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In just a couple of days, Juli and I will be leading 16 other people from our community to South Africa for a short term mission trip. As it approaches and we have the opportunity to share about it with people, the most common question asked is “What are you going to be doing?” That’s a great question and one that could take awhile to answer.

To make the answer short — my most common response is a verse that keeps coming up in many of our team members as we prayer for God’s heart for this trip: Isaiah 61:1-2a. These verses say,

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners, to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor…

I imagine these verses are likely familiar to most of the people reading this — they are the very verses that Jesus uses to kickstart His ministry. They were quite important to Jesus as they encapsulate succinctly what He did upon stepping out of heaven to become a flesh and blood man on earth. They should be important to us as well, since we are to emulate Him in all that we do. As such it’s been helpful for me to delve into this quite a bit (and I hope the rest of this post will be able to do that!).

The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me…

These verses start with Pentecost — the very presence of the Holy Spirit falling upon us. And what a perfect place to start — it’s only by the presence of the Lord upon us that we are able to move in power for His Kingdom. It’s not now nor ever from our own strength that we can draw. It’s only His very presence in the Holy Spirit.

As I thought more about this I was drawn deeper into this notion of Pentecost and the Lord’s Spirit coming upon us and its implications. Beyond the actual event described in Acts 2 (Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. Acts 2:2) and it’s result (All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them…And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language? Acts 2:4,8) I found the fulfilled prophecy to be quite helpful; I think it points out both how we get to a place where the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and what it’s ultimately for.

Peter goes on to preach at Pentecost from a passage in Joel. The section he preaches from tells of Israel’s insolence inviting devastation upon them. When pleadings of repentance are acknowledged, the Lord responds. And not only does He restore the people and their land, but it goes on to tell how He pours His Spirit out upon them:

After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will have revelatory dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.

Joel 2:28-29, 32

And so by our repentance and return to the Lord the very presence of God is open to us all (male/female, young/old, freeman/slave); the “how” question is answered. And it’s a promise open to all who would call upon the name of the Lord, both near and far and we I think by His power are called to them, thus answering the “why” question.

Because the Lord has chosen me.

So we know the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and we move to this notion of “chosen.” I’ll start off by saying that this isn’t a matter of election or determinism. Many translations translate “chosen” as annointed and it carries this connotation and not election connotation. Literally it means that the chosen has been designated to carry out some task. With the first verse fragment we see the Spirit’s power move in our lives and with this one the realization hits that with it comes movement in the mission of God.

As I meditated on this little fragment two things stuck out to me. First of all, I was struck with the importance of moving missionally. By following Jesus we actively choose to move as He did. And so, just as He stepped out of heaven and incarnated His life among sinful humanity, we are to do the same, taking His message with us wherever we go. Jesus was chosen by God for this task and until His final return, we are to do the same. The Great Commission is pertinent here:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:18-20

The second thing I was struck with flows directly from this. That thought was the great honor that it is to move in step with and chosen by God. Isaiah 6:8 immediately came to mind where God asks who He can send and Isaiah answers by saying Here I am! Send me!

He has commissioned me to…

The rest of these two verses from Isaiah directly describe the mission of the one empowered by the Spirit and chosen for ministry. These verses are especially meaningful to those of us going as they directly describe the people we are ministering to. There is poverty in the townships like nothing we know here. Many people live on less per year than what most of us make in a single week. Filth more often than not surrounds them. Their homes are often pieced together with whatever scraps can be found. And they need encouraged. Above all else — they need to know that there is hope in the world that breaks through and is greater than anything they’ve ever known. I’m not talking about a promise of magical health or wealth but the holistic change that happens when one reorients their life around the man Jesus. The brokenhearted exist here — in great numbers! They’ve been burned by the lies and deceit of years of systemic abuse, of neglect, of being abandoned by parents, by unconscionable diseases like AIDs. Only the power of the Holy Spirit could ever begin to bring complete healing to their lives. And there are captives and prisoners by the truckloads and they are crying out for freedom! Alcohol, drugs, sex are just few addictions that bind in great numbers. Demonic spiritual forces as well oppress like nothing we are generally familiar with. A heart transformed by repentance, by turning away from the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God can find freedom from even these tragic circumstances. And the Lord knows that these people need His good favor — they need jubilee. While the manifest witness of the kingdom of God in the lives of people might not level the playing field of the world, it can transform the face and outlook of communities. Generosity replaces greed, for example, and the witness of Acts 2 is made real:

They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

Hopefully this begins to answer the question “What are you going to be doing?” (and why!). It was helpful to me to work out these implications of Jesus’ call to ministry to our lives. Hopefully it can be helpful to some of you too.