SERIES: The Book of Romans
How in the World Can God Use Us?
Introduction: As an undergraduate in college, I took a lot of math classes like Calculus, Differential Equations and Statistics. One of the great things about most math books is that the authors often publish the answers in the back of the book. On some occasions, I found it helpful to look at the answer and then work backward to learn how to work the problems I was given. Having the end in sight sometimes helped me understand how to work the problem to get the desired answer.
Before we look at our main text and discuss missions, I would like to begin this morning the same way I often began a math problem. So, turn with me to Revelation, beginning in Chapter 4 and let’s look at the answer published by God in the back of the book. Let’s look at the end so we know what we are working towards when we consider missions. Having the answer will help us to think rightly as we consider our part in the mission task.
In a nutshell the Revelation of John is a prophetic text which shows us what things will look like in the end. After recording letters to the churches in chapters 1-3, John is taken to the heavenly throne room in the future. What does he see? In chapter 4:6-8, he sees four six-winged, multi-eyed creatures around God’s throne. What are they doing? Day and night they are worshiping God in His holiness: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” They are doing this day and night, night and day.
In verse 4 of this chapter, John sees twenty-four elders dressed in white with gold crowns on their head. Scholars are not sure who these elders are. Many think that they are an exalted order of angels. And what are these elders doing? They too are worshiping. Look at verse 9
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him …. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God
to receive glory and honor and power,
For you created all things
and by your will they were created and have their being.”
These 4 creatures and these 24 elders are worshiping throughout chapter 5. Then in chapters 6 and 7 Jesus the Lamb comes on the scene and begins to break the seals on the scroll, which brings about the beginning of the end. Then John looks up and in verse 9 of chapter 7 this is what he sees: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”
And what are the people from every nation, tribe and language doing? “And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.’”
They too are worshiping. If you are in Christ, this is you. We are part of the multitude. We are part of this enormous choir standing around the throne worshiping. But not only are we in the multitude. John is very specific that in this incredible multitude, which cannot be counted, there are worshipers from every nation. Behind the word “nation” here is the Greek word “ethnos,” from which we get our word ethnic. John has in mind a nation that is defined not by geographic borders, like Yugoslavia, but nations that are distinguished by ethnicity, culture and language, like Croat, Serb and Bosnian. In fact, seven times in the book of revelation John specifically points out that heaven has a representation from every single language and people group from the earth. And together, they worship the Father and the Lamb, each in her own distinct language, but all together in the language of praise.
Today it is estimated by missions experts that there remain over 450 distinct language and cultural groups that have no known Christians, no culturally relevant church to reach its own people groups that someday will be represented in that throng worshiping God and the Lamb, groups that right now are worshiping something or someone else.
I want us to start with the answer in mind, because without it we can get off track as we think about and involve ourselves in Missions. World evangelization and the missionary enterprise is not high on the list of our felt needs this morning. It is difficult to sustain a vision for the priority of the mission task in the 10/40 window, when on any given day getting through the 270/40 interchange without an accident is a pretty high priority. But as we look at Revelation, we see that God has invented the mission enterprise to fulfill a vision he has, a vision to be worshiped, a vision to be worshiped by a lot of people, but also a vision to be worshiped by some from every nation, or, as I will refer to them in this message, peoples. Vision is a great thing. But vision without a plan to achieve the vision is worthless. How is God planning to fulfill this vision?
Our answer is found in our primary text, Romans 10:11-17:
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” {12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, {13} for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
{14} How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? {15} And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
{16} But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” {17} Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
The context of this passage is the whole section of chapters 9-11, where Paul is addressing the difficult issue of why the Jewish people seemed to be left out of God’s plan of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Here we will discover 5 steps that God has put into place to accomplish his vision and make it a reality, five steps that will teach us how God can use us. And just like a math problem, let’s keep the answer in mind as we walk through the passage. The first step that God has put into place to see his vision fulfilled is to establish that …
Lost people must call on Christ.
Let’s look together at verses 11-13:
As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile -the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”
Why must people call on Christ? First, Paul says it is because …
Christ is Lord of all peoples. The Jewish people had developed an exclusive view of their God. They couldn’t fathom that God would somehow be available to Gentile nations, too. But Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah to point out that this was God’s intention all along. When Christ died it was for Jewish people and all other distinct peoples too. He was given the name “Lord of Lords.” From God’s perspective a relationship of grace was never intended to be the exclusive property of any single ethnic or national group of people.
