HPBA Missions

AAA Prayer Part 2

2012-03-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Approaching His presence is the most important part of prayer. After all, our real need in prayer is the Lord Himself. We don't need things; we need Him. He doesn't just give us wisdom or courage; He gives us Himself to be wisdom and courage within us.

Being in His presence should lead to a second phase of prayer: aligning with His purpose.

Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God reminded us that God is always at work and is always inviting us to join Him. We experience the joy of seeing God's glory manifested in our reality when we adjust our lives to God's will. The story of the Bible is not what great men did for God but what a great God did through men who were willing to adjust their lives to His plans.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, His model prayer highlighted the importance of alignment. Approaching God's presence first ("Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name"), disciples then commit themselves to His purposes ("Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"). Only after those first two steps had been taken were personal petitions to be presented for physical needs, social/relational needs, and spiritual needs.

If we align our lives with His purposes, it is possible that presenting our specific needs will be unnecessary. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [the necessities of life] shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). Sometimes God may require us to ask for specific things in order to manifest His glory and increase our faith (thus the truth "you have not because you ask not" James 4:3). But generally speaking, His provision is always there for those who follow His vision.

God is not a cosmic vending machine. He does not exist to meet our needs or grant our requests. We exist to serve Him. Out of His grace, He showers us with many blessings, but we must never forget who is servant and Who is Master. As David Platt says, we were created to enjoy His grace and extend His glory.

After approaching God's presence in prayer today, let's submit our wills to His will. Let us pray that His purposes will be fulfilled and the whole earth will be full of His glory (Habakkuk 2:14).

AAA Prayer

2012-03-01T04:49:00.000-08:00

(I apologize to any readers who have wondered why I haven't written the last few days. I was at a conference and was unexpectedly busy and without internet access. Thanks for sticking with me.)

Three phrases come to mind that explain what I need to do in prayer: (1) approach His presence; (2) align with His purpose; and (3) appropriate His power.

Approach His Presence: Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Prayer is coming into the throne room of the great King. The Son and the Spirit have gained us access (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18). We "enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4). We should be conscious of drawing near to Him. James wrote, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (4:2a).

How do you draw near to Someone Who is omnipresent? The distance is in our hearts, not our location. There is a difference in assuming that He is with us and knowing He is with us. Theoretically, we can pray by just starting to talk -- after all, God is always there. But as creatures locked into space/time, we benefit by taking the time to seek His face. Many of the psalms begin with requests for the Lord to hear (4, 5, 17, and so on). If we take His attention for granted, we do so to our detriment.

When we were children, our parents were delighted when we began to talk. Even later on, they would tolerate our interruptions as we would burst in with some request or with some "news" that we felt couldn't wait. But as we matured, we learned that true conversation deserves some respect. We learned how to approach our parents in the right way.

In a book on prayer, I read about a preacher who asked a great evangelist to pray for him. The great man invited the preacher to a private room. The preacher was surprised when the kneeling evangelist was silent for several minutes. Then he sighed deeply, "Oh, Father" and continued in silence for several more minutes. Then the evangelist began to pray in a way that was far beyond anything the preacher had ever experienced before. It was because the evangelist had learned to approach the Lord's presence.

Have you ever had the experience of telling someone something only to turn and see that they had left the room? On the phone, do we start talking before the other person has come on the line? If we have a true personal relationship with God, we need to talk to him when we know we have gotten together.

Let us take time today to enter His presence. We may do so by praise and by confession. Let's spend time before Him that we may grow to be like Him.

Understanding Prayer

2012-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

I just bought a new smartphone. Already I miss my old phone. Using my old phone was easy because I was so familiar with it. I don't really understand how my new phone is set up to be used. Not understanding how something works always makes using it more difficult. Sometimes we get frustrated and give up. Sometimes we figure out a way to do what we need to do in our own way. But if I will take the time to learn and understand the way my phone is to be used, I will be able to do much more than I could before or than I could in my own way.

Prayer can be difficult if we don't understand how it works and what it is all about. For example, I suppose the most common view of prayer is that of asking-and-receiving. In fact, there is quite a bit of Scripture to support this view (e.g., Psalm 50:15; Jeremiah 33:3; Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:24). But anyone who has prayed very much will testify that we don't get everything we ask for. There are various reasons for which the Lord may justifiably deny our requests, not the least of which is when what we desire is contrary to His will (1 John 5:14). Someone I know said she wasn't going to pray anymore because God was going to do what He wanted to do anyway. To a small degree she was wrong because there are some things God will do when we pray that He won't do if we don't pray (James 4:2b). But to a large degree she was right. She just didn't understand what prayer was all about.

Prayer is not about getting our will done in heaven but about getting God's will done on earth (as S.D. Gordon taught in Quiet Talks on Prayer). Jesus said to pray, "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Why God chooses to work through the prayers of His people is debatable, but the fact that He works this way is undeniable. Regardless of any other reasons involved, one benefit of this arrangement is that it connects us to God more surely than anything else could. In fact, it would not surprise me if it turns out that God designed prayer primarily as a way for us to truly know Him by spending time in His presence.

As we pray, let's not just present God with a list of petitions. Let's spend time in His presence, getting to know Him, hearing His voice, becoming familiar with His ways, and discerning His will so that we may pray as we should. After all, it is His plan to extend His glory to all nations. We just need to follow Him.

Prayer

2012-02-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

The denomination that I am part of is not known for its prayer life. It is known mostly for its emphases on the Bible and on evangelism and missions. It's not bad to major on the Word and the work, but both of those activities tend to be ineffectual apart from prayer. That last statement would receive hearty amens from all my fellow Baptists because they know what the Scriptures teach about the necessity of prayer. However, knowing the theory well has not translated into following the practice well. More than one pastor has found attendance at the church's mid-week meeting dwindling when he tried to eliminate the Bible study in favor of a true prayer meeting.

Why do so many of us find prayer so difficult? And finding it difficult, do so little of it?

One reason of course is that the devil does all he can to keep us from praying. He has nothing to fear from what we do in our own strength and cleverness. He knows far too well the real damage to his realm that the King of kings can inflict. He will use his bag of tricks to distract us, discourage us, and divide us so that either we won't pray or that our prayers will be disqualified (Matthew 5:23-24).

Another reason is that our "flesh" resists praying. Our natural self is "anti-matter" to matters of the Spirit (Romans 8:7). Prayer is decidedly un-natural. One way of understanding Adam and Eve's eating of the fruit is that they were looking for a way that they could gain knowledge without having to depend on God. We have inherited this drive for independence. I wonder if God sees us as we often see babies crying, "I can do it myself!" and then making a mess of things. Humbling ourselves to depending on God goes against our grain. No wonder we find prayer difficult.

Finally, there is a practical reason for a tendency to prayerlessness. Not seeing answers to prayer leads one to question its value. We might think, "What good does it do to pray? I tried praying and nothing happened." Such a thought reveals faulty understanding of prayer. If we see God as being like the genie in Aladdin's lamp, we are sure to be disappointed. But now we have a real problem because the best way, perhaps the only way, to learn to pray is by praying. What a "catch 22"!

We must become a praying people. We are either praying or sinning (1 Samuel 12:23). Pray today that Jesus would teach us to to pray (Luke 11:1). Pray that the Spirit would help us to pray (Romans 8:26-27). The Nike corporation might say, "Just do it" but the Father tells us, "Just pray!" We cannot extend His glory to the nations without prayer.

Rad GC -- Teaching

2012-02-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Great Commission gives us a plan as well as a purpose. We have not been left to our own devices to reach the goal of discipling the nations. The only hope for fulfilling the Great Commission in our generation is to do it Jesus' way, not the way that seems best to us. In the book Radical, author and pastor David Platt helps us better understand what Jesus' way is. Having looked at going and baptizing, today we consider the step of teaching.

Platt corrects a couple of misconceptions we have about what Jesus meant by teaching. First of all, Jesus was not thinking about our modern method of classroom instruction. Platt writes, "Classrooms and lectures have their place, but this is not the predominant kind of teaching we see in Jesus' relationship with His disciples." The disciples enjoyed a constant dialogue with Jesus whenever they wished and wherever they were. It was the natural, conversational flow of a relationship. Secondly, because of this casual style, anyone and everyone can be a teacher. Platt explains: "Scripture clearly speaks of a spiritual gift of teaching and identifies specific leadership roles in the church that are tied to the teaching of God's Word. Therefore, we assume that teaching is a task relegated to only a few. But while we should certainly acknowledge and affirm gifted teachers given by God to the church, Jesus' command for us to make disciples envisions a teaching role for all of us." As He did with the plan of salvation, when God wants something for everyone, He makes it simple enough that anyone can do it.

The kind of teaching Jesus had in mind was more like how a parent teaches his or her children. As life presents various situations, the parent explains the ideas or coaches the skills that the child needs. Values are modeled as well as taught. Outside the home, teaching in New Testament times typically followed the apprenticeship model. In MasterLife Avery Willis described the apprentice model of teaching as consisting of the following steps: I do it; I do it and you watch; we do it together; you do it and I watch; then you do it on your own. A more recent form of this approach uses the acrostic MAWL to state the teacher's actions: Model, Assist, Watch, Leave.

It is important to note that Jesus' method focuses on behaviors. He didn't say merely to teach them all things; He said to teach them to observe (keep, obey) all things. Behavior reveals belief. Everything we do is based on some idea or value we hold. We may also affirm a lot of other ideas, but what we truly believe, we do. As Jesus' disciples, we must practice what we preach. In Jesus' parable about the wise and foolish builders, both types heard the word, but only the wise put it into practice (Matthew 7:24-27).

David Platt points out a further advantage of using the relational, dialogue, apprenticeship method: the disciple maker also benefits. He writes, "This raises the bar in our own Christianity. In order to teach someone how to pray, we need to know how to pray. In order to help someone else learn how to study the Bible, we need to be active in studying the Bible. But this is the beauty of making disciples. When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level." Any Bible teacher knows that he learns far more than the students he teaches. So will any follower of Christ who is willing to be a reproducer and not just a receiver.

Let's ask the Lord to use us today to pass to someone else what He has taught and is teaching us. Let's continue to do that until we reach the nations with the gospel.

Rad GC -- Baptizing

2012-02-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

In Radical, David Platt analyzes the Great Commission for its implications with regard to modern missions. Today, we consider his understanding of the importance of "baptizing" in the way missions should be done. Although he sees baptism as "the clear, public, symbolic picture of the new life we have in Christ," he puts more emphasis on how baptism "pictures our identification with one another in the church." He writes, "Baptism unites us as brothers and sisters who share the life of Christ with one another." The part baptism plays in disciple making is that new believers are brought into the body of Christ and see the life of Christ in action. As they see the love of Christ shared before their eyes, they absorb this new way of life and make it their own. Christianity is more caught than taught.

This lesson repeats the emphasis of yesterday. The relational element is crucial. Jesus ate, slept, traveled, worked, and laughed with twelve men every day for at least three years. They saw not only His actions, but also His reactions. They remembered His words and reproduced His ways. If Jesus the Master Teacher made disciples this way, what makes us think we can achieve the same results with much less investment? A few classes meeting a couple of hours a week won't approach the level of commitment and results that are needed. People need a model. The old saying goes, "What you do speaks so loud that I can't hear what you say." Our children do what we show them, not what we tell them.

When Avery Willis taught the principles of discipleship in MasterLife, he demonstrated the power of multiplication in the number of disciples that could be made by doubling every year. Two becomes four, four becomes eight, and so on until it becomes possible to disciple the population of the entire world in 33 years. As he said, "Anyone can count the number of apples on an apple tree, but no one can count the number of apple trees in an apple." But he also showed what happens when our disciple-making is half-hearted. One-half doubled becomes one-fourth, one-fourth becomes one-eighth, and so on with continuing decline in each succeeding iteration.

I heard an evangelist say once that he liked to be around new Christians because their zeal renewed him. He also said, "Most new believers have to backslide for six months before they can fit in to the average church."

What kind of environment do our churches offer new believers? Let us pray that as they are baptized and brought into the body that they will find all they need to attain "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). Let's pray that they will see modeled in us a passion to take the gospel to the nations.

Rad GC -- Going

2012-02-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

In Radical David Platt interprets the three phases of the Great Commission in his own way. Although the end in mind is definitely that of making disciples, as he shows, the three participles -- going, baptizing, and teaching -- are the means by which multiplied numbers of peoples come to enjoy God's grace and to extend His glory.

Take "going" for instance. Platt writes: Disciple making is not a call for others to come to us to hear the gospel, but a command for us to go to others to share the gospel. ... Disciple making is not about a program or an event but about a relationship. As we share the gospel, we impart life, and this is the essence of making disciples. Sharing the life of Christ.

