THINKING LIKE A
MISSIONARY:
15 Guiding Principles that Govern All Missionary Service
By Pastor Mike Wilson
Thinking
like a missionary involves believing and operating based on a number of very
important principles. My list might be somewhat different from the lists of
other missionaries and the order might be a little different, but I see these
15 as guiding truths and deeply held convictions that guide and motivate
missionaries wherever they might be.
Principle
#1: Missionaries take individual ownership of the Great Commission. At some point you
probably learned the Great Commission by heart, at least the version of it
found in Matthew 28:16-20 – “16 But
the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had
designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were
doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All
authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. 19
Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
The
Great Commission is also found in other passages and all of them are burned
very deeply into every missionary’s heart. For example, in Acts 1:8 we read,
[Jesus speaking] “…But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth.”
In
John 17:18 we hear Jesus praying to the Father, “As You sent Me into the world [meaning, in the same way, to be light
and salt], I also have sent them into the world.”
Romans
10:13-15 says, “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE
NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” 14 How then will they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they
have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just
as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news
of good things!”
In
Matthew 4:19 Jesus called His first disciples with these words, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers
of men.”
The main difference between missionaries and
other Christians is that missionaries apply these verses to themselves individually,
rather than just collectively. They take the Great Commission as their personal
marching orders. They do not wait to see what others are going to do about it,
they own it for themselves, believing that God has called them personally to
fulfil the mission, and they set out to get it done, believing that it can be
accomplished with God’s help.
Principle #2: Missionaries personally embrace
God’s call on their lives. You are probably aware that the subject of a
so-called “missionary call” has been much debated over the years. In fact,
great missionary movements have been started by people who felt that they had
received some sort of supernatural call to missions. That “call” often came
after an emotional appeal for missionaries to step forward as volunteers to
carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Sometimes this happened at the close
of a powerful mission conference in a church, or around a campfire at a youth
retreat, or at a regional missions gathering like Mission ConneXion or the
Urbana Conference. An invitation would be given, and with tear-stained faces
people would lay their lives on the altar of missions to go to darkest Africa
or some other place. They would always
look back to that night, when they received their “missionary call.”
Now I do not mean to belittle that idea or to call
into question the conviction that those missionaries have of having been
handpicked by God to become missionaries. I can relate because near the end of
my second year in college I had a very emotional experience in my life as well,
when I finally submitted my life and my future to God’s Sovereign plan. That
decision eventually led me to serve for three terms as a missionary in Brazil.
However, I have had a lot of years to revisit that
experience and to search the Scriptures, and today I have come to a different
conclusion. I now believe that every Christian has received a missionary
call from God. It came when we took up His name, and His banner, and His cross.
It is simply part and parcel of being a child of God. We should not wait to be hit
by a bolt of lightning. Mission is all about obedience, not about waiting for
some mystical experience to confirm God’s call. That call already came, 2000
years ago, and God is just waiting for somebody to pick up the phone! Every
Christian is called to serve God “full time.” There is no such thing as a “part
time” Christian. Moreover, we all have a mission given to us by God, thus
making us “missionaries,” wherever we might be, whether in our own country or
across the sea. Distance is not the
issue.
Unfortunately, this idea of a specific “missionary
call” has been terribly misused by many Christians as a get-out-of-responsibility
free card. They say, “Well, I have never
been called by God to be a missionary, so I will just hang around here doing my
own thing until such time as He zaps me with lightening or speaks to me in an
audible voice. If that happens then I will know for sure that He wants me to be
a missionary.”
However, when we look at the verses in the
Scriptures that refer to God’s call we come away with a different impression. Certainly,
the twelve Apostles were all called personally by Jesus and handpicked for
their missionary role in establishing Christ’s Church. Moreover, there can be
no question about the Apostle Paul. God called him to salvation and to
missionary service all at the same time. However, to my knowledge Paul is the
only person we can point to in the NT that had that kind of a call. His call is
the exception to the rule, rather than the rule.
All the NT passages that I know that speak about
God’s “call” are referring to the fact that God calls sinners unto Himself for
salvation and then to Kingdom service. A good example is found in Romans
8:28-30. “28 And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His
purpose. 29 For those God foreknew He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters. 30 And those He predestined, He
also called; those He called, He also justified; those
He justified, He also glorified.” In fact, I can find
no verse in the Bible that supports the commonly held idea of a “missionary
call.”
