A Match Made in Heaven

October 29, 2025

A Match Made in Heaven.  World mission neither starts nor stops in this world. Heaven happily invades earth and answers our prayers, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Sweeping through all nations, world mission begins in and returns to heaven. As many professors and pastors have aptly pointed out, “Our God is a missionary God” (Ralph D. Winter, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement). God decrees redemption for the world that forsook him. He sends Jesus into the world that rejected him. He gives the Spirit to the church all over the world that believes in Christ. He commissions the church throughout the world to proclaim him in all the world. The great, multi-lingual choir singing God’s praise in heaven on the last day will culminate God’s missiological plan from the first day (Rev. 5:9). God uses the church to reach the world and uses the world to mobilize the church. Far from rivals, the local ministry and world mission are symbiotic partners.

An easy-to-see but hard-to-perfect predictor exists in Romans 15 for pairing local and global, namely, Christian welcome of the outsider. How we welcome others locally directly connects our understanding of Christ’s welcome of us, when we were “strangers to the covenants” (Eph. 2:12a), to our welcome of others globally, those still “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12b). In other words, our willingness to receive strangers at home in the light of the gospel softly predicts our willingness to become strangers cross-culturally for the sake of the gospel.

Sandwiched between dynamic prayers for harmony then peace (Rom. 15:5, 13), Paul instructs the church, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7). The very next word in Paul’s flowing prose is a missiological gem: for! “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name’” (Rom. 15:8-9). Christ is both our source for extending welcome in the church and our motivation for seeking welcome in the world. Christ not only welcomed former enemies but also became a servant to both Jews and Gentiles.

World mission is not Paul’s invention but God’s plan all along. Paul notes that all three sections of the Old Testament bear witness to the missionary heart of God: the Poets (Rom. 15:9 quotes Psa. 18:49), the Law (Rom. 15:10 quotes Deut. 32:43), and the Prophets (Rom. 15:12 quotes Isa. 11:10). Christ’s warm welcome legitimizes and exemplifies his bold service; a match made in heaven.