In my seminary days, I heard my evangelism professor make the same point: "Jesus never commanded the lost to come and hear; He commanded His disciples to go and tell." When Jesus said "go," it implied arriving in the presence of another. There was no electronic communication in that day. There was no virtual reality. Personal presence led to personal relationship, and through that relationship the love and life of Christ would flow.

I believe it was Ralph Neighbour, Jr., who said, "It is hard for a man to believe that you want to share eternity with him in heaven when you won't share a meal with him in his home." As believers, we must take the gospel to the lost in their space, even if they are at the ends of the earth.

Jesus left heaven to come to us. Let's pray that we will leave our homes to take the gospel to the nations.

Radical Great Commission

2012-02-19T05:15:00.000-08:00

According to David Platt in Radical, Jesus gave His disciple a plan as well as a purpose. He not only told them what to do but how to do it. His plan makes it possible for any follower to impact the world. Perhaps our failure to do so stems from our failure to do things His way.

Here is how Platt describes our approach: "If we were left to ourselves with the task of taking the gospel to the world, we would immediately begin planning innovative strategies and plotting elaborate schemes. We would organize conventions, develop programs, and create foundations. We would get the biggest names to draw the biggest crowds to the biggest events. We would start megachurches and host megaconferences. We would do ... well, we would do what we are doing today." Our "contemporary strategies" revolve around "performances, places, programs, and professionals." Jesus' strategy relies on ordinary people who will think, love, see, teach, and serve like He did.

Platt shares, "The more I read the Gospels, the more I marvel at the simple genius of what Jesus was doing with His disciples. My mind tends to wander toward grandiose dreams and intricate strategies, and I'm struck when I see Jesus simply, intentionally, systematically, patiently walking alongside twelve men. Jesus reminds me that disciples are not mass-produced. Disciples of Jesus--genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ--are not made overnight. Making disciples is not an easy process. It is trying. It is messy. It is slow, tedious, even painful at times. It is all these things because it is relational."

While I was serving in South America, we were seeing many professions of faith to our preaching. However, numerical church growth was hampered by the high percentage of those who "fell away" in spite of the fact that most churches required a series of classes before baptism and church membership (some for as long as six months). My mission agency did a continent-wide study to figure out a way to "shut the back door." They concluded that our follow-up plans were ineffective because they were too "academic." We needed an approach that was more relational. I guess it had not occurred to us to do it Jesus' way.

One heart revolutionized by Christ can start a worldwide revolution by touching one heart at a time. If we are contagious, we spread the disease to others who also spread the disease. Let's pray that we will spread a good infection.

Global vs Local

2012-02-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

"People are just as lost in the United States as they are in India." "The United States has the fourth highest number of lost people of all the nations in the world." I have heard statements like these on more than one occasion. The owners of these sentiments are usually expressing the point of view that American Christians should take care of America first. They object to international missions with the question, in David Platt's words, "What about the needs here?"

Platt calls this objection a "smoke screen." In Radical he writes, "They [objections like this one] are smoke screens because most of us really are not very concerned about the needs right around us. Most Christians rarely share the gospel, and most Christians' schedules are not heavily weighted to feeding the hungry, helping the sick, and strengthening the church in the neediest places in our country." In other words, the person who expresses such an opinion is usually showing a disproportionate defensiveness to cover up a hard heart. He doesn't want to expend himself for the nations because he doesn't want to expend himself at all.

It is not a question of who is more lost because the same terrifying destiny awaits any lost person. It is not merely a question of numbers. It is a question of access to the gospel. In the United States there is an abundance of churches, Christian media, and neighbors who are believers. But at least one-fourth of the world has little or no access to any of those resources. When I resigned my pastorate to go to South America, there were over a hundred applicants wanting to take my place. When God led me to return to the states, no one took my place. A missions spokesman once asked the disturbing question, "Why should anyone get to hear the gospel twice before everyone gets to hear it once?"

As stated in earlier posts, the debate over global versus local is a false dichotomy. It is not "either-or" but "both-and." The Apostle Paul who said, "It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known" (Romans 15:20 NIV) also said, "I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel" (Romans 9:3 NIV). His missionary zeal and his concern for his own nation were one and the same passion.

In prayer today, let's ask God to help us to overcome any and all forms of self-deception. Let's ask Him to help us eliminate any and all excuses based on false thinking. Let's ask Him to use us both at home and for the nations.

Missions Roles: Which One?

2012-02-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Praying, sending, going -- which role does God want each of us to play? Each of us must discern what He is calling us to do. Or do we?

In his book Radical, David Platt argues that the idea that missions requires a special call from God is a mistaken notion that makes missions "an optional program" for a faithful and passionate few. This view reduces God's command (for all) to a calling (for a few). He writes, "Each follower of Christ in the New Testament, regardless of his or her calling, was intended to take up the mantle of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth." According to Platt, we tend to take the privileges of Christianity as being for all while taking the obligations of Christianity as being for a few.

Are we all supposed to move overseas? Platt says the very question shows our faulty thinking: "We have created the idea that if you have a heart for the world and you are passionate about global mission, then you move overseas. But if you have a heart for the United States and you are not passionate about global mission, then you stay here and support those who go. Meanwhile, flying right in the face of this idea is Scripture's claim that regardless of where we live--here or overseas--our hearts should be consumed with making the glory of God known in all nations."

Platt shows on the basis of the Creation Account (Genesis 1) that God has a two-fold purpose for His people: to enjoy His grace and to extend His glory. The first comes from the fact that the first words God spoke to His human creation were in the form of a blessing. The second comes from the command that followed to fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion as His agents. Like Cornell Goerner who I have written about earlier, Platt sees this purpose as the key to the whole Bible: "In every genre of biblical literature and every stage of biblical history, God is seen pouring out His grace on His people for the sake of His glory among all peoples."

God is not asking us to play a role. He is asking us to refocus our lives on His purpose. Missions is not just a program to do; it is a purpose to live. In Platt's words, we are "to spend all of our lives for the sake of all of God's glory in all of the world." That means praying, sending, and going. We don't have to choose just one. We can't choose just one.

Let's pray today that all the church will do all we can so that all may know.

Missions Roles: Going

2012-02-16T04:33:00.000-08:00

"We are already commanded to go. It takes a call from God to stay." Some missions spokesmen have used that logic in reply to those who say they don't "feel" called to go as a missionary. There is truth to it. The Great Commission does tell us to go. Jesus told all the disciples present on the night of His resurrection that they were sent just as the Father had sent Him (John 20:21). If the Bible says, "Go," then we should move in that direction unless the Spirit prevents us.

In my formative years, as my classmates and I were seeking the Lord and His will for our lives, I often heard someone say, "I'm afraid to surrender completely to the Lord -- He might send me to Africa!" What most of us discovered was that the decision to surrender our wills to His, even if it meant going to Africa, brought a breakthrough to spiritual freedom and to greater clarity about what God really wanted us to do. There had to be a willingness to do whatever the Lord asked before we could clearly hear His call. Jesus said, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God" (John 7:17 NKJV). Once we get our will out of the way, His will becomes clear. The greater includes the lesser. When we can truly say with the hymn, "Wherever He leads, I'll go," our hearts will finally be in harmony with His.

The fear of surrender is rooted in the flesh's resistance to His will: "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:7-8). Our old nature, the sinful nature we all have without Christ, wants its own way as surely as Adam chose his own way over God's. The tactics the flesh uses to avoid God's will can be subtle and ingenious. I have heard Avery Willis use the illustration of how as a child he would figure out how far his mother's voice would carry and then go just a block or two further to play with his friends; that way he would not hear her when she called him to come in and he could honestly say to her, "But I didn't hear you when you called me!" In my previous posts about Jonah, I told about my own resistance to missions by avoiding the seminary chapel services that were dedicated to missions. I wonder how many Christians allow the fear of missions to rob them of the joy of complete surrender.

It is clear that many who should go are not going. No general would arrange his forces the way Christian workers are currently serving. In general terms, the American church keeps more than 95% of its resources at home to reach what is less than 5% of the world's population. Our churches are stocked with multiple staff members while 3,800 people groups around the world have no one to tell them about Jesus. Someone is not doing what God wants them to do. Let's make sure that that someone is not us.

Let's pray until our will is completely surrendered to His will. Let's pray to go until He says to stay.

Missions Roles: Sending

2012-02-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I sit in amazement as the credits for a movie roll by. I find it almost unbelievable how many people it takes to make a movie, most of whom are never seen on screen. There are set designers, wardrobe personnel, make-up and hair artists, carpenters, electricians, cameramen, and others whose titles are an enigma. But there are also caterers, drivers, accountants, personal assistants, and insurance agents. Then there are all the people involved in sound, special effects, editing, lighting, and computer animation. As the names roll by, sometimes four and five columns across for minute after minute, I think that there are even more people whose names do not make the screen. It takes a lot of people to make a movie.

It takes a lot of people to do missions. Most of them will never go anywhere. It is true that the initial surge of spreading the gospel beyond Jerusalem came about as the church was scattered was scattered because of persecution (Acts 8:4). Most of the church, except the apostles, went everywhere sharing the word and wound up reaching Samaritans and even Gentiles in Antioch. But if we take "missions" in its etymological sense of being "sent," its true beginning was at Antioch when the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2). The church took their two best leaders and "sent them off" (v. 3). Two went (not counting John Mark) but most stayed. The missionary journeys of Paul and his companions are the God-given example of the implementation of the Great Commission. The model clearly shows a few going but most supporting.

I have been guilty of preaching as if anyone who does not become a missionary is disobeying the Lord. I do believe that many who should go are not doing so. But my guilt lies in not appreciating the importance of those who support and in not understanding how many people it takes to support in relation to the number who go. In addition to praying, someone must give, lots of "someones." Others will help with logistics, and still others will work to keep the home base strong (including the work of calling still others to go). In an army, all are trained and ready to fight, but for every fighter on the front lines there are many others who work in supplies, care for the wounded, cook food, transport materiel, and do all the other things necessary for the fighters to be effective. These behind-the-lines soldiers may not win many medals but without them the army would not win many battles.

What cannot and must not happen is for those who do not go to remain unengaged in the effort. In my lifetime, America has been involved in several undeclared wars: Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and others. In none of these have the American people been asked to sacrifice. We watch the war on the news, but our daily lives go on as if nothing was happening. Our modern approach would never have won World War II. The whole nation was engaged in the struggle to defeat a real threat to freedom. For example, I did not know until watching a documentary recently that not a single automobile was made during the years of the war. All the production went for tanks, personnel carriers, and airplanes. We will not win the world to Christ unless the whole church becomes engaged in the effort, doing without luxuries and even some necessities so that the "soldiers" will have what they need.

We may not all go, but we must all be involved in some way. Let's pray today asking God what sacrifice we should make so that the name of Jesus will be known and trusted by all peoples, tribes, and languages.

Missions Roles: Praying

2012-02-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

Years ago I read a story about a 19th century missionary to Africa named Hotchkiss. He was to preach at a certain village but was delayed in his departure by ministry matters. Walking to the appointment, he realized that he would not arrive at the agreed upon time if he took the usual route. At one point in his journey, he saw that he could save a lot of time if he cut across the open grassland instead of following the tree line. Abandoning the trees would expose him to attack by the grazing animals, but he decided to risk it. Sure enough, in the middle of the meadow, a rhinoceros took exception to his presence and charged. Hotchkiss had no way of escape. He was totally exposed and could not outrun the rhino. He collapsed to his knees, too scared to even pray. He shut his eyes to brace himself for the impact which never came. When he looked up, the animal was gone; only the hoofprints remained. Rejoicing, he went on his way and kept his preaching appointment. The episode made a great entry in his journal.

When Hotchkiss returned to the states for furlough, he often told the story during his rounds of deputation. At one of the churches, a man approached him after the message and questioned him about when the near-attack had occurred. He wanted the specific day and time. The man distinctly remembered being awakened one night with an overwhelming sense that the missionary was in danger. He had gotten out of bed and interceded for him fervently until a feeling of peace let him know that the danger had passed. The man had noted the date and time in his prayer journal. After consulting both journals and allowing for the difference in time zones, they realized that the man had been praying at the exact moment that Hotchkiss had been in danger. Amazing.

Since I first read this story, I have heard and read others that conveyed the same idea although the situations differed. I have come to realize that, in a way, intercessors have a spiritual presence on the mission field. I myself have had experiences where I have preached in different places. In one place the message would have greater impact than in the other. Same messenger, same basic message, but often I would get a letter by which I could see that someone in the states was praying for me at the time I was preaching the more effective message.

