Questions and Answers, Part 2

Transcript

GRM 1182
05/06/2018
Questions and Answers, Part 2
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to talk a little bit more about missions and how I understand missions and how we function as a local church in connection with missions and foreign missions. I want to clarify and address some questions that came up regarding it. I’m not on an attack on missions and I am not against missions. I want to read some quotes to you from various mission books that I have read both in the past and more recently and share a little bit that hopefully will clarify our focus. We, as a church, have to be about everything God instructs us to do in His Word. Now there is leeway on how things are carried out. Let me use myself as an example again. Personal convictions come into issues. For example, after school I had opportunity to candidate at different churches and had to make decisions. The bible didn’t say Gil, go here or there. I’m from the East Coast, my parents thought that’s where the Lord wanted me. They hoped that, but they were clear they wanted me where the Lord wanted me.

The first place I was a candidate was in Indiana but I didn’t go there. I was invited to come but I didn’t think that’s where the Lord would have me. That was a church pastored by my Hebrew professor in seminary and he was ready to relinquish that pastorate and had me candidate there. The second church I went to was in Michigan and my homiletics professor recommended me there and after my turning down the church in Indiana, he was aware of, he said to me, don’t be so particular. He said this is the best church I could recommend you to in the country and then I turned it down, dear people. We were getting ready to move back to the East Coast because we had sold our trailer in Indiana where I went to school. They wanted us to put our furniture in the parsonage there even though they hadn’t voted because they were sure we would be coming but it didn’t work out, so I didn’t go there. Then we went back to the East Coast and spoke in North Carolina, up in Massachusetts, and all this to say, there were decisions, there was no voice from heaven that said here is where you are to go.

I view each individual who believes God wants them in the ministry, whether it’s pastoring a church in the United States or going someplace else in the world, that’s a personal matter. I’m not the Holy Spirit for people. When I became settled that this was the place, last place I spoke before I came to Lincoln was in New Jersey, about 40 minutes from where my parents lived. It was a great church, a historic church, great facilities, about 350 people on Sunday morning. Earlier that week I had come to Lincoln to candidate and they called me on Wednesday and said we’d like you to come and be the pastor. I said ok I will, then I went and preached at this church the following weekend and they were very gracious. They wanted me to consider coming there. I said well I already told a church in Nebraska I’d come there. Well maybe we could pray about it, and you could call the church in Nebraska and tell them the Lord had led differently. The Lord sometimes does that, but you know, I became convinced this is where the Lord wanted me, so even though that church had 350 people and there were 33 people that voted for me, 30 members and 3 nonmembers who attended regularly, I knew this is where the Lord wanted me. That was a personal conviction.

Now what am I saying, I don’t want you to misunderstand. I had a question, is it wrong for a member of Indian Hills to aspire to a foreign mission field if they feel that God has called them to that form of ministry? You had better go where God calls you, and not where dear friends say you should go, not where family is but where God convicts you that you ought to be, so I want everybody to hear me on that. I’m not saying that I hold, or we as a church hold, it’s wrong for you to go to wherever you want to go. Wherever you believe the Lord has called you, you better go there. Now whether God has called me, or our church to provide the financial support, that’s a different story.

When I came to Nebraska, my parents were concerned. What are you going to do if that little church folds? You don’t have any money. You’re going to be stranded in Nebraska. You understand that’s a long way from New Jersey. Back then, it seemed like a lot farther but all I could say is, well if the Lord doesn’t provide anything else, I’ll be working at McDonalds, but I’m going where I believe the Lord called me to go. I think a person who believes they’re called to Africa or India or—get there.

When I talk to young men who want to go to the ministry, whether it’s a pastorate in the states or somewhere over seas, part of my responsibility is to discourage them, and I don’t think that’s unique to me. I have read of other men who follow the same approach because there’s going to be difficulties in the ministry. If you’re discouraged or you haven’t considered this or this might discourage you, you ought to reconsider. When people told me there could be problems going to a little church in Nebraska with no money to fall back on, I appreciated that. That didn’t mean I shouldn’t go but I should consider the possibilities and the problems that might come, so all this to say, I’m not against somebody, wherever they ought to be, they believe the Lord wants them, go there and get there.

The question is foreign missions, a noble way of serving God, if there is a personal conviction that’s God’s will, and my answer is yes. In fact, I think there is greater sacrifice involved in going to a foreign field. Obviously, staying in your home country, wherever in your home country, you have certain benefits that don’t come when you leave your home country, your culture your language, your family. Even though Nebraska is a ways away from New Jersey it’s not like being in a foreign country, and in this instance, the sacrifice involved, you have to consider not just for the individual but if he’s married, he has his wife to consider. In some ways, it’ll be a bigger adjustment for her. He’ll have a job and ministry that involve him, she has to adjust, provide and care for the family and the children and adjust there. He has to take all that into consideration, it is a sacrifice.

