On a trip to the Midwest a number of years ago I Left Salem, Oregon at 5:00 AM Wednesday after a hard hard week and 4 hours of sleep. I drove 20 hours and then slept 5 hours in the car before meeting with a group of pastors. That evening I drove 9 hours to Wyoming and slept in the car for 3 hours before driving on to Colo. Springs, Colorado Friday morning. Needing to get back north I returned to Wyoming that afternoon. Now, I was what I call sleepy. SSSOOOO the order of the day as I was driving was coffee - Coke - cookies - chips - Neccos - bread - gum - lifesavers - hamburgers - fries - 7UP - Sprite - and last but not least I spell relief R-O-L-A-I-D-S--.

I had to stay awake! My imperative was STAY AWAKE! -- my option was keeping a settled stomach. As to going to sleep it was imperative that I didn't. As to stomach - it was optional it was uh, oh I'm getting drowsy - look out stomach here it comes. Like the Burger King commercial with the talking stomach years ago, only in my case when I would say I'm sleepy my stomach would say OOOOHHHHHHH!!!!! NOT AGAIN!

I want to consider missions today in this light. Some pastors when approached about a meeting say OOOOHHHHH!!! NOT AGAIN!

IS MISSIONS AN IMPERATIVE, OR AN OPTION?

Some today say yes the world is lost yet we have "X" many million foreigners in this country that we aren't reaching. Some are saying financially we can't support foreign missions - let's plant and build more churches in America so we have a strong financial base to send missionaries with. Is this not putting evangelism in a wrong light? EVANGELIZE WHEN WE CAN AFFORD IT. EVANGELIZE TO MAKE MORE MONEY.

IN GOD'S PLAN FOR THE AGES was missions optional or imperative? Some today, in practice are making it optional. Let's look at what HE said through His Word and find out if it is optional or imperative.

The Old Testament is a book written to reveal the Messiah. It is full of prophecy about Him, as well as the record of his decent. Does it also show that the grace of His Father was to extend to ALL mankind? YES! Never was it designed for a few to enjoy.

Let me suggest some passages and make a few comments as needed to show that God always had the world in mind when He provided salvation.

Gen. 1:28 "be fruitful and multiply" God wanted Adam and Eve to fill the earth with people that would serve Him. In this text we see all of mankind is involved - in surrounding verses it is clear that God disclosed His system of reconciliation to Adam, and Adam passed it on to Cain and Able. (Cain just didn't want to follow it.) Gen. 3:23-24 pictures God dwelling at the Garden gate to be a gate, or an access to the tree of life. "placed" is always translated dwell elsewhere. God dwelled there for all mankind to come to him.

Gen. 9:1 "be fruitful and multiply" Noah was given a similar task to fulfill. Again God is dealing with a person from whom ALL men were to come - God is not dealing with a certain group of people.

In Gen. 12:3 Abram is called and he receives a promise that he will bless all nations. This could only be fulfilled through a missionary attitude on the part of Abram and his family to come.

God narrows His view right? No He only changes people. He worked with Adams family - Noah's family and now Abram's family. NO WHERE does God say He isn't working with all peoples.

I Chron. 16:23-24 is in David’s time. "Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all peoples."

Ps. 18:49 "give thanks unto thee, o Lord, among the nations"

Ps. 96:3 "declare his glory among the nations,"

Ps 67:1,2 "thy saving health among all nations"

These passages show that the world was the goal in the Psalmists time. Indeed, it would seem that the world is always in view in God's mind. Note, this is under the time of the law.

Within the Old Testament there is another group of people that for the most part are completely ignored in todays preaching and teaching. These people are the strangers and sojourners that joined themselves to the Jews and became proselytes. These people were for the most part identical to the Jew except for a blood link. They were to be taken in as a Jew would be taken in. They were to offer sacrifices (Lev. 22:18); they were to follow the law (Lev. 24:22); they were to be circumcised (Ex 12:48); they were to be treated as a Jew by birth (Ex 12:48); they were capable of leaving God and following idols (Ezek. 14:7).