I have been guilty of challenging people to do more than "just pray." There is no such thing as "just" praying. Without prayer we cannot do anything because without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Ministry that does not grow out of prayer in the Lord's presence remains barren. Labor in our own strength is drudgery, but how great is our rejoicing when we see Him work. If a man works without praying, he gets what a man can do, but if his work grows out of prayer, he gets what God can do. It is true that we must do more than pray, but we can do nothing until we have prayed.

Let's pray today that the Lord will teach us to pray and help us to pray as we should.

Missions Roles

2012-02-13T04:35:00.000-08:00

Unless someone goes, there is no missions. But equally true, unless someone sends there is no missions. And in all likelihood, unless someone prays, there is no missions. All of these actions are valid responses to the Great Commission. Not everyone can or will go, but someone must. Someone must also support. The story goes that when William Carey acceded to go to India, his words to his comrades were, "I will go down into the well if you will hold the ropes."

The Apostle Paul appealed to the Roman Christians for their support for his journey to Spain: "How can they preach unless they are sent?" (10:15a). He also asked for their prayers: "I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me" (15:30). He would go if they would "hold the ropes." In his previous journeys he had enjoyed the support of the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1-3; 14:26; 15:40; 18:22-23) with some help from Philippi (Philippians 4:15-16). He especially valued prayer as shown by his frequent requests (Ephesians 6:19-20; Colossians 4:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2).

Praying, supporting, going -- each of these actions shows obedience to the command to evangelize the nations as long as the praying is not for our own concerns, the supporting is not for our own causes, and the going is not for our own convenience.

In the coming days I will examine these roles further. Will you begin now to pray about what role the Lord would have you to play?

Lost: The Real Question

2012-02-10T04:21:00.000-08:00

The question "Will those who never have the opportunity to hear about Jesus be lost forever?" has a disturbing answer: YES. Knowing that there are millions of men and women made in God's image on their way to "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41) should haunt our waking thoughts and chase away our sleep. But there is another question that hits closer to home: What will God do to me if I don't do what He asks to warn them and tell them how to be saved?

The prophet Ezekiel received a chilling warning with his call: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered you soul" (3:17-19 NKJV).

I have never heard or read an explanation of what the phrase "his blood I will require at your hand" means. In New Testament times, a soldier who allowed a prisoner to escape served the sentence that the criminal had received, even if it meant death. In our day, the laws prescribe punishment for negligence. If reasonable precaution could have prevented the harm that befell another, the negligent party is liable for damages and perhaps imprisonment. If we fail to do what we can to warn others of the danger that awaits them, if we fail to tell them that there is a way to eternal life, if we fail to obey God's command to preach the gospel to the nations, what will God do with us? Why doesn't our accountability before God stir us to greater action?

A speaker at an evangelism rally told of being in a large warehouse store when an announcement of a lost child went out over the speakers. Immediately, all the doors were shut and every employee dropped what they were doing to search for the child. After several long minutes, the news came that the child had been found. A cheer went up that could be heard throughout the building. The speaker posed the question that we all wonder about: why do we not get as concerned about those lost spiritually as we do over those lost physically?

As we pray today, let's ask God to press upon our minds and hearts the plight of those without Jesus. Tom Elliff, president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, says, "If you were standing by a cliff over which 1.7 billion people were falling to their death, wouldn't you do something?" Let's ask God what He would have us do.

Lost: The Only Hope

2012-02-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

Since the creation of Adam, God's usual way of working in our world is through a person. We were created to be His agents in this material world. We are uniquely made: out of the dust (material) and animated by His breath (spirit). We are a link that facilitates the work of the spiritual world in the material world. When God gave mankind dominion (Genesis 1:26), He revealed His desire to accomplish His work through the creatures that bore His image. Every story in the Bible that shows a man of God doing the work of God confirms this pattern. For example, God told Moses, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey ... So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:7,8, 10 NIV). Truly, it is God who redeems Israel from Egypt, but He uses Moses to do it.

This pattern -- God choosing to do His work through people -- is consistent throughout the Word. It can be seen as a rule. Thus Amos says, "Surely, the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets" (3:7). Similarly, preachers of yesteryear used to say, "When God gets ready to send revival, He sets His people praying." And such a rule would explain why Jesus saw that the only solution to the challenge of the size of the harvest was to pray for more workers (Luke 10:2).

Apparently, when God commissioned us to disciple the nations, He intended to achieve His purpose through us and not without us. I have sometimes wondered why God did not use angels to carry the message to the world. After all, angels usually command more respect from those who see them, and they seem to be more faithful than we are in obeying God's commands. But the commission has been given to us mortals, and though we cannot do His work without His enabling, He has chosen not to do His work without our obedience.

The role we are to play is clearly illustrated in the story of Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10). If ever there was a pagan who was a sincere seeker after God, it was Cornelius: devout, God-fearing, generous, and a man of prayer. But his sincerity could not save his soul. An angel appeared to him, but note that the angel did not tell Cornelius how to be saved. Angels have not been commissioned to preach the gospel. The angel told him to send for Peter. At the same time, God was working on Peter. Through visions He was freeing Peter from the false beliefs that hindered God's use of him. God brought salvation to the house of the sincere seeker, but He did it through His empowered agent.

This story shows us the only hope for those seeking God's salvation: the message must get to them through human instrumentality. In our day, it might be through radio, internet, or print. But usually it will be through personal contact of some form. I heard a Cambodian tell a story of a woman whose entire family was wiped out in that country's bloodbath in the seventies. Disillusioned that Buddha did not heed her cries, she prayed, "If there is a God, help me." Her mind heard a response: "Go west." She made her way across the country, eventually finding a refugee camp across the border in Thailand. It "just so happened" that Christians ministered in that camp, and there she heard the gospel and found God by believing in Jesus. God got her and the messenger together just as He has been doing since the days of Peter and Cornelius.

What does God do when there is no one to work through? Ezekiel 22:30-31 gives us the answer: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done." Could it be that there are some who could be saved if someone were in the gap, but they won't be saved because no one responded to God's call?

The only hope for the sinner is for someone to reach him with the gospel. Let's pray today about our part in standing in the gap.

Lost: Is There Any Hope?

2012-02-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

The human mind recoils at the thought of thousands of millions of men and women in eternal torment for not believing in a Savior that they never heard of. How can they be guilty if they never had a chance? In desperation men have sought ways that those who were not reached with the gospel might not perish. Four approaches have been suggested. Two would save everyone; two would save many, but not all.

Some have reasoned that all will eventually be saved because God is good. A good God, they argue, would not let people suffer like that. The problem with this line of thinking is that it makes God not good, but sadistic. Why would Jesus have to suffer the death on the cross if the Father was going to let them "off the hook" anyway? Others make the point that since Christ died for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2) then all will be saved (or perhaps it would be better to say they have already been saved). But if everyone eventually makes it to heaven, why did Jesus teach that there are two possible eternal destinies? And why would He command us to preach the gospel to the nations? Preaching is pointless if they are going to be saved anyway. The thousands of missionary martyrs died in vain if the peoples they hoped to save were going to make it whether or not they went.

Some would admit that the gospel does make an eternal difference and that not all will be saved. Still, they have suggested that there are many who will make it to heaven even if they never get to hear about Jesus. One line of thought goes like this: many who do not hear the gospel will be saved because God is just and He will not condemn the sincere seeker after truth. The Bible tells us that God has not left Himself without a witness in any culture or location in the world. Creation, history, and conscience all point men everywhere to God (Romans 1:20; 1:18; and 2:14-15, respectively). Since we are saved by faith, logic suggests that someone can be saved by sincerely believing in the highest revelation he has received. However, we all know that sincerely believing something does not necessarily make it true. Paul's thesis was that men have enough revelation to realize their condemnation and need of a savior. The truth is that none of us lives up to the highest we know. We all violate the standard of our own consciences, not to mention God's standards. We are self-condemned and fall short. We need a savior.

The second attempt to reason a way out of the predicament of the lost who never hear of Jesus goes like this: "All of us are sinners. We do not go to hell because we are sinners but because we reject the salvation offered us in Jesus. Since those who never hear of Jesus have not technically rejected Him, they will not be condemned." The logic of this position breaks down when we realize that such an explanation makes bad news out of the good news. In other words, we do people a disservice by preaching to them because once they have heard the gospel they become condemned if they fail to accept it.

All of these efforts to find hope for the unreached are contradicted by the clear teaching of the Bible. There is no other Name (Acts 4:12), there is no other foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), there is no other mediator (1 Timothy 2:5) than Jesus. He Himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). To suggest that there is another way makes Jesus to be either deceived or a deceiver.

The only hope for the nations is to hear about Jesus. Our prayer today should be the one Jesus told us to pray: that laborers would be thrust forth into the harvest. But let us not pray that others would go, but that we will go if He tells us to.

Lost

2012-02-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

A question that anyone who takes the Bible seriously sooner or later asks himself is, "Will those who never hear about Jesus be condemned to eternal punishment?" If we truly take God at His Word, the answer, regrettably, is yes. That is the short answer. The full answer will take longer.

We need to remember that the condemnation for sin is universal. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Paul writes in Romans (3:23). The same thought is found in his epistle to the Ephesians: "... we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others" (2:3). All humanity are "children of wrath" not in the sense of "beings who express wrath" but as "beings under wrath." Every person on the planet suffers the same disease, sin, and faces the same prognosis, death (Romans 6:23). The only hope is to believe, the only way to believe is to hear, and the only way to hear is for someone to tell, and the only way for someone to tell is for them to be sent (Romans 10:14-15a).

All humanity is condemned, justly, for three reasons. First, we are condemned because of our relation to Adam. "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men" (Romans 5:12). The fall places us in the default position of condemnation. We are born in the enemy camp. This position is soon confirmed by our own choice to sin when we know what we ought to do but choose what we want to do. We are sinners by nature. We do not become sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Just as birds fly and fish swim because it is their nature, so all people sin because it is our nature. Parents do not have to teach their children to be self-centered or to lie for self-advantage. It comes naturally. We are condemned in Adam to a life of sin with all its consequences.

Second, we are condemned because of our rebellion against God. "All we like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). Sheep are not known for having an unruly nature, but its appetite for grass will lead it off from where it is supposed to be. Its perpetual tendency is to move away from the shepherd in seeking to satisfy its own desires. Left to themselves, they get lost. Like sheep, we may appear to be domesticated, but in reality, our selfish appetites lead us away from God. We choose our way rather than God's way. Quietly or defiantly, we rebel against the lawful Sovereign of the universe.

Third, we are condemned because of our rejection of Christ. John writes, "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (3:18). We can understand that a condemned prisoner who rejects a pardon from the governor will suffer his punishment. A shipwreck victim who refuses to get in the offered lifeboat will drown. What we find more difficult to accept is that John indicates that they are condemned "already." It is not just rejection of Christ, but failure to accept Him that confirms us in the condemnation that is already ours.

Without a Savior, all are condemned, lost both now and for eternity. If that fact bothers us, and it should, then we should pray, asking the Lord what He wants us to do about it.

Choices

2012-02-06T04:38:00.000-08:00

I attended two worship services at two different churches yesterday, and both of the sermons were on the topic of making right choices. The texts and the approaches were different, but my mind made the connection because I had already been thinking on the subject. Maybe the Lord is telling me something.

God has given us the responsibility of making decisions that have real consequences. Philosophically, there is always a debate between freedom and determinism. Theologically, we speak of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Are we merely playing out strings of cause-and-effect with only the illusion of making a difference? If so, why does God judge us for the decisions we make? Could it be that one of the ways that we have been made in God's image (for He is the First Cause, the Unmoved Mover) is in the ability to initiate new sequences of causation?

Our lives consist of a series of choices, both our own and those of others. Others made decisions that have affected where and when we were born, our genetic makeup, our cultural mindset, and our set of opportunities. Out of those conditions, we have become who we are today because of the choices we have made: who we married; where we went to school; the careers we have pursued; the purchases we made; the people we have associated with; the ways we have spent our free time. My body is in the shape it is today not only because of genetics but also because of my choices about diet and exercise.

We are affected by the decisions of our society. If our nation goes to war, we have decisions to make. If our culture departs from God, we have decisions to make. If our church or convention takes actions that are not aligned with God's will, then we have decisions to make. We must beware of allowing culture too great an influence on our choices. In spite of the set of circumstances surrounding us, we can still make the choices that will draw us closer to God.

The first time I heard someone say, "You are as close to God as you want to be," I rejected the idea. Then I thought of times when I chose to hang out with friends rather than spend time in prayer or to watch TV rather than study the Word. How often had I chosen what would please me rather than what would please Him? Every choice I make either leads me closer to or further from Him.

I cannot change the decisions I have made. My choices today will not alter my past but they will determine my future. Joshua challenged the children of Israel, "Choose you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15, italics added). The choices I make today will either bring me into fuller compliance with God's plan to reach the nations or will take me further down the path of following my own plan.

