Christians refer to Jesus’ final words in Matthew as the “Great Commission.” He says
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
We who claim to follow, worship, obey, love, adore Jesus the Christ; this is our primary mission in the world. It doesn’t get more sexy and thrilling than these plain words: go and make, baptize and teach. So then, let’s look at how Christianity as an institution has been doing here in the west.
Americans spent $51,000,000,000.00 on our pets last year, and look to spend even a couple billion more this year. We love our pets. No, we LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE our pets. I’m one of them – I fawn over my two cats like they were my own flesh and blood.
On the other hand, while it is difficult to get an exact dollar amount that American Christians gave to missions last year, the statistic which is easy to find is this: the average American church gives about 5% of its money to missions and evangelism. Of that already pitiful amount, only about 5% of it goes to reaching the most unevangelized, needy, dark places on earth. Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
What does this say? Very simply, that American churches are filled with mostly lost people who have not been born again, and also that even those who have been born of the Holy Spirit are asleep on the playground of American prosperity. This is hypocrisy of the first order.
We preach Jesus crucified for the sins of the world, but we don’t preach it to the world.
We preach ONE WAY! to get to heaven, but we keep the way to ourselves… unless someone from Iran or Indonesia wants to come to our well-funded building in America and hear our sermon – then they could get the gospel!
We preach that Jesus is more precious than anything, but our money tattle-tales on us. We believe that football, pornography, gourmet food, and pets are much more important than Jesus being preached in all the nations.
We preach that a person must hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be saved, but we send most of our missions money to those places where someone has already preached – leaving the unreached world to… well, the dogs.
I know, I know. Some of you are thinking about how negative and judgmental I am being. Let me assure you I am inside of the group of people I am shaming. I just spent $3,000.00 on a vacation to Grand Cayman while I give $30.00 per month directly to world missions. I’m infected with it too: prosperity and materialism to the core. Does that help you to get past the author, and look back at the statistics?
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Imagine this! 66% of the world population has about 0.0005% of the gospel funding going to it!
Jesus is still King
Even though the majority of the wealth in the world is concentrated here in North America where we hoard it and lavish it on our pets, we cannot lose sight of the reality that Jesus is still King of the cosmos. The One who gave the command to go and make, baptize and teach is still alive, beautiful, and sovereign. Make no mistake, He is at work in the world to call to Himself a great sea of redeemed people. The mission does not depend on our obedience, because then we would be the saviors of the mission. There is only one Savior, and His name is Jesus; Son of God, Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is raising up missionaries and those who will give to missions work. He is giving life and resurrection to the dead souls of sinners throughout the world. He is able and willing to complete the mission for His glory in spite of the North American spiritual malaise.
Here’s the thing though – He still invites you and me to participate through obedience to that simple command – go and make, baptize and teach. If you are breathing, it is not too late to reform your giving practices, to create a place in your schedule where you pray for the salvation of the nations, to become an encourager in your church. God has not yet destroyed the material wealth of the United States – the torch is still in our hand, the opportunity is wide open! Let’s repent of our pet-worshiping, vacation-idolatry, football-mesmerized, self-centered way of life! Today is a new day, and His mercies are new every morning! You still can join in Jesus’ global mission to bring all men to repentance and faith in Him, freed from their idols, joyful in Christ, worshiping the Father in spirit and truth. Are you in?
I’ll leave you with two things: a great idea from a Senior Pastor in San Antonio, and video of a recent sermon by David Platt – a sermon from the 2012 Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
The pastor from Texas, Drew Leaver, suggests your church cut its missions budget. I think it’s a cool idea.
And for the David Platt missions sermon, my dad who was there tells me there was not a dry eye in the place as this word went out. I also greatly encourage you to get a copy of Platt’s book “Radical.” Let’s begin to reject hypocrisy from our lives, and joyfully obey Christ in the global mission He has given to us – for which He laid down His own life.
Thanks for reading,
-Justin
P.S. If you go away from this feeling condemned, I would only encourage you to turn back to Christ Jesus and receive His unconditional love and forgiveness for your sin. The fuel of Christian missions is not daunting statistics, but rather the gospel power of God – yet we must face the statistics and realize that a once-in-2,000-years opportunity is upon us and is being squandered!