Why get involved in mission?
“There is only one true and living God”.
No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. 7 Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. 8 They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols. 9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers. 10But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath. Jeremiah 10:6-10
Hear O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord the one and only. Deut 6:4
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 1 Cor 8:4-6
People need to know
Verse 1-2 “sing to the Lord, Praise his name, proclaim his salvation day after day.”
Verse 3 “Declare his glory among the nations and marvel at his deeds among all the nations”
As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42 for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 1 Kings 8:41-43
Declaring God to the world is hard to do
The challenge of pluralism
What is pluralism?
Popular pluralism
“all religions basically teach the same thing”
Sophisticated Pluralism
‘common big idea’
Being tolerant and rejecting pluralism