Let us choose today to follow Him to the ends of the earth. Let's tell Him so in prayer.

A Mission Parable

2012-02-05T05:07:00.000-08:00

I have borrowed the following parable from a friend's blog. Guy Muse, missionary to Ecuador, wrote a blog called The M Blog (http://guymuse.blogspot.com) that I encourage you to check out. Hopefully, he will return to blogging soon.

Once upon a time there was an apple grower who had acres and acres of apple trees. In all, he had 10,000 acres of apple orchards.
One day he went to the nearby town. There, he hired 1,000 apple pickers. He told them:
"Go to my orchards. Harvest the ripe apples, and build storage buildings for them so that they will not spoil. I need to be gone for a while, but I will provide all you will need to complete the task. When I return, I will reward you for your work.
"I'll set up a Society for the Picking of Apples. The Society -- to which you will all belong -- will be responsible for the entire operation. Naturally, in addition to those of you doing the actual harvesting, some will carry supplies, others will care for the physical needs of the group, and still others will have administrative responsibilities."
As he set up the Society structure, some people volunteered to be pickers and others to be packers. Others put their skills to work as truck drivers, cooks, accountants, storehouse builders, apple inspectors and even administrators. Every one of his workers could, of course, have picked apples. In the end, however, only 100 of the 1,000 employees wound up as full-time pickers.
The 100 pickers started harvesting immediately. Ninety-four of them began picking around the homestead. The remaining six looked out toward the horizon. They decided to head out to the far-away orchards.
Before long, the storehouses in the 800 acres immediately surrounding the homestead had been filled by the 94 pickers with beautiful, delicious apples.
The orchards on the 800 acres around the homestead had thousands of apple trees. But with almost all of the pickers concentrating on them, those trees were soon picked nearly bare. In fact, the ninety-four apple pickers working around the homestead began having difficulty finding trees which had not been picked.
As the apple picking slowed down around the homestead, Society members began channeling effort into building larger storehouses and developing better equipment for picking and packing. They even started some schools to train prospective apple pickers to replace those who one day would be too old to pick apples.
Sadly, those ninety-four pickers working around the homestead began fighting among themselves. Incredible as it may sound, some began stealing apples that had already been picked. Although there were enough trees on the 10,000 acres to keep every available worker busy, those working nearest the homestead failed to move into unharvested areas. They just kept working those 800 acres nearest the house. Some on the northern edge sent their trucks to get apples on the southern side. And those on the south side sent their trucks to gather on the east side.
Even with all that activity, the harvest on the remaining 9,200 acres was left to just six pickers. Those six were, of course, far too few to gather all the ripe fruit in those thousands of acres. So, by the hundreds of thousands, apples rotted on the trees and fell to the ground.
One of the students at the apple-picking school showed a special talent for picking apples quickly and effectively. When he heard about the thousands of acres of untouched faraway orchards, he started talking about going there.
His friends discouraged him. They said: "Your talents and abilities make you very valuable around the homestead. You'd be wasting your talents out there. Your gifts can help us harvest apples from the trees on our central 800 acres more rapidly. That will give us more time to build bigger and better storehouses. Perhaps you could even help us devise better ways to use our big storehouses since we have wound up with more space than we need for the present crop of apples."
With so many workers and so few trees, the pickers and packers and truck drivers -- and all the rest of the Society for the Picking of Apples living around the homestead -- had time for more than just picking apples.
They built nice houses and raised their standard of living. Some became very conscious of clothing styles. Thus, when the six pickers from the far-off orchards returned to the homestead for a visit, it was apparent that they were not keeping up with the styles in vogue with the other apple pickers and packers.
To be sure, those on the homestead were always good to those six who worked in the far away orchards. When any of those six returned from the far away fields, they were given the red carpet treatment. Nonetheless, those six pickers were saddened that the Society of the Picking of Apples spent 96 percent of its budget for bigger and better apple-picking methods and equipment and personnel for the 800 acres around the homestead while it spent only 4 percent of its budget on all those distant orchards.
To be sure, those six pickers knew that an apple is an apple wherever it may be picked. They knew that the apples around the homestead were just as important as apples far away. Still, they could not erase from their minds the sight of thousands of trees which had never been touched by a picker.
They longed for more pickers to come help them. They longed for help from packers, truck drivers, supervisors, equipment-maintenance men, and ladder builders. They wondered if the professionals working back around the homestead could teach them better apple-picking methods so that, out where they worked, fewer apples would rot and fall to the ground.
Those six sometimes wondered to themselves whether or not the Society for the Picking of Apples was doing what the orchard owner had asked it to do.
While one might question whether the Society was doing all the owner wanted done, the members did keep very busy. Several members were convinced that proper apple picking requires nothing less than the very best equipment. Thus, the Society assigned several members to develop bigger and better ladders as well as nicer boxes to store apples. The Society also prided itself at having raised the qualification level for full-time apple pickers.
When the owner returns, the Society members will crowd around him. They'll proudly show off the bigger and better ladders they've built and the nice apple boxes they've designed and made. One wonders how happy that owner will be, however, when he looks out and sees the acres and acres of untouched trees with their unpicked apples.

Original version appeared in Let's Quit Kidding Ourselves About Missions, Moody Press. © 1979 by The Moody Bible Institute. Edited and revised by Howard Culbertson.

The Reluctant Missionary -- Why?

2012-02-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

It would be a mistake to say that Jonah's preaching was successful beyond his wildest dreams. It was successful beyond his wildest fears. When the whole city repented at his message and the Lord relented from their destruction, Jonah was not happy. In fact, he became angry. Here's how The Message paraphrases the opening of chapter four:

"Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, 'God! I knew it--when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That's why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn you plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! So, God, if you won't kill them, kill me! I'm better off dead!'"

Most preachers fantasize about having the kind of response to their preaching that Jonah had, but not Jonah. Why did he want the Ninevites destroyed? Commentators usually point to Jonah's nationalism as a lesson in prejudice. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a nation known for its aggression and brutality. They were feared or hated by all the nations who stood in their path of conquest. Jonah knew what they would do (or had done, depending on when the book is dated) to the Northern Kingdom. They would be pitiless, so why should he pity them? Jonah "pre-judged" an entire people, condemning them in whole without thinking of them as individuals. We do the same with our racial or class prejudice and with our ethnocentrism. We view entire groups as inferior or less worthy without regard for the character or abilities of individuals. We follow Jonah in preferring that God would punish them rather than bless them.

I believe the Lord wants us to see that there is more to Jonah's anger than just prejudice. If prejudice were the whole of the explanation, the story could have ended with Jonah's outburst and God's explanation of concern (see the last verse). Why did God deem it necessary to take Jonah through the experience of the plant that shaded him and then died? What was He showing Jonah and what does He wish to show us? He shows us that at the root of Jonah's anger is a self-centeredness that was more interested in his own comfort than in the welfare of thousands of innocent others. The one factor that more than any other keeps Christians from doing our part in evangelizing the nations is unwillingness to disturb our preferred lifestyle. We are more concerned about our own welfare than we are about the passion of God to reach the lost.

Something must happen to end our stubborn willfulness. One of the events that led to the Lord's revealing to me my resistance to the call to missions was hearing a sermon by Charles Stanley on "The Problem of Brokenness." He uses Jonah as an example of a man who refuses to humble himself in submission to God. God is not just using us to get a job done (bearing light to the nations); He is also molding us into Christlikeness in the fashion of Philippians 2:5-11. If the Lord of glory was willing to humble Himself and give up His rights, how could I do any less?

As we pray today, may we humble ourselves before Him. May we confess that our failure to join Him in reaching the nations is a symptom of self-centeredness. Let us ask Him to do whatever it takes to bend our will to His.

The Reluctant Missionary Part 5

2012-02-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

"Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time ..." (Jonah 3:1 italics added)

I can't remember how many men I have counseled over the years who have told me that in their youth they sensed a call to ministry but for various reasons did something else. It has been more than just a few. All of them expressed regret, feeling that it was now too late. My feeling in every case was that if the memory of the call still stirred them, then God was still calling them. It is never too late to do the right thing.

It is true that some opportunities come only once. When the children of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land the first time, Moses told them the consequences of their disobedience. Then some of them said, "Well, if that's the case, then we will go up." Moses warned them that God would not be with them. They went up anyway and were defeated (Numbers 14). In that case, failure was final, but God is more persistent than we might imagine. He is patient, very patient. An eternal perspective has that effect, I suppose.

After praying to get his heart right with God, Jonah heard from the Lord again. The call was still there. God had not changed his mind. Jonah had not forfeited his opportunity. He was being given a second chance to join God in His mission to the people of the world. It was not too late. When people have told me, "It's too late for me to be saved," I always tell them that if they are still bothered about their salvation, if it is still on their minds and hearts, then God is still wooing them. If it were too late, they would not even think about it. Our Lord is the God of the second chance.

Just as the call to salvation persists, so does the call to service. If God is still putting a concern for the lost of the nations on our hearts, it is not too late to obey. Our obedience may not look the same as it would have if we had responded earlier. Those specific circumstances are gone forever. But there is one thing that will be the same. the first step will be the same as the one we could have and should have taken back then. That step is to say yes.

Let's pray today that we will not let what might have been keep us from what can be.

Jonah: The Reluctant Missionary Part 4

2012-02-02T04:22:00.000-08:00

Jonah and the Lord are in a contest of wills. It is God's will that Jonah preach to a people not his own. Jonah doesn't want to. Jonah knows what God wants him to do, but he would rather follow his own desires. How far will Jonah take his resistance? How far will God go to get His man on mission? I believe it was my dad who told me when I was a teen-ager, "I can't make you do anything, but I can make you wish you had." He told me he learned that lesson in the army. I doubt that Jonah had even an inkling of what God was prepared to do to get his participation in the plan.

God doesn't always use such extreme measures as He did with Jonah to get us to do His will. Sometimes His punishment is to let us have our way (with all the consequences that that choice entails). We can't know for sure what God will do if we ignore His call to the nations, but we can see through Jonah's example what resistance to God's will brings us to: self-destruction. In his showdown with God, Jonah preferred to be thrown into the sea in the middle of a raging storm rather than to repent of his self-will. He would rather have died than do what God wanted him to do. He shows us that to choose our way over God's leads in the end to disaster. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 16:25 NKJV).

How many parents have endured the anguish of seeing a child ignore their wisdom to pursue a course of action that leads to pain and suffering? How many teachers have experienced the frustration of seeing a student waste his life by making choices he/she was warned against? How many pastors have watched their clear teaching of the Bible be ignored by church members who pursued their own desires to their detriment? Any time we choose our way instead of God's way we have chosen the path of destruction.

But there is a further lesson. In a spiritual sense, Jonah shows us what we must do. We must die. We must die to self. Jesus was clear that this kind of death is not optional for His followers (Luke 9:23-24; 14:25-26; John 12:24-25). The apostle Paul (Galatians 2:20) shows us what the Lord can do with a life that has died to its own willfulness in order to follow His bidding to the nations. What keeps us from doing whatever it takes to carry the gospel to the 3,800 unengaged unreached people groups? Is it not our preference for our own comfort and pleasures? Or perhaps it is a stubborn persistence in our own way of thinking that refuses to acknowledge God's desire for His name to be known among all peoples?

How long will we continue to ask God to bless our way instead of asking Him to use us in His way? As we pray today, we will choose one or the other. Let's be careful what we pray for.

The Reluctant Missionary Part 3

2012-02-01T04:44:00.000-08:00

Unintended consequences. I seem to hear that term more often these days. Usually, the writer or speaker is referring to some good deed that has negative side effects. In missions, our efforts to help people, especially with their material or physical needs, can foster a dependence that is unhealthy for the people in the long run. Early missionaries discovered "the hard way" that some people would profess to follow Jesus for the economic advantage it gave them. When missionaries had to withdraw their support, the people went back to their former ways. What was meant for good had undesirable and unintended consequences.

The story of Jonah illustrates that our failure to join God in His mission to the nations can also have unintended consequences. When God sent the storm to get Jonah moving back in the right direction, it wasn't just Jonah whose life was at risk. The lives of his shipmates were also in danger. The cargo was thrown into the sea so that its owner suffered financial loss. The crew was faced with the dilemma of killing a man to save their own lives. Jonah's rebellion did not affect just himself; it affected the lives of others around him.

