The Makings of a Missionary by OMF International

= -u 0

FDIT°

The Makings of a Missionary 1 Corinthians 9:16-27 ONE of my boyhood “treasures” was a book with several cut-away sectional diagrams showing the internal workings of a car. It helped me to understand something of that integrated system of petrol feed, electrical circuitry, oil lubrication and so on that made possible the car’s smooth acceleration and movement along the road. There are quite a number of passages in the Scriptures which may be likened to such “cut-away diagrams”. In them, God shows us something of those internal spiritual “workings” that made some of His servants such effective instruments for the glory of His name. In the pursuit of God’s mission in the world, the “outward movement” of service is entirely dependent on the “inner movement” of personal discipleship and all who would engage in this task must learn deeply of the lessons that God waits to teach them in relation to it. The Scriptural accounts of such Old Testament men as Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Jeremiah are all full of rich veins of truth for the believer who longs for a deeper understanding of the “internal” principles of God’s service. For our study, however,

let us look into the New Testament and explore one of the most important passages relating to God’s servant, Paul. During the course of his first letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul answers those who queried both the validity of his apostleship (1 Cor. 9:lf) and his basic right to be supported by those to whom he ministered (1 Cor. 9:3ff). In the course of the same part of his letter, he is led by the Holy Spirit to speak about some of those inner components which, by the grace of God, served to make him the man that he was. We see, first of all: 1. The desire that motivated him (verses 16-18) Paul affirms that he can claim no personal credit from his work of preaching the gospel, for he has done it not out of his own choice but out of a God-given constraint (16). The word translated “laid” is used in a number of very interesting ways in the New Testament. For example, when our Lord was being jostled by the crowds, Luke tells us that “the people pressed (literally ‘laid’) upon him (Luke 5:1). Again, when Paul and his companions encountered that tumultuous storm in the eastern Mediterranean, the storm that led to their eventual shipwreck, Luke describes the scene in the words: “No small tempest lay on us” (Acts 27:20). Paul uses this same word to describe the “necessity” that

was bearing in urgently upon him regarding the preaching of the gospel. “I find myself gripped with an inescapable desire and compulsion to make Christ known to men,” he says in effect, and goes on to contemplate how miserable he would be if he used his life for anything else. In verse 17, Paul admits plainly that if he had taken up the task of preaching the gospel on account of a personal option or for monetary gain, then his reward would be in the currency appropriate to such aims. But, no, he preaches Christ out of a sense of “stewardship”, for such is the basic meaning of the word translated “dispensation” in the AV and “commission” in the RSV. Frequently in his letters, Paul speaks of his ministry as being one of stewardship, of his being “put in trust with the gospel” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:4ff; 1 Tim. 1:11; Titus 1:3). Just as a steward in the Gracco-Roman world, entrusted with the property of his master, was held responsibleforeffective management of that property, so Paul realized that being entrusted with “the mysteries of God” called for a uniquely high level of responsibility and trustworthiness (1 Cor. 4:lf). He was responsible, on the one hand, to God, the Author and Giver of the gospel, whose servant he was and, on the other hand, to men who needed to hear of the gospel for their salvation. It was Paul’s testimony that the discharge of such a task brought its own eminently satisfying reward (18).

A friend of mine, who did quite an amount of open air preaching, had a number of “opening gambits”, one of which went like this: “Well, now, I expect some of you must be thinking that we haven’t anything better to do than to come out here like this. You are absolutely right! We haven’t anything better to do and that is why we are here l’ Somehow, I think Paul would have echoed those sentiments! For him, making Christ known among men was the greatest task in the world, and this should be true for every Christian, The desire to witness can never be an “extra” in the Christian’s life. It should arise spontaneously from his personal encounter with his Saviour and Lord and should be an inner desire and ‘necessity” to which he gladly and eagerly responds. To put it another way, commitment to Jesus Christ automatically involves commitment to witness and mission to the world; there is no question of either opting “in” or “out” unless we wish to turn our backs on the basic principles of the Christian life. The desire to preach the gospel not only arises from basic Christian experience but from the very nature of the gospel itself. The issues that confronted Paul confront us in equal measure. If God “so loved the world” then must not the world of men and women hear of it? if the Son of God has shed His blood for sinners and there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12), then is it not a task of the highest urgency that men and women everywhere shall be urged to 4

believe on Him and be saved (Acts 16:31)? If the religions of Asia cannot bring forgiveness for sin and restored fellowship with God, then can the Church of God rest at ease until the peoples of Asia have been clearly and effectively confronted with Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6)? The question we must put to ourselves is this: How much is my life characterized by this “necessity” to witness to my Lord, both to those immediately around me and also to those in other parts of the world to which God desires to direct my prayer and concern? How easy it is to become so self-centred in Christian living that the task of witness is left to others and the needs of world mission go by default. God may need to do a work of re-kindling the smouldering embers in your heart and mine so that love for Him and for men may again break forth into a flame. In the second place, let us look at: 2. The demands that moulded him (verses 19-23) Paul moved among the two major groups of people in the world of his day: Jews and Gentiles. While he was under no obligation to anyone in relation to his freedom as an individual citizen, yet because of the constraint of the gospel that was on him, he willingly submitted himself spiritually as “everyman’s slave” in order to win “everyman” for Christ (19). As he

