Chaplain’s Corner –
November 16, 2007
Rev.
Rich Hines
Thank God, He Was A Missionary – What About You?
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ
as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel
minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission –
in the
All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of
the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any
deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations
from the original languages, or as notes from the
original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment
about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement
Dear
Christian ministers to inmates and rescue mission residents, this month, as you
celebrate Thanksgiving, I want to urge you to thank God for the fact that He’s always had a missionary heart.
Then
additionally, thank Him that in Jesus Christ, He
actually became a Missionary.
It’s true, God is a
Missionary God. He's always cared about
the lost state of the human race. So He
has desired to bring them out of the darkness of sin and into His wonderful
light. Praise and thank God that His
great missionary heart, did not give up on you or me, or those in your facility.
Our English words
Lastly, God Himself
became a missionary. Jesus is God (John
1:1; 10:30; 12:45; and
John 14:9), and, as the obedient Son, He was sent by the Father to reach and
save lost, sinful people. Thank God for
that and teach your flock to do the same thing.
It’s significant that
(in the NKJV text) 40 times in the Gospel of John, Jesus described Himself as
the One SENT (missio) from the Father. For instance, Jesus spoke of “the Father who
sent Me,” in John 5:30, 36; 6:39,44,57;
8:16,18; 10:36; 12:49; & John 14:24. He alluded to it in many other places in
John’s Gospel.
Then, in His High
Priestly prayer in John 17, as He was praying to the Father for all of His
disciples, in verse 18 He said something VERY SIGNIFICANT:
17:18 “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
If we are true
believers in Christ, that missionary sending includes you and me in November, 2007. I say that because of verse 20, look at it -
17:20 “I do not pray
for these alone, BUT ALSO FOR THOSE WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME through their word;”
Jesus prayed that
prayer on Thursday night. Then on
Sunday, in the evening of the day of His resurrection, He appeared to His
disciples and made sure they understood that He physically conquered death. He showed them His hands and side that had
been pierced at the cross.
And then we come to
this repetitious but momentous verse:
20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Wow! Remember, Jesus was a missionary from
heaven. Jesus is God. The Father SENT Him as a Missionary with a
specific message and a specific work to do.
Here, He literally says “EVEN AS” or in some way SIMILAR TO THE WAY the
Father sent Him, He also sends us that are believers today.
In relation to this
truth, the first question each one of us must ask is HOW EXACTLY DID THE FATHER
SEND JESUS? In other words, what was
Jesus’ mission? What were the
particulars of what He was SENT to do?
Then, flowing out of that, we must ask ourselves, HOW am i, in some sense to duplicate it?
To get the answers we
need to examine what Jesus said about His own mission. Then we need to understand how that would
apply to us.
I’ve divided the 40
times (in the NKJV) Jesus referred to Himself as the Sent One and the one time
John the Baptist called Him that, into five groups which reflect the reasons He
was sent. Each one of them has an
application to His followers, even to you Chaplains, today.
FIRST, I found 13
texts (see reference list below) where His statements about being the
SENT One, equate Him with the Sender.
In other words, they are claims
to His Deity. Jesus was God with
a human face on. He was, and still is -
100% God and 100% human - although now, in a glorified human body.
(Reference List -
John 5:22,23; 5:36,37 in its context; 7:28, 29; 8:16, 18, 29, 42; 10:36; 11:42
in its context; 12:44, 45; 13:20; and John 15:21 in its context.)
Here are just two
examples:
John 5:22,23
22 For the Father
judges no one, but HAS COMMITTED ALL JUDGMENT to the Son,
23 that (lit. in
order that) all should honor the Son
just as they honor the Father. He
who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
According to
Scripture, God is the ultimate Judge (see Genesis 18:25 speaking of the LORD,
Yahweh in its context)." Yet here,
Jesus said He was the final Judge, hence - Jesus is God. Genesis 18:25, God is Judge of all the
earth. John 5:22, Jesus is final Judge,
hence Jesus is fully God.
John 12:44,45 – Here it is even clearer.
44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me,
believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
In other words, if you believe in
Me, you believe in God (the Father) and if you see Me (think of it at the time He said this – in the
physical body before the hearers) you SEE GOD.
In relationship to
being sent as the God-Man, Jesus came to show us (humans) God. Thank God for that!
So, what’s the
application to you and me? as His sent out ones, we also need to represent God. We never become God as some man-made
religions teach.
