On Being Gospel Centered Missionaries in A World of Suffering, part 1
Robert invited me to his home after visiting our church. He lived in a one room tin shack in someone’s backyard. As we sat down together on some buckets he had turned upside down, we watched his two children play together on the dirt floor. I could hear the urgency in Robert’s voice as he told me how hard it was to find work. His wife was sick, his children were hungry and he didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t sure if Robert was a Christian. I knew he needed the gospel. But, it was also clear he needed help.
The first time I met Anthony I was standing in the middle of his bedroom. It felt a little awkward, but he was too sick to get out of bed, so I didn’t really have another option. His wife had been coming to our church and made a profession of faith while he was in prison. She invited me to speak to him about Jesus and I was thankful for the opportunity. But, as I watched him shivering underneath his blanket, I could tell he was having a hard time paying attention. Not having medical insurance, it was difficult for him to even find a doctor to speak to. It was evident he desperately needed Jesus, but I also wondered if he didn’t need me to do something for his physical condition.
James and I were eating an ‘African’ burger together in his kitchen as he told me about being forced to leave the charismatic church he had pastored for years because of his new found commitment to teaching God’s Word. He was happy about what he had learned about the gospel and about ministry, but he was also anxious because it meant he was now out of a job and he didn’t know how he was going to provide for his family. As I listened to him share his story I wanted to be an encouragement, but I also was asking myself if there was anything God wanted me to do about his kids?
Wherever you go people are suffering. Wherever people are suffering, there are opportunities. There is an opportunity to obey God’s command to love your neighbor. There is an opportunity to learn how to die to self. There is an opportunity to build relationships. There is an opportunity to make the gospel look beautiful. But, there are dangers.There are dangers to the people you are trying to help. There are dangers to you, your ministry and your relationship with God.
Being a limited human being means you are not able to help everyone. Unfortunately, many of us have a hard time believing that. We grow up being told we can do whatever we set our mind to. And, when someone is in a crisis, they desperately want to believe that about us as well. The problem when a limited person acts like they are unlimited however is that they often make promises they can’t keep and try to do more than they actually can do and people get hurt.
Not only are you unable to help everyone, you are unable to do everything. The moment you choose to do one thing, you choose not to do another. So, you always have to make decisions. Those decisions are not easy when there are so many needs that feel so urgent. We know it’s important that people have food to eat. And that they have medical care. And yet, we also know they need the gospel. They need discipleship. They need training. It all seems good. It might even all be good. But which good do you choose to do? Which good do you not choose to do? And, if by choosing to do a lesser good you are not able to do the most important good then are you actually doing good?
These are important questions that demand thoughtful answers, and we'll begin thinking about how Scripture directs us forward in posts to come.