Second, Paul quotes the prophet Joel to emphasize that …
Christ will save everyone who calls on Him. In the 10 years I have been attending First Free, I have never been asked to lead on the worship team or to sing a special worship song. Those who have sat next to me know that there is good reason for this! It is fortunate that God does not require a good voice to sing in his choir. God’s one requirement is that everyone in the final choir must have their sins forgiven. Salvation is the means by which sinners separated from God can be turned into genuine worshipers of Him. God has made salvation available to all peoples so that anyone and everyone can call on Christ and join the choir.
Our church has invested a lot of money and effort in Russia over the last two years. But technically, our investment hasn’t been in Russia—it is in Tatarstan. The Tatars are a distinct group of people within Russia, a people group who are descendants of the great Mongolian leader, Genghis Kahn, and whose religious heritage is Islam. They are a people with a language and culture that is distinct from Russian Slavic heritage. They are a separate nation within this large nation we call Russia.
As of 1992 there was only one known missionary to the Tatar people, and very few believers. At times you will see in our prayer bulletin the name Tahir Talipov. Tahir is a Tatar, one of the most biblically trained Tatars in the world. Tahir has a vision to reach his own people, a people group that is being courted with millions of dollars from Islamic nations to return to their religious roots. As a church, we are focusing on Tahir and the Tatar people because God will have some of the Tatar people worshiping Him someday. And to do that they must call upon Christ.
The second step God has put into place to fulfill his vision is found in the first of four rhetorical questions he asks in rapid succession. Paul asks, “How then can they call on the one they have not believed in?”
In order to see his vision become a reality, God has established that …
Lost people must believe in Jesus so they may call on him.
Behind the ability to call upon the Lord is belief. People cannot make a call on the Lord in a saving way from a position of ignorance. Even though intellectual belief is not enough to save, intellectual belief and understanding is still essential.
Why must lost people believe in Jesus?
Christ is the only mediator for all the peoples in the world. In preaching to the Sanhedrin on the day of Pentecost, Peter makes this reference about Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). And Paul himself in his first letter to Timothy wrote, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” (1 Tim 2:5-6).
Can people come to a saving faith and be able to worship God while still being ignorant of Jesus and his saving work? Can other religions lead people into eternal life and the final worship around God’s throne. Over and over again, the biblical answer is NO! God has ruled out someone coming to a saving relationship with him through any other means (John 14:6).
Christ’s resurrection is the focus of belief. In verse 9, Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The resurrection of Christ sets Christianity apart from all other world religions. It is essential for people to understand and believe that not only did Jesus live, but that He has risen and that He is still alive, alive and able to be called upon.
The third step God has put into place to fulfill his vision is found in the next question: “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”
Lost people must hear Jesus so they may believe on him.
His question implies that behind the ability to believe is a message that is heard.
People come to faith through the Word of Christ. Paul writes in verse 17, “Consequently faith comes from hearing the message and hearing and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Friends, the western culture is sending a plethora of messages to the world. One of the men I came to know in Tatarstan last summer knew nothing of the gospel but knew about Madonna, Guns and Roses, and Michael Jordan. But Michael Jordan doesn’t save. Honest!
People meet and know Christ in the gospel. People cannot come to saving faith without really knowing and meeting Christ in the gospel. And there are people in the world right now who are seeking to find God with extraordinary diligence but without a context.
Alexander Gorbonov is an industrial engineer at a cigarette factory in Kazan, Tatarstan. He had watched some Christian television program in his home and ordered a Bible correspondence course offered at the end of the program. For nearly a year he had worked diligently on his Bible lessons. He arrived at the belief that if he could successfully pass all the levels of this Bible correspondence work, he could be saved and have eternal life. When Alexander met Richard Schumacher and Max Loudenslager, the first thing he wanted them to do was to check his answers to see if he had the right answers. They were amazed at his diligence. He knew that Jesus was the Son of God, that Jesus died for man’s sin, but he had never met Christ personally and called out to him. So Richard and Max explained to him that Jesus had come to save Alexander Gorbonov and that he would, if Alexander would just call out to him.
