom that the Bible advocates for is essential for missions. But even more than that, I would say this, God’s global missions enterprise in commissioning the church to send out workers into the harvest field is not possible until the coming of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit empowering the church to be his witnesses unto the ends of the earth. Gaining wisdom is like growing in maturity. And the New Testament describes Jesus’ coming as the fullness of time, it’s a coming of age of sorts for God’s people. Like and adult who is no longer a child and does not have their actions prescribed for them, so Christians are to live with the wisdom of scripture. This wisdom allows us to contextualize the gospel without compromising the truth. The Holy Spirit filling us so that we have the wisdom of Christ comes only after we have graduated from the school of the Old Testament. God never intended for the people that were called by his name to remain in the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant gave us one particular application of God’s law as one specific nation. That dynamic is not true anymore, for all nations are called to believe in Christ and obey all of his commands. Global missions requires a great deal of God’s wisdom.

With that in mind, I would like to highlight a few key contributions that the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes make to our ongoing discussion of the church’s Great Commission as an application that can be found in all of scripture.

First up we have the book of Job, famous for the long-suffering of God’s righteous man, Job, who lost all that he had, and suffered great physical pain, whose wife told him to curse God and die, and whose friends offered bad counsel because they assumed he had sinned. Job’s suffering is not the end of the story though, because God speaks to him and puts him in his place and restores him.  Job teaches us that suffering is to be expected in this life and that we don’t always know why it happens. Job teaches us to submit to God and not doubt or question him, even though we cannot make sense of our experience. God doesn’t have to give us an answer. He didn’t for Job. What is most important is that we learn to fear and trust God. We learn that we are limited and that we are arrogant to assume we understand why God does what he does. And it only all makes sense in light of the one who suffered even more than Job. The suffering and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone is able to reconcile all things. And Job points to Jesus too. He says, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that I will see him and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26) The only hope for overcoming the dominion of death in our lives is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and through being united to him in his death and resurrection we too are raised to a new life.

One of the most important features of the book of Job is that it stands outside the context of the nation of Israel. Job likely came before Abraham, and so his message is written to all mankind. This is the universal problem of man. We suffer in a world of sin and injustice. We are doomed to die, separated from God. The book of Job is a book about missions because it speaks to the common experience of all men. But it is also a book about missions because the missionary must kiss the wave of suffering in order to go on mission. The greatest deterrent for missions is a comfortable life. And one of our greatest motivators for missions is the relief of suffering, not simply the suffering of this life, but eternal suffering apart from our Redeemer.

Next, we consider the book of Psalms, this edited collection of Hebrew poems and songs. Even though each psalm is unique, there is still a unity to the book as a whole. The main idea is that this is a song and prayer book for God’s people as they strive to be faithful to God’s word and faithful in waiting for the future Messianic kingdom. There are two categories of Psalms: lament and praise, with more lament in the beginning and more praise in the later psalms. Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 serve as introductory psalms, capturing the two main themes repeated throughout: 1. The call to faithfulness to God’s word, specifically the Torah, and 2. The call to wait for the future Messianic kingdom. Most psalms draw out one or both of those two themes.

Almost a half of the psalms mention the nations, and Israel’s relationship to the nations of the world, and God’s glory over all the earth, and the King from David’s line ruling over all the nations of the world. It’s not hard from here to see the application to missions. God deserves the praise of all people everywhere. And the missionary goes in worship of God and for the establishment of God’s worship where it currently does not exist. “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.” (Psalm 67:4) Preach God’s word, and faithfulness to God’s king, and the glory of God in worship, and global missions will flow from that.

Next, let’s think about the book of Proverbs. Proverbs deal with general truths and are memorable, and not specific promises.  This collection of wise teachings is meant to be followed in the context of a covenant relationship with God where God’s grace is known. Thus, Proverbs encourages the reader to apply these sayings to specific situations, and not as an unwavering law for every circumstance. Hence sometimes the wisdom given can appear to contradict. The main idea is that those who live in the fear of the Lord are blessed and the foolish are cursed.

Wisdom appeals to everyone, and it highlights how foolish our sin is. Thus, Proverbs can be used evangelistically, appealing first and foremost that all men should fear the Lord. And we all need the kind of attitude that receives these words well. We are constantly encouraged to listen, to receive, and to understand. And only a humble receptive heart can do that. This is a prime qualification of the missionary who is called by God, to go in humility. And this is the main appeal to our hearers, to humbly receive God’s wisdom. Ultimately, that wisdom is displayed in Jesus and the cross, and now before Jesus returns he has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. And that foolishness in the eyes of the world is God’s plan to use the church to send missionaries to proclaim the gospel.

Next, we think about the book of the Song of Solomon. This love poem celebrates the love between a man and a woman both before and after they are married, showing both their joys and challenges.  As wisdom literature, it provides God’s perspective of the good and righteous life.  It is a divine perspective that is desperately needed in our time that has much confusion about love and sexuality.  God provides clarity that should lead to greater holiness, joy, and fulfillment. Solomon himself is a counterexample because he had many wives.  Some scholars believe that this is perhaps then Solomon’s repentance.     As scripture, this book points every believer, even singles, to faithfulness and devotion to Christ because marriage is a picture of the church as the bride of Christ.

The bride of Christ should be on the mind of every missionary. When we consider that Jesus came to die for and rescue his bride and purchase her from every tribe and language, then we will know something of the love that we are to have too. Knowing that this was the joy set before Jesus as he endured the cross, we too can go into all the world for the love of Christ’s bride.

Lastly, we turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible and I consider it to be one of the most effective evangelistic tools as well. So, it’s good to end with this one. No other book has such a stark, unwavering, realistic look at life as we know it. The life we live under the sun is the life that we all experience, doomed to vanity because death destroys it all. This book resonates well with anyone who looks at life with wide-eyed honesty. Life is full of suffering, and injustice, and vanity. Much of life does not make sense. Our presentation of the gospel must not ignore these realities. If we gloss over them, then we fail to deal with people’s greatest needs. Thankfully, the book of Ecclesiastes does not leave us in this depressing state. When we turn to God, fear him, and receive every good gift from him, life begins to shine. We are called to remember that God is the sovereign creator who judges justly. And if we listen carefully to his word, we can find life and meaning that rises above the vanity of this world.

This is the hope of all mankind. This is the universal truth of the fallenness of mankind and our only hope in Jesus Christ. These truths transcend culture. It’s everyone’s need and everyone’s only hope of salvation. And finally, I must note, as Christians who fear the Lord, we must take seriously his call to obey him and go into all the world. God has given to us meaning and purpose in life, because he has given to us the Great Commission. And as we fear him and obey him, in the Great Commission, He will give to us the wisdom we so desperately need to accomplish the task before us. May the wisdom of Jesus Christ be exalted in all the earth.

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at Propempo.com and missioserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.