1. I

3. The discipline that mastered him (24-27) With the theme of the priority of the claims of the gospel still strongly in his mind, Paul turns to the sports arena for suitable illustrations to speak about

the question of spiritual self-discipline. Sport was as much a part of the world of Paul’s day as it is of ours, though the Romans did not have the media of mass communications to bring it into their living rooms as we do! He pictures the athlete intent on reaching the tape, with everything else subservient to this one end in view (24). When his mind turns to the weeks leading up to the race itself, he recognizes that “every competitor in athletic events goes into serious training” (25 J. B. Philllps) if he is to enter his race with any hope at all of winning. Can the Christian “athlete” in his spiritual “race” be any less dominated by singleness of purpose or thoroughness in spiritual training, Paul asks? The sports arena runner has as his reward a mere laurel wreath the leaves of which will fade and drop within a very short while. The Christian has his glorious Lord to please and a heavenly reward to gain I In his first letter to Timothy, Paul had occasion to contrast the limited benefits of physical fitness with the unbounded rewards to be obtained in the spiritual realm; and on that occasion also, he urges the young Timothy to “take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit” (1 Tim. 4:7). Paul goes on to emphasize that if there is to be true spiritual purpose and effectiveness, there can be no time for dallying with secondary matters or for expending energy wide of the target, drawing his illustrations from the race track and the boxing ring

friends, attitudes to time and decision making, attitudes to politeness and honesty, attitudes to the past, the present and the future all make up a pattern of life that takes considerable time even superficially to understand and much longer to evaluate and adequately comprehend. As the mis sionary seeks to condition his way of life accordingly so that he may “become all things” to those he is seeking to win, many are the ethical and religious problems that arise, and often will he prayerfully have to consider where the boundaries of “the law of Christ” must be drawn. How much of our prayers are occupied in praying for our missionary colleagues in this important aspect of their service? Identify they must, and somewhere along the line it will involve agony and tears. The prayers of those who have sent them, that the missionary may be delivered from any sense of western cultural superiority and have that lowliness of heart and discernment of spirit truly to live as the servant of Christ in the country of his adoption, will prove to be the means of strength in times of weakness and courage in times of despair. Finally, in this passage, we have an insight into:

respectivY (26). He realizeStlat spiritual discipline is a very serious task and he uses a particularlY vigoroUS word in verse 27 to describe how he “pommelS his body, literally “gives it a punch in the lower face”, so that it would not be the means of exerting any mastery over him. 1-lis concern was that there might come a time when God would have tO say to him: “Paul, I can no longer use you as I once did. You have become spiritually flabby and have become occupied with lesser things than serving Me with oneness of heart. Your lack of spiritual fitness disqualifies you from being an effective servant of Mine; I must turn to others.” The whole context of this last verse (27) is “service” not “salvation”. Paul knew that nothing could ever separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus his Lord (Rom. 8:39) and that He who had begun a good work of grace in his heart would assuredly complete it (Phil. 1:6). He did realize, however, that he could lose out in spiritual effectiveness God’s service. As one writer has put it: “Paul’s fear was not that he might lose his salvation but that he might lose his crown through failing tO satisfy his Lord”. How much do we today know of in our Christian living? “Only the disciplined person will rise to his highest poWers” wrote Oswald Sanders. In this very comfortable society in which we live, is there not a great aflger of our lives becoming undisciplined, being moulded, and even 10

mastered at times, by standards other than those which arise from the gospel itself? In our attitudes to time, leisure, thoughts, possessions or the future, are we allowing the world to squeeze us into its own mould (of. RomanS 1 2:lf J. B. Phillips)? Do we, for example, allow the Church or missionary prayer meeting to go unattended because of our inbuilt preference for the comfort or seclusion of our own condary pursuits? homes or the attractions of other 5 When we contemplate the future use of our lives, is it “job opportunities” or “salary scales” (proper as these are, in their place) that dominate our thinking or God’s will for our lives and the inescapable challenge of the needy overseas churches and the unreached millions of Asia? Has lethargy and laxity crept in to the tissues and muscles of our present day belief so that we are often found puffing and panting in the Christian race?

“God, harden me against myself, The coward with pathetic voice Who craves for ease and rest and joy, Myself, arch traitor to myself My hollowest friend, My deadliest foe, My clog, whatever road I go.” (Amy Carmichael.)

There is One who ran His race uniquely and supremely effectively. He is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2) who counted it His greatest joy to do the will of His Father whatever the cost (Jn. 4:34). Paul himself looked to Christ and so shared in that singleness of purpose (Phil. 3:8, 13f). Are you prepared to look to Christ and run the race God has set for you?

Printed by Stanley L. Hunt (Printers) Ltd. Rushden