They were spiritually almost identical to the Jew. In Solomon’s time they were numbered at over 150,000.

Israel's great sin was not going to the world with their God. The churches great sin is also, not going to the world with their God. Israel waited for people to come seeking their God and we do the same today! We wait for the townsfolks to come to the church services so that the pastor can preach to them.

THIS IS NOT THE BIBLICAL EVANGELISM THAT I SEE!

I was being considered for a church some time ago. Arrangements had been made for us to fly out to candidate. I wrote to them with some information, among which I mentioned that I was coming to assist them in the ministry, not be the ministry of their church. I explained that I believed that the church people were to lead folks to the Lord and then bring them to the church for training (Eph. 4). We received a phone call not too long after canceling our candidating trip. HUMMMMMM!

If God set up such a fine arrangement for those that were to come along to join themselves to Himself and to the Jews, then He must have had in mind that ALL the peoples of the earth were to be told of this God that the Jews served. Since God was dealing with ALL mankind in all generations then the Gospel should be preached to ALL today as well!

The New Testament is fairly well spattered with texts which deal with the thought of missions. John 3:16 "For God so loved the USA --- NO! --- the WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON"

This has the very definite idea that Christ was interested in the WORLD. Not just a few - not just Jews - not just Americans - not just English speaking people. (something like 90% of church money in the world is spent on English speaking people.)

Matt. 12:8-21 is partially a quote from Isa. 42:1-4. Vs 21 mentions, "His name shall the GENTILES trust."

Matt 23:15 The Scribes and Pharisees compassed sea and land to make one proselyte -- going out to convert others was not unknown to the Jews! The Old Testament Jew just didn't practice it much.

Matt. 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen."

A clearer command to go with the gospel to the world is not needed! Discipling people is the idea of it (II Tim. 2:2).

Luke 2:30 "For mine eyes have seen thy salvation," Simeon knew this yet the apostles missed it for a time.

Acts 1:8 is a clear statement of the world.

Acts 2:10 "Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes," Sojourners of Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Proselytes were Gentiles that had been brought into the Jewish fold in the concept of the sojourner of the Old Testament. Verse 41 - 3000 saved - some may have been gentile proselytes indeed, Acts 6:5 may show this to be true. (These proselytes were accepted within the local church for service in the local church.)

Acts 10:34 "God is no respecter of persons" "in every nation" Paul was himself a foreign missionary.

Acts 13:43 Jews and proselytes. Listened to Gospel and believed.

Romans 10:13-15 Verse 13 "whosoever" - the world! (vs. 15b is a quote from Isa 52:7 which seems to me Messianic in nature.)

II Cor. 5:18-19 "And all things [are] of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." God committed the work of reconciliation to us! Note the WORLD is mentioned again.

The Gospel going out to the world is of prime importance to God, in that, if we aren't doing this then we are thwarting His plan of redemption! We are slowing the work that has need of being done.

Standard oil is known the world over. Their one function is to sell oil products. They have circled the globe with their product. The church is less than 1/2 done. I read many years ago of a missionary in Manchuria that had seen a sign on a Standard Oil plant in his adopted country. The sign read "Get the light to every dark corner of the world." Standard did it years ago, and we the church are still struggling to get believers to commit themselves to the cause.

If we really believe in the soon return of Christ then we should be doing more witnessing and more praying and more giving!

God has set the pattern in the scripture - It is our job to set the pattern in our church. A pattern that will lead to a fruitful missions program. As churches grow and develop they should set up a specific missions program. Women's meetings on mission subjects and prayer. Men's meetings on mission subjects and prayer. Special projects, missionary barrel and giving goals would be good for a start. Set objectives and goals for a future missions program.

Our personal commitment should be based on a proper understanding of the Lord's command to go, as well as our relationship to it. Have we really ever considered the possibility that God might want us on the field?

