"God blesses us"

“God blesses us,

That all the ends of the earth may fear Him”

Psalm 67:7

What a marvelous reminder, in Psalm 67, of the stewardship with which we, as God’s people, have been entrusted! One reason the church is so blessed; one reason God so “cause[s] His face to shine upon us” (v.1) … is so that we might leverage His blessings for the purpose of spreading His fame to “all the ends of the earth”! Read the entire psalm, and notice how it both begins and ends with this theme – we are blessed, so that the nations might bless God!

One specific blessing spoken of in Psalm 67 is the blessing of temporal prosperity – a good harvest season. But perhaps other sorts of blessings are in view. Or, at least, the psalm can surely be applied to other sorts of blessings. And, in these few paragraphs, I want to think, particularly, about how the church in America is blessed, and how we ought to steward those blessings for the glory of God in world missions.

That’s not to say, for one second, that only the church in America is blessed; or that the church in America is more blessed than the church in other lands! Not so! Psalm 67 applies to all Christians everywhere! And we would do well to remember that the church in other lands is blessed in unique ways, too. Christians in many other lands are often blessed with fortitude in suffering; or with deep, child-like humility; or with habits of prayer which we Americans could stand to learn from. And, of course, the church in every place is blessed with the same word of God, the same Holy Spirit, the same gospel, and so on!

So the purpose of this article is not to puff up the American church. But since Psalm 67 does apply to our blessings, too; and since I am writing primarily for an audience that resides on American soil, I write for that audience. And I point out three particular blessings which the Lord has poured out on this particular portion of His vineyard, and remind us that God blesses us in these ways for the sake of spreading the gospel; that “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him”! It’s not an exhaustive list of God’s blessings, but I hope a helpful one.

So then, for the sake of His fame among the nations, God has blessed the American church with:

1. Financial blessing. We have so much in this country! And the churches in this country have so much, too! We are blessed, financially. Think of how amazing it is that Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, a fairly small congregation, has well over $100,000 at our disposal, every year, to use for the glory of God. And PRBC is not abnormal. The American church is financially blessed! And let us never forget that the reason is not only for our own up-building in grace, but also so “that [God’s] way may be known on the earth, [His] salvation among all nations” (v.2, emphasis added).

2. Linguistic blessing. English is spoken and/or understood so widely in today’s world, is it not? Which means that we English speakers have ready linguistic access to people from all sorts of places. That doesn’t mean that long-term missionaries shouldn’t take the time to learn the native tongues of the people to whom they minister. They should! But the fact that English is today’s lingua franca means that we who aren’t long-term missionaries have amazing access (at home, and abroad, and online) to people from many nations, tribes, and tongues. And we have such access; God has allowed our language to become so widespread, not for our own ease, but “that all the ends of the earth may fear” the Lord!

3. Theological blessing. Make no mistake, America is probably the world’s chief exporter of false teaching. And I’m not overlooking that. But America, by God’s grace (alone!), is also blessed with sound theological seminaries, Bible colleges, and book publishers that Christians in many other countries drool over. We are extremely blessed with access to solid theological training and teaching. And we are blessed in that way, not to keep all that learning simply to ourselves, but to bring good news to the nations as well!

So, my friends, let us steward these blessings well! Let us give of our financial blessing to the cause of world missions! Let us take advantage of our linguistic blessing by sharing Christ with people from many nations! And let some of us take all of the theological blessing available to us, and go – moving abroad, learning another language, and making the knowledge of God available at “the ends of the earth”!

The Olympics, the Nations, and the Gospel

The games of the 23rd Winter Olympiad are just a few days away. And the Strassner family loves the winter Olympics! Every four years, we huddle together in front of the television for those 2-plus weeks, delighting in the artistry of phenomenal athletic skill brushed across the brilliant white canvas of winter scenery. I can’t wait!

One of our family traditions is that each of us chooses a different country (in addition to the USA) for which to cheer. And, since we want to actually see the teams and athletes for which we have chosen to cheer, we choose countries that tend to do well in the Winter Games. This year we’ve got Norway, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands – eight of the top ten medal-winning countries from 2014 (the others were Russia and the USA). 

But how fares the gospel in these eight countries? That’s the question that occured to me recently. For answers, I turned to the 2010 edition of Operation World (a must-have Christian resource, by the way). And the statistics I turned up were striking. Of the eight countries for whom we are cheering, none of them (as of the 2010 statistics) is more than 8.4% evangelical. In France, evangelicals make up only 1% of the nation’s populace. In Austria, the percentage is half that! And even in nearby Canada, there are less than 8 evangelicals per 100 people! This is striking. In fact, of the 26 nations that won medals at the 2014 Sochi Games, only four (the USA, South Korea, Australia, and Finland) have evangelical populations that number above 10% (percentages, again, according to Operation World). 

What this means is that, if and when you watch the Winter Games, chances are (first of all) that you’re going to be watching a great many men and women whose athleticism marvelously demonstrates the image of God in man … but who do not know that God, and who do not know “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Pray for them. Pray, too, for their countrymen who have travelled to see them (and who are part of the same statistical milieu). Pray for Christian athletes, coaches, and officials to be witnesses for Christ. And pray for the witness of local South Korean believers, of missionaries in the area, and of others who may come in on short-term mission trips specifically to share the gospel with those in town for the Games. The statistics indicate there will likely be plenty of folks who need evangelizing.

The statistics also mean that, if and when you watch the goings on in PyeongChang, you are also going to be seeing the regalia and hearing the names of a whole host of nations whose countrymen, back home, desperately need evangelizing as well! America is the most evangelized of any nation that won a medal at the last games … and you know how much we need the gospel here. So what must be the need in a place like Austria, or China, or Slovenia (0.1% evangelical!), or Japan? Think of this when you watch the games. Root for these nations, as it were, in prayer! And maybe someone who reads these lines will even be moved to go to one or other of them, carrying the gospel, and pursuing a prize even greater than Olympic Gold!

Christmas and Missions

Every year at Pleasant Ridge, our missions emphasis overlaps with Christmastime. For good reason, Southern Baptists collect a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®. Taking a cue from the Methodists of her day, the great Southern Baptist missionary, Lottie Moon (the offering’s namesake), pointed out to her own denomination how Christmas, the time of giving, is an appropriate time for giving, specifically, to world missions! And so Christmas and missions have long gone hand-in-hand for Southern Baptists!

But missions and Christmas overlap, not just because Christmas is a great time for giving, and specifically for giving to missions. Christmas and missions overlap theologically, as well! For one thing, as my friend David Bass reminded us in a sermon many years ago, Jesus, in His incarnation and earthly ministry, was the great missionary – leaving His home in heaven, and going on mission to lost and dying people who needed the good news! That’s what missionaries do, isn’t it? They leave home, and go on mission to some needy place, for the sake of the gospel! And that is what Christ did in entering the womb of Mary and the world of men! He was the greatest missionary! Christmas is about a missionary journey!

