WHERE DO WE GO?
A few weeks ago Joshua and I went on a trip to Lebanon and Egypt. It was an amazing time. We saw a glimpse of what God is doing right now in that region of the world. I spent 10 years living in Kuwait, and ministry in the Muslim world is difficult. I knew missionaries that had lived there for 10 years, and in all that time they had not seen a single Muslim come to Christ. If they had, it was only 1 or maybe 2. When we were in Lebanon the first day we were visiting a church made up of Kurdish people who had come from Syria. It was a group of about 80 people. I asked how many of these people had come out of Islam and the answer was ALL. Every person including the pastor had been a Muslim. They had all in the last year or 2 come to Jesus through dreams and visions. It was amazing. God is doing amazing things in Lebanon in these days. Who would have known 10 years ago that a Syrian crisis would lead to such a large number of Muslims coming to faith? God knew.
Today we are continuing in our series Made for Mission. Last week we asked the question “Why do we go?” Today we want to ask the question “Where do we go?” What is our mission field?
John 4:4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. ) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
We see in this encounter with Jesus that our mission field includes;
1. Wherever you are - here
It says in verse 4 that they "had to go through Samaria”. It says in the verse before this that that had been in Judea but were heading back to Galilee. They were on their way home, and probably had their hearts and minds set on the destination. They had loved ones waiting for them and just wanted to get their trip over with.
When I was younger, I used to love the adventure of flying. The thrill of going to the airport and getting on a plane was all so new and exciting. I would say that most of that excitement has long since worn off. Now I am just focusing on the destination and enduring the long trip ahead.
Perhaps the words "had to" meant it was just a place between point A and point B. It was necessary to pass through Samaria in order to get home to Galilee. It is like saying that, in order to go to Lebanon we HAD TO go through Pearson Airport. There is truth in that. We are called to witness wherever we are. On the bus, walking along the road or talking to your neighbor.
I remember a time we were in Africa. I had a team that was headed to the fish market to do some evangelism. On the way we were stopped by some young people on the street and started talking to them. I was sharing my faith with them when one of the team said “We have to get going. We need to go over THERE and do evangelism.” Sometimes we can have that same problem. We send people to different places to tell others about Jesus yet have never even spoken with the person across the street from us. The place for evangelism is HERE, wherever you are.
Do you actively look for places to share your faith as you go about your day to day life? I see that people are so often willing to share their faith or do evangelism if they go on a missions trip or there is some special event, but not so much in their day to day life.
When we lived in Kuwait I used to help out leading the Young Adult group. I was speaking to them one day about the importance of sharing their faith and they asked me if they could go on a missions trip. When I asked where they wanted to go for this missions trip they said they wanted to go to Africa, because that is where missionaries go. So we went to Kenya. We left one of the most unreached nations on earth to go on a ‘missions’ trip to Kenya – one of the most Evangelical Christian nations on earth. They felt they had to go somewhere else to share their faith.
The place for missions is HERE. It is wherever you are. Make the most of every opportunity.
2. Wherever you go - there
Bible commentators say that most Jews did not travel through Samaria but along the Jordan when they travelled between Jerusalem and Galilee. Perhaps the words “had to” means something different. Maybe there were people THERE that needed to hear. A divine appointment had been set. In this sense it was essential that they go. This is also very true. There are places today that are being overlooked by the Church.
There are many areas in this world where there is virtually NO witness for Christ. Did you know that more than 95% of all missionary giving goes to places that already have an established church? That means that only a little is going to the most unreached countries. I lived for 10 years in Kuwait – a country of almost 3 million people with only 1 protestant church. Can you imagine a country with the size and population of the GTA with only 1 church! There were hundreds of missionaries in the gulf countries. More than 90% of them were in Dubai, the easiest place to live. If no one goes to the hard to reach difficult places, how will those people ever hear?
