Gary Schick
Well, this one actually, somebody asked you, right? So I'm going to read it and then I'll let you see what you think about this. This is a great question. Jonathan writes, "I had someone ask me the other day, 'if I can't go overseas to be a missionary, what part, if any, do I have in missions or the great commission?" So Jonathan, what was your response?
Jonathan Hernandez
Yeah well, I mean, I guess first off, I just want to say thank you to all of our U.S. missionaries, and all of our worldly missionaries that just go out and are obedient to Christ's calling. And so just thank you to all of our missionaries. So when I talked to this person, I was telling her, "if you truly have a heart and you feel like God is calling you to missions, then you definitely need to follow up with that. If it's missions work, then what can you do to get to that?" Obviously, you need to start going through ministry classes and things like that in order to step into that field. But if you feel like you're not called to mission's work, in that sense of being a career missionary, there's many things God has called us to; to the Great Commission. I mean, I guess we can back that up just a minute. Make sure we've supported our missionaries. We can do that financially, but we can also do that definitely through prayer, making sure that we're praying for our missionaries on a daily basis. But if we jump into scripture, we see the great commission being given to us. We see that in Matthew. We also see that in the Book of Mark, and so I'll read those both real quick. So Mark 16:15 says, "and then he said to them, go into all the world, preach the good news to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. And then these miraculous signs will accompany those who believe. They'll cast out demons in my name. They'll speak in new tongues or new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety and they'll be able to drink anything poisonous and it won't hurt them and they will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will be healed." And so this is that commissioning, that we should go into all the world and preach the good news, right? To all creation. And then Matthew 28, it's a lot of the same thing. And it says, "Jesus told his disciples, 'I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit; teaching these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure that of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." And I guess I was getting a little tongue tied, because I'm used to reading it out of the New King James version. So we see these two scriptures that really have that command to go into all the world. And it doesn't say, just the pastors go into all the world, just the missionaries go into all the world. But it's telling us, as believers, that we need to go and preach the good news. My friend who's a missionary, a US missionary here in the United States, he goes, "I always say, 'to Jesus there was no local or foreign missions field. There was just the lost who needed a savior?" And man, that hits so good. People need to know who Christ is. It's the only hope, right? That's our hope. And how can we, and it doesn't matter, like I said, it doesn't matter if we're a pastor or a missionary or someone that's in the church. It's a commission for all of us to go preach the good news. But I think there's a piece that we miss a lot of times. You know, I think we've become really good at making converts or helping people come to Christ. But we don't follow that up, because in Matthew 28, it tells us to teach the new disciples everything that God has given us or has shown us. And so I think the important aspect of discipleship is something that we need to make sure that is strong within our local body. How are we discipling that next person? If we're wanting to see that next person reached and saved for Christ, we also need to back that up with discipleship and help them process through. Because man, I remember when I came to Christ, I had a lot of questions, and I think a lot of people do. We have all these questions and it's so new. But to have someone that mentors us through those questions and helps, that discipleship process is amazing. And so that'd be my encouragement, is that not only are we reaching the lost, but we're discipling them. And man, it's an amazing role that we get as believers to help that next person learn about Christ and grow in Christ. And so for me, I think that's it. If our role in the Great Commission is just that, is to make sure that we're seeing it and obeying it and reaching the lost and then discipling lost, and then we get the opportunity to baptize them. Those are all amazing things, that we get to just be a part of someone's life and watching them just grow in Christ, is an amazing thing. At least it has been for me, is just to watch people grow in their relationship with Christ and then watch them get excited and say, "you know what? I was able to lead my dad--or my brother or my friend or my coworker--to Christ and just see just how excited they are. It's an amazing thing. And I hope that each of us look at this great commission and say, you know what? This is a commission for me to step into.