I respect and admire those who take that commitment and go. I want them to know that’s going to be more difficult than the commitment I had to stay here, so I in no way would diminish the sacrifice and what is involved in those going. I didn’t believe that’s where God wanted me; I was raised in a culture of foreign missions. I’ve shared with you the bible college I went to said, if you haven’t committed yourself to go overseas and are determined to go there unless the Lord tightly closes the door, you’re not qualified to be in the pastorate. I’ve heard more mission’s sermons in my five years in Bible college than probably everyone in this auditorium, multiplied. That’s great, I just didn’t believe that’s where the Lord wanted me so be.

Is it wrong for a member of Indian Hills to contribute to a particular missionary financially? Would such a contribution be encouraged as seeing a way of laying up treasure in heaven? I’ll take the end of that, I think all we do in serving the Lord is laying up treasure. Is it wrong to contribute to a particular missionary? You ought to do what you believe God would have you do. Let me make my confession. I contribute to some missions and missionary organizations. The bulk of my giving goes to Indian Hills, this is where the Lord called me but at the end of the year, I evaluate some other ministries and send checks to them. Do I feel that you should do that? No, you should give all your money here. No obviously not, I think it is a personal matter. If the Lord burdens you to do something—I don’t have ongoing commitments to other ministries, because I don’t want them to be dependent on my contribution when I may decide in the coming year that I’m not going to be giving in that direction. I’m not saying it’s wrong for you to have that commitment; I’m just using this as an example again. These are personal things.

I’d sort out what is the responsibility and obligation of the church that it has to meet, as a church, then my responsibility is as an individual, and there are things that are outside that are not wrong. The bible doesn’t say you shouldn’t do it, it doesn’t say you have to do it. Those are areas that I make a decision on to do that and I have done that for a number of years. I have family members, two nephews that gave their life to foreign missionary service. One is deceased now but the other is still serving overseas. I don’t give to them financially, so I don’t want you to think, well you give your money there because they are family members. I haven’t supported them financially. The ones I’ve supported are those that I haven’t even met but I am convinced of the validity of their ministries, so personal convictions. The idea that if the church doesn’t do it, you shouldn’t do it and the church is saying that nobody should do this. I’m not the Holy Spirit. This is carrying out the ministry God has given to the church, so in this, that’s where I see it.

Now I want to deal with this, is the church required to be carrying on what we call foreign missions support? Again, the involvement of my past, the churches that I was identified with would have had strong missionary “budgets.” I want to read you some material. This one book, A Biblical Theology of Missions by George Peters. He’s was head of the Missions Department at Dallas Seminary when he wrote this book in 1972. Incidentally my nephew, more recently held that position at Dallas Seminary until he passed away of cancer at the age of 57, just a few years ago. George Peters wrote this as a theology, a biblical theology of ministries and when I read this quite a few years ago early in my ministry, I thought a good place to consider and he makes the observation. “It must be admitted that no formulated theology of missions exists from the Evangelical perspective.” Then he goes on to say, “Non Evangelicals, bible believing Christians have written about missions, but there has been no formulated theology of missions from an Evangelical perspective,” and then he says, “it’s time to wake up less the foundations erode completely.”

I think that’s part of the problem, often what we talk about, about missions becomes an emotional issue, not a clear theological issue. He writes, “Building a theology of missions . . .,” my concern and you’ll notice the book’s still in print, if not you can probably get it on a used book line if you want to read it. My concern after 350 pages, I don’t believe he has established a clear theological mandate for the church’s involvement. He does it, for example, he’s says there are no commandments given for the church to be giving money as supporting and so on, but he thinks it is implied there. He thinks the apostle Paul is one clear example, but then he says, “Paul wrote no prayer letters to his home churches nor did he call upon them to send additional funds and laborers. He found all the needed resources in the new churches,” but he doesn’t think we ought to follow Paul’s example on that.

Now I’m not saying we have to follow Paul’s example or not, but I’m saying if you’re going to build your case on the example of men like Paul from the New Testament, you can’t just decide, well, we won’t follow his example here because that’s not what we want to do. I’m not saying that you have to follow Paul’s example but he makes clear in the other more recent books on missions that I’ll refer to makes the same point. The pattern was like for Paul, he went out into a new area, preached the gospel. If people got saved, he started a church, organized that church, appointed elders and went on. He never told that church they ought to support him; they ought to send men to establish churches in other places. I’m not saying that shouldn’t be done but I’m saying if we’re building a theology on the Word of God it ought to be on what the Word of God instructs.

As far as how we’re doing, reaching other countries (and I’m just going to read this since we’re in this book) but I’ll read more in detail on this but keep this in mind. “It is a great and glorious fact that the church of Jesus Christ has been established at least as a beach head on every continent and in every nation.” This becomes clear because the issue comes; sometimes people think, well we’re selfish. We’re centered here and these people haven’t heard, but he is arguing we ought to be sending missionaries but he acknowledges, even back in the seventies, that the church of Jesus Christ has been established as a beach head at least in every nation and on every continent. With all of this, here’s how he concludes, and here’s where I see people get the idea we’re not being biblical, without missions, and this is a strong statement from a man who says he builds his whole case on implication, not direct instruction, from the Word.

