WHY MISSIONS?
Why emphasize missions or world evangelization? Why should missions have the prominent place in the operation of the Church?
Because this is near to the heart of God. Because Christ commands it. Because of the perishing millions who have never heard. These are all proper motives and should cause us to take seriously the Great Commission.
But there is another all-important reason that we as lovers of Christ should be missionary-minded, having a heart-burden for world evangelism.
THAT CHRIST MAY BE GLORIFIED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD!!!
We should look upon the poor benighted people of the earth, each one as a potential vessel of honor and instrument of praise unto our Christ.
Certainly, that which is close to the heart of God should be close to our hearts, and Christ's command should be our marching orders, and the hopeless condition of the heathen should engender our compassion, but the driving motivation of missions must always be to magnify the Lord, to exalt His name in all the earth.
Is not this why missions is close to the heart of God? Is not this why Christ sends us forth? Is not this the hope of those who sit in darkness?
It is wonderful to be used of God to introduce a soul to Christ, to realize that you have been instrumental in a person's eternal salvation, joy, and enjoyment of God. But even more wonderful is the realization that here now is one whose whole being is centered in our Redeemer and radiating His glory and grace: lips to hymn His praise, eyes lovingly to behold His face, ears attentive to His voice, hands to do His work, feet to walk in His way, mind stayed trustingly upon Him, heart filled with His love. To HIM be glory both now and forever.
This extolling of Jesus shall be our main occupation in Heaven, and of all those who are garnered in from the fields of sin through our instrumentality. The Seer gives us a preview of that 'Hallelujah Chorus' in the last Book of the Bible.
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created . . . Thou art worthy . . . for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation . . . And every creature . . . heard I, saying, Blessing and honour, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (Revelation 4:11; 5:9,13).
-- The Editor.
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"YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME." -- Jesus
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TAHAR
By Don Rickards
"Ramadan" is the month when Muslims fast for 30 days (daylight hours). They eat twice during the night hours. This "fast month" marks the distinction between the Muslim and the Infidel. To break it openly (many break it secretly for various reasons) means ostracism by the community, boycott on the business level, persecution in the home.
It was Tahar (not his real name) who brought up the question of his observing Ramadan. "Si Abdelmaula," he said, "I don't want to break the fast at your house and then go home and appear to be keeping it in the family environment. My conscience tells me this is not right."
A few days later, this 16 year old lad went to a relative's home and asked for some bread from his aunt. She gave it to him, watched him eat it, then went to his home to report his backsliding!
Both his mother and father were furious. His father set Tahar on a chair and threatened him severely. "You are not my son. I am going to the police station and publicly disclaim you. You cannot stay in this home, a dishonor to us all!" Then his father hit him beneath the eye with his fist and shoved him outside in the rain with only a sweater on. His mother cringed as his father turned to her, saying, "If you let that boy back in, I will divorce you!"
That night, with another missionary visiting us from Algeria and another young, professing believer, we read together II Corinthians 12:9, 10: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
As the one brother read the last few lines, I noticed Tahar's hand slip up unconsciously to touch the welt beneath his eye. What does it mean to be a Christian in a Muslim land?
It means having your former friends and relatives spit on the ground when you've passed by them; it means not being able to get an identity card when you might want to travel abroad; it means being threatened with loss of employment and jumping every time the phone rings where you work for fear it is another anonymous threat; it means being turned out into a dark, wet, cold night with only a sleeveless sweater on; it means being accused of insanity; it means being hounded into marriage with an illiterate, fanatical Muslim girl.
In simple terms, it means knowing in actual experience what we all are supposed to mean when we sing, "I Surrender All." Tahar doesn't know the theory; his is the experimental knowledge of God's presence. But, still, the way is sometimes bitterly hard.
(From Don Rickards' February, 1965 prayer letter. Don serves the Lord in Tunisia.)
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Blessed Saviour! Thou art worthy to be called Jesus. Thou art worthy to reign on the throne of the adoring heart. Thou art worthy to be extolled with every breath. Thou art worthy to be proclaimed by every lip, in every clime, in every age. Thou art worthy to be the eternal hymn of eternal hallelujahs. -- Things Concerning Himself
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THE REFINER'S FIRE
Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the Scriptures, and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse. "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
One lady's opinion was that it was intended to convey the view of the sanctifying influence of the grace of Christ. Then she proposed to visit a silversmith and report to them what he said on the subject. She went accordingly and without telling the object of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which he fully described to her.
