Jesus: The Missionary
“We are called to make the kingdom visible – that is, to help people discover what the kingdom of God looks like…. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Tony Walliser
Read Luke 10:1-20
Jesus: The Missionary
When you hear the word “missionary,” what comes to your mind? Do you envision someone leaving the comforts of home to live in a far-off land, learn a strange language, adapt to an unfamiliar culture, and overcome those obstacles to tell people about Jesus Christ?
In some cases, that’s fairly accurate. Jesus did that Himself leaving His home in heaven to live in a “foreign land” called earth. He adapted Himself, His language and His methods to reach people trapped in their sins and unable to set themselves free.
However, being a missionary doesn’t necessarily require crossing an ocean or entering an alien culture to encounter unsaved people needing to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. The “mission field” may be as close as the house next door in our neighborhood, the office or cubicle near ours at work, a grocery store, the doctor’s office, a golf course, or a pickleball court.
Shortly before ascending to heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Some folks are chosen to go to “the ends of the earth.” But for many of us, our “Jerusalem” is where we live and work every day. Our “Judea and Samaria” might be the other side of town, across the state line, or a business trip to another part of the country.
God decides where He wants to use each of us. The question is: are we willing for Him to use us? We’re all tempted to think, “Well, that’s not my job. It’s up to the pastors, the full-time missionaries, the ‘paid professionals.’” However, we won’t find that excuse in the Bible.
The Lord is constantly on the lookout for people willing to take a stand for Him. The Old Testament gives us a brief account of God’s calling the prophet Isaiah, a very simple, humble man. He wrote, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’” His response was, “Here am I, send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
Too often our response is, “Here I am – send someone else.” And we’re not alone in thinking that way. Studies show 80 percent of people who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ have never talked with even one non-believer about Jesus. They’ve never told anyone about the difference Jesus has made in their lives or cared enough to explain that Jesus came to bring His people back to God, died for our sins on the cross, and rose from the dead to give new life to everyone who will repent of their sins and trust Him.
These believers have chosen either to isolate from the world, retreating into little “holy huddles,” or to imitate the world by trying to fit in, rather than to “offend.”
But Jesus gives us a third option. Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus looked across a golden field of wheat and compared it to the vast field of lost souls. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Then the Lord added, “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest” (Luke 10:2).
Where do you think you would be today if someone had not told you about Jesus? How different would your life be if God hadn’t used someone to point you to “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6)?
Can you imagine the joy and the blessing it would be, having the privilege of introducing the Lord to a neighbor, coworker, or someone you meet at the gym or on the tennis court? If the harvest is indeed plentiful, as Jesus said, and the workers are few, why not pray and ask God to become one of the workers?