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Leave To Become A Blessing
God created us to leave. “Fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
How can we fill the earth without leaving?
“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you . . . I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing . . . and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3).
Abraham was to leave behind his country, his people, and his father’s household. Jesus said the same to us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
We can’t go without leaving.
So that You Will Be A Blessing
We do move. We do leave. We want a better job, a better life-style or more freedom.
But that is not why Abraham moved. His father was very established in Ur. Abraham would not find better jobs or a better life-style in the new land because he didn’t even know where he was supposed to go!
But God prescribed a purpose for Abraham to leave, that is, “so that you will be a blessing.” Abraham leaves to become a blessing! That is what a missionary is about. He or she leaves in order to become a blessing. Abraham was the first Old Testament missionary!
The missionary purpose is not unique to Abraham. In fact, this God-given purpose is true to each and every one of God’s people because we are Abraham’s spiritual descendants. As Abraham was the first missionary, we are all purposed by God to his missionary people.
It Is Difficult to Leave
But do we enthusiastically respond to this purpose from God? Not really. The very number of missionaries reveals that. Among 2.2 billion Christians worldwide, only 400,000 leave to be missionaries. We are talking about 0.018% of God’s people.
Why so few missionaries? Why even fewer missionaries leaving their country, their people, their father’s household to reach the unreached people groups?
Because leaving to become a missionary is not easy. Leaving means giving up a lot of things we hold so dearly.
I worked as a chemical engineer after college, enjoying a good career and a good life. One day when I received my monthly paycheck, God spoke to me: Daniel, how is this in your hand compared with one soul won for Christ? You worked for a month to get this, can you spend 30 days to win just one soul for me?
Honestly, for a man, giving up the career is tough. Lots of time, our identity, security, possessions, life-style, and social status are so closely tied to our career. In fact, my wife and I didn’t realize how much a successful career had meant to us until we went penniless for a while during our ministry in Northwest China.
To leave is a verb. It is an action. In fact, that is what happened to Abraham after he left Ur. He was moving and leaving all the time. That is what a missionary is about. Missionaries are to be sensitive to where God calls them and be ready to leave for the frontiers where people and peoples are waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time.
That means missionaries need to travel a lot. When I was younger, travel was fun to me. I wanted to see the world. Whenever the ministry took me to some new places, I was happy to see new cultures, new peoples, and new food. But now at the age of 47, I begin to feel the burden. My machine is not as strong as before, and the task becomes even heavier. I start to appreciate how much the missionaries before me had given up throughout their many years of services.
All Peoples on Earth Will Be Blessed Through You
Not only was Abraham to leave to become a blessing, but he also would be the channel for all nations on planet earth.
God said, “All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” What a big promise! What a big task! What a huge leaving!
Abraham was told to leave his country, his culture, and his father’s household. Basically, he is to leave his comfort zone. He is to leave everything he is familiar with. It is difficult for Abraham? I want to ask him when I see him in heaven.
But I know how it feels to leave my comfort zone. A few days ago, I was at Lowes. I need to buy a hook and an eye for our windows. I know what they look like, but don’t know what they are called in English and I couldn’t find it. So I approached a store associate. I used up all my “Chinglish” ability and gestures, she still looked confused. I had to draw a picture of it. Is that what you always like to happen?
To leave our country, our culture, our relatives are not easy. But that is the way all nations on earth ever receive God’s blessing in Jesus Christ.
There was an earthquake in Yunnan province in a few years ago. I wanted to visit a village, which was the epicenter of the disaster. It was only 100 miles away, but took me 15 hours to get there. After a few hours of riding a bus and minivan, I had to walk the trails, and climb mountain after mountain. Where is the end of this walking? It was almost midnight when I arrived. I wasn’t happy and was totally exhausted. So I went to sleep right away in a hut made corn stalks.
My eyes filled with tears of repentance when I spoke with local villagers the next morning. Two British missionaries were buried in the village after they were killed by the communist army in 1950s when China fell to the communist regime.
How much more difficult it must have been then for the two missionaries to leave their country, their people and their father’s household to come to this remote place in China! There were no Boeing 747, no paved road for buses and vans. How could they ever get to the village? Well, they did it. They did even more. They gave up their lives so that the Miao people at this village could have a chance to hear the gospel for the first time. Their lives led many Miao people to Christ.
Unlike the Miao people at that village now, today many unreached people groups in the world are still waiting for their first missionaries to come to tell them of God’s blessing. Let’s look at the gospel status of people groups.
Among 16,591 people groups worldwide, 6,741 are unreached. They make up 42.2% of the world population.
You easily realize that only 3.3% missionary force is utilized to reach 42.2% world population of the unreached people groups. “How are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10:14).
I agree with you that this is totally acceptable. There are simply so few missionaries for so many unreached people groups!
But how are missionaries to preach unless they are sent (Romans 10:15)? Admittedly, we are part of this sad situation. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). How we handle money affects how many missionaries are sent.
What people give:
- $677 billion: Pastoral ministries of local churches (mostly in Christian nations)
- $20.3 billion: “Home missions” in same Christian nations
- $2.1 billion: Going to unevangelized non-Christian worls
- $450 million (est): Going toward unreached people
How much attention do we really give to unreached peoples? With so little resources available, how can enough missionaries be sent to tell them of God’s blessing for them?
Unless the church sends them, missionaries can’t leave for the mission field. It is simple as that.
We all need to leave. Some of us need to leave our stuff so that others can leave their home for the UPGs. We all are purposed by God to be part of his great mission.
In early 1865, a Scottish man named George Stott went to apply to become a missionary with the China Inland Mission. The leader of the mission, James Hudson Taylor, asked him, “Why do you, with one leg, think of going as a missionary?”
Stott said, “Because I do not see those with two legs going, so I must.” Arriving in Shanghai on February 6,1866, Stott quickly relocated to the port city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, where Christian teaching had been previously unknown. He became the first missionary to Wenzhou. Today, there are more than one million Christians in that city.
God does not look at how able you are, but how willing you are to leave to become His missionary.
A couple of years ago, some Big Flower Miao Christians decided to take the gospel to a village of Red Yi people in Yunnan Province, China. As soon as the gospel reached there, a man who was demon-possessed and was chained to millstone for 18 years was set free. Hallelujah! “The gospel . . . is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). But somebody has to leave first so that they can hear the gospel first (cf. Romans 10:14).
Today there are still 6,741 people groups who haven’t even seen a missionary for the first time. They want to be set free by the Gospel. They are waiting . . .
Today, are you willing to leave to become part of their opportunity to receive their first missionary?
Content sources:
Missions Stats, http://www.thetravelingteam.org/stats/