We Need Missionaries

Romans 10:13–15

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

I am reading a sermon by Oswald Chambers. He points out the four “how’s” in these verses. First there is a promise: “call on the name of the Lord and be saved.” But to call you must first believe. To believe you must first hear. To hear someone must preach. To preach someone must be sent. The final responsibility God puts on us to send. If the missionary is sent he can preach. If he preaches people will hear the Gospel. If they hear some will believe. Those who believe will call, and those who call will be saved. But where does it start? With sending.

I am a Southern Baptist. The statistics show that my denomination has been in decline for the last few years. I believe we have been in decline for longer. I believe we have been living off our reputation for the past twenty years!

The latest edition of On Mission Magazine prints some statistics that reveal the main culprit. In 1999 about one in five of our forty thousand SBC churches baptized no one. That’s zero baptisms for a year! In 2006 that was up to one in four churches that baptized no one! That same year half of our churches baptized no one—that is zero baptisms—between the ages of 12-17!

We need to send missionaries to our own churches!

I’ve heard the complaint so many times: “You win all these people to Christ but you don’t disciple them. If we did a better job of discipling the ones we have we’d see the number of conversions go up.” So we have tried to do a better job of discipleship, but what kind of disciples are we producing if we are seeing less people saved—especially teenagers?

We have more literature on how to reach the lost than we’ve ever had—but what good is it doing us?

We simply must do a better job of sending out missionaries. Ah, but, we must do a better of job of being missionaries! We need a renewed emphasis on evangelism and missions or we are going to see our churches whither up and blow away—and our country along with them.

What Is Your "Bochim"?

Judges 2:1–5

The Angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you. You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?

Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap to you." When the Angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.

Judges chapter one is a sad record of failure. The children of Israel are in the Promised Land, but they fail to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Not the angel of the Lord speaks to them in chapter two and tells them these remaining people will be “thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap to you.”

All of these things are illustrations of us of the life of a New Testament Believer. When we become Christians we bring baggage from the old life. There are still sins and habits of the flesh that hang on to our lives like ticks on a dog. For a while they may go unnoticed, but eventually, as they continue to suck, we become of their presence and the pain they cause.

But what we do with these sins when the Holy Spirit makes us aware of them is critical. If we confess and forsake them the Holy Spirit will enable us to drive them from our lives—maybe not entirely, because the flesh is always with us. But these sins are pushed beyond the borders of our daily practice. They can occasionally launch a raid here and there. But they’re not habitual sins that continually stifle and defeat us.

However, there can be some practices of the flesh that we are slow to let go of. We want to hang on to these. It maybe pornography, or an evening beer, or a profane tongue, or a questionable business practice. We don’t want to let go of these because they make us feel good, or make us feel powerful, or make us feel we are in control, or make us feel we are being successful. But eventually they become our Bochim, our place of weeping. Why? If we do not judge our sin our sin will judge us! That sin will eventually come out and become your disgrace. Your testimony is damaged. An opportunity to witness is lost. To say nothing of arrested Christian development—we stop growing. And if we are truly Believers there is nothing more precious to us than the presence of our Lord Jesus. We want to be nearer to Him. Anything that blocks His presence becomes for us a source of sorrow and weeping.

But Bochim can become a place of deliverance and renewal. If we will confess and forsake our sin the Holy Spirit will operate powerfully to set us free. Try it.

The Resolve of Joshua

Joshua 24:14–15

"Therefore, fear the LORD and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the LORD. But if it doesn’t please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD."

You can hear the resolve in Joshua’s voice. Sadly, this kind of resolve seems to be missing in our society today. If this were being written today it might sound like this: “As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD if He blesses us with a great job and a comfortable income and a fine home and two vacations a year and He leaves me alone so I can enjoy these.” We lack the resolve today to endure hardship and stand faithful when things are not going our way. We no longer have that kind of commitment and strength. We have been taught a more comfortable doctrine. We feast on convenient truth. We live with our shades pulled down so we don’t have to look on the outside world. We ride on our heated leather seats listening to our Bose speakers playing “I’d make any sacrifice for You.” We are a clueless generation of Christians. We have lived selfishly. We have spent our lives on our own lusts. Now we shake our heads as we watch the news and wonder how we got in this shape. We are the clueless generation.

