A Plan for Sustainable Involvement
(Delivered at the HRCC Missions Seminar on 17 November 2018. This is the last of three sessions.)
Introduction
Gina stared at her prayer list. Some months ago, she had attended a Missions Conference, and learned about the importance of praying for Christ’s global cause. After that, she made sure to include some kind of missions-related item in her daily prayers.
Today, it was “Qatar”, and the entry included some information about the country and its spiritual needs. Gina wanted to be excited about it, but she wasn’t. Other concerns pushed their way into her thoughts. Her deadlines at work. The demands of her three ministries in church. And on top of all that, she had a ton of housework to do!
Gina loved the Lord. She knew that missions was important. But the conference had been months ago, and she had had little encouragement to keep up her missions-related “resolutions”. With a million other things demanding her time, she decided that this would forget about worldwide missions and just focus on things that felt more “relevant” to her day-to-day life.
I believe this story reflects a common problem that Christians face when trying to be more involved in missions. Something happens to stir up our interest – a conference, a sermon, an article, a conversation – and then we get excited. In that excitement, we make resolutions. But after a while, the excitement dies down, and other things crowd missions out of our thoughts and commitments.
The problem isn’t that being more involved is “unrealistic” for most Christians. The problem is that our “resolutions” are often driven by emotion and they’re not very well thought out. The truth is that we’re busy. And for busy people, what gets planned gets done. What we don’t give much thought to will eventually be put aside. That’s just the reality of things. So WE NEED A PLAN.
You understand now that making disciples of all nations is the UNIQUE TASK OF THE CHURCH on earth. You’ve seen that being involved in missions isn’t just for a few gifted individuals, or the more “mature” members of the church, but rather MISSIONS IS FOR EVERYONE.
So how do you and I be more involved in missions? And what can you and I do to ensure that over time our commitment doesn’t wither, but grows?
I want to present you with...
A Plan for Sustainable Involvement
I believe that FOUR THINGS are needed to guard your personal commitment to missions against distractions, discouragements, and changing circumstances.
• Focus on God
• Maintain a Baseline
• Be Aspirational
• Build Relationships, not Projects
No. 1 – FOCUS ON GOD
(Andy Johnson, Missions: How the Local Church Goes Global) “The heart for God-glorifying missions starts with joy in the gospel. Our churches must first cherish the God who sent his own Son to save sinners like us. The right fuel matters.”
John 15:4-5 -- “4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
We’re just branches. Christ is the vine. We get all of our nourishment from Him.
Fruit-bearing takes a lot of energy and nutrients! I used to garden a lot, and one thing I learned is that when it’s time for a plant to start yielding fruit, you have to prune it. Why? You want to get rid of unnecessary leaves so that the plant can direct all of its energy and nutrients to growing fruits. Now, the only plant I have left is a small calamansi plant. And it hasn’t born any fruits for months, because I haven’t really been paying any attention to it. It takes a lot of effort to bear fruit! Fruits suck the life out of the branch, and unless the branch has a constant inflow of life-giving nutrients from the vine, the branch simply cannot bear fruit.
Missions demands that we show love to people we’re not naturally inclined to love. Well, how can be motivated for that? How else, but by drinking deeply of God’s redeeming, shepherdly, fatherly love?
1 John 4:19 -- “We love because He first loved us.”
Missions demands that we have a supernatural compassion for strangers. We will need to extend comfort to people we don’t know. It is often thankless word. Where will we get the strength to sustain our efforts? Where else, but from the care that we ourselves receive from God?
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Missions is ultimately driven by a desire for God to be worshiped. That means that the most essential fuel that we need for a sustainable commitment to missions is a high view of God. We need to be in the Word everyday, beholding the glory of God, marveling at His power and wisdom and grace. We need to cultivate daily adoration, satisfaction, joy, and thankfulness to God!
1 Thes 5:16-18 -- “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
No. 2 – MAINTAIN A BASELINE
Our circumstances at work, at home, and at church at always changing, and that means our schedules and commitments change too! Similarly, our level of involvement in missions will change from season to season. Sometimes, we’ll have more time and energy to give to it, and sometimes, we will have less.
