Jesus:
The Master of Missions
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the August 15, 2015 Sabbath School Lesson
“In
your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even
death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8, NIV
When I was a medic in the United States Army and
involved in the Vietnam War, I discovered that there was an impromptu
segregation of the soldiers in the combat theatre. There were those who were
actively involved in the fighting on the front lines (if there is such a thing
as a frontline during a guerilla insurgency), and there were those in the “rear
echelons” providing the necessary support to keep those front line soldiers
healthy and well supplied. While this was necessary to allow the battle to
continue and hopefully be won, those on the front lines nonetheless often
referred to the support troops in unflattering, derogatory terms. This may have
been bravado. Also, it may have been the outgrowth of a co-dependent
relationship between the units that was challenging at best and dysfunctional
at other times.
Interestingly, the bulk of the forces in Vietnam were
support and logistical, the rear echelon troops. Only about 35% of those
assigned were in combat units responsible for confronting the enemy in the
field.[i] An army at war remains at
war because of the tremendous investment in administrative and logistical
support. Gone are the days when armies remained in the field by plundering the
local civilian population for food and sundries. Perhaps this change in
perspective regarding supply and support was in part influenced by the need to
win the hearts and minds of the local populace and to suppress any desire on
their part to aid and support any indigenous guerilla operations. While there
are various theories regarding the effectiveness of this view, in the end,
despite the extensive military science behind the support to combat ratios, victory
is more than the sum of these parts. The United States did not prevail in
Vietnam and continues to struggle with the specters from that war.
Unlike the uncertainty of the conflict in Vietnam, as
Christians, we have been assured that the outcome of the conflict between good
and evil is victory for the good. Jesus is to ride to Earth from heaven on a
white horse with glowing white raiment dipped in blood, leading a vast angelic
cavalry and reclaiming Earth for the Kingdom of God.[ii] This is the kind of
Messiah the Jews were looking for at His first advent. Disappointed, they will
finally get the Messiah they wanted at the Parousia. However, they will not be
looking upon Him with joy, but fear.[iii] The very ones who
crucified Him at His first advent will behold what to them will be a fearful
sight.[iv] The path to the cross
which they paved with His bloody footprints will be evidence for the entire
universe of their perversity. The rough cross piercing His flesh with
splinters, the hand-forged nails splitting tendon from bone, the well-honed
spear head, slicing into his abdomen, the flogger’s whip which tore pieces of
flesh from His back, and the derisive crown of barbs that pierced His temples, all
add their bloody testimony of condemnation and judgment to those sanguine
prints on the “Via Dolorosa.”
While we have many stories of missionaries who travel to
foreign lands to share the message of the Gospel, Jesus was the penultimate
traveling missionary. He traveled from the comfort of His home in heaven,
laying aside all the commensurate advantages and blessings of such a place. He
did so as one of those He was ministering to. It was not as royalty or a member
of the priestly class. He was not born into wealth or power. Instead, He became
as one of the common people. Acculturated to the lot of the skilled working
class, He did not use abilities that may have made it possible to ease His
path. He did so even when faced with overwhelming temptation to bend just a little.
Whether tempted to satisfy His hunger by making stones become loaves of bread,[v] or encouraged to deliver
Himself from the cruelty and agony of the cross,[vi] He resisted rising beyond
what would normally be available to struggling mankind. Because of that
willingness to suffer and die as a human instead of delivering Himself with the
power available to divinity, His mission was successful and all mankind may now
cling to the blessed hope of that victory.
In a sense, His successful mission was the type to every
anti-typical missionary who traveled from the safety and advantages of the
First World to face disease, poverty, famine and possibly death in foreign
lands which were not only ignorant of that shining light, but at times, even openly
hostile to the gospel. Some died from horrible, wasting diseases. Others died from
cruel tortures and executions. Some, who may not have died, nonetheless faced
the loss of those dear to them or suffered chronic debilitating illnesses
themselves as a result of their mission service. But often having left family
and friends behind, they found new family and friends in those whose hearts
they opened to Jesus and the Holy Spirit through their witness.[vii] In spite of the great
sacrifices made, perhaps this was a golden age of missions where the light
shown in many dark lands and thousands were drawn to that light. Many of those
who served in those foreign fields saw their sacrifices as small compared to those
of their Savior. Perhaps it was that perspective that made possible their willingness
to serve. They may also have been drawn by the unquestionable love of a Savior
who would sacrifice so much for them.
When we consider the impact of these missionaries around
the earth, we cannot help but notice the magnitude of the harvest and how few
workers there now are in the ripening fields.[viii] Perhaps there are many
who stay within the protecting walls of the institutional church who could be
serving in those fields. Maybe they comfort themselves with thinking they are
the logistical support for those who are on the front lines. After all, shouldn’t
there be more people in the rear supporting those who are actually in the
mission field? There may be some merit in this view. However, if we look at the
missionaries from the perspective of the church militant which is what this
paradigm suggests, then we might also consider the level of support necessary
for support of that tactical view. As we have mentioned previously, does the
percentage of those working actively in the field begin to approach the 35%
that constituted the actual combat troops out of the total manpower of the
force engaged in Vietnam?
What does this mean in actual church membership numbers?
Per the “FACT 2010 Study for North American Division of the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church,”[ix]
forty-eight percent of the Seventh-day Adventist churches in the North American
Division have no more than fifty members in regular attendance. Another twenty-two
percent are more than fifty and up to one hundred in regular attendance. Most
of the remainder are those with fewer than three hundred attending, with 16% of
churches experiencing from 101 to 200 in attendance and 8% between 201 and 300.
Four percent of our churches have attendance in excess of 300 per week. If we
apply the 35% number to these figures, we discover that for the many churches
of less than 50 members in the 48% grouping, this would mean up to 17 or 18 members
actively engaged in Bible studies, various types of evangelism, and other forms
of front line ministry. For the 22% of churches between 50 and 100 active
members, this would mean a minimum of 17 members and a maximum of 35 actively
working as missionaries in the harvest fields. Those churches between 100 and
200 active members would have from 35 to 70 active workers on the front lines witnessing.
Those of course with over 200 active members attending could expect to have from
70 to as many as over 100 active missionaries and more in those few churches with
an excess of 300 active, attending members. All of these figures of course
predispose that the remaining members who are not participating in front line
Bible studies, evangelism, etc. are actively supporting those who are with
their own work and resources building up the support network to make it all
possible.
We share these numbers not to find fault with any church’s
evangelism program. However, we may never, as a church, have looked at what the
numbers might be for a church militant organizing for spiritual warfare. Of
course the Lord provides where the support is lean in order to keep things moving
forward, but at what point might our desire to rely on that support cross from
following faithfully where He leads to presumption on His grace when we are
unwilling to make a full commitment to missional evangelism as individuals and
as a corporate body of believers? We at times hear the nebulous goal of having
every member involved in evangelism, but what does that really mean? Who should
be doing what? Perhaps these numbers can help us to answer some of those
questions.
