This morning, we are continuing in the sermon series over the last 3 months of reminding you as the family at Trinity who God has called us to be.  The Lord has called us to be whole-hearted in our devotion to and growth in Christ; has called us to worship Him in Spirit and truth; has invited us into His healing and His deliverance; has asked us to be equipped to do every good work He has in mind for us to do as we serve; and has sent us out as His people with a treasure we are to share with the impoverished world.  That treasure is Christ, of course.  This morning, I want you to see more about this last aspect of our calling– what it means that we are sent out into the world with the gospel.  A few weeks ago, we talked about God’s call on us as His church to plant other churches, which is God’s chosen means of spreading the gospel.  This morning, I would like to look a another aspect of being sent out with the gospel:  Part of what it means for us to “advance together to reconcile the world to Christ” is to be involved with reaching the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I. Jesus’ lifestyle reflects a commitment to reach the nations.

As you read through the gospels, one of the things which would strike you if you were an Orthodox Jew was the way Jesus interacted with non-Jewish people.  This is a little harder for us to grasp, because, of course, we interact with all kinds of people in our pluralistic society.  But in Jesus’ day, a Jewish Rabbi would not have interacted as Jesus did with pagans.  The issue was remaining ceremonial clean.  If they were not ceremonially clean, they could not perform their duties before a holy God.  They rightfully took this very seriously. 

Let’s look at a couple of examples of how Jesus interacted with ‘pagans’ in His day.  In Luke 4, Jesus went to his home town of Nazareth and was invited to speak as a rabbi to the people there.  In the middle of His sermon, Jesus gives to them a stinging rebuke for their lack of faith.  He reminds them of 2 stories from the Old Testament, that of Elijah going to the widow of a pagan nation instead of to a widow in Israel, and that of the Syrian man, Namaan, who was cleansed from leprosy by Elisha the prophet.  The people clearly understood this rebuke– these people from pagan backgrounds had faith to receive from the Lord while you, the chosen people of God have no faith and so are shut off from the blessing of your Lord.  They tried to throw Jesus off of a cliff because of what He said.  Next, Jesus goes to Galilee– known as “Galilee of the Gentiles”, and delivered a man possessed by demons who was a Gentile.  Jesus spent much of His time in Galilee and even the Decapolis– 10 cities in modern day Syria.  This focus by Jesus doesn’t surprise us, but would have shocked His hearers in Israel.  Jesus had meals with tax collectors, prostitutes and other people the religious called immoral.  He loved these very lost people.
All of this brings us to the question, “Why did Jesus spend so much time with pagans?  What was His plan?”  We must understand that Jesus, according to John5:19,  did those things He saw His Father doing.  In other words, Jesus only did those things His Father asked Him to do, so the things Jesus did were the will of God, without exception!  After Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, before He ascended to His Father, He gives His disciples what we call the Great Commission.  But this statement by Jesus was a summation of His life.  Jesus is asking His followers to follow the pattern He followed– the pattern His heavenly Father had given to Him.  This would not have been a new or shocking teaching to them, but would have made perfect sense, because this was the heart of the Father. 
Let me ask this question, “Has the heart of the Father changed?”  In other words, if the heart of the Lord was to reach the nations with the truth of the gospel, to care for the oppressed and to give them good news to save them, has the heart of the Lord changed in our day?  Absolutely not!  The things on God’s heart have not changed.  We need to follow Jesus’ example and embrace those things that are on the heart of our Heavenly Father!

I will give you a brief personal testimony here.  When I graduated from college and went into a para-church ministry to reach college students with the gospel, I had very little understanding of God’s heart for the lost peoples around the world.  If you had asked me then, I would have said, ‘Oh yeah, God thinks missionaries are a good thing, but I focus on those I can reach who live near me here.  God can send others to do work overseas.  There is enough need here to keep all my time occupied.”  On one level, that is a true statement.  The problem with it is that it does not completely reflect the heart of God as His heart is revealed in the Scriptures.  As I studied the Scriptures and saw God’s heart for the peoples of the world, and as I began to pray each day through a missions prayer guide, the Lord completely changed my heart and perspective on how I need to invest my time and energy.  Let’s look at this a little more deeply.

II. The Bible begins and ends with God building His Kingdom among the nations of the world.

At the very beginning of the Bible, God gives to Abraham a two-fold promise.  Genesis 1-11 forms the introduction to the Bible, so Genesis 12 is, in essence, what would be considered “Chapter one” in our understanding of how books are put together– you understand that all chapters and verses were added much later so we could reference places, but are not a part of the original text.  God shows up and speaks clearly to His chosen servant, Abraham.  He tells Abraham that He will bless him and that He will bless anyone else who blesses Abraham.  We like that part– God wants to bless me!!  That is a true biblical statement.  Make sure you define “blessing” correctly.  We tend to equate blessings with comfort and financial provisions.  Comfort and financial provision may or may not be blessings, from a biblical point of view.  If those comforts or provisions are going to lead you away from your relationship with Christ, it is not a blessing! 
The other thing I want you to see from the beginning of the Bible is that even biblical blessing is never an end in and of itself.  The end is to bring God glory by being a part of completing His plans.  Look at the second aspect of the promise to Abraham in 12:3b– “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  The Hebrew word “peoples” refers to a clan or an extended family.  Every extended family– think of when you have a complete family reunion with grandparents, cousins on every side– that is your clan, which may contain several hundred or thousand people– every one of these clans will be blessed through Abraham!  How is that possible?  I am sure Abraham didn’t really know when the Lord said this; but the Lord knew!  God’s plan was and still is to bless, meaning make Himself known to them, every clan on the earth.  This is what will bring Him the most glory.

