Do you want to be used by God?

by Chip Sweney and Bill Wood

Our God is a missional God. He is a sending God, and we are a sent people. As John 20:21 says, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’.”

In this article, we will answer three key questions about being sent by God. These questions will help you understand how God might use you to positively impact the lives of others.

1. What are we sent to do?
2. Where are we sent?
3. What are the characteristics of people who live as kingdom disciples?

Let's dive in.

What Are We Sent To Do?

These familiar passages outline three key directives:

The Cultural Mandate

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue; work and keep the garden (Genesis 1:28, 2:15).

The Great Commandment

Love God and love your neighbor (others) as yourself (Matthew 22:37–39).

The Great Commission

Go and make disciples who make and train disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

We are commanded to love all people, but we are sent to make and train disciples. We do this by sharing the gospel in word and demonstrating it in deed.

Disciples are made when we share the gospel from the Word of God, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes to understand the Word, and submission takes place through faith and repentance. Through an intentional process, with the goal of making and training disciples, we carry out the Great Commission.

As we love people in word and deed, we become relationally connected. We begin to learn together, work together, and create together. Physical, emotional, and relational needs are met, and we begin to see individuals, families, and entire communities flourish.

Followers of Christ who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, live out the three passages above, albeit in often clumsy and broken ways, are kingdom disciples.

Where Are We Sent?

Some people may be sent as missionaries across the world, and some may be sent with a church planter to start a church in another city, but all of us are sent by Jesus into our everyday lives where we live, work, and go.

We are sent to our neighbors, our communities, our schools, our workplaces, and even to our pickleball or tennis teams. In short, we are sent to the places where we spend our time. When we live with kingdom in mind, we live with the openness and expectation of a sent people — wherever we go.

Five Characteristics of People Who Live as Kingdom Disciples

Kingdom disciples who have been sent by God are marked by a few common characteristics. In this article, we will explore five important traits, but remember, this is not an exhaustive list.

1. An intimate relationship with the Lord, led by the Holy Spirit

An intimate relationship with Jesus is vital, and the key to developing intimacy is spending time with him. Jesus himself, the Son of God, needed time alone to be with the Father and to hear from him. Jesus longs for us to come to him, walk with him, and learn from him (Matt 11:28-30). Reading and meditating on his Word, praying to him, and practicing other spiritual disciplines develops intimacy.

If we walk by the spirit and are led by the Spirit, we will experience the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 18, 22). As we spend time alone with him, the work he is doing within us will become evident. We have this confidence because “we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

As he leads and guides us, he is working to make us more like him. This is intimacy with intentionality.

2. A missional awakening

God's heart is missional. He has compassion for people. He desires to see us flourish. As we spend time with him, our hearts grow more like his. His grace and his love for us compels us to also have a heart for others.

A missional awakening, or an “aha” moment, where the Lord leads us or gives us a wake-up call is really an invitation by the Holy Spirit to step into something much bigger than ourselves. How can we recognize when that moment has come? Our hearts may be stirred to action as we are reading the Scriptures. It might be during a time of duress or suffering when our hearts are tender to the plight of others. Job loss, or even retirement, may cause us to ask: What now? It is not unusual to find that “aha” moment in situations where we have extended ourselves outside of our comfort zones.

Regardless of how it may come, when we look back and see a specific time where the Lord gave us a greater passion, we will be encouraged to know that the Lord is working in and through us.

3. A vital relationship with the local church

Another key characteristic of those living with kingdom intentionality is a strong commitment to and a vital relationship with the church, the bride of Christ. The local church is often overlooked as a place to find the renewal and recharging we need for effective engagement with those whom the Lord has placed in our circle of influence. It is in the church where discipleship and community have the greatest opportunity for success. Christians were never meant to live in isolation. We need each other to walk consistently with the Lord and to live missionally.

