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A Holy Desire for the Nations: Discerning the Call to Missions · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reform Thinking. You know, usually when you go
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into a clinic for a medical diagnosis, there's this clear
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expectation of precision. Right, you want an answer.
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Yeah, you fall, your arm swells up, you go in for an X-ray, and
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the doctor puts that image up on the screen.
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There's a jagged white line. The Doctor points to it and says
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broken. It is clean, its objective, and
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in a strange way it is actually comforting.
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Because you know what you're dealing with.
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Right. We like things to be visible.
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We like categories that make sense, but then you step into
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the world of discerning a calling to global missions and
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suddenly that X-ray machine is completely broken.
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It really is. We are looking at a diagnostic
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landscape that is incredibly murky.
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We ask ourselves a very common agonizing question.
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How do you know if God is calling you to pack up your
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life, leave your home, and go overseas for gospel labor?
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And modern culture gives us a lot of terrible answers to that.
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Oh absolutely. It often answers this with guilt
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trips, highly produced emotional conference videos, or maybe just
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a restless desire for adventure. You know the theme.
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You sit in an auditorium, you see a crisis statistic flashed
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on the screen. The sad music swells in the
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background, and people walk down an aisle.
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But is that a true calling? For our discussion today, we are
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looking at a massive stack of sources.
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We've got historical records from the Ancient Near East
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around 740 BC, sociological data on missionary burnout, John
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Calvin's commentaries on the Old Testament, and several
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theological papers on the nature of grace.
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So the current landscape, it really treats this entire
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process as a clinical assessment of human potential or, you know,
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psychological compatibility. There is a massive trend right
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now to treat the Great Commission as a corporate task
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executed through administrative excellence.
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Or emotional manipulation like you.
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Said yeah, that too. We often cast God as this
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impoverished deity wringing his hands in heaven, just waiting
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around for human volunteers to salvage his global designs.
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And the result of that theology is a tragic pattern of abandoned
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posts, shattered families, and severe spiritual burnout on the
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field. So our objective today is to
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look at a genuine durable desire for global missions by going
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back to the source material. We are going to examine the call
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of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 6 of his book to see what a
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genuine spirit wrought calling looks like.
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OK, because a true calling starts before the throne of God,
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not with human restlessness. It is a monarchistic creation of
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the Holy Spirit. OK, I have to stop you right
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there because we need to define some terms before we lose
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anyone. We are throwing around words
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like monarchistic and we need to break that down.
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Fair enough. But before we even touch the
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theology of how a calling works, we really have to set the
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historical stage. We have to strip away the modern
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pragmatic metrics to understand the precise moment Isaiah
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received this vision. I want you, the listener, to
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step back in time. We are going to the year 740 BC.
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It's a critical moment. It is.
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Picture the ancient Near East. The geopolitical plates are
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shifting in terrifying ways, and the text gives us a very
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specific historical anchor. Right in the first verse in the
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year that King Uzziah died, right?
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This is not just a random timestamp on legal document.
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Uzziah was a monumental figure. He reigned for 52 years.
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For context, think about someone leading a nation.
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For over half a century, most of the population had never known
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another king. And that length of time, it
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creates A psychological bedrock for a society.
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I mean, under Isaiah's administration, the southern
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Kingdom of Judah experienced an absolute economic broom, right?
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The historical records tell us he built towers in the desert.
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He dug many wells, and he had massive agricultural operations.
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He subdued the Philistines and the Ammonites.
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He heavily fortified Jerusalem with new military engines
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designed to shoot arrows and great stones.
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So heavy artillery for the ancient.
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World commercial trade flourished.
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It was golden age of stability. But we have to contrast this
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geopolitical success with the spiritual reality on the ground.
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Which wasn't great. No, it was awful.
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That prolonged era of material prosperity fostered A
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devastating spiritual rot within the nation.
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There was widespread socioeconomic oppression,
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systemic injustice, and synchronistic religious
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practices. So they mixed the worship of
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Yahweh with Pagan rituals. Yeah, they fell into a profound
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nominalism. They substituted cold ritualism
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for heartfelt obedience to the covenant law.
