Our All-Nations Charge: What It Means to Be a World Christian

0:00 Let's pray together. Yes, Lord, for the joy of all peoples. And so my prayer is that you would create in us, all of us, minds and hearts that are world Christian. and I pray for a select group in this room in whom you have been working already to incline them toward the serious consideration of going to the least reached places and peoples of the world and that through this message a decisive word would be spoken. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So you go to the website, if you go to the website of Bethlehem College and Seminary and you click at the top on Seminary, here's what you read. Shepherds, meaning pastors, scholars, teachers, equipping men to treasure our sovereign God and sacred book for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. So a seminary for the peoples, a seminary with sights on the nations. If you click at the top on college, what you read is this, we study the great books in the light of the greatest book for the sake of the Great Commission. A liberal arts college in the reformed classical tradition for the sake of the Great Commission, a classical education and baked into it a commitment to the global purposes of God. So seminary for the peoples, a college for the world. And I cannot tell you how happy I am with those mottos. I didn't write them, I love them. May the Lord do that for the sake of the nations. So I

2:15 have the happy assignment in this message to speak on our all-nations charge, colon, what it means to be a world Christian. So here's my approach. First, give a resounding biblical statement of the all-nations charge. Second, give a brief biblical definition of what it means to be a world Christian. And third, the lion's share of the message, deal with three peculiar obstacles that stand in the way of your full, red-blooded, risk-taking, totally in engagement with God's global purpose. Obstacles that are in your way. And we're gonna do that from Philippians 2, verses 17 and 18, but that's coming in about 15 minutes.

3:18 So first, the biblical statement of the all-nations charge. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've have taught you, and behold, I'm going to be with you always to the end. that global authority to presume to tell us, to tell every other religion to become Christian, that global authority, that total authority of Jesus over the nations was obtained in a peculiar way, namely by blood.

4:21 Revelation 5, 9. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, you were slaughtered, and by your blood you ransomed people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom, priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. He bought them, and the you is go get them. Amazing. There isn't a greater enterprise anywhere in the world. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. How are they going to hear the voice of Jesus? He's in heaven.

5:22 Romans 10, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How will they call on him whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone besides Jesus preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written. How beautiful, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

6:02 Some of you in this room, some are younger, some are middle-aged and maybe one or two are older, sense God stirring in that direction. You do. you know who you are. You don't know what it means yet fully. You just sense maybe that's what I'm supposed to do. and you ask, how in the world could I do it? I'm just so ordinary, and Jesus answers your questions just loud and clear. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's how you're going to do it. It won't be you. That's my answer to the question, what is the all nations charge?

7:05 That's it. Second, what's a world Christian? What do we mean by world Christian? We mean, first, whether you're a goer or a sender, your heart and your mind are engaged with God's mission to gather our redeemed people from all the nations of the world. Your heart is in world missions. That's the first thing. It also means that together with all true Christians everywhere in the world, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 1 Peter 2.9, which means as a world Christian you are more significantly united to believers in Russia than unbelievers in America.

8:18 You are more significantly united to believers in Gaza, Palestinian believers, than Americans who are unbelievers. That's what it means to be a world Christian. Are you a Christian? That's the question. If you are, you're so united far more to believers in all the peoples than you are to unbelievers in this culture and this nation. The global church is a holy nation, which means that we are sojourners and exiles in every nation. on the planet. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our Constitution is the Bible. Our King is Jesus.

9:26 Our homeland is the heavenly Jerusalem, and our mission has no borders. That's what it means to be a world Christian. What makes you tick? The people of God, the plan of God, the work of God, the mission of God, or some other allegiance. That's the answer to question number two. What is a world Christian? And now we turn to the obstacles between you and your engagement with that cause. This is a multi-generational conference, intentionally, meaning we hope there's high school students here. We hope there's There's middle-aged people here. We hope there's a few, we happy few, who are in their 70s and 80s.

10:26 It's a multi-generational conference. And I want to address a peculiar obstacle for each group. All right? I'll name it, and then we'll go to the Bible, to see how to overcome it. The younger group. In the last 15 years maybe, there has appeared a form of politically correct cowardice. It takes the form of opposing those whose views you don't like, you oppose the views you don't like by claiming that you don't feel safe when they talk to you.