“A church that does not recognize the primacy of missions deprives herself of the most intimate relationship with her Lord, fails to identify herself with the primary purpose of God. Robs her membership of the deepest experiences of the Holy Spirit and denies the world the greatest blessing the Lord in grace has provided, she ceases to be truly Christian.” Now I think somewhere, and I’ve read and marked the book, we have made a great leap. A church that does not involve itself in this kind of foreign missions program has ceased to be Christian. Does that come from the Word of God or is this just a passionate conviction of a personal conviction of a man? As I read through the book and then as I read it originally 40 years ago, whatever, and have reread it, I want to have a biblical theology of missions. But, you draw conclusions that have not been proved. And, they admit through here there are no commands to send anyone anywhere, in the letters of the New Testament. There are no commands for churches to be giving money to ministries in other places. And, when they do, Paul thanks them for their grace but he never instructed them that they should.

The one time you might look at is in 2 Corinthians where Paul made a collection for the church at Jerusalem. There was a special purpose. The Gentiles demonstrating the appreciation they have of the Jews, the Jewish leadership at Jerusalem that they as Gentiles have benefited from, but as far as a missions mandate. Everybody who deals with the Scripture in a literal way acknowledges there’s no missionary mandate in the Old Testament, and we saw in the Gospels the same thing, Jesus sent His disciples out only to remain within the confines of the nation Israel. You couldn’t even go to the Samaritians, the half-breeds. We saw that, not to the Gentiles, not until after His death and resurrection is the instruction given to make disciples of all the nations, and then in Acts chapter 1 Christ doesn’t tell them to go.

God will scatter them through persecution. They have to move to other places to escape persecution and in so doing the gospel will be spread. We have no actual missionary formally going as one sent out until we get to Acts 13 with the apostle Paul, and there he has a sending church, Antioch, but there’s no indication Antioch provided ongoing support for Paul because he said he had to support himself with his leather making skills. Until sometimes a church, like Philippi, decided hey, let’s send some money to Paul. He started our church and he’s starting other churches, let’s help him with that but he told the Corinthians, I worked with my own hands when I came to Corinth. Now I’m not saying it’s wrong to send money to support people but I’m saying you can’t come out with a statement you’re not a true Christian church if you’re not doing this, because this is the implications I draw. I don’t think it’s valid he says, we shouldn’t follow Paul’s example in this where he didn’t get ongoing—so….

I’ve read some more recent books. People think I don’t know what’s going on in missions. I try to read in missions. I’ve had four books I’ve been currently reading on missions since we’re going to talk about missions. This more recent book, it’s a good book. I can’t find any mission book I totally agree with, I’ll have to write my own and then after a few years I won’t agree with it either. “For the Sake of His Name,” I think there was one copy left in Sound Words so don’t get trampled in the rush afterwards. This is, For the Sake of His Name. Here’s what they say about Paul. “Although Paul possessed and exercised apostolic authority over the churches he planted, he did not establish a pattern of dependence. He recognized and encouraged the self-government of the churches, and he gives verses for that. He did not establish patterns of regular financial support that came from established churches to new churches in other regions. The target was indigenous churches so that when they were begun with the three self’s in view, self-government, self-prorogation, self-support--contemporary missionary strategies should not deviate from these apostolic goals.”

I don’t know that I agree with that last statement in a finality. I’m just reading, there is diversity here. I don’t know that the bible says you can’t do it. We want to be careful that we don’t say here’s what they did, so that’s what we should do or we shouldn’t do. We ought to recognize the bible doesn’t mandate and that’s what he says here. Paul had apostolic authority. He could have said, I tell you as an apostle of Jesus Christ, you must send men to other places. I can tell you with apostolic authority you must give to support men; in ministry in other, he doesn’t say that. He makes each church somewhat independent and they made their decisions.

When the church at Philippi wanted to send offerings more than once, Paul wrote and thanked them. That was something, evidently, they believed the Lord wanted them to do. Paul didn’t tell them they should, didn’t tell them other churches did, so I want to be careful that what is biblically required and what is not.

Let me jump over some of this. There’s a concern I have with some of what is mandated. We get the idea here, we are, this country is so blessed and we are blessed and the heathen’s of the world don’t get a chance to hear the gospel. I’m interested in some of the more recent books. Some of those serving other countries are offended by this patronizing attitude of the United States, that without us you can’t get the job done.