"But, sir," she said, "do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"
"Oh, yes, madam," replied the silversmith; "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
The lady at once saw the beauty, and comfort too, of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Christ sees it needful to put His children into a furnace; His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for them. Their trials do not come at random; "the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said he had still further to mention, that he only knew when the process of purifying was complete, by seeing his own image reflected in the silver. Beautiful example! When Christ shall see His own image in His people, His work of purifying will be accomplished.
-- Author unknown.
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FOCUSED VISION
By Geoffrey T. Bull
The burning of the heart's desire for the living God once kindled, is to be channeled and fed by the focusing of the vision. We are to narrow and then enlarge our beholding to the object of our constant adoration. The soul's heightening passion for the living God is very naturally expressed by Philip. He says "Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us," or "Shew us the Father that is all we need." How true! He longs to be our chief, our only joy, but how is this to be realized? How is the fire of sacrificial praise to be always burning on the altar?
Jesus answers simply yet so finally. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." All that the Father is finds perfect expression in the face of Jesus Christ. We are consciously, deliberately and habitually to contemplate the Christ. He is to be to us more than our necessary food. More precious than our loved ones, more important than our business. His claim must be prior, His company foremost, His purposes pre-eminent. In all decisions His counsel is to be final, His principles binding. He is to be always before our face until His very features become our own.
During my journeys on the Tibetan plateau I met from time to time, strange Buddhist characters, whose life was given to the contemplation of their god. This practice affected them in varying degrees and in different ways. Once I came across a young man attached to the great lamasery of Litang, situated over 14,000 feet above sea level and accommodating some 4,000 monks. I was walking along the squalid streets of the tiny township when he invited me into the lama city. We walked past the dwellings of numerous priests until at last we turned out of the brilliant sunshine into the sombre precincts of an extensive shrine.
The ceiling above me was between thirty and forty feet high and supported by ornate wooden pillars. At our feet the polished wooden floor stretched away a considerable distance to some high wrought-iron gates, beyond which everything was lost in darkness. We moved quietly and slowly to the fringe of this inner sanctum and peered through into the foreboding interior. As my eyes became more accustomed to the darkness I was conscious that a soft light was being diffused through the chamber by a number of small butter lamps placed at various points. I followed them upward perhaps to the height of five or six men, and then to my amazement I saw the pallid gilt face of a gigantic "buddha".
The impassive demeanor was deathlike and conveyed the import of their doctrine of nirvana, a state of extinction of all desire. I was staggered and appalled and turning to the young lama, I enquired perhaps rather naively "Do you worship that?" He answered with a certainty that needed to be heard to be believed, "I do," he said. There was no question that his vision was focused.
It is an accepted fact that worshippers take on the likeness of their gods. The adherents of Buddha are no exception. In the last degree of their commital, the blank face of the idol produces the blank face of the insane. By the side of the cattle tracks marking the trail through the mountains, one day I saw a crazed old man. He was venerated by the populace as a Buddhist hermit, but his eyes no longer cared about the people, they had looked too long in the one direction. He was dying deranged. Here is the beginning and the end for the idol worshipper. The fresh young man warps into the aged fool. The vision was focused, but focused on the wrong object.
Today we are not invited to shut ourselves away in some dark haunt to look at graven images with blank gilt faces. We are invited to behold the living Christ, the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His person. We are asked to consider Him, to gaze upon the One in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily -- the Creator of all things, the Redeemer of men, and the Consummator of the Ages. Absolute holiness is there, all truth, and the sum total of all the Father's love.
The precious years of Tibetan lives are spent often in solitude before an idol away in some mountain cell. They gaze till the nervous system collapses, held in bondage of fruitless vows engendered by that devilish delusion. How is it that we view our Lord so little, meditate upon Him so rarely and contemplate Him so meagerly in the passing days? The answer lies very much in this -- that we have not focused our vision on Him.
We have not let His loveliness master us or His beauty ravish us. We are casual thinkers when we should be committed in all the fervency of faith to the contemplation of the Christ. The voice that cried in the wilderness still says "Behold the Lamb of God." -- This was the first challenge John, the Apostle, heard, and in his aged years he writes of the Word of Life, as the One whom we have gazed upon and our hands have handled. He rejoices in the sustained personal fixture of His eyes upon the Lord he loved.
Looking on into the future his expectation shines the brighter for he says, "We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is." This is the climax for the worshipper when all the likeness of his God is stamped upon him at the last. This prospect is the purifying factor now. It is the hope of glory then. And so John adds "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure."