And not only that; not only was Christ’s coming to earth a mission trip, in itself … but it was the foundation and impetus for many centuries more of missionary endeavor; many centuries more of getting the gospel to the far reaches of the planet. The angels, at Christ’s birth, announced “good news of great joy … for all the people” (Luke 2:10, emphasis added). And Micah prophesied that the child of Bethlehem “will be great To the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4, emphasis added). Wrapped up in the incarnation, in other words, is the expectation of world missions; the expectation that the news of Christ will get out, the world over!

In fact, we sing this expectation every year, too, don’t we? “Joy to the world”, Isaac Watts taught us to exclaim … because Jesus “comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found”. And, to “our long-expected Jesus,” Charles Wesley has taught us to cry, “hope of all the earth Thou art.” The birth of Christ, as John W. Work Jr. has taught us, compels us to “go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere” (emphasis, through this paragraph, is added).

And so I urge you to always keep these two things together – Christmas and missions. Let the thought of Christ’s mission to this desperate and needy world set your sights, and prayers, and desires, and generosity on the parts of it that are still desperate and needy for the “good news of great joy” which comes only in Christ!

Light Bulbs for Lottie Moon

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Philippians 4:15-16

These are the words of a grateful missionary. Paul was out in the far reaches of the earth, preaching and praying and loving the people with all the strength that God would give him. But he knew that he was desperately dependent on those back home who supported him financially. There were times when he didn’t have that support, so he had to work a secular job to keep himself afloat. But there was this one church—the church at Philippi—which he knew he could count on. There was this one church that, when everyone else seemed to forget about the missionaries, didn’t forget. There was this one church that, again and again, sent Paul supplies and monetary support. So Paul’s letter to the Philippians is, in large measure, a thank you note.

Wouldn’t it be gratifying to get a letter like that from someone so committed to and successful in missionary endeavors as Paul? Wouldn’t it be gratifying to know that your giving was leading to the conversion of precious souls in some far-off corner of the globe? Just think about how many people came into the kingdom because the Philippians’ financial support enabled Paul to devote himself to full-time ministry! When you think of it like that, giving to missions becomes very exciting!

This is what I hope our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® (100% of which supports our Southern Baptist international missionaries) is for our congregation—exciting! One of my most prized childhood memories is the Lottie Moon® offering in our church. I didn’t know who Lottie Moon was. I didn’t really know how all the money was gathered and disbursed. But somehow this money was going to help people hear about Jesus. And the church folks seemed to be excited about it!

We collected our offering throughout the month of December … and every year we had a church-wide goal—let’s say $2000. On the wall, just to the left of the baptistery, there would be a Christmas wreath with ten big Christmas light-bulbs on it. Each bulb represented $200. For every $200 dollars that came in, another light would be lit up. So every week through advent season, it was a delight to arrive in the church auditorium to see how many lights were lit up this Sunday. And I think many of the adults enjoyed it as much as us kids. Giving to missions was fun! I can assure you, I look back with much more joy on that Lottie Moon wreath than on any Christmas present I ever got. More importantly, in heaven I’ll rejoice more in those $200 light bulbs than in all my earthly possessions put together!

What about you? Do you love the cause of world missions? Do you get excited about being a part of it through “giving and receiving”? Is the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®; (or your church's equivalent) fun for you? You don’t need a wreath to make it so. You don’t need light bulbs, either. You just need a Philippian heart. You need an eternal perspective on your money. You need a compassion for souls and a passion for the fame of Jesus. Then giving to missions will be a delight! And the more you give, the more delightful!

Dispatches from the Front

Would you like the wick of your gospel-sharing passion to be fanned back into the flame that perhaps you once knew? Is a heartbeat for Christ’s fame at the ends of the earth something you’d like to cultivate in your soul? How might it help you to be freshly challenged to think about what you’re really doing with your life, kingdom-wise? Could you benefit from a fresh impetus to missionary prayer and generosity? Well then let me give the highest recommendation to the DVD series Dispatches from the Front. God has used it to all these things and more in me!

I know, I know. I’ve pubbed Dispatches before. But, watching one of the videos again this past Sunday evening (from North Africa), I was moved once more to consider how much I really value the word of God, how persistent I am about sharing the gospel and making disciples, and what good things God is doing in some of the “remotest part[s] of the earth”! It was like a breath of fresh sea air, really … being reminded of the bold witness of a handful of brothers in Muslim North Africa. And it made me want, in the words of William Carey, to ‘attempt great things for God.’ And I think these videos will make you want to do the same!

So this is just another brief plug for them! If you're local, they're available to borrow at PRBC.  You can purchase them at Amazon or get a really good deal on the entire 9 volume set from Frontline Missions. I highly recommend them all! And, if you are just going to watch one or two, I have been most stirred by episodes 7 and 2 (N. Africa and Albania). Get them. Watch them. And be spurred on for the cause of Christ, both here in Cincinnati, and at the ends of the earth!

Strengthening the Church's Muscle

John Piper has given to the church (both online and in book form) a collection of delightful biographical sketches of various worthy saints of old. One of the best, in my judgment, is his message on the life and labors of that great Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides, John G. Paton.

Drawing heavily from Paton’s own autobiography, Piper draws a number of lessons to be learned from this godly, intrepid, and sometimes humorous missionary saint. And one that is on my mind as I write is Piper’s observation that, when a church spends and is spent on missionary labors … God never allows such mission-minded generosity to hurt that church! We might think the opposite, from a human perspective: ‘If we are generous to missions (financially or with our man-power), we might weaken the work right here inside our own church doors. We might be giving away the very things that our church needs to survive.’ But not so, says Piper. God does not allow missionary zeal and generosity to handcuff the local church! And he cites the testimony of Paton to demonstrate this reality. And here is how the story goes:

After serving for four years in what is now called Vanuatu, Paton was basically chased from the island by hostile natives. And so, before eventually returning to engage in a highly successful work on another local island, Paton toured both Britain and Australia, telling his story and marshalling support for missionary work in the South Seas. And the result in his own native Scotland was remarkable – to the extent that, by the time Paton was himself ready to return to the Pacific islands, one out of every six ministers in his denomination was now a missionary!

Just think that out: One in six pastors sent to the mission field! Imagine if one in six of the churches in your fellowship sent its pastor to the mission field. You might naturally think that the church back home would suffer. But not so, says Paton:

Nor did the dear old Church thus cripple herself; on the contrary, her zeal for Missions accompanied, if not caused, unwonted prosperity at home. New waves of liberality passed over the heart of her people. Debts that had burdened many of the Churches and Manses were swept away. Additional Congregations were organized.

