YOUR CALL TO BE A MISSIONARY

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mk.16:15)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom.12:1)
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:” (I Pet.2:9)

 In dealing with people about their spiritual condition over the years, some recurring themes surface: I don’t want to be saved because God might want me to go to the mission field; or, I don’t want to be in full time Christian work! I am prepared to show you that there’s more at work in those two statements, but we need to first dispel the argument that there is a difference between the sacred and the secular. When you responded to the gospel call because you saw yourself as a needy, undone sinner, in need of being saved from the slave market of sin, and unable to save yourself in any way, you did as every other person who is saved has done, depending fully on the finished work (substitutionary blood atonement, death, and resurrection) of the Lord Jesus Christ for you and your sin debt personally. You trusted Christ by faith for your eternal salvation and forgiveness of sin, and God saved you by His grace.

A number of things took place upon being saved, one of which was a positional sanctification: you were set apart to God for His purposes for eternity. The practical side to that is the working out of that which is now within. You are God’s child through faith in Christ, no doubt, but you are also His representative, His ambassador for Christ, His light, His witness, His missionary to all of your world and beyond.

Someone, somewhere, and at some time was a missionary to you. It may have been a Gospel tract, a cassette tape, a CD, a video. It could have been a written article or the spoken word. The fact is, however, that the message came your way from another source. Because of their response to God’s claim and call on their lives, you heard, responded, and were saved. Now you have the same responsibility as the one or one’s who brought the Word of God to you. There are others that God is counting on you to reach – others that you can reach that they couldn’t. They are in your world and you need to preach the gospel to every one of them in your world. If you drop the ball – just one of you, for whatever excuse you want to give, two immediate things take place: 1) you become disobedient to God’s Word, and 2) you make it much harder for your world to be reached with the truth from God’s Word – maybe not reached at all. If you are saved, you have been called to be a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving gospel.

Let me approach this in another way: As saved born again believers in Christ, it is only reasonable for us to daily live sacrificially, to live holy, and acceptable lives to the Lord. God has so equipped us to carry out His every command – all of His children are without excuse, no matter their age or education or circumstances of life. We are a royal priesthood. We are not a part of that corrupt priesthood that exists in religious circles and parades itself around as ‘Christian.’ And we are a peculiar people – that is, a purchased people, by the blood of Christ. Therefore, our view of life here has been dramatically changed from within. Once, we “walked according to the course of this world,” we were “children ofdisobedience.”We also “had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desiresof the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath.” But now, we are “pilgrims and strangers,” of which it is said that we are to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war againstthe soul.” There is a spiritual song that starts this way: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through: My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” Here is where so many have gone wrong. They’ve been told that salvation is their ticket to heaven without ever being told the differences that have taken place the moment they were saved. Before salvation, I regarded this world as my home. I lived as though it were my home, and after the flesh. After salvation, I came to the realization from the Scriptures that this world isn’t home any longer. My home is where God, my Father is, in Heaven. And I am here now as a stranger and a pilgrim in a foreign land. The world is to be effected by me as I pass through it. Whether I affect one or thousands is God’s business. My responsibility is to be a pilgrim and a stranger to the world and not put down deep roots here, but rather point others to the same Savior and the same narrow path that so many took before us: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom.12:2)

The Lord Jesus Christ came here for me. I am here for you. You are here for others. Your call to be a missionary for Christ is as important as mine. Let’s represent Christ well. Let’s be faithful ambassadors for Him. Let’s “let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, andglorify your Father which is in heaven.” Let’s be good and faithful missionaries for Him wherever we are, whatever our age, until He comes for us to take us to our eternal home not built with hands.