You could see the sense of relief in Alexander’s face when he realized how simple it was, and that it didn’t require him to know the Bible backwards and forwards before experiencing forgiveness. This same thing is repeated countless of times each day in Cuba, Romania, Haiti, Kenya and India.
So far the steps God has established to see his vision for worship become a reality have been steps where we have no real responsibility. But that begins to change with Paul’s third question, “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them.” Behind the message of Christ is a messenger of Christ.
Believing people must preach Christ so Jesus can be heard.
For unreached peoples of the world to become part of the future choir, believing people must proclaim Christ. This is a strong endorsement of the necessity of verbalizing the message of the gospel. The world does not rely on the spoken word as much as it once did, but still today …
People are God’s main vehicle of proclamation. It is verbalized communication of the gospel from one person to another that God most often uses to bring people to saving faith in Christ. E. M. Bounds rightly wrote that
People are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better people …. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better nor new organizations or more novel methods, but people whom the Holy Spirit can use …. The Holy Ghost does not … come on machinery but on people. People of prayer.[i]
There are many valid forms for communicating the gospel—video, books, Bible translation, radio, tapes, the Internet—and God uses these forms of communication to bring people to saving faith in Christ without a “live” person. But I believe that we should continue to look at these forms of communication as supplementary to the mission task, a vital supplement but not the primary means. As long as there are real living breathing Christians to verbalize the message of Christ, God still uses this means most often.
At the end of verse 15, Paul quotes Isaiah again, “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?’” From God’s perspective, the beautiful people are not the Hollywood people but the Kurt Raschers, Ellen Dykases, and the Mark Sanders of the world.
There is a second reason believing people need to preach Christ:
People hear Christ through proclamation. James Montgomery Boice has written, “Today’s preaching is not valued equally with the Word, but it is through preaching that the Word is most regularly made known and blessed by God to the saving of men and women.”[ii] Often we associate, preaching with a Sunday message, but preaching occurs whenever the gospel is verbally articulated. And when the gospel is verbalized, people hear Christ speaking to them.
About a year ago I was having lunch at Casa Grill over at the Galleria with a man who had attended our Christianity 101 class. We were discussing Jesus and the implications the gospel had on this man’s life. After a time, he leaned over his plate and quietly said, “Can you lower your voice, the people at the next table are listening to us?” So I leaned over my plate … and talked even louder about Jesus so they could hear better.
Why were they listening? Surely these people eavesdropping on our conversation had some contact with the Gospel before in some form, either through television, radio, a bookstore or a gospel tract. I know unbelievers who watch Schuller regularly. You can’t escape having the opportunity to interact with the gospel in our society. Why were they listening so intently? I suspect it was that they were hearing the gospel verbalized in a context they knew. Possibly for the first time they heard that Jesus was not someone relegated to the pews on Sunday morning. But he was available in the shops, the marketplace, and in the relationships where they lived. And as they heard the gospel in their cultural context, they listened.
Paul’s final question is also the final step that God has put into place to see the vision of worship achieved. Paul writes, “And how can they preach unless they are sent?” Behind the messenger is the assumption that there is a sender.
Believing people must send preachers.
This sending process is a divine and human partnership.
People are sent by God. Early in his ministry Jesus was ministering in the towns around the Sea of Galilee. As he did so, he was met by large numbers of people. Matthew tells us that, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Mt 10:36-38).
The Lord of the Harvest initiates the sending process, and we are to partner with him in the process. Are we excited about God’s vision for us to pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send out workers from this church into the harvest field to reach those who are still unreached, whom God wills to be part of the choir someday? Teachers of our children and adults, are you praying this for the people under your care? Are we praying that God would raise up the workers from within our body who will help reach the international students in our city? Are we praying for workers to be sent to the inner city and partner with the church there to make disciples? This is where our responsibility begins.
Some of you this morning will be sent out by the Lord of the Harvest. Some of our teens have expressed interest in considering overseas missions as a career. I know others of you are contemplating seriously whether to change careers. Because of the skills you have developed in the marketplace, God may send you to a country that has no access to traditional missionaries, but they will welcome someone who knows something about Windows 95. When you retire the Lord may have plans for some of you. Instead of buying a Winnebago, he may reinvest your ministry and biblical training, built over years of faithful service, in a region of the world where the church is just beginning to emerge.