Our decision to join God in reaching the nations (or not join Him) affects not only ourselves but also our families, friends and churches. When my wife and I were in the process of making the decision to go as missionaries wherever God might send us, one of the concerns we had was the welfare of our children. We wondered about the quality of medical care in other countries. We worried about their schooling. We debated the effect of growing up in another culture on their social development. God graciously answered all our concerns. But now I think, "Why didn't we worry as much about the impact a decision not to go would have had on them?" Who knows what could have happened to them if we had stayed in the states? They could have succumbed to evil influences here just as easily as over there. And what kind of role model would we have been if we had disobeyed the clear call of God? How could we have helped them find God's will for their own lives if we were not obeying His will for ours?

When churches consider getting serious about missions, they often think about the impact the effort will have on their finances. But they don't usually think about how failing to join God where He is working will impact the spiritual development of the people. When the church fails to take risks in following God, the people learn to be calculating and selective in how they personally follow God. What "storms" have we suffered because as a church we have focused more on ourselves than on the peoples of the world whom God wants reached?

Instead of thinking, "What will it cost us to go?" we should be thinking, "What will it cost us if we don't go?" Instead of thinking, "What will happen to me?" we should think about what might happen to those we love. Try praying about that.

The Reluctant Missionary Part 2

2012-01-31T04:40:00.000-08:00

I don't want to allegorize the story of Jonah, but there are lessons we can learn from him about what it means to resist joining God to reach the nations. It would be going too far to see parallels in story details like his "paying the fare" (supposed lesson: it costs to disobey the Lord), or like his going "down" to Joppa (supposed lesson: disobedience always takes us down). But some details illustrate clear spiritual principles. Let's consider one today.

In chapter one verse three it says, "But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord" (NIV, italics added). The spiritual principle taught in these emphasized words is that rejection of the Lord's call is a rejection of the Lord Himself.

In previous posts I have demonstrated that God's eternal purpose, as revealed in His Word, is to reconcile all peoples in the world with Himself. This aim is not just a part of His plan; it's the main point. Some might argue that God's purpose is to reveal His glory so that man's purpose becomes "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. But for His glory to be revealed to its fullest extent, it must reach "every nation, tribe, people and language" (Rev. 7:9). The Great Commission was not an afterthought, something Jesus tacked on to His ministry at the end as if He were saying, "Oh, by the way, there has been something I've been meaning to tell you but it has slipped my mind. I've got something I want you to do that will keep you busy until I get back." No, as I have tried to show in the previous posts, all the Word focuses on all the world.

A soldier who refuses to obey an order does so only by rebelling against his superior's authority. But perhaps we can see the consequences of not joining God in His purpose by thinking of a more loving relationship. Suppose a woman wishes to marry a man who has a passion for sports and whose life goal is to become a professional athlete then later a coach. But she doesn't care for sports. Now you may argue that they can still have a happy relationship, but can they really become one as God intended for husband and wife to be? If she refuses to have anything to do with sports, isn't she rejecting an important part of who her husband is? Or think of a son whose father is a master mechanic. If that son has nothing to do with cars and engines, won't he miss out on many opportunities to be close to his dad? So we cannot draw close to our heavenly Father unless what interests Him interests us.

If our heart is truly linked to God's heart, we will have the same heart for the nations that He does. If we don't have a passion for the nations, then we don't share His passion. To ignore His purpose is a rebuff to His person. Let us pray today that our hearts will become aligned with His.

Jonah: The Reluctant Missionary

2012-01-30T04:33:00.000-08:00

It is somewhat surprising to find a missionary in the Old Testament. It is even more surprising to read his story of resistance to God's will. Most surprising is reading how far God would go to get His word to other people and to minister to His prophet.

The opening verses tell us that "the word of the Lord came to Jonah" telling him to "go to that great city Nineveh and preach" (Jonah 1:1-2). This command is just like the one all followers of Jesus have received: "Go into all the world and preach" (Mark 16:15). Jonah was being sent to another place and people to tell them the message God had for them. The English word "missionary" comes from the Latin and means "one sent" with a message or on a task. It is the exact equivalent of the word "apostle" which comes from the Greek. Some people say that every Christian is a missionary, and perhaps they should be. But technically, we become missionaries when we "go" with our message to some other place or people that is different from us in some way, such as, culture, race, or language. There is some barrier to cross that makes the mission more difficult than doing the same thing at home.

Those barriers can make us reluctant to obey God's clear leading. Our "flesh" never wants to do God's will (Romans 8:7). Jonah, in spite of being God's prophet (2 Kings 14:25), gave in to his natural side. He tried to run away from the Lord (1:3). Tarshish, perhaps in what we now know as Spain, was as far away from Nineveh as possible in the known world of Jonah's day. It is worth noting that verse 3 begins with the word "but." How many of us have responded to God's call with that word? God wants us to do one thing, BUT we are busy doing something else. God reveals to us His concern for another people, BUT our mind comes up with all kinds of reasons, good ones, for doing something else or why it should be someone else. Why don't we realize that those excuses come from the part of our nature that rebels against anything God desires for us?

When God clearly called me to serve as a missionary some thirty years ago, I realized that He had been calling for some time. I had allowed my "flesh" to deafen me to what God was saying. I told myself that God wanted me to pastor in the US. When I was in seminary, I would not attend the chapel services that focused on missions because, I told myself, they did not apply to me. As a pastor, I preached on missions, giving high priority to raising funds and to telling others to go. But even though I believed in missions, I did not see that I was the one who was to go until He broke through my resistance.

When we think of God's command to take the gospel to all peoples of the world, what excuses pop into our minds? What is our "but"? Where do we think those arguments come from? God has told us to go. Some have argued that we don't need a special sense of call to go as missionaries because the Bible already clearly gives us God's will for us to go. It takes a special call to stay.

Let's pray today that we will not be reluctant but eager to do His will whatever it may be.

Aiming at the Wrong Target

2012-01-28T03:16:00.000-08:00

I am borrowing the following story from the e-newsletter of Larry Doyle, a friend and a DOM in North Carolina (I borrowed the title, too!).

Matt Emmons was one shot away from capturing his second gold medal and securing the lead for Team USA in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. He had a 3-point lead in the men's 50-meter, three-position rifle competition. He didn't even need a bull's eye to secure a first place finish and win the gold medal. All he had to do was hit the target near the bull's eye.

He calmly approached his final shot, aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger. He was confident he'd hit the target, but when he looked up at the electronic score board, nothing appeared. Puzzled, he looked at the judges, thinking the electronic scoring device had malfunctioned. He saw the officials huddle together briefly, and then his score appeared. A zero!

Unbelievable! That couldn't be! He had taken careful aim, and he was sure he had hit the target. Suddenly, he realized what had happened. Yes, he'd hit the target, but he'd hit the wrong target. He was standing in lane 2, and had fired on the target in lane 3.

What an incredible story! He, his teammates and his opponents were in disbelief. How could he have made such a mistake? He did everything right, but he aimed at the wrong target. This extremely rare mistake in such an elite competition dropped him from first place to eighth place.

Is it possible to live our lives successfully but wrongly? Is it possible to be very good at the wrong things? Can a victorious Christian life be wasted on self-fulfillment or church growth rather than the advancement of God's kingdom? Let us pray today that we aim at the right target, the one God has set before us in His word as revealed in His Son.

Do People Groups Need the Gospel?

2012-01-27T04:42:00.000-08:00

Let me share a heart-breaking article I read yesterday. What a difference the Gospel could make in situations like this one.

KARNATAKA, India — Imagine living in a society in which you are judged by your station in life, determined by your birth, rather than by your individual worth or accomplishments. As a member of the lowest rung of society, you can barely keep food on the table for your wife and two daughters.

When your wife becomes ill after giving birth to a third daughter who, unlike the son you had hoped for, will be an unbearable financial burden, you have only one choice: You must dedicate your daughter to the goddess as a devadasis, a temple prostitute.

By dedicating your baby, you have given her a profession and a way to obtain food for her family. Perhaps the goddess will now show favor to your family, sparing your wife’s life and filling her womb with the long-awaited boy child. Your daughter’s sacrifice is small compared to your entire family’s alternative fate of starvation. If her body is the price the goddess asks, it must be paid.

In India, the devadasi (day-vah-dah-see) system, a Hindu practice of temple prostitution, has existed for more than 5,000 years, says David Dass, executive director of the India Gospel League. In the state of Karnataka, where he and his wife live, starving families dedicate hundreds of girls each year to the goddess Yellamma. The children are forced to begin a life of prostitution at age 11 or 12.

"F'rom the very beginning, they’re being exploited as babies,” says Annette Romick, a humanitarian aid worker in India. “Then, when they hit maturity, their bodies are exploited by men. Even when their bodies are no longer desirable to men, they are still exploited and abused because that stigma is on them. They can never escape from it. It’s a trap that they’re stuck in; it’s a living hell that they’re experiencing.”

The word devadasi literally translates to “god’s female servant.” Parents usually choose to dedicate their daughters as infants to the goddess Yellamma, in hopes of gaining the goddess’ favor or easing a financial burden. When the girl reaches physical maturity, she is forced to begin her life as a prostitute. Once dedicated, a girl is considered to be married to the goddess and is never allowed to marry a man.

Who will take the Gospel to these people and others like them? Let's pray for them and for ourselves that we will do what it takes for the peoples of the world to find hope and life.

"Who am I?" or "Here am I!"

2012-01-26T04:52:00.000-08:00

To an ordinary person, the task of discipling the nations can seem daunting. The sheer size of the task seems overwhelming. (It would take almost 222 years, at one person per second, just to greet the 7 billion people in the world, not counting the number that would be born during the process.) Then you have to add in the challenges of language, culture, geography, and politics plus the opposition of spiritual enemies, religious systems, and human willfulness. It all leaves a person who is cognizant of his own limitations of time, ability, and resources with the feeling of "who am I to take on such a task?"

A message I heard on the radio last night by Chip Ingram had an insight that can give us some encouragement. He was preaching on the birth of the church on Pentecost. The promise of power through the unction of the Holy Spirit is, of course, the only way common believers could have any hope of making a difference. But Ingram had a further insight. He pointed out that when God chose His spokesman for that historic day -- a once-in-eternity, make-or-break situation of incalculable importance -- He chose, in Ingram's words, "an uneducated failure." Peter's lack of formal training would be noted by the Jewish religious leaders in Acts 4, where he and John were called "uneducated and untrained men" (v. 13). And Peter was the one who in an act of cowardice had denied his connection to Jesus. Who was he to step forward to tell the inquiring crowd about the Savior?

Indeed, who are we -- any of us -- to take on the task, that no one else has yet done, of taking the gospel to an unengaged unreached people group? We are without a doubt inadequate for the effort. But I am reminded of the words of a popular author and conference speaker of a generation ago, Ann Kiemel, who used to say, "I'm just an ordinary person, but I serve an extraordinary God." It is not about us, but about Him. None of us in ourselves is adequate. Even the apostle Paul said, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves" before adding "but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Corinthians 3:5). Mary realized her inability to be the mother of the Messiah, but the angel said, "With God nothing shall be impossible." If God touches our lives and empowers us like He did the prophet Isaiah, then we can as he did, "Here am I, send me!"

Let's pray that our sense of unworthiness or of inability will be replaced by the realization of God's worthiness and power.

All Nations and the Second Coming

2012-01-25T04:44:00.000-08:00

As the apostle Peter taught about the return of Christ and the end of the world, he told us what we should be doing about it in the meantime: "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" (2 Peter 3:11-12 NKJV italics added). Hastening? Isn't the Lord's return a set event on God's calendar? In what sense could we move up the clock?

Prayer might be a factor. In the Model Prayer Jesus taught us to pray that the kingdom would come. The apostle John certainly believed in praying for the end to hurry up and get here. At the end of the book of Revelation after the Lord has promised three times to come quickly (22:7, 12, 20) John adds the prayer, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" It seems John understood that he could ask the Lord to hurry because of Jesus' own promise.

There is another possibility for how we might hasten the Lord's return. Matthew and Mark record that Jesus taught the disciples about the end on the evening of His arrest. Both accounts tie the timing of the consummation with the preaching of the gospel to all nations. Mark has it this way: "And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations" (13:10). "First" implies a sequence of events; the gospel must reach all ethnic groups before the end comes. This sequence is stated even more clearly in Matthew's version of the same saying: "And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (24:14). All of us who love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8) will do all we can to hasten it. This possibility gives us a further motivation for getting the gospel to the nations.

Note how even in the conclusion to history the two themes of the person of Christ and the purpose of God stand out. When Jesus comes in glory, He will be fully vindicated. Every eye will see Him, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We will see Him as He is. That full, undeniable revelation of the person of Christ is linked to the preaching of the gospel to "all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues" (Revelation 7:9). From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is about two things: first, "that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day" and second, "that repentance and remission of sins should b preached in His name to all nations" (Luke 24:46-47).

Let us pray today that the Lord will hasten His return. Let us pray also that we will do our part in taking the gospel to the nations so that all possible conditions have been fulfilled.

