"Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.” (Luke 8:1-3, ESV)
You've got to love Luke for all of his attention to detail. As a good doctor would, he carefully researched all that he had heard from others who were eyewitnesses of the events of Jesus ministry and death and resurrection and then took the effort to write things down in order, something that not all writers do. Luke pays attention to the little facts that many assume are unimportant, but which, in fact, give us the little touches that make the stories come to life. Here, we not only learn that Jesus went from town to town and village to village, but that he had many along with Him. One point that Luke makes that other writers of the period would not make, is the place of the women in all that was going on. Let's take a look at the list given here.
First off, after mentioning that the twelve were with Jesus, Luke tells us about some of the women that also attended the group. He says that some of these women had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses or infirmities. Here is where a traditional lie can be found in the myriad of books and movies made about the life of Christ: Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Not so. Luke says that she was one who had been healed of seven demons. In the King James these demons are called unclean spirits. Nothing is mentioned of Mary being a fallen women. It is true that Jesus ate with tax collectors and “sinners,” a term used to describe the women involved in prostitution during that time. But nowhere in the Bible does it ever say that Mary was such a person. In Luke chapter 4 it says that Jesus healed a man in Capernaum who had unclean spirits. It seems that unclean spirits would vex a person but there is no indication that this was in any way connected to specific sin on the part of the individual who was infested with these spirits. Mary was vexed, but there is no indication of immorality on her part.
We learn that one of the women was the wife of the household manager for King Herod. Not a low position in Jesus' day, to be sure. God is so wonderful. He manages to get people in high positions to believe in Him as well as those of humble circumstances. Another woman, Susanna, is mentioned, but we know nothing more about her. And then Luke says there were many other women and these were the people who were supporting Jesus and the twelve and their ministry.
We know that God told Satan that through woman, the Messiah would come, who would crush the head of Satan. Perhaps what we didn't know was the prominence of their position, not just in Mary as the mother of Jesus, but of women down through the ages who have actively been a part of Jesus' ongoing ministry of bringing the good news to the world. God made Eve a helper to stand equal with Adam. Jesus' Kingdom is filled with women who are equal to the men in the Kingdom, men and women each carrying out different tasks, but shoulder to shoulder, giving liberally, praying much, loving the lost. That's what makes being a Christian so wonderful. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.”(Galatians 3:28, ESV) Luke didn't have a point to make, a position to define, nor a hobby to ride. He just simply lets us know that women, too, lived their lives incarnadine, covered by the blood of Jesus, because of thankfulness to Him for healing them. He heals us, too, of sin sickness and things that vex our lives. Shouldn't we also live our lives under the blood of Jesus?
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The Nagasaki Martyrs, 17th Century Japan
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Should Churches Send Missionaries?
"I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.”(2 Corinthians 11:8, ESV)
“Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”(1 Corinthians 9:13-14, ESV)
One of the things that strikes you from the moment that Jesus begins His ministry is His desire to spread the news of the Kingdom. Jesus told two disciples of John, who had come to inquire whether Jesus was the promised Messiah or should they look for someone else, that the lame walked, the blind received their sight and the poor had good news preached to them, all in the fulfillment of prophecy. God is the God who speaks. He proclaims. He announces. He brings good news. And to insure that the message gets out, He sends out workers. Jesus even told His disciples to pray to the Lord of Harvest to send out reapers. Jesus sent out the twelve and then seventy disciples to prepare the people for the Kingdom. John the Baptist came preaching to the people that they might turn their hearts to God and be ready to accept the good news about the Kingdom. Jesus even told the disciples not to take money or extra shoes or even a stick for protection, but to enter a town and depend on the people there to feed and clothe the workers.
Why discuss all of this? Because a mood is about in North America that says missionaries should go and get jobs and take care of themselves. In other words, don't take money from the local churches, money they would rather spend for comfort or whatever. Often the desire to stop supporting missions is rationalized by saying that the money needs to be spent locally, to reach the lost in that particular area. It sounds responsible and it sounds like something is going to be done to reach out. But often it doesn't happen. Sometimes a sense is given off that dollars are deemed holier than wan or yen or piasters and rubles.
Sending missionaries out to preach the gospel is warp and woof of the church's mission. To be sure, many missionaries have gone without, worked with their own hands and scrimped to get by, just so that one more person could hear the good news about Jesus and His Kingdom. Certainly the Apostle Paul and Barnabas did this. The history of Christian missions is a history of folks doing whatever it takes to bring good news to others. And absolutely, should the western world go belly up from the current financial debacle, God will raise up other churches in other countries to send missionaries and support them. Small countries like South Korea are already sending missionaries, even into North America. The work of the church is to teach others about the Lord and His Kingdom. Jesus built that church on the Rock, that is, Himself, and He said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. There will be a church until He returns. The word of God will exist until He returns. Men and women will go out to spread the good news until He returns. And be assured of this, those who have gone out have been thankful for the great sacrifice that others made, just so the gospel could be proclaimed to others.
