“Where in the Bible is missions ever identified as an optional program in the church? We have just seen that we were all created by God, saved from our sins, and blessed by God to make his glory known in all the world. Indeed, Jesus himself has not merely called us to go to all nations; he has created us and commanded us to go to all nations. We have taken this command, though, and reduced it to a calling – something that only a few people receive … But what if we don’t need to sit back and wait for a call to foreign missions? What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission? And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us?” –Radical, David Platt, p. 72-73, 75
I’ve found myself praying a lot this last week, as I’ve been digging into the Word and into books that challenge me to live more radically, about where my life would be geographically if I were truly following God, if I were so submitted that He could send me anywhere in the world He wants me to go. I’ve been wrestling with this chapter in Radical about global mission, about where God wants us to go, about why we think we have the right to sit in our homes watching TV, building a life of comfort for ourselves when literally billions of people around the world are dying without Christ. I’ve been wrestling with the couch potato qualities of my walk with God, wondering why I’m content to sit still when God’s Word has so much to say about going unto all nations.
I know, I know. Many of you are probably saying, “But I’m not called to foreign missions.” But look back to the quote from David Platt. What if “being called” isn’t our option? What if the Bible really does command us to go? Why are we still here? I’m not saying that we all are called to full-time global missions, but we ought to be going at least part of the time!
Let’s open the Word together and study out what it has to say about the nations of the earth, and our responsibility to them. Let’s begin with Psalm 2:8. It says that if we ask, God will give us every nation on earth! So, at the very least, we have a responsibility to be actively and powerfully praying for the nations, interceding on their behalf. Or how about Isaiah 12:3-5, which say that after we draw with joy from the wells of salvation we will, “tell the nations how glorious you are and what you have done! Because of your wonderful deeds we will sing your praises everywhere on earth?” We all boldly proclaim that we have been saved. So why are we not boldly proclaiming God’s goodness to the people of all nations, that they might know Him and sing praise to Him as well? How do we dismiss verses like Isaiah 42:6, which says, “I chose you to bring justice, and I am here at your side. I selected you to bring light and my promise of hope to the nations?” Isaiah 49:6 is perhaps more frighteningly blunt on this subject. It says, “Now the Lord says to me, ‘It isn’t enough for you to be merely my servant. You must do more than lead back survivors from the tribes of Israel. I have placed you here as a light for other nations; you must take my saving power to everyone on earth.” Is this a scary thing, a responsibility greater than our ability to perform, a task that only God himself can work through us? Absolutely! Daniel 11:33, in the Living Bible, assures us that this will not be an easy task. In these last days, it says, “Those with spiritual understanding will have a wide ministry of teaching in those days. But they will be in constant danger, many of them dying by fire and sword, or being jailed and robbed.” I believe we are in the last days, that we are called to have a wide teaching ministry to those around us who do not yet know Christ, and that there will be dangers associated with our obedience. But Isaiah 55:5 assures us, “You will call out to nations you have never known. And they have never known you, but they will come running because I am the Lord, the holy God of Israel, and I have honored you.” When we obey God to take His Word to all nations, to all situations and circumstances, to be a light that brings hope to people in all walks of life – people will respond, and God will be honored by our faithfulness, our boldness, our desire to bring Him glory. After all, Genesis 22:18, says, “You have obeyed me, and so you and your descendants will be a blessing to all nations on earth.” Only when we are obediently seeking God’s will for us will we be able to answer His call to the nations. Remember, the last thing Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew 28:19-20, in the CEV, was, “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” God has not called us to something that He will not enable us to do. He has not called us to abandon us on the front lines of foreign missions somewhere. He has called us to an adventure, to a deeply surrendered way of living that will faithfully follow Him wherever He leads. And where will that be for you? I don’t have a clue. All I know is that this week, as I’ve been praying, looking at mission trips I’d love to go on, and seeking God, God began asking me to dream, “If you could go anywhere, do ministry anywhere, where would you go? What would you do?” I dare you to open your heart to that question, to begin dreaming, and seeking out how God may want to use that in the next stages of your journey with Him. Be open, my friends, to His leading, wherever it takes you.
And in case you need ideas, here are some of the awesome mission trips available:
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