As the world deals with the outbreak of the Corona Virus, there are many unanswered questions about what is safe and how much anyone is at risk. Life and death hang in the balance for many.
This got me thinking about how much would we risk as a Christian to make sure that someone hears the gospel of saving grace. Eternal life and eternal death hang in the balance. C. T. Studd answered this question when he said: “Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell; I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell.” If you think that statement is extreme, consider Paul’s statement; “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:2–3). Either statement comes from men who lived next to the heart of God and felt the urgent necessity that the saving message of Jesus get to those who have not heard. We also can take the risk, if we like them, spend time in fellowship with the Author of Salvation.
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As we often do, Tim and I sat together with a cup of coffee to discuss many details about New Foundations International. Our conversation started on how we can be more effective in this ministry. This is not a new subject for us. We have often spoken about the number of unengaged and unreached people groups that still remain around the world. This drives us to asking the Lord to make this ministry more and more effective.
In every one of these discussions, we always come back to methods of the Apostle Paul, the most successful disciple-maker and church planter throughout church history. Though Paul spent three years in Ephesus and a similar time in Corinth, most of his visits in places where churches were established were only 3 to 5 months. How could he be so effective with these short stays? Paul had a very clear pattern that he used in each place (see example in Acts 14:21-23).
This is very simple, but it was God’s way of spreading the gospel westward from Jerusalem to Rome, and ultimately to you and me. If we want to finish the Great Commission, we must return to this biblical model. Sharing the gospel does not always result in a beautiful story. We saw yesterday that Paul was “gentle…like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” with the Thessalonica believers. But when you look at the account by Luke in Acts 17, everything was not honey and cream. In fact, “the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd” (Acts 17:5). Paul and Silas did not want this to happen, but that was the reaction to the gospel.
One thing the mob said that was very true; “these men…have turned the world upside down” (17:6). Neither man, nor any of the apostles set out to have such an impact on the world, but the nature of the gospel does this. It takes the whole history of man’s sinful condition and reverses the scheme and power of Satan that brought death and replaces it with a new relationship with God that is eternal life. When we give ourselves to proclaiming the gospel of grace, we will see all sorts of reactions. Do not let rejection or ridicule turn you away from the message. Mobs will come to an end. Prison terms will finish. But the power of the gospel will rescue souls and secure them for a glorious eternity in the presence of Jesus our Savior. It was my joy to preach the Word of God today on the “Presence and Work of the Spirit.” The more I watch God work in this ministry and in those around me, the more I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is perfectly able to prepare the soil in hearts before we do anything.
As I examine Paul’s model of dealing with those in the church who need spiritual “parenting,” it encourages me to leave room for the Spirit to work and not demand results. You see this attitude in his letter to the believers in Thessalonica. “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:7–8). Those two verses are a whole course in shepherding that every pastor needs to take. The meaning of the word “gentle” is as if we were handling a very small child which goes along with being a “nursing mother.” Add to that feature of care “being affectionately desirous” which is a yearning with genuine love for their progress. When we work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and “the gospel of God,” we can give ourselves to those we shepherd by trusting and knowing the Spirit will go before us and prepare hearts to receive the gospel and our discipling-making efforts. It is God who opens hearts; not us. The time here on earth is so short. At best, we have seventy or eighty years, and we are gone. ““All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25). What we do with these short years matters more than we think.
Even disciple making and church planting will come to an end. Therefore, what we must do now is make disciples and see them become local expressions of the Body of Christ so they can disciple others into faithful followers of Jesus. That is what really matters. Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart; Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat; Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears; Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score; When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep; Faithful and true whatever the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Oh, let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn; Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne; Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say, “Thy will be done”; And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say “it was worth it all”; Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ” C. T. Studd Is evangelism ever an emergency? The most effective missionary to ever live, knew that certain places and people had a very high priority. I am referring to Jesus. “He had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:5). Jesus did not overlook a little man in a tree when he “said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5).
