How To Turn Problems Into Opportunities for Evangelism
Learning Objectives
1. The students will explain the principles behind how a missionary can turn a problem into an opportunity for evangelism.
2. The students will write a short paper on why it is important that a missionary yield his rights to God.
Introduction - Many missionaries encounter problems that are complicated by the different cultures that they work in. Sometimes, missionaries negative reactions toward their problems hinder the work of the gospel. In some instances, evangelists who have applied the wrong solution to their problems have been forced to leave their fields. In other cases, missionaries who have learned to react to problems positively have been used to start many new churches. Let us ask the Lord for wisdom in learning from the following story of one missionary’s negative and positive reactions to a problem!
Many years ago the story is told of a missionary who planted a special mango-peach tree in his front yard. After carefully watering it, trimming it, and protecting it from the local animals for many years, he finally started to see fruit ripening on the tree. He told his family, ``It won’t be long before we can enjoy fresh mango-peach pie.’’ Everyone in the family became eager to taste the fruits of their father’s labors.
In the village where the missionary worked, the people were used to eating mangos. However, all of the villagers had never eaten a mango-peach, so they were curious about this new kind of fruit. When the missionary started looking at his tree to see if any fruit was ripe they would look too!
One day, the missionary saw some young boys come into his front yard. He told them they could not pick any of his mango-peaches since the tree belonged to him. Even though the boys left peacefully that afternoon, they understood that all mango trees were public property. In that village it was assumed that mango trees belonged to no one person. The boys began to plot how they could taste some of these new mango-peaches when the missionary would not catch them.
The next morning the missionary went out to inspect his prized mango-peach tree. To his amazement, most of the lower level fruits were missing. He immediately suspected the young boys. Furious, that the boys had stolen his special mango-peaches, the missionary marched to the boy’s home to talk to their fathers. When he arrived at their homes, he saw several mango-peach pits scattered around the houses. He even saw uneaten fruit from his tree in the corner of the front room as he entered the first house!
As the missionary demanded an explanation from the fathers and the boys, he showed a red face of anger. Even though the missionary did not expect to get his fruit back, he expected the fathers to punish the boys for their crime of stealing his mango-peaches. However, the fathers explained to the missionary by saying,
``In this village, all mango trees are public property.’’ No one can take credit for planting the first mango tree, so no one has the right to claim a mango tree as his own property. That is the rule in this village!’’
I. How to Deal With A DIFFERENCE IN VALUES
The missionary said, ``You do not understand, this tree in my front yard is not just a mango tree, it is a mango-peach tree.’’ My hands planted it, therefore, my family gets to eat the fruit.’’ This made perfect sense to the missionary, but not to the villagers. To them, even if it was half a mango tree, it was a mango tree. Therefore, to the boys and their fathers, the fruit on the missionary’s tree was free for the picking!!!
Not to be out done by the villagers, the missionary decided to teach the people a few lessons. He decided that he would put a big fence around his property and put a big dog inside. Instead of getting a small dog like all the other villagers had, the missionary went to the big capital city to bring back a dog bigger than anyone had ever seen before. Whenever, anyone came to the missionary’s house, the dog would rush to the fence and scare them away. The dog enabled the missionary to enjoy his mango-peaches, but no one came to visit the missionary any longer for fear of the being bitten.
Even though the missionary had physical fruit, he was not bearing very much spiritual fruit because of the dog!
The next day the missionary’s wife said to the man, ``You had better get rid of that dog! No one comes to visit us any longer. Before, we got the dog, many people felt comfortable to come to our house to visit, get medicines, and listen to Bible stories under the shade of our trees.’’
II. THE MISSIONARY’S ALTERNATIVE PLANS
The missionary decided to build another house where the people could come to visit his family and get medicines and listen to Bible stories. This, he thought, would enable him to keep protecting his mango-peach tree and the people could still visit him. This plan worked well until, a missionary doctor explained that the big dog was mating with other dogs in the village and creating a fierce breed of dogs that were potentially carrying rabies. He warned the missionary to get rid of his dog or there might be an outbreak of disease in the area.
Reluctantly, the missionary got rid of his dog. Within days, the boys in the village came to the missionary’s house and stole more mango-peaches from the tree at night. Now the poor missionary felt frustrated. He had two houses, a big fence, and no protection for his beloved mango-peach tree. He thought, I know what to do! I will hire a 24 hour guard to protect my tree from thieves.
After, several weeks more fruit started to ripen on the tree. To the temporary delight of the missionary, he felt that he had solved his problem. However, the next morning, the guard came to the missionary’s house to complain about his low wages. He said, ``No one in the village likes me anymore. They all say, that I have become black on the outside, but white on the inside. If I am to continue guarding your tree I must receive three times what you are paying me now.’’