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So they were wealthy, secure, and completely hollow on the
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inside. That's a good way to put it.
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And then the tragic end comes. Uzziah's pride leads him to
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trespass into priestly privileges in the temple.
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He tries to burn incense, which is strictly forbidden for the
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king, and God strikes him with leprosy right there beside the
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Ulter. In the instant.
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Yeah, he lives the rest of his life in isolation, and then he
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dies. His death is a severe national
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crisis. It signals the end of stability,
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and looming on the northern horizon is the aggressive
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imperial expansion of the Neo Assyrian Empire under tiggle of
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piles of the Third. And the Assyrians were brutal.
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Notorious for it, they utilize psychological warfare, flaying
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their enemies and deporting entire populations.
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So Judah was plunged into corporate panic.
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They were tempted to form secular, idolatrous alliances
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with Pagan nations like Egypt or Damascus just to survive.
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And the panic was entirely justified from a human
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perspective. I mean, the historical sources
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show that the Assyrian war machine was unstoppable.
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So you have a nation that has relied on a single human leader
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for 5 decades, and suddenly he is gone and the greatest
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military threat in the history of the region is marching toward
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their borders. It's a nightmare scenario.
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It really is. And this brings us to the
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crucial pivot in the text. Rabbinic tradition suggests
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Isaiah was of royal blood, perhaps a cousin to King Isaiah.
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Oh, interesting. Yeah.
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So he would have been intimately acquainted with the halls of
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political influence, the luxury of the court and the strategic
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maneuverings of the state. He lived in an environment where
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prestige and security were paramount.
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But the vision he receives shatters all earthly security.
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It confronts A declining, unfaithful covenant nation with
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the reality that while earthly rulers die and political empires
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collapse, the sovereign Lord of hosts remains eternally
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enthroned. I'm trying to put myself in
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Isaiah's shoes here. This is like a modern nation
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losing a stabilizing leader. Think of a figure like FDR
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during World War 2, or maybe a legendary CEO of a massive
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company and suddenly realizing their extreme vulnerability.
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Yeah, the bottom drops out. Exactly.
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I mean, absolutely. You have 52 years of peace and
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overnight the borders look fragile.
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The stock market is crashing. Figuratively speaking, the enemy
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is at the gates. When our earthly securities
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collapse, we often scramble for practical solutions.
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We look for the next political alliance, the next military
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strategy, The. Pragmatic fix.
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But in the middle of this absolute panic, Isaiah does not
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see an empty earthly throne. He looks up.
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The vision he receives is of Adonai, the sovereign Master,
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seated on a throne high and lifted up.
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God demands we look at is is unquestionable authority rather
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than our crumbling earthly securities.
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And seeing God's majesty is the first step in any legitimate
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calling. The text uses a 2 passive Hebrew
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participles to describe the Lord as high and lifted up,
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highlighting a permanent exalted status.
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And then we see the detail about his robe.
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The hem of his robe fills the entire temple.
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Just the hem. Right.
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In ancient Near Eastern culture, the length of a King's robe,
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specifically the train, was a visible symbol of his glory, his
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wealth, and his triumphs. To say the train of his robe
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filled the entire temple means there is absolutely no room for
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human glory. It is a total occupation of the
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Holy Place by Divine Majesty. The visual of that is
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staggering. Yeah.
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There is nowhere to stand. There is no empty space to
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assert your own presence. And then we get to the beings
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surrounding the throne, the Seraphim, the burning ones.
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They are covering their faces and their feet.
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Yeah. Let me ask you a logical
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question here. If these unfallen, perfect
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celestial beings who have never sinned have to shield themselves
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from the unfiltered glory of the Creator, what does that say
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about? It it's a terrifying thought it.
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Is and they are calling out to one another.
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Holy, holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.
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The whole earth is full of His glory.
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We need to look closely at that specific cry.
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This is the trihagen, the threefold repetition of the
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Hebrew word kadosh, right? In Hebrew grammar, they do not
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have comparative or superlative adjectives in the way English
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does. In English, we say holy, holier,
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holiest. In Hebrew, to elevate a concept,
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you repeat it. So saying it twice makes it a
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big deal. Right.