What a testimony of God’s faithfulness! “Give, and it will be given to you.” “Those who honor Me I will honor.” And thus it always is – maybe not always in exactly the same way as Paton saw in 19th century Scotland; but the principle will not fail. God will not cripple His church when she reaches and gives and sacrifices to share the gospel beyond her own neighborhood and walls! And that encourages me as it regards my own little flock. Recent days have seen them with a good number of opportunities to give time, effort, energy, and money to churches, missionaries, and ministries other than our own. And many have been faithful to extend themselves in this way. And yet, at the same time, our own budget is flourishing like it hasn’t in the 13+ years I’ve been in Cincinnati. And it also seems to me that those who are spending themselves in this way, far from being sapped for local church ministry, are being all the more re-charged to give their all here at PRBC, too! Our attendance is as high as it has been in a good long time, fellowship is happening outside the regular meetings of the church, our new Sunday School curriculum is being well-received, and so on.

In other words, “the dear old church” that meets here at the top of this pleasant ridge is not crippling herself by extending her reach beyond our four walls … but is only strengthening her muscles to lift all the more weight here locally as well! And so it will ever be! We can cripple ourselves by spending foolishly, but never by being sacrificially kingdom minded.

So pastors, as you read this, be encouraged to do more, not less, to bless and partner with other like-minded church, missionaries, and ministries. Your church will grow, not suffer, from such large-hearted endeavors. And individual Christians, be encouraged yourselves to commit wholeheartedly to those who meet inside the walls of the local church, yes! But seek to bless, serve, and fellowship outside those walls, wherever possible. You might be surprised how much more you will give to your own church if your heart is more and more set on the larger Kingdom of which she is only a small sliver!

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh

These, of course, were the most famous Christmas gifts of all! And they remind us that our tradition of Christmas gift-giving is not totally unfounded. But what will we give to Jesus this Christmas? He was the object of the magi’s affection and openhandedness. Will He be the object of ours? It may seem simplistic, even cliché, to ask it. But I think it’s a legitimate question: What will I give to Jesus this Christmas?

A few suggestions:

Give Him your sins. Doesn’t sound like a very good gift, does it? But that is why Jesus came, is it not? To take our sins upon Himself, and to carry them away from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). And yet, so often, we like to keep them right in our own ZIP+4 don’t we? But isn’t it time we gave them up? And isn’t it time we gave them over to Jesus in repentance? He’ll gladly take them, and receive your repentance as an act of love toward Himself.

Give Him your obedience. Now this is not all that unlike the previous point, is it? To give up your sin is basically one and the same with giving obedience. But there are sins of commission … the kind we must stop. And then there are sins of omission … the kind whose antidote is that we start doing what we have so far neglected. And some of us need, this Christmas season, to give to Jesus a commitment to begin doing that which we have far too long allowed to slide. What is it for you? Something that you know you need to do, but have been dragging your feet about doing? There is no better time than the present to give Jesus your obedience!

Give Him your time. Sometimes our greatest gifts might not be those things we ought to be doing for Jesus, but the time we ought simply to be spending with Jesus. Remember Mary and Martha. What was best, on that day, was not Martha’s bustle, but Mary’s willingness to sit with Jesus and listen. How long since you did that? Not a rushed devotion or a quick prayer … but real time with the Lord, listening carefully and unburdening your soul unguardedly with Jesus your friend. If it’s been far too long, now you know what to give to Jesus this Christmas … and every other time of year, too! He’ll be more than glad to have lunch or coffee with you!

Give Him your spiritual gifts. Now here we talk about gifts given to us by Christ – teaching, giving, admin, hospitality, mercy, and so on. But why has He given them? Not for us to spend on ourselves, or to bury in the ground … but (as with the talents in Jesus’ parable) to invest, as stewards, on the Master’s behalf. So how has the Lord gifted you? And how can you give that gift back to Him, this Christmas, by using it for the good of His kingdom?

Give Him your resources. One of the great blessings that God has given His people in the West is incredible monetary ease. We have enough in this country … and far more than enough! And so we have an obligation, an opportunity, and (yes!) a privilege to translate that financial blessing into kingdom investment. So give Jesus the gift of missionary investment this Christmas. Give to Lottie Moon®, or to HeartCry, or to church planting in new England, or to some other gospel cause you believe in … so that the missionaries will be sent, and the good news will be proclaimed, and the nations will “be glad and sing for joy”, and Christ’s praise will abound to the ends of the earth!

It’s true – Christianity is, at its root, about receiving. In ourselves, we have nothing to offer to God but our sin. And the message of the gospel, therefore, is that God gives to us – new life, and forgiveness, and right standing in His sight, and adoption into His family, and spiritual gifts with which to serve Him, and good laws by which to live, and a heart to keep them, and an eternity in His gracious presence! But we are stewards of these things … not lords. We mustn’t be like those ungrateful children who tear open their gifts without a word of thanks, and then immediately begin shouting ‘MINE’ to anyone who comes within a 24 inch radius. We have been given so much … why? Not so that we might hoard, or spend on ourselves … but so that we might, voluntarily, return the blessings, and the praise, and the gifts, and the good will back to the One who gave them. Let’s do that this December … and the whole year round.

The Luck of the Irish? - The Real-Life Story of St. Patrick

Do you ever ask yourself the really difficult questions? You know, those deep philosophical queries that take you all the way to the core of the meaning of life? Questions like: Why does everybody wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? And why do I get pinched if I don’t? And why are the Irish so lucky, anyway? Well, this little leaflet may not fully answer those questions. But I can say this: there is no such thing as luck! God is orchestrating everything in this universe—from the orbit of the planets (Isaiah 40.22) to the exact time when a sparrow falls out of a tree (Matthew 10.29). He controls it all! And the story of St. Patrick is an example of this truth—a great illustration of God’s loving hand designing our days for good …

Contrary to our childhood imaginations, Patrick of Ireland was not a quirky little Irishman who went around pinching people and searching for four-leafed clovers! It is also highly unlikely that he wore a funny green suit. In fact, Patrick wasn’t even Irish! So who was this man who has a holiday named for him?*

Patrick was a modestly educated boy who lived in late 4th century Britain. Though his father was a deacon, and his grandfather a pastor in the local church, Patrick was unimpressed with Christianity, unconcerned with eternity, and unacquainted with Jesus Christ. That is, until he was sixteen. That was when he was captured by pirates and ferried across the Irish Sea to become a slave of those ‘barbarian’ people called the Irish.

