What Mission Field?!?!

At Calvary, the school holds a missions conference every year in which a good 20 or so missionaries or differing mission agencies are represented all over the world. I really enjoy being able to talk to the missionaries, hearing stories and what God is doing wherever they are at.  I enjoy the conference except for one major detail.  To them at least, it seems like a huge time for recruiting for more missionaries.  It seems to be a recruiting week for most of them there, not all of the, though.  Instead of being invested in the student, they seem to be invested in themselves or their mission agency.  That is wrong!

I want to go into ministry, be a pastor.  They will ask me what I want to do and I’ll tell them, that I believe the Lord is leading me to that ministry.  And they’ll reply with a congrats on that and then the conversation will shut down, and they will move on to the next “victim” to try to recruit them.  At my church, we hold a missions conference, the same idea as Calvary, but at home the missionaries are sharing what the Lord is doing in their field.  Their focus is not recruiting, it is the glorification of God.  If there were missionaries that I would want to be following in their footsteps, it would be the ones at home because they are not looking to recruit me.  The big difference is the focus between Calvary and my home church.  The missionaries that will come to Calvary seem to emphasize recruiting whereas at home the focus is God!  I like my home churches missions conference because I am not being pressured to “follow God’s call into the mission field” because I know that is NOT my call, at least not right now!

I promise that this won’t turn into a rant against mission’s or missionaries, but there is a point to all this.  I would like to address the issue of unity within the Body of Christ! I have a huge burden for proper theological training and teaching within the Body of Christ.   That is where my heart is set.  We need that proper theology so the people can go overseas and spread the Gospel correctly.  We need these people in our church so they can train others who will go to the mission field.

I’ve struggled with Christians who place so much emphasis on overseas missions, that they forget about their church, which is what Christ built.  Why aren’t they sharing the Gospel with their neighbors here and what makes them think that they will share the Gospel overseas when they won’t do it with their next door neighbor?

The unity of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4; I Cor. 12).  Yes, the context of the passage in I Cor. 12 is on Spiritual gifts, but verse 12 through the end of the chapter is key on Unity.  Paul places emphasis on different parts of the Body of Christ and their unique abilities and function to make the body work.  We aren’t all called to be missionaries.  I believe God is calling me to the church here stateside.  You believe that God is calling to you Nowhereville, Africa, GREAT!!!  Good for you!!! I couldn’t be more excited for you because you are seeking God’s will for your life.  I am too, so don’t go to try to change God’s calling for me and I won’t do it to you!  I’ll gladly support you, asking only of you to do the same for me!

We are not all called to be missionaries, we are not all called to be pastors.  Find God’s calling for you and do it, supporting others to do the same within the Body of Christ!!!

One Word Summary!

If I had to sum up marriage in a single word, it would be sacrifice! Marriage is all about sacrifice, giving up yourself for the sake, the betterment of your spouse.

In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul likens the church’s relationship to Christ as the Bride and Groom, respectively.  In this passage, verse 25, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.”

Sacrifice: Christ gave himself up (cf. Phil. 2:5-11).  He did it for the growth and betterment of the church.  The ultimate sacrifice of laying down one’s life is probably not required of most of us, Yet the concept remains the same.

Large or small, sacrifice in the eyes of a wife is always huge.  What would you do for her? The concept of sacrifice is not out of selfish conceit.  The focus of sacrifice is always on the other person.

As an example, I remember back in my freshman year of community college, I had a friend who was still a senior in high school.  I was interning at my church under my youth pastor at the time and I was at church, rather busy.  My friend called me in tears crying, needing someone to talk to.  I dropped what I was doing and talked to her, giving the advice that I could.  Sacrifice, not necessarily the greatest of all examples, but nevertheless it works.  She was very grateful that I was there for her.

It doesn’t matter how large or small you think that it is, what matters is the sacrifice is made for the other person.  As a young man I know most women are always grateful and thankful when you make that sacrifice for them, no matter what it is.  I have never met a woman who wasn’t appreciative of true sacrifice for her.

But it goes much deeper than just sacrifice.  It’s selflessness.  Laying yourself down for the betterment of the other person.  Giving yourself up for her, not just in one thing but in everything.  This, I believe is what marriage looks like.  So much time and writing is spent in love and/or respect and rightfully so, but I think maybe let’s look at another angle.  People these days are telling men to get in tune with their “feminine” side in order to relate to women and to that I say “ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!”  God created us different to complement each other.

Now I understand that marriage books can’t cover everything, otherwise the books would be HUGE and no one would read it.  But the Bible does say that marriage is sacrifice.  And a lot of times, they’ll explain sacrifice in with Love and Respect, which is good, but the time spent on the actual topic is spread throughout the book when I think a whole section could easily be devoted to it.  I think the core of the issue is selflessness.

True love is sacrifice, true sacrifice is selflessness, putting the other person before you.  That’s what I believe marriage is!!!

The Gospel!

What is the Gospel? What do I believe in? This whole blog is about God and Christ, but I realize that I have never actually presented the Gospel…

The Gospel of Christ.  He is the “good news”.  It’s nice to have good news in the midst of all the bad we hear about today.  But before I give the good, first the bad must be heard.

Why do we need the Gospel? The Bible says were all sinners… (Rom. 3:10-18; 23).  We have broken off fellowship with God.  Because of His holiness, Righteousness, and Wrath, He must punish our sin! Our destiny is Hell… sad truth!!! That is why we need the Gospel, because we are sinners.

Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NET).  A few verses earlier, Paul writes in verse 6, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (NET).  God had a plan.  He knew that nothing can atone for our sins except for blood sacrifice, for that was the system that He set up in the Old Testament.  Nothing but the Perfect Sacrifice could atone for sins, once and for all!  No amount of good works, giving of money or anything can substitute the need of a Blood Sacrifice.  So God, who is rich in mercy and full of grace, sent His Son born of a virgin to be the Savior.

No Gospel message is complete without mentioning the Deity of Christ.  Only God is capable of providing that Perfect Sacrifice and only God is capable of being that Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus Christ is God (John 8:58; 10:30)!  That is why Christ is the Perfect Sacrifice and He bled and died for our sins!

Grace: The free gift we don’t deserve.  None of us deserve to go to heaven, yet God is full of grace.  We don’t just automatically go to Heaven because Christ died for sins.  We must believe in Christ, that He died for us (John 1:12-13; 3:16; Eph. 2:8-10).  It is through faith in Christ that places in His hands and He is our advocate (I John 2:1-2). 

Okay, now what? I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior, what happens now?  I have a question for you: If you have placed your faith in something yet don’t act on it, is that true faith? I submit to you: NO!!!!  True saving faith results in one’s lifestyle being changed (I John 1:1-2:6).  Christ is explicitly clear about a believer and their lifestyle.  They WILL produce fruit for the sake of Christ (Matthew 12:33-37; 13:1-23; John 15; Eph. 2:8-10; Rom. 8:28-30).    Your life will change to conformity of Christ (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 2:8-10).  That may seem like the line is blurred of saving faith and working for your faith.  You cannot be saved by works, I can’t make that clear enough, but once you are saved your life will change.  Faith in Christ changes your life!!!