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To say something twice means it is extreme, but repeating a word
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three times is the highest possible superlative.
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It is designed to to express the absolute maximum degree of
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intensity. It declares that God is
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completely distinct, entirely separated from all creaturely
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weakness and moral pollution. Reacting to His absolute purity
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is the second step in discerning a calling.
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This establishes that true ministry begins with an
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overwhelming, awe inspiring realization of God's supreme
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majesty. It is not about our potential,
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it is about His absolute purity. I am tracking with a grammatical
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explanation, but I want to look at Isaiah's reaction because
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this is where the diagnostic test gets real.
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He is a prophet. He is the guy who is supposed to
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have it all together, spiritually speaking.
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He is the religious. Professional.
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Yeah. The Insider.
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Right. But when he sees this, he does
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not raise his hand and volunteer right away.
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He doesn't hand over his resume or talk about his royal
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connections. He collapses.
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He cries out. Woe is me, for I am lost.
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Yeah, he is completely crushed. And to understand the weight of
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why he is crushed, we have to look at the literary structure
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of the book itself. The structural placement of this
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call in chapter 6 is vital. Chapters one through 5 function
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as a crushing indictment of Judah's covenant unfaithfulness.
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OK, Isaiah has been pronouncing judgment on the nation in
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chapter 5. Specifically, Isaiah pronounces
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6 devastating structural woes against the avarice, moral
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perversion, and spiritual blindness of his contemporaries.
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He's dropping the hammer. He really is.
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He pronounces woes on those who join house to house, those who
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rise early to drink strong drink, those who call evil good
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and good evil, and those who are wise in their own eyes.
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So when we arrive at chapter 6, the literary architecture forces
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a critical realization. As Isaiah stands before the
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absolute holiness of God, he is compelled to pronounce the 7th
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woe of the book, and it falls entirely upon his own head.
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He is pronouncing the final woe on himself.
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That is a brilliant literary and theological choice.
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He possesses total solidarity with the sinful nation.
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He realizes his lips, the very instrument of a prophet, the
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tool of his trade, are unclean. He says I'm a man of unclean
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lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
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He thought his tools were sharp, but in the light of the throne,
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he realizes they are filthy. Yeah, and the Hebrew verb used
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when he says I am lost or I am undone is nid.
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Methi is in the nifal perfect tense.
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Let me stop you there. Most of us haven't touched a
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Hebrew grammar book in years, if ever.
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What does the Nephil perfect tense actually mean for the
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action happening to Isaiah? Put that in plain English for
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us. Certainly so.
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The Nephil stem in Hebrew often indicates passive or reflexive
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action, and the perfect tense indicates a completed action.
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So a literal translation would be closer to I have been brought
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to absolute silence, or I am utterly ruined, cut off, or
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dismantled. It is not just a feeling of
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inadequacy. He recognizes the absolute
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dismantling of his existence. That's intense.
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It is as a Sinner standing before the King, the Lord of
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hosts, he is legally condemned to death.
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This is the diagnostic function of the law slaying the sinner's
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self righteousness. His lips are unclean because his
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heart is unclean. He is structurally unfit to
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speak for God or even to offer pure worship by His own effort.
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Think about the psychological mechanism here.
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Imagine walking into a pristine high end operating room.
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Everything is sterile, bright white, perfectly clean and you
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look down and you realize you are covered in toxic mud.
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You are the contamination. That's a great image.
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Yeah, so if you were sitting there listening to this and you
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think you are ready to pack your bags and go overseas to solve
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the crises of humanity without first realizing your own
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absolute ruin before a holy God, you are completely unprepared.
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You cannot be a faithful messenger of the gospel until
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you have been brought to complete despair over your own
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depravity, right? If you skip the woe is me part,
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you end up with a Messiah complex.
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You end up thinking you are the savior, arriving to rescue the
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impoverished masses rather than a ruined Sinner who's been
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granted an audience with the king.
