Blessed to Be a Blessing: Engaging in Global Missions

The missionary endeavor of the Protestants in England burst forth out of the soil of a very rich Reformed, Puritan theology. You remember the Puritans. They were the pastors and the teachers between 1560 and 1660 who wanted to purify the Church of England in accord with the theological and practical teachings of the Reformation. [00:01:38]

They had a view of Biblical authority and God’s sovereignty that produced an undaunted hope for the world. They were deeply stirred with a passion for God’s coming kingdom. They really believed in Psalm 86:8 and 9. It goes like this. There is none like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. [00:02:12]

The mindset the vast majority of the Pilgrims who came from England to America was we’re on an errand into the wilderness to advance the kingdom of God and to reach the nations the Algonquin and the Cherokee and Iroquois and the dozens and dozens of tribes that were in America, the unreached peoples, the frontiers, the place where the gospel was going to bring victory among the nations. [00:04:55]

And his motto for life was, “Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.” And one of the great tragedies of our land is that was completely destroyed. We have much to grieve over with regard to our history. But what I want to say is that the earliest, risk taking, pains taking, prayer soaked, missionary adventure into the unreached nations of the world among Puritans was driven by a profound confidence in the sovereignty of God and a rich and robust Reformed theology. [00:08:14]

So when 1793 comes, you not only have William Carey driven by this very same Reformed vision of God’s triumph in the world because of His sovereign promises, but you have David Brainerd, you have Adoniram Judson, you have Alexander Duff, David Livingstone. They’re all driven by the same theology. They’re all Reformed. They’re all Calvinistic. [00:09:43]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Europeans dominated the world church – 70.6% of the world’s Christian population was European or European descent. By the end of the 20th century, so 11 years ago, the European percentage of world Christianity had shrunk from 70% to 28% of the total, and Latin America and Africa alone, without Asia, combined made 43% of the world’s Christians. [00:12:14]

When you hear statistics like that be careful that you do not draw false inferences like the day of missions or the day of Western missions is over. There are people talking that way, and it is horrific, I think. To say, for example, just send your money to third world missions because they can do it better, and we’re not needed anymore, here’s the way I translate that philosophy. Let them shed their blood, not us. [00:16:23]

There are, as we speak – I updated this from the joshuaproject.net yesterday, who keep week by week tabs on these statistics – there are, as we speak, 6,872 unreached peoples. So you can go to their website – joshuaproject.net – and see the precise definition of unreached, representing 41% of the population of the world in those peoples. [00:18:04]

The purpose of God in this prayer – this is the way you pray when you’re praying “Thy kingdom come,” this is the way you pray – God’s purpose is to be known, praised, enjoyed, and feared. Those are the four purposes of God in this Psalm. Let’s just look at them. Number one, God’s purpose is to be known. [00:25:03]

If we are children of God, then the only thing that will bring true and lasting satisfaction is to throw our lives into the purpose of our Father. And the purpose of our Father is to be known and praised and enjoyed and reverenced among all the nations. [00:28:25]

There are three kinds of people we like to say at Bethlehem – goers, senders, and disobedient. And there aren’t any other kind. And so I do not expect you nor want all of you to go. When Paul was heading for Spain, and he wrote his missionary letter called Romans to get support. “I want you to speed me on my journey.” He meant don’t go with me. [00:31:05]

Blessing is on the church in America for the sake of the nations. And even though the center of gravity has moved from Europe to America and now to the global south, my prayer is I’m simply… I’m in God’s face about this. No, no, no, no, no, no, the church in North America will not be left behind in this process. [00:48:34]