Here’s what one mission expert says about the uneven distribution of missionaries today, and the ratio is there are 41 times as many missionaries serving in places that have already been evangelized compared to missionaries that go to places that have never heard. There are forty one times more missionaries in places that have already been evangelized compared to the missionaries in places that are hearing for the first time. Well, remember Paul, he only wanted to make a passing stop in Rome because it was on his way, because he says, “I don’t want to go to places that have already heard.” They realize he’s in a pagan world. Paul has broken through to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. In no way has he saturated those parts of the world, even where he visited. Rome hasn’t been saturated, you have a church in Rome. Rome’s the capital of the world, it’s a metropolis. He says, “I don’t want to spend much time there because I want to get to places that have never heard” and yet in our mission programs today, 41 times more missionaries are serving in places that have already been evangelized.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to go there. I came to Nebraska and there were already churches here. It doesn’t mean you can’t go to places that have already heard but I want to be careful. We use that call to missions as though we’re not doing our job because we are so self-centered, we want to spend all our money here and those poor people don’t get to hear. Now we realize 90 percent of the missionaries, as one statistic has given in the book, are serving in places that have already been evangelized. This missionary statesman, well known, I’ve read his books at other times. “Few missionaries are going to regions where there is little or no gospel witness” and that’s what the missionary evaluators are saying. Few missionaries are going to regions where there is little or no gospel witness. That does not mean there’s not work to be done in places that have already heard, but I’m saying we want to be careful we give this emotional appeal and we’re not really dealing--first what does the Scripture say we have to do and then I want to be careful that I don’t get drawn out. I tell you in a variety of ways I’m always surprised at how easy believers get confused by emotional arguments. We are to be rooted and grounded in the Scripture. What does the Scripture say the church has to do? What does the Scripture say the church should not do? Now what is their liberty beyond that? I want to be sure that our church is doing everything it should but I’m offended when a man of this stature writes a book and concludes you’re not a really true Christian church and then people read this and say, oh well, Indian Hills is not a true church.

The book I read that I’ve enjoyed, The Great Commission: Evangelicals in the History of World Missions, put together primarily by the professors at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago. Erwin Lutzer writes the forward to the book. Some of you are familiar with Erwin Lutzer and his fine ministry. I do not agree with everything in this book but there’s some very helpful material. I’d encourage you to read any of these if you want to expand your thinking. Let me just jump in; they start out doing a back history of missions. Part 1 – Early Protestant Missions, going back into the 16th century. Missions among Puritans and Pietist, the Evangelical Revival and the Missionary Awakening. Then Modern Anglo-American Missions, Early American Missions from the Revolution to the Civil War, Baptists and the Great Commission, Evangelical Missions in Modern America. Then Part 3 - Majority Church Missions, the Great Commission in Latin America, the Great Commission in Asia, the Great Commission in Africa and then the final chapter by Donald Carson, on Ongoing Imperative for World Missions, so Evangelical Missions in Modern America. There are some things; at least, we ought to be current on and aware of as we talk about missions.

Each chapter written by a different professor and I’m not going to go into who they are and that, it doesn’t matter. “The center of Christianity has shifted as now the majority of Christians are no longer in the European dominated Northern Hemisphere but in the two-thirds world, the global south,” so we are no longer the center of Christianity but the center of Christianity is now in the Southern Hemisphere. I remember years ago, I happened to be on a plane coming back from Latin America and I was seated next to a man, I didn’t know who he was. We sat we got to talking. He was a Missions leader in the country of Peru in Latin America and in our conversation, he made this a number of years ago, he said, “Gil the Christians in the United States, don’t understand. We don’t need your help down here to evangelize.” We’re talking about how we’re going to reach out to do the evangelization that needs to be done in the United States and you see the shift that has occurred. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong to go to Latin America, but I want to have a real picture of the world.

I’ve mentioned parachurch organizations and missions fit into this and just an interesting note, this is still “Evangelical Missions in Modern America.” After World War II a new wave of organizations called parachurches. Parachurches, I’ve mentioned to you before. The word para means alongside of. Remember we talk about the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, from the word para and the word kleto, one called alongside of, to give help and aid. Parachurches are those that are created to function alongside the church. They are not the church. They don’t claim to be the church. They don’t claim to be involved in the church. They function along with the church.

Still quoting, “After World War II a new wave of organizations called parachurches, fueled by the postwar expansion of missions, provided a distinctly American model of ministry. Now this is where parachurches came from, America. These independent, special purpose agencies dramatically expanded the opportunities for many entrepreneurial individuals to form their own society, often based on specific methods. Then he gives some that we’d be familiar with, some of the campus organizations, the Gideon’s and so on, just so we’d know. “There are dozens of examples of entrepreneurial evangelicals setting up parachurch organizations to carry on distinctive ministries.” That said I have some issues with parachurch ministries. I’m not saying they’re wrong to do it, I’m saying they’re not the church. What I have a mandate for, what Jesus said is, He’s building His church. And people say, well we’re talking about the universal church, but you know we use that expression and I believe that some of the Scripture talks about the universal church. I recommend to you the Nature of the Church by Earl Radmacher and in the appendix to that book, he lists, I think it’s around 114 references where the word church is used in the New Testament and shows that at least 90 of those refer to the local church. When Jesus gives His final word to the church in the Book of Revelation as we’ve seen, it’s the seven individual local churches. That is the manifestation of the universal church.

