Trinitarian Joy: John Franke on the Mission of God:

God’s Missional Character
Read: John 20: “As the Father has sent me so send I you…”
1. Mission is the character of God.
- God is a missionary.
‣ As it is the character and nature of a mother to love and care for her children so it is the character of God to be a missionary.
‣ As it is the character of fire to burn so it is the character of God to be a missionary.
- Mission is not a project or program that God does because of something else; it is who God is.

2. Where does this come from? Why do we say that mission is who God is?
- The way Christians answer this is in their confession that God is Trinity.
- What does Trinity mean?
‣ That the God who encounters us in Jesus is the God who is Father, Son and Spirit –
the three in One.
- Why is this understanding of God so important and what does it mean for our
understanding of missional?
‣ As Christians we confess that from all eternity God is not a solitary ONE but a social
fellowship of love.
‣ From all eternity God has been involved in giving, receiving and sharing in a
fellowship of love as Father, Son and Spirit.
‣ This means it is God’s very nature to give, receive and share love – this continual
acting in love means that God is, from eternity, going out toward the other.
Therefore, our God is a missionary God.

3. The outworking of God’s love as Trinity is to create.
- Creation is the outworking of God’s giving, receiving and sharing of love. This is where
we say that God is, therefore, in His very nature, a missionary.
- We see this in the text we read at the beginning where Jesus makes it clear to his
disciples that he has been sent by the Father for the sake of the world (See John 20:21).

4. The church is the sign, instrument and witness of God’s mission in the world.
- This is seen in the second part of the text we have read where Jesus tells his disciples
that as the Father has sent him, so he sends them (John 20:21).
- The church’s nature and character is to be a sent or missional church.

Sending the Church
1. The church is the expression of God’s mission in the world
- The Father sends the son.
- The Son sends the Spirit.
- The Father, Son and Spirit – send the church for the world
2. The local church is, therefore, the local expression of God’s mission for the world.
- Each local church is called into life to be in its very nature God’s missionary people in
that place.
- This means that mission is not just a:
‣ Program
‣ Project
‣ Line item in the budget
‣ Something a few do on behalf of the rest somewhere else
‣ One among many different activities.

For the rest of his outline see http://www.allelon.org/pdf/johnfranke.pdf

He spoke this at a recent conference @ Biblical Seminary "Missional Christianity...the Church Beyond Boundaries"

Why Trinitarian Joy?

For me the most astonishing reality that I have learned is that God takes ulitmate joy in himself. This ultimate joy is revealed in Scripture through the roles and relationships within the Triune Community. Whether we look at Creation, Fall, Redemption or Consumation, God -through the roles and relationships of the Trinity- is always orchestrating his supreme joy and exhaltation in himself.

God created us in his image so that God might see himself in us. In other words, as children of God we are tools of God's delight. This is not to say that God needs us to experience delight for he is perfectly satisfied in community with himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, God creates man out of the perfections of his trinitarian joy whereby man's joy is fulfilled in putting God's greatness on display. In other words, we have been created to join intimately into God's trinitarian joy wherein we are satisfied and God is glorified.

Now sin has destroyed our life with God for we have exchanged the glory God for the glory of his creation. We have neglected God as the source of all joy and have sought for intimacy elsewhere. 'But God who is rich in mercy...' lovingly glorified his Son by deploying Him to purchase up sinners unto Himself from their damnable state. And the Son lovingly glorified the Father through his obedience thereby securing a people unto His name. And in the wisdom of God the Spirit was sent to glorify the Son by tranforming these ransomed sinner into Christlikeness. Is it not evident that God's joy in himself secures our joy in him?

As God's family, it is through the cross that we have access into the holy place before God's throne. The gospel intimately joins us again into the joyful fellowship of our Triune God.

Since God is committed to making himself great, his promises of a restoration are sure. The Father will continue to make much of his Son and the Son will make much of his Father. And one day all those whom the Son has purchased will be presented holy and blameless before the Father. Not only will we be glorified but creation itself will be fully subjected to the authority of the Son who will restore all things for the glory of the Father.

When all is said and done, it is obvious that we were not created unto ourselves to bask in our frail, finite-selfworth, but rather we were created for nothing less than an infinite triune God who has rescued us from our damnable self-interest and has made us alive unto Himself.

Therefore, take joy in that which God takes joy in, God.