Habakkuk 2:14 says, “For the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The apostles were dedicated in obedience to
this task. The motive was always about
the glory of God. We can be driven today
by humanitarian needs or stories of the people and how we “fell in love with
them”, but those can’t be the primary reasons we go. We go for God’s glory. Don’t hear me wrong—human needs and people
are important, but God’s glory is supreme.
With a motivation such as this, the apostles were bold in
their witness. What does the word
“witness” mean? A witness is something
you ARE much more than something you say or do.
You LIVE the gospel as well as proclaim it. By public testimony in the face of hostility,
ordinary people like you and I can accomplish far more than merely affirming
the truth of Christ. Why? It establishes the value of Christ in our
lives. And to fulfill His plan of
spreading the gospel, He will ask us to publicly display our witness at some
point in each of our lives.
How did the gospel spread in such an accelerated manner as
it did in Acts? Through the persistence,
boldness, and faithfulness of the apostles in fulfilling the Great
Commission. How is the gospel unleashed?
Through the church. We are Plan A and
there is no Plan B. Within the church,
God charged two entities with the responsiblity: the local church and the called-out
teams. In Acts, you see the church of
Antioch as a so-called home base for Paul and Barnabus. Paul’s church-planting
team grew out from this and became an autonomous entity, yet still related to
the church. If we follow this model,
then it is the purpose of the called-out team to plant reproducing churches
where there are none. It is not their
responsibility to evangelize every individual in an area. The job of the local church is to evangelize,
edify, and equip the population. It is
the church that unleashes the gospel and it is the church that we must go to
establish.
In the context of these definitions we can more accurately
call an unreached people group one in which there is no indigenous community of
believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize that
people group. It is the goal of the called-out
team to be involved in church planting.
This is the rapid multiplication of healthy indigenous churches in a
specific people group that plant reproducing churches of their own. These churches must be indigenous and be led
by ordinary people empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is who will maximally and effectively
reach the people around them.
There are many barriers to this pursuit. One writer likens the barriers to a wall and
a canyon. The canyon represents a
barrier of conversion and acceptance.
The problem with many modern missions is that when we go in, we’re not
accepted. The mentality of the local
people is that we are there to westernize them; to become Christian would be to
strip them of their culture and heritage.
This is not at all what God intends!
God deserves praise and worship in every unique way He ascribed when He
made the nations. Look no further than
the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 for evidence that any attempt to change a
people is wrong! The devout Jews wanted
the Gentiles to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses. The disciples said that should not be, as
they were given the gift of the Holy Spirit too. When we go to unreached areas, the model
should be “become like…remain like”. We
should make every attempt to become like, and understand, a people, in order
that they may remain like they are, as God made them.
The wall represents a barrier of communication and
understanding. A people will not connect
to God being their God unless He is speaking to them in their native
language. The effort it takes to
translate is large and time-consuming.
And it cannot always be word-for-word because of strong cultural
differences.
Here’s a video of a missionary’s effort among an unreached
tribal group. It represents the barrier
of communication encountered all over the world. Interestingly, this couple was told they were
not “missions material” by the organization they were applying with, but they
went anyway. Just watch the power of the
gospel when it is unleashed.
Suffering indicates there
is value in Christ worth dying for. Just
a few of the Scriptures that reference this idea include:
1 Corinthians 16:9 - for a wide door
for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
1 Peter 4:12 - Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though
something strange were happening to you.
John 15:18 – [Jesus speaking] If the world
hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Matthew 24:9 -
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will
be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
Philippians 1:29
- For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not
only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
Colossians 1:24
- Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
church,
The ultimate purpose in suffering and martyrdom is to
advance the cause of Christ on earth, resulting in more glory given to
God. When Christ’s servants willingly
identify with their Master in the depths of suffering and the pain of death for
the cause of Christ, God’s truth triumphs, Satan’s power is broken, God is
glorified.
How about when you hear the word “apostle”? Perhaps the first followers of Jesus,
including the disciples and Paul?
Generally speaking, an apostle is one who is sent, or is a
messenger. So then apostolic passion
would be defined as the deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship
of Jesus to the nations. It is being
committed to the point of death to the spreading of His glory. It is being on fire for Jesus, dreaming of
the whole earth being filled with His glory.
What does it take to have this kind of passion? First, need complete abandonment. Psalm 63:8 says, “My soul clings to you; your right hand
upholds me.” American Christianity wants
the fruit like Paul’s ministry without paying the price for it. God’s praise among the nations must be
all-consuming. Die to self. Be crucified with Christ. Boldly pray for God to reveal any selfish
ambition and abandon it.
Second, you need focus. Acts
20:24, Paul speaking:
“But I do not account my life of any value
nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that
I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Later on in his letter to the Romans, Paul says
“by the power of signs and wonders, by the
power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to
Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I
make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been
named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, “Those
who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will
understand.” This is the reason why I
have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have
any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to
come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on
my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.” (Romans
15:19-24)
Did you catch that? Paul wanted
to visit the Romans on the way to Spain. Think about the historical timeframe. No new world (aka the Americas) had been
discovered. Paul quite literally was
laser focused on going to the ends of the earth, as they knew it then. We waste a lot of time in good
ministries. But the focus is clear: God
calls every people to Himself.
Third, you need to be deeply rooted in prayer. Prayer walking is one of the most pivotal
moments in missions, whether that is through your neighborhood or in a city of
a million people in South Asia. Isaiah
62 describes how at all hours people were set on the walls of Jerusalem to pray
unceasingly:
“On your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set
watchmen;
all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.
You who put
the Lord in remembrance,
take no rest, and give him no rest
until he
establishes Jerusalem
and makes it a praise in the earth.”
We can pray one minute a day in a quiet time in the morning and God
will love us no less. But you will not
survive in the hard times—particularly in areas where Jesus is not known or
worshipped—without intense, unceasing prayer.
One modern-day apostle described life without constant prayer like
sending a soldier into battle without weapons; you would certainly be killed.
Fourth, you need the right frame of decision-making. Let’s face it, the American Dream can ensnare
us without any effort. Oh we may use the
excuse for why we don’t act that we’re waiting to hear from God, but all the
while we live to make money, provide ourselves a future, to dress and impress,
and have fun. In Acts 20 and 21, Paul
describes his urgent desire to go to Jerusalem, despite every warning from the
Holy Spirit of what awaited him and the disapproval from close friends. Why did he decide to go anyway? Because the greater priority for him was the
glory of God.
Maybe we don’t hear from God like we think we’re supposed to because
we don’t have this as our priority. It’s
only from that standpoint that we can accurately hear God say “go” or “stay”. With this kind of passion, you are no longer
about getting and gaining but rather spreading and proclaiming. You are not afraid of loss. You dare to even believe it a privilege to
suffer and die for the spread of God’s glory.
Your reward awaits you at the throne of your Creator. So let us live with apostolic passion and not
waste our lives! Only those who have died in Christ are unafraid of death.
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