Why Mission?

Posted on May 16, 2010 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Matthew 13: 1-53
Date: 16 May 2010

If you’re interested in world missions, then this is a very exciting time in which to be a Christian.  Although Christianity has remained pretty-much static as a percentage of world population there have been some profound changes happening in recent years.  You don’t get to see or hear much of it here in little old N.Z., but spiritual changes of great magnitude are taking place around the world.  Whatever you might think of the countries and the faiths that I mention consider these facts:

In 1900 Africa had a population of 10 million of which 9% were Christian.  Today the population of Africa is 400 million of which 46% are Christian.  In China where accurate data is very hard to obtain the percentage of Christians is estimated to have grown 20 times since the 19^th century.  There are an estimated 50-70 million Christians in China today.  An official Chinese government report in 2006 put that figure much lower, and yet still reported a 60% increase in just ten years!  In Russia churches of all kinds doubled from 7,500 to 15,000 in the 1990s.  It is reckoned that 20% of Russians moved from atheism to some profession of Christianity at that time, including many leading politicians.  South Korea has become Asia’s first protestant nation.  In 1901 1% of Koreans were Christian.  Today around 40% of South Koreans are.  They support 14,000 missionaries around the world –the second largest group after the USA[1].  However, Singapore (anyone heard of Singapore?) has become a key mission-sending base.  They have one of the highest sending ratios in the world.  And India?  India could soon be competing with Korea as the second-largest missionary-sending country in the world, although the vast majority serve within their own country

In 1960 no Christian was officially allowed to live in Nepal.  Now there is a church in every district of Nepal with estimates of over half a million believers[2].  The number of Christians in Indonesia has grown from 1.3 million forty years ago to over 11 million today, and the US State Department estimates that Protestants in Vietnam may have grown by 600% in the last decade.  South America?  In 1900 it was 100% Roman Catholic with only 50,000 Protestants.  Today it is 15% Protestant, comprising over 64 million people.  And what about other areas of the world?  Although it is always notorious difficult to gauge, the evidence seems to point to more Muslims becoming followers of Jesus in the last twenty years than at any other time in history.

So dramatic changes are happening on the world scene, but what I want to ask you is ‘do you allow your feelings to influence your support of missions?’  These numbers are thrilling, but do you base your support of mission upon how you feel things are going?  The reason I ask this is that a number of years ago I was enjoying a pleasant BBQ with a Korean Buddhist friend, and he turned to me and said, ‘Why are you a Christian?  Not many white people seem to be becoming Christians.  The churches in Europe are quite empty!’  Well, not being used to these kind of conversations I did a momentary panic.  I thought ‘why am I a Christian indeed?’  All of a sudden I forgot my deep Christian heritage, my professional training, and the personal relationship I have enjoyed with God for over 30 years, but then I had to laugh.  This was a version of the numbers game where the team with the best numbers wins, so I simply said, “But Korea was recently reclassified as a Christian nation, so why aren’t you a Christian?”  (Touché!)

-But what about your support of world missions?  Is it like a thermometer?  Do your prayer, support, and giving rocket up and down with the temperature of your feelings?  Are you (dare I say this) like a Warrior’s supporter?  The issue is that world missions and missionaries cannot advance on the strength of your feelings.  They can’t move forward –stop, start, stop, start -depending upon whether you feel good about things.  I believe that what each of us need are good solid reasons for missions that help us focus and support our good intentions in the good times and in the bad.

I believe that some of these reasons can be found in Matthew 13, which we have been examining over the last few weeks.  The thing is that I never saw it before, but during this episode in Galilee the crowd is wavering.  Will they or won’t they follow Jesus?  Opposition is polarising.  Anyone like the disciples could easily ask “Jesus is it worth it?  This nation is too tough.  This effort is too dispiriting.  Why keep going with this part of the mission?  How about we have a break for a cup-of-tea and a nice bikkie?  Let’s stop for a Kit Kat.”  Yet in seven incisive parables Jesus gives us four good reasons for missions.

1.  In the first parable, verses 3-9, Jesus tells the story of a farmer who goes out and sows seed upon his fields.  You’re familiar with it.  Some seed falls on the hard paths and the birds come and carry it away.  Some seed falls on shallow soil, so that it springs up fast, but then dies equally quickly away.  Other seed falls amongst thorns and as it grows up, the thorns choke the living daylights out of it, and finally some seed falls on deep, well-ploughed soil and it produces an excellent harvest –one that is clearly blessed by God.

The conclusion we could easily reach from this parable is that three out of the four soils failed to produce a good harvest.  This is considered normal so in the same way you should not be discouraged if everyone does not accept the good news of Jesus.  You could argue that not everyone will want to follow Jesus, but since Jesus expected and experienced this, we shouldn’t give up and feel down when the same the thing happens to us.