Gary Schick
And I think you're right. It is a commission to the whole world. Mark, "preach the gospel to all creation," Matthew, "therefore go make disciples of all nations." But where does that begin? It begins where we are. The passage you didn't touch on, that I also love is Acts 1, which really is kind of the table of contents for the book of Acts, but also it's God's game plan. Jesus says there, he says, "but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." So, a couple of things there: 1. Where does the power and the wisdom and the words come from? It's not you or me, it's the Holy Spirit. We are just faithful with what we have to bear witness to the truth, Christ, and let the spirit take it from there. And then 2. where do we begin? You say, "well, Jerusalem, that's a long way away." Well, it wasn't when Jesus was talking to them. They were in Jerusalem, basically. He was saying, "start here and then branching out from there to Judea." Well, Jerusalem was in Judea, so he's saying, "look, start here in the city, proclaim the gospel, take it from there." And that's in the book of Acts. This is the progression we see. The gospel starts being proclaimed on Pentecost with the whole power of the Spirit in Jerusalem. And then we see the disciples branching out beyond the city into Judea, and then Samaria, which was right next door, sort of the next stop along the road to Galilee, which was where most of Jesus' ministry had been; and then to the ends of the earth. And that's exactly how it happens in Acts. First you see it in Jerusalem. The gospel proclaimed, and then it branches out into Judea, and then the disciples are kind of persecuted and they kind of spill out beyond that. And so the gospel goes from there into Samaria. And then finally, with both Peter and Paul, and then really primarily Paul, for the rest of the Book of Acts; taking the gospel even further and further out in the first missionary journeys. But you hear that people say, "well, boy, I'm not a missionary, so therefore, what's my place?" Your place is to start where you are. I mean, all these places that are far away aren't far away to the people that live there. Jerusalem is a long way to us, but it's home to the people who live there. And it was home to the first Christians, actually, where we are here in the United States, think about where the gospel started. To Jerusalem, we're almost as far away as you can get. I mean, we are literally on the other side of the world. So we are the farthest foreign mission field from where the gospel began. And so what does God ask us to do? He asks us to be faithful, to rely on the Spirit, to proclaim the good news, invite people to church. Invite people to Christ. Tell your story of how you came to Christ. A couple of resources. Maybe you're not part of the Gideons, but the Gideons even have Bibles that they will allow people to hand out that aren't marked official. Gideon Bibles, something I've always been impressed by, the P.T.L. (the Pocket Testament League). They give out the gospel of John with some, just beautiful covers. And I mean, I've handed those out with my tip at a restaurant or wherever. I mean, our church has handed out a bunch of those. So you can physically give people a gospel. You could share what Jesus has done in your life, be in prayer for those around you who don't know Christ. But really we are, I had a missionary talk about something that sticks in your head. Many years ago, he came to our church to share, and he had a great little song. I'm not going to sing it, but I bet I can remember every word of it. It went like this: "Be a missionary every day. Tell the world that Jesus is the way. In the city or the country or the busy avenue. Africa or Asia, the choice is up to you. So be a missionary, be a missionary. Be a missionary every day." So, I've been to Africa. Many years ago, when I was a seminary student, spent eight weeks in Kenya. I've been to, I guess Asia in a sense. Well, I don't know, it's the Middle East. I've been to Jerusalem, so is that the Middle East? I don't know if that's Asia. Maybe I still need to go to Asia. I'd love to go to Asia. I'd love to go to the farthest corners of the world. I'd love to see new places and to meet people. But I'll tell you what, when I'm there, here's what I always discover. People are people wherever you go. Some know Jesus. Some have never heard of him. Some are just somewhere along the road. We are right here in the USA, the mission field today. Actually, you pointed out, you mentioned somebody who was a missionary within the United States. There are countries that we have sent missionaries to, that are sending them back to us, sending missionaries here. Now, and actually, I'm just going to close with this. There was many years ago, I read a book by somebody named Al Lung called The World At Your Doorstep, talking about how God is bringing the world to us. I mean, if you go to our local college right here, our local community college, there are people from every country. They come here to study for a couple of years, they need to be befriended. I mean, they're people and they represent an opportunity. You want to go to Africa or South America or wherever? You can't get there? That's okay. Just go share Jesus with somebody who's from there, who's in our community right now, and you have an opportunity when they go home. Then they can take that gospel with them. The world is at our doorstep and what are we doing? And this is a challenge to me. What am I doing to leverage that opportunity for Christ and His kingdom? Because the day is coming, Jesus will be returning, and we want to be found faithful when he comes.