One of the primary ways churches can train disciples is through what we call “life-on-life missional discipleship” (LOLMD), which is carried out through a discipleship group - a small group of people with a leader, who commit to spur one another on towards walking with Christ and living missionally as they invest in each other's lives. LOLMD has strong components of truth, equipping, accountability, and prayer. When we are on mission together, we are much more likely to have a lifestyle that is kingdom first. It is important to be part of a community of people where we can be refreshed, refueled, encouraged, equipped, and sent together.

4. Intention

To go through life, allowing the gentle flow of a current to move us idly from one location to another, is to miss out on the satisfaction that comes from having a grand purpose. Those who have a deep desire to live as disciples where they live, work, and go will be recognized for their intentionality, and it takes intentionality to build relationships.

If we want to have an impact in the lives of others, then we must build authentic friendships. To build friendships, we must spend time with them. To have time, we must build margin into our own lives and make it a priority. It begins with the ability to “see” the people who are already in our lives. The command to engage with and love others is not just for extroverts: no one is excluded from this invitation.

Where do we spend much of our time? Our home, our work, with our kids‘ sports teams. And our gyms, favorite restaurants, and grocery stores. Pray to the Lord for the people we interact with in our daily lives. We like to say that missional living is as easy as this: "Greet, befriend, and invite." Introduce yourself (greet), build friendship (befriend), and invite someone into a life where they can hear and experience the gospel in word and in deed.

Our occupation may be the place that takes most of our time. Scripture has called us to work heartily, as for the Lord (Col 3:23). He has designed us and given us gifts, talents, and callings to be an ambassador for him at work. With a little thought and creativity, our skills may be used beyond the workplace as well.

When we begin to discuss mission, we often visualize some grand expedition. However, it could be something as simple as praying for another person. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts to the needs of someone, and we pray. We may send them a text to let them know we are praying for them or call them to see how they are doing. The key is to be sensitive to the Spirit's prompting and to act on it.

5. An impactful mentorship

When you look back over your life, was your life impacted by a coach, an older friend, or someone who took an interest in your personal development? Many of us stand on the shoulders of those who precede us, of mentors, men and women investing their lives in others.

A mentor's life is a model of kingdom purpose, as they share insights, wisdom, and guidance. They may be with us in a work or ministry context, but they also could be a neighbor, a parent, or a relative. We gain practical ideas for engagement and often deeper understanding when we spend time with the ones who have gone before us. When we have experienced an impactful mentorship, there is a strong incentive to offer the same to others. This is the model that Jesus set up for us: "And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim 2:2).

Who is a mentor in your life? Whom can you mentor?

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt 9:37-38).

There are people all around us who are lonely, anxious, depressed, lacking purpose, and lost. They are looking in all the wrong places to fill the void that only the Lord can fill. They desire to be “seen” and “known.”

We are the “laborers,” and we are sent into the harvest field around us. We do not carry the weight of changing hearts and lives; only the Lord can do this. We are simply called to abide and be faithful. The Lord takes care of the fruitfulness.

Personal Reflection

• How is God calling you to live as a kingdom disciple in your current context? What steps can you take this week to be more intentional about building relationships where you live, work, and go?
• Have you experienced a personal ”aha“ moment where God awakened you to his missional purpose? If so, how can you respond to that calling more fully? If not, how might you open your heart to recognize one?
• What role does the local church play in equipping and supporting you to live as a kingdom disciple? Are you actively engaging with your church community in discipleship and mission
• Who has been a mentor in your life, and how has their example impacted you? In turn, who could you mentor to help them grow as a disciple of Christ? What practical steps could you take to invest in someone else's spiritual development?

This piece is used with permission from the authors.

About the Authors

Chip Sweney (MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School ) is Executive Director of Greater Atlanta Transformation at Perimeter Church in Atlanta, GA. He has led Perimeter's Community Outreach, Unite!, is a regular at conferences across the country, and is the author of A New Kind of Big (Baker, 2011).

Bill Wood serves as the director of Life on Life Ministries and Global Outreach of Perimeter Church . After nearly 50 years of corporate success in executive-level positions, Bill continues to encourage leaders around the world as they embrace a vision of discipleship for themselves and their churches.

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