Even with the demands of those who heard about Jesus and were looking for Him, He said to the disciples, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out” (Mark 1:38). It was those who had never heard the message that Jesus wanted to reach. John Piper in his video, The Tears of the Saints, points out the enormous task that is still unfinished. Does the Church realize that we are in an emergency? We have been commissioned with the task of making disciples of all nations, but are we content to stay in our ‘safe places’ rather than venture where Christ has not been proclaimed? Paul understood the emergency. “Thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of Him will see, and those who have never heard will understand”” (Romans 15:20–21). What is your ambition? Often in our encounters with other leaders, churches and church planters, we sense a resistance to presenting the biblical model of church planting and reaching the last unreached people group. We are not the only ones who experience this strange reaction.
J. D. Payne made a similar observation in his book, Apostolic Church Planting, Birthing New Churches from New Believers, (page 13-14); “when the Church is shocked at a biblical model, it reveals just how far away from the Scriptures we have moved in our missionary practices.” Why is this so today? What is at the bottom of these reactions? In one sense, there are many reasons behind the lack of progress in reaching the unengaged and unreached people groups, but there is one major hindrance. We do not really believe in the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word. If we did, we would strive with passion to get back to its truth and put it into practice. We have been told that those ancient methods are out-of-date and can’t be used today. If we really believed in the authority of Scripture, all of our excuses would become vile to us, we would repent with deep contrition for straying from the biblical model. The question would be, ‘how can we return to the Scriptural model,’ and ‘how quickly can we implement that model.’ Come with us as we call the Church back to a divine pattern. Someone came to me with a question of whether we should obey the Scriptures, even if it required losing our life in doing so. This question reminded me of Peter’s words to believers who were suffering for their faith in Christ.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil”” (1 Peter 3:12). It is more common for most of us who pass through trials of severe difficulty to forget that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.” In fact, we are never out of His watchful eye. Remember Psalm 139:7-12. It does not matter where we are in this universe, “even there [the Lord’s] hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (10). How comforting to the mind and heart! There is more! If we utter the smallest prayer, “His ears are open to their prayer.” David was absolutely confident that the Lord heard his prayers (Psalm 5:3; 17:6 and others). Are you confident that the Lord hears your prayers? If you are in Christ, you have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ and His eye is on you and He hears your prayer. If your obedience to the Lord and His word required the ultimate sacrifice, be assured the eye of the Lord is on you and He will see you through to the end. Rakhine State is known as the place in Myanmar for the ongoing conflict and UN Sanctions imposed on the Buddhist government regarding the Rohingya people. The Rohingyas are immigrants from Bangladesh that are Muslim’s. Many have been living in Rakhine State as second and third generation citizens. Yet over the past 8 years the government has forcibly moved them back over the border. This has resulted in a conflict between the Arakan Army (Muslim) and the Burmese Army. An indigenous brother from Mandalay and Jonathan traveled to Rakhine and worked with 10 pastors who are desiring to go to the unreached people groups in Rakhine State.
Myanmar is strategically located in SE Asia and contains 47 unreached people groups plus it is surrounded by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos, and Thailand. These 5 bordering countries contain 3,252 of the world’s 6,701 unreached people groups alone! That makes the current trip there a vital part of preparing leaders to fulfill the Great Commission. In Jonathan’s own words, he says, “What a trip it has been! I have returned from Rakhine State and the training went very well there. We trained around 15 brothers and sisters. This morning (Tuesday) I have an incredible opportunity to go with brother Philip out to a village that has never heard the Gospel before. Please pray for them to accept our present of fruit trees that we bought at the market yesterday and that they would welcome the Gospel. I also ask that you pray for safety as we travel out into this area. It is extremely remote.” Situations like this remind us of Paul’s comment that “for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). That is why we pray. It is amazing to watch standards change over the years. Academic standards have been changed, or should I say “lowered,” so students can achieve passing grades without actually giving the correct answers and knowing a subject. Every day products are not made to last as long as they were in the past with the sole purpose of forcing the public to buy a new model sooner.
Solomon said that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1). This is just the opposite to the ‘money-making’ mentality we see today. There are very few, but I have come across one or two businesses that are more concerned about their “good name” or reputation than how much profit they make. How does this work out in our Christian walk? Let’s take as an example, how employees do their work. “Bondservants [employees], obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:5–6). The standard and work ethic for any follower of Jesus is doing everything as if Jesus was our employer and “doing the will of God from the heart.” That is a standard which will never change and one we need to keep before us all the time; not just because it is right, but because God is glorified through what we do and it increases our witness to the world. |
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