Now if entrepreneurial individuals want to start their own because they got their own ideas, their own thoughts on what ought to be done and how it ought to be done, it’s like everything else. If that’s your conviction that’s between you and the Lord, but again I’m committed to the local church. I don’t see why I should be criticized. I use myself, but us as a church, for my personal convictions that I’m pouring my life into, the local church primarily. If they want to start their parachurch, I think in some ways they weaken it. With all the Evangelical churches we have in the city, why are people in New Jersey supporting missionaries that come to the campus of the University of Nebraska? Maybe the local churches ought to get off their hinnies and get down there and evangelize the campus. We act like we’ve got so many churches here we should be sending people overseas, but we ignore the doorstep. You see, that makes no sense. Now I got that off my chest. There are some other things I’ll be critiquing in the future but I won’t get into it now.

Let me give you some statistics. You realize the United States is sliding down. We’ve already seen the center is moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, the center of Christianity. Here are some statistics. “Christianity is now most dynamic outside of Europe and even North America. Over the past 100 years, Evangelical Church attendance in Latin America grew 5,000 percent. African attendance 4,000 percent. Asian Evangelical Church attendance grew by 2,000 percent. In Africa alone, the number of Christians increased from around 10 million in 1900 to 360 million a century later. That’s more than the total population of the United States but that doesn’t mean they don’t need missionaries.

What I’m saying, to come and tell me we’re leaving them in darkness if we don’t pony up and support missionaries to go there, I question, while our own country and nation is descending into darkness.

“After the ravages of the first half of the 20th century, Europe, once the origin of protestant missionary movements, has become a mission field.” You know I like to read the preachers from the eighteen-hundreds and one well-known person says that if he could live in any period, of time it would have been in those 1800’s, the last half of the nineteenth century, when men like Spurgeon and others were preaching the word. I recently read some biographies of preachers during that period of time. Now less than 5 percent of the people attend any kind of church and recent statistics said they expect that’ll be down to 2 percent…any kind of church, liberal, anything.

Europe has become a mission field. I look at the United States. I see that’s where we’re going. Oh, we have churches, we get more and more shallow. Look at it, less and less interest in being involved in serious study of the Word. We keep trimming back, less time, shorter sermons, less services. What’s the next generation going to cut back to? You know what they’re going to do? They’re going to quit attending. See, the missionary leader from Peru was right. We’ll need people to come here and share the gospel, so we get our image in our mind and lose sight of the situation.

All right let me give you some statistics of regions, what they’ve done now, in the later part of the book. The Great Commission in Latin America, and each of these chapters are written by men well familiar. This is written by a man who himself is Latin American, he is in a mission. He is leading a mission centered in Paraguay. Listen to what he says as he gives his introductory paragraph. “Today the 20 Latin American nations may well be classified as Protestant in the sense that in each one of them the Evangelical community is already too numerous to be regarded as a minority, and strong enough to cause the general public to stop and look and listen. In any event, that community is not a feeble congregation of outcasts hanging around the philanthropic skirts of foreign missionaries, but rather a powerful ferment with sufficient energy of radiation to alter for good the social atmosphere and the spiritual climate of a whole continent.”

The problem he says, and we in the United States of America, the historiography of the Latin American church has concentrated on the efforts of foreign missionaries. In other words, what’s written about Latin American Missions has focused on missionaries sent there from like the United States. “It mostly ignored the fact that Latin American’s have been active since the beginning of Evangelical presence in the continent in the preaching of the gospel, both within Latin America and the other continents” and just to summarize what he says is, Latin American’s haven’t kept a record like we keep records, so we can write about our missionaries. Nobody wrote about the Latin Americans who were missionaries and their ministries, so we assume they didn’t have any.

He gets rather offended with this attitude of the United States Americans. “Continuous Evangelical presence in Latin America is over a century old. Colombia’s Evangelical Church, for example celebrated in 2006 a century and a half of history. It would not be fair to say that missionary involvement is only recent. This is a clear example of how historiography has maintained a false impression” but because he quotes from some books, some writings of Americans writing about, it’s only recently that we’ve really begun to penetrate Latin America with missionaries. He is a Latin American. He is offended by that as though until the Americans arrived nothing’s getting done. “Most of the history of the Evangelical Church in Latin America has been lost because no one has written it down.”

Missiologist Samuel Escobar, himself a Latin American, well known if you’ve done any reading about Latin American Evangelical Missions. “Missiologist Samuel Escobar has noted that for each foreign missionary in Latin America there have been tens of anonymous national missionaries” and then he goes on quoting from him, examples of the unknown outside of Latin America, who have been involved over the years going back into the 1800s, Latin Americans who have been involved in evangelizing Latin America. “Latin Americans have been involved as missionaries since the very beginning of the history of the Evangelical Church in the continent in the nineteenth century. They have undertaken the responsibility of taking the gospel to every corner of their continent with sacrifice and commitment. Their life stories are recorded only in heaven’s annals. A challenge for historians to sort through this scarce oral traditions, find local deposits of documents and so on so we could begin to appreciate that it’s not all about America,” the United States of America. “Samuel Escobar has alerted North Americans and European centers of missionary research.”