Where is the commitment of Joshua? You can hear the resolve in his voice: “As for me and my family—no matter what comes—we will serve the LORD!”

Do you have that kind of “no matter what” commitment? Do I?

Taking Possession of the Land

Joshua 21:43–45

So the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side according to all He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the LORD handed over all their enemies to them. None of the good promises the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.

God’s Word was fulfilled. They took possession of the land.

Now, they had not taken possession of all of it. There were yet enemies to be driven from the land. The fact is: they never took full possession of all God promised to them… just as we have not taken full possession of all that God has promised us. Alan Redpath wrote:

“We have not taken possession of our full charter in Christ. Our deed promises so much more than we have experienced.”

Consider an example. The Bible says: “For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3, HCSB). Wow! Really? Everything necessary for godly living! Are we living up to that promise? Are we experiencing in our day-to-day living what the Bible says is ours by right of redemption? Are we living each day a holy and fulfilled life?

I have a confession to make: Not me! There is still so much deeded to me in Christ that I have not taken possession of yet.

Are you as convicted as I am? Today may we take another step into what God has promised. May I venture to go today by faith where I have never been and claim what is mine by right of redemption. Leonard Ravenhill said: “One of these days someone is going to come along, pick up this Bible, read it, believe it, and put it into practice—and the rest of us will be ashamed!”

A Good Habit

Joshua 9:14 (HCSB)

Then the men ‹of Israel› took some of their provisions, but did not seek the LORD’s counsel.

The Gibeonites devised a plan to deceive the Israelites. They tricked Joshua and the leaders of Israel into believing they were citizens of a distant country, far outside the borders of the Promised Land. A treaty was struck before the deception was discovered. Now they were in a pickle! God had commanded the Hebrews to destroy all the inhabitants of the land. But God also expected the Hebrews to abide by the treaties and covenants they made. They would keep the treaty, but they would also suffer the consequences of this hasty decision further down the line.

God tells us as Believers to “owe no man anything” (Romans 13:8). Yet we sign on the dotted line and run up the credit card debt. Does God expect us to pay our bills? Absolutely! But will those debts get us into trouble down the road? Quite likely.

Someone said:

“Half of our problems are the result of saying ‘yes’ too quickly. The other half are a result of not saying ‘no’ quickly enough.”

A good habit we should develop is: Always seek the Lord’s counsel first!

He may not tell us what we want to hear, but He will always tell us the truth. In the long run, if we abide by His counsel, we will be much happier—and keep our backsides out of a jam!

Reminded by Snow

Looking out my window reminds me of two passages of Scripture from Isaiah:

Isaiah 1:18

"Come, let us discuss this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool."

Can you imagine anything whiter than snow? Look out your window and see how your blood-washed soul looks to God! What an object lesson! Give praise!

Isaiah 55:10–11

"For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return there without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it ‹to do›."

God’s Word is like a snow that falls from heaven and provides moisture to the soil so it can make the seed germinate and grow. This is especially true in the areas where the Spring snows thaw, leaving a blanket of new grass and vegetation beneath. We may be poor work hands, but God’s Word always accomplishes it’s mission.

Ruined Lives Restored

Joshua 6:22–25

Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, "Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you promised her."

So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

They burned up the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she lives in Israel to this day.

Matthew 1:5–6

Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David.

Look at that! A prostitute became the great, great grandmother of Israel’s greatest king—and she was in the linage of the Messiah!

We should never doubt that God can reclaim any life, and that any life reclaimed by God can have a highly significant place in God’s plan.

I don’t doubt it. I long for these. I long to see more of these damaged lives being redeemed, restored, and used to advance the Lord’s reputation.