Introduction: Our 29th Annual Missions Conference will begin in just a few weeks, on May 1. Our Great Missionary Commission was given to us by Jesus before his ascension to Heaven, when He commanded his disciples to go to all the earth preaching the Gospel. However, missions has Old Testament roots. The Jews of Old Testament times already knew that God was interested in the salvation of all the nations.
The prophet Isaiah wrote:
Isa 2:2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Isa 2:3 Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
Here in Psalm 67 we have another Old Testament passage about missions. There are three facts about missions highlighted in this Psalm:
I. Missions is the message of God's grace and salvation (vss. 1,2), i.e. the Gospel.
A. All people need to hear a message of grace, because we are all sinners.
Rom 3:10-11 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
Rom 3:23 "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
B. Our sin has broken our relation to God, and has put us in danger of God's wrath.
Rom 8:7-8 "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
Rom 1:18 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men."
C. In his mercy and grace, God sent His Son to rescue us.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
II. Missions means more than getting people converted. It also means teaching them God's ways (vs. 2).
Jesus emphasized this in the Great Commission.
Mat 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Mat 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
When the Apostle Paul took his final leave from the elders of the church in Ephesus, he said this to them:
Acts 20:27 "I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God."
And to Timothy, who took over his work in Ephesus, Paul wrote:
2 Tim 2:1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 Tim 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
Sound teaching has always been necessary, but even more so in our generation of instant communication, radio and television, and globalism. Our enemy is Satan, and he is constantly at work teaching lies, and his teaching is powerful and persuasive. America is being taught repeatedly that all religions are equally good; that sinful practices are really only alternate lifestyles; that the universe originated in a big bang, and God had nothing to do with it; that Adam and Eve are mere fables, and that we evolved from monkey-like creatures millions of years ago. On the religious front, Christians are being mislead about all kinds of things by dozens of supposedly Christian teachers on TV and radio. God's sheep are being confused and fleeced. Sometime ago I saw a lady preacher on TV selling holy water from the Jordan River ($29.99 plus shipping and handling), that she had specially blessed. She claimed that if you annointed your refridgerator with it, it would always be full of food; if you annointed your checkbook with it, you would always have money; if you sprinkled it on your husbands shoes, he would never run after another woman. False doctrines of all kinds are running rampant over the American church.
Paul said to Timothy in another place:
2 Tim 4:2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2 Tim 4:4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
A comprehensive teaching of the Word of God needs to be a part of all our missionary efforts around the world.
III. Missions transforms people and nations (Ps. 67:4, 6-7).
When people receive Christ, they are born again. Their hearts are changed, their lives are changed, their minds are changed, and their society becomes changed. When enough people become Christians, the nation becomes a Christian nation, and God's blessings overflow.
For example: The village in Orissa State story (from a "Christian Aid" source, similar to Gospel for Asia)
A native missionary of India who preached the gospel to tribespeople in Orissa State years ago recently returned and saw the transformation that Christ worked in their lives.
The leader of an indigenous mission movement in India went with two other missionaries and preached the gospel among primitive tribespeople of Orissa State in 1981. Later he returned with a mission team and conducted a four-day crusade.
"The bare-breasted tribal women wore only a loin cloth that barely covered their front. The men walked through the marketplace wearing only a loincloth. Their children were stark naked," the leader said. Animal sacrifice was common and human sacrifice was not unheard of.
In the summer of 1982, the missionary returned again with his wife and two children, then aged 10 and 2. They made a windowless thatched-roofed hut in the village (cost $4) and evangelized the surrounding villages.
"We did not see any visible results," the leader told Christian Aid, "but our report challenged other missions to come to this area." The leader's mission began a concentrated work there and has planted more than 600 churches in the area in the last 22 years.
The leader returned to the area in April 2003, and was amazed to see a church in almost every village. "The people came from different villages and touched my feet and thanked me for coming to their villages with the gospel, saying that because I came they are now believers," he said.
The Orissa believers set up a convention ground and constructed a 12-foot tall illuminated cross at its entrance. Every night 5000 people attended the meetings--half were believers and the rest were villagers who wanted to hear what the gospel was all about. Every day more than 500 people stood up and said the sinner's prayer, holding their hands on their chest.
"The worship was heaven on earth," the leader said of the 3000 gathered for worship on Sunday. "There must be no one left in heaven; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and all the angels are here," he told the crowd.
He said when he and his wife visited the market in 1982, his wife counted only three women out of a thousand with something on their upper body. This time, they could not find three women out of a thousand that were not covered.
Summary and Conclusion:
May God bless our missionaries all around the world, and bless the spread of the Gospel. Amen.