Now this is how the Latin Americans, Samuel Escobar, have been involved for years. “For many years, I had the privilege of traveling some with those who have been involved in Latin America and they talked much of Samuel Escobar then in those days. He has alerted North American and European centers of missionary research warning them of the error of believing that ‘there is missionary work only where their computers register it or there is missionary activity only when there is a type of missionary society they consider proper.’ There is also pressure from some organizations in Latin American to fulfill certain quotas for missionaries (and I’m not reading consecutively) however the fact that a church does not send missionaries does not mean—this means a Latin American Church doesn’t send missionaries, doesn’t mean evangelism is absent. Churches in Latin America are generally committed to reach their neighborhoods and towns with the gospel. They may have limited resources and they do. Most of their pastors are bi-vocational. These are the churches that comprise the majority of evangelical congregations across the continent but would never appear in missionary statistics or in the 500 most successful businesses.”

Another Latin American, former president of the Latin American Biblical Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica believes “the churches that directly or indirectly owe their origins to foreign missionaries societies, (now note this) have received a body of attitudes. Ethical stances, critical postures, economic ideas, sectional loyalties that are more substantially, related to the ideology of manifest destiny than to the gospel of Christ. The manifest destiny is a dynamic ideology, a mixture of both politics and theology, which North American’s carry with them wherever they go to evangelize, making them more the ambassadors of Anglo-Saxon Christianity and the American way of life than the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

It reminds me what I’ve shared about when I was in China dealing with pastors that had spent over 20 years of their life in Communist prisons, telling me, “WE DO NOT NEED YOUR HELP TO EVANGELIZE CHINA! We’re doing it and we’re concerned you’ll bring your corruption with you” and we have the idea, well what would they do without us. We have to get our people down there to help those poor people and sometimes we look at their physical poverty as a weakness. They had talked about it as a strength, as a sifting of what was going on. Well I could go on and on, in fact I will.

Now I’ll move on to The Great Commission in Asia since I just mentioned China and here’s how he starts. “There have never in history been more Christians in China than today, maybe as many as 70 million believers but there’s still work to be done” and let me just jump over. When we were in China, we visited with Wang Mingdao, a highlight of the trip. He had been in a Chinese prison for twenty-five years. There have been biographies written in the United States here of Wang Mingdao, one of China’s three mighty men who had the greatest impact in the 20th century in China. He, in his ministry, with his contemporaries personify a larger shift from missions dominated churches to the emergence of indigenous Christian movements around the world. Between 1900 and 1970, the number of Christians in Asia rose from just over 20 million to over 300 million. This is in Asia. Growth continued. By 2005 there are an estimated 344 million Christians in Asia. The projections are that by 2025 there will be nearly 500 million Christians in Asia alone and he goes on to say churches in Asia are creating plans and organizations to mobilize Christians to proclaim the gospel throughout the continent. Well they’re talking about having an army of 500 million. If we sent everybody in the United States over there we could only come up with about half of that number.

I’m just saying, it’s not that if prayer says God wants me in China, I’d say get there. If God wants you in Latin America get there, go, but the idea that we’re selfish, self-centered, because there’s nobody to tell them. This is a book on encouraging the church to be involved in missions, but they want to present a realistic picture.

Well I’ve told you about Latin America, I’ve told you about Asia. I going to say something about Africa and I’ll stop. You know, here’s just an example. “The agency of the Evangelical Church of West Africa and Nigeria currently has more than 1,200 missionaries in Africa and beyond.” Then I’ve got a paragraph I’m not going to read to you, but they talk about sending Africans to reach Africans who have settled in other countries of the world that they’re carrying their missionary, and then he concludes this on The Great Commission in Africa. “As for the requirement that Europeans must train Africans for evangelization, the present reality in Europe should dissuade any person from advocating that idea today. Furthermore, Europe is in need of re-evangelization and African Christians are participating in this effort.”

I think, well, the first responsibility, why should Africa have to send missionaries to the United States. Cross-cultural missions is the hardest kind. You have to learn a new culture, a new language, fit in, that’s time and money. In the first place, I’d say reach where you are. That’s what the churches evidently were first expected to do in the New Testament. They’re criticized for their failure to be what God intended them to be and therefore the light won’t shine. I’m not saying we don’t share the gospel. I’m not saying don’t go to Africa if you believe God’s called you to Africa then that’s where you ought to be. Get there, but I don’t believe this because we as a church are concentrating our energies and our finances on trying to reach the city where God has placed us and the state where God has placed us, why we have started churches. I don’t believe we have failed in doing what the bible requires and I want you to know where we are and why and to be comfortable with that. All right, that was foreign missions.

