Are Missions Optional?

Many professing Christians treat the matter of missions like an elective in the school of Christ—like something they may either support or ignore according to personal inclination.

Interestingly enough, missionary societies in local churches unwittingly may have encouraged this attitude. Although designed to foster missionary interest within the entire congregation, the existence and nature of these groups may have suggested, at least to some people, that missions are a kind of extra curricular activity for certain but not all believers.

We thank God for those who have worked to promote missions through such societies. We dare not relegate the church’s missionary responsibility wholly to them, however. All believers must awaken to the fact that missions are not optional, that missionary interest both nourishes and reveals the pulse and heartbeat of the church. Apart from a consuming sense of mission the church has no reason to exist. Although needed and invaluable, the work of missionary organizations ought only augment and not replace or substitute for the obligations of the entire congregation.

The Missionary Imperative

It is significant that the Scriptures propound no specific argument for missions. Nowhere does the Bible suggest merely the advisability of sharing the Christian mission. Instead we find precise commands: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …” (Matt. 28:19); “… that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations …” (Luke 24:47); “… you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Each instance employs an imperative mood. In Matthew 28:19 it is obvious. In Luke the imperative comes to light only by studying the Greek root of the word translated “should.” It connotes the meaning of concern strengthened by expectation, a concept that involves purpose, duty, or necessity. In Acts the grammatical construction implies even the command’s certainty: “You shall be my witnesses.…”

God has so united Christian experience and Christian mission that true discipleship manifests itself in missionary zeal. As we read the Acts of the Apostles we are impressed how Christ’s followers fulfilled this mission. They had one consuming passion—to present Christ to an unknowing, unbelieving world. “They did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42). Whether witnessing to individuals or to multitudes, the Apostles were men of mission. Philip enjoyed considerable success in proclaiming Christ to many in Samaria (Acts 8:1–25), but he was equally sensitive and responsive to the need of one Ethiopian on a lonely desert road (Acts 8:26–40). God’s Spirit mightily used Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–47), but Peter’s mission, like that of all faithful disciples, was not fulfilled with one day’s service. Paul, from the day of his conversion, became “a chosen instrument … to carry … [Christ’s] … name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). A deep urgency that underlies all Christian fruitfulness led Paul to exclaim, “… necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16).

While for the disciples this mission no doubt represented an integral part of their call to preach, it implies for all believers an awareness of man’s need and the imperative nature of the Christian message. All believers have different gifts, but as members of the church, the body of Christ, they have but one ministry and one mission.

Someone is reported to have said to James Denny, the Scottish theologian, “Some people do not believe in missions. They have no right to believe in missions: they do not believe in Christ.” Harsh as this observation may be, it is nonetheless true to the spirit of New Testament Christianity. On the other hand, to believe in Christ is to believe and to accept a mission, for he “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). An awareness of mission was crucial to Christ’s ministry, for it is indeed at the very heart of the Gospel. This same awareness is no less essential for the contemporary church.

Where sensitivity to the missionary imperative is absent the church becomes ingrown, complacent, and self-satisfied. It lives and thrives only so long as it spends itself in ministering to the spiritual and material needs of men. What Christ said of discipleship is just as true for the church at large, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:29).

The Missionary Responsibility

The missionary imperative makes plain also the missionary responsibility. “Go ye …” (Matt. 28:19, KJV). “You shall be my witnesses …” (Acts 1:8). The pronoun is absolutely inescapable. The responsibility for extending the Christian mission falls on all believers. It involves you!3 John 5–7 speaks of missionaries who went about preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. The account adds: “So we ought to support such men, that we may be fellow workers in the truth” (3 John 8). In 2 Corinthians 8:3–4 Paul records the desire—even the longing—of the Macedonians to share in the Christian mission of compassion, “For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part.…” Paul’s challenge and admonition to the Corinthians is, “Now as you excell in everything—in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in your love for us—see that you excell in this gracious work also” (2 Cor. 8:7). The Scriptures reveal beyond any reasonable doubt that each of us as a believer literally possesses a missionary responsibility to witness, to work, and to give, that Christ may be known “to the end of the earth.”

Occasionally we meet people who cling to the principles of evangelical faith but are totally oblivious to any missionary responsibility. While they claim Christ as Lord, they either do not or will not understand that his Lordship calls for and merits the utmost sacrifical service. He expects us to work that all men may acknowledge and experience his Saviourhood and Lord ship for his glory. The unique message of the Gospel demands constant repetition: “… for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Christ alone is the way. He himself said “… no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). Our missionary responsibility, then, involves more than obedience to Christ’s command to go; for those who have not yet come to Christ in saving faith our measure of missionary response is a matter of life or death. Concern over the utter lostness of those outside of Christ kindles a real urgency to share the Gospel. Necessity is laid upon us because we know that without Christ men live in the wrath of God (John 3:36). Christ reveals himself as the bread of life; the light of the world; the door of salvation; the good shepherd; the resurrection and the life. He speaks of himself as the true vine through whom, if we abide, we may bear fruit. In him “we live and move, and have our being.” His Incarnation to provide salvation has changed the course of history; his person and work have immeasurably affected all mankind, Christian or not. He is Lord, and men must be brought to know him!

Paul pointedly summarizes the matter: “But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14, 15). Not everyone can go afar to preach or minister in Christ’s name, but all believers can support the church’s mission of redemption and reconciliation and thus become “… fellow workers in the truth” (3 John 8).

The Missionary Scope

No Christian can escape the missionary imperative or evade the missionary responsibility set forth in the Scriptures. But what of the scope of this mission? Christ answers: “… make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28: 19); “… you shall be my witnesses … to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Christian mission is ecumenical. It embraces the whole inhabited earth, all classes and cultures, all tribes and nations. The apostles preached the Gospel in synagogues, in pagan courts, in the open fields, on highways, in prison, before religious leaders, before government officials, to their own nation, to neighboring and to distant lands. We must do no less.

It is imperative that American Christians bear testimony for Christ in their own country and address the problems peculiar to their community and culture. Through mission boards and agencies they must witness for Christ in both metropolitan and rural areas, to both cosmopolitan and provincial people of all classes. Every American outside of Christ is a mission field. Christians must support the missionary enterprise abroad as well as to the uttermost parts of the world. So long as there are people who do not accept and follow Christ, whether they be rich or poor, learned or unlearned, the church cannot relinquish its missionary dedication. The field is the world, and it is white unto harvest.

In geographic scope the Christian mission includes all the inhabited earth. In range of method, it includes preaching, teaching, and healing. In fact, the breadth of the church’s mission is declared by Christ at the beginning of his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has appointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19). The church therefore ministers in Christ’s name through schools and colleges, hospitals and clinics, homes for orphans and the aged. Remembering Jesus’ words: “… whoever gives … even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple … shall not lose his reward” (Matt. 10:42) the church provides clothing for the naked, food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless. The field is the world; entering every door of opportunity whether by preaching, teaching, or healing is the method of missions that Christ and his salvation may be known among all men.

Missions are not optional. Scripture unequivocally states the imperative, the responsibility, and the scope of this task. The question for every believer is not “shall I take part in this mission?” but rather “what part shall I take?” In our own communities and to the whole world we must witness for Christ.

How can we fulfill this command? First of all we must yield ourselves to the Lord and to the guidance of his Spirit. Sons and daughters of succeeding generations must be challenged with church related vocations, must be encouraged to share the missionary responsibility of Christ’s church. Overwhelming concern for lost men and women, some of them our immediate neighbors, must engage us in intercessory prayer and in witness. Those who have accepted Christ’s call to circle the globe with the Gospel we must support with our substance.

The day is far spent. Go!

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