It is a thrill to the soul to look at passages in the Old Testament which look forward to what “nations – ethnos” (people groups) will do when the light of Christ shines into their darkness. Spiritual “darkness [has] covered the earth, and thick darkness the peoples” (Isaiah 60:2). But the power of God’s light in Christ is changing all that. “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (60:3). This promise has, is and will happen! Are you involved in shining that light to the nations? (Matthew 5:14-16).
Notice other promises that reflect the power of the gospel as it spreads across the face of this earth. “I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever” (Psalm 45:17). “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name” (86:9). As we have noted many times from Revelation 5:9-10, God will receive worship from every tribe, tongue and nation because the name of Jesus has been proclaimed; “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Since this is true, why should we not get involved in accomplishing the very thing that will bring greater glory and praise to God. It costs you nothing to be a witness right where you are. If God should send you, as Jesus did the disciples, He will make a way for His promise to be fulfilled in and through you.
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“One of the best ways to discern the scope of the Great Commission as Jesus gave it and the Apostles pursued it is to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of hope that they felt in reading their Bible, the Old Testament. One overwhelming aspect of this hope is its expectation that the truth of God would reach to all the people groups of the world and that these groups would come and worship the true God.
This hope was expressed in people-group terminology again and again (peoples, nations, tribes, families, etc.). Here is a sampling from the Psalms.” (John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad, page 170). “Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!” (Psalm 9:11). “Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard” (Psalm 66:8). “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:3). Over fifty (50) times in the four Gospels it is recorded that Jesus said to others, “follow Me”. The first time is in Mt. 4:19 when Jesus was selecting and calling His disciples; “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”” (Matthew 4:19). This invitation is not like the game, ‘follow the leader’, seeing if you can go where the leader goes and do what the leader does. In Jesus’ invitation, there is a major difference. We see in this and other Scriptures that this word “follow” really means “come here away from where you are to Me”. There is a very clear reason for Jesus framing the invitation in this way. He does not want us to follow Him as men follow men. Jesus has something far greater in mind.
If we are going to truly be His disciples, He wants us to enter into a process that does two things; it attaches us more and more to Himself as our Leader and example, and we are transformed in the process. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus promised that He personally “will make you fishers of men”. The words “I will make” actually come from one word in the Greek which means, “to cause to be” or “to make or create to be”. Why is this critical for understanding what Jesus is saying? Following Jesus cannot take place without transformation of the mind, heart and life. The disciples finally understood the power of this invitation when the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. They were not the same as before. The transformation could not have been done by themselves! It required following Jesus and becoming His possession, and then being filled by His Spirit which He gave from the Father. When we really allow this transformation to take place, fishing for men becomes a top priority, rewarded by the Lord Himself. Jesus does not want us to be ignorant of what we will find in the harvest field. Let’s look at Luke 10:3 and observe Jesus’ instruction; “Go your way; behold I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Remember the context? “The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go” (10:1).
As John the Baptist was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (3:4), so the seventy-two were to make way for Jesus in “every town and place where He Himself was about to go.” In the same way, we are to prepare the way for the Savior as we “Go [our] way”. But let us not look for a field that is only beds of ease and beautiful roses. The hater of the Christ and the Gospel will also be in the field as a wolf, seeking to devour our efforts of preaching and planting the good news. The Lord of the harvest knows where we go to plant the seed and he knows the dangers we will face, because He sent us. Where He sends us, He will also be with us as we remain with Him. The challenge we have in His field is not the wolves, but whether as lambs, we maintain the character of Christ in us as we labor in His field. Doing His work His way will guarantee His presence, because we are working with Him! Doing His work our way (man’s way) will result in failure. Which would you prefer? As God continues to place challenging opportunities before us, my mind keeps going back to Jesus’ words in Luke 10:2-3a, “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way, behold, I am sending you out…” This section of Luke starts by Jesus pointing out the cost of being a disciple. Consider these points:
· “Go your way” requires that we first follow Jesus (9:59). · “Going” requires that we understand what has the highest priority in our lives (9:60). · There is only one purpose as a follower of Jesus; “As for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” · Once we have made the commitment to follow Jesus, we come to understand that “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (9:62). · “Praying earnestly to the Lord of the harvest” is essential to any “Going”, even if it is in your local “Jerusalem” (10:2). · “Going your way” means that the direction and people group God sends you will be unique to how God has equipped you for His work (10:3). · It is the Lord’s sending! Any sending that does not have the clear evidence that He is behind it will not be fruitful. As in Acts 13:2-3, the church at Antioch recognized what the Lord was doing though the Holy Spirit’s work and joined Him in the sending. Let these points guide us in our prayers, first for ourselves, and then for those that are sent out by our churches. Divine partnership in missions is far more important than money or organizations. Stay with me on this point in tomorrow’s blog. “The “romance” of a missionary is often made up of monotony and drudgery; there often is no glamour in it; it doesn’t stir a man’s spirit or blood. So, don’t come out to be a missionary as an experiment; it is useless and dangerous. Only come if you feel you would rather die than not come. Don’t come if you want to make a great name or want to live long. Come if you feel there is no greater honor, after living for Christ, than to die for Him.”
