Thankfully, most Christians these days aren’t against missions efforts. Many people think it is a very good thing and they are glad that someone is doing it, as long as it isn’t them. Unfortunately, some also think they are saving the world by going on a 2 week missions trip. Short term missions can open a person’s eyes to the need and can assist long term missionaries by doing projects, but are ineffective in communicating the gospel cross-culturally (Worldview). But what is really lacking is people who will stay in one place long enough to learn the language and culture of the target people group and establish a mature church.
So, what is keeping the Church from accomplishing this? Although Christians generally want everyone to hear the gospel, very few are willing to become the proclaimers. This is because it involves a lot of sacrifice and hardship. Sometimes people have valid excuses. But sometimes, excuses that seem valid are not as valid as you thought. Today, we heard the testimony of a friend who is training with our mission. She had to have a kidney transplant and as a result, she has to take a medication that lowers her immune system to keep her body from rejecting it. But she believes that God would have her be a missionary, and some of her doctors think she is crazy. We heard the testimony of another couple in the mission who both have physical disabilities. He is able to walk, but very slowly and with great difficulty. Still, I watched him stand during his whole presentation. The disabilities don’t stop them from doing the work. This is very challenging to me, because if I were them, I would think that I were exempt.
It is easy for us to come up with excuses. Neither my wife nor I are outgoing. We aren’t great speakers. We aren’t overly intelligent. We don’t have amazing language learning abilities. We’re just regular people who believe that God can use earthen vessels to proclaim His glory. But even people who really have no excuse will come up with one. When God told Moses to go to Pharaoh, Moses made an excuse. “O my Lord, I am not an eloquent man, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
It seems unlikely that Moses was that terrible of a speaker, since he was…trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds (Acts 7:22). But his confidence shouldn’t have been in his abilities anyway. So God said, “Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? So now go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you must say.”
But Moses said, “O my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!”
Then the Lord became angry with Moses, and He said, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite?”
(Exodus 4:10-14)
So God was merciful enough to send Aaron along and all Moses’ excuses were stripped away.
God’s ways are definitely not our ways. If it were up to us, anyone doing God’s work would be free from all physical problems. But that isn’t the case. The Apostle Paul never lacked physical problems, even though he was proclaiming the gospel. In modern times, we have had members of our mission taken captive by terrorist groups. Many members seem to have health problems and diseases. Just recently, a pilot lost his leg in a motorcycle crash. The list goes on. There is no guarantee of physical prosperity and protection for those who spread the gospel. In fact, they are often in harm’s way. But there is a guarantee that…our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. (2 Cor. 4:17)
So let’s not shirk our responsibility as the Church and let’s not make excuses. The unreached need to be reached. If we don’t do it, who will?