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And the modern, pragmatic approach skips the devastation
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of the law entirely. It recruits based on human
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enthusiasm. It says we need your skills, we
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need your energy. Right.
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You're awesome. Go be awesome over there.
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Yeah. Exactly.
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I mean, absolutely. But the biblical text shows us a
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different sequence. After Isaiah is completely
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undone, the narrative moves to a purely monarchistic act of
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grace. The Serif flies to him carrying
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a live coal taken from the altar.
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Let's visualize that moment. The temple is shaking, filled
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with smoke. The foundations of the
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thresholds are trembling. Isaiah's on the ground,
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dismantled, waiting for a death sentence.
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And this burning creature, a serif, flies toward him with a
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live coal gripped in a pair of tongs.
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Taken directly from the altar. It touches his lips.
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And the theological breakdown of that altar is central to the
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entire narrative. In Hebrew theology, the altar is
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the place of substitutionary sacrifice.
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It is where blood was shed to satisfy divine justice.
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OK. The coal is saturated with the
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blood of sacrifice. It represents propitiation, the
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turning away of wrath through an acceptable offering.
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When the serif touches Isaiah's lips with the coal, it
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symbolizes the personal application of that
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propitiation. So it's applied directly to his
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specific sin. Yes, the serif declares.
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Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away,
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and your sin atoned for. The Hebrew verb for atone is
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kafar, meaning covered or expiated.
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It is in the passive voice indicating that the atonement is
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accomplished entirely by God. He does nothing.
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Nothing. Isaiah contributes nothing to
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his own cleansing. He does not negotiate.
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He does not clean himself up first.
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He is completely passive in his justification.
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And this is the definition of modernism.
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God does the work of saving the individual entirely by himself.
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Isaiah contributes nothing but the sin that made the cleansing
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necessary. I look at this and I contrast it
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with modern activism. We see this everywhere,
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especially in religious circles. Modern activism tells people
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they must work hard to validate their worth.
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Yeah, it's a treadmill. It is you have to earn your
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identity by how much you sacrifice, by how many miles you
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travel, by how much suffering you endure for the cause.
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Yes, the psychological mechanism of workspace righteousness is
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incredibly destructive. When you go overseas to earn
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God's favor, your mind starts treating every converted soul,
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every successful project, as currency.
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Wow. If no one converts or if a
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project fails, your spiritual bank account is bankrupt.
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Your brain literally spirals into burnout because your
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identity is tied to an uncontrollable metric.
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Legalism says go so that God will accept you.
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It turns the mission field into a mechanism for self atonement.
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Which is terrifying. It is.
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This produces exhaustion, bitterness, and constant
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comparison with other workers. The field becomes a stage for
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human ambition rather than a theater for divine grace.
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If you go to the mission field to earn your justification, the
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field will destroy you because the field cannot bear the weight
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of your salvation. But the biblical sequence is
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entirely different. Only after a person is
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completely cleared of guilt, only after the objective
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declaration of justification is pronounced, can they hear the
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invitation of God. Clearly.
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Grace says because God has pardoned you, present yourself.
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That shifts the motivation entirely from fear to gratitude.
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Gratitude for a cancelled debt creates a willing servant, and
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that leads us directly into the divine Council.
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Verse 8 says, And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom
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shall I send, and who will go for us?
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That plural us is fascinating. It is the shift from the
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singular eye to the plural us requires careful analysis.
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Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
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At minimum the language reflects A heavenly council setting, but
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canonically it hints at the multi person nature of the
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Godhead. The Trinity.
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Right, we are getting a glimpse into the counsel of the Trinity.
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God is initiating the call. It is a sovereign query.
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But notice that the call of God here is not a course of
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demanding command that crushes the will.
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It is a sovereign invitation that initiates A voluntary
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response in the regenerated heart.
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And Isaiah's response is incredibly swift.
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He says here am I Send me. In Hebrew, the phrase is hinani.
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He does not pause. He doesn't ask for a strategic
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plan. What stands out to me is what is
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glaringly missing from his response.
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Yeah, the absence of conditions. Right.
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Isaiah asked for no itinerary, yes, for no salary details.