11:23 And you put that into words sometimes with their speech is violence, their speech is violence to me. And I'm calling that a politically correct form of cowardice. For example, On a Christian or secular campus, some speaker speaks about the entanglements of Planned Parenthood and abortion and ethnicity and poverty and a group of students' protests. That makes me feel very unsafe. So don't let him speak here anymore. I'm calling this politically correct cowardice in relationship to global missions for a reason.

12:26 If that mindset takes deeper and wider root in the Christian community, It will be a huge hindrance to the mission. Why is that? because if you're so committed to feeling safe, how will you ever risk your life for Christ? There is no Christian mission without the surrender of safety. None. Matthew 10, 16 Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves If you're so fragile and cowardly that you must shut down words that offend you, how will you speak the gospel to those who revile you?

13:36 I have a word for you from the Bible to liberate you, and that's coming in about 10 minutes. Second group, the middle-aged group, what is a characteristic obstacle for the 30, 40, 50-somethings among us. I call it unquenchable consumption. And the consumption I have in mind is not the consumption of the bread of life, the Word of God, but the consumption of social media, movies, the demands of a career, the quest for more and more stuff, another house, another cruise, an Ivy League school for my kids, just more and more stuff.

14:40 The quest to consume more entertainment, more toys, more travel, more money is insatiable. It doesn't satisfy. A life devoted to consumption consumes your life. Jesus said this, They hear the word of God, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things. choke the word and it proves unfruitful. No missions. Missions is killed about the desire for things. accism you're my friend and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room and we're here in that room It's a snare that plunges people into ruin and destruction, all the while giving the sensation of success. A life devoted to unquenchable consumption, more media, more movies, more leisure, more mammon, cannot compute with this calculus.

16:00 here's the calculus, that mindset cannot compute with. Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Where that kind of calculus doesn't compute, like what? I want stuff. No, you leave stuff. Where that calculus doesn't compute, missions is over. if you're being lured to that kind of unquenchable consumption, I have a word for you, which will come in about five minutes, a word from the Bible that will be liberating for you. What about us happy few 70-somethings, 80-somethings? I'm tempted to have you raise your hand, but you may not feel as proud of this as I do.

17:13 Proud is the wrong word. What is our besetting obstacle? We should be engaged one way or the other. We should be all in. it is creeping comfort the creep of comfort From every corner of our culture, we are told that the biblical command, let us not grow weary in well-doing, has an expiration date. Like 65 would be. 67 maybe. It expires. We no longer exist for accomplishment or creating.

18:14 We exist for comfort, for play. Spend your last decades cramming into your bucket list as though heaven, which is just over the horizon, as though heaven didn't contain every conceivable joy. Does that make any sense? I mean, come on, does that make any sense at all? To cram into the last decades of your life a bucket list of pleasures because you think heaven's going to be boring anyway, and so I need to get as much now as I can. That's insane and totally what the world has to say. That's not what this season of life is for. It's just not. Near the end of his life, Paul referred to himself only one time as an old man.

19:08 I don't know how old he was. He just called himself old once. You know where he was when he said, it wasn't paradise, it was prison. Philemon 1.9, I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus. You've got to love him. You've got to love him. You've got to put his picture on the wall. Get a Rembrandt.

19:42 That's what I have. It costs $10. And here's what he said. Within stone's throw of his martyrdom, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now, I think that means to the end. Fought to the end. henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me and not only to me but to all those who have loved his appearing. That's the bucket list. So if you are feeling the creep of comfort like I am, I feel very threatened by this.

20:40 I am more comfortable, more at ease, less pressure in my life right now than ever, ever before. Pastor is pressure. My job 40-50 hours a week with DG, piece of cake. No pressure. Every night is free. Good night, that's dangerous. So I feel it. I'm preaching to myself here. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 2, please, and let's look at Philippians 2, 17 and 18. This is God's Word to the young, it's God's Word to the middle-aged, it's God's Word to the old. It's an antidote to cowardice, consumption, and comfort, and it is mind-boggling, mind-bogglingly counterintuitive, countercultural, offensive to many people.

