Missions: A Personal Mandate

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20, HCSB)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, HCSB)

“For this is what the Lord has commanded us:  I have appointed you as a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 13:47, HCSB)

 

Frequently, I see the words “Missionary Baptist” in a church’s name.  This strikes me as extreme redundancy.  This is like the term “born again Christian.”  It is impossible to be a real Christian and not be born again, and it is impossible to be a real New Testament church and not be missionary.

You can only see missions as optional by having a wrong or inadequate definition of missions.  

Here is a good definition of missions:  Beginning where you are, lovingly share the good news about Jesus with lost people everywhere, teach believers to love and obey Jesus as Lord, plant and develop New Testament churches and meet human need around the world. 

Edmond’s First Baptist Church’s stated purpose leaves no doubt that our priority is missions.  Go to our website and these words will immediately capture your attention, “Our purpose is love God and others through Jesus Christ.”

However, it not enough to say that our church is committed to missions.  You and I must take missions personally. 

To be a Christian is to acknowledge that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.  If He is Lord, your Master, your King, His commands are to be taken personally and obeyed unconditionally.  As a believer, your Lord has commissioned you to be a missionary:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:18-20, HCSB)

In his book, Missions in the Plan of the Ages, Dr. W. O. Carver wrote, “No one can understand the Bible without reading it in the missionary spirit.  No one can know and believe the Bible and receive the Holy Spirit without becoming missionary.”

Hudson Taylor, who was used powerfully as a pioneer missionary to China, declared, "The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”

If yours is not a missionary lifestyle, it is possible to faithfully attend worship services and Bible study groups, to hold church offices, to master theology and fill notebooks with conference and sermon notes while living outside the will of God.

If you have not yet seen yourself as a missionary, that can change today.  If this happens, your life will be radically changed and, ultimately, lives around the world will be changed. 

John R. Mott, who challenged thousands of university students to “evangelize the world in this generation,” said, "It is possible for the most obscure person in a church, with a heart right toward God, to exercise as much power for the evangelization of the world, as it is for those who stand in the most prominent positions."

Our Lord’s Great Commission is to go, making disciples of people from every class, race, language and nation, marking them as His followers by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything He commanded.

Ours is a Great Commission church and you and I have a personal mandate to be Great Commission Christians.

James Stewart, Scotland’s most powerful 20^th Century pulpit voice, said, "The concern for world evangelization …can never be the province of a few enthusiasts…It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian."

Three things will mark you as a great Commission Christian:

A GREAT COMMISSION CHRISTIAN WILL PRAY.

Samuel Zwemer, who was called “The Apostle to Islam,” said, "The history of missions is the history of answered prayer."

There have been great sweeping movements of the Holy Spirit without great preaching, without great music, and without great planning; but, there has never been a mighty, history changing work of God in missions and evangelism without someone having paid the price in earnest, prevailing intercessory prayer. 

When early Christians prayed, the place where they prayed was shaken:  “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)

Those first believers prayed ten days, preached ten minutes and 3,000 people were drawn to Christ.  Today we are inclined to pray ten minutes, preach ten days and hope to see someone converted.

The English reformer, John Knox, prayed: “Give me Scotland or I die!”

Mary Queen of Scots said, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than of an army of ten thousand men.”

In 1806, five students from Williams College in Massachusetts knelt under a haystack during a violent thunder storm.  They were overcome with a burden to take the gospel to the lost people of Asia.  When they got up from their knees, God had given birth to the modern missionary movement in North America!

During a dramatic six years, 1826-1832, Charles Finney was used of God to lead thousands of people to Christ.  A man, known as Father Nash, seldom heard Finney preach, but he took a room wherever the evangelist went and gave himself entirely to intercessory prayer. Today, his grave is marked with a simple stone. On it is carved, "Father Nash, helper of Finney."

In 1857, four years before our republic was to be tested by the horrors of a civil war, there were 30,000 men idle on the streets of New York.  Drunkenness was rampant, and the nation was divided by slavery.  God raised up Jeremiah Lanphier, a praying businessman and a convert of Charles Finney. On September 23, 1857 he began a noontime prayer meeting the old Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. Out of a city of one million people, six people showed up a half hour late.

The group decided to meet the next week and there were 14. The next week there were 23. The following week there were 40. Within weeks there were thousands of people meeting daily.  God moved so powerfully that the prayer meeting spread across the nation.  During those days of spiritual awakening, it is estimated that nearly one million people were converted out of a national population of 35 million, including 10,000 weekly conversions in New York City.  

How should a Great Commission Christian pray?

Do not pray for the wheat, pray for harvesters. 

Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

Pray for clarity and boldness in proclaiming God’s message.