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He demands no guarantee of safety or visible success.
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He does not say send me, but I need a five year contract and a
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solid exit strategy. It is immediate availability.
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The grammar of his response is direct.
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The particle hineni indicates a servant standing at attention,
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ready to obey without conditions.
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It is an unreserved surrender of the will.
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We must draw a sharp distinction here between legalistic duty and
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evangelical gratitude. As we discussed, legalism
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creates bitter, burned out workers.
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But this moment of hineni creates joyful, unreserved
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consecration. His desire to go does not stem
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from a love of adventure. It is the direct logical result
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of experiencing God's deep justifying mercy.
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When the brain processes the reality of total pardon, the
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physiological and emotional response is a release of the
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burden of self preservation. It's the difference between a
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mercenary and a loyal subject who has been pardoned from
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execution. The mercenary fights for a
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paycheck and runs. When things get dangerous, the
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pardon subject will charge into the fire for the king.
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So Isaiah is ready. He's consecrated.
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He has his marching orders. But then we hit the shocking
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twist in the text. The heavy twist.
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God tells Isaiah to go preach, but the message is brutal.
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God warns him that his preaching will actually harden the people.
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Judicially. God says keep on hearing but do
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not understand, keep on seeing but do not perceive.
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Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy and
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blind their eyes. This is one of the most
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difficult commissions in all of Scripture.
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It strips away all pragmatic metrics of visible success.
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Modern missions evaluate effectiveness by the number of
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converts, the speed of church growth, or the positive
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reception of the host culture. All the stuff you put in
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newsletter. Right, the newsletter metrics.
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But Isaiah is sent into a situation where those metrics
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will read Absolute 0. He is sent to a rebellious
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covenant people whose ears will be dull and whose eyes will be
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closed. We have to analyze the reality
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of judicial hardening. This happens when persistent
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covenant violation and rebellion lead to a point of spiritual
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abandonment by God. Hold on, I struggle with this
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idea of judicial hardening. It sounds entirely contradictory
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to the nature of a loving God. Why would God send a missionary
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to intentionally blind people? Explain the mechanism there.
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Because to a lot of listeners, that sounds cruel.
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That is a vital pushback. The mechanism of judicial
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hardening is not God forcing innocent people to sin against
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their will. Rather, it is God handing
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stubborn, rebellious people over to the natural consequences of
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their own chosen depravity. The people of Judah had already
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chosen idolatry. They had already stopped their
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ears to the law. When the truth of the gospel or
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the prophetic word is preached to a heart that is completely
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resolved to hate God, the light of that truth actually causes
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them to shut their eyes tighter. Oh, I see.
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Think of stepping out of a dark room into the glaring sun.
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If you hate the light, you will clamp your eyes shut.
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The preaching of the truth becomes the very instrument that
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solidifies their rebellion. The Word of God is A2 edged
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sword. It either cuts the heart to
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grant repentance, or it hardens the heart in judgement.
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That analogy of the glaring sun makes total sense.
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The light doesn't create the blindness, it exposes the hatred
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of the light. But think about the weight of
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that for the missionary. How would you handle a calling
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that guarantees decades of apparent failure?
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It would break most people, yeah.
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You go overseas, you spend years learning a difficult language,
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you pour your life into the people, and you're very
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preaching makes them harder and more resistant.
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Isaiah asks the natural agonizing question, How long, O
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Lord, how long do I have to preach to a brick wall?
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And God's answer is not comforting in a temporal sense.
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God says until cities lie waste without inhabitant and houses
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without people, and the land is a desolate waste.
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It is a promise of total geopolitical devastation and
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exile. It is a devastating temporal
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reality. Modern metrics would fire Isaiah
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in six months for lack of production.
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Without a doubt. But we must introduce the
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theological anchor that God provides In verse 13.
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God does not leave Isaiah with unmitigated despair.
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He gives him the anchor of hope, the holy seed in the stump.
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God says that even though the nation will will be cut down and
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burned, a 10th will remain. And like a terebinth or an oak
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whose stump remains when it is felled, the holy seed is its
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stump. Even though the visible nation
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faces devastation, God's sovereign plan of election holds
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completely secure. He preserves a remnant.
