The crowd was waiting in highly charged anticipation for the arrival of the special guest. Scores of people were expecting something special – someone special. They hadn’t had a visitor like this before. His appearance had been promoted for quite some time prior to the date of his coming.
They had many guest presenters before, but never like this. When he arrived the lights were dimmed and the music began to play. The theme song to Mission Impossible was the catalyst to supercharge the atmosphere with excitement. They could barely contain themselves.
He slowly made his way through the crowd in a black suit, dark sunglasses, black leather gloves and a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He definitely had an air of mystery about him. The crowd went crazy when he was introduced. So, who was he really? Or more accurately, what was he?
He was a Secret Agent.
It was Missions Week at Kelowna Christian School. The crowd was a classroom of grade 1 and grade 2 students. My sons were two of those students. And who was the guest speaker? Well, that guest speaker was me.
I was the Secret Agent.
Let me explain…
When the school administration announced that Missions Week was coming up I inquired what exactly that meant. I was informed that missionaries would be coming to the school to speak to the students about missions. The school wanted to expose the students to the world of international missions and create the opportunity for the kids to catch an interest in and passion for missions.
I was told Missions Week can often be the time when some students begin to feel called to “full-time ministry”.
Great, I don’t have a problem with that. However, it’s important we understand that we are all called to full-time ministry. Full-time ministry is not a unique call given to a select few super Christians. Jesus didn’t call anyone to give Him part of their life. He has called each of us to give Him our whole life.
We’re all called to be ambassadors for the Kingdom of God – the Government of God. God’s rule extends into all aspects of society. Locally or globally we are representatives of God’s rule and reign: God’s way of living. God’s Government is meant to be lived out by all of God’s people in every area of our culture and society: education, business, justice/law, arts/culture, health/wellness, media, the charitable sector, government, etc.
Our mission is to facilitate God’s Kingdom coming and God’s will being done in us and through us in everything we do. It’s how we are called to do life. I wanted to somehow help the students understand this truth.
So, believing as an entrepreneur I was called into full-time marketplace ministry, I asked the school principal if I could speak at Missions Week. I wanted the students to understand about marketplace ministry. I wanted them to know that we are all called to be full-time ministers of the Kingdom.
Enter the idea of a Secret Agent. I decided to introduce myself as a Secret Agent as a metaphor for the truth I wanted to convey. I believe we are all “secret agents” of sorts. You see, a secret agent is on a covert mission. In order to participate in the covert mission they need a “cover” of sorts to enable them to blend in to society and fulfill their mission.
You and I are on a mission from God. We are on a mission to see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done in us and through us in everything we do. This is why we work, this is why we go to work. If you go to work just to ‘make money’ you are missing the point.
We work to see God’s kingdom come and His will done in us and through us. The work we do is our cover. We are ‘disguised’ as teachers, business people, mechanics, lawyers, gardeners, painters, programmers and myriad other occupations. Our ‘cover’ enables us to engage in our mission.
Your work is your cover for your real mission: an ambassador of God’s Kingdom.
You are a Secret Agent.
Colossians 2:23
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,”
Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
2 Corinthians 5:20
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
Matthew 16:24
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’”