But we really need to make sure that we don’t dip so low that missions eventually gets written off our schedules. This is why we need a BASELINE. There has to be a minimum that we’re willing to invest in missions, and we need to be committed to maintaining that minimum.
I submit to you that that BASELINE, that minimum has to be PRAYER and GIVING.
First, PRAYER for missions needs to be part of our routine.
You could pray for it daily, or a few times a week. It’s up to you. But it has to be planned and regular.
I think that requires a prayer list. That’s the only way we can be consistent in prayer. If you just pray for missions when you remember to, that commitment is based on emotions and external circumstances, and I can guarantee you that missions will eventually vanish from your prayers. We need to be intentional in our prayers. We need to plan. And I think that means, we need to keep a list.
Brethren, praying for lost people to know the Savior isn’t a burden, but a joy! It’s a privilege! We should be in hell, paying the penalty for hating God and rebelling against Him. But instead, we’re pardoned and reconciled, adopted and now are sent as Christ’s ambassadors to bring the gospel to the lost, so that they too might know Christ! Praying for this should bring joy to our hearts!
But the reality is that we can be very selfish. We can be very me-centered. There are days when we don’t give a rip about God’s worthiness and the salvation of lost people. It’s shameful, but it’s the truth.
Elynne and I pray for at least two (2) mission-related things every day. Many days, it’s such a joy. Our thoughts are elevated beyond ourselves to worship God, and to intercede with compassion for the lost, and to thank God for missionaries and their work, and we’re challenged to be more devoted to the Lord. But some days, it doesn’t feel that way. Some times, we just want to have breakfast already, or start working. But on those days, those mission-related prayer items force us to confront our selfishness and small-mindedness, so that we can deal with that and keep moving forward.
Second, we need to continuously GIVE to missions.
Matthew 6:21 – “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
That’s a general principle that we can apply to the church’s mission. If you are committed, you will give. At the same time, if you give, the more you will be committed. Why? Because you’re invested in it, you won’t take it lightly!
So, again, we need to maintain a BASELINE. For us to have a sustainable involvement in missions, I don’t think we can drop below the minimum of PRAYING and GIVING.
But remember, that’s just a minimum. We shouldn’t be satisfied with minimum involvement. That leads to my third point.
No. 3 – BE ASPIRATIONAL
What is our mission? It is to make disciples of all nations. How many nations? One or two? No, the Lord said, “all”.
Now, I understand, of course that this was a commission to the Universal Church. God doesn’t expect Higher Rock to achieve world evangelization single-handedly. And yet, as part of the worldwide body of Christ, we have our role to fulfill. That means that we can’t be satisfied where we are. We always have to be looking for ways to reach new nations, to extend our reach for the gospel! We cannot rest until all of the nations of the world are evangelized.
Now, what does that mean for you and I as individuals? We need to ASPIRATIONAL.
Yes, there are season when God will give us so many other things to do that maybe all we can do is PRAY and GIVE. But then, there will be seasons when you can do more.
Then again, as we mature, we will be able to take on greater labors for the Lord. So our situation may not change, but we are changing and maturing. We stop having to be babied all the time. We become stronger in faith, more resilient to pressures, able to handle more responsibility, etc. If you’re faithfully following Christ, that is happening to you all the time. You’re maturing.
Now, whether it’s your circumstances that change, or you’re the one who changes, there will be times when you are able to give more time and attention to service. And I submit to you that the best thing to invest in is making disciples of all nations!
There has to be a holy discontent with our level of maturity and service. There has to be something in us that isn’t fully at peace for as long as the church’s divinely given mandate is unfulfilled. There has to be a burning love for God and and compassion for the lost. Being aspirational will keep us on our toes and in step with the Spirit.
God says, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10) You know, some of us have bigger mouths than others! … But it doesn’t matter how big your mouth is, God is able to fill it up. God wants to display His abundant grace in our lives, but the problem is that our mouths are either shut tight or half-open. Just kind of lazily hanging there. But our mouths aren’t open wide in faith, believing that God is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think! (Eph 3:20).