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Covenant theology is the only thing that sustains a worker
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when the ground is hard. If your theology relies on human
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free will, making the right choices based on your excellent
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PowerPoint presentation or your persuasive arguments, a hardened
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field will break you. You will think you are a
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failure. But if you know that God
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preserves A remnant, a holy seed, according to his sovereign
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grace, you can keep preaching. You know that the Word will
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accomplish exactly, will accomplish precisely what God
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intends. That is the crucial distinction.
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This covenantal hope prepares the faithful to endure national
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decline and widespread rejection without despair.
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The missionary goes not because every listener will naturally
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believe, because God has a people whom he will bring to
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faith through the gospel, right? The preservation of the stump
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ensures that God's covenant promises are perfectly realized.
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And this leads us directly to how this vision connects to the
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New Testament. We have to look at John 12.41.
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This is one of my favorite connections in the entire
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biblical text. John 12 is talking about the
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people of Israel rejecting Jesus despite seeing his miracles, and
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John quotes this very passage from Isaiah 6 about their eyes
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being blinded and their hearts hardened.
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And then John drops his massive theological revelation.
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He writes Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory
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and spoke of him. The glory Isaiah saw was the pre
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Incarnate Logos, Jesus Christ. That is a stunning theological
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assertion by the apostle John, the sovereign king, seated upon
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the high and exalted throne, surrounded by the worshipping
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Seraphim, the one whose absolute holiness caused Isaiah to fall
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down as a ruined Sinner. That was the Son of God.
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It's mind blowing. The Jesus who later condescended
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to dwell among us in human flesh, the one who washed his
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disciples feet, is the very one Isaiah saw in the temple in 740
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BC. This Christological fulfillment
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is not a speculative allegorization.
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It is an explicit New Testament demand.
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The burning coal also points directly forward to the cross.
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The altar was the place of sacrifice, and the coal was the
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physical symbol of the application of that sacrifice.
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But a literal piece of hot carbon cannot take away sins.
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It was pointing to the blood of Christ.
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Jesus is the true sacrifice that satisfies divine justice.
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The heat of the coal is the wrath of God poured out on the
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substitute. And Jesus is the ultimate
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fulfillment of the hinnony. He is the true sent one.
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When Isaiah says, here am I send me, He is responding as a
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cleansed Sinner. But Christ left the glory of
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heaven to be sent into the world in perfect, sinless obedience,
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as the writer of Hebrews notes, quoting the Psalms.
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Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.
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Christ did not need to be cleansed.
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He came to be the sacrifice that cleanses.
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He bore judgment for those who deserved it.
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Remembering that Christ is the true Redeemer kills the Messiah
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complex that ruins so many well meaning efforts overseas.
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We have a human tendency to cast ourselves as the hero or the
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savior in our own stories. We want to be the light of the
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world, arriving in a dark place to fix everyone's problem.
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Right, the savior complex. But keeping our eyes on Christ
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keeps us grounded. Every calling we have is
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entirely derivative. We are not the redeemers He is.
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We are not the Vine. We are just the branches.
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Recognizing this keeps our zeal humble.
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That humility is essential when we transition to the practical
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testing of the desire. If you, the listener, are
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tracking with us and feeling a burden for unreached peoples,
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the most pressing practical question arises.
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If I have this desire, how do I know it is legitimate?
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Yeah, that's the big. Question, How do we separate a
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temporary emotional high manner? Maybe you just watched a very
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compelling documentary From a holy zeal planted in the soul by
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the Holy Spirit. We derive several biblical
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markers directly from this text. Let's walk through those markers
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clearly, because this is where the rubber meets the road.
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The first one is a thankful heart.
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As we noted, it must be driven by grace, not guilt.
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You are not trying to appease an angry deity.
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You are responding to a cancelled debt.
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If your motivation is fear of punishment or a need for human
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validation, the calling is suspect, right?
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The second marker is unconditional readiness.
