August 6, 2013

 Acts 1:8 — But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

 This is, of course, one of the great “missions” verses. How are we to interpret it? It was a subject of a talk I had with an excellent young man in the seat next to me on the very long flight to Brazil yesterday. Unlike me, he grew up in a Christian home and has got far enough in his walk, by the age of 28, to be asking himself questions about his share in building the kingdom. It was a rare pleasure for me to meet someone who was so thoughtful about his future. Here’s what he said:

“I need to decide whether to go and get my law degree, or to carry on with my present job, and hopefully build some wealth. But I’ve got a passion for a ministry. Did you know there were 150 million slaves in the world?”

Now as it happens, I did have a fair idea. Indeed those of us in Florida ought to be peculiarly sensitive to the issue as slavery, or human-trafficking, which is another name this ugly trade goes by, is a plague in our own state. But that did not seem to be the point. How should I advise this young man — if indeed it was any of my business? It seemed it was, for it was then that the verse above came to mind. We talked about the idea that every mission field does not have to be overseas. The old idea of Americans going to Africa to convert the Africans may soon be replaced by Africans coming here to convert Americans!

There are some interesting contrasts between the verse in acts and the “Great Commission” found at the end of Matthew’s Gospel.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Do you see the contrasts? The Great Commission is a command, and must surely be addressed to believers collectively. The verse from Acts describes what will happen. It can be interpreted, perhaps more narrowly — some to Jerusalem, some to Judea, some to Samaria, and some to the ends of the earth. How are we to think about this? Every believer is commanded to be part of the Great Commission –but every believer may play a different part in it. Not everyone is called to an overseas mission field.

So what has my fellow-passenger decided to do? He still not sure — more prayer required! But now he has a starting point. He’s going to consider the “what” and “where” of his mission — is it his task to go, or to help others go by being able to finance missions activity? Is he called to have influence locally, or far off?

Most of us are not so thoughtful. We do what comes to mind from time-to-time, but not in any very planned and structured way – and that’s ok too I think. We are all called to the Great Commission — but it is not the center of our life’s work. Perhaps it’s time to pray about the “what and where” of our own missions activity – go, enable, or send; local, nearby, far away, or the “ends of the earth”?