That was the statement our friend Biscuet (he also talked about this great story here) made in his message this morning, no one is actually “called to missions”. Although this truth rarely seems to be stated in the American church, it is stated in scripture throughout the Bible but most recognizably in the last verse in Matthew. Jesus was not giving us a suggestion here, it was a definitive statement for His message to reach all nations and to have a heart for those who are living a Spiritually dead life.
Sometimes our Americanized version of missions is to see who is “called to missions” then send them on a sort of mission vacation to a vaguely understood culture, and see what kind of impact can be made. This might be an exaggerated cynical statement, but those of us who profess Jesus as their Savior are called to a worldwide missionary life. We are certainly not all called to China like Biscuet but we are called to be missional.
I happen to be reading a passage in a book last night that put this in context. I am about half way through God’s Passion for His Glory by John Piper which is written in two parts; the first part is a biography on Jonathan Edwards, the second part is The End for Which God Created the World by Edwards himself (see also my essay on Edwards famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God entitled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Historical Look at It’s Preachability in the 21st Century). Many don’t associate Edwards with missions but he spent many years working directly with Native American Indians in the 18th century. In speaking about Edwards, Piper talks about privatism in religion and says:
The worst form [of privatism] is with evangelicals who think they are publicly- and socially- minded when the have no passion for missions of perishing people without the gospel that alone can give eternal life, and without a saving knowledge of the Light of the world who can transform their culture. So the first message of Jonathan Edwards to modern evangelicals about our public lives is: Don’t limit your passion for justice and peace to such a limited concern as the church-saturated landscape of American culture.
Lift up your eyes to the real crisis of our day: namely, several thousand cultures still unpenetrated by the gospel, who can’t even dream of the blessings we want to restore.
No graphic that I have seen more emphasizes this as the one below from the IMB called You are the Light of the World. I first saw this in poster form in bslash’s office one day and it has stuck with me since that day. The dark places in the world, even 2,000 years after Matthew 28:19 was spoken, are large, and on every continent. Biscuet pointed out today that we, as American’s, can no longer take the Message effectively to a Moslem nation, but we can invest in people who can, like the people in China, but before we can make a huge step (like living in China or Hong Kong), we must be willing to take many many smaller steps and be open to following our Leader, Jesus.
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This morning I had a conversation with a friend of mine about serving. Who is called to serve, who isn’t, why some of us feel a great need to serve, and why others don’t, and who are those called to support those who serve and so on. Then, out of the blue, I read this blog post by Kyle called Go and then I will provide, and figured he just beat me to the punch.
Over the past 6-8 months I have come across so many different types of ministries that were called to serve in one area or another. Some of them did what a Pastor from Uganda said they did in their church, they went, knowing and expecting God to provide, and started a plant church in a rural area of Uganda. The topic of discussion has been on my heart for some time, and in a personal way. Besides really trying to understand where God wants me to be with my life, I am trying to understand if God wants me to serve in a full time position or not.
The concept of “going” is contrary to what we know and think, especially in this country where we have to plan everything to the inth degree before we do anything. Scriptures don’t talk about going without planning, understanding, or a calling, but also to go and not wait for every single little detail to be worked out before deciding, yes, this is where I am called to be and this is where I will go.
Romans 12: 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
To Serve is a gift spoken about in Romans along with teaching, leading, giving, showing mercy, and several others. Like Kyle, I have spent years praying about where I am to serve, and in what capacity, but I find Kyle’s calling to be the start of an incredible journey for him. Coming to the conclusion that you should “go, and then I will provide” at his age (way way younger than me) is a great calling from God where He can use Kyle without wandering through the desert for 40 years before coming to that realization.
For me, I wait for confirmation from God, in hopes of recognizing it when it shows up, taking advantage of the opportunity when it does, putting aside my fears of the unknown, and remembering that God will provide.
I took these two photos of Deb’s oil lamp above a few minutes ago thinking about all this and 1,000 other things. Many times I feel like we as Christians are like this first photo. Just waiting around for God, for something, someone, to light our fire before we will go out and serve. The fuel is there, the fire is there, the two just have to come together at the same time to allow us to shine in His brilliance. But it takes fire (light), fuel, something to burn, and something to hold it all together to make it happen.
