MISSIONS: GOD-GIVEN VISAS

There’s a passage in Matthew that I used avoid, and felt very guilty about it because they were Jesus’ words!

Matthew 28:18-20: 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The church refers to this as “The Great Commission”, and it annoyed me to no end. (No, it’s okay. Lightning didn’t just strike me, so I’ll continue with my thoughts.)

Actually, the Lord and I have gone around on this discussion many times. What He showed me was that it was not the commission, but man’s spin on the commission that I was having trouble with. I despised sermons that pressured me to go and talk to my friends and neighbors about the Lord. As a youth I’d been ‘evangelized’ by people who were clearly disgusted with my lifestyle and I was repelled by their obvious repulsion of me. I sure wasn’t going to go and do the same now.

Such sermons left me hollering (silently, of course), “Quit making me feel guilty for not leading people to Christ. That’s His job, not mine!!!!”

Over the years, though, as my conversations with Jesus about evangelizing and missions ministries continued, He has shown me many things that allow me to feel I am capable of obeying the commission Jesus gave to His disciples, and therefore to all believers. The key is to look at missions through the Lord’s eyes and realize how differently He defines them, according to His knowledge of the ‘missionary’. (That would be me… and you!)

I have friends who felt called by the Lord to enter the mission field in the Far East. They were there openly as missionaries, and were funded by churches and their mission society. They taught and preached. They planted churches and shared the gospel message with many of God’s children. They lived the life we typically think of when we consider missions, and they lived that life wonderfully well.

Their daughter and her husband are also missionaries. However, the picture is a little different for them. They are in a closed country where Christians are not welcome. As such, they can’t obtain visas to be there unless they are working at a government approved job. So, while they are subsidized by the mission society, they also work and live ordinary lives in the same manner as the citizens of that country. They cannot openly evangelize as their parents did or they would be deported, or even arrested. Instead, they live their faith out loud. Bit by bit friends and neighbors who get to know them see a difference in them. Some ask about that difference. And as God leads, some embrace that difference, finding their own relationship with Jesus.

Another friend has a husband in the military. They move around a lot. Recently they were posted to a city in Eastern Canada. The lady asked the Lord how she could serve Him in this new city. In her heart she had always dreamed of attending a church nearby, one she could walk to. Lo and behold there was a church just down the block from the home they found, but it is one that teaches only partial truth. The denomination picks and chooses what suits them from the Bible and bases their faith on this. The lady prayed and asked the Lord for discernment. In answer to that prayer, she and her husband felt strongly that they should attend this church. So, in a unique twist of the definition of a mission field, she remains in her own community, but the Lord has commissioned her to proclaim the full truth of God’s word. She loves the people, and they need to learn about the Gospel just as much as those in East Asia do!

My pastor has just been given a visa to a very different, but disturbingly common mission field. In fact, he and his wife were preparing for a short mission trip to Central America when God turned them in this unexpected direction – a mission field just as much in need of the Hope of Jesus Christ as the field they had planned to visit. A few months ago Pastor discovered a growth in his body. Diagnosed with cancer, he and his wife will now enter a mission field steeped with fear, anger, pain, disfigurement, hopelessness… all under the heading of “cancer treatment”. Now they have a choice. Do they join in the accepted and expected mindset of those members of this small stratum of society? No one could fault them if they did. That doesn’t seem to be the case though. From what I see, they are looking at this as a visa to a mission field that is closed to most. Unless you’re a card carrying member, so to speak, you can’t witness to this group with any credibility. It seems that the Lord has opened the door so they can enter in and live out loud His love, His peace, His grace, His hope as they encounter staff, patients, family, friends…

So having cancer is opening a door to this ‘mission field’. Now, all of this is wonderfully noble and righteous. But what of our pastor and his wife? Is it not unfair that after decades of faithful service God is allowing this terrible disease to mar their lives? Should we not pray for and expect miraculous healing? Many people love this couple and will pray that way, I’m sure. And maybe God will respond, as He has in other lives. However, if Pastor is healed miraculously, I wonder how quickly people will forget? How would that help the unbelievers at the Cancer Clinic? We all know that only those who have personal experience of a situation are considered credible. Well meaning people teach and preach, but only one who has walked in those shoes will be considered plausible. If Pastor were to be miraculously healed, who would go to the clinic day after day to share God’s love in the waiting room? Many family members go with their loved one. Who will relate to the unique struggle of helplessness they’re experiencing if Pastor’s wife isn’t there? Yes, this is definitely a mission field.

But there is still one question that begs to be raised. Will Pastor’s life be ended as a result of this circumstance? In my mind, that question isn’t a contributing part to the equation. Philippians 1:6 promises His believers that we can be… “confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Jesus will not stop working with Pastor and his wife until His good work has been completed. A physical growth cannot hinder God from honoring His promise. He’s much bigger than that!

So, I am learning that when things appear, in my worldly view, to go sideways, perhaps it is the Lord sending us into a new mission field. We may suffer culture shock, especially at first! But with His help, we’ll be able to settle in and allow Him to work through us. May God’s name be praised as He spreads His gospel message of Hope in His unique and creative ways! And may I have the wisdom and grace to recognize the opportunities He might be giving me, instead of trying to pray them away.