Missions Sunday: The Biblical Basis of Missions

Good Morning CBC, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Psalm 67:1–3 “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”

Introduction

On November 17th, 2018 a significant event took place that really shook western evangelicaism, and I’m curious if many of you will know what I’m talking about.

It’s the martyrdom of missionary John Chau.

How many of you know what I’m talking about?

Chau had a deep commitment to seeing the tribal peoples of the North Sentinel Island, just to the east of India in the Bay of Bengal, reached with the good news of Jesus Christ.

So in November of 2018, John attempted to land his canoe on the island, and was immediately killed by bow and arrow, unable to fufill his vision of seeing them turn to faith in Christ.

Another martyr living proof that to die is gain in Christ, and to live is to live for christ.

Yet… many Americans, and especially Christians took to social media to express their outcry, not of John’s efforts, but of his idiocy.

They blasted him as an extremist, whose zeal for his faith was contrary to logic.

One self labeled Christian said, “John is not a martyr, just a dumb colonialist American who things the tribals need “Jesus” when they already live in harmony with God and nature for years without outside interference.”

One Pastor, and friend of John’s even records, “John Chau was a good man. He was loving, and passionate and I was blessed to be his friend. But it cannot be left a mere tragedy. His death brings to light a multitude of issues with Evangelicalism, and “hell based ethics.”

John’s death created quite the uproar, and that uproar revealed that most American Christians’ perspective on missions aligns more closely with the world around us, than the Word of God in Scripture.

But what about you? What do you make of missions?

Today I hope to help you answer that questions, by preaching on the Biblical Basis of Missions, and showing us 5 ways to be involved in world missions.

The Biblical Basis for Missions

Introduction

What Scriptures come to your mind when we talk about Christian Missions?

Many think of a few passages like Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Or some may consider Romans 10:14–15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

Or Isaiah 6:8 “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.””

But would you be surprised if I told you, that World Missions is actually one of the primary storylines of the entire Scripture.

Now some will take it a little too far and say that it is the main storyline, but that’s not true.

The primary storyline of Scripture is the KNOWLEDGE of God that leads to the Worship of God.

So Scripture primarily tells us who God is and How we can know Him.

Mission which comes from the latin word “to send”, is the ongoing event and activity of God in the sending of His body, the church, to make followers of Jesus among all nations.

Mission then is the role of God’s people in facilitation others’ knowledge of God.

So the end= knowing God.

The means= mission.

This is why John Piper famously said, “Missions exist, becuase worship doesn’t.”

If all people knew God, they would worship him, but because so many do not worship, missions exists.

The means is mission, the end goal is the knowing of God.

And since creation, God has expected his followers to be on Mission.

Old Testament

Adam and Eve

Genesis 1:27–28 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

So Adam and Eve are made in the image of God, and are commanded to fill the earth, effectively filling the earth with the image of what!?

Fall

But we know the bad news… they failed in their rebellion against God, and chose their own desires over God’s.

But as they continued to be fruitful and multiply they still filled the earth, but instead of it being the pure image of God its now marred. And everywhere mankind goes, so goes the image of Sin.

So from Genesis 3-11 describes the devestating results of the Fall by showing the progressive alienation of human beings from God.

There was extensive moral deterioration, darkness, and societal disentigration.

But God did not abandon his creation in his own likness

Instead he moves toward them, in the election of Abraham.

Abraham

Genesis 12:1–3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

John Stott once wrote, “An understanding of this promise to Abraham is indespensable to an understanding of Christian Mission.

And in this Promise we see that Abraham would be blessed, but for a purpose… so that he may be a blessing to all nations.

So the blessing of Abraham is the means to the end of all nations knowing God.

Isaac & Jacob

Genesis 26:4 “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,”

Genesis 28:14 “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

God speaking to Abraham’s decendents confirming his promise… that he is still for the spread of his blessing and his image to the whole world.

