The Beauty and Necessity of Missions

This is post #3 about missions. View my first post and my second post.

Romans 10 contains one of the greatest promises in all of Scripture. Without such a promise, we would all be lost, doomed to a Christless eternity under God's wrath, paying the penalty for our failure to honor and worship God (2 Thessalonians 1:9; Romans 1:18-23). But God was not content to send all of us to hell as we deserve. He gave his own Son to die for our sins so that we could live with him (John 3:16, Romans 3:21-26, Romans 5:8). And he gives us the greatest promise in the world:

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

Who is it for? Everyone. No matter where your from, no matter what you've done. If you are a living, breathing human being (and if you are reading this, you are), then this promise is for you.

What's the offer? To be saved. Given eternal life with God rather than eternal punishment as we deserve. To be given new life and set free from the sin that has cut us off from God. To have the God of the universe look at you and, rather than see your imperfection, to call you righteous.

What do you have to do to "cash in"? Call on him. Acknowledge that he is and will be the Lord and Master of your life. That he is your King. Confess Jesus Christ as risen Lord (see Romans 10:9-10).

There is salvation no other way. Only through Jesus do we find salvation and have access to God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). So by acknowledging Christ as our Lord, we receive salvation. To not call on him, to not make him Lord and King of your heart is to remain condemned.

Calling on Christ as Lord implies belief. Romans 10:14 makes it clear: "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?" Belief comes from the heart (Romans 10:9-10) and implies not only mental assent to certain facts, but a commitment to and trust in the one being believed. So to believe in Christ and call on him in a saving way, we must trust him, rely on him, cling to him, and obey him. But he is not a hard Master. In fact he even promises that he is gentle and that his burden is easy and his yoke is light (Matthew 11:29-30).

It's no wonder why we call this message "good news!"

Not Great News

This is not good news to everyone though. "But wait just a minute," you say. "You just said that this promise is for EVERYONE. Therefore it's good news for EVERYONE, right?" Yes. And no.

This good news is for every person on earth. But not every person on earth knows it. So what good is the news if you don't even know about it? Is a miracle cure for cancer good news to the person who hasn't heard of it? Likewise with the gospel. The rest of Romans 10:14 asks, "? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?" You can't trust someone you haven't heard of.

Hearing the Good News

We've seen that it's necessary for people to believe and call upon the Lord to be saved. But how do they hear the message? In fact, as Romans 10:14 closes out: "And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"

So here we see the necessity of doing missions. Unless someone goes and takes the gosepl to those who have never heard, they will never believe in Christ. And if they don't believe, they'll never call to him for salvation. There can be no other way for the nations to believe unless people go to them and tell them the good news. Missionaries must go, learn a new language and culture, meet people, preach the gospel, and possibly suffer and die for Christ to take the gospel to the nations.

We are all to be involved in missions in one of two ways: go or send. Goers, as the name implies, go where the gospel is not and take the gospel to people who do not have it. And there are senders - those who pray for and give to and support missionaries. Romans 10:15 makes this relationship clear: "And how are they [goers] to preach unless they are sent [by senders]?"

A Beautiful Calling

Being a missionary is a hard calling. It demands daily dying. It means loss and often suffering on many levels.

Being a missionary is also a necessary calling. Without missionaries, the gospel cannot reach those who do not have it. Without missionaries, the gospel won't spread tot he nations, and the end won't come.

But being a missionary is also (and most importantly) a beautiful calling. Romans 10:15 closes with this exhortation: "As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'" We should all pray to have this beautiful calling and seek possible ways to enter in to it. But if God sees it fit not to call you to go, then rejoice and pray and give as a faithful sender!