A Missions Mindset

Adult Bible Class lesson

Rom. 1:10-17

God’s “heartbeat” is missions. God’s Son was a Missionary.

The Bible is a record of missions—From the calling out of Abraham… the command to Israel to be a nation of priests and be a light to the Gentiles… to the commission of the church… to the 144,000 missionaries in the Tribulation period. The overall message of the Bible is God’s desire to save man (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:12).

We need to have God’s mindset for missions.

Every Christian is a missionary (“sent one”). See 2 Cor. 5:20

In Romans 1:10-17 the Apostle Paul reveals his own personal mindset for missions. Paul, a missionary himself, shows what it is like to have a heart for missions. It is revealed by four things:

I. The DESIRE for missions (vs. 10-13).

A.  Paul was motivated by a spiritual goal (v. 11). He wasn’t coming to make money or become famous or to sight-see.

1. Paul’s purpose in coming to Rome was to “have some FRUIT…” (v. 13).
2. What is fruit? The first occurrence of “fruit” in the Bible is Genesis 1:11 – “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind…” Simply put, fruit is the reproduction of itself. The fruit of an apple tree is another apple tree. Likewise, the fruit of a Christian is another Christian. You reproduce yourself by winning others to Christ like you were won to Christ.

B.  Missions about reproducing Christ in others.

C.  Paul’s hindrance from going to Rome did not stop him from serving as a missionary where he was (v. 13).

II.  The DEBT of missions (v.14).