Why No Church Should Have A missions Program - We ARE a missions Program.
HOW TO BE A MISSIONARY WITHOUT LEAVING TOWN
Mt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 13:1-5
Illustration
Charles Malik, Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, asked in a speech: "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?"
Then 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."
We hear about churches that are "missions-minded." No Church should have a mission’s program— We ARE a missions program! Missions should be one of the main purposes for any Church’s existence. It should be our total thrust from the nursery through the seniors; from the pew to the pulpit.
Look at Acts 1:8
Jesus said; “I am come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
• God is a missionary God.
• Christ is a missionary Christ.
• The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit.
• The Lord expects us to be involved in bringing lost souls to Him.
Coca-Cola seems to be everywhere in the world. But how does it get there? This motto, posted in the company’s headquarters, explains it: THINK GLOBALLY, BUT ACT LOCALLY. What this slogan is to Coke, the Great Commission is to the church.
Def. – What is Biblical Missions. “Biblical missions is taking the Good news of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard and have not been saved.
Biblical missions is not feeding the poor, although that is a great need and not to be neglected.
Biblical missions is not helping the starving children of the world, although that is a wonderful thing.
Biblical missions is not just sending Doctors and Teachers to third world countries.
Biblical missions is not helping your widowed mother or your wayward children. That is your duty, not missions.
The only way that any of the things that I have mentioned become missions is if they are used as tools to bring the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.
• The greatest book on missions is the book of Acts.
• The greatest missionary is the apostle Paul.
• The greatest missionary methodology is establishing local NT churches.
I WANT US TO NOTE FOUR MANDATES ABOUT MISSIONS
I. ALL WITHOUT CHRIST ARE LOST.
A. If all are not lost, why to people go to hell? Even in Hell, they are mission-minded.
B. If all are not lost, then why did Christ die?
1. If all are not lost, then John 3:16 is useless!
2. God had only one Son and He was a missionary.
C. If all are not lost, then why did Christ commission the disciples? The disciples were missionaries.
D. If all are not lost, what is the church for? To send out missionaries (Acts 13:1-3).
E. If all are not lost, why preach? (Rom. 10:1-17).
II. THE GOSPEL WILL SAVE THE LOST.
A. What is the Gospel? It is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16).
1. Power to change a life.
2. This is what people really need, not just humanitarian charity.
B. If you had a cure for cancer, it would be criminal to withhold it.
III. EVERY CHRISTIAN IS RESPONSIBLE TO TAKE THE GOSPEL TO THE LOST.
A. You are either a missionary or a mission field.
B. Not just a preacher’s job.
C. Not an optional thing. "It’s against my nature!" Yes, and it’s against mine too!
The closest thing to the heart of God is winning the lost to Christ.
IV. WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR MISSIONS?
1. Pray – Prayer is the most important form of mission support there is.
During the time of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Missionary Greg Livingstone was asked to give a "missions minute" at a large evangelical church on the East Coast. Since he had only one minute to speak, he decided to ask them only two questions.
The first one was, "How many of you are praying for the 52 Americans hostages being held in Iran?" 4000 hands went straight up and he said, "Praise the Lord!
Now, put your hands down and let me ask you another question. How many of you are praying for the 42 million Iranians being held hostage to Islam?" four hands went up.
The Lord used that challenge to give a wake up call for the Gospel to the Muslim world. "More Muslims in
Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in all the previous 1,000 years combined."
2. Encourage – Encourage your missionaries by writing or e-mailing them.
3. Give – Those of us living in the land of plenty must learn to share what we have so that the Gospel can be taken to those who have never heard.
4. Go – Less than one in ten churches are sending churches.
William Carey – The great pioneer missionary to India said about Missions.
“Expect great things from God – Attempt great things for God.”
Jim Elliot – “He is no fool who gives what He cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose”.
CONCLUSION:
When I was a young Christian nearly 40 years ago I attended my first Church Mission Conference and met my first foreign missionary. He challenged us to take the Gospel to the World. He spoke of Faith Promise Missions and of giving to missions by faith on a weekly basis. Of giving above our tithes to missions. During that conference I made my first commitment to giving to foreign missions.
When I was in college I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of and hearing some of the greatest missionaries. Men like Dr. Fred Donaldson who had been a missionary to China for nearly twenty years and had spent the Second World War in a Japanese Prison Camp. I was privileged to hear many missionaries from all over the world.
Illustration - There was one man I wasn’t able to hear.
John grew up in a devout Christian home in rural Georgia, and while attending Mercer University he was called to become a missionary in China. After graduating at the head of his class at Mercer, he enrolled in the Bible Baptist Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas, where he finished a two-year curriculum in a single year. In the summer of 1940 he sailed for China.
Arriving in Shanghai, John promptly commenced intensive study of Mandarin Chinese and displayed such extraordinary aptitude for the language that he was fluent within a few months. He spent the following two years traveling about China, preaching, passing out tracts and Bibles, and developing an affection for the Chinese people and a broad network of friends.
During this time period, Europe had descended into the chaos of War, and Japan destroyed much of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and routed General MacArthur from the Philippines.
On an evening in April 1942, John was eating in a restaurant in a riverside village, when he was approached by a man who asked discreetly if he was an American. John was then led to a boat in which were concealed several American pilots. He was astonished to learn that the leader of the group was none other than the Colonel James Doolittle, and that they had parachuted into China after bombing Tokyo. Lacking the fuel to return to base, they and the other crews who had participated in the raid had flown their planes as far inland over China as they could and then bailed out, hoping not to fall behind enemy lines.
John led Colonel Doolittle and his men to safety. He immediately set to work via his network of contacts, and was eventually able to locate or account for most of the missing men.
John served for a short time as chaplain, and as interpreter for Colonel Doolittle. John later became a Chaplin and interpreter for General Claire Chennault, who commanded the famous "Flying Tigers" of the 14th Air Force.
On August 25, 1945, ten days after the war ended, John was captured and murdered by a band of Chinese communists as he was traveling with a small group of American and Chinese military officers. He and a Chinese officer were taken by force from the group and shot by communist soldiers. The Chinese officer miraculously survived and gave a full account of the deliberate, cold-blood-ed execution. An autopsy of John’s body filled in the details: He was shot in the leg, then, with his hands tied behind him, in the back of the head execution-style. Finally, his face was savagely slashed with knives, presumably in an attempt to conceal his identity.
His Name- John Birch
(Robert Welch, the right wing Conservative, named the John Birch Society after him as the first American martyr to Communism. John himself had no affiliation with the society named after him or the political beliefs of Robert Welch. John was simply a dedicated missionary who loved God and the Chinese people and a patriotic American.)
(Parts of this sermon were gleaned from a sermon by Al Hughes and other sources.)