The Bible says that
we are all “called” of God. We are called to Christ, called to worship, and to serve
Him, called to walk worthy of our calling in Him, called to obey the biblical
creation mandates, and called to share Christ with others. So, why am I making
a big deal of this “missionary call”? Well, it is partly just to clarify
matters. I think it is important to eliminate unbiblical teaching that tries to
dichotomize vocations and life into “secular” and “sacred.” The common myth
about a “missionary call” has been responsible for thousands of Christians
letting themselves off the hook with a clear conscience, leaving the task of
world evangelization to the “called” professionals. If every Christian would
begin to personally embrace God’s universal call to “full-time Christian
service” then we would get a lot more accomplished in terms of Gospel-spreading,
disciple-making, and church-planting.
Principle #3:
Missionaries identify
God as their source of strength and acknowledge their own weaknesses. If we are to be effective
missionaries for Christ, then we must do the same. Paul tells us in Romans
14:23, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” That means that if we are trying to serve God
in our own strength and by our wits rather than in the strength of His might
and wisdom then we are sinning. God certainly never promised to bless our
ideas, methods, or programs. On the other hand, He did
promise to bless His Word and to build His Church. We are not strong enough,
smart enough, wise enough, or creative enough to accomplish our mission without
His anointing. And anything we do manage to build on our own will not last! If
we are to be effective missionaries it will be through His power and by doing
things His way. We must take to heart Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:8, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
Principle #4:
Missionaries build and rely upon a support team of “rope holders.” When
William Carey, often referred to as the “father of modern missions,” was
leaving for India as a missionary, he told a group of interested friends: “Saving
souls can be likened a to a man drowning in a deep well and a volunteer can do
nothing unless there are people who will hold the rope for him to be
lowered till he reaches the drowning man, and then pull them both up to
safety.” Carey added, “I will go to India as a volunteer to seek sinners
drowning in the well of sin. But I cannot do it alone. I need rope holders.
Will you be my rope holders?” Obviously not everyone can be on
the frontline at the same time. The army has known this principle for
centuries. In the same way, missionaries have always depended on a support
network of faithful people doing the unsung behind-the-lines work. That is
because mission is all about teamwork.
Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” We
are all called to be God’s missionaries and we all have a role to play in
completing the mission. There are lots of things to be done, including praying,
giving, and encouraging other team members. We are all missionaries, but we
come with different skill sets, different gifts, and different levels of
training and ability. But God wants to use every one of us to accomplish His
mission here where He has placed us.
Principle #5: Missionaries are committed to go
where “they” live. That statement needs some clarification. First, who do I mean
by “they.” I am talking, of course, about the people to whom we have been sent
by God, to share the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, the people here in
our own community. We all know that just getting on an airplane and flying to
another country does not transform a person into a missionary. In fact, during
my years in Brazil I met lots of American Christians who were not missionaries.
Some were businesspeople, working for big corporations. They generally lived lives
that were 100% American. They ate only American food, always hung out with
other Americans, sent their kids to American schools, attended Calvary
International Church with services in English, spoke only English, and had
almost no social contact with Brazilians. Yet they lived in Brazil! How sad and
how short-sighted!
But sadder yet were a few “missionaries” I knew
who were almost as bad. They learned Portuguese, more or less, and could preach
and teach in the language, and they were usually involved in some kind of
Brazilian church, but in their homes and in their “off duty” social contacts
they had little voluntary contact with Brazilians. They had been sent to Brazil
as missionaries. Their supporters back home thought they were real
missionaries. They wrote missionary letters to their supporters giving glowing
reports of all that God was doing, but in reality they did everything possible
to avoid living with the people, getting to know and understand them, and
getting to be known and accepted.
