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In 1969 a newly appointed missionary couple named Duane and Millie boarded a plane that would take them to a foreign land. It wasn’t foreign of course to the people that called it home, but to this couple in their mid-thirties with their 14- and 15-year-olds, it was. He’d given up a carrier as a radioman with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which was a pretty good gig compared to his previous job as the accountant for the local grocery store. Duane had already been around the world, but mostly 300ft below sea-level, from the inside of the U.S.S Madregal, a diesel submarine, during the Korean War. As such, he had the experience of the unknown, of danger, and committing to something that could take him to the end of his life. But this time was different, this time he was following the call that God had put on he and his wife’s heart after hearing a foreign missionary speak at their Wednesday night church service. That in and of itself was a fascinating Providence, but that’s a different story for another time. This time was also different because it wasn’t just Duane going off to war, this time he was taking his wife and kids. And so, in the Summer of 1969 they arrived on the tiny airport with all their earthly belongings coming a few weeks later on a 40-foot container. This began a 40-year journey of being called and sent around the world to participate in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, tribe and tongue.
Spread My Glory Everywhere!
Go to the Nations, They’re Everywhere!
When the Nations Aren’t Next Door.
Let’s start with an important question. Why do we need to take the gospel anywhere? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that nature declares the Glory of God?
Rom 1:19-20 “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
The Trinity Catechism, question two asks: “2. What is the chief end of man?”
“Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”
The self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal God wanted to demonstrate his glory and bless us. So, he commanded nothing to produce something, and it was obliged to obey. He filled nothing with everything by his powerful Word. He made everything that has ever been, to demonstrate his omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent glory. He made man last, as a unique creation—one to represent him in creation and have dominion over it. Everything he made prior to man was a blessing to man, either as food or as work. He assigned the man a task—we refer to it as the creation mandate. It was, essentially, take my image and my order and spread it to the ends of the earth. Everywhere God looked, he wanted to see himself in us.
Mankind decided it wanted to compete with God and steal his glory, rather than submit to it. The consequence to their sin was death and separation from God. The creation was cursed and the blessing that was meant for man, fellowship with God and satisfaction in completing his mandate, was turned into longing and toil.
Man’s sin wouldn’t thwart God’s glory and blessing though. He promised salvation from their sin to man and relief from it’s curse to creation, and he would use man to do that too. From the sinner’s offspring God would send a Savior. Many Savior types appeared over the centuries to follow, but every one was ultimately overcome by death. These were not the Savior.
Until we encounter this one man, named Jesus from Nazareth. As we read in our opening text (Luke 24) he accomplished everything that was promised of the Messiah. He was proclaimed to be the Messiah by John the Baptist, claimed to be Messiah himself (John 4), demonstrated perfectly that he was the only one to accomplish all that the Scriptures had declared and was claimed to be by the testimony of eye-witnesses who saw that he fulfilled everything Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets had said he would — specifically overcoming death.
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel and the Christ of the Gentile. The offspring of the woman who would save man from his sin and from death, and would demonstrate the glory of the Lord and the blessing to us! Just as he implied to the disciples on the road to Emmaus:
Luke 24:26—"Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” [3]
Luke 4:18— “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And here I have just given you a brief example of the testimony, the gospel that you are commissioned to share, as you go.
Jesus tells the disciples why he’s sending them.
He is restating the Creation Mandate: take my image and my glory, the blessing of my salvation from Sin and death; take it everywhere. I want to see my image everywhere in you—take it to the nations, take it everywhere!
John 20:21— Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Now many of you may scratch your head at this. Wasn’t Jesus sent only to the Jews? Didn’t he say that many times? Yes, he even told a gentile or two this. But let me explain what I mean.
In chapter 4 of his gospel, Mathew draws a very specific point out about where Jesus went to begin his ministry: “Galilee of the Nations” on the boarder of Zebulon & Naphtali.
He quotes:
Isaiah 9— But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
The Hebrew word for “nations” from Isaiah 9 is “go-yim” and can also be translated into English as “nation” or “Gentile”. In Mathew the way it’s translated in the Greek is “Gentile”. Either way the word communicates “pagan, gentile, or other than you…” not Israelite/Jew.