And these decendents that were to be the funnel of blessing multiplied, but Pharoh King of Egypt didn’t like their numbers and forced them to hard labor.

But even Pharoh’s placement as king of egypt was missional.

Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Pharoh’s hardness of heart toward God’s people was for all to see and know God. THE END, with Pharoh being involved in mission (the means).

Mission is why God gave the People of Israel the 10 commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:5–7 “See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?”

When the nations saw the holiness and uniquness of the Israel, it will make them question… “what’s different about these guys. Oh wow, its’ their God!”

But let’s fast forward to the period of the Kings.

You may not know it, but the story of David and Goliath is a story of Mission (David serving the ends of God made known).

1 Samuel 17:46 “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”

So often we read these sunday school stories and try and exalt the courage or faith of David… okay sure! But that’s not the primary lesson here!

The primary lesson is that David was living on mission, that God may be known!

Mission is why God gave Solomon such wisdom.

1 Kings 4:34 “And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.”

It’s why God saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him...

And Daniel from the Lion’s Den

Daniel 6:26–27 “I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever;

It’s why Jonah was sent to the Nations, and why the Psalmist declares:

Psalm 67:1–3 “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!”

Church, the point I’m trying to make is that the entire OT is riddled with passages on mission.

God’s People being used to make God known to all nations.

All the people God stirred and used for this end, were enaged in missions.

But let’s move to the NT

New Testament

The New Testament is about the coming of Jesus Christ, and Jesus’ whole purpose was Mission. To be the means of all nations knowing God.

About Jesus it was prophecied Isaiah 49:6 “he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””

It’s why Jesus was so zealous about cleansing the Temple

Mark 11:15–19 “And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

It defined his earthly ministry

Luke 4:42–43 “And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.””

And as he neared his departure it was his command to all his followers: to be the means to which all nations Know God.

Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

It’s what happened in the Book of Acts

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Even persecution facilitated this purpose

Acts 8:1 “And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

It’s why Paul was called

Acts 9:15 “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

And became the sole passion of Paul’s life and ministry

Romans 15:20 “and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,”

And one day, when all is said and done, MISSIONS will cease because the END will be realized.

Revelation 7:9 “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

This is the entireity of Scripture, from beginning to end God yearns to be known by all nations.

And as Revelation shows, it is what WILL happen. GOD WILL BE KNOWN by all peoples and languages, and tribes,

The question for us, is “Are you doing your part as the means?”

Are you living on mission? Introducing people to our God who is worthy of all praise?

Becuase we are all called. If you are a believer in Christ, you are now blessed…

But not to sit on it! But to be a blessing to others.

But I want to be very careful and very clear…

Not all of us are called to cross-cultures and actually engage nations or peoples or languages or tribes that are different than us.

That I believe is a specific calling that God places on some… Living missionally is a general calling God has placed on all, “to be sent” cross culturally is more specifc. But even if you’re not sent to a different culture, we as the local church have a responsibility to be involved with those that are.

So let me close by giving you 5 ways to be involved in world missions.

5 Ways to Be Involved

Learn

Scripture

Learn about God’s heart for all nations, though a topical study of Scripture.

There are a plethora of free resources or bible reading plans that are topical about Missions.

IN fact, let me recommend one of them to you now. There is a PDF you can find online called Getting a God-Centered Cause for Your Life.

It’s a 5 week God-glorifying, passion stirring study in Scripture.

Maybe for you its going back to study the book of Acts

We have 37 sermons on the book of Acts that you can use to accompany your study.

Church here’s the deal: John Stott once said,

The degree of the churchs conviction about the authority of the Bible is commensurate with the degree of commitment to world evangelizaiton. Whenever Christians lose their confidence in the Bible, they also lose their zeal for evangelism.

so Learn from Scripture.

But also learn from extra-bibilical sources.