Mystery Solved: God's Eternal Purpose

2012-01-24T04:41:00.000-08:00

The Bible is about two things: a Man and a plan. The Scriptures teach us about the Messiah, God's suffering Servant who would suffer, die, and rise again to redeem mankind from the bondage of sin. They also teach us that God has had a "plan for the ages" as W. O. Carver put it. That plan is to reconcile to Himself people from "all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues" (Revelation 7:9).

There was one follower of Jesus in the Bible who perceived and preached and practiced the two themes before any of the Twelve -- Saul of Tarsus, later to become Paul the Apostle. It is interesting that the Lord used an outsider to show the way to the "establishment." How often He uses someone that others have rejected to accomplish His purpose. To the Ephesians, Paul describes the revelation of God's plan as a "mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ" but now made known by the church "according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord" (3:8-12).

The idea of "mystery" in New Testament times was of a truth that one could not know unless it was revealed to him by God or by someone else to whom God had revealed it. Paul writes of the "mystery of Christ" both to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, the companion letter. The words of Paul about this mystery show us the same two themes we have seen throughout the Bible.

To the Colossians Paul shows that the mystery had to do with the person of Christ: "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27). Paul's life was devoted to the truth that a right standing with God came through faith in the person of Jesus, not through observance of the Mosaic code. He also insisted that this simple faith in Christ could be embraced by peoples of all nations and cultures. To the Ephesians he wrote: "by revelation He made known to me the mystery ... which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel" (Ephesians 3:2-6).

Paul's life gives us an example of what it means to devote one's life to the purposes of God who calls us to salvation in Jesus and to service in the nations. Let's pray to understand and to obey God's will not only with regard to faith in Jesus but also in aligning our purposes with His purpose, to bring all peoples to Himself.

Acting Like They Acted in Acts

2012-01-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

I have borrowed the title for today's entry from a sermon by Perry Crisp, pastor of Lake Fork Baptist Church. (You can hear his sermon by going to the church's website lakeforkbaptist.org and clicking on the media tab then scrolling down to the sermon title). It is a great sermon on the opening verses of Acts.

I love reading the book of Acts. It always challenges me to see how ordinary men like me were used by God to take the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. It thrills me to see how an extraordinary God moves through men to accomplish His purpose of taking the gospel to the nations. It wasn't always easy. The resistance to God's movement did not always come from those outside the faith. The reluctance of the apostles to obey the Great Commission reminds me of how human they were. Consider these events:

At the ascension, the apostles just stood on the hill looking up at the clouds that had received the Lord. Two men (angels) had to get them moving.
The timing of the Holy Spirit's coming upon them -- at Pentecost when there were people from all points of the empire -- gave clear evidence of God's desire for the nations to receive the gospel, yet they remained in Jerusalem.
To get the gospel out of Jerusalem, God allowed persecution to drive the church out of the city, except the apostles!
It was not one of the apostles but Philip, a deacon, who was the first to proclaim the gospel to someone who was not a Jew. It is true that after seeing firsthand the work of God among the Samaritans that Peter and John preached the gospel to them, also -- on their way back to Jerusalem!
When revival broke out among the Gentiles at Antioch, the apostles did not even go to see what God was doing. Instead they sent Barnabas. Barnabas found help not from the Jerusalem leadership but from Saul of Tarsus.
It took an extraordinary vision from God for Peter to be convinced to enter the house of a Gentile and share the gospel with his household.
When Paul and Barnabas reported all the wonders of God's work among the Gentiles during their first missionary journey, the apostles praised God but concluded that God had sent the two as apostles to the gentiles (the nations with a population of over 900 million) while the twelve were to continue as apostles to the Jews (with a population of some 3 million).
To even allow other cultures and ethnic groups to become Christ followers without having to adopt Jewish identity required a major meeting of the church.
Church history records that the apostles eventually went to other lands (Thomas to India for example), but apparently the only way God got them out of Jerusalem was to destroy the city in 70 A.D.

The story of Acts is one of God's relentless push to overcome every hindrance to the spread of the gospel through all the world. Commentators have noted that the last word in the Greek manuscript of the book is the word translated "unhindered." It was not just geographical or political or religious barriers that had to be overcome, but ethnic and cultural barriers, barriers that existed within His own chosen ones.

Perhaps instead of acting like they acted in Acts, we should pray more to act like they should have acted in Acts.

As you pray today, let's ask God to show us what is keeping us from joining Him in reaching the nations.

Jesus and the Nations

2012-01-21T05:41:00.000-08:00

In our familiarity with the life of Jesus, it is easy to overlook the degree to which His concern for all nations appears in His ministry. Some of you might be thinking, "But didn't Jesus say, 'I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'?" Yes, but He said it to the Syro-phoenician woman to provoke her faith. And if you are thinking that Jesus confined His ministry to the land of Israel, remember that He had an unusual number of encounters with Gentiles for someone who did not travel very far. In addition to the woman just mentioned, there was the Roman centurion whose faith Jesus praised, the Gadarene demoniac, the Samaritan who was the only one of ten lepers to thank Him for his healing, and the Greeks whose visit indicated to Jesus that His hour had come (to name a few).

In addition to these encounters, there were subtler indications of Jesus' worldwide aim that set the tone for everything He said and did:

His preference for the title "Son of man" which came from Daniel 7:13-14 where the One called by that term approached the throne of the Ancient of Days and was given "dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him."
His connection to John the Baptist, the forerunner prophesied in Malachi who condemned the corrupt worship of Israel and who heard the Lord say, "From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles [nations] ... for My name shall be great among the nations" (1:11).
His temptation by Satan to receive all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worship, showing that worldwide dominion was something to which Jesus aspired (just the shortcut was wrong)
His first sermon at Nazareth offended the hometown folk with its examples of how God worked miraculously on behalf of Gentiles in the time of Elijah and Elisha. Goerner writes that this beginning to Jesus' preaching "demonstrates that His life purpose extended far beyond the nation of Israel."
His sending out of the 70 is significant because that number represented to Jews the number of nations in the world (based on Genesis 10). Even the sending out of the 12 (which was confined to Israel) contained these words: "You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles [nations]" (Matthew 10:18).
His triumphal entry fulfilled Zechariah 9:9 whose following verse includes, "He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea."
His cleansing of the temple was because "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations" (Mark 11:17).
His defense of the woman who "wasted" the expensive oil by anointing Him foresaw that her action would be retold "wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world" (Matthew 26:13).
His prophecy that the end would not come until the gospel had been preached "in all the world as a witness to all the nations" (Matthew 24:14) ended with the sheep/goat judgment of all the nations (Matthew 25:31f).

All these examples (and there could be many others) lead to one inevitable conclusion: Jesus' mission was for all peoples. As His followers, we can aim for nothing less. Let us pray like we believe it.

Reading the Psalms Like Jesus Did

2012-01-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

On the basis of Luke 24:44-49 (and the exposition of that passage by H. Cornell Goerner in his book All Nations in God's Purpose), I have discussed that Jesus' understanding of the Law and the Prophets led to two conclusions: that the messiah was to suffer and rise again and that God's intent was that the message of salvation be preached to all peoples. Our application is that those of us who have experienced salvation in Christ and have become His followers should also have the nations on our minds and hearts. To finish our look at the Old Testament, today I examine how the twin themes (person of Christ and purpose of God) are found in the Psalms.

There are many Psalms classified as "messianic." Warren Wiersbe lists the following in that category: 2, 8, 16, 22, 23, 40, 41, 45, 68, 69, 102, 110, and 118. Derek Kidner in his two-volume commentary on Psalms says that fifteen psalms are treated messianically in the New Testament but goes on to say, "A closer look at the way these [fifteen] are handled will suggest that they are regarded as samples of a much larger corpus. It would scarcely seem too much to infer from this treatment that wherever David or the Davidic king appears in the Psalter (except where he is confessing failure to live up to his calling), he foreshadows in some degree the Messiah."

There are also many Psalms that refer to the nations. Although many of the references treat the nations as the enemies of God's people, there are others that explicitly teach God's care and concern for all peoples. Psalm 67 is a notable example. Further, Goerner notes that the King James Version obscures many references to "peoples" due to its translation of the Hebrew plural (ammim = peoples) by the English singular "people" since as a collective noun it may be considered plural already. Newer versions usually get it right.

There is a Psalm that combines both elements and was obviously meaningful to Jesus. His cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", quotes the opening words of Psalm 22. Since Jesus evidenced extensive familiarity with all the Scriptures, many commentators believe that Jesus had in mind not just the phrase He quoted but the entirety of Psalm 22. It is a remarkable description of what Jesus endured on the cross, down to the gambling for His garments, written more than 900 years before the event. The first 21 verses describe His agony, verses 22- 26 His victory, and the final verses His posterity: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You, for the kingdom is the Lord's and He rules over the nations." Popular songs may say that "when He was on the cross, I was on His mind," but it might be more accurate to say that He was thinking about the unreached nations of the world.

The Psalms, as the prayerbook of the Bible, teach us that our prayers should reflect the two concerns of God -- glory for Jesus and the gospel for all peoples. A recent news article described the importance of prayer to actor Mark Wahlberg. He talked of praying at least once a day in this way, "I pray to be a good servant to God, a father, a husband, a son, a brother and uncle, a good neighbor, a good leader to those who look up to me and a good follower to those that are serving God and doing the right thing." Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of this aspect of Wahlberg's life, and in many ways the content of his prayers is admirable. But in light of the Bible's emphasis, a prayer life focused on those immediately around us falls short of Jesus' example and teaching.

Let's pray like Jesus did that the nations might come to know Him.

Reading the Prophets Like Jesus Did

2012-01-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

Jesus' instruction to the disciples in the upper room (Luke 24) corrected their messianic expectations and their ethnocentricity. The Messiah was to be less the popular conqueror and more the suffering servant. The favor of God was not just for the Jews but for all peoples. The universal vision of the prophets is seen in various ways. Every time I read through the major and minor prophets, I am surprised at how often their messages target nations other than Israel or Judah. There is also a frequently repeated concept of the nations streaming into Jerusalem to worship. For instance, Zechariah says, "In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'" (8:23). Jesus reversed the direction while maintaining the focus on the nations by explaining "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47).
I have neither time nor space to survey all the prophetic scriptures that focus on the nations. Perhaps one clear example will suffice to sensitize our reading and study of the prophets to the pervasiveness of this teaching -- that the prophets not only foretold the coming of the vicarious Savior but also foresaw the spread of His salvation to all peoples.

Of all the passages in the Prophets, none better portrays the vicarious atonement of the Messiah than Isaiah 53. I have read of Jewish families who forbid that their children read the chapter because it is so clearly fulfilled in Jesus. The importance of this passage can be seen in that eleven of its twelve verses are quoted in the New Testament. All four Gospels quote some portion of it. It was this passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading and from which Philip preached Jesus to him (Acts 8:34). I doubt that anyone would dispute that Jesus' understanding of His death and resurrection was rooted at least partially in this passage.

Goerner draws attention to the context of Isaiah 53 to show that the prophecy of Jesus' passion was "bookended" by prophecies of "the exaltation of the true God among all the nations of the earth." The issue of context takes on special significance considering that in Jesus' day the scrolls had no chapter or verse divisions. So in the prior pargraphs it says, "The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" (52:10) and "Behold, My servant shall deal prudently ["prosper" in the margin]; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high" (52:13) and "So shall He sprinkle ["startle" in the magin] many nations" (52:15). Then in the paragraph following we read, "For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman" (54:1) and "your descendants will inherit the nations" (54:3) because "He is called the God of the whole earth" (54:5).

It was on the basis of Isaiah 54:1-3 that William Carey preached the annual sermon to his local Baptist association of churches that led to the formation of the first "Protestant" missionary society. His sermon theme still challenges us today: "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."

If we understand and trust the Bible's message about God's provision of a Savior , shouldn't we also understand and obey the Bible's message about God's purpose of saving the nations? Let us pray that we will be consistent in heeding what the Scriptures say.

Reading Our Bible Like Jesus Read His Part 2

2012-01-17T03:16:00.000-08:00

The focus on all people groups of the world in the Abrahamic covenant held true for the Mosaic covenant as well. Although, in terms of quantity of material, the weight of content in the books of Moses has to do with ordinances and precepts governing the religious and social life of the Israelite community, the essence of the covenant is recorded in chapters 19 - 24 of Exodus. The first six verses of chapter 19 record a meeting between Moses and God to set up the meetings to follow in which the covenant would be given. God's words at this meeting form something of a preamble, according to Goerner, stating "the reason for God's choice of one people from among all the peoples of the earth, the condition under which any people may continue to serve as God's special people, and the function which they are expected to perform" (emphasis in original). Understanding these verses is essential to understanding all that follows.

