My daughter Bethany sent this to me, along with a note saying, “This article totally wrecked me today.”
I read it, and it hit me pretty hard too. I texted Bethany the next day saying, “I woke up at 5:30 this morning still thinking about that article.”
She texted back, “I know, right?”
It’s an article written by a minister here in the Upstate, whose name many of you would probably recognize – I would challenge you to take 5 minutes to read this through, and then answer the question, “What – specifically – am I going to do about this?”
A MISSIONARY VIEW OF THE WORLD
“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 of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of age.” Matthew 28:18-20
I have heard people say that they cannot understand the Bible my entire life. Usually, it is because they do not want to, or because they do not put forth the effort. There are certainly passages which have confused scholars, theologians, and laymen for centuries, but most of the Bible is quite understandable. For instance, look at The Great Commission. The last thing that Jesus told His followers to do before He left was to make sure that the whole world had heard the Gospel and had a chance to respond.
According to this passage and others like it (Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15-18), evangelizing the planet and making disciples (missions) was the most important thing Jesus wanted to leave with us. This is why He said it last, in hopes we would never forget. The question at hand is this: Did Jesus really mean what He said? Does He really expect you and I to spend our entire Christian life putting forth the effort of introducing the world to Him?
The bottom line is clear. Either Jesus meant every word He said and expects us to obey, or else the entire Bible is irrelevant. If the church today believes that Jesus was serious about The Great Commission, then why does the average church only give between 8% and 10% of its annual budget to foreign missions? Why do many churches in our land spend millions and millions of dollars annually on parking lots, gyms, family life centers, carpet, stained glass windows, fellowship halls and new sanctuaries? The Mormons have over 60,000 missionaries worldwide, which means that they take missions seriously. The truth is, most Christians do not take Jesus seriously when it comes to worldwide evangelism. Many of us never pray for those overseas, and give little care to nations rarely spoken of. We are too busy with our little denominational spats or personal agendas to give serious thought or effort to preaching the gospel to every creature.
Some say that God has not called them to go. To be fair, I do not believe that everyone is called to live in a foreign country, but I do believe that every Christian must be involved in carrying out this commission in some way. We all can support missions regularly with prayer, encouragement, and resources.
Obviously, many people have made the excuse that God has not called them. Planet Earth has doubled in population in the last 70 years to over seven billion people – but there are virtually the same number of missionaries worldwide that there were 70 years ago. Not percentage wise, but the same number! Did God quit calling missionaries? Did He give up on the world? Do you think God is smart enough to do the math and figure out that if the world has doubled in population, He needs to be calling at least twice as many people into missions just to keep up? I think God can figure that out. As a matter of fact, the problem is not with God. It is with us. We are not answering the call. We are not going. We are staying here, in America, with our televisions and CD players, air conditioning and fast food. Maybe we say God has not called us to missions of some sort, but what we really mean is that we love our stuff too much to let go of it and leave it behind.
Every day, almost 30,000 people starve to death in our world, and America throws away enough scraps to feed each hungry mouth on this planet. If you are offended by someone saying that American churches and Christians are sometimes selfish, materialistic, and disobedient, then I reply that God is offended at American Christians who allow children to starve and who turn their backs to the needy and poor. Have we become so fat and lazy that we dismiss the prophets of our day, preaching missions and social justice as unrealistic utopians with idealistic dreams and absurd faith? May God forgive us of our arrogance and lack of compassion. In a country where there is a church on every corner, a Bible in every house, and a T.V. or radio preacher on every channel, America will not miss you if God sends you overseas. We can stay here where we are important, or we can go there where we are irreplaceable.
Will the Kingdom of God grow in spite of our current lack of passion for the nations? Of course it will. God will not wring His hands in frustration if you or I miss a chance to go do missions. In one sense, God does not need me. He gives me the opportunity and responsibility to work for Him and know Him, but if I slack off, He will accomplish His will regardless. On the other hand, only a fool would say that we do not matter at all in global missions. Of course we matter because Christ left us with a call, and it is human effort and obedience to that call that He uses.
The task that Christ left us with is to share the gospel with every living creature in the world. This seems unreasonable to many Christians, but this is a beautiful privilege to someone in love with Christ and obedient to Him. It is a joy to leave home and go elsewhere! You cannot win a leper in India to Christ sitting on your couch in South Carolina, and you cannot tell a prostitute on the streets of Bangkok about forgiveness from the pew you fill on Sundays.
Our motivation must not be shame or guilt. It must be obedience; a desire to do what God says so that His glory and fame will fill the earth. When we refuse to go, potential millions may go on into eternity without hearing the message of Christ.
Today, there are nearly 1.7 billion people who have never heard the gospel, and more than half of them live in nations that were once ruled by the Khans. Now those countries are Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim, and in many of these nations Christianity is either outlawed or unheard of.
Go if the door is open, and quit standing in front of open doors “asking God if He wants you to go.” Start walking through some of those open doors, and ask God to stop you if He does not want you to go. He is able to shut that door if He wants it shut. Our responsibility is to go and to share, and then the results are up to Him. And what about the financial costs of going? If it is God’s will it is God’s bill, and He will provide.