For six years Patrick served as an enslaved farm-hand. But there on the Irish hillsides, desperate and alone, he began to call out to the living Christ whom his grandfather had preached. There, in the midst of harsh slavery in a pagan land, Patrick became a committed follower of Jesus! Gone were the trappings of mere outward religion; and in their place came a genuine trust in the life and death of the historical God-man, Jesus Christ. God allowed this young man to hit rock bottom, so that he might finally turn his eyes heavenward!

Isn’t that a wonderful illustration of how “God causes all things”—even the lowest moments of suffering—“to work together for good to those who love God” and are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28**)?

And God’s goodness did not end with Patrick’s conversion to Christ …

After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped and was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. It must have been a glorious reunion! His parents must surely have thought that neither they nor their son would ever have to think of those pagan, unchristian Irishmen again. But God made them think again! Patrick began to sense that God was summoning him to return to the land of his captivity … this time, not as a slave of the Irish, but as a servant of Jesus Christ—a missionary!

And that is exactly what Patrick did! He went and gave himself to the people who had so demeaned and abused him, and laid out his life in missionary labors among them—just like his Lord had done four centuries before! Within decades, under Patrick’s preaching, Ireland began to glow for Jesus! Thousands of people became followers of Jesus, and little congregations began to be planted here and there among the Irish hills!

To this day, many thousands of Irish believers can trace their history to God’s grace in sending such a man to their island. Talk about ‘the luck of the Irish’!

But what did this ancient saint teach? What message did Patrick bring to Ireland? And has it any relevance for today? Well, quite simply, Patrick taught the Bible! Indeed, his writings are chocked full of Bible quotes! Let me mention just a few of Patrick’s biblical quotations,^  expounding myself on the meaning of each verse as I go along:

• “There is no other” God (Isaiah 45, v.5) – only one true God … who reveals Himself (as Patrick was eager to point out) in the persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
• “He who sins is a slave” (John 8, v.34). And I hasten to add that all of us are, by nature, thus enslaved—knowing what we ought to do and so often failing to do so; knowing that there is a God (who made us, owns us, and loves us), and yet failing to honor and obey Him as we know we should.
• “Those who do evil … are to be damned” (Romans 1, v.32). Simple and sobering. We deserve to die for our dishonoring of God.
• And yet, Jesus Christ “gave his own soul for [us]” on the cross (1 John, 3, v.16)—taking the death penalty that we deserve, so that we might be rescued from it ourselves; so that we might be forgiven, and granted “everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6, v.23).

Now that last point is really good news, isn’t it? Yes, we have sinned our way out of God’s good graces … but we do not have to earn our way back in! Jesus has done that for us – by “[laying] down His life for us”! And so forgiveness and heaven are a gift! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23). That is the good news young Patrick discovered as he sat enslaved and alone on those ancient Irish hills! That is the good news he preached to the Irish in the fifth century AD. This is the good news that Jesus and the apostles preached in the first century. And this is the same good news that will rescue 21st century men and women, too!

So let me ask you: Have you recognized your Maker? Have you realized that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59.2)? And have you turned from those sins and placed your eternal hope squarely into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus? This is what Patrick, all those centuries ago, urged the Irish to do! And this is what I urge you to do today: stop running from God; stop hiding from God; stop ignoring God; stop defying God … and, like young Patrick so long ago, turn to Jesus for mercy. And when you do, He will forgive all your running, hiding, ignoring, and defying!

And (for us religious types), let us lay aside the idea that we must earn our way back to God with all our religious activity (penance, mass, confession, good works, etc.). And let us believe, rather, that salvation really is a “free gift”! And if we will; if we will simply trust that, by His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has earned our way back to God for us – then God will forgive our sins, too! For “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16)!

_________________________________

*My sources for the life of St. Patrick are his own The Confession of Saint Patrick. Translated by John Skinner. (New York, NY: Image Books, 1998); and Philip Freeman’s Patrick of Ireland. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

**Aside from those scriptures quoted directly out of Patrick’s own writings (and placed in bold print), all other Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Italicized emphasis within scriptural quotations is inserted by the tract’s author.

^These scripture quotations are drawn from Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (which includes both Patrick’s actual Confession, as well as a letter of rebuke he wrote to a group of barbarous soldiers).

Please Adopt this 'People Group'

I want to share with you the story of (and request your prayers for) a people group that has been on my mind for some time, and that is desperately in need of the good news of Jesus. Actually, they would not technically qualify as an official people group according to the definitions of missiologists. But they are a specific community of folks who are urgently in need of the gospel. Read their story, and pray. And who knows? Perhaps God might call some who read this to go and minister among them!

According to one Christian man, who has spent over twelve years of his life among them, there are over 9,000 people living in this gospel-needy community. And, while there are some poor and downtrodden among them, many of the people are quite well educated and financially stable – so much so that perhaps their basic ease of life makes it that much more difficult for them to see their need of the gospel. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is only one small gospel church within the community’s geographic bounds. And, while there are certainly true believers in the community who travel to other places to attend church, the aforementioned observer has only ever met a very small handful of them in his decade-plus living among them. Most of the people, according to his anecdotal observations, seem to have very little interest in eternal things. Door-to-door evangelism and occasional community events at that one little church have yielded very little apparent fruit. And so the community remains needy, and its inhabitants largely “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2.12).

And so might I ask you to pray regularly for this community, and for the little church that needs to be a city on a hill in the midst of it? And maybe some of you would actually considering going to live among them – not as official missionaries, but just as Christians. For it does seem that relationships among neighbors might be the way communities like this one will best be reached. So would you pray? And would some of you considering moving … for the sake of the gospel?

And I guess if I am going to ask you to move to this community, I’d better tell you where it is! Is it some neighborhood in Paris? Perhaps some suburb of Seattle, or some gospel-starved village in New England? It could be. But the community I’m talking about is called Pleasant Ridge. And the little church is our own. And the 12 year observer and resident is, of course, me!

And, O, brothers and sisters … I want you to realize that our church meets every Sunday in what seems to me one of the most lost communities in America! It’s not a bad community to live in, by any stretch. But it is largely a Christ-less one! For I scarcely ever meet another Christian in Pleasant Ridge, save for the handful of our own congregation who live inside it! And so I want to plead with you to pray earnestly for this 2-aquare miles of the city of Cincinnati in which our little church meets – that people from our very own neighborhood would begin to come to Christ and to fill these pews!

And (without at all laying a guilt trip on anyone) I want to ask some of you if you would consider, for the gospel’s sake, moving to this gospel-needy community.*  How might we be better able to reach this neighborhood if the majority of us lived within its bounds? How much easier might it be to invite your neighbors to church if they (and you!) lived only a few blocks away? How much more impact might our outreach efforts have if the folks who are on the receiving end actually recognize one or two of the faces among those who have come to sing Christmas carols, or to give out hot chocolate on St. Patrick’s day? And how much more likely might we be to pray for this neighborhood if it were our own?