But we can and should
mimic and explain what He is like. Ask
yourself Chaplain, "Do the staff and inmates see something true about God
in and through my life?" "Do
they know something of the true unconditional, sacrificial love and
faithfulness of God, because of the way I treat them?" I ask you, do they see a measure of purity
and holiness and truthfulness in your life?
NEXT,
I found nine of the texts talking about how the Sent One brought the
world
God’s message (see reference list
below).
These texts stress the
fact that Jesus never spoke from Himself alone.
He didn't give His own independent opinion. The only messages He gave were ones God the
Father told Him to give. Certainly, we
can and should mimic that!
(Reference List -
John 3:34(spoken by John the Baptist); 5:36,37 &
38 in context; 6:29; 7:16; 8:26; 10:36;
and John 12:49)
Here again, are two
examples:
John 7:16
16 Jesus answered
them, and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, BUT HIS WHO SENT ME."
So Jesus' teaching
wasn't His own private human opinion.
Rather, it was always exactly what God the Father wanted to say. So, again ask yourself, "What about me?”
"Is my teaching
always and only what the word of God says, and means by what it says, or is it
man-made ideas?"
John 12:49
49 For I have not
spoken on My own authority; but the FATHER WHO SENT ME
(made Me His missionary) gave Me A COMMAND, WHAT I SHOULD SAY AND WHAT I SHOULD
SPEAK.
Do you sense yourself
as a missionary sent by Christ? You
should sense that. And, as such, do you
sense that you are to say no more or less than what He commands? I ask this because Jesus said to His
disciples in John 20:21, “... As the
Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
This is a serious thing
today. There are many that add into
God’s message their own ideas or the popular psycho-babel
of the day. This was a serious error in
ancient
Note Jeremiah 23:16 and
23:21 – Where God said:
16 ..."Do not listen
to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you (in context the self-made
false prophets) .
They make you worthless; THEY SPEAK A VISION OF THEIR OWN HEART."
21 (God speaking) "I
HAVE NOT SENT THESE PROPHETS, yet they ran.
I HAVE NOT PROPHESIED TO THEM, yet they prophesied." (They were not God’s missionaries).
Follow Jesus' example and
only say what you have been told to say by the One who sent you to the jail,
prison or rescue mission. Thank God
there were those in your past that did that for you!
THIRDLY, I noticed six
texts where Jesus as the Sent One was obedient to Him who sent Him. (Reference
List - John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 7:33; 9:4; and 16:5)
For instance note
these two examples:
John 6:38
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to DO My
own will, but THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME.
John 9:4 4 I must
work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no
one can work
For Jesus, the ultimate step of obedience to the Father who sent Him, was dying on the cross for the sins of His people. THANK GOD FOR THAT!
Then, considering the fact that Jesus has saved and
sent you as His missionary – BE OBEDIENT TO HIM IN YOUR DAILY MISSION.
The Fourth grouping of
His “Sent from the Father” statements reflect the fact that He was on a
mission of bringing salvation.
(In all, 11 reference texts – John 3:17; 5:24; 6:39; 6:40;
6:44; 6:57; John 11:42; 17:3; 18:21; 18:23 and John 18:25)
Here are some notable examples:
John 3:17
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but (He sent Him) that the world through Him might be saved.
John 6:39,40,44 &57
39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me,
that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. (which means to go
to heaven)
40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the
last day.”
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; and I will raise him
up at the last day.
57 As the living
Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so
he who feeds on Me (metaphorically, believes) will
live because of Me.
Thank God He sent
Jesus to bring salvation. ONLY JESUS
COULD DO THAT, because He alone was the Perfect One whose substitutionary
death could pay for the sins of the world.
Though we can’t do
that, we can and always should speak of How
He did it. As His missionary, you
want to major on the biblical doctrine of salvation in and by Christ alone. As God’s great missionary heart did not give
up on you, in turn - neither should you ever give up on those He has sent you
to.
The FINAL thing He
said He was SENT TO DO, was to glorify the Sender. Note it in John 7:18
18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the
glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
The Sent One glorified the Sender.
A missionary always glorifies the
one that sent them. As Jesus
always sought to glorify the Father, so we should always seek to GLORIFY THE
SON! You and I must never do our
ministry for our own name or fame, but rather for the honor and GLORY OF GOD.
“As the Father has
sent Me (Jesus said), I also send you.” John 20:21
This statement contains
so much to thank Him for, but it also contains a challenge to think deeply
about obeying. God bless you as you
worship and thank Him.
Rich Hines