The only thing is that this is like playing in a minor key.  Are you familiar with minor keys on a piano?  My impression of think of them is that they are kind of nice, but sad, rather mellow and not that strong.  This argument is okay, but this is not the point of the parable.  Jesus is not feeling ‘blue.’  Jesus is not excusing the three soils -rather Jesus is excited.  Jesus can see those who are actually responding.  Jesus is excited over those who are producing an abundant harvest.  Jesus in this parable isn’t looking at those who fail to grow.  He’s looking at those who do!

Because there is nothing more exciting than to watch and to work with those who want to grow.  There is nothing quite so fulfilling as seeing people reaching for their full spiritual potential.  The Bible says that all heaven rejoices over one sinner who turns to Christ for forgiveness, but what you may not know is that God also rejoices over those who chose to grow!  Nothing is quite so exciting as people who are in spiritual bloom.

I don’t know about you, but one of the most exciting things for me is seeing people get something for the first time.  I don’t know if you’ve had the privilege of praying with someone as they become a follower of Jesus, but it’s an amazing moment as they step from outside the circle of faith into the middle.  It’s like they finally understand.  They finally get it!  Some you here have been through that experience.  Maybe 5-10 years later on you can look back and be amazed at your progress.  It’s this kind of thing that motivates us.

Do you remember the old story of a person walking along a beach covered in hundreds of dying starfish?  Every footstep they would take one and throw it back into the waves.  Someone who was watching said, “Why are you bothering to do that for?  There’s too many.  You won’t make a difference.”   They reached down threw another starfish back and then another one, and said, “It made a difference to that one, and to that one too!”

There is nothing so exciting to see people spiritually growing and developing as they were meant to.

2.  But the next parable provides a different kind of reason, and the parable of the wheat and the weeds (v24-30) needs to be paired with the parable of the dragnet (v47-50) in order to get the full picture.  In the parable of the wheat and weeds an enemy comes and sows seeds in their farmer’s field.  The wheat and weeds grow up together and to their horror the farmer’s workers realise that the two types of plant are growing together.  They offer to pull out the weeds right away, but the farmer say, “Don’t do it because you will also harm the wheat.  Wait until the harvest and then we can sort them out into their separate piles.”

Now again with this parable there are multiple interpretations.  One interpretation that supports missions is that you need to keep sowing wheat seeds.  If you see a patch of bare soil or a receptive soul do not neglect it.  Sow while you still can or you may miss out on the best chance.  I’ve had that unhappy experience.  I remember visiting my best friend at university one day.  He was nearly on the point of accepting Christ as Lord.  We talked a lot, but being polite I didn’t want to push it, so I thought we can talk tomorrow and then he’ll decide to follow Christ.  That afternoon Mormon missionaries came to his door and debated with him.  By the time I saw him the next day, he was so spiritually confused that he never made that decision.  He never got around to it.  I don’t know if He ever did.  I wish I had been a bit more urgent that day, so we need to be urgent.

But the real reason for Jesus urgency here is something greater.  It’s because there is nothing sadder than those who miss out.  Nothing is sadder than those who miss out on the kingdom of God, and wind up, as Jesus says, in the parable of the drag net, in the furnace of fire.

Now I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but many years ago I asked the Lord to give me a vision of hell.  A crazy request I know.  I don’t know why I asked, but amazingly within 30 seconds of asking my request it was granted.  I was there.  I had the most vivid picture of hell in my imagination.  Now I don’t know for sure if it was the Lord or I, but people have asked me “What did you see?”  I say, “It was like looking down on a massive dire straits concert!  You could make out great numbers of individuals in the grey murk surging and swaying together as the light swung across them.  But the most important question is ‘what did it feel like’ and it was awful, simply awful.  I’ve often reflected upon that sense since then.  Jesus said they “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12).”  The Greek word for gnashing means grating the teeth in pain or rage, and I think that’s the key to it.  You see I always thought the pain in hell was from being tortured by the flames, but now I think the pain might come from something worse.  Have you ever had that experience of when you could have won something, but you made the wrong choice and missed out?  Or you could have done something, but you knew you stuffed it up and you didn’t have another chance?  Have you ever had a stomach churning experience where the only way to describe it is you wished that you could kick yourself?

Just this week a Phd student left all his samples, his computer and backups in his car boot.  The car was stolen.  Without those back it is impossible for him to get his PhD and pursue his career as a lecturer.  Imagine how he felt.

Then just imagine getting to the end of your life and having the creator of the universe, the Mastermind Himself, telling you that you missed the boat –that your life has completely missed the point.  In Matthew 25:10 Jesus said, “While they (the bridesmaids) were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.  The virgins (bridesmaids) who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.  “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’  But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’”  There’s nothing sadder than those who miss out, so that’s the second reason for mission.