Yet Naphtali & Zebulun were two Israelite tribes who had been conquered in the 8th century, during the first Assyrian captivity—never to be reunited to the Nation. As part of that deportation the area was repopulated with Gentiles from all over the Assyrian empire. There were some attempts to convert or force these nations out in the 2nd century, but it remained largely Gentile.
Jesus went to the Jew first—yet we some very significant examples of how he also went to the Gentile. He went to the Samaritan woman and crossed not only ethnic/national lines, but also gender, socio-economic and faith traditions. He went to the Gerasene in the Decapolis, straight up Gentile and interacted with demons and swine herds. It was here that he appoint the first missionary to the Gentiles. The only place that Jesus told someone to go and tell everyone what had happened.
In Jesus earthly ministry he came to the Jews, but he also went to the Gentiles.
This fulfills the desire of God to go to the whole world. “Nation” (go-yim)— is used over 175X between Josh-Malachi to communicate a plan to reach the nations. God has always had the world, all ruined creation, and every nation, tribe, family, and tongue for his redemption plan.
Consider just three of these examples from Moses, the Psalms & the Prophets.
Gen 28:13-15—And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” [4]
Notice the similarity between this last piece of the promise and Matt 28:20 —I’ll be with you until the end of the age.”
Ps 67:1-4 — “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah”
Is 56:6-8 — “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
In this subtle connection Mathew is communicating that Jesus intentionally went to the “lost children of Israel” (Zebulon & Naphtali) and to “the nations, the Gentiles” all at the same time.
In his going he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah by being the light that dawned and by rescuing them from the Oppressor—Jesus went to the nations at Galilee. He went where the “nations” were going to be.
Let’s transition to talk a little more about how we should think about Nations in our context.
195 recognized countries—with a few currently under protest. Most of these nations weren’t in existence when Jesus gave his command.
In Acts two we have a record of at least 17—with several covering massive areas of the known world, but certainly not every tribe, nation and tongue.
Acts 2:8-12—And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
Certainly, Jesus had more in mind than these 17. God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that all the families of the earth would be blessed by God from their physical and spiritual fatherhood.
Joshua Project highlights peoples and places with the least access or response to the gospel so the Body of Christ can prioritize its prayer and mission efforts.
They provide a destination map for the Great Commission by highlighting peoples and places with the least access or response to the gospel, empowering the Body of Christ to prioritize its prayer and mission efforts.
While language is a key barrier to understanding, in parts of the world factors other than language form barriers of acceptance across which the Gospel will not naturally flow. – Joshua Project
The Lausanne 1982 defines “people group” as:
"For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance".
According to the Joshua Project there are something between 10,200 and 17,000 unique people groups in the world, depending on if you distinguish between people groups globally, or those same people groups divided by country. Of those between 4,400 and 7,000 are unreached. Unreached typically means less than 2% saturation of the gospel.
The point that Joshua Project is making is that when we hear Nations, Tribes and Tongues we really need to think as much about the “tribe” part as the “tongue” or “nationality”. Nationalism is a funny thing especially in certain parts of the world.
We need to think cross-culturally, not ethnically. Within our own immediate life we have pretty dramatic cross-cultural barriers that impede the gospel messages acceptance and understanding.
Again, consider Jesus’ example for this by doing his ministry in and around Galilee of the Nations. How many different nations tribes and tongues did he interact with. When he left, he didn’t tell the Disciples to leave yet; Why did he sent them to Jerusalem? Because the nations were coming to them!
Last week we heard a debate. One of the main items being discussed was the boarder of our nation. I have opinions about the boarder, just like all of us, but let me address it in a way that neither of the candidates did. THE NATIONS ARE COMING TO US!
It’s easy for us to think of people as being where they’re from.
Cary = “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees” it’s a good joke, but the reality is that RTP is one of the top places in the world for the nations to gather.