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There is no Plan B. You do not set the terms of your
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deployment. The third marker is a fierce
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love for the Word of God over social or humanitarian activism.
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The core of the task is the expository proclamation of the
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Scriptures. Social compassion is good.
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Building hospitals and digging wells are noble endeavors, but
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social repair without gospel light leaves sinners in absolute
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darkness. Amen to that.
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The true missionary rests on the absolute sufficiency and
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internal durability of the Word. The 4th marker is a solemn
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recognition of total spiritual darkness in the unregenerate.
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The candidate cannot harbor naive humanistic illusions about
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the world. They must recognize that apart
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from Christ, people are locked in damning darkness.
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That is a stark contrast to the modern sociological idea that
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people just need a little education or a little economic
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boost to become good citizens. The biblical worldview says they
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need resurrection. Now, even if you meet all those
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internal markers, there is an external mechanism that is
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absolutely mandatory. You cannot just pack your bags
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and declare yourself an independent apostle.
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That brings in a crucial ecclesiastical principle you do
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not send yourself. A true calling must be tested,
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approved and confirmed by the local church leadership.
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Under the sovereign administration of the church,
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pastors and elders must examine the candidate.
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This involves looking closely at their doctrine, their character,
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their family responsibilities, their evangelistic fruit, their
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teachability, and their ability to work under authority.
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Why is that external safety net so critical?
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Because I know people who feel frustrated by the bureaucracy of
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a church. They just want to get on a plane
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and start preaching. The safety net is critical
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because the human heart is deceitful.
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The New Testament pattern, such as in Acts 13 with Paul and
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Barnabas, involves the recognizing, examining, praying
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over, and sending by the visible church.
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No individual call should be pursued in isolation.
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The Lone Ranger missionary is a danger to themselves and to the
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people they are trying to reach. They really are.
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Love for souls demands doctrinal clarity, and the local session
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or presbytery provides that accountability.
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If your elders tell you that you are not ready, the most
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spiritual thing you can do is submit to that assessment.
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I think about the listener who might be feeling a bit uneasy
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right now because they lack this specific desire to go overseas.
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They hear all this talk about unreached peoples and Isaiah's
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radical surrender, and they think, I don't have that burning
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passion to cross an ocean. Is there something wrong with
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me? Am IA second class Christian?
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That's a common fear. It is my advice based on this
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text is do not fake it. Confess the coldness if it is
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born of selfishness, but also recognize that your lack of
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desire might be a legitimate providential calling to stay.
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Do not manufacture an artificial passion just to fit in with a
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radical missions culture. Instead, pray, read the word,
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give sacrificially, and labor faithfully right where you are
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in your local. Body that is sound pastoral
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wisdom. Not every Christian is called to
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cross cultural service in the same manner.
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The Great Commission is a corporate command given to the
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entire church. Within that corporate command,
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particular servants are raised up for particular laborers.
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Those who stay are called to pray, to support, to disciple,
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and to witness in their immediate context.
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As we synthesize everything we've discussed, a biblical
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desire for the nation's is a monarchistic creation of the
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Holy Spirit. It is forged in the fires of
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understanding God's absolute holiness and our own total
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depravity. It relies entirely on the
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substitutionary atonement of Christ and rests in the
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sovereign preservation of His elect remnant.
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It is a radical dismantling of our pride, followed by a radical
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reconstruction by His grace. And that leads us to a final
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thought for you to ponder. We talked earlier about the
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Seraphim crying out. The whole earth is full of His
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glory. Notice the tents there.
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It does not say the earth will be full of His glory once we
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finally get enough missionaries out there.
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It says the earth is full of His glory right now.
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The majestic authority of God already occupies every square
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inch of the globe, even in the darkest, most unreached corners
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where the gospel has never been preached.
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It's an established fact. It is God is not absent from
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those places waiting for us to bring Him there in our
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suitcases. His sovereign glory is already
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present. So the question is, how does
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knowing that God is already universally glorified in His
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sovereignty change the way you view the unreached?
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Does it relieve the crushing pressure that you have to
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somehow initiate God's presence and instead free you to simply
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be a herald of the King who already owns the land?