I have some other questions and I’m going to take some questions from you but I want to answer one or two that have come in on a different subject. Part of what I’m doing here, I don’t want you to get discouraged if you think we haven’t answered your questions. Some of these questions, they are going to form a nucleus for a study I’ll do for the first part of the hour so don’t think they’re forgotten.

A person asked a question, “James teaches that each person is tempted when he is carried away by his own lusts yet being tempted isn’t necessarily a sin. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness so could you comment a little bit on when does temptation become a sin.” Go to the Book of James, chapter 1. Let me answer this question on temptation. It is a word that we associate with sin, but it doesn’t always involve sin. Go to James chapter 1, so it is a good question and when does it become sin? I always remember Clarence Mason, he was the elderly statesman at the bible college that I attended. He says speaking to young college men, “Men, the first look is not sin, the second look is so I always remembered that so I won’t say, going to say make the first look a long one, but that wouldn’t be good either. James chapter 1, you see in verse two, “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” Well, that word translated trials is temptations. Now obviously he’s not saying here, count it a blessing when you’re tempted to sin, so part of it is that word can be used in a variety of ways. Then when you come down a little later to verse 12, “blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life,” so all the testing’s that come into our life, the pressures, the difficulties, are part of God molding us and passing the tests of being refined and faithful.

Then verse 13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God.’” Now here we’re talking about a testing trial that is luring us to sin. That is different from a general test. Now what is intended, when the devil tempted Christ in Matthew chapter 4, he was trying to lure Christ into sin, but the bible also says that God cannot be tempted to sin here in James chapter 1 verse 13. “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

We talk about the impeccability of Christ. Not only did He not sin, He was not able to sin, so while the devil meant it to lure Christ into sin, Christ was never Himself drawn to sin, so when does temptation become sin? Well he goes on to explain it, verse 14, “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Thus, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death,” so when does temptation become sin? When you yield.

There are temptations that come to us in all forms and all ways. Some more enticing than others. Some temptations are more alluring to some of us than others are. Be aware of where perhaps your susceptibility is. Some people use alcohol, obvious. You know for some people that’s a great temptation and they could easily be drawn into being dominated by alcohol. Some, you know all kinds, so when you yield to what he indicates here. God never tempts us with the goal to lure us to sin but even when God brings pressure into our lives, if we don’t handle it right it could become sin for us, but God wasn’t luring us into sin with that, it was to refine us, so there is that—a person can try to lure you into something. I know where so and so keeps his money. Let’s go in and take it, they’ll never miss it.

He means that as a temptation but that might not be a temptation to you at all. It might be I would not even consider it and you shut it down. Now a good thing is to shut it down when somebody is trying to lure you to sin. You don’t hang around with that person because pretty soon—that’s why the Book of Proverbs says a person who tells wicked things with his lips is sinning, but it also says in Proverbs that a person who listens to wicked things is sinning. We sometimes want to give ourselves, you know, well I want to find out and then I am drawn into the sin so the simple answer, when does temptation become sin? When you yield and one of the best things to keep you from yielding to sin is to avoid the opportunities.

Now none of us can avoid all opportunities but I think the simplest is, what we have within us because of our fallen nature is an attraction to sinful things, and that sin nature has not been removed.

That’s why we as Christians even have to be careful, because that attraction to sin can be stirred, so the safest thing for me is not put myself in that situation. As you’ve been a believer awhile, if you’re honest you know what sins you’d be more susceptible to, those--and I mentioned that the Puritans called them bosom sins, the sins you keep close to you, in case you would want to indulge. Well, you know if there’s no occasion for it, so as much as possible try to say I’m going to keep distance from those sins that might be more tempting to me and then I won’t cross the line.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be occasions so that’d be a simple answer, I guess. Christ was tempted but there was nothing within Him that was drawn to carry out that temptation. The devil would have liked for Him to, but Christ not only did not, He could not because God cannot sin and He was both God as well as man, one Person with two natures. So I believe in the impeccability of Christ. He was not able to sin. He not only did not sin in the theological issue. All right, let me break there.

You have some questions you’d like to address I’d like to give you some time for that.

Hi Pastor Gil. “In First Corinthians chapter 3 verses 14 to 15 talking about the bema seat, the judgment seat of us as believers. I wonder if you could respond to the two words found in verse 15. It says, ‘if any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet as though fire.’ What are those two words, suffer loss? Is that an emotional feeling, is that a physical observation, or how would that be seen?

Gil’s response: I think it would involve loss of rewards. Now, whatever that is, you know the details expanded out aren’t there. I think for us as God’s children, He’ll sort of like we might do with our kid’s, we’d tell them, if you do this, we have something special for you and the kid’s want to know what is it. I’m not going to tell you, but I know you’ll like it and that’s a little bit where rewards are as I see for believers. God is going to judge us. There will be a loss, the suffered loss is and He’s clear here that each of these men will be saved. They will be saved but the cost will be, they wasted their life and their opportunities to store up the added things God had for them beyond their basic salvation.