Being aspirational could mean, for example, that we’re always seeking opportunities to evangelize, always wanting to expand our gospel influence, always ready to encourage missionaries, always the first to sign up for short-term mission trips, always joyful in giving, steadfast in prayer, hungry for news of souls saved and nations reached with the gospel!
You know, brothers and sisters, no one worked harder to evangelize the nations than the Apostle Paul. But even he always aspired to do more for Christ.
Philippians 3:13-14 – “13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
I’m not saying there aren’t seasons in life. I’m not saying we always have to maintain some arbitrarily set level of intensity in our missions involvement. I understand there are other things we need to think about.
But as I said in our previous sessions, I will say it again, missions is not just one of many Christian duties. MISSIONS IS OUR UNIQUE TASK while we are on earth. But everything seems to be working against that. We’re lazy, so we don’t have initiative. Other’s are lazy, so they don’t influence us for the better. There are a thousand other concerns that seem to be more “relevant” to our daily life, and that means that there are a thousand excuses we could have for being apathetic to the church’s mission.
So if you and I want to ensure that we are doing our part through all the ups and downs of life, the changes and challenges of life, then we need to be ASPIRATIONAL.
No. 4 – BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, NOT PROJECTS
We are not robots. We thrive on relationships, not accomplishments. It’s the same for congregations, for pastors, and for missionaries.
True, there are some appealing things to having a project-based approach to missions. It seems to yield maximum results for minimal investment. The fruits are immediate and gratifying. It also requires a much shorter attention span. It’s much easier to think about something for two weeks than ten years. It’s also much more “promotable”, easier to boast about on social media and create hype for the church’s missions program.
But these are very superficial advantages. It’s still better to develop deep relationships with a few missionaries than superficial relationships with many. This will have a number of advantages.
First, you will grow to love and trust the missionaries.
You’ll develop the same kind of relationship that the Philippians had with Paul. Paul prayed for them, and they prayed for Paul (1:9-11, 18-20). Paul continued to minister to the church, visiting whenever he could. When that was impossible, he wrote to them, or sent proxies like Timothy (1:25-26; 2:23-24). The Philippians were willing to suffer just as Paul was suffering, because they were both advancing Christ’s kingdom. They could never have said to Paul, “Bahala ka diyan!” (1:29-30) The church even sent short-term missionary helpers (2:25-30; 4:2-3). This is a wonderful example of how a relationship-based approach to missions can be so beneficial and healthy to our own growth as believers!
Secondly, the missionaries will be better supported.
Your commitment to them means they will have substantial and dependable funding, regular communication, pastoral visits, hospitality during furloughs, etc. The missionaries also won’t be pressured to come up with fast but superficial “results” in order to please uncommitted supporters. That way, they can actually be more effective on the field!
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, real commitment to missions can’t be program-based. We can’t just have a Missions Month and expect the momentum from this to carry us through another year, until the next Missions Month. No, our lives are too busy, too complex for such a superficial and program-based approach.
MAKING DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS is the church’s mission, and we all need to be committed to this. MISSIONS IS FOR EVERYONE! It’s too important to leave to chance. We can’t let our feelings or our circumstances dictate our level of commitment. We have to be intentional.
That’s why you and I need A PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE INVOLVEMENT. I’ve submitted FOUR THINGS are needed to guard your personal commitment to missions against distractions, discouragements, and changing circumstances.
• Focus on God
• Maintain a Baseline
• Be Aspirational
• Build Relationships, not Projects
Brethren, this Missions Month is not an end in itself. After this is done, we don’t pat ourselves on the back, and tick “missions” off our to-do list, and then go do other things. No! After this is done, we get to work on missions. This is just the beginning, a catalyst, a means for God to refocus and refresh our understanding of missions. But let’s remember that the Great Commission is not “Come, be discipled”, but “Go make disciples of all nations”!
This is our God-given task, brethren. Will you take up the call in obedience? Will you be committed to this objective in every season of your life, until you reach your heavenly home, or the Lord comes again?