― C.T. Studd “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:35–40). It is a great honor to be a missionary, wherever God’s sends me and places me, because I proclaim in word and deed the greatest message ever given to man. It is very exciting to go over the promises of God. We looked yesterday at one God gave to Abraham when he left his “country” in obedience to God’s call (Genesis 12:2-3). Again, Abraham obeys God’s instructions and takes the steps to offer up his son Isaac on an altar (22:1-10). It was in his final act of obedience that “the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven” (22:10) and stopped Abraham for killing his son. Then God give him another promise:
“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice”” (Genesis 22:15–18). God did not give the promise of blessing until Abraham carried out the will of God! I wonder how many times I/we miss God’s richest rewards because somewhere we have not fully obeyed? Along with Abraham being blessed there is the promise of multiplication through all nations (ethnos). The ultimate fulfillment of this is given us in Revelation 5:9-10: “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”” Will your obedience to God fall short of His promise? Have you thought of what God might do if you simply obeyed? You will never know until the act of obedience is completed by faith. Missions was clearly in God’s mind and heart before the beginning of time, and there are definite markers all through the Old Testament that this was God’s attitude toward mankind. One earliest and clearest statements from God on missions is what He said to Abraham. “And I will make of you a great nation…and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).
From a careful look at the word “families”, we learn that God was referring to “tribes, clans, and people who had a common affiliation”. As the Early Church grew, men like Peter, Stephen, and Paul kept pointing back to what God had promised to Abraham as the seed of what the Holy Spirit was doing right then. Have God’s plans changed? Has the missionary mind of God changed because the world has changed? NO! God is moving forward with His plan and purpose. Should we then examine our own hearts and see if we have lost this vision that will ultimately bring God glory “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9)? Paul saw the need clearly in Romans 10:14-15; “How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” It was the Antioch church that caught God’s missionary heart by the Spirit to work in them (Acts 13:1-3). It was not forced. IT WAS SPONTANEOUS! The cry of my heart is that the Church today will realize how much this attitude of God has been forgotten. May He help us repent and seek again the original fire – GOD’S LOVE FOR PEOPLE! “There are the five parts of the Bible. The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, calling one family in order to bless all the families of the earth. The Christ of the Gospels is a missionary Christ; he sent the church out to witness. The Spirit of the Acts is a missionary Spirit; he drove the church out from Jerusalem to Rome. The church of the epistles is a missionary church, a worldwide community with a worldwide vocation. The end of the Revelation is a missionary End, a countless throng from every nation. So, I think we have to say the religion of the Bible is a missionary religion.
The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable. Mission cannot be regarded as a regrettable lapse from tolerance or decency. Mission cannot be regarded as the hobby of a few fanatical eccentrics in the church. Mission lies at the heart of God and therefore at the very heart of the church. A church without mission is no longer a church. It is contradicting an essential part of its identity. The church “is” mission. From: Langham Partnership <dailythought@langham.org> |
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