It may involve for example, ruling in the kingdom and the place of ruling in the kingdom, since we’ll talk about this with the judgments of Scripture. Christ talks about the man, you’ve been faithful in these things, I’ll make you ruler over here, so we get glimpses.

Some of the crowns of Scripture are sometimes taken into this, but even there it’s difficult to sort out the details, but I think the suffer loss is—there has to be a recognition of what could have been if I had been more faithful. The standard in everything I’ve done now is committed to the fire of evaluating its value and I spent so much of my life on things that had no eternal importance. They’ll be the awareness there. Then there are specific rewards being given, if I can put it that way, as we’ll look in the judgments a little more in detail when we get to the judgments we’re going to do in connection with chapter 20 of Revelation because Christ indicates part of it is, you’ll rule over this many cities. You’ll rule over this, so part of that comes with the position you have, the ability to honor God in greater ways since our crowns that are given in the Book of Revelation we saw in chapters 4 and 5 are cast before the throne, so I think the loss is real. What will it be beyond that, I think it’s an awareness because the judgments would have no purpose if it just were, well I won’t have any sense of not having been as faithful as I should have been? Judgement would be purposeless. All we’d need is, are you going to heaven or hell, but there is the bema seat where believers are judged so they’re not being judged on whether or not they’re going to heaven or hell. The only ones there are going to heaven but they are judged and I think that’s what he has in view here.

You have the foundation established. Now verse 12, “if anyone builds on the foundation of Jesus Christ each man’s work will become evident.” Did you build with worthless material, did you build with durable material and that’s where life goes by. Now at my age I look back and say, I can’t regain the past. I have no sense in moaning over what I didn’t do and sometimes I’m asked about, what are your plans for Indian Hills. My plan for Indian Hills and for me is to be faithful today. If I don’t fulfil today, I’ve lost today as well as our plans for the future, but you know if Christ comes tonight, it will only be what I did through today that matters.

That’s why I say, you know for us as believers to maintain that edge and we get lax and then we can fill our lives and they’re not bad things often, you know, in and of themselves. Well, is there anything wrong with this? No, maybe not. Am I sinning by doing this but if I’m filling my life, you know we find we have less and less time for the things of the Lord, the more prosperous we become, because we fill our lives with more things that take our time, which leave less time.

That’s where some of these counties, when I’m reading to you on missions, don’t want us to bring our Americanization, the man of all destiny. We’re going to lift you out of your poverty. We’re going to bring some of our resources, so you don’t have to live.….and pretty soon we’ll be living like you. That’s not the Christianity we want. We’re reaching our country for Christ and now you’re going to come down and help us. What? When you’re shriveling up there and we have to be careful. Prosperity is a blessing, but it is also a trap, so I think that’s all involved in the judgment and suffering loss. The details of it, it’s sort of, I think, of it like the kids and they might say, “oh if I knew that’s what you were going to do, I’d of worked harder. Yeah, I think we get there and say boy, if I’d known it was going to be this valuable. What did Paul say? Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men when he talked about we’ll all appear before the bema seat of Christ. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, how important it is to honor Him, because He’s going to evaluate me and my life. I persuade men, that drives me on in my service, a little bit of that. Did I leave anybody out? We’re good.

All right, I have a number of questions. I haven’t forgotten them. We are keeping track. I appreciate your writing them down. If you’ve told me, some of you have mentioned to me a good question and I say that’s a good one, I’m going to deal with that, realize by the time I got to my office my mind was blank, so if you did that don’t think I didn’t…..write it down. If you hand it to me, I’ll give it to Jeff, or hand it to Jeff or get it in a concrete way because Jeff updates the questions. He marks the ones that have answered so we haven’t lost them so if you’ve submitted a question, it’s not that we’re ignoring them, we just didn’t get to them and appreciate the questions. I appreciate the recommendations for something that might be a good study and some of the questions will form the basis for a study where I’ll try to deal with it a little more thoroughly. Ok, let’s have a word of prayer together.

Thank You Lord for Your grace. Thank You for the gospel that was brought to us. Our testimony would be in a variety of places, perhaps in a variety of ways but people who were faithful in sharing the truth with us and we want to be faithful in that way. Lord whether we do it here in this city in the confines of our own country or are called and appointed by You to carry this gospel and share in ministry in other places in the world, Lord we want to be faithful in our service to You. Lord, we have hundreds of thousands of people on our doorstep that are lost and without hope. Lord pray that our testimony will be strong and bright so that they might come to know the Savior, so that we might be used of You however, wherever You might appoint that to be. Bless the days of the week before us. Lord may they count in light of eternity. May we be faithful to You wherever we are, and whatever we’re doing, we pray in Christ’s name? Amen.