So when I say that as a missionary I need to “go where they live,” I am not
talking about the place as much as a mindset that reveals my commitment
to live among the people, have them for my closest friends, spend time in their
homes and have them over to my house, take vacations together, celebrate our
kids’ birthdays together, laugh at one another’s jokes and cry when we have to be
separated from one another. Here are some practical suggestions about things we
can do to truly “live among the people”:
GO TO
THEM – You must take the initiative. It sounds strange, but
sometimes we can be so busy doing church stuff that we do not ever have a
chance to spend time with non-Christians. I learned while serving in Brazil
that it was easy to get busy with “missionary stuff” and fail to spend time in
the community. How pointless is that! Why go all the way overseas, if you are
never going to walk out your front door and meet some people?
DO TALK TO STRANGERS – Ignore what your
mother always told you. Learn to do “small talk” and develop the art of
conversation.
ü Shake
hands and introduce yourself by name.
ü Ask
people questions about themselves. We all love to talk about ourselves. If you
want to know what their interests are or what they think, ask them – then listen
to their answer. They may follow suit and do the same, opening a door for a new
friendship to begin.
ü At a
wedding reception ask: “So how do you know the bride and groom?”
ü At a
little league game or football match say: “So which one is yours?”
ü At a
community gathering ask: “So have you always lived here?”
FIND
COMMON GROUND – Look for relational connections. You may not have
Jesus in common, but there must be a hundred other things you could have in
common. You just need to find out what they like to do. Are you willing
to learn some new tricks? Let me ask you, what do you think a 2020 Christian
“fisher-of-men” might look like? – A golfer maybe? A ballroom dancer? A
community-theatre actor? A library volunteer? Too often our only contact with
unbelievers is when it is on our turf and our terms. I recently read about a
guy who wanted to carry the Gospel where “no man has gone before,” so he joined
a group of Muslims for prayer at a mosque and ended up having the opportunity
to respond to their questions about Christianity. I would never have thought of
that, but he did.
REMEMBER
THAT NON-BELIEVERS ARE NOT ALL BAD – Just because they are not
believers, does not mean they cannot contribute something meaningful to your
life. Going deep in relationships comes because of sharing and doing life
together. If you share openly with them and let them participate in your life,
they will do the same in allowing you to go deep with them relationally.
FORM
INTER-CONNECTIONS – Think in terms of networks—with their friends and
family, and they with yours (e.g. a backyard barbeque with some neighbours and
some friends from church). The advantage for you is that your scope of
influence expands, and you gain credibility. For your new friend, they benefit
from getting to know more believers like you and feel like they are more a part
of your life. It is also possible that a Christian friend of yours will serve
as a better connection to one of your non-Christian friends.
KEEP
IT REAL – Let them see what a Christian’s life is really like. Let
them see the good and the bad. People are drawn to authenticity. Hypocrisy
repels.
ATTACK
OBSTACLES TO FAITH THROUGH PRAYER – Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.” We need to be alert to the spiritual strongholds and
barriers to faith whether physical, social, or spiritual and address them in
prayer.
POINT
THEM TO JESUS – not to the church or church going, other believers,
authors, Christian musicians, speakers, etc. What they need is to meet Jesus.
Principle #6: Missionaries start out by carefully
surveying their mission field. If you were sent to a new mission field what would
be the things you might want to know about your new home and the people who
already live there? Upon arriving in his mission field, a good missionary
begins to observe where people hang out. He watches. He keeps his eyes open and
he asks questions. He looks for places where men congregate, and he begins to
hang out there. He notices where families go on the weekends and he makes a
point to take his family there too. He learns about the national sport and goes
to a few matches. He begins listening to their music and learns about the
musicians and the various musical styles. Instead of tuning in to the BBC or
CNN he makes a point to listen to local stations in the language he is trying
to learn. He avoids spending time with other Expats in favour of spending time
with the native people. He goes to cafes and initiates conversations with
college students. He eats local food every chance he gets.
So then, how about our mission field? How
might we benefit from doing a better job of observation and strategic planning?
Principle #7: Missionaries make it their goal to learn
the heart language of the people they are trying to win. You might be thinking, “Well at least there is one thing we can
scratch off our list.” But not so fast! By “language” I am not only
referring to English, Spanish, or Portuguese. I am talking about how people
communicate with one another, and the fact is, Christians and non-Christians
speak two vastly different languages. If Sam and Silvia Seeker were to walk
into our average Sunday class how much do you think they would really
understand? If Sam and Sylvia Seeker happened to drop in on a Sunday morning
worship service, how much of it would really be intelligible to them and make
any sense? Not much!