That is why we as a church have identified 5 different areas that we are choosing to be specifically involve with. There are needs in every country including our own, but we have identified these areas of being of special concern. People from the congregation come all the time to our missions team and say that they want to go with some missions organization to some other places, but this is why when we send out missionaries and teams that we specifically try to focus on unreached areas of the world.
What are these 5 areas? They are;
Japan – because it is unreached and we as a church have a long history of involvement there
India – ministry especially amongst the unreached Dalit and lower class peoples
Middle East – because it represents the Islamic world and the most resistant nations
Quebec – the most unreached part of Canada
Servant Leadership – raising up and training national leaders especially for unreached countries
An example of servant leadership would be the Logos Hope. The ship is in South America, which is a reached area of the world, but it’s purpose is raising up more than 5000 missionaries from these nations to go to the unreached nations of the earth.
What you notice in this list is the common thread, our focus is on unreached peoples.
Why should anyone be able to hear the gospel twice until everyone has had the opportunity to hear it once -- Oswald Smith
The place for missions is HERE but it is also THERE. It is not enough to just reach out to the people who are near us. We still need people who are willing to go to the ends of the earth.
Gordon Hall was an American missionary who went to Mumbai India in 1812. When he graduated from Bible College he was offered an attractive pastorate. His reply came, "No... others will be left whose health or pre-engagement requires them to stay at home, but I can sleep on the ground. I can endure hunger and hardship. God calls me to the lost. Woe to me if I preach not the gospel to the lost." He wrote a paper in 1815 saying that it was the duty of the church to send missionaries to the most unreached parts of the world. He said “It is the duty of Christians to send forth preachers in significant numbers to furnish the means of instruction to the whole world.”
There are many parts of the world today that still need missionaries. There are places in the world today where God is moving and there needs to be a concentrated effort to meet those needs. Like the story I started with this morning about Lebanon, there are places in the world today where God is moving in new and extraordinary ways and where we need to be sending people.
3. Whoever you know
After the Samaritan woman met Jesus she went and shared about Him to everyone she knew. If you’ve found that you have a relatively easy time sharing your faith with other people there is a good chance that you have the spiritual gift of evangelism. If you’ve seen God use you to reach a number of people there is a good shot God has given you this gift. Maybe you’ve never shared your faith but God has made you an influencer in other areas of your life and with the right training you could have this gift too. Evangelist see opportunities that other people don’t. They are able to move ordinary conversations into ones that bring up the gospel. Sharing their faith is not a duty they feel guilty about but as a delight they love to do every chance they get.
For many of you you’re thinking, “Well, I’m pretty sure that I don’t have that gift…so am I off the hook?” Maybe you are thinking that because of age or stage you are just not able to go to the ends of the earth. That is OK. I was speaking with Bill Wright after the service last week and he said that he wished he had another lifetime that he could give to go. I feel the same way. There comes a time when you have to transition from going to helping others go.
The lesson we learn from Jesus to the Samaritan woman is that God has strategically placed you where you’re at to reach people. Notice that this woman goes back to the town where she was from. It probably was out of her comfort zone but she felt compelled to share with those she knew.
There is a Greek word that is mentioned throughout the New Testament that helps us answer the question. It’s the word “Oikos.” If that word sounds familiar to you it is because it is also the name of a familiar low fat Greek Yogurt that is sold in Canada. In Greek the word means family. It was generally used to refer to the people who lived in your household.
In Luke 8, the demon possessed man was told to return to his household (oikos) and tell the great things done for him. In Luke 19, Zacchaeus was told that salvation had come to his household (oikos). In John 4, the centurion’s whole household (oikos) was saved following the healing of his son. In Acts 10, Cornelius was a righteous man who feared God along with all his household (oikos). In Acts 16, the Philippian Jailer has his entire household (oikos) was baptized in the middle of the night.
