Celestial Table Talk
The Announcement Was Stunning. Jesus, being in very nature God, apparently didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped. He was actually going to make Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant! Shocking!! The rumor mill leaped into action.
Talk about ingratitude, especially in light of the promising career that lay ahead, working with His father governing the Universe! But today he announced He was going to Earth, to become a missionary (!) to…. humans (!!). Let’s listen in to one extended family’s table talk:
Aunt Emma: Did you hear the buzz? Jesus is going to be a missionary!
Uncle Charlie: What? Where?
Aunt Emma: On one of the planets -- Earth, with…humans! Filthy deviants….
Cousin Alicia: Humans!? What a bunch of worthless ignoramuses.
Uncle Charlie: Yup, greedy, dishonest, sexually perverted, and war mongers too!
Cousin Earl: Wow! He’s giving up all He could have had, and all He could have been!
Aunt Emma: He was doing so well…. Everybody respected Him so much.
Uncle Charlie: Read my lips – this is going to end badly.
Seven Common Fears:
It’s fun to imagine the conversations, but fear actually keeps many from missions. Here are seven common fears Satan uses to steer people away from missions.
Loss of control – starting at the bottom of the cultural pyramid, loss of positional power.
Physical harm – perhaps getting worms from the food; burglarized; raped; beaten, killed?
Stress – learning a new language, weird culture, isolated from loved ones and friends.
Living conditions – cheap apartment, cockroaches, zero nearby amenities, a cultural oddity.
Losses – could have been a banker, engineer, corporate whiz; lived in the suburbs.
Renouncing achievement addiction – leaving behind the 4.0 and stunning achievement trail.
Loss of identity – no longer a suburban family; junior in soccer; dad a VP, mom on the school board -- now a bunch of nobodies.
Purpose Trumps Fear:
Did you ever wonder why Jesus left everything (i.e., heaven) to become the first missionary? It was all about others, on two levels: His strategy was to glorify His Father (Phil. 2:6-11). His tactics involved a) becoming a servant; and b) bearing our sins in his body, on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24). Both strategy and tactics drew Him far above sinking into self-preservation, self-enhancement, and self-gratification.
In following Christ, missionaries challenge the Enemy’s cocktail of fears, rising to the high calling and eternal purpose modeled by the One to whom every knee will bow. Missions is where stained glass religious theory morphs into concrete development. A high calling, yes. With sacrifices, certainly, many. Yet the rewards are out of this world.
John S serves on the staff of GlobalGrace