That is why it is so interesting that we
Christians continue to hold on to a broken and unbiblical way of doing church.
To what am I referring? The only experience most of us have ever had is the
church pattern referred to by mission strategists as the “Attractional
Model.” By this we mean that essentially, Sunday morning is an event that
is intended to attract people. We live in the eternal hope and
expectancy that lost people will just magically show up at church to hear the
Gospel. The thought chain goes like this: “They
will come on Sunday morning because our church is so pretty. When they come
through the door we will dazzle them with our genuine caring and hospitality.
When it is time for the sermon the preacher will clearly explain the Gospel. At
the close of the service he will give an invitation for people to make
decisions. They will come forward and then the church will process them through
various programs to turn them into real disciples.” It is a perfect
picture except for one thing. This model expects that the “outsider” will just
up and decide to come to the church. However, the clear biblical mandate is
that the church is to go to the lost, not the other way around. And it is obvious that in
this post-Christian America we who are in the church can no longer
assume that people in the world have any context or category by which to filter
the church experience or the message about Jesus and His saving grace. The
Attractional Model has never been biblical. Moreover, it no longer works! A
wise man once observed, “If your horse
has died, dismount.” Enough said.
Principle
#8: Good missionaries love the people genuinely. Sadly, I have known
missionaries who had a negative view of the “natives.” They did not like their native
food. They did not appreciate their
culture or customs. They would become very impatient with the people’s relaxed
attitude toward time and “living up to their obligations.” In private they were
quick to criticize the national leaders and they disrespected the spiritual
level of the national believers.
I am happy to report that during my years in
Brazil I did not run across very many of this kind of missionary, and none
within our own particular missionary team, but I have known enough bad
missionaries to see the damage that they can do on the field. What I found so
interesting was the fact that the nationals could see right through their
little piety act and could sense that their love was an outward show, not
genuine.
In 2 Corinthians 6:6 Paul speaks of “unfeigned
love” being one of the marks of a true Christian. Likewise, in Romans 12:9 he
writes, “Let love be without hypocrisy.”
People can see through phony love because it does not pass the sniff test. And
phony, feigned love turns people off—to us, to our message, and to our Saviour.
Principle #9: Successful missionaries adopt the
culture and history of their host country. I think once again that
the apostle Paul has the best explanation and it is found in 1 Corinthians
9:19-22. “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a
Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21
To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am
not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not
having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to
win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible
means I might save some.”
You have heard the
old expression, “When in Rome, do as the
Romans.” Wise missionaries take that to heart, knowing that to “sell” our
message and win people to Christ we first must “sell” ourselves. 2 Corinthians
4:1-2 says it this way: “Therefore, since
we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the
hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every
man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Paul understood the principle of
living out the Gospel as we proclaim the Gospel. In other words, before we can share the Good News, we must become good news to the people
we are hoping to win to Christ.
Let me try and
illustrate this point. When we first moved to Brazil back in January of 1978,
we had never met a single Brazilian. We had never even heard the Portuguese
language spoken. We knew next to nothing about the country to which we had been
sent as missionaries. However, by the end of our second year on the field we knew
more about Brazil than most Brazilians. We knew more about their history. We had
read more of their authors. We had a wider appreciation of their composers. We
knew more about how their judicial system worked. We saluted their flag and
knew their national anthem by heart, all the verses. We loved their food and
celebrated their holidays and customs. Most of our friends were Brazilians. We
spoke Portuguese in our home most of the time. We took our vacations with
Brazilians and had them in our home almost continuously. We did all that
because we wanted to become “bem brasileiro,” (truly Brazilian) as much
Brazilian as we could possibly become, to win Brazilians to Christ.
I tell you this not
to brag but to explain that if we want to win the people of our communities to
a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ we must be just as willing to become a part
of their world. We must find ways to go to them, and to become a part of
this little mission field.