How do you know if you are called to do this? That is too big a question to answer completely this morning. I’ll let Mike answer that question. But God does not send anyone who has not first fully devoted himself to the Father and his will. He is looking for people who will pledge themselves, their families, and all that they have for the sake of the Gospel. Does he find that kind of abandonment in you and in me? From that point, through prayer, counsel, reflection and training, God prepares people to be sent out. And this is where the local church comes in.
People are sent through the Church. In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas were called out for their missionary journeys by the Holy Spirit and they were then sent off by the local church. The local church is to be the sending agency for those God is calling into the harvest field. The local church is to take responsibility for sending out workers. The local church is where God’s vision is held out. The local church is to be a place where transferrable ministry skills can be acquired. The local church is where people with gifts for cross-cultural service should be able to meet with wise men and women who can encourage, affirm and counsel them. The local church is where we place our hands over those who are going and say, “We commit you to God and we will be going with you.” The local church is where we welcome them home and honor them for their sacrifice, suffering and service for the sake of the Name.
In ten years what kind of church will we be? Will we be people who partner with God individually and corporately to send out people who will proclaim the great news that Jesus is Lord?
People are sent to reach all peoples. God is sending. The Church is sending. Together we are to send God’s people to reach all the peoples of the earth. This is not to exclude the ministries of watering and support, but it a reminder of the end that God is seeking worshipers from all peoples.
Conclusion: Now that we’ve worked through the equation from the answer in the back, let’s work it forward. People are sent by God and the local church to reach all peoples in the earth. These sent ones go with one message. When asked about anything they have a standard answer—Jesus. As the Gospel of Christ is faithfully taught and the Scriptures proclaimed, Jesus begins to call them by name. The Holy Spirit begins to work as these lost people believe that Jesus is still alive and is Lord of all. They humble themselves before the Lord of Lords and call upon him to save them from their sin. They first worship from their lips. Someday all this will equal Revelation 4-7.
Now for the engineers in our audience. Where is the greatest point of failure in the process for God’s vision being achieved? Believing people must send people to proclaim Christ. Stuart Briscoe has written this:
The key to the relative failure of the church appears to be in the sending of those who can reach the unreached. There is no possibility that the principles of speaking, hearing, believing, calling and saving do not work because the Lord, Himself, has promised that they will function in blessing. The only possible flaw in the system must lie in the sending, and it would appear that perhaps the church has failed to understand in some measure the link between ‘confession with the mouth’ and being sent as a herald so that people can hear, believe and be saved.[iii]
It is a pretty gutsy move by God to entrust us with so much responsibility. It is amazing that God would establish a partnership with us at such a crucial point, the point where it all begins. The whole vision sinks or swims at the first step.
Friends, God has called us to be his people, not because we are talented or particularly appealing, or that we offer him anything. No, He has graciously chosen us because there is work to do. The greatest work we could ever imagine—the reaching of all peoples with the gospel so that God can be rightly worshiped. And he invites us not as mere tag-alongs, but as vital partners. Will you, will we rise to meet the level of trust that God has given us.
One of the most lasting memories I have of spending last summer in Tatarstan is my last Sunday there. The church in the city of Niznekamsk had just had their meeting place taken from them and was meeting this Sunday as a group possibly for the last time. The worship service on that day consisted of some singing and some preaching. But there were two highlights. The first was a baptism. That morning they baptized about 15 new converts, four of whom were Tatar people.
After the baptism, the assembled church began to sing in Russian the hymn, Revive Us Again. My team and I began to sing in English. There we were—Russian, Tatar and American—singing in distinct languages but together in the language of praise.
All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain
Who has taken our sins and has cleansed every stain.
Hallelujah, Thine the glory, Hallelujah Amen.
Hallelujah, Thine the glory, Revive us again
We call on your Spirit, gracious Father, to give us hearts that seek after your glory. Will you be so gracious to raise up some from this body, some from this very service. Will you mobilize us to send those people, and may you give us peoples to reach. All for your glory. Amen.
DATE: October 15, 1995
Tags:
Missions
Worship
[i] E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer, 8.
[ii] James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 3, God and History, Romans 9-11, 1242.
[iii] Stuart Briscoe, Romans, 201.