15-5

Our Unmistakeable Task

Could it be that we have missed the point? Could it be that we have gone to church our whole lives in giant buildings built for the glory of God and never really understood the mission He has called us to? "Is it really possible to have all the trappings of the church and yet miss the heart of Christ? Is it possible for church people to be so focused on personal comforts and so fearful of the potential cost that they virtually forget the purpose of God among all the peoples of the world?" To seriously engage the people of the world with the gospel will be uncomfortable and costly. But what if we were willing to take risks? What if we were willing to change our lifestyles in order to make it happen? What if our church was willing to sacrifice its resources to make the gospel accessible to those who had never heard it? What do you think would happen?

Jesus would come back. Don't believe me? Check out Matthew 24:14. It says, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Seems pretty clear to me. We can debate about the meaning of 'all nations' if we want to, but the truth remains. Christ is not coming back until all the people of the world have heard the gospel. We have to understand that Jesus didn't just command us to go to our friends (although most of us aren't even doing that!). He commanded us to make disciples of all nations!

Mission leaders around the world say that a people group is unreached if less than 2 percent of the population is made up of Christians. If that is true, it is very likely that you will be born, live, and die without ever hearing the gospel. Out of more than 11,000 people groups in the world, more than 6,000 are still unreached! What are we doing with our time? Just to be clear, Jesus might define 'reached' people differently than we do, and He could come back at any moment. No one knows when He will come back. But consider what George Ladd has to say:

"God alone knows the definition of terms. I cannot precisely define who 'all the nations' are. Only God knows exactly the
meaning of 'evangelize.' He alone...will know when that objective has been accomplished. But I do not need to know. I know
only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our
responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms of our task; our responsibility is to complete it. So long as Christ does not
return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission."

So the question we have to answer is do we want Jesus to come back? Do we want the end to come? Make no mistake about it, this is going to be hard work! People groups aren't unreached because we don't have the resources. "They are unreached because they are hard to reach and we haven't had the resolve to get them the gospel. Any Christian and any church desiring to obey the command of Christ in the world and longing to see the coming of Christ at the end of the world must possess a God-centered, gospel-driven tenacity that is ready to endure an intense spiritual battle." The stakes are high. God wants to see everyone come to Christ. Satan wants to see everyone go to hell.

Satan will use anything he can to distract us from our mission to reach the world for Christ. Even our own churches. Is it possible that we are ignoring the nations in order to build up our church in Clearwater? If we only focus on engaging people in our community we can easily become blinded to those around the world who are dying without Jesus. When that happens, we are not fulfilling our mission to reach all nations are we? When this changes, and we as a church make it our mission to bring Christ to the nations, we can expect a full on attack from Satan. But we need not fear, for we will overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.

So am I saying that we shouldn't witness to people in Clearwater? No! Not even a little bit! However, "If our goal is all nations, then our strategy cannot be defined by what will best reach people within ten miles of our church building. If our goal is all nations, then our strategy must always revolve around what will best reach people who are ten thousand miles from our building." That doesn't mean that we don't witness to people here in Clearwater. It is vitally important that we reach our friends, neighbors, families, and coworkers for Christ. As we reach them, we must be teaching and training them to not only reach their friends, but to go to all nations to spread the gospel! It is not an either/or thing. It is a both/and thing.

We do not have to choose between local impact and global impact. The two should go hand in hand. "If we are faithful to Jesus' command in the Great Commission, we will always be living and longing for the spread of the gospel to all people groups." True disciple making will have an impact on all nations with the gospel. That is why I am becoming more and more a proponent of short term mission trips. Now I am not talking about the trips where you spend 6 days sight seeing and drinking lemonade and 1 day handing out water bottles so you can feel good about yourself. Disciple making is a long-term and difficult thing, so I love mission trips where we partner with missionaries who are intentionally making disciples where they are, and where our service can help move along their disciple making process exponentially! When this happens, we aren't just helping them, but we grow together in Christ. If you have been on a trip like this you can testify that what I am about to say is true: Your time overseas will transform your time across the street. You will come back a different person, with different ideas about what is and what is not important.

It is time to get on board with the plan of God-"penetrating every nation with the gospel-and He has promised to bless it!" We have been blessed to live in a place where we have heard the gospel. God "has called, commissioned, and commanded each of us as Christians to give ourselves to the spread of His gospel in every part of the earth." You want Jesus to come back? Prove it.

Enjoy the Journey