Godâs Heart for the Nations By Ken McLemore
Lesson Objective: Our lesson objective is 3 fold: 1. To share the biblical basis of missions and Godâs heart for the nations. 2. To share an important part of Libertyâs international mission strategy based upon scripture, which is taking the gospel to ethnic groups that have little or no access to the gospel. 3. To share a little about Libertyâs mission strategy and how Lottie Moon fits as a part of that strategy.
Introductory Comments â When most people think of missions they think in terms of overseas ministry to poor, foreign countries. While this can be a very vital part of a churches missionâs engagement, there is more to missions than simply going to foreign countries. The plan for this lesson is to help us understand what Godâs plan for all those nations who have never heard of His great name. Beginning in Genesis and continuing through the book of Revelation, there is a missiological thread in the scripture that reveals His plan for all nations, tongues, clans, and peoples to be represented around the throne in heaven (See Revelation 5:9, 7:9).
Biblical Background and Passagesâ The setting for this lesson begins in Genesis 12:1â3. In this passage we see that God is telling Abram that in Him all the ânationsâ will be blessed. It is important at this point to share that the word nations in the English bible rarely refers to geo political countries. The Hebrew word used here is the word Gwy (pronounced Goy or goyim for plural). The Dictionary of Biblical Languages says it like this: âŤ( ď×âŹgĂ´y): people, nation, i.e., a
large group based on various cultural, physical, geographical ties, often extended clan relationships 1 Therefore the truly Biblical use of this word ânationsâ in the Old Testament refers to what we call people groups. These are segmented people who share a common language and culture. Many times they are spread across several geo political countries. Also in this passage we see the word families used which also carries the idea of a grouping of people. This theme of people groups continues in the New Testament. Throughout the NT, when you see the word ânationsâ it is mainly the Greek word âethnosâ from which we get the word ethnic. The idea of nations being an ethnic group was begun in the Old Testament and is carried into the New Testament. The Dictionary of Biblical Languages defines the word like this: áźÎ¸Î˝ÎżĎ (ethnos), nation, a
1 Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.