So please, every one of you, pray for this ‘people group’ that is the neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge. Pray that our church will be a city on a hill to it! And ask the Lord if He might have you sink even deeper into the gospel needs of this community by coming to live among us!

*As the sentences after the asterisk probably make plain, this plea to move to our community is primarily addressed to members of my own congregation who, at present, travel into this neighborhood to attend church.  However, if there is anyone out there who might want to move from much further afield, be in touch!  And of course ... if that is not how God is leading you (to move to Cincinnati to work with us), would you consider moving a little closer to the meeting place of your own church, so as to be a more accessible witness in all the ways described above?

New Habits for a New Year

I have written before how much I love the New Year. Ever since I was a boy with my Atari 2600, I’ve loved hitting the reset button and starting fresh! Advancing years and more maturity have shown me that it is not always possible (or even desirable) to do so. But I still love this time of year when there is this seasonal impetus to start over, and make fresh plans, and do differently!

And so, in that spirit, allow me to suggest to you four areas in which you might hit the reset button in your life as the calendar changes in just a few days. Perhaps for you it might not even be a reset, but the booting up of a whole new machine! But either way, here are four habits I encourage you to take up in the new year (and even today!) …

1. Plan to read the Bible. We all say we want to read the Bible, but I know from personal experience that want-to doesn’t always translate to action unless we have a real plan. So take up a Bible reading plan beginning January 1.

• The New Testament in a year, 1 chapter a day.
• The Old Testament in a year, 2 chapters a day.
• The Bible in a year, using one of several plans that can be found (and often read) online.

2. Devote yourself to family devotions. Make it a regular habit to gather together with spouse and children to read a passage from the Bible, talk about briefly about how it applies, pray together, and sing. You might work your way (more slowly than the plans mentioned above) through books like Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, John, Romans, and Ephesians. 15 minutes a day will bless your whole family … for years (perhaps generations) to come!

3. “Remember the sabbath.” God meant what He said when He commanded us to take a day off every week (and to give those who serve us a day off, too, Exodus 20:8-11). He meant what He said when He taught us to set aside that day, even from our normal recreations (Isaiah 58:13-14), so that we might have time for uninterrupted delighting in Him. It’s what is best for us! It is good! And it is a key test of whether we are willing to trust God’s word, or think ourselves wiser than it. So give yourself the treasure of a whole day, every week, for rest and worship and delight in the things of God. I promise you won’t regret it, or lack any good thing by cutting your work and chore and shopping week short by a day!

4. Get yourself a missions piggy bank. We are just finishing off our annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® for international missions – a chance to give Jesus a Christmas present of His own (so to speak), by supporting His missionaries. Some of you have perhaps given part of your Christmas bonus, or of your gift-giving budget. And God will reward that! But perhaps you thought to yourself: ‘Boy, I’d have liked to have given more.’ Well, next year you can – if you’ll get a piggy bank, or a coffee can, or a little gift box … and fill it up all year round with money for missions. $20 per monthly paycheck would mean an additional $240 for missions next December. And $50 per month would be $600! So get a little container, and make Lottie Moon a part of your regular monthly budget. Again, you won’t regret it!

So there are four new (or renewed) habits for 2015. They’re all quite simple, and well within the grasp of nearly everyone who reads these words. Take them up in the New Year, and the rewards will be such that no piggy bank will be able to hold them!

2014 Christmas Poem: Good News, Great Joy for People All

I've just completed this year's Christmas poem ... to be read, Lord willing, at our worship gathering tomorrow night.  Read it below the page break, or download the Word document and/or the mp3.

And here's a link to the whole collection of Christmas poems, from 2002 until now.

Missions Week Sermons

Here are the sermons from our recently completed Missions Week.  Listen in ... and be encouraged to give, pray, and go for the fame of Jesus among the nations.

3 John 5-8 - Give! - mp3
2 Thessalonians 3.1-2 - Pray! - mp3
Matthew 28.18-20 - Go! - mp3

A couple of resources for missionary prayer

We thought about prayer last night at PRBC - specifically Paul's plea that we pray for the missionaries (2 Thessalonians 3.1-2).  Toward the end, I mentioned two specific resources that might be of great help to God's people in doing so.  Check them out for yourself:

Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation

by Jason Mandryk

The HeartCry Missionary Society Magazine

Available for free ... in paper or electronic format

7 Reasons to Give to World Missions

As we continue our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, I thought it might be helpful to reiterate some biblical reasons why we should be encouraged to give. Four of them will be review from Sunday’s sermon. And one of them is not so that we can light up all the bulbs on our Christmas wreath (a happy reason, but not necessarily a biblical one). But there are some very good and biblical reasons to support our missionaries, light bulbs or no! Here they are:

1. Because we simply want to be faithful to our Father. God’s heart is for the nations – that He might receive glory among every tribe and tongue. This is the great mission that He is on about in the world. And, as when we saw our earthly dads fixing the car or planting a garden in our younger years, it ought to be our eager delight to say: ‘Father, can I help? Can I pitch in?’ Our involvement in the Father’s plan of world evangelization, and our support of those who go out, is simply a matter of faithfulness! “You are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren” (3 John 5).

2. Because … who else will support our missionaries? John describes certain traveling preachers in his own day as “accepting nothing from the Gentiles” (3 John 7); receiving no support from the unbelieving world. And John’s conclusion (v.8) is that the church “ought to support such men.” And so it is today. Our missionaries are not usually on the payroll of some wealthy corporation or benefactor. They’re on ours. And so if we don’t support them, who will?

3. Because … how will the nations be saved without preachers? Yes, God can save anybody He wants. And He doesn’t need human means. But He has ordained that he almost always works through them! And, as to the salvation of perishing souls, here is the logic of the New Testament: “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14). A good question, no? How are all these tribes and tongues going to come to worship Jesus unless someone tells them about Jesus? And how will anyone tell them, Paul goes on to ask in v.15, “unless they are sent?” And how can we send them, I ask, unless we give monetarily to their support?

4. Because there is reward in missionary support. “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matthew 6:20). And how do you do so? Well, Paul spoke of people won to Christ as his “joy and crown” (Philippians 4:1). And surely this will be one of the greatest rewards of heaven – people who will be there worshipping around the throne because we prayed, or gave, or shared Christ. That’s reason to give! And so is the “well done” that the Lord will speak to those who invest their earthly treasures well (Luke 19:11-27).

