But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8
Where do we begin you might ask? Well, there is great wisdom in Christ's final words with His disciples. There is a logical order here that many Christians overlook. There is a purposeful order here that puts a check on our "excitement" for Jesus to go to a foreign country and really makes us sit down and ponder why Jesus said what He said.
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There are a great many Christians, no doubt, who are excited to do missions for Christ - especially foreign missions. It's the excitement of the journey, the excitement of being in a foreign place, the excitement of taking Christ where He has not been named. All of that excitement is honorable. But let's examine that excitement in light of what Jesus said in Acts 1:8.
Jesus began by telling the disciples that when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, that is, when they are empowered by Christ to be witnesses for Christ, they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem first, then in all Judea, then Samaria, and finally to the end of the earth. There's a crucial order here that I think is missed by many Christians and sadly much of what is done in the name of missions is more like a one time Christian vacation than mission work.
The order of events that follow in the book of Acts show that the disciples followed their Lords command closely. Let's see what was meant by Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
By Jerusalem is meant that we start at home - we start here in Covington, GA (insert the city in which you live here). This is crucial. This is where the order of it all get really messed up. Most totally flip this list on its head and aim for the "big fish" of foreign missions (and normally only a handful of times in their entire lifetime).
This is the most upsetting part as well. If missions begins at home then the trend we see for most mission work is void of the wise order in which Christ laid out for His people. Most Christians are very zealous to do missionary work abroad in some foreign land when they've never been
missionaries at home. That doesn't make too much sense. If proclaiming the excellencies of Christ is such a big deal for them then when's the last time they walked across their street and shared the gospel with their neighbor or stood in the gap for them in prayer or even knew enough about them to do either?
You would think that they would be burdened with the lost immediately around them first, who we may add are easier to reach, before they would some foreign group they've never met. Wisdom would teach us that if you don't proclaim the gospel where you are, don't even think of packing up and going to where you've never been. The former should be a huge qualification for the latter.
If God can't trust a man with the pistol, what makes you think He can trust him with the cannon?
So, Jerusalem first. Start there. It's the logical order of it all. Make sense?
Then and only then are you welcome to spread out much further (Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth).
Here's the point - If love for peoples souls is really what you are about then you will be a missionary at home first. You won't be an excitable "Christian vacation" missionary. Your life, day in and day out, will be focused on being a missionary - or in the words of Christ "salt and light" - to everyone you meet. And if Christ sees fit to use you 3,000 miles away then you will be ready for the job.
So Where Exactly?
Here's some suggestions for being a missionary.
- Start by being a missionary to your family. Imagine your children, aunt, husband, cousins, etc. as a mission field. Imagine them as some remote unreached tribe that requires your time, sacrifice and most importantly the gospel message. This can make for exciting family reunions as well! If your whole family is saved, then praise the Lord! Skip to point 2.
- Be a missionary to your neighbors. Share the gospel with them. The majority of Jesus' public friendships were based on His "cold call" evangelistic efforts. Walk across the street and talk to them. It's a matter of life or death.
- Find a place where you can witness regularly to strangers. This would include:
- Mini-malls
- Public Parks
- Anywhere There's Foot Traffic
- Find a homeless shelter where you can minister to the body, and most importantly, to the soul. We must strive to help men live well, without neglecting to help them die well.
Here's the point. If we really truly believe hell is real, God is just, and the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to save the worst sinner alive then finding a place to speak is as easy as finding a coherent human. The scripture says that if we believe we will speak (2 Corinthians 4:13)...no matter where we are.