21:47 Philippians 2.17, even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad. and I rejoice with you all. Likewise, you should also be glad and rejoice with me as I pour out my life for your faith. Now there are three facets to the diamond of Christian joy in those two verses. Three facets. And each of them correspond respectively to cowardice issues, consumption issues, and comfort issues. Let's take them one at a time.

22:58 First facet of Christian joy in these verses. Paul's joy in being poured out on the offering of their faith. So verse 17, even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad. That's joy at being poured out. Now what does being poured out refer to? Death. And there's no doubt that it refers to that because he says in 2 Timothy 4 6, I am already being poured out. The time of my departure has come. So the first facet of Christian joy is Paul's joy at the prospect of dying in the service of the Philippian faith.

23:57 He's glad that his life could be taken in the service of their faith. That's what it says. That's not natural. That's supernatural.

24:27 The Christian life is supernatural or nothing. It is one thing to rejoice because you're the instrument of bringing someone to faith. That's a great joy. It's beyond all normal human experience to rejoice that you get to die to do it. You get to die to do it. Nobody does that. Nobody talks like that except weird people, Christian people, real Christians. what's behind that? How can Paul talk like that? Two things are behind it, and you know at least one of them. Philippians 121, he said, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So that's part of the answer. What's behind that? You're going to rejoice that you get to die for the service of their faith? And he said, I already told you, it's gain. That's not the whole answer, because that would be true whether he died for somebody's faith or not. All he has to do is die. This is about dying in the service of an unreached people group that you'd like to see come to fake.

26:00 and so the second answer what's behind this is Jesus word to Paul it is more blessed to give them to receive Acts 20, 35. It is blessed or joyful to see another person's joy increase. That's a happy thing. If your joy increased, I would rejoice. It's an even more blessed thing if your joy increases because of my joy expanding through my life into your joy. That's more. If I could spend my life so that my vertical delight in knowing Christ and the totality of all that God is for me in Jesus, if I could spend my life so that that joy through my instrumentality became your joy, that would be another reason to say, I am glad to give my life for this.

27:10 We call that love. You know this is true. You've all experienced it. You have. You all know that when your joy, just think of an occasion, when your joy or your happiness is given away. it is never cut in half. It is always doubled. You know this. You could think of something day before yesterday. You did something. You went beyond your comfort zone. You did something helpful. And at the end, you would have been happy staying in your comfort zone, and now you're doubly happy. Because you included them. They got drawn in to the happiness that doubles. It doesn't cut anything in half. Giving your life away doesn't cut your happiness in half. Not if it's joy in Jesus.

28:17 That's the first facet. I'll come back around later at the end to apply it to the young people. Second facet of joy is found at the end of verse 17. I am glad and... I rejoice with you all. So evidently when he says, I rejoice with you all, they're already rejoicing. We know that. They're Christians. He planted this church. So what are they rejoicing in? They're already rejoicing and now he's enjoying their joy in whatever it is. What is it? Because that's the second facet of the joy in these verses is he's enjoying what they enjoy. I rejoice with you all.

29:21 You're rejoicing and I'm rejoicing with you in what? he said in chapter 1 verse 25 that he's in prison and he expects I think to have a season of freedom in which he can go visit the Philippians and he puts it like this verse 25 convinced of this I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and literally joy of faith. That's what he's referred to as their joy, the joy of faith.

30:03 For Paul, joy and faith are inseparable. When you have saving faith, you have tasted the soul-satisfying value of Jesus. That's what it means to be converted, tasting that the Lord is good. Those taste buds are dead, you're made alive, and you taste the Lord is good. I like what it tastes, it's good. So it means to be saved. That's the second facet of the diamond of Christian joy, the joy of faith. What does faith rejoice in? The Word of God. I got texts for all these, I'm going to skip the text, you can find them. The Word of God, the love of God, the final salvation of God, suffering, hope of glory of God, God himself. I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. So the second facet of joy is the joy of faith, and it is faith in all that God is for us in Jesus. This is not joy in giving faith away. This is the joy that's straight-up vertical.

31:24 You're everything to me. You have satisfied my heart. You meet my needs. The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life. Third, the third facet of joy in these verses is verse 18.