Principle #10: Missionaries learn to feel the needs of the people and to sincerely
empathize with them. This is a topic that has
led to much conflict among Christians. On the one hand there are those who
emphasize what has been dubbed “the social gospel.” That expression usually
refers to the idea that if we just meet the physical needs of people, they will
eventually come to understand our underlying motives and will want to know
about our Christian faith. On the other end of the spectrum are those who say, “Just give them the Word. Preach the Gospel and
let God worry about their other problems. We will just concentrate on getting
them saved.” The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Humans have needs. They need food, shelter,
companionship, medicine, clothing, etc. And we must remember that even Jesus
fed the multitudes and healed many of their sicknesses and diseases. He was concerned
for all their needs. We must be also.
Principle
#11: Missionaries find ways to contextualize the Gospel and to proclaim it in
culturally relevant ways. This is not only important for modern missionaries, it was
also a constant concern of the apostle Paul, and I can prove it. Check out
Colossians 4:2-6 (as well as Ephesians 6:19-20). In the Colossians passage Paul
sincerely asks the believers in Colossae to pray for him, and his prayer
request is five-fold:
1. That God will give him
open doors to proclaim the Gospel
2. That he will have the
courage to speak it boldly (literally, to herald it)
3. That he might be able to
make the message clear
4. That he might make the
most of every God-given opportunity
5. That he might know exactly
how best to speak to each person
The non-believers of this community have their own
cultural grid through which they filter everything they hear us say. Therefore,
we must make sure that we do nothing to plug up their filters and keep the
Gospel from getting through to their hearts and minds.
Let me give you a painful example. A few years ago,
Oregonians were asked to vote on Measure 36, which was about the definition of
marriage as between one man and one woman. Our church, like nearly every other
evangelical church in the state believed that we needed to step up to the plate
and encourage Christians to cast their vote for biblical marriage to hold back
the onslaught of immorality in the form of homosexual marriage. So, we handed
out signs and bumper stickers to our members. We also allowed the Oregon Family
Council to put up a big sign on our church lawn that said, “Vote YES on Measure
36.”
Well the whole thing turned out to be a disaster. The
sign was torn down 4 times by angry protesters. We even ended up on the TV news
as being one of the churches targeted. But that was not the real damage. The
real damage came in the form of closed hearts and closed minds to anything else
we might have to say because the liberal, open-minded, pro-gay folks from our
community came to the conclusion that we are only one step removed from that other
Baptist church, you know, Westboro Baptist, the one that pickets at gay
funerals with signs that say, “God Hates Fags!” and “Turn Or Burn!” They are
also the church that holds demonstrations at funerals of soldiers
killed-in-action with signs saying, “This is God’s punishment for not judging
the homosexuals,” etc.
We did what we thought was right at the time, but
looking back, I think we shot ourselves in the foot for sharing the Gospel with
our community. We had to play catch-up for a long time after that to regain our
credibility with the community. We allowed a political issue that is not that
important in the long run, to get in the way of keeping the door open to the
community to present Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer.
Principle #12: Missionaries work hard to
develop friendships that last rather than mere surface relationships. The Bible says in Proverbs
17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
That principle is true in all times, in all places, and in all cultures. Genuine
friendship is a transferable concept. But friendships do not just happen automatically.
They require hard work. They require an investment of time spent together,
values in common, and shared adversity, sacrifice, and loyalty. If we want to
have an impact in our community, we must form strong, lasting, genuine
friendships with the people here. If they see us as just-passin’-through to lay
a little religion on them, then they are not going to be willing to listen to
what we want to share. We must be willing to take the time and put in the
effort to invest in people’s lives.
Principle #13: Missionaries understand the
concept of conserving the harvest. Several times in the NT evangelism and disciple-making
are likened unto farming. Let’s look at
the steps:
ü
After
choosing a promising-looking field the first thing the farmer does is to
prepare the soil. He does that by removing rocks, cutting down trees and
brush, pulling up roots, burning the stumps and slash, and tilling and
fertilizing the soil. – For us here on our mission field, we may need to undo
some bad impressions from the past. We also need to invest in preparing the
ground by building friendships, establishing social networks, and getting to
know people.
ü
Then
the farmer carefully plants the best seed he can afford. – We too are in
the seed-planting business, but our seed is the Word of God and the truths
about Him, and no better seed exists anywhere. It is living seed filled with
power and potential, and God promises that it will never return void. Sometimes
that seed is best couched inside our own personal testimony of God’s
life-changing grace. That is one form of seed planting.