“As the ninth largest state in the country with 10.8 million residents, North Carolina’s racial and ethnic profile continues to change. From 2022 to 2023, the Asian population had the highest growth rate at 5.3% in the state, according to new census data. With nearly 386,000 people, they now make up almost 4% of the state’s population, up from 3% in 2020. The U.S. Census Bureau defines Asians as people with origins in Central, East, or Southeast Asia, or South Asia. That includes, China, India, Japan and Pakistan, for example. Wake County had the highest percentage of Asian residents in the state at 9.3%, with about 110,000. In Morrisville, in western Wake, nearly half of the 31,000 residents are Asian or of Asian heritage. Hispanics and people who describe themselves as multi-racial increased too in the last year at 3.7% and 3.9%, respectively. The Hispanic and Latino population now comprise 11.4% of the state’s population, up from 10.7% in 2020.”
“By the numbers: Which groups drive population growth in a more diverse North Carolina?” BY DAVID RAYNOR UPDATED JUNE 27, 2024
They’re bringing their traditions, customs, joys, concerns, fears and need for the gospel to us. Are we ready to meet them.
Bonaire, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Indonesia, Jordan, Macao, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Uganda, Venezuela, not to mention the US of A.
Some have made the argument that the commission to “go” that was given to the disciples to be witnesses was only for the disciples. Making disciples of all people, teaching them to command all I have told you. The going is part of the commandment.
2 Cor 5:17-20a—Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
How do you know if you’ve been called? Well, that’s easy! You wait until the sky opens, and you hear the audible voice of God telling you exactly what he wants us to do, and how we are to do it.
I hope you catch my sarcasm there. “That do I do with my life is of course one of the most common and illusive questions for most people. Not everyone, certain people just know. However, a lot of us experience something more like Daniel described last week. He shared how he was drawn towards missions in Africa, but the Lord shut that door in a very practical way; and then directed his steps through pretty ordinary means—using the “common” processes of life to direct him to where he wanted him. God’s ways are amazing and mysterious.
My own story was pretty similar; a glorious change in a mundane way. Not a year before I was asked to take the administrator job, I had decided in my heart that I wouldn’t if I was asked. Didn’t seem like a good career move for me at the time—and I liked what I was doing at TWR; where I had a good position and had been for 16 years. Yet in his own mysterious way when I was asked and I committed my way to the Lord and fasted and waiting on him he stirred my heart and changed it to want the job and see it as best.
You may not be specifically called by God to travel away from the place you were born. But as we learned last week God does call all of us who are his disciples to make disciples. Last week Daniel challenged us to
I would add to that:
Duane and Millie’s call was specific. It was specific for them, for a specific time, to specific places. Ironically it was a church in Massillon, OH, about an hour east of Mansfield, where Duane and Millie heard their call. They were minding their business, living their happy suburban life. In fact, they had just moved from Galion, because Duane was recently promoted in the OH State Highway Patrol. Then one Wednesday night a random missionary showed up at their church, because his car had broken down on the side of the road on the way to a mission’s presentation at another church. Someone from their church picked him up and he presented at Duane & Millies’ church instead. When Duane was young he had surrendered his life to missions, And there in the pew, The Lord stirred in their hearts and piqued their interest enough to make an inquiry. Interestingly enough when they were interviewing at the missions headquarters just a few months later the president of the organization told them straight up that they were too old—and unless Duane had any experience with diesel engines, bookkeeping or radio antennas they couldn’t really consider them? Remember how Duane had lived on board a diesel submarine, had been an accountant and had served as a radioman on the highway patrol?
As far as any of us know, the Lord is or has been preparing us, for a call that happens later in life; when we are “too-old”, when our lives are established and we’ve settled into the rhyme of “life-as-it’s-supposed-to-be”, faithful in our professions, faithfully discipling our family in suburban Apex, Holly Springs and Fuquay, faithfully pursuing our own discipleship as we go. Do you have a vision for that? You should. Because what God did one Wednesday night to my grandparents, may be exactly the thing he does to you someday, maybe even today.
Here are some other recent messages.
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