3. Moving right along the parable of the Mustard Seed and the parable of the Leaven give us another reason.  The parable of the mustard seed says that the kingdom of God is going to start out small, but like a giant tree eventually people of every variety are going to come and sit in it’s branches.  It’s going to be an international, who knows, maybe even intergalactic, family.

The parable of the leaven just after this tells us that like yeast the message of Jesus will permeate the world until the whole world is changed for the better.  The good news of Jesus will in the end influence everything.  Nothing will miss out.  There is going to be a whole lot of good that comes from Jesus life.  He will unite the people of this world in a new way and He will transform human life on our planet.

Okay, is it being a little idealistic?  But we need that don’t we –you need a bit of idealism in life.  I think we all need to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves and we all want in some sense to leave this world a better place than when we found it.  Most people long to make a mark or leave a legacy, so you can join Jaycees if you want, support Forest & Bird, coach kids soccer or fund wells in Africa, but what I think Jesus is saying is that in the end this is a cause worth fighting for!  This is a cause worth living and dying for.  I mean, what other cause is greater than the Kingdom of God?

The only other option is to back the losing horse!  In Jesus day you could have supported the Romans.  You could have sided with the Sadducees and Pharisees, but they aren’t around here any more.  As U2 kind of sung, “Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall, but you (God) you go on.”  What are you going to do to make your limited time on earth worthwhile?  I can’t watch TV all the time!  Jesus invitation is, “My Kingdom is going to go on forever, and you too can be a part of it!”

4. And finally the parable of the Pearl of Great Price and the Hidden Treasure remind us of a couple of things that we need to treasure.  As I mentioned last week there are two ways to interpret these parables.  In the first form a man finds a great pearl while searching through a market while another man accidentally discovers hidden treasure buried in a field.  Both finds are so incredible that the men rush off and sell everything they have in order to get what they want.  Interpreted this way Jesus says that the Kingdom is worth every sacrifice you make to be a part of it.  It is worth everything you give to it.  When you surrender what you have to God, then you are making the right decision.

For example, how many of you have heard of Jim Elliot and the Auca Indians?  If you want to learn more about them I have a short DVD from the conference yesterday.  On 8 January 1956 the Auca’s killed Jim Elliot and four other young missionaries by a river in Ecuador.  These five young men had left their wives and children, the comfort of the United States, and decided to build a base a short distance from an aggressive Indian village so they could share with them the gospel.  They were approached by a small group of Indians and even gave a plane ride to one curious Indian who they nicknamed “George.”  Encouraged by these friendly encounters, they began plans to visit them without knowing the danger they were in.  Soon afterwards a larger group of 10 warriors arrived and the missionaries were speared to death.  Elliot’s body was found downstream.  The story is famous because members of their family then went back to those same Indians who had killed their loved ones and introduced them to Jesus.  It’s an amazing story of sacrifice and love, but in Jim Elliot’s diary is a famous entry that summed up his entire attitude that mission work was more important than his life.  He simply wrote in his diary, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

But as moving as that is, I think the second interpretation is even more moving.  In this version of the parable you are that pearl of great price sitting unrecognised in the market and you are that surprising treasure buried deep in a field.  Jesus is the man who gives up everything He owns in order to be with you.

You see you have incredible value in God’s eyes.  The reason for mission is that nothing brings greater joy to God than you and other people who come to follow Him.  Nothing matters more to God than people.  And if God’s Son has to die on a cross in order to bring your attention to God, then God’ll do it.  That’s why Christ died for you.  That’s why Christ died for us all –to bring you back to God.  And if Christ died for you, then wouldn’t you want to tell others what Christ has done for them too!  Wouldn’t you want to tell others that God loves you?

Just to finish Nicky Gumbel tells the story of a man who wanted to become a Christian, but he was very self-conscious and didn’t think he could tell anyone if he became a Christian.  So he put it off and put it off until one day he spoke to his minister and explained the problem.  The minister said, “In your case we are going to make a special exception.  You can become a Christian, but you don’t have to tell anyone.”  So the man went home to his family, went upstairs, knelt beside his bed, said the sinner’s prayer and gave his life to God.  After that he was so excited he run downstairs, burst into the kitchen and said to everyone, “Guess what!  You can become a Christian and you don’t have to tell anyone!”

So the four main reasons I take from chapter 13 on why do mission are:

1.  There is nothing more exciting than to work with those who want to grow

2.

There is nothing sadder than those who miss out

3.  This is a cause worth fighting for

4.

Nothing matters more to God than you and other people.

So let me ask you, which one do you think will become most important for you?  Please turn to the person beside you and have a go at choosing one.

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[1] Christianity’s Dangerous Idea by Alister McGrath

[2] Operation World