5. Because giving puts us on the mission field, by proxy. “We ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth” (3 John 8). So, if you give to a missionary in Thailand, you are joining with him in the work there, by means of this emissary you’ve helped to send out. You are doing missions, too … even when it is simply by means of the offering plate!

6. For the sake of the second coming of Christ. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). So there is work to do before Jesus comes again – the work of preaching the gospel among all the peoples. So let’s support those who are out there getting it done – yes, for the sake of those peoples … but also for the sake of the coming of Christ, which we are taught to hasten (2 Peter 3:12).

7. Because we want to see the name of Jesus made famous. The preachers spoken of in 3 John “went out for the sake of the Name” (v.7). They went out, not simply to rescue poor, dying sinners (though they did do that). They went out, not simply to make the world a better place (though that does happen where the gospel is preached and believed). But the way John describes them, specifically, is going out “for the sake of the Name”; so that they might, in other words, make the name of Jesus famous! So that the peoples and tribes would sing that Name, and rejoice in that Name, and preach that Name, and do good in that Name. So that the name of Jesus would become the most precious word in every one of the languages into which it enters! And that, dear friends, is reason to empty our pockets for the cause of world missions!

Light Bulbs for Lottie Moon

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Philippians 4.15-16

These are the words of a grateful missionary. Paul was out in the far reaches of the earth, preaching and praying and loving the people with all the strength that God would give him. But he knew that he was desperately dependent on those back home who supported him financially. There were times when he didn’t have that support, so he had to work a secular job to keep himself afloat. But there was this one church—the church at Philippi—which he knew he could count on. There was this one church that, when everyone else seemed to forget about the missionaries, didn’t forget. There was this one church that, again and again, sent Paul supplies and monetary support. So Paul’s letter to the Philippians is, in large measure, a thank you note.

Wouldn’t it be gratifying to get a letter like that from someone so committed to and successful in missionary endeavors as Paul? Wouldn’t it be gratifying to know that your giving was leading to the conversion of precious souls in some far-off corner of the globe? Just think about how many people came into the kingdom because the Philippians’ financial support enabled Paul to devote himself to full-time ministry! When you think of it like that, giving to missions becomes very exciting!

This is what I hope our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® (100% of which supports our Southern Baptist international missionaries) is for our congregation—exciting! One of my most prized childhood memories is the Lottie Moon® offering in our church. I didn’t know who Lottie Moon was. I didn’t really know how all the money was gathered and disbursed. But somehow this money was going to help people hear about Jesus. And the church folks seemed to be excited about it!

We collected our offering throughout the month of December … and every year we had a church-wide goal—let’s say $2000. On the wall, just to the left of the baptistery, there would be a Christmas wreath with ten big Christmas light-bulbs on it. Each bulb represented $200. For every $200 dollars that came in, another light would be lit up. So every week through advent season, it was a delight to arrive in the church auditorium to see how many lights were lit up this Sunday. And I think many of the adults enjoyed it as much as us kids. Giving to missions was fun! I can assure you, I look back with much more joy on that Lottie Moon wreath than on any Christmas present I ever got. More importantly, in heaven I’ll rejoice more in those $200 light bulbs than in all my earthly possessions put together!

What about you? Do you love the cause of world missions? Do you get excited about being a part of it through “giving and receiving”? Is the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®; (or your church's equivalent) fun for you? You don’t need a wreath to make it so. You don’t need light bulbs, either. You just need a Philippian heart. You need an eternal perspective on your money. You need a compassion for souls and a passion for the fame of Jesus. Then giving to missions will be a delight! And the more you give, the more delightful!

"The earth has yielded its produce"

That’s a thanksgiving kind of verse, is it not? The full text of Psalm 67.6 reads:

“The earth has yielded its produce;

God, our God, blesses us.”

How true! God has, indeed, blessed us! And what a distinct privilege we have to spend our earthly sojourn in a culture whose forbears thought it wise to commemorate God’s blessings, and the gathering in of the earth’s harvest, by means of a regular holiday dedicated to giving thanks! I hope you take advantage this Thursday. Even if 2014 has been one of the most difficult in your memory, you can surely look back over these nearly eleven months and see God’s provision, and help, and kindness along the way. And (to borrow a thought from an old friend), even if we had no other evidence of His kindness, the fact that God gave His own Son for us would be reason enough to hold thanksgiving 365 days a year! “God, our God, blesses us” indeed!

But we mustn’t read Psalm 67.6 without also going on to notice what follows quickly upon it on verse 7! Read both verses together, and notice, at the end of v.7, the reason God blesses us; the reason our harvest has come in again in 2014:

“6 The earth has yielded its produce;

God, our God, blesses us.

7 God blesses us,

That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Don’t miss that purpose clause this Thanksgiving! “God blesses us”; God fills our barns and silos (or, in modern times, our refrigerators, and cupboards, and bank accounts) … why? So that we, His people, might be a blessing to those who live at “the ends of the earth”; so that people dwelling in far flung lands may come to fear our God. And how do such people come to “fear Him”? The same way that we did – by hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, which draws us to Him in repentance and faith! And so the thrust of verses 6-7 is that, to whatever extent God fills our pockets, He does so … not simply so that we can feast and enjoy the good life, but so that we might be the means of bringing the gospel of Christ to people living at the four corners of the globe! “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

And how does this calling to get the gospel to “all the ends of the earth” relate specifically to full barns and wallets? Well, it costs money to send out missionaries, does it not? And to support them while they are on the field? It costs money to print Bibles and tracts to hand out to people who need the word of God in their own language. It costs money to show practical love to the people with whom the gospel is shared (many of whose cupboards are actually quite bare). And so when “God blesses us” (v.7), the idea is that we will share the wealth so as to get the gospel out in the cause of missions. In fact, that’s what the entire Psalm is really all about – the missionary task! And it is for this task that our barns are full!

So this Thanksgiving … yes, enjoy the feast! Delight in God’s bounty, and the blessings that we enjoy in this country because of it. That is a biblical thought, too (Deut. 14.22-27)! But remember that there is an even higher purpose to all this blessing than just enjoying it in the company of family and friends (or spending way too much of it on Christmas presents – most of which will be forgotten by next December 25, or maybe even January 25!). Think, too, about how you can use the monetary blessings God has placed in your hands for the sake of the gospel at “the ends of the earth.” Give generously to Lottie Moon, and/or Operation Christmas Child. Make an end of the year gift to a group like HeartCry or The Gideons. Pick up a Christmas gift catalog from Samaritan’s Purse, or World Vision, or Compassion and use some of the fullness of your barns to help fill up someone else’s in the name of Jesus. These are the reasons why our silos are full in the first place! “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him” (emphasis added).

