All the World in All the Word

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.