(From "God Holds The Key," published by Moody Press, Chicago. Copyright 1959 by Geoffrey T. Bull.)
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OUR SUPREME TASK
By Arthur J. Bowen
For some time past a great burden has rested upon my heart, causing me to impress upon God's people the supreme importance of missions. This burden has become well-nigh unbearable, for I realize that many otherwise earnest and sincere Christians look upon this subject rather lightly.
In this message I wish, at the outset, to make it clear that I am speaking of missions, in the largest sense of the word, as referring to Gospel testimony throughout the world. Enlightened believers will readily agree that those people, who have never had an opportunity of hearing the Good News of salvation, should have our immediate and earnest attention, and there are approximately 1500 millions of such unfortunate people in the world today, in spite of the fact that the Church has had its marching orders for nearly two thousand years. May God, by His Holy Spirit, burn this fact indelibly into our hearts, so that from this moment, we may as never before redeem the time in these evil days. Oh, that each one of us, by the grace of God, might understand that our chief business in life is to witness by word and deed to those who know not Christ as their Saviour!
That prince of preachers, Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon, is reported to have once said that he would rather win one poor soul to Christ than to unfold the deepest mystery of God's wonderful revelation. He meant, of course, that everything is to be held as preparatory to the supreme task which our Lord and Master committed to His redeemed before He return to His Father, where at present He carries on His gracious ministry as our advocate and intercessor.
The supreme task of the Church, then, is that of missions, which means making Christ known as speedily as possible throughout the world. This has been the desire of God's loving heart since sin entered the world. God created man for His glory that we might enjoy Him forever, but the entrance of sin spoiled all that for the present. God, however, has never ceased to love His willful, fallen creatures. He is not willing that any should perish, and through the atoning work of His dear Son He has provided a perfect plan of salvation. God has always longed that wayward, lost men might come to know Him, whom to know is life eternal.
Unless all our Bible conference teaching and the messages of our faithful pastors make us realize that we are to take the Gospel message to the ends of the earth, as speedily as possible, they fail to accomplish the purpose of teaching and preaching; indeed, the result will be even worse, for we are apt to become puffed up with much learning. We should, therefore, ask ourselves this very moment, as we read, whether we are passionately seeking the lost, realizing the many spiritual advantages and opportunities which are ours. Otherwise there must be something radically wrong with our spiritual condition.
There are, without doubt, sufficient resources, both of men and money, in the present Church of Christ, to evangelize the world in a generation of time. All that is needed is that we, the people of God, arise and go forward in the sacrificial spirit of Christ, preaching His death, resurrection, and righteousness to all men. The task is not an impossible one, for all things are possible with God. At the present time, Christian people are spending more in money and physical energy upon themselves, that would be required to complete the work committed to our care; therefore, it becomes us to pray and urge each individual believer to take the supreme task of missions far more seriously than any of us have done in the past.
Missions are not, as many Christians seem to think, just one of the benevolences of the Church to which we are obligated to give a generous share of our means, and encourage a few specially called young people to go as missionaries. Brethren! Missions mean more, far more than that! They are most dear to the heart of God. It is through missions that the blessed hope of the coming of our Lord is to be brought to pass. If the thousands of Christians who love to study prophecy would only say from their very hearts, "Lord Jesus, from henceforth I will make every effort to pray and give, and if called, personally to go forth to win souls for Thee, that Thy return may be hastened by the gathering in of the lost ones for whom Thou didst die." How the Lord's heart would rejoice to hear such a dedication!
The apostle Paul's heart burned with a fiery passion for the salvation of those in the regions beyond who had never heard of the Saviour who had died for their souls. This was his great passion from the time of his conversion. You will recall how he said in his Epistle to the Romans: "Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation." The word "strived" might very well be translated "been ambitious," and means "to have a longing to do something, making a strenuous effort toward that objective." This ambition was implanted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, and he realized that missions were supreme in the estimation of Him whom he loved and served.
God grant that this may also be true of you and me! The burden of proof lies upon each one to prove that the Lord has NOT called him to the foreign field, rather than that we should wait for some particular call." The great crying need, and one's ability in some measure to fulfill that need, should be a sufficient call for anyone, looking to the Lord to lead, step by step, according to His will and for His glory.
(From "Fervent In Spirit," the Biography of Arthur J. Bowen by Ezra A. Shank. Copyright 1954 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.)
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