Foot Exam

Chances are you do not think of your feet as one of your more attractive features. Chances are you don’t think all that often about the appearance of your feet at all! And if you do, it’s probably more self-consciousness than conceit. We just don’t normally think of feet as beautiful. Often, we feel just the opposite! In fact, a few of us may even shy away from wearing sandals, or be a little bit ill at ease when we have to take our shoes off for the podiatrist, or if the church should decide to do a Maundy Thursday foot-washing! But even if we don’t have a foot-phobia, or a reticence about our own feet, chances are we don’t view them as being all that attractive.

And yet the Bible says that our feet may indeed be beautiful! “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS” (Romans 10.15).

The “good news” that Paul has in view there is the good news about Jesus – that “word of Christ” that has the power to redeem men, women, boys, and girls of every stripe, and class, and social strata, and culture. This is the only message that saves, is it not? The message of Christ crucified; Christ our substitute; Christ our righteousness, and hope, and salvation, and Lord! People are hopelessly lost without Him … but joyously saved with Him! And so what a privilege it is to go and speak His name; to go and spread His fame; to bring the tidings that God’s Son has come into the world as the friend of sinners and “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This is the “good news”! And the feet that carry it from place to place are beautiful, Paul says!

Beautiful feet? When they are in motion for the sake of the gospel, absolutely! Beautiful are the feet that trudge through airport terminals and baggage claims, so that we might get on planes and go on mission. The feet that amble over to the neighbor’s house to bring them a meal when baby comes, and to speak to them briefly of how we might become children of the heavenly Father. The feet that walk to the cafeteria with a co-worker, hoping that over lunch we might whet his or her appetite for the gospel. The feet that stride side-by-side with the little ones, bringing them to the house of the Lord Sunday by Sunday. The feet that carry us through the neighborhoods, knocking on doors and telling of the Savior … or that meander through the crowds at a public event, looking for opportunities to share Jesus … or that tread the nursing home hallways, sharing the love of Christ with those who are near the end of their journeys. The feet that take us to the mailbox, where we send hand-written gospel letters that we hope might be read and re-read for the glory of God.

If you will use them to get you to places where you might show and tell Jesus, your feet can indeed be beautiful! Are they? If you were to go in for a spiritual foot exam, would you be embarrassed to take of your shoes (so to speak), and let your feet be seen? Would I? How beautiful, really, are our feet? Never so much as when they are moving for the sake of the gospel! Never so lovely as when they are, as it were, dirty and calloused from tramping the highways and hedges, telling good news! So give yourself a foot exam, and ask the Lord, this summer, to give you beautiful feet!

St. Patrick, Jesus, and the Good News

Do you ever ask yourself the really difficult questions? You know, those deep philosophical queries that take you all the way to the core of the meaning of life? Questions like: Why does everybody wear green on St. Patrick’s Day? And why do I get pinched if I don’t? And why are the Irish so lucky, anyway? Well, this little leaflet may not fully answer those questions. But I can say this: there is no such thing as luck! God is orchestrating everything in this universe—from the orbit of the planets (Isaiah 40.22) to the exact time when a sparrow falls out of a tree (Matthew 10.29). He controls it all! And the story of St. Patrick is an example of this truth—a great illustration of God’s loving hand designing our days for good …

Contrary to our childhood imaginations, Patrick of Ireland was not a quirky little Irishman who went around pinching people and searching for four-leafed clovers! It is also highly unlikely that he wore a funny green suit. In fact, Patrick wasn’t even Irish! So who was this man who has a holiday named for him?*

Patrick was a modestly educated boy who lived in late 4th century Britain. Though his father was a deacon, and his grandfather a pastor in the local church, Patrick was unimpressed with Christianity, unconcerned with eternity, and unacquainted with Jesus Christ. That is, until he was sixteen. That was when he was captured by pirates and ferried across the Irish Sea to become a slave of those ‘barbarian’ people called the Irish.

For six years Patrick served as an enslaved farm-hand. But there on the Irish hillsides, desperate and alone, he began to call out to the living Christ whom his grandfather had preached. There, in the midst of harsh slavery in a pagan land, Patrick became a committed follower of Jesus! Gone were the trappings of mere outward religion; and in their place came a genuine trust in the life and death of the historical God-man, Jesus Christ. God allowed this young man to hit rock bottom, so that he might finally turn his eyes heavenward!

Isn’t that a wonderful illustration of how “God causes all things”—even the lowest moments of suffering—“to work together for good to those who love God” and are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8.28**)?

And God’s goodness did not end with Patrick’s conversion to Christ …

After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped and was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. It must have been a glorious reunion! His parents must surely have thought that neither they nor their son would ever have to think of those pagan, unchristian Irishmen again. But God made them think again! Patrick began to sense that God was summoning him to return to the land of his captivity … this time, not as a slave of the Irish, but as a servant of Jesus Christ—a missionary!

And that is exactly what Patrick did! He went and gave himself to the people who had so demeaned and abused him, and laid out his life in missionary labors among them—just like his Lord had done four centuries before! Within decades, under Patrick’s preaching, Ireland began to glow for Jesus! Thousands of people became followers of Jesus, and little congregations began to be planted here and there among the Irish hills!

To this day, many thousands of Irish believers can trace their history to God’s grace in sending such a man to their island. Talk about ‘the luck of the Irish’!

But what did this ancient saint teach? What message did Patrick bring to Ireland? And has it any relevance for today? Well, quite simply, Patrick taught the Bible! Indeed, his writings are chocked full of Bible quotes! Let me mention just a few of Patrick’s biblical quotations,^  expounding myself on the meaning of each verse as I go along:

• “There is no other” God (Isaiah 45, v.5) – only one true God … who reveals Himself (as Patrick was eager to point out) in the persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
• “He who sins is a slave” (John 8, v.34). And I hasten to add that all of us are, by nature, thus enslaved—knowing what we ought to do and so often failing to do so; knowing that there is a God (who made us, owns us, and loves us), and yet failing to honor and obey Him as we know we should.
• “Those who do evil … are to be damned” (Romans 1, v.32). Simple and sobering. We deserve to die for our dishonoring of God.
• And yet, Jesus Christ “gave his own soul for [us]” on the cross (1 John, 3, v.16)—taking the death penalty that we deserve, so that we might be rescued from it ourselves; so that we might be forgiven, and granted “everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6, v.23).

Now that last point is really good news, isn’t it? Yes, we have sinned our way out of God’s good graces … but we do not have to earn our way back in! Jesus has done that for us – by “[laying] down His life for us”! And so forgiveness and heaven are a gift! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6.23). That is the good news young Patrick discovered as he sat enslaved and alone on those ancient Irish hills! That is the good news he preached to the Irish in the fifth century AD. This is the good news that Jesus and the apostles preached in the first century. And this is the same good news that will rescue 21st century men and women, too!