Harry R. Fox, a man whom I dearly loved and who inspired me to come to Japan as a missionary, told me about his time of serving on the mission field in Japan. He said that even during the Great Depression, when things were so very tough in the U.S. and elsewhere, he and his wife and their seven children were supported on $75 per month. Now that sounds like a very small amount, but let me assure you that during the Great Depression that was no small amount of money. Churches and individuals sacrificed in order to keep that missionary family on the field. The family sacrificed in order to remain in their work. Not just the missionary, but those supporting the missionary, were willing to live their lives incarnadine, their lives literally the color of the blood of the cross, in order to bring others into the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ no matter where in the world they lived. This will continue to happen until He returns.
To some, it sounds wise to tell the missionaries to get jobs locally in the countries where they are serving and not to be a burden on the churches back home. Most of us have done that from time to time. The Apostle Paul did that until his team arrived and then he quickly went to work preaching the gospel full time. That was his calling, that was his mission. Paul tells us that missionaries have the right to refuse help from churches but he also says he robbed churches to preach where the church was new or weak. When the missionary is driven to look for work in order to survive while proclaiming the good news, be careful not to try and hide behind motives that may sound good, but are in essence an excuse for not doing what the Lord Himself called on the churches to do. Why? Because the same Lord said this: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15, ESV)
“Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”(1 Corinthians 9:13-14, ESV)
One of the things that strikes you from the moment that Jesus begins His ministry is His desire to spread the news of the Kingdom. Jesus told two disciples of John, who had come to inquire whether Jesus was the promised Messiah or should they look for someone else, that the lame walked, the blind received their sight and the poor had good news preached to them, all in the fulfillment of prophecy. God is the God who speaks. He proclaims. He announces. He brings good news. And to insure that the message gets out, He sends out workers. Jesus even told His disciples to pray to the Lord of Harvest to send out reapers. Jesus sent out the twelve and then seventy disciples to prepare the people for the Kingdom. John the Baptist came preaching to the people that they might turn their hearts to God and be ready to accept the good news about the Kingdom. Jesus even told the disciples not to take money or extra shoes or even a stick for protection, but to enter a town and depend on the people there to feed and clothe the workers.
Why discuss all of this? Because a mood is about in North America that says missionaries should go and get jobs and take care of themselves. In other words, don't take money from the local churches, money they would rather spend for comfort or whatever. Often the desire to stop supporting missions is rationalized by saying that the money needs to be spent locally, to reach the lost in that particular area. It sounds responsible and it sounds like something is going to be done to reach out. But often it doesn't happen. Sometimes a sense is given off that dollars are deemed holier than wan or yen or piasters and rubles.
Sending missionaries out to preach the gospel is warp and woof of the church's mission. To be sure, many missionaries have gone without, worked with their own hands and scrimped to get by, just so that one more person could hear the good news about Jesus and His Kingdom. Certainly the Apostle Paul and Barnabas did this. The history of Christian missions is a history of folks doing whatever it takes to bring good news to others. And absolutely, should the western world go belly up from the current financial debacle, God will raise up other churches in other countries to send missionaries and support them. Small countries like South Korea are already sending missionaries, even into North America. The work of the church is to teach others about the Lord and His Kingdom. Jesus built that church on the Rock, that is, Himself, and He said that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. There will be a church until He returns. The word of God will exist until He returns. Men and women will go out to spread the good news until He returns. And be assured of this, those who have gone out have been thankful for the great sacrifice that others made, just so the gospel could be proclaimed to others.
Harry R. Fox, a man whom I dearly loved and who inspired me to come to Japan as a missionary, told me about his time of serving on the mission field in Japan. He said that even during the Great Depression, when things were so very tough in the U.S. and elsewhere, he and his wife and their seven children were supported on $75 per month. Now that sounds like a very small amount, but let me assure you that during the Great Depression that was no small amount of money. Churches and individuals sacrificed in order to keep that missionary family on the field. The family sacrificed in order to remain in their work. Not just the missionary, but those supporting the missionary, were willing to live their lives incarnadine, their lives literally the color of the blood of the cross, in order to bring others into the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ no matter where in the world they lived. This will continue to happen until He returns.
To some, it sounds wise to tell the missionaries to get jobs locally in the countries where they are serving and not to be a burden on the churches back home. Most of us have done that from time to time. The Apostle Paul did that until his team arrived and then he quickly went to work preaching the gospel full time. That was his calling, that was his mission. Paul tells us that missionaries have the right to refuse help from churches but he also says he robbed churches to preach where the church was new or weak. When the missionary is driven to look for work in order to survive while proclaiming the good news, be careful not to try and hide behind motives that may sound good, but are in essence an excuse for not doing what the Lord Himself called on the churches to do. Why? Because the same Lord said this: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15, ESV)
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