The missionary could not believe what he was hearing. He said, ``I cannot pay you three times more, you will have to be content with what I am giving you.’’
III. HOW THE NATIONALS REACT TO THE MISSIONARY’S PLAN
The next morning, the missionary walked out to pick some fruit only to find that most of the remaining fruit had vanished. When he asked the guard about the missing fruit, the guard said, ``If I cannot get my fair wages, I will sell the fruit from the tree in the town to make-up for what you are cheating me out of!’’
IV. THE MISSIONARY’S SEEKS ADVISE
At this time, the missionary was so frustrated, that he sacked the guard and decided to take a trip to see his supervisor in the capital city. When he arrived in the headquarters, the mission director invited him to go to church with him. There, a certain preacher was preaching from I Corinthians 4:7 which says,
``. . . What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?’’
After, the sermon, the missionary told his supervisor that he had a problem with the villagers who were stealing his mango-peaches. The wise old man said, ``Why don’t you give the tree to God?’’
The missionary said, ``The tree already belongs to God, why should I give back what is already His?’’
The supervisor said, ``If in your heart you surrender your rights to the ownership of that tree, God will work great wonders in that village!’’
V. THE MISSIONARY YIELDS HIS RIGHTS TO GOD
After, several days of difficult heart-searching, the missionary got down on his knees and prayed. ``Lord, I am going to commit that tree into your care. However you want the tree to be used it all right with me.’’
When the missionary returned to his village, the people were amazed that he did not get angry when people stole fruit from his tree. Several of the people told the missionary, ``You must have become a Christian when you went to the capital city! You do not get angry with us anymore.’’
About three weeks later, the villagers sent a delegation to the missionary’s house. They wanted to know what he had told his God that made him act so differently. The missionary said, ``When I was in the capital, I committed the ownership of the tree into the Lord’s hands. Now the tree does not belong to me it belongs to the Lord!’’ Immediately, the villagers turned to each other and starting speaking quickly in their language. After many minutes of discussion, the spokes-person told the missionary what they had concluded. He said, ``Since, you returned from the capital city, many of our people have been getting sick. The men do not seem able to catch any fish from the river and our wives are having difficulties with their pregnancies. Perhaps, your God is angry for stealing his mango-peaches! We have decided to stop stealing His fruit!!’’
VI. THE MISSIONARY LEADS THE PEOPLE IN SURRENDERING THEIR RIGHTS
At this the missionary suggested that the people come together to surrender both their rights to the Lord as he had. Moreover, the missionary said,
``The Bible says in Romans 12:1, . . . Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. . .! If you want more than just relief of your physical troubles but your spiritual problems, you all must yield the control of your lives to Jesus Christ. You must repent of your wrong-doings, ask Him to forgive you of all your sins, and trust Him to direct your lives.
``If you will do this, He promises that He will give you the gift of eternal life, forgiveness for all past, present, and future sins, as well as His Spirit that will live in you protecting from all evil spirits!!!’’
The villagers once again talked amongst themselves in their own language. After many minutes, the spokesman, said, ``We have decided to trust Christ as our Savior, would you show us how?’’
Gladly, the missionary led the group in a complete explanation of the gospel. After, making sure that everyone understood the meaning, seriousness, and implication of their decisions, he led them in prayer. They repeated after him this prayer!
``LORD JESUS CHRIST, I NEED YOU TO BE MY SAVIOR AND LORD. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR MY SINS. I REPENT OF MY SINS AND WRONG BELIEFS IN OTHER GODS. I TRUST YOU TO PAY THE PENALTY FOR ALL OF MY SINS. COME INTO MY LIFE AS I SURRENDER CONTROL OF MY LIFE TO YOU. GIVE ME YOUR SPIRIT AND THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE!! IN JESUS NAME!
VII. KEY LESSON TO LEARN
When all the people prayed that prayer, the missionary began to understand how much more important it is to show Christ’s lifestyle than just telling them about Him! From that day forward, many people in the village began to enjoy the fruits of the mango-peach tree as well as the fruits of the Spirit of God!
Study Questions
1. What caused the missionary to recognize the importance of surrendering his rights to the Lord?
2. What were the results of the missionary surrendering his rights of ownership to God?
3. What other areas do missionary have a hard time surrendering their rights to God with?
4. What areas do you many Pastors struggle with in surrendering their rights to God?
5. What did Paul mean in Romans 12:1 when he said, ``Offer yourselves up a living sacrifices to God . . . which is your spiritual worship?’’
6. How can we avoid conforming to the world, which clings to its rights, and be transformed, by the renewing of our minds? (Rom. 12:1,2)
7. What areas do you need surrender to the Lord’s control?