So let me ask you: Have you recognized your Maker? Have you realized that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isaiah 59.2)? And have you turned from those sins and placed your eternal hope squarely into the nail-scarred hands of Jesus? This is what Patrick, all those centuries ago, urged the Irish to do! And this is what I urge you to do today: stop running from God; stop hiding from God; stop ignoring God; stop defying God … and, like young Patrick so long ago, turn to Jesus for mercy. And when you do, He will forgive all your running, hiding, ignoring, and defying!

And (for us religious types), let us lay aside the idea that we must earn our way back to God with all our religious activity (penance, mass, confession, good works, etc.). And let us believe, rather, that salvation really is a “free gift”! And if we will; if we will simply trust that, by His sinless life and sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has earned our way back to God for us – then God will forgive our sins, too! For “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16)!

_________________________________

*My sources for the life of St. Patrick are his own The Confession of Saint Patrick. Translated by John Skinner. (New York, NY: Image Books, 1998); and Philip Freeman’s Patrick of Ireland. (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2005).

**Aside from those scriptures quoted directly out of Patrick’s own writings (and placed in bold print), all other Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Italicized emphasis within scriptural quotations is inserted by the tract’s author.

^These scripture quotations are drawn from Skinner’s The Confession of Saint Patrick (which includes both Patrick’s actual Confession, as well as a letter of rebuke he wrote to a group of barbarous soldiers).

"The Games"

I admit it. I absolutely love the Winter Olympics. Like, to the point where I try and schedule my life around these couple of weeks – making sure I get to see the downhill skiing, the speed-skating, the luge and skeleton, and pretty much any other sport that is performed on a cold, white surface (and which I don’t follow in the least during the rest of the four year cycle between winter games!). Somehow nostalgia from my childhood, and my affinity for geography, and the joy these cozy evenings bring our children has me all aflutter inside (and humming the Olympic theme music!) during these two weeks in February. In a few days, when it is all over, I will feel palpably melancholy at the thought that we must now wait another four years to enjoy it all again.

But in the meantime, I get to roll out the obligatory ‘lessons from the Olympics’ blog post. And, though predictable, maybe it will still also prove helpful! So here goes. A few lessons from “the games”:

The first is simply this (from 1 Corinthians 9.25): “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Listen to the athlete’s stories to which NBC sometimes breaks away – the years of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, lifestyle choices, etc. It’s convicting isn’t it? Shouldn’t we be all the more serious about striving for spiritual victories and eternal rewards? O that we Christians, like these athletes, would “run in such a way that [we] may win” (1 Corinthians 9.24)!

The second lesson from the Olympic Games comes from 2 Timothy 2.5 – “If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” Watch the Olympics enough through the years, and you will find this true. Occasionally an athlete is disqualified from an event, or stripped of his or her medals, for breaking certain rules. And so these Olympians must be scrupulous about compliance – even when it is difficult and the short cuts are tempting! And again, as those seeking eternal reward, ought we not be all the more so – careful and thorough in our obedience to the laws of our God, even when doing so brings about “hardship” (2 Timothy 2.3)?

Finally, the Olympics – and especially the opening ceremonies – remind me, just a little bit, of the throng that will be gathered someday in heaven, “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 7.9). Just look at all the colors and flags and skin tones and cultures parading into the Olympic Stadium … and you will see a tiny glimpse of what heaven will be. God is a global God! He is gathering Kazakhs, and Dutch, and Japanese, and Swiss, and Norwegian, and Jamaican, and people of every other stripe into His kingdom – so that the church of Jesus Christ, even now, is far more diverse than the Olympic village! And in heaven we’ll finally see them all in one place, under one great banner of Jesus Christ! What a parade of nations that will be!

Until then, we have the privilege of going out and gathering these varied nations and cultures together by means of the gospel. And that is a task that deserves Olympic-level effort, discipline, hard work, and obedience to God’s command. Let’s go out there and give it!

10 Reasons to Give to World Missions

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® – which supports our missionaries who leave homes, jobs, and family; and who go to remote places to bring the good news of Jesus to lost and dying people – is in full swing. So let me give you ten reasons, which I have shared before, why I love the Lottie Moon offering, and why every Christian should support the cause of world missions. We should all give to world missions because:

1. Knowing Jesus Christ is the only pathway to God. Jesus said that “no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14.6). “No one” will be saved without Jesus … including those our missionaries work to reach.

2. There are over 7,000 unreached people groups in the world today, comprising 2.91 billion (with a ‘B’) souls (according to The Joshua Project). In other words, over 40% of the world’s populous lives in regions where there is little or no chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher” (Romans 10.14)? And how will there be a preacher if we do not support missionaries?

3. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” says Jesus in Matthew 9.37-38. And it seems only right, doesn’t it, that if we are going to ask God to send missionaries, we should be willing to support them.

4. God has blessed us so we can bless the nations with Jesus. There’s a reason why God made you and me Christians in America: so that we’d have more money than most of the world … to sink into missionary purposes! “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him” (Psalm 67.7)!

5. If we neglect God’s work, moths will eat our money! Not literally, perhaps … but money has a way of disappearing when God’s people use it unwisely. Therefore … “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matthew 6.20).

6. Missions is a fool-proof investment. God promises that people “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” will worship Jesus in heaven (Revelation 7.9). The task will be accomplished, and therefore your money will not be wasted! More than we can say for Wall Street!

7. Sacrificial giving is rewarded. When we give greatly to something greatly worthwhile, God returns our generosity with joy, and often with more resources for more generosity! “He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9.6)!

8. We are Christians because someone supported a missionary. Most of us have our ethnic roots in Europe and Africa, a few in S. America or Asia. Guess how the gospel got to many of these places? A missionary came with a Bible under his arm and a prayerful, generous support team in his homeland! Let’s make sure many more missionaries arrive in many more places with Bibles under their arms and generous support teams back home!

9. Our missionaries are worthy of our support. Most of our missionaries are away from family, some with little Christian fellowship, often in danger, yet serving the Lord faithfully in the middle of nowhere. That is why John said “we ought to support such men” (3 John 8).

10. God is worthy of the worship of the nations! Ultimately, we support missions because God is worthy of being made famous! People from every tribe and tongue ought to worship Him! The missionary task, therefore, is to win the multitudes to Jesus so that God’s praises will be sung as loudly as they ought to be sung! Here are God’s missionary marching orders: “Bring my sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory” (Isaiah 43.6-7)!

May God give us grace, once again this Christmas, to invest in His glory among the nations!