OUR WORK MUST BE EVANGELISTIC
We are to evangelize the world! To ‘Christianize’ the nations in this dispensation is impossible, since it is not God’s plan. Our business is to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in taking out “a people for His name!” We are not to major on hospitals or give ourselves over to medical work. We are not to erect schools and colleges and spend time educating the illiterate. We are not to give ourselves, primarily, to social, political and industrial betterment of those who have no interest in Christ. Nor are we to introduce our western civilization in an effort to change the manners and customs of the people. Our work is to preach the Gospel and we must not be sidetracked. Institutional work puts the cart before the horse. The Gospel must go first! Anyone can be saved. Ignorant people can be transformed into saints. Let us put our money into the souls of men, and our investment will stand forever! The Challenge of Missions, Oswald J. Smith, page 132
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In the next eleven days, I want to give you the Eleven Missionary Principles that Oswald J. Smith set out essential for effective missionary work. Here is the first:
OUR WORK MUST BE EVANGELICAL No missionary must be engaged who doubts the great fundamentals of the Faith: the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, His vicarious death, salvation by faith, the need of regeneration, the inspiration of the Bible, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and His pre-millennial Coming. To support any other principle is nothing short of a tragedy. The Challenge of Missions, Oswald J. Smith, page 131 First, let me thank those of you who are praying for Tim and Sherman. We have arrived safely in Bangkok and are ready to joyfully carry the greatest message ever told to those who will tell others also, who will tell others...
A. W. Tozer warns against an attitude we often give in our presentation of missions. “We commonly represent God as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God.” (Quoted by Tom Wells, A Vision for Missions, Banner of Truth Trust, 1985, page 35). How much better to present the attitude that missions – the offering of the message of salvation to those who have never heard, is an extension of worship for God’s mercy and grace. If this be the attitude of every missionary, then those we present the message to will hear it through heart overflowing with joy in God. “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared (worshiped) above all gods” (Psalm 96:3-4). Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10). This abundant life through the gospel must reach those who have never heard! That is becoming more and more the focus of our ministry; to help the church and those who actively lead in church planting to see God's plan and purpose and to establish and equip the church for this ultimate task; that all people groups will hear the gospel and believe.
For that reason we send you this email newsletter just before our trip and earnestly ask for your prayers. Tim, Terry, and Sherman head to S. E. Asia for several important conferences, to train and disciple. Here is a brief overview (some is a repeat from the last newsletter, but very important).
As we consider the importance of proclaiming the gospel to those who have never heard, it is good to keep in mind that there are different aspects of the gospel that must be presented together as the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:17). Here are a few that I offer for your attention:
This list is by no means complete, but is intended to enlarge our view and understanding of how great and majestic a message we have and that we must proclaim to the "ethnos", nations. There have been many times in the brief history of this world when God was worshiped in splendor and majesty. Even the angels were involved at the birth of Jesus (Heb. 1:6). Many cathedrals have been designed and built with the purpose of capturing the beauty of the God-given human voice and instrument in worship.
But all of this will fade into insignificance. God is assembling the largest choir now through those who are willing to take His message, the gospel, to every people group of the world. Oswald Smith reminds us; “Before Jesus Christ will return to earth to reign in millennial splendor, power and glory, His gospel must be proclaimed to every tribe, tongue and nation. There must be some in Heaven (the largest cathedral) from every race, according to Revelation 5:9-10. Hence our greatest obligation is to give His gospel to all mankind.” (The Challenge of Missions, page 44). Jesus made it clear that we are to be His “witnesses…to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Are you helping assemble the Choir of Heaven’s Cathedral? "Worship...is the fuel and goal of missions. It's the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God." See Psalm 67:3-4.
John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad - The Supremacy of God in Missions, Baker Academic, 2003, page 17. Oswald J. Smith draws an analogy between the unengaged and unreached people groups and how Jesus feed the five thousand (Mt. 14:13-21; Mk. 6:30-44; Lk. 9:10-17; Jn. 6:1-15). “When the Lord Jesus Christ fed the five thousand, He had them sit down, row by row, on the green grass. Then He took loaves and fish, blessed them and broke them and gave them to His disciples.” Mt. 14:20 says, “they all ate and were satisfied.” Smith continues; “There was an absolute equal distribution of food. With but few exceptions there has never been an equal distribution since…Those in the front rows are over-fed and they develop spiritual indigestion. They tell the minister how much to feed them, when to feed them, when to stop feeding them, how long to feed them, and what kind of food to feed them, etc., and if he doesn’t do it (their way), they complain and find fault.
Ought we not rather to be training the front rows to share what they have with the back rows, and thus reach them with the gospel?” These seem like strong words in his analogy, but they correctly challenge our thinking about how we must balance our work in “Jerusalem and/in union with the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). By biblical training those in the front rows, we will have plenty of “sent messengers” with the gospel to the unengaged and unreached. The Challenge of Mission, Oswald J. Smith, pages 39-40. Now that we have formed the concept of "unengaged and unreached people groups" (see previous blogs), I want to help build a passion in each of us for getting the gospel to these people in the most effective way possible.
When God set Saul apart and called him (now Paul) to be a minister of the gospel, the clarity of that call did not come all at his conversion. It grew over time. The last time he recounts his conversion to King Agrippa, he tells it different than the two times before. The Lord said to Paul "I am sending you to open their eyes (the Gentiles), so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me" (Acts 26:17-18). WHAT A PURPOSE TO LIVE FOR! I believe that Paul's dramatic conversion had much to do with how he understood his call to preach the gospel to those in darkness. We don't need to have the same type of conversion to gain the passion Paul had. "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated...strangers...having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:12-13). This truth works in us to cause a deeper response to "GO" (Mt. 28:19). To carry the gospel to the unengaged or unreached is not the result of human skill or education, it is "the gift of God's grace which was given to me (us) by the working of HIS power" (3:7). Is your passion for carrying the gospel to the unengaged or unreached growing? We invite your comments or statements of what God is doing in your life. Joshua Project uses the terms "unreached" and "least-reached" to mean the same thing. The terms are used interchangeably. An unreached or least-reached people are a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group.
Ralph Winter words this definition a little different and I quote him for clarification: “Unreached peoples: a group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize this people group.” (Unreached Peoples: The Development of the Concept, International Journal of Frontier Missions, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1984). While these and other definitions are not complete in themselves, they give us a framework in which to position our efforts so that such people might be reached. As this ministry (NFI) moves forward in 2015, our objective is to effectively impact church plant and church renewal so there is a fresh moving of the Holy Spirit through individuals in the church that carries the gospel to the unengaged and unreached people groups of the world. Paul’s ministry was toward that end so that “the word of the Lord sounded out from you” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). When individuals are spiritually mature (healthy), so will be the church. Then expansion of the gospel will be spontaneous! |
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