Temple Baptist Life

In September we have a very unique opportunity to here from the mission field. September 19-23 we are involved in an On Mission Conference. You can ask questions and also interact with missionaries.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a missionary? What kind of person, what depth of commitment, what sacrifice, what type of person is a missionary. Some missionaries lay their lives on the line daily for the cause of Christ. By man’s standards many at failures, but by heavens standards they are a great success.

Our spiritual heritage in mission’s traces back to Adoniram Judson who lived from 1788-1850. Judson lived the suffering life of the apostle Paul. He was one of the first to bring the Christian message to the Burmese. When war broke out with England, the Burmese arrested Judson because being light-skinned and English-speaking, he looked and talked like the enemy. He was force-marched barefoot for eight miles to prison where each night the guards passed a bamboo pole between his heavily shackled legs and hoisted the lower part of his body high off the ground. Blood rushed to his head, preventing sleep and causing fierce cramps in his shoulders and back. Clouds of mosquitoes feasted on the raw flesh of his feet and legs. Treatment like this went on for almost two years, and Judson managed to endure only because his devoted wife brought him food each day and pled with the guards for better treatment. A few months after his release, Judson’s wife, weakened by smallpox, died of fever, and shortly after that their baby daughter also died. Judson nearly had a breakdown. He would kneel by his wife’s grave for hours each day, regardless of weather. He built a one-room hut in the jungle, morosely dug his own grave in case it might prove necessary, and worked in solitude on a translation of the Bible in the Burmese language. Only a handful of Burmese had shown any interest in the Christian message. Yet he stayed on, 34 years in all, and because of his faithfulness more than 1 million Burmese Christians today trace their spiritual roots to Adoniram Judson. The dictionary he compiled, now nearly 200 years old, remains the official dictionary of Myanmar.

Why would someone choose to do that? Why would anyone choose to follow a God that promises hardship? It means purity in a world of lust. It means honesty in a world of getting ahead by cheating. It means sacrifice and putting others first and humbling yourself to apologize for doing wrong. We choose to follow Christ because hardships are not permanent; they are temporary. Our God defeated death. He has promised to take us to heaven. He has promised to make us like Jesus.

I think many today here the call to serve to the mission field and turn it down based on hardships many have experienced. Missions are not about living conditions but about commitment to our Lord. Missions are about getting the gospel to every living soul. Missions are about seeing unbelievers becoming children of God.

What kind of person does God use in missions? Someone just like you and me.

Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, which in the 1960’s became what is today the mission’s agency OMF International, knew the secret of strength through weakness. Complimented once by a friend on the impact of the mission, Hudson answered, “It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough—he’ll do.’ All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

Now I realize not everyone can go to the mission field, but we all can be involved in giving to missions. Temple Baptist gives to missions. We give to foreign missions, home missions and local missions. Our tithes and offerings reach into our community and around the world.

The late Larry Burkett, a financial expert said, “If every Church member in America would increase their giving to an average of 10% (current estimates are that American Christians give less than 3%), there would be an extra $69 billion for overseas missions and an additional $150 billion in income for American Churches.

Going is important. Giving is important. It is important to be apart of the Great Commission to take the gospel to the whole world. Manny have gone and many have given.

There’s the story of a young married man who was accepted as an African Missionary. It was the great ambition of his young life. He reported to New York harbor with his wife and soon arrived in Africa. It wasn’t long, however, that he found his wife could not physically tolerate the climate. It was killing her. Broken-hearted, he returned home. His father was a dentist, but the young man felt no inclination to become a dentist. His father had, however, a small business on the side making an unfermented wine for use in churches for the Lord’s Supper. The young man began to dabble in this business until he finally took over its management. What a waste of time he must have thought as he labored at making grape juice. The business, however, prospered, and the man eventually gave millions to missions around the world. His company is known today as Welch’s Grape Juice.

William Borden was a wealthy Christian growing up in Chicago as an heir of the Borden milk fortune. When he was in his first year at Yale University he committed himself to reaching the Muslims of North India. Three years later he sailed for Egypt to study Arabic before going to India. He knew that money could not mean security so before he left he gave away his inheritance of nearly one million dollars to various missions. He was in Cairo for four months when he contracted spinal meningitis and was dead within weeks. He had scrawled on a piece of paper under his pillow the words, “No reserve! No retreat! No regrets!”

God blesses missions and empowers those who go and those who give. Missions are the power of God at work.

Missions are on the cutting edge of what God is doing in the world. Missions are sick being healed, young minds being taught, and souls being saved. Missions are the power of God being unleashed in the world.

Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years. Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, “Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life. For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work. J.B. Phillips paraphrases Ephesians l: 19-20, “How tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God.” When we make firm our connection with God, his life and power flow through us.

That is what being On Mission is all about!