VanFossens: Winter 2009 Update!
Why Not Just Go?
by Greg VanFossen
I am writing this in the winter season, and our activities involving the Guyana project are focused on speaking engagements to solicit partners. How do we work out where to go to share what God has apparently asked us to do? Who are our teammates supposed to be? Why doesn’t God just convict others to look us up and start providing support? What kind of preparation is expected for someone to be a missionary? Is it necessary to have any?
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Why not “just go” as some people suggest? There are biblical examples. In Mark 5 and Luke 8 the Demoniac of Gadara had one day with Jesus. In this day, Christ gave him an experience which prepared him to be a missionary in his own country. When Jesus came to his area again, many went out to meet Him. Also, when Jesus sent the twelve out on their first missionary activity, He sent them out without “purse” or any material preparation (Matt. 10:5). They had been with Jesus, observed His treatment of people and believed He was of God, so they did have essential preparation. However, it is important to note the fact that the disciples were first sent out only to the House of Israel. When I look at Luke 22:36, I see that they would need to make material preparation, as they were now going to the Gentiles and Samaritans.
Do I expect God to perform some miracle to show me what He wants me to do? The Devil asked Jesus to perform a miracle to prove who He was (Luke 4). If I ask God to perform a miracle, I could be treading on the same ground. Gideon asked for a fleece miracle and God bore with him. If you read the account in Judges 6, God had already done a number of things to convince him. Gideon needed a lot of convincing due to his mindset. What is my mindset? Do I have one that is receptive to God’s prompting? God and Moses used miracles to persuade Pharaoh (Exodus 7). Did it work? No. Pharaoh apparently didn’t want to know God. In Revelation miracles are clearly a tool of the Devil as much as of God (Revelation 13:13, 14). Mrs. Ellen White once observed that, “God does not work miracles where he has provided means by which the work may be accomplished” (Counsels on Education, 116). It is clear that our ability to discern must go beyond the observation of miracles as a criterion.
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. . . the mission field includes reaching out to those in my home country to participate in an effort which is part of God’s plan for saving me and others who have resources. |
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Jesus told the rich young ruler the way to get into the kingdom of heaven was to sell all he had, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him (Matt.19:21). Perhaps I should just sell everything I have and use the proceeds to support myself in the
mission field. This would be short-term. Does that approach to finances represent good stewardship? If I follow Jesus’ advice and sell everything to support me while in the foreign mission field, what do I do for support when I am too old and feeble to work? What about supporting my children and family? My family is my most important obligation. I have played a part in bringing children into the world, and my children are my first mission field. If I have been a good steward of what God has given me, should I just let go of it? Perhaps it can be used to accomplish what God has asked me to do. My children can share the Gospel in their sphere of existence as much as I can and, in some instances, may be more effective. I believe few would dispute the responsibility parents hold to make sure their children are educated to a level at which they are productive members of society and, preferably, leaders of their society.
To “just go” may be an attitude for some, but, no matter how little preparation is made, one is not “just going.” Even the adult who just walks away from everything has had preparation in life experience. For me, part of the mission field includes reaching out to those in my home country to participate in an effort which is part of God’s plan for saving me and others who have resources. Part of God’s way of saving me and my neighbors in a country of great relative wealth is to encourage the development of a benevolent heart (Counsels on Stewardship, p.20). This makes me not only a missionary to a country outside of the U.S. but also to my own countrymen. In this activity I need very little material preparation. Going outside the U.S. will require significant material preparation, involving the development of interdependence in my church family. Developing interdependence is not an easy process in a land where independence has been held as an ideal.
The bottom line is the importance of doing God’s will. A couple of scriptural admonitions are my safeguard: 1) “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths” Proverbs 3:6; 2) ”Put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:13). If I stay focused on Jesus I can walk on water like Peter. If I allow a distraction, no matter what it is, to take my eyes off Jesus, I will sink like Peter.
