A Biblical Theology of Mission (Jesus, the Pattern for Mission)

Unlike John the Baptist, Jesus went from village to village proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He trained his disciples to do the same thing.

³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

^10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ² He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:1-3)

There were people ripe for conversion, a spiritual harvest and the fruit of his labor, so many in fact that many “workers” were needed. This could be a dangerous work because light could stir up the hatred of the darkness. God is the Lord of the harvest, the One who desires the salvation of the lost and draws the lost to Jesus (John 6:44).

Jesus, or rather, his disciples, baptized those who turned to him in faith.

^4:1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. (John 4:1-3)

Baptism was a visible expression of one’s new faith and clearly demarcated the baptized as followers of Jesus, though it did not guarantee that they were truly saved. Those who were baptized, who believed, could distinguish themselves as a select group. Jesus called it the ecclesia or assembly, the church:

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)

If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:17)

Here is the pattern Jesus gives us for mission.