Missions Is for Everyone!

(Delivered at the HRCC Missions Seminar on 17 November 2018. This is the first of three sessions.)

  

Introduction

923 years ago, on November 18, 1095, the Roman Catholic Church began organizing the First Crusade. 200 bishops gathered and decreed that anyone who would fight for the Church and the holy city of Jerusalem would be granted a plenary indulgence. It didn’t matter what your personal history was. The indulgence was your ticket to complete pardon with God! What a prize for being a Crusader, and anyone could have it!

I can easily imagine a monk carrying a poster saying, "Join the Crusade and Be Forgiven of All Your Sins! THIS MISSION IS FOR EVERYONE!" (Of course, that’s not historical, but who knows, it may have happened!)

In any case, the Crusades happened because of a complete misunderstanding of the Church’s mission on earth. They thought they could accomplish the Church’s mission by fighting Muslims and granting indulgences. Everyone who joined the Crusades followed the Catholic Church’s mistake.

Well, we’ve seen from the previous session that the Church’s mission is to make disciples of all nations. And just like our imaginary monk with the poster, I’d like to hold up a banner now and declare today that MISSIONS IS FOR EVERYONE!

Defining "Mission" and "Missions"

But first, I want to clarify what I mean by “mission” and “missions”. What do they mean, and how are they different?

Let’s first define MISSION. “Mission” is what the Church is called to do. It is the goal, the responsibility, the task that we need to fulfill.

How do we define that task? There are all sorts of definitions out there, but here is one that I think reflects the major principles that the Bible gives us about our mission:The Church’s mission is to make disciples of all nations by preaching repentance from sins and faith in Christ for salvation, and guiding these disciples to be part of local churches that they may worship and obey the Lord as His sanctified (ie, set apart) people.

Now, what is MISSIONS? “Missions” is whatever we do to accomplish that task. It refers to any and all steps we take in order to fulfill the church’s mission. That means that missions involves both local evangelism AND foreign missions. That’s why First Fruits and Hyrax are considered as part of the Missions Program of the church.

So again, “mission” is the church’s objective and “missions” is the individual things we do in order to achieve that objective.

I hope that clarifies what I mean when I say, "Missions Is for Everyone!"

That’s really my main theses for this session. Every member of the church must be involved in missions. If making disciples of all nations is the special task of the church on earth, then you and I, as members of the church, must have a role in that.

I’m not saying we all have to be missionaries, but there are lots of other ways we can be involved. We will discuss these later. 

This also means that the church should teach every member to be involved in this. Learning about the Great Commission should be an essential part of our discipleship process.

But I think I’ve emphasized enough our obligation as believers. I hope we all understand by now that we ought to have a role in missions. Maybe you came reluctantly to this seminar. Maybe the question in your mind was “Why should I be involved in missions?” Well, hopefully I’ve answered that question well enough.

But it wouldn’t do you any good to obey merely out of obligation. That would do more harm than good – to you, to the church, and to the name of Christ. So I want to spend the rest of this session emphasizing that this is not just a duty but a privilege. It is not just a burden but a blessing.  I want to suggest to you FOUR REALLY GOOD REASONS you and I should want to be more involved. My goal is that we all come away asking “Why shouldn’t I be more involved? Why shouldn’t I learn about the needs of the nations? Why shouldn’t I increase my giving? Why shouldn’t I take my family on a short-term mission trip instead of the typical vacation?” So, here are...

Four Really Good Reasons to Be More Involved in Missions

No. 1 – GOD IS GLORIFIED

Every act of obedience glorifies God, yes? But missions glorifies Him in a special way.

You could find a truckload of passages that demonstrate this. Let’s look at just one: Psalm 96:

1 Sing to the LORD a new song;
Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name;

Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
3 Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

4 For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the LORD made the heavens.

6 Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name;
Bring an offering and come into His courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy attire;
Tremble before Him, all the earth.

10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved;
He will judge the peoples with equity.”

11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
13 Before the LORD, for He is coming,
For He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness
And the peoples in His faithfulness.

We pursue personal holiness because we know, God is glorified in me when I delight in Him and obey Him. We give ourselves to mutual encouragement, fellowship and accountability in the church because we know that God is more glorified in the worship of the local church than in the worship of just me by myself.

Now, let me take it to another level. Think about our dear Lord Jesus. Think about how much He has loved you and me, how little we are and how big He is. Think about how He saved you from the pit of sin, from guilt and sin and condemnation. Think about what it cost Him and the Father. Then, remember that He has conquered, that He is now seated at the Father’s right hand, that the time of His humiliation is finished, and He now reigns with all authority.

Doesn’t He deserve the praise of the nations? Why shouldn’t we tell of His glory among the nations? Isn’t God more glorified in the worship of the nations than in the worship of just this church and all the churches of the Philippines?

No. 2 – SOULS ARE SAVED

3 out of every 5 human beings alive today are completely unevangelized. Just think about that!

Have you ever had the joy of leading a person to Christ? Are you living in such a way that there are people who are in the Lord today, and you know that by God’s grace, they wouldn’t be where they are today without you?

I’m serious! Let’s get over false humility! God uses means, brethren, and He means to use you and me! Have you made a key and instrumental difference in people’s lives, so that they turned from idols to serve the living God? What a joy! What a privilege! Would you rather die knowing you made a good living or knowing that there will be many souls stepping through the gates of splendor into the eternal presence of the Lord because you faithful to the mission?

“He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot)

No. 3 – THE CHURCH IS ENCOURAGED

Seeing men, women, and children miraculously saved by the power of God is so encouraging for the church!

Remember the Thessalonians?

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10)

This church wasn’t two years old yet! They were immature. They doctrine wasn’t perfect. They probably didn’t even have formal elders yet! On top of that, they were persecuted and poor. And yet they were an immense encouragement to the Apostle Paul and to so many other churches. Why? For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you. These immature, poor, persecuted, doctrinally unsophisticated, formally unstructured believers were exploding with joy over the gospel and love for people, and they couldn’t contain themselves! They didn’t ask “Why do missions?” They asked “Why not do missions? What’s stopping us?” They went, not out of guilt, but out of joy and love. And what did Paul say?

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-5)

No. 4 – YOUR JOY INCREASES

If you love God, you will gladly be part of missions. Being involved in missions will increase your joy!

Our joy will increase as we tell others about God!

My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. (Psalm 45:1)

What theme is more pleasing than God’s redeeming love?! When we devote ourselves to the mission, the gospel will continuously flow through our hearts, bringing fresh joy and growth! But if we shut our mouths, if truth isn’t continuously flowing from our mouths, if we aren’t continuously telling others about God’s redeeming love, then our hearts will be like a stagnant pool – filthy and stinky!

Our joy will increase when we see God answer our prayers to expand His kingdom!

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. (Isaiah 12:3-4)

We often pray “Your kingdom come.” Well, don’t you want to be sitting as close to the frontrow as God answers that prayer?

Our joy will increase as we see churches built up!

These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. (1 John 1:4)

Our joy will increase as we decide daily to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him!

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:41-42)

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, I’ve given you FOUR REALLY GOOD REASONS TO BE MORE INVOLVED IN MISSIONS. God is glorified. Souls are saved. The church is encouraged. And your joy increases.

So stop asking why you should be more involved in missions. Instead ask yourself, “Why shouldn’t I be more involved? What in the word is stopping me from pursuing the glory of God, the salvation of souls, the encouragement of the church, and my own joy?”