On Being Gospel Centered Missionaries in a World of Suffering, part 5
People have the problems they have right now for a number of different reasons.
One reason they have problems is because they have been sinned against. They have problems because they are living in a world that has been deeply impacted by man’s rebellion against God. But, they also have problems because they are sinners and do not believe or submit to the truth. To provide a true and lasting solution for people, you have to take each of those causes into account. Focusing exclusively on external reasons for people’s problems will lead to superficial solutions. Even if we are able to help someone with the way they have been sinned against and with some of the consequences of living in a broken world, they are still going to be sinned against and they are still living in a broken world. They need to know the right way to think about being sinned against and to respond to being sinned against and to living in a broken world as much, if not more than they need a temporary solution to the way they have been hurt by those realities. The best way to show love to anyone is to help them understand the gospel and live their lives in obedience to Christ.
There is a reason Jesus said the mission of the church is to make disciples. Failing to prioritize disciple-making in missions is failing to submit to the authority of Jesus and failing to submit to the authority of Jesus is not only sinful, it is foolish. You are not more compassionate than Jesus is. You are definitely not more wise. Jesus knows people. He knows their problems. He understands the solution. And so if Jesus commands us to make disciples, making disciples is not only the right way to help people, it is the best way. There is nothing people in vulnerable situations need more than to know Christ and learn how to better follow Him. But of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t have other very real needs. And those problems are often connected to their spiritual problems and can create difficulties for them as they pursue God.
Take Robert as an example. He didn’t really come to South Africa by choice. His country was ruled by a selfish dictator whose foolish decisions sent it into an economic meltdown, making surviving almost impossible, especially those who were already poor. He’d been doing everything he could to find work, but it was difficult being a foreigner with only refugee status. And by difficult, I mean almost impossible. As I spent time with him I knew he needed a relationship with Jesus more than he needed anything else, and that all the suffering that he was experiencing could become a demonstration of God’s grace if it caused him to see his sin and come to know the Savior and experience the glories of an eternity with Him. But I also understood he had a sick wife and two children he was concerned about, that God had given him gifts to use, and that as the leader of his home he needed to work and find ways to provide for his family. And so as I sought to share the gospel with him, I was also thinking how I could help him find employment and help his family survive in the meantime. It was difficult. It became very messy. But, loving our neighbor means we have to help them come to know God’s love, and knowing God’s love means we have to find ways to love our neighbor even when it’s complicated.
And it will be complicated. There’s a lot we have to think about if we are going to do real good. There are so many questions we need to answer. Who do we help? How do we help? When do we help? What kind of help do we give? How do we prioritize making disciples and help the church to stay focused on its primary mission while helping those who are experiencing severe physical crises? Before we do anything we have to think, because it’s possible to help in ways that are positively unhelpful. Even worse, we can do real harm instead. But these are great questions for local churches to be thinking about and asking rather than ignoring, because the Bible does have answers, and because, praise God, if we humbly trust Him and seek to be obedient, we can do real good.
John MacArthur writes, “It’s amazing what you can do if you get involved in the Lord’s work.
One night in the East End of London, a young doctor was turning out the lights of a mission hall in which he was working, and he found a ragged little boy hiding in a dark corner. The little boy asked him to please let him stay there, because it was warm in the corner, and he could sleep, and it was a nicer place than he always slept. The doctor said no, and he took the homeless little boy to his own room. He fed him. He bathed him. Then he tried to get his story. He learned from the little boy that he was living in a coal bin, and he was living in a coal bin with a number of other little boys. So the doctor asked the little fella if he’d take him to where the coal bin was so he could see.
They went through the narrow alleys of London. Finally, in the darkness of night, they came to a hole in the wall of an old factory. “Look…look in there,” the little boy said and the doctor struck a match, and he looked inside through the hole and crawled into a filthy coal bin cellar, and he found 13 little boys there, clothed with only bits of old burlap to protect them from the London cold; and one little fella had clinging to him tightly a four-year-old little brother.
They were all orphans.
The doctor said that, then and there, he caught a vision how he could serve the Lord. His name was Dr. Bernardo. The story is true. He cared for those little boys and for little girls; and at the time of his death, the newspapers of London reported that Dr. Bernardo had taken and surrounded with a Christian atmosphere over 80,000 homeless children, and hundreds of them became Christians because he had the eyes of Christ to see into the darkness and the heart of Christ to draw people into the light.
Oh, that we should so minister.”
And throughout the years, many missionaries have.
When we talk about finding ways to care for the physical needs of the people to whom we are ministering while engaging in proclaiming the gospel and doing the work of missions, we are not simply talking about the next trendy topic. We are simply talking about doing what faithful missionaries have almost always done.