The reason for God's choice had to do with ownership. In biblical times, everything in the kingdom technically belonged to the king, but he had some items that he possessed personally. When God says the children of Israel will be his "special treasure" (verse 5, NKJV), the Hebrew word indicates that personal type of possession. However, God maintains His claim to all the earth: "for all the earth is Mine." God had redeemed Israel out of slavery to Egypt and had brought them to Himself. They were His in a special sense, but not to the exclusion of the rest of the nations.

In spite of all that God had already done, the choice of Israel was conditional: "if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant." Obedience to His will is required for any people who wishes to continue in the special status of God's called ones. In spite of their expressed willingness (verse 8), Israel was never truly faithful to the covenant. It was not until the new covenant that genuine obedience was possible. Obedience is still required, but grace makes obedience possible for those who abide in Christ.

The function of God's chosen people is to serve as a priesthood to the other peoples of the world. Goerner writes, "The function of a priest is well-known. He serves as a mediator between God and the congregation he serves. He makes the will of God known to the people and makes the people acceptable to God." God has in mind a nation composed entirely of priests who will minister to the other nations. The priest-kingdom shares what God reveals and leads the nations in the proper worship-response. In this way the chosen nation becomes a channel of blessing to all other nations.

This teaching is important for us to understand. God did not bring us to salvation merely for our own sake. When He included us in His special treasure as His chosen people, He intended for us to function as channels of blessings to others. How well we fulfill that function determines the degree to which we enjoy His continued blessings.

In our prayers today, let us ask God to forgive us for any self-centeredness that has caused us to keep God's blessings for ourselves. May He forgive us for thinking too much of ourselves and our own and for not thinking enough about all the peoples who are His.

Reading Our Bible Like Jesus Read His

2012-01-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Jesus' Bible was our Old Testament. The Jews organized it a little differently than we do. It consisted of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Law corresponded to our five books of Moses. The Prophets included our historical books (Joshua - Kings) plus the major and minor prophets (Isaiah - Malachi). The Writings took in the rest, especially the Psalms. So when Luke writes that Jesus opened the disciples' mind to all that was "written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms," all the Scriptures were included.

Jesus enabled the disciples to understand that their thinking was wrong on two main issues. First, the Messiah was not to be a political or military conqueror, but one who would suffer, die, and be resurrected. Second, God's focus was not on the nation Israel but on all the nations of the world (starting with Israel). With hindsight, we can now see these truths clearly in the Old Testament if we look for them through a Jesus focus.

For example, God's covenant with Abraham has often been used (even in our day) to teach that the nation of Israel must receive special consideration. The quote "I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you" is the one we most frequently hear. But looking at the promise the way Jesus did, we see that the emphasis should be on the phrases "I will bless you ... and you will be a blessing" and "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3). On two subsequent occasions God repeated the covenant with Abraham with the same emphasis. On the first, Abram's name was changed to Abraham because he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:5) and in him "all the nations of the earth" would be blessed (18:18). On the second, the offer to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord said, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). The Apostle Paul later noticed the importance of the singular "seed" rather than the plural as a prophecy of the Christ (Galatians 3:8 - 16). Paul would argue vehemently that Gentiles (nations) did not need to become Jews to be saved and become God's people. God's plan was not for one people but for all peoples.

When God confirmed the covenant with Abraham's heirs, both Isaac and Jacob were told that the focus was on the nations. The wording was the same to both: "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 26:4; 28:14). Goerner, the author I have mentioned in previous posts and whose book is the source of these thoughts, writes concerning these passages in Genesis, "It is difficult to understand how the Jews could have overlooked or virtually ignored these statements, which literally dominate the book of Genesis and give the reason for their existence as a nation." They focused on the promises to make them a great nation while forgetting the basic purpose of it all -- that all nations should be blessed.

Perhaps the Jews forgetfulness or ignorance is more understandable if we examine our own thinking and inclinations. It is so easy for our thoughts to center on our family, our church, our community, our nation. Years ago as I was helping a church develop its budget for the coming year, one of the committee members insisted that the percentage of missions giving should be cut so that more "local missions" could be done. It took a while, but finally he was able to see that the church was already spending nearly 90% of its budget on local missions when it spent the money on the church's programs and personnel. He agreed not to cut the allocation for missions, but not to increase the missions percentage. Do we really understand the Bible the way Jesus did?

Pray today that God will open our churches' understanding of God's plan and purpose. Pray that we will align our priorities with His.

All the World in All the Word

2012-01-13T03:16:00.000-08:00

I have re-acquired a copy of the book I mentioned a couple of days ago, All Nations in God's Purpose by H. Cornell Goerner. I had lost my copy sometime during my missionary days (possibly loaned out and not returned as has happened with some of my best books). However, now in the days of amazon.com it is easy to find old books at reasonable prices (but I wouldn't advise you to buy the NEW copy someone has for sale -- for $588.88!). Re-reading the first few pages after many years, I was reminded that Goerner based his study on lectures by one of Southern Baptists' greatest educators, W. O. Carver. Carver had also written a book for the WMU in his day. He gave it the title that I have used for this blog entry. Goerner quotes what Carver wrote about the book in his autobiography:

This book was not written for the pastors. It was hoped that they would find it useful, but they took little interest in it. When they spoke of it, in the majority of cases, they got the title wrong, revealing that they had no real insight into the purpose or nature of my effort to show that the whole world enters definitely into every part of the word of God in the Bible. That remains one of my deep griefs about ministers, they have so little understanding of the major purpose of God and the universal outreach of his love dominating the entire Scriptures. (emphases mine)

If Carver thought the pastors in his day had missed the main point of the Bible, I wonder what he would say about the current generation of preachers who seek to build audiences looking for their "best life now." The Bible is not about how God can enrich our personal lives. It is about a lost humanity and a loving God whose principal aim is to bring them all back to Himself. We dare not make the same mistake that the Jews of Jesus' day made in thinking that God's choice of their nation gave them a position of privilege. Had they understood that they had not been given a position but a function (to be God's witnesses to the world) they would not have experienced God's judgment.

The dominant theme of the Bible must be the dominant theme of our lives. How much of us is invested in taking the gospel to the nations? I read some years ago that a speaker wished to illustrate how Christian resources were being divided between America and the mission fields. He invited 20 men to come to the stage to move the grand piano there. When in position, he instructed 19 of them to pick up the piano bench and the remaining man to pick up the piano. You see, at that time 5% of the churches' men and money went to missions where 95% of the world's population lived while 95% of the resources were spent at home on America's 5% of the world's population. I wonder how the percentages work out in our personal budgets.

Let's pray that our hearts and purposes will become aligned with God's heart and purposes.

Why Is Prayer So Important?

2012-01-12T02:00:00.000-08:00

I interrupt the flow of thoughts about the Great Commissions for some thoughts about prayer. After all, our purpose here is to stir one another up to prayer. I read these words from Charles Swindoll as I studied about Nehemiah who was known for his prayer life. Here is what Swindoll wrote:

Why is prayer so important? Here are the four shortest reasons I know.

Prayer makes me wait. I cannot pray and work at the same time. I have to wait to act until I finish praying. Prayer forces me to leave the situation with God; it makes me wait.

Secondly, prayer clears my vision. Southern California often has an overhanging weather problem in the mornings because of its coastal location until the sun "burns through" the morning fog. Prayer does that. When you first face a situation, is it foggy? Prayer will "burn through." Your vision will clear so you can see through God's eyes.

Thirdly, prayer quiets my heart. I cannot worry and pray at the same time. I am doing one or the other. Prayer makes me quiet. It replaces anxiety with a calm spirit. Knees don't knock when we kneel on them!

Fourthly, prayer activates my faith. After praying I am more prone to trust God. And how petty and negative and critical I am when I don't pray! Prayer sets faith on fire.

In taking on the task of evangelizing unengaged unreached people groups, all of these reasons for prayer are not only valid but essential. We can't do this without prayer. The great Bible expositor Warren Wiersbe quoted Scottish novelist George MacDonald who wrote, "In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably." He also quoted evangelist Alan Redpath who said, "There is too much working befoer men and too little waiting before God." Let's pray like never before!

People of the Book

2012-01-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

When I first heard the phrase "people of the book," the speaker was implying that it especially applied to Baptists. At the time I did not know that it historically was a category used by Muslims to refer to "faiths which have a revealed Scripture" (according to Wikipedia) and includes Jews, Sabians, and Christians. But I can see how the term especially fits Baptists since we claim as our first distinctive that the Bible is our sole authority of faith and practice. We claim to believe the Book and to live by the Book.

If we are indeed "people of the Book,"then two things will mark our lives, the same two things that Jesus taught as the message of the Scriptures (see yesterday's post): Jesus and missions. We will have a passion for the person of Jesus and a passion to see all peoples come to know Him. Over the years, we Baptists have been strong in insisting that our character be Christlike. Let's be just as strong in insisting that our work be Christlike, not just in the sense of being compassionate, but in the sense of being focused on the whole world. Remember John 3:16?

Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Let's pray that we do our part that the world may know.

The Last Great Commission

2012-01-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

By "last" I mean the final of the five versions of the Great Commission found in the four gospels and the book of Acts. Having looked at Matthew, Acts, John, and Mark, we now turn to Luke 24:45-47:

Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem."

When we went through missionary orientation, we studied a book entitled All Nations in God's Purpose by Goerner. He called attention to the amazing Bible study Jesus gave the disciples after His resurrection. If we truly understand the Bible the way Jesus taught it, we will understand that the Scriptures have two complementary themes: the person of Jesus (sacrificial death and saving resurrection) and the purpose of God (to reach the nations with the message of repentance from and forgiveness of sin). This insight to the meaning of God's word is not just eye-opening, but mind-opening (literally). I had heard the Bible preached for many years, always hearing the story of Jesus but never hearing the teaching that God's purpose in all the biblical events and prophecies was that the peoples of the world would be reconciled to Himself. Not just Israel. Not just the church. But all the people groups of the world.

I wonder what our churches would be like if we taught the plan of missions as clearly and frequently as we teach the plan of salvation. There are only two worthy emphases in life: to know Him and to make Him known. The Bible tells me so.

Let us pray today about making these two purposes the tracks on which the train of our lives runs.

Examples of People Groups

2012-01-09T04:10:00.000-08:00

Three times a week the International Mission Board sends out prayer requests for situations missionaries are facing. They call it "Prayerline." You can subscribe to it from the IMB website. Today's Prayerline illustrates the differences in people groups.

The Ar people of Colombia believe that although there is a Creator God, he does not involve himself in the real world. The real world is controlled by spirits and lesser gods. They also believe that man does not have a personal relationship with his Creator God. The Ar people do not see God as more powerful than the spirit world--or, at least, they do not have access directly to that power. The word of a non-Ar person has little value.

Ganaks (pronounced guh-KNOCKS) are a high-caste Hindu group who live in Northeast India. They consider themselves to be brothers of the Brahmin, the priestly Hindu caste. Ganaks are involved in astrology, the consulting of the positions of planets and stars to determine the fortunes and misfortunes of a person’s life. When a child is born, a Ganak astrologer will write out a horoscope that contains all the events of the person’s life and predicts aspects of their personality, their future job, and even the person they will marry. When there is any problem, they consult an astrologer to ask what ritual should be done or what type of special stone ring should be worn to counteract the problem. For Ganaks, astrology is not just a belief, it is a science. Traditionally, they are also devout Hindus, and worship many different gods. There are very few believers among the Ganak. A few house fellowships have been formed by those who have moved to more urban areas.

Each people group has unique faith issues which necessitates unique approaches. Who will pray for the AR and the GANAK? Two Colombian believers are trying to reach the AR. I assume that some unnamed person(s) is trying to reach the GANAK or their situation would not have been shared. But who will reach the 3,800 people groups that have yet to be embraced?

Sabbath

2012-01-08T06:23:00.001-08:00

Let's pray for our churches today. There will be a new post tomorrow.

Encounter with Christ

2012-01-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

Which comes first, renewed faith or renewed service? I usually think that if we believers would just get our hearts right, then our hands and feet would follow. I suppose that my thinking is an extension of the oft-repeated pattern of a person coming to faith in Christ and then serving in His Name. Logic dictates (as Star Trek's Spock would say) that if faith in Christ precedes serving Christ, then renewed faith precedes renewed service, right? Maybe not.

When I first started out in ministry, working with youth, the evangelist for our church's spring revival asked me about my plans. I told him that I wanted to disciple the church youth into being passionate followers of Christ and then turn them loose to reach the lost youth in town. He surprised me by saying that I had it backwards. He said that if I would get the church youth involved in evangelism, then they would see that they needed to learn and grow in order to be equipped for their encounters with the lost. That conversation has made a real difference in how I approach ministry.

