I have started and deleted and started this posting 3 times now. I think it is because I have nothing to say and pages and pages to say regarding the MTW Conference I attended two weekends ago in Chattanooga.
I think God revealed to me a piece of his heart that weekend.
Whenever you say something like, "God revealed..." I think Reformed Christians automatically get suspicious and tune out because that term is not only subjective in nature but also overused and misunderstood. I don't mean to use that term in a flippant way here; I sincerely think there is something God wants to reveal (|riˈvēl|uncover, expose, make known) to people like you and I.
Years ago I discovered the disparity in I what I thought was my life's motivation and the life God directs me to live. I thought my purpose was to go to school, get a job, make money, get married, have kids, etc. . . . . oh yeah, and carefully showcase Jesus in there somewhere, perhaps on the end when everything is accomplished. (When he fits, when it's convenient, when people are watching, when it benefits me, when it looks or sounds good). Basically upper middleclass "Christian" America. Can I say that I am tired of this? It sickens me. I sicken myself. This is basically the definition of cheap grace: we manipulate it to serve us in how we want it to serve. We've got it all wrong. Maybe we should START with Jesus and fit the rest in if we can. After all, what is the American Dream besides an abstract prefabricated life full of empty promises and broken dreams anyway? I know what you're saying to yourself: Cynical, right? Maybe. At each stage of life we think we will be fulfilled in some great and mysterious way, but we're not and we won't! In the end, no matter what we have or have accomplished we're still left with our broken selves in need of a savior. I have personally observed the American Dream from kindergarten through school, on to marriage, through retirement and death. I'm not entirely sure this "dream" is even something I want for my own life any more. Not because it's not good but because these pursuits cannot be an end in themselves. I ask myself, why not pursue the true end at the beginning? I'm not a super Christian, I enjoy the good things in life too...but what truly comes first in my life? Honestly. Is it really Jesus or just a Christianized fragment of him? Because Christianity ought to cost us something. It ought to inconvenience our lives. People should be annoyed with us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die." It may be a physical death or death of your false self but we need to die for our faith. Still my friends it is a sweet, sweet death. True offering to God begins at the point of sacrifice, not comfortable complacency.
So this guy, Michael Oh, comes to school and speaks about the ministry he has started in Japan: Christ Bible Institute (CBI) Japan. He talks about how Japan is the 2nd largest unreached people group and the largest unreached nation (0.2% Evangelical Christian). 127 million people. Many of whom have never even HEARD of Jesus, let alone engage in a discussion about him. 9% of high school girls sell their bodies for sex, 4% of Jr. High girls (which is approximately 16.5 million girls involved in the sex trade industry by the way). There are approximately 300,000 Christian workers in the United States and only 160,000 in the rest of the world combined. Surely Americans need Jesus but doesn't this seem off to anyone else? The U.S. is the best in "sending" missionaries right now (Korea will pass us soon) by the numbers, but per capita we are one of the worst! Oh quoted John Piper who said, "You have 3 choices: Go, Send, or disobey. It's your choice."
I know this post is getting long but I ask you: What is your choice? We have an obligation in Matt. 28. I have an obligation.
And here I sit...on top of a mountain in GA...typing on a $1700 computer...drinking coffee...checking football scores...texting about the ridiculous food we will buy for the next meeting. When inside of me (and you) is the one and only decidedly effective cure for sin and sorrow the world has ever known!? Am I using my authority? Am I making disciples? Am I ushering in the kingdom with hastened anticipation?
Surprise, surprise...reaching an unreached world doesn't require a special skill, gift, degree, personality, or calling. If you've got Christ, you're good to go. In fact, I talked to many people who just said, "Come! We can figure out the rest. We need you."
"Most of the time our default seems to be, 'I just don't feel called to go.' When maybe our default should be, 'Do I really feel called to stay?" - Aaron Messner
"Go until God stops you." - Dr. Krabbendam
Lord forgive me for disobeying. I will go or I will most certainly send so your name and salvation will be made known among the nations until you return again.