Paul pleaded with the Ephesians believers, “Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough in Him to speak as I should.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)

Pray for the rapid spread of the gospel and for the God’s protection of His missionaries.

Paul asked the churches of Thessalonica, “Pray for us, brothers, that the Lord’s message may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2)

A GREAT COMMISSION CHRISTIAN WILL GIVE.

In his letter to the Roman church, Paul asked, “But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15)

The mark of a great church is not how many it seats but how many it sends.  Every time you give, through our church, you are helping to send the good news about Jesus around the world. 

A Great Commission Church is a giving church.  A Great Commission Christian is a giving Christian.  Paul wrote this about the early churches in Macedonia:  “During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints.” (2 Corinthians 8:2-4 with my bold face)

Downturns in the stock markets and difficult financial times should never have a negative impact on the giving of God’s people. 

During World War II, R.G. LeTourneau was the person most responsible for equipping the Allied forces with the machinery needed for the invasion of Normandy.  His life was changed by the realization that he could serve God as a businessman. LeTourneau’s first business went bankrupt, sending him into debt by $5,000, a large sum in his day. However, a pastor friend told him that God needed businessmen as well as pastors. During our nation’s Great Depression, he found a construction job.  Eventually, he was able to establish his own company.  When he succeeded, he remembered God’s faithfulness and gave 90 percent of his earnings to Christian endeavors. He often said, “If you’re not serving the Lord, it proves you don’t love him; if you don’t love him, it proves you don’t know him.”

A Great Commission church and a Great Commission Christian should never be “under the circumstances.” 

When Jesus came to his frightened disciples walking on the water, He was demonstrating that everything that threatened to be over their heads was already under His feet!

A GREAT COMMISSION CHRISTIAN WILL GO.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21)

He was the Sent One from the Father.  Now, as His followers, we are the sent ones of the Sent One. 

Every member of Edmond’s First Baptist Church can be involved in world missions by praying and giving.  However, there is more that you can do.  We are living during a time when any faithful, spiritually fit Christian, with reasonably good health, can literally have a hands-on involvement in carrying out the Great Commission. 

It may be God’s will for you to go as a career missionary; to learn a new language, to adjust to a new culture, to plant your life in a new place and to spend your life crossing barriers to reach people who have never heard the good news about Jesus.

Today, the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has over 5,000 such men and women reaching out to nearly 2,000 people groups around the world.  During 2009, their work resulted in 451,301 new believers being baptized and 6,525 new churches being planted.

In addition to the work of these career missionaries, nearly 34,000 volunteers…men, women and young people such as you…are going around the world for periods ranging from two years to a few days.  They are making a world of difference, one transformed life at a time.

Right now, there is something you can do as a volunteer on a mission field.

Does this challenge frighten you?  Does it seem too great a sacrifice to consider?  David Livingstone, who established missionary beachheads throughout the African continent, asked, “If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”

How can you know if God is leading you to step out of your comfort zone and into a missionary experience?    

William Carey, the father of modern missions, said, “To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.”

Isaiah the prophet heard God ask, “Who should I send?  Who will go for Us?”

He responded by saying, “Here I am. Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

Do you have a passport?

If not, get one as soon as possible.  Keep it with your study Bible and journal.  Every day when you have your quiet time, look at your passport and pray Isaiah’s prayer, “Here I am.  Send me.”

Begin where you are:

·        Read the biographies of great missionaries and evangelists.

·        Study the history of world missions.

·        Become a student of world missions in today’s world.

·        Become a student of history and current affairs around the world.

·        Learn a second language (Spanish).

·        Carry copies of gospel tracts, such as our church’s “Greatest Need” booklet.

·        Engage people in conversations about Jesus.

·        Volunteer for local mission opportunities.

·        Inquire about volunteer opportunities in the U.S.A. and internationally. 

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” –Jim Elliot

“If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) 

I said, “Let me walk in the field.”

He said, “No, walk in the town.”

I said, “But there are no flowers there.”

He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “There’s nothing but noise and den.”

“There is more,” He said, “there’s sin.”

I said, “I’ll miss my friends and they will miss me they say.”

He said, “Choose today if I’ll miss you or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said, “Is it hard to decide.  It won’t seem hard in Heaven to have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I turned one look to the field and I set my face to the town.

He said, “My child do you yield?  Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Into His hand went mine and into my heart came He. 

Now, I walk in a light divine, that path I had so feared to see.

 

If you are ready to be a Great Commission Christian, pray this prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I submit to You.  Do anything through me that You choose, anytime, anywhere, with no restrictions on geography or job description.”

 

Wayne Bristow

January 26, 2010