Let me share another conversation. I have heard (both in person and on video) Sunday School consultant Josh Hunt tell about how his son went on a mission trip and came back more excited than ever about Jesus. Note: his obedience to serve Christ preceded his renewed passion for Christ. Josh Hunt observes that this renewal is common for people who go on mission trips. His explanation is that when a person gets out to where Jesus is and joins Him in the work, his relationship with Jesus is renewed.

If we want to have a fresh encounter with Christ, it is more likely to happen if we go to where He is. Since Jesus is still in the business of seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10), we can still find Him being a friend of sinners. When Jesus walked the earth, He was not often found in the Temple. He was out where the people needed healing, needed the gospel. That's where we will find Him today. Why do new churches have more excitement? Because they are focused on reaching the lost, not on maintaining a set of programs. By focusing on the lost, they join Jesus where He is.

Here's another way of looking at it. If lack of obedience to the Great Commission has contributed to the diminishing of our fervor for Christ, doesn't it make sense that renewed obedience would be a factor in renewing our zeal? If we want a fresh encounter with Jesus, we will find Him reaching the nations. Let our prayer today be one of commitment to join Jesus in evangelizing all peoples.

Another Great Commission -- Addendum

2012-01-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

I can't get my mind off of thinking about why we don't naturally talk more about Jesus and why we don't make greater sacrifices to make sure that all peoples get the chance to hear about Him. I don't believe we can "guilt" ourselves into being more faithful witnesses or missionaries. My previous examples about topics of conversation we get excited about implied that we are guilty of not being as excited as we should be about Jesus. However, there is at least one other factor, other than our degree of passion, that influences how readily we speak about something: novelty. We are more likely to share with others the unusual things we see, hear, or experience. The old dictum states that "dog bites man" is not news, but "man bites dog" is.

We know that the gospel is "good news," but it is easy to lose the "new" part of the "news." Our faith walk can lapse into a routine before we realize it has happened. Psychologists talk about the mind's propensity to habituation, the process by which we grow accustomed to our surroundings and start failing to notice the details around us. When we bought our current house, we found it to be a frequent source of conversation, especially with people who like us us had bought a century-old dwelling. Also, I constantly saw things that needed fixing or updating, but now I rarely notice them (even though the repairs haven't been made), and we don't talk about it as much as we used to. Perhaps a more common example is the young family that has many more pictures of the first born than of the second and often even fewer for subsequent children (unless they have a long-awaited child of different gender). With the firstborn, every new development -- first word, first step, and so on -- is eagerly shared with grandparents, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers. But the later children's exploits usually don't elicit the same reaction. The fact is that when things are new we all notice more and comment more. Allowed to follow our natural tendencies, grow so used to the "new normal" that it fails to evoke a reaction from us any more.

I can't begin to count the number of prayer meetings at which I have invited people to share what Jesus is doing in their lives only to have the congregation sit and stare silently at me or the floor. I know that Jesus is important to those people. They are committed to Him or they wouldn't be there on a Wednesday night. I think it could be that they have lost their sensitivity to the activity of Jesus in and around them. They are like the people of Nazareth whose familiarity with Jesus had developed into unbelief to the degree that Jesus could do no mighty work among them (Matthew 13:53-58). I wonder if some of the Nazareth-problem was due to the fact that they stayed in their familiar surroundings. The disciples who left all to follow Jesus wherever He went were repeatedly amazed at what they saw and heard.

I think I said more than I realized in the previous post when I suggested we should pray for renewal. We can't expect to take Jesus to the nations if we aren't taking Him to our neighbors. We need to be re-sensitized. We need a fresh encounter with Jesus. I suppose instead of saying we are taking Jesus to the nations I should say we are following Him to the nations. William Barclay, the great New Testament commentator, frequenly quoted Richard of Chichester's prayer: "To see Thee more clearly, to love Thee more dearly, and to follow Thee more nearly day by day." Would you join me in that prayer?

Another Great Commission

2012-01-05T04:35:00.000-08:00

Although we give the title "The Great Commission" to Jesus' instruction to the disciples at the end of Matthew, in reality all four gospels end with and the book of Acts begins with our Lord's command to evangelize the world. In the past few days we have considered three of these passages (Matthew, Acts, and John) for any insights we need especially to ponder. Today, I wish to look at Mark's version of the GC: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (16:15 NIV).

Rather than focus on the actions (go, preach) or the objects (all the world, all creation) -- both subjects worthy of further contemplation -- what has captured my attention is "the good news." Currently, there is much discussion among evangelical scholars about the exact nature of the gospel. But Jesus did not tell us to debate the gospel but to proclaim it like the angels did at His birth (Luke 2:10). Indeed, if we truly grasp the significance of what Jesus has done for us and to us, we will be as unable to stop talking about it as the shepherds were or the woman at the well and blind Bartimaeus were (John 4, Luke 18), or the apostles were after the day of Pentecost: "we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20 NIV).

It is human nature to talk about what we are excited or passionate about. No one twists our arms to get us to talk about our grandchildren. You don't have to be around a man long before you will know his favorite sport or team. Casual eavesdropping on students will soon reveal their current boy/girl friend, their favorite music, or the latest app for their smartphone. We have no trouble working our latest discoveries or advances into the conversation. If we are excited about Jesus, we don't need any prompting to talk about Him, especially with someone who does not know Him like we do.

Perhaps we need to pray today about being more obedient to share the gospel. Perhaps we need to pray about finding those who have yet to hear what we have heard. Or perhaps we need to pray for renewal of our relationship with Jesus, a renewal that will have us unable to resist the impulse to talk about Him. He is the good news.

Sent to Seek

2012-01-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

"As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you," Jesus told the disciples on the night of Resurrection Day (John 20:21). Since Jesus came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10), shouldn't we be doing the same? Of course in a technical sense we can't save anybody, but we can introduce them to the Savior so that they can be saved. However, what is our excuse for not seeking the lost?

I still remember how shocked I was the first time I heard someone say, "They [the lost] know where the church is. It's up to them to come." I had heard preachers say in sermons and I had read in books that people had that attitude, but I thought it couldn't be true. To hear someone actually voice something so contrary to biblical teaching boggled my mind. I was fresh out of seminary where my evangelism professor had taught us that the Bible does not command the lost to come and hear rather it commands us to go and tell. Probably, most of us would never say such a thing out loud, but what do our actions show? How much effort do we put in to finding those who don't know Jesus?

A good question for all believers today is, "In what ways am I intentionally looking for lost people and sharing the gospel with them?" A common observation today is that many long-time believers no longer know any lost people. Such a situation could not occur if we were living like Jesus did. He would take the initiative to find sinners to befriend.

One way to seek the lost is to research the unengaged unreached people groups and to allow the Lord to lead us to those He will put on our hearts. I will be putting links on this blog site where you can access the information that missionaries have compiled on peoples around the world. Perhaps learning about the unsaved in other cultures will sensitize us to those around us who are without Christ.

Today we should pray two kinds of prayer: a prayer of repentance for our failure to be proactive in seeking the lost and a prayer of commitment to dedicate ourselves to living the way that Jesus did.

Both ... And

2012-01-03T04:56:00.000-08:00

Too often we think in terms of "either ... or" while God is thinking of "both ... and." A good example is in our thinking about the Great Commission. We think that we have to choose either to serve locally or globally. But in Acts 1:8 Jesus told the disciples, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." I have emphasized two words in the quotation from the King James version which is one of the few versions to get this translation right. I used to think that Jesus was giving the disciples a sequence for preaching the gospel, first Jerusalem, then Judea, and so on. But the "both ... and" construction shows that Jesus was not thinking sequentially but simultaneously. We are not to do one after the other but do them all at the same time.

If we think, "First reach our Jerusalem, then our Judea, and so on," we fall into a trap because our Jerusalem will never be fully reached. There will always be some around us who have not accepted the gospel. If we think we should complete one stage before moving to the next, we will never move on. There will always be more to do at home.

Sometimes we may think, "I'm called to work at home and others are called to missions." But the Great Commission was not given to a select group of the disciples. Neither was Acts 1:8. We are all called to participate in the going (though the Apostle Paul seems to indicate in Romans 10 that there is a role for those who "send"). With today's technology and travel possibilities, it is no longer necessary to have to choose between local church service and missions. We can do both.

I remember reading years ago about the debate between those who advocated the "social gospel" and those who argued for strictly preaching. Which is it? Either works of service or evangelism? The answer is both. As one writer said, "Asking which is more important, service or evangelism, is like asking which wing of an airplane is more important. You have to have both."

We can't choose between missions and local church service. We must do both. Let's pray that we get our understanding right. Let's pray that we get our actions in line with Jesus' instructions.

A Sign of God's Will

2012-01-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

As Bryant Wright, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), prepared his address for the 2011 convention in Phoenix, he was moved to challenge the messengers to accept the task of embracing the unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs). Knowing that the International Mission Board (IMB) would have to support such an effort, he phoned Tom Elliff, the newly elected IMB president. When Wright explained what the Lord had put on his heart, there was a momentary silence on the line. Then Elliff responded, "The Lord has been telling me the same thing."

This testimony, that I heard at the Embrace Conference in Cedar Hill, Texas, is significant to me as a sign that this movement for churches to become the missionaries to the unengaged unreached people groups is God's will. Why is that so? Do you recall the verse where Jesus says that if two of His followers would agree on anything they pray for that He would do it (Matthew 18:19)? For years I struggled to understand that promise. I saw people asking others to join them in praying for something, but usually they did not get what they prayed for. Also, I could see that taking the verse in the usual way (get another person to join you in praying so that you will get what you ask) could be a way for us to obligate or control God, something I knew was impossible. Then one day the Holy Spirit gave me an insight--when two people are independently led by the Spirit to pray for the same thing, their prayer will be answered because it is God's will, not their own. That both Bryant Wright and Tom Elliff were led to the same vision independently of each other is an indication that the idea is God's and not theirs.

S. D. Gordon has written that prayer is not man's way for getting his will done in heaven, but God's way for getting His will done on earth. Jesus taught us to pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The Bible tells us that praying according to God's will is essential to having our prayers answered (1 John 5:14-15). When we see that something is God's will, we should take that as our cue to pray for its complete fulfillment like Daniel did when he understood Jeremiah's prophecy about the seventy years of exile (chapter nine of Daniel). There are many forces resisting God's will. God has given us the privilege of participating in achieving His purposes by both prayer and work to overcome all resistance.

As I have shared the challenge of churches' taking the gospel to UUPGs, I have seen several people whose hearts immediately received confirmation by the Holy Spirit that this work is of God. If you are reading this blog, your interest is an indication that the Spirit is working in your heart, too. I am writing this blog because I sense that God is leading us in this effort. Seeing that this movement is of God, let us pray earnestly, fervently, and persistently until we see God's work completed. Let us also pray for God's direction in what He wants us to do in addition to praying.

People Groups and the Great Commission

2012-01-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

Most of you with enough interest to read this article know that the last two verses of The Gospel According to Matthew are usually referred to as the Great Commission. The first phrase says, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations." Most of us would assume that Jesus is telling us to take the gospel to England, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, and so on. But the Greek word translated "nations" is ethnos from which we get our English word "ethnic." The "nations" are not political entities but socio-cultural-linguistic entities that many missiologists call "people groups." Those of us in the United States surely are aware of the many ethnic groups that make up our nation. In addition, there are other sub-groups due to cultural, economic, geographic, or social distinctions. All these factors go together to form the distinct units of people groups. A people group has its own sense of identity. The Great Commission instructs us to make disciples of all people groups.

It is possible to preach the gospel in a nation (political entity) but not make disciples in all the people groups. For example, just because there are churches in the US doesn't mean that all segments of the population are being reached. A recent study revealed that after more than 100 years of mission effort in Nigeria, a nation with some of the strongest Christian institutions in Africa, 148 of the 153 people groups in that nation were still less than 2% evangelical believers. Missions agencies have identified almost 12 thousand people groups around the world and more than half of them are classified as "unreached" (less than 2% are evangelical followers of Christ). Furthermore, 3,800 of the people groups are also "unengaged" meaning that there is no known missions agency, institution, church or individual who is actively carrying out a strategy to make disciples and plant churches among those peoples. I've been struck by the remark one person made when talking about those people groups with no missions work: "The only thing worse than being lost is being lost and having no one looking for you."

If we are to be obedient to the Great Commission of our Lord, we must find a way to get the gospel to all the people groups of the world. Let's pray for wisdom to know how the Lord wants us to get this task done. Let's pray for courage to do whatever He may ask us to do personally. Let's pray for strength to stick with the task until it is finished. Would you join me in prayer today?