The mission of God is to bring glory and worship to His name among all the nations. God invites us to join Him in this grand plan. As John Piper states, "Missions exist because worship does not." Our purpose is to tell the nations about Jesus Christ so they will know Him and worship Him.
Avery Willis and Henry Blackaby shared about some missionaries in an African country. They had gathered there for a prayer retreat to seek God and find out where He was working and how they could join Him. One of the ladies was walking when a young Muslim man approached her and asked what she was doing. She said, "We are here to pray." He was impressed and wanted to know more, so she brought him back to where they had gathered. Another missionary who spoke his heart language shared Christ with him and he readily trusted in Jesus for salvation. Then he asked if the missionaries would go with him into the bush and tell his family about Christ. Three missionaries and the man went deep into the bush in their Land Rover. They met the village chief and told him that the young man had invited them to tell his family about Jesus Christ. The chief instructed them to tell the whole village and not just one family! One missionary preached while another translated. He spoke of the first African believer, the Ethiopian eunuch in
Acts 8. As he was sharing the Gospel, the Muslim call to prayer sounded, and some got up and washed and prayed then returned to hear more. The missionary gave an invitation, and an elderly man came forward and said there must be two ways to God, but the missionary quoted
John 14:6, where Jesus said,
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me." The elderly man said, "I thought so. Jesus' way must be the way. How do we do it?" Fourteen men stood and received Christ. When the missionaries returned to follow up with the new believers, they found something amazing. They had gone to the next village, shared Christ, led a man to the Lord, baptized him, and discipled him. They asked the missionaries, "Is that "OK?" (Willis and Blackaby,
On Mission with God, p. 146-47)
In
Acts 16, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke head for Europe, and they are in for quite a journey as they take the Gospel to some hostile places. But before they run into trouble and imprisonment, God leads them to Lydia. I love the part in today's verse where Luke simply writes that the missionaries
"sat down and spoke to the women." For people to know Jesus, they must first hear about Jesus. This is where you and I come in. You may protest and say that you are no missionary and therefore are exempt from telling the world about the Savior. That would be like me telling you I am no auto mechanic, so I must walk everywhere. You do not have to be an expert to tell others about Jesus Christ. You must, however, know Him and be willing to speak to others about Him.
Who will you share Jesus with today?
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