31:45 It's perhaps the most offensive. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. So Paul has just said that his joy is the joy of being poured out, that is dying, for the sake of their faith. And now he says, and as I die for your faith you should be glad with me. And I can imagine the poor Philippians saying, Paul, this is asking too much.

32:37 Can't we have a season of sorrow? can we grieve when you die We love you. We love you. What are you asking of us? to which I think Paul would say, you may indeed grieve when I die. Let the tears flow, but don't you dare stop rejoicing with me.

33:21 I mean, that's why at this school, We love 2 Corinthians 6, 10. Sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Simultaneous. How else can you live in this world? So there they are, the three facets of joy in these two verses. Number one, the joy of pouring out your life unto death if necessary for the joy of others as they come to faith or grow in faith. Second, the joy of faith itself and all that vertically God is for you now and forever. And third, rejoicing with those who joyfully die for the sake of other people's faith. Wow. You see why those verses carry a counter-cultural, counterintuitive wallop. And I'm arguing now as I close that that joy, that three-faceted joy provides an invincible force.

34:47 for the sake of global missions and for the overcoming of the obstacles that get in the way between you and your engagement with world Christianity. How does that work? Here we are. Number one, what becomes, young people this this is the first one, what becomes of your politically correct cowardice that tries to shut down other people so you feel safe if you are experiencing the joy of of pouring out your life for the sake of those very people. It can't survive in the same heart. Politically correct cowardice that shuts down others that you feel safe can't survive in the heart that is rejoicing that I get to die for you.

35:51 You can't. And therefore, this joy liberates you from that cowardice, cuts the nerve of that kind of politically correct cowardice. You don't need to feel safe. You dare not feel safe. No missions happens where you have to feel safe. If I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad. That's not the voice of cowardice. That's the voice of Christ-treasuring courage and love, and I pray it's your voice.

36:43 Second, what becomes the choking cords of consumption in midlife if you drink deeply from the inexhaustible spring of the joy of faith? So this is the second facet applied to consumption. If with the psalmist you go to God and say, I come to you God my exceeding joy, and you drink of the river of delights at his right hand, you cut the cords of life-choking consumption. You do. If you're drinking at the river of his delights day by day, if you're being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus day by day, you will cut the nerve of unquenchable consumption. You'll be free. You'll be free. The joy of faith is a mighty and powerful liberator. Number three, what about us old people? The creep of comfort.

38:14 So the third facet here, which I'm aligning with my danger, verse 18, likewise you who you also should be glad, you 80-somethings, 70-somethings, 60-somethings, You should be glad and rejoice with me as I am poured out on the faith of the nations. What would be an application of that? I'll give you one. Grandparents. It implies that a grandparent will never, never, never say to his 20-something, 30-something, 40-something mission-minded children, don't you dare take my babies, my grandbabies to that place.

39:20 you will never say that. Your child comes to you, your 30-something child, and says, we're feeling a real deep sense we should go to fill in the blank. and we are ready to be poured out, our whole family,

39:52 on the sacrificial offering of their faith, because nobody's telling them anything about the gospel. Nobody. And we're ready. and you would say to them, how could you do that to me? some of us would give both arms to hear a kid say that God has a better dream for your life. Be glad and rejoice with your kids. Pay their way. and go with them. Short term, short term, that's all you got is short term.

40:50 So, dear, dear friends at the God for Life Conference, let's be done with every obstacle between us and Christ's all nations charge. Let's just be done. and let us be done with politically correct cowardice. Let's be done with unquenchable consumption. Let's be done with the creep of comfort, and let's embrace God's word and the liberating power of joy in giving our lives away for the world. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad. and I rejoice with you all.

41:46 Likewise, you should be glad and rejoice with me. Father, we're going to sing now. We need to sing. And so would you come. I prayed at the beginning, Father, that those in whom you are already working would feel some sense of confirmation or guidance. And I pray that now as we sing, that would be sealed. I know some really, really big decisions in my life have been made in corporate worship in singing. Lord, all of us should be world Christians. Show us how we can be better at that. Conquer every obstacle in our lives, I pray.

42:41 Bring glory to your name among the nations. Make us more loving towards the unreached peoples.