What is a missionary? (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)

Missionaries - ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:11-21) I. The need for missions a. God is to be feared (11a) i. How believers are to fear God: "Ehrfurcht" (an honouring fear) 1. "Furcht" = fear: fearing God as a Father who chastises His children in love 2. "Ehre" = honour: honouring & glorifying God John Piper ("Let the nations be glad"): "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." Created for God's glory (Is. 43:6-7): "... bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory..." Chosen for God's glory (Eph. 1:3-6): "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." ii. How unbelievers are to fear God (but don't do!) 1. They do not honour or glorify God ==> Rom. 1:21: "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." ==> Rom. 1:23: "and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles" 2. Must fear God ==> All men are known to God (11b) - God knows the sins of each person - Every sin = act of rebellion against the holy, almighty God ==> God will judge all men ==> Without Jesus, all men are lost! --> even today! "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others..." (11a) [God is to be feared and honoured - by all men!] - 6900+ languages worldwide (over 7 billion people) - Bible: 513 - NT: 1294 (598 million people) - Portions: 1010 - Translation in progress: 2167 (1.9 billion people) - Possible need: 1900+ M+L - 3 billion people: "unreached" (Joshua Project) II. The message of missions: reconciliation with God (18-20) a. Through Christ, our sins are not counted against us (19) --> Why not? Verse 21a: Jesus was made sin for us -->How should we understand this? Jesus took our sins on Himself "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." (1 Pet. 2:22-24) --> Our sin was "imputed" to Jesus (placed on His account) b. Through Christ, we are seen as righteous before God (21b) c. Justification (Rom. 3): - Our sins are put on Jesus' account and He takes the punishment on Himself - Jesus righteousness is placed on our account and we are reconciled with God (peace) (The relationship between God and man is good again! d. Through Christ, we receive a new life and become different persons (15 + 17) ==> To be "in Christ" not only changes the destination of a person, it changes the person himself! ==> Have you experienced this in your life?? III. The messengers of missions a. First: Jesus Himself (the first missionary) "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" (Jesus in John 20:21) b. Who or what actually is a "missionary"? i. Not to be found in the Bible ii. The word appears for the first time in 1598 as title for Jesuits Latin: missio = assignment, commission Missionary = a person on an assignment for God iii. Who then is a missionary?? Two statements I often hear: (good and right, but also dangerous) 1. "I am not a missionary!" (Danger: neglect of missions at home) ==> Therefore I do not need to tell others about Jesus. That is the task of missionaries... ==> Missionaries are super heroes - I am just a normal person... 2. "We (as Christians) are all missionaries!" (Danger: neglect of missions abroad) ==> Therefore I do not need have a part in world missions. It is enough if everyone is a missionary at home. iv. The marks of a missionary = the marks of a Christian (unfortunately not immediately, not always, not in all aspects, not perfectly, but always more... --> sanctification) 1. A missionary knows his God (11a) ==> Loves God, honours God "And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38) ==> Do you know your God? Do you want to love and honour Him more and more? 2. A missionary seeks to reach the lost (11b) ==> Loves people "And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matt. 22:39-40) ==> Also to strangers / unreached peoples ==> Do you have a desire to reach people for Jesus? 3. A missionary does not seek the recognition of other people (11b-12) (for what he does or has accomplished, even if he speaks about it) ==> Rom. 15:17-19: "In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience- by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God..." ==> 1 Cor. 15:10: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." 4. A missionary is not "normal" (13a) - love to God ==> The gospel is foolishmess in the eyes of the world: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing..." (1 Cor. 1:18) "And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus [ = governor] said with a loud voice, ‚Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind." (Acts 26:24) ==> Leaving family, home, career, property... M+L ==> Suffering ==> Crazy and yet not crazy: "And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." (Mark 8:34-35) "Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30) ==> Jim Elliot (matado de Indios en 1956): "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." 5. A missionary adapts himself (13b) - love to people Adapting to others in order to reach them "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings." (1 Cor. 9:19-20) ==> Does not mean following their sin or false beliefs ==> Give no unnecessary reason for offense, identify as much as possible with them ==> e.g. eating no pork when among Jews (Muslims) 6. A missionary is moved by the love of Christ (14) ==> Grammatically: our love for Christ / Christ's love to us ==> Context: Christ's love to us (v. 15) ==> Are you controlled/moved by the love of Christ? ==> Would you evangelise more if you were given GBP 50 each time you give someone a tract?? 7. A missionary sees the world (people and Christ) much differently (16) ==> People: saved/lost; Jesus: prophet/God ==> The physical world is not everything... ==> Phil. 3:7-8: "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" ==> David Livingstone (19th century in Africa - sacrifice?): "For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . . . Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice." 8. A missionary is an ambassador of God (20) "angel" ==> On behalf of Christ ==> Imploring and beseeching ==> Message of reconciliation Ambassadors are more than messengers. They are representatives of the sovereign who sent them. In the Roman Empire there were two kinds of provinces: senatorial and imperial. The senatorial provinces were generally peaceful and friendly towards Rome. They had subjected themselves to Roman rule and were under supervision of the Senate. The imperial provinces were conquered later and were not as peaceful. These provinces were under the supervision of the emperor. Syria including Judea was such a province. The emperor sent ambassadors to these provinces to reign over them and maintain peace. Christians are called by their King to serve as ambassadors in a world that is in rebellion towards the King. But God has given His ambassadors a message of peace and reconciliation. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, the King of kings! What an honour and what a responsibility! Our King Jesus has given us an assignment - a commission (Matt. 28:18-20): "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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." Are you obeying this commission? Are you taking part in missions? Missions starts outside of your doorstep! Missions does not end outside of your doorstep! Missions is for all peoples: - Who will go? - Who will hold the ropes? (Carey: 18th/19th century in India) After hearing an account of the spiritual needs of India, the secretary of the meeting remarked: "There is a gold mine in India, but it seems almost as deep as the center of the earth. Who will venture to explore it?" "I will venture to go down," said Carey, "but remember that you must hold the ropes." - Prayer and support for missionaries abroad "There are only 3 kinds of Christians when it comes to missions: zealous goers, zealous senders and the disobedient." (John Piper) Which group do you belong to? God's goal is to be glorified among all nations and peoples! Is this also your goal? Do you have the marks of a missionary?