Gospel Debt

The Apostle Paul explained his desire to preach the gospel in Rome in these words:  I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise (Romans 1:14).  In what sense did he owe a debt?  The kinds of people named -- the civilized and the uncivilized, the educated and the uneducated -- had not done anything for Paul that required him to return a favor.  It would make sense for Paul to speak of his debt to the Jews for the instruction in the Scriptures they gave him.  Even more logical would be for Paul to say that he was indebted to God (a sense taken by many modern translations who put the verse in terms of being under an obligation).  How could Paul owe both those who were part of the Roman empire and those of the tribes beyond its borders who spoke unintelligible languages?

We owe a debt when we possess something that belongs to another.  If someone loans me money, I owe him money or its equivalent in return.  When I receive electricity from the power company, I owe them payment for having possessed and used what was theirs.  Whenever we possess something that belongs to another, we are their debtor.  In this sense, when we are given something to pass on to someone else, we become debtors.  We owe them what is theirs.

As Americans, we usually see the gospel in terms of personal salvation.  The individualism of our culture causes us to miss the global or universal aspects of the gospel.  As someone recently put it, the gospel is not what Jesus has done for me but what He has done for all.  My story is just a small part of His story.  My testimony confirms the truth of the gospel which is for all peoples everywhere.  After all, Jesus is not just the propitiation for my sins but for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).  Anyone who believes in Him has eternal life (John 3:16).

The gospel is more than a personal possession.  It is a treasure meant to be shared.  It belongs to others also.  I am not to hoard it to myself.  Since it is meant for others, I owe it to them.  I am in their debt until I have shared it with them.  I am debtor to them because I hold what is theirs.  They may be near or far, like me or unlike me, but I owe them what is theirs.

In the U. S., one's credit score has become very important.  The higher one's score in his or her credit report, the lower his interest rate and the easier it is to receive further credit.  The way to a higher score is by faithfully paying off one's debts.  Recently I asked myself the question, "I wonder what my credit score is with God?"  Let's pray that we will be faithful in paying our gospel debt by seeing that the nations get the gift God has given us not only for our benefit but also to give to them.

A False Dichotomy

To insist that churches and believers must focus their missions efforts on unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs) is not to suggest that other efforts are wrong or unimportant.  All efforts to make disciples of those without Christ have merit.  We just have to be careful not to neglect those who have the least access to the gospel.  We must not allow good things to so occupy us that we fail to do the thing that Jesus most clearly commissioned us to do.

It is comparable to Jesus' teaching on tithing.  When He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their rigorous approach to tithing while neglecting the more important heart attitudes, He said, "These ought ye to have done and not leave the other undone" (Matthew 23:23).  In other words, it's not a question of one or the other; do both.  What they did was not wrong; it was what they had failed to do that brought His condemnation.

Preachers often contrast one activity with another in order to emphasize their point.  I have a book in which a prominent evangelist seems to say that soul-winning is more important than discipleship.  What he really means is that there are some faulty approaches to disciple-making that focus on those who are already saved and omit presenting the gospel to those who are lost.  True discipleship begins with the first witnessing relationship.  He would be the first to agree that those who are won to Christ must be discipled.  He would also agree that discipleship  must include evangelism.  After all, one cannot be a disciple unless he makes disciples.  We should not separate things God has put together.

The examples of false dichotomies make for an extensive list:  social ministry versus evangelism; local evangelism versus global missions; mass evangelism versus personal evangelism; church planting versus soul-winning; praying versus doing; and so on.  I am sure that you readers can add your own examples to this beginning of a list.  However, in almost every case, it is not a question of either/or but of both/and.

In missions, we should not have to stop current efforts in order to focus on UUPGs.  A church should not cut back its support of established missions through prayer and giving in order to take mission trips.  Appointing career missionaries should not be curtailed in favor of extensive use of volunteers.  We don't have to quit working alongside incarnational missionaries in order to embrace unengaged unreached people groups on our own.  We need to do all of these things.

It is true that the good can become the enemy of the best.  When good things crowd out the best thing, adjustments must be made.  But where possible, it is preferable to give the best its proper emphasis without diminishing our support for and commitment to the good.

Let's pray today for wisdom as to how to do the highest that ought to be done without leaving the other undone.

A Matter of Obedience

Why must we give ourselves to missions?  Particularly, why must we focus on the unengaged unreached people groups of the world?

To believe in Jesus is to believe in missions.  Someone has said, "God had only one Son and He was a missionary."  (I believe I have seen the quote attributed to David Livingstone.  If I am wrong in the quotation or the attribution, please correct me in the comments.)  The idea is that Jesus was sent by the Father from heaven to earth to live among us and reveal His will by teaching His word and doing His work.  Since "sent" is the meaning of the Latin term from which we get our words "mission" and "missionary," Jesus is the original missionary.  His incarnation is the model for our ministry.  As He came to us, so we must go to others (John 20:21).  If missions does not matter much to us, then Jesus does not matter much to us.

But even in missions there is a work that is essential for obedience to the will of our Lord.  If we are not careful, we will miss the crux of what Jesus commanded us.  It is not a matter of how many souls can be saved out of different cultures; it is a matter of all peoples being represented around His throne at His coming (Revelation 7:9).  The Great Commission (as shown in some of my earliest posts) directs us to make disciples out of all the people groups of the world.  The focus is on people groups, not individuals.  Our task is not to save every person in the world, a goal that we know will not be achieved since only "a few" find the narrow road and enter by the small gate (Matthew 7:13-14).  Our task is to get the gospel to all the peoples (tribes, languages, ethnic groups) of the world.  This task is the one Jesus has assured us we can and will complete.

Getting the gospel to other people groups is why God allowed persecution to scatter the first disciples to Samaria and Antioch (Acts 8:4; 11:19-20).  Getting the gospel to other people groups is why the Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul on the first mission trip (Acts 13:1-3).  Getting the gospel to other people groups is why Paul was compelled to preach the gospel where "Christ was not known" (Romans 15:20).  It was not just a matter of geography but more a matter of ethnology.  Years ago, the book Peace Child demonstrated how God has placed a gospel "key" in every culture, some practice or belief that provides an opening for understanding His salvation.  This provision is our clue to solving the mystery of His will.  He wants the gospel to penetrate all cultures, all people groups.

Yesterday, I mentioned that some have used the argument that no one should get to hear the gospel twice until all have heard it once.  Today, I ask you if it is right for a people group to receive a second missionary while there remains a group who has none.

Let's pray that we can see our task the way God sees it.  Let's pray that we will do our task as God wants it done.  Let's pray that we will have His heart for all peoples to hear about Jesus.

Global vs Local

"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?

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

"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

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 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

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

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?