Heart of a Missionary

Matthew 28:18-20

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Our Bible reading today is from Matthew chapter 28 versus 18 through 20, sometimes called the Great Commission.

Jesus approached and spoke to them saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you. And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

One day a member of the church I was serving a man who was 97 years old, called me up and asked me to come over to visit him. Apparently he wanted some advice in writing a letter to a woman who was in her seventies who at one time had been one of his foster children, and she had never been a believer in Jesus Christ.

And he wanted advice in writing this letter to her to try to convince her to realize how badly she needed a savior. It was amazing to me that this 97 year old man still had the heart of a missionary and an evangelist wanting to be so concerned about this woman’s soul. There’s a passage in the Book of Acts where Peter and John say, We cannot help speaking about the things we have seen and heard when it comes to the Gospel of Christ. (Acts 4:20)

And the reason that this man was so concerned about her is this the Bible says salvation, that means getting to heaven, is found in no one else besides Christ. So faith in Christ is the only way to heaven and proclaiming the Gospel to people and telling them of that and bringing that to them likewise in the beautiful sacrament of baptism.

These are the only ways that people can know Jesus Christ as their Savior. God has no other plan that He’s told us about other than the confession and the work of his church. And only when you properly understand the force of God’s law do we see and realize the need for the Gospel.

Saint Paul once said he talks about knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men, in other words, knowing how awful it would be to fall into the hands of a holy God who hates sin, only then would we realize how important it is for people to know they have a Savior who died to forgive them of that sin. And so the message about Christ is how God does this work in the world?.

The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) The Gospel always has a missionary effort at its very core. Jesus entire work in this world, his entire ministry was about this very thing simply to seek and to save the lost. And so it is with the Bible. Any teaching that is in the Bible is ultimately supporting the great goal of getting people to heaven and even for yourself.

Every time you hear the Word of God and repent of your sins and come back to Christ as your Savior, it’s like a little mini conversion that takes place in your heart. A little work of evangelism that takes place in us every time that happens. That’s how God goes about this work in us all the time. Amen.