What does that look like for us? God has intentionally and strategically placed you in your family, friendships, neighborhood and workplace to reach out to those you are already doing life with. One easy way to think about it is to think of the word FRANCE. Not the place but the letters. Who are your;
Friends – who are your friends, the people you choose to spend time with? One unfortunate reality is that people become Christians they naturally move away from non-Christian friendships to Christian ones. Still, are their friends in your life that you could share your faith with?
Relatives – who are your relatives? That means your sisters and brothers, parents, children, aunts and uncles, cousins etc. People who are related to you. Often these can be people that are the hardest for us to share our faith with.
Mark 6:1-4 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor."
I learned this truth early on trying to share my faith with family members. That does not mean that we do not keep praying for them and trying whenever we can to share and show the Gospel.
Acquaintances – who are the people that are not close friends but that you know, perhaps through others? These are people that, if you saw them in the mall, you would stop and say hi to them. Not close friends or family members, but you know them enough to stop and speak with them. Can you think of people like that who you could share with?
Neighbors – who are the people that live beside you or across the street? You may not know them well but over the years you have built up enough of a relationship with them to share about yourself. One of the easiest ways to share with people like this as well as others is to invite them to church. Just ask them if they would be interested in coming to church with you sometime. I have done this with my neighbours.
Co-Workers/Classmates – who are the people you see everyday in your workplace or school? If you find yourself placed with the same people day after day make the most of that to get to know them and build friendships. I used the story last week of the student from Tanzania who gave a bible to a student from Mongolia which led to the birth of the church in Mongolia.
Eyes open – this means everyone you come into contact with as you go about your day? This means everyone you come into contact with. Sitting in the doctors office, going to the grocery store or going to the movies. Pray that God would give you opportunities.
Maybe you are looking for some opportunities to practice sharing your faith with others. There are many things you can do right here in Brampton.
Every Saturday we have teams that go and do evangelism at the Flea Markets. Richard Silvester would love to speak with you more about this if you are interested.
We have a ministry at Knightsbridge. There are opportunities throughout the year to get involved with things like the free food store, teaching English as a second language, homework club and weekly kids program. There is also the annual Love Brampton event, sports ministries and ladies tea time. See the church website under Local Outreach for more details.
There is one easy thing that you can do before you even leave church today. Recently Brampton City council was asked if December could be a Christian Heritage month here in the city. Every other religion and interest group already has a month for this. Sign the petition in the foyer.
Perhaps you are thinking that God may be calling you to go. I know that Pastor Joshua would love to speak with you more about that.
Charles Malik, former Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, was once asked, “What has been the greatest American contribution to the rest of the world? Has it been money? Has it been food? Has it been medical skill? Has it been military might? Has it been industrial know-how?” He answered, “The greatest thing to come out of America has been the American missionary effort: the quiet, selfless men and women who have left the comfort and security of their homeland to bring the gospel of Christianity to less favored nations.”
God wants us to share our faith with other. He wants us to go. For some that will mean crossing the street. For some that could mean crossing the world. Wherever God calls us to go, we need to be obedient. There are so many people today lost and dying without hope.
Back on August 5 2010 a cave in at a gold mine near San Jose in Chile trapped 33 men underground. It was thought initially that the men had all perished in the accident. Local mining teams were brought in and a number of exploratory holes were drilled. After 17 days a note was found taped to a drill bit when it was pulled back to the surface. The note said “Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33" - We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us. That seven-word message set off a wave of excitement in Chile and around the world. Rescue teams from around the world responded trying to figure out how to save the 33 men trapped 2,300 feet underground.
Scientist from NASA and over a dozen different corporations from around the world participated in the effort. Finally on October 13, 2010, some 69 days after the cave-in-all 33 miners were brought to the surface alive. It is estimated that over a billion people worldwide watched as the men were brought up one at a time in the specially built capsule.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Jesus came to save us when we were lost and completely unable to save ourselves. He has commissioned us to go. Like the miners in Chile, there are many today that are still trapped and helpless. We need to respond to their cries for help.