ü
Then
the farmer weeds the field, in faith, and waters the rows despite the
fact that there is no visible sign of coming success. – We do the same thing. We
have to keep doing the right things and reaching out in faith, even if we are
not seeing visible signs of new life. The sprouts will come!
ü
When
the tiny shoots first start to appear, the farmer fends off the birds
that would steal the seedlings and destroy the harvest. – We must do the same
thing. Satan and his cronies will come along to try and steal the grain, pluck
up the shoots, and sow tares in our field. But we must stand firmly against him
clothed in the power of Christ.
ü
When
the grain is full-grown the farmer sets aside every other obligation to prepare
for the harvest. He works day and night to get in the crop before the rains
come. – Farmers tend to be tightly focused people. Likewise, missionaries do
not entangle themselves in activities that have no potential for evangelism and
disciple-making. Everything they do is measured against the straightedge of
“THE MISSION.” Our mission is… “To win
people to Christ and help believers grow to be like Him.” We must not get
caught up in non-essentials. The Bible says, “Work for the night is coming when
no one can work.” “Redeem the time for the days are evil.” “We will reap if we
faint not.”
ü
The
farmer puts up his crop in barns and silos, rejoicing in the harvest and giving
thanks to God for His mercies. – The Harvest comes from God! As Paul said in 1
Cor. 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but
God caused the growth.” Missionaries understand that and they do not
take credit for things that only God can do.
Principle #14: Missionaries
celebrate the results. Missionaries
love parties. In fact, some of the best parties I have ever attended have been
with missionaries. We used to have wonderful times together. But right now, I am
not talking about that kind of celebration. I am talking about the joy of
leading people to Christ and then seeing them go on to become mature believers,
to serve Christ, to win others, to train new believers, to start congregations
and new churches, and to learn to preach and teach the Word of God. There is no
joy like that joy! But that joy is not reserved just for foreign missionaries
on distant fields. God wants YOU to experience that joy too. You are a
missionary. You too are on a mission field.
We
need to pray and ask God to help us see this field through missionary
eyes. We need to plan, and pray, and work to see lives changed, families
transformed, sinners set free, and we need to celebrate every victory, great or
small. Luke 15 is all about lost things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and
a lost son. Jesus told three stories. The details were different in each one,
but the conclusion was the same. The story of the Lost Sheep ends this way: “And when he
finds [his sheep], he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he
calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have
found my lost sheep.’ [Jesus said] I tell you that in the same way there will
be more rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” The story of the Lost
Coin ends this way: “And when she finds
it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I
have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in
the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” And you
remember the story of the Lost Son. It too ended with a huge celebration: “But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast
and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost
and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.”
When one lost person is found, it is a big deal! When
one sinner gets saved all the angels of Heaven throw a party. We should do no
less. Missionaries have the best parties, and with good reason.
Principle #15: Missionaries look
forward to return to work and continue the process. People used to say that a missionary was “home on furlough.” That was an
unfortunate choice of words because it projected the idea that missionaries
only worked when they were on their field. Lots of people thought that we came
home for R&R and would just sit around idle for a year. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Now most of the mission boards have adopted the term,
“home assignment.” It comes closer to the truth. That year in our home country
is filled with exhausting travel, stress, and lots of hard work what with
conferences, continuing education, speaking in all of our supporting churches,
and raising additional financial support due to increasing costs on the field.
And
just ask any missionary; they will tell you that while it is nice to come home
to visit family and friends occasionally their heart is still back on their
mission field. They cannot wait to get back “home” because that is where they
find their fulfilment in life. Serving the Lord on their assigned field and
seeing God at work is the thing that gives them their greatest joy. That is where their heart is. That is where
they love to be.
Where is your heart? How
much do you really care about your mission field? How much do you really
love the people on your mission field? Are you invested here? Do you pray for
the people of this community? Do you care that there are thousands of people
all around us who are dying and going to hell?
Oh,
dear God, please open our spiritual eyes and break our stony hearts with the
needs around us. Let us see our community, which is our mission field, through
Your eyes of mercy, and motivate us, O Lord, with Your heart of compassion for
lost people.