Read a Missionary Biography

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret- Hudson Taylor

Shadow of the Almighty- Elizabeth Elliot

A Chance to Die- Amy Carmichael

Subscribe to missionary magazines.

Annie has us subscribed to Voice of the Martyrs- a monthly publication about the persecuted church and how to pray for them.

All of these are simple ideas to aid your learning about foreign missions.

Go

The details are still being worked out, but CBC Richmond Hill is aiming at 2 vision trips for our church this year. Maybe God is stirring you to be on one of these trips.

Maybe, you’ve known for a long time that God is calling you to GO Long-Term. Long-term is 2 years+, but you don’t know where to begin… If that’s you fill out a connect card today and begin your step in obedience with a conversation with one of our pastors.

Pray

Jesus said, Matthew 9:37–38 “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.””

If you want help learning how to pray for the nations, I want to recommend two resources.

OPERATION WORLD- This is a print book, but it can also be downloaded as an app.

Operation world breaks down each country and gives you statistics regarding christianity, barriers to the gospel, and ways to pray.

I also want to put before you Joshuaproject.net, and their app “Unreached of the Day.”

Similar to Operation World they give you a breakdown and prayer points, but instead of countries they break it down with people groups.

Pray.

Welcome

One other way for us to be involved in world missions is to Welcome.

And ya’ll this is extremely applicable to us today.

I don’t know what the exact statistics are, but Bryan County and Richmond Hill will progressively welcome more and more Korean families into our communities, schools, and hopefully places of worship.

But did you know that nearly 80% of all foreigners will never step foot in an American Home while here.

That’s a travesty.

Annie recently went to one of Josiah’s classmates house, that just moved from Korea. And they had to communicate through google translate, but it worked. And they had a wonderful time.

The kids learned oragami, and traded Korean and American pokemon cards.

WELCOME

Give

Finally… we can give.

And I believe that the American Church has been blessed with wealthy and financial prosperity… so that we can be a blessing to others.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he writes

Philippians 1:3–5 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

What is that partnership?

Well many things, but their partnership included financies. Lydia supported Paul from the first day of the church plant in Acts 16, and while Paul was in prison the church of Philippi sent Ephaphroditus to supply his financial needs.

Church, we need to be like the church in Philippi. Partnering in the gospel with those who are called to GO.

I’ve said it before, but we are going to be a titheing church.

10% of all that comes in is going to go out to domestic and foreign ministry partners.

But today I want to challenge to you with a unique opporunity to give.

Let me introduce you to Wycliffe Bible Translators

Take a look at this short 3 minute video.

Wycliffe

Often I tell you that I want the Word of God in your hands, in your head, and in your heart. But as you just saw, many don’t even have the opportunity because the Bible doesn’t exist in their languages.

Today I want to give you, our church, CBC Richmond Hill the incredibly unique opportunity to change that for over 1 million people.

In the country of Togo- located on the coast in West Africa there is a language cluster, which is 3 total languages, representing over 1 million people, that has 0 scripture in that langauge!

Right now Wycliffe has all the right people, and stakeholders in place to begin the project.

Here’s what this project will accomplish:

They will translate and publish the Gospel of Luke in audio format.

They will produce the Jesus Film in this language.

And as an oral culture, they will begin developing an alphabet book to begin recording their language and teaching them literacy.

What they lack is the Funding.

But there’s some great news. This project has been offered a dollar to dollar match.

The total is $89,000, but again with the match if we can secure $44,500 the KWI Cluster of Togo West Africa will begin hearing the Word of God in their language for the first time.

As our elders prayed about this opportunity, we believe God is asking us to take on the full amount of the match.

To give $44,500 to Wycliffe!

We are planning to give every dollar given to our church beginning this Sunday and ending next Sunday night.

2 Sundays worth, and 1 full week.

Would you go home today, sit down as a family, and commit to give radically and genrously to this incredible project!

Well that’s it…

Let me pray for us, and our team will come back up and lead us through a song of resopnse.