Seven reasons to go
That part of the world we call the 10/40 Window is covered in spiritual darkness. Hundreds of millions of people are lost without Christ, separated from Him by spiritual darkness and deception. There are reasons, biblical reasons, why it is the will of God for every Christian to be part of lighting the window for the Lord Jesus. I have listed seven of those reasons below.
However, these reasons will remain just one more list of things you "ought to do" someday, unless you submit your response to the Lord Jesus, right now. May I request that you stop right now and pray? Would you please ask the Lord to speak to your heart as you read through this list? In fact, why don't you dedicate yourself to be available to spreading God’s glory and to sharing His passions for the church and the nations of the earth. Thank you.
1. The Lamb is worthy
At the end of time people will gather from every tribe and tongue and people and nation around the throne of God to honor the Lamb of God, all worshiping in their redeemed cultures and music styles. They will gather joyously around the throne of God and celebrate the victory He has won on their behalf.
The One who died a shameful death to redeem the peoples of the earth will be the object of honor and praise for all eternity. All of history will be consummated in the praise of the One who gave Himself for us. He died to make us a kingdom of priests. He set us free from religion and fear and superstition so we might freely enter His throne room of grace. Everything is headed for that day. All we do that has meaning will find its fulfillment at that celebration. May it come quickly, Lord Jesus!
This is what missions is about: not church programs or missionary outreaches, or budgets or faith giving, or missionaries dressed in strange costumes, not even about the lost people or the needs of hurting masses. It is about Jesus, the Lion who became a Lamb, the Redeemer of the all peoples, the Savior of the world! It is for Him! We do missions so He will receive the just reward of His suffering and the praise that is becoming the One who is the Creator and Redeemer of all things!
2. The Spirit is moving
We are living in the time of the greatest revival in the history of the church. There have been times in church history when the Spirit has moved on one continent, and then other times when the Spirit has moved on another continent. What is unusual about this period of history is that the Spirit of God is bringing millions of people to Himself, simultaneously, on every continent. The church is growing mightily in China, Indonesia, India, Korea, Latin America, Africa – literally all over the world.
God brought down the wall, and the communist nations of Eastern Europe, and now His Spirit is tearing down walls of fear and cultural separation that hide Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists from the gospel. It is God’s gracious invitation and the Church’s sacred privilege to participate in this unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit. Who would want to miss out on what our Father is doing on the earth? Not me!
God has chosen this time to gather people from all the peoples of the earth in a way He has never done before. Therefore, it is the will of God for the Church to be part of what He is doing. The Church is what God is doing; He is raising up a people for Himself from among all the peoples of the earth, so that He might fill the earth with His glory.
3. The lost are dying
Most of earth’s population will spend eternity separated from God if they do not have a chance to hear the Good News of God's salvation. Hell is real, and though many evangelicals believe theoretically in hell, they don’t really believe that a good God will send people to hell.
May God burn into our hears the terrible reality of man’s lostness without a savior. Men and women need forgiveness of sins. There is no other name given among men whereby a person can be saved, than the name of Jesus. It is by hearing, believing and calling on that name that people are rescued from a certain, eternal, separation from God.
4. The poor are suffering
We easily become immune to the horrendous suffering of the victims of drought, famine, poverty and injustice. It is only by the grace of God than our hardened and callused hearts can be filled with the compassion of Jesus. The Bible says that when Jesus looked upon the crowds, He had compassion. May we have the same response, whether it be to a neighbor in need, a child’s face in a Christian advertisement, or a news broadcast from the Horn of Africa. We know the statistics, we hear and see the faces, now it is time to pray. And to go. And to be Jesus to those without hope.
5. The Church is commissioned
Jesus commanded us to go, and go means a change of location. We have been commissioned to go, teach, baptize and make disciples. There are people waiting for Christians to obey, whether it be the village in North Africa that requested a missionary, or tribesman in the mountains of Tibet, they wait. They wait for our obedience. The issue is not whether or not we are called. All are called. All are commissioned. It is a matter of location. Willing hearts hear His voice. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "As the Father sent me, so send I you."
6. The believers are perishing
Without a vision greater than the pleasures of our culture and the comforts of life, we will perish. We must get involved in the nations. It is not enough to send our money, because money does not have to lay down rights, weep, or give of oneself. It is not enough to send native workers, because native workers cannot pray, love and disciple in our place. God uses people to reach people. He uses people to encourage faint hearts. If for no other reason, we must go for our sakes. If not, we will surely perish. For the sake of the church at home, we must give our very best, lest we die from lack of sacrifice, from lack of personal involvement. If we will not, if we believe not, we will perish.
7. The Father is waiting
The highest motivation for preaching the gospel is not what lost or needy people receive from our efforts, but what God receives from them. Missions is first and foremost about God. He created the nations to seek after Him and find Him (Acts 17:24-26). He brought them into existence so they might find their satisfaction in their Creator. To paraphrase John Piper, God is most glorified when the nations are most satisfied in Him.
Above all things, we must go, and we must pray, because the Father is waiting. He longs for the worship and obedience of His creation. He made the nations. He made them for a purpose. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, God is yearning for the peoples of the earth to come home to Him, so that the whole earth will be filled with His glory.
Dear Father,
Please fill my heart with the dream that is in your heart, the dream and longing of having a people for yourself made up of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
May your passions become my passions, dear God. Please deliver me from small and petty dreams, dreams of security and fortune and personal ambition. Give me a passion to see You worshipped in all the nations of the earth. I want to live for one thing, and that is Your Son being worshipped every place and by every people.
And please use me to make that dream a reality, no matter what it costs. Amen!
All Nations
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