GodsView : The Missionary’s Path!

GodsView : The Missionary’s Path!: Next to the Bible itself, few documents are as hallowed and compelling as letters sent by missionaries of old describing their work. The...

The Missionary’s Path!

Next to the Bible itself, few documents are as hallowed and compelling as letters sent by missionaries of old describing their work. The tradition of missionary letters goes all the way back to the apostle Paul and his famous epistles. Missionary biographies abound with correspondence and stories that motivate us to greater service.
            Few of us are called to vocational missionary service in the usual sense of the term, but the word missionary simply means someone charged with the mission of Christ—and that includes all of us who know Him. In His Great Commission, Jesus was appointing each of us to bear His name and advance His cause.

Purpose, You Know
Perhaps you’ve had occasion in the past to question your purpose on earth. Everyone needs a reason for living. Many people find that the most rewarding role in their life is that of a parent—raising their children to love God, be people of character, and assets to their community.
Raising our children and being a good parent provides a great purpose in life. But what if we don’t have children? What happens when our children are gone? Isn’t there a larger purpose that encompasses parenting and every other area of life?
            It’s to be God’s missionary to this world. To walk through life with a clear conviction that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).
            That doesn’t automatically require a passport. In whatever country or city we’re in, we can support, pray for, and engage in missionary activity; and our witness will bear fruit. We never know how far our shadow falls when backed by the sunbeams of grace.
David Brainerd, for example, was an orphan who dedicated himself fully to Jesus Christ at age twenty-one. He enrolled in Yale University, but was expelled for criticizing his tutor. He tried to get back in, but the school wouldn’t allow it. He developed a burden for the Native Americans in New England and determined to do what he could to meet their needs and share the Gospel with them. He worked so sacrificially that he wore himself out, developed tuberculosis, and died at age twenty-nine. During his life, he saw only a small handful of converts.
            But another man, Jonathan Edwards, was so deeply moved by Brainerd’s life that his passion was stirred, his prayer life was deepened, and his ministry was inflamed. That led to the Great Awakening, which turned America from infidelity and secularism to Christ.
In England, a man named William Carey read Brainerd’s story and dedicated himself to go to India, launching the modern missionary movement.
Henry Martyn read the life of Brainerd and devoted himself to an illustrious career of missionary endeavor in India. In Scotland, Robert Murray McCheyne read the story of Brainerd, and his prayers and sermons brought national revival to the land. Robert Moffat and David Livingstone read Brainerd’s story and were so moved they devoted their lives to African missions. In the twentieth century, Jim Elliot read Brainerd’s story and was compelled to reach the Auca Indians of Ecuador. And today at Yale University, there is a wing of the divinity school named for Brainerd—the only building on the Yale campus named for a student who was expelled.[1]

Ordinary People
We may not see many direct conversions from our missionary service, but as we walk through this world with purpose, God promises to use us. Our influence is magnified by unseen spiritual forces that work through ensuing days, years, and even centuries.
When we do that collectively, it’s called a church. The church of Peter and Paul’s day was young, imperfect, and often immature. Sometimes the members got disgruntled with each other, and most of the congregations had struggles. That’s why the apostles were always writing to them. But they had a missionary passion, and the Gospel spread like wildfire despite persecution.
            That is God’s method. He doesn’t require His called to be wealthy, influential, or of noble birth; He uses ordinary people and ordinary churches fully committed to Him. We are ordinary people living in intimidating times. But there’s no telling what God will do when we avail ourselves of His extraordinary grace and walk the missionary’s path with purpose.

GodsView : The Way He Came to Us!

GodsView : The Way He Came to Us!: When the whole human race was terrified by sin, death, judgment, and hell, Jesus left the heights of the heavens to journey to earth fo...

The Way He Came to Us!

When the whole human race was terrified by sin, death, judgment, and hell, Jesus left the heights of the heavens to journey to earth for the likes of you and me.
In John’s Gospel, the phrase Jesus used for this journey was to “come down.” He said, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man…. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me… I am the bread which came down from heaven…. I have come down from heaven….” (John 3:13; 6:38, 41, 42, emphasis mine).

This is the greatest mystery of all time, that God is a Trinity, and that the Second Person of the Trinity should “beam” himself to earth on a sacrificial journey from heaven to earth. He was transported through the womb of a virgin as the sinless Redeemer, completely God and a complete man, for the redemption of the world.
The Reason
Why did He do it? In recent years, I’ve had to travel a lot, much of it in the air. Travel is exhausting, and the thrill and novelty of it wears off quickly. If I’m going to leave my wife and family and my regular routines of work and home life, there has to be a compelling reason. I’ll go anywhere the Lord leads, but there’s no place like home.
Jesus had a compelling reason for His incredible journey. In John 6:38, He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” One of our favorite texts is John 10:10: “I have come that [you] may have life, and that [you] may have it more abundantly.”
He said that He came, not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. It wasn’t a vacation or a pleasure trip. It was a divine mission of self-sacrifice.
The Results
When God’s mercy finds us out, leading us to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become fellow travelers with Him, for His blood purchases both our passage and our passport to Everlasting Life.
Our inner, innate sinfulness separates us from holiness and heaven. When Jesus died and rose on the third day, He provided forgiveness for all who would accept Him by faith. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23, KJV). God sent His Son into the world “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
This is a message to share with our friends and to pass down to our children. Remember how excited you felt as a child as your family prepared for summer vacation? The packing? The swimsuits and rubber rafts? The snacks and games for the car? Our homes should be filled with the gladness of Jesus, rejoicing in His journey to be with us and preparing for our journey to be with Him. Even a child can participate.
Calvin Miller tells of his own conversion to Christ in his book, Jesus Loves Me. A chum of his went to a tent revival. This boy was a brat, but something happened that changed him. He invited Calvin, so Calvin went. The preacher’s words flew at Calvin and penetrated his heart.
That night, the grace of Jesus Christ reached across the mighty gulf between heaven and earth, and the journey of Jesus became real in a child’s heart—and Calvin Miller has been talking and writing about it ever since.

A Chinese philosopher once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” What a privilege to take a step of faith, trusting Christ and saying: “’Tis mystery all, immense and free; for O my God, it found out me.”
And it’s all because of the journey of Jesus, prompted by His heart of undying love for us.

GodsView : An E-Mail from Heaven?

GodsView : An E-Mail from Heaven?: Imagine that you were desperately hoping for a letter from someone special. You stand at the window, waiting for what seems like an eter...

An E-Mail from Heaven?

Imagine that you were desperately hoping for a letter from someone special. You stand at the window, waiting for what seems like an eternity for the mail carrier to arrive. Finally, he drives up and puts something in your mailbox. You bolt outside and tear into your mail, looking for that precious letter. Maybe it’s from someone you love. Maybe it’s an answer to a job application.

Or imagine you are waiting for that e-mail response from someone you had contacted. You really needed to hear what they had to say. The moment it arrived you opened it.

But what if you had a handwritten note from God, directly to you? Would you carry it around in your pocket for a couple of weeks and open it when you got around to it? I doubt it. You’d probably tear it open as you’re thinking, Wow, God spoke to me! What does He have to say?
The Bible is a letter written by God to us. A lot of us have it. But few of us ever read it.

One of the wonderful, supernatural aspects to reading God’s Word is the way it speaks so directly to specific circumstances in our lives. We may have read a portion of the Bible many times before, but suddenly the words leap off the page at us with fresh meaning and power.

No matter where you are in life, God has a personal message for you in the pages of the Bible. It’s waiting for you right now. Why not take a few minutes to see what He wants to say to you today?