How does this bring God great glory?  When people who have nothing in common which would naturally draw them to one another are seen truly loving one another as the Scripture calls on us to do, then there is no other explanation than God is in their midst, which brings great glory to His Name.   I have been in the midst of 20,000 students from many different backgrounds, who are all worshiping the Lord together.  Each person and each clan is expressing praise to God, but through his or her own language, through his or her own cultural understanding.  It was powerful to hear Koreans, Spanish speaking peoples and many other languages around you as you worshiped the Lord!  This was a slice of heaven for those who were gathered there at the Urbana Student Missions Convention.

Someone once said it this way: when God separated the peoples of the world in Genesis 11, He confused their languages so that they would be forced to depend upon God instead of trying to reach God-likeness on their own.  Confusing their languages was both judgement and blessing, because it became the means God would use to bring Him greater glory as people from every clan became Christians and worshiped Him.  When God confused their languages, it was like the shattering of a large mirror.  When God puts every piece back in the mirror, and each clan worships the Lord for who He is, the mosaic will most fully reflect the nature and character of God.  This is why I am so adamant about freeing people to worship the Lord in whatever way is meaningful to them.  For some of you raising your hands and exuberantly shouting to the Lord is a wonderful and normal expression of your praise.  For others, quiet, meditative worship is what helps you encounter the Lord more fully.  We need to learn how to praise the Lord using many different forms, which are familiar to different clans.  The end of every effort we make is to glorify God by reaching out to those who do not currently worship Him and be used by God to turn them into God worshipers.

And we know the end of the story!  Revelation gives us several glimpses into what will be.  Listen to what the Scriptures teach about who will be in heaven:  Rev 7:9‑10

9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Since we know this is the heart of our God and we know His will is to bring this to completion, let’s join Him in His incredible plan to bring nations to Christ.  I was speaking with a person last week about the incredible experience it was to begin a ministry to an unreached tribe in Africa.  We saw God’s finger on every step we made.  I still remember taking off from Kampala, Uganda, in a small plane which would land in northern Uganda on a grassy strip, which boys had been paid 10 cents to cut with machetes.  As we took off, there was the most brilliant rainbow I have ever seen.  The other members of the tream saw it and huge smiles broke out on every face as we knew God was confirming His covenant promise to us to give us the nation as an inheritance.  The gospel has continued to spread through this tribe from that day on.  I can’t wait to meet some of the people from that tribe in heaven and hear their stories about how God saved them, knowing that I had a small part in implementing that vision as the Spirit of God led us every step along the way!

III. Our place in reaching the nations.

If you have been following along so far, you should be agreeing that the Scriptures reveal to us God’s plan to reach every nation, every tribe and every people group with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The problem for many of us is that this aspect of our vision still feels distant.  How can I affect a Muslim living in the Middle East or the former Soviet Union?  How can I make a difference in North Korea or among the Buddhists in SE Asia?  How is it possible for me to even think about touching any of the millions who live far away in China or South America?  Some of you have already guessed where I am going with this...  Trinity is touching people in all of these places I just mentioned!   The first thing we do is to pray.  I find people quickly wane in prayer when they do not feel like their prayers have results, or when they do not hear the effect of their prayers.  We are not always promised to know the immediate impact of our prayers; but it is good to be connected to one or more of the missionaries we have sent to the harvest.  Get on their prayer list– ask Don or Stephanie for personal requests and for answers.  Read Don’s blog.  Connect with the Vinazanis in far away China.   Choose a missionary and connect more deeply with that sent one in prayer, in writing them and in encouraging them.  Mary Kay Belissary has done this.  When we got to Bosnia last October, Mary Kay was able to immediately interact with Stephanie about things going on because she wrote Stephanie often and prayed specifically for her ministry and life.  What I would love is for every one of you– singles and families– to adopt and embrace at least one of our missionaries.  In one sense they are all depending on all of us to support them; but it would be more meaningful for your family or for you to closely follow one or maybe 2 of our missionaries.  You look up the places they are doing ministry– Mauricio and Diana Palacio are in Netherlands right now doing ministry, and someone broke into their house and stole from them.  If you have adopted them, then you would have received that note and been praying for them and thinking of ways to help resupply whatever they lost.

We also make a difference when we go to the mission field.  Bette Cox left Wednesday to spend 2 weeks with an OM ship in Iceland.  This makes an impact!   Mauricio and Diana need for a couple of people from Trinity to go to Colima to see their ministry, which is just being birthed there, to pray with them and encourage them.  You could go.  Think about it this way– instead of taking a traditional vacation next year, use a week at least to visit the missionary you have adopted.  Do this in connection with the missions team, but an excursion like this will bless your socks off as well as strengthen the ministry of those you visit.