Now, in contrast to the Biblical Basis of Missions I would like to present to you a short Logical basis of Missions.

1. God wants to reconcile man to Himself. God is not doing this job in person. He has left it to his people. If the job is going to be done then WE HIS PEOPLE are going to have to do it. II Cor. 5:18-19

2. Statistics:

Half the world has never heard the gospel.

The average American Christian gives only about $.33 per day to missions

There is one full time Christian worker / 230 people in America

There is one full time Christian worker / 256,000 abroad

World population increases are causing Christianity to become a dying organism.

If missionaries available today decided only to deal with the population increase they would have to witness to 1540 people per year, per missionary. that's 4.2 people per day 7 days a week.

Americans spend 50 times more for diet pop than Christians spend on foreign missions.

Americans spend 41 times more on Scope mouthwash than Christians

do on foreign missions. THE WORLD IS GOING TO HELL BUT WE ARE SLIM AND WE SMELL MINTY NOT MEDICINEY!

I could list several pages of statistics to show the real lack of commitment to missions in America. Indeed, this will be done later in this work.

I recently read a comment that is all too true today. "Many pastors in the US today are keepers of aquariums and not fishers of men."

Is there not a logical need to reach the world? One more statistic that might move you to think: Half the world hasn't heard the gospel - that is over 2 billion. To put that into perspective for you, within the last hour over 3000 LOST souls have slipped into hell for eternity. Over 3000 lost people die every hour on this earth. That figure goes up every year as the population increases.

While you are thinking about this, think of the torment of hell. We don't talk about hell much anymore because we might offend someone. I think personally it is time that the Church stand up and offend some. Hell is a very real danger to the lost and we need to warn them of its place in their future. If they were about to be hit by a truck we would warn them, so why not about hell?

We in America place high priority on eyewitness accounts of things that happen. Let me read you an eye witness account of one that has been in hell, and felt its effects. Luke 16:24, "I AM TORMENTED IN THIS FLAME!"

Yes, there is a Bible Basis for Missions but even if the Bible said nothing of going to the world with the good news LOGIC WOULD DEMAND IT.

Just how logical are we in our spending today as believers. If we really believed that Christ could come at any time - If we really believed that hell were a reality for the lost - would we not live like it?

Do we give all we have to get the gospel out or do we buy motor homes and boats and cars? Do we give all we have to get the gospel out or do we go on vacations all over the world. Just a side light to this thought is the Holy Land tour Mania that is sweeping our country. The Holy Land tours are almost becoming a pilgrimage as the other religions of the world have. I would challenge you to look at some of the ads that are out, and see if this isn't the idea that is coming across in some of them. We even have cruises to the Caribbean booked as conference cruises.

If every Christian that went to the holy land stayed home and gave his or her 2 or 3 thousand dollars to missions we could send a large number of missionaries to the field fully supported. Yes, seeing the Holy Land helps us experience the footsteps of Jesus but it is OPTIONAL while the Gospel is IMPERATIVE!!

I've been told that most of the spots of interest in the Holy Land are covered with Catholic shrines. If this is true I'm not sure why we are spending so much money visiting the competitions holy places.

I picked on Holy Land tours but there are dozens of other things that are in the same class that we as Christians feel are so very important to us. There are also the CONCERTS - BOOKS - CONFERENCES - CONFLABS - CONVENTIONS - ETC.

Do we give all the time that we can spare to go out on door to door visitation to try to win our own communities to Christ. How many doors have you knocked on to share the gospel? Do you give as much time as you could to teaching?

Do we really believe that the gospel is all that important? If we as American Christians really believe it, then why don't we live like it?

Biblically and logically we have a MANDATE to give the gospel to the peoples of the world.

It is your responsibility as individuals to consider what has been said in this section. It is up to you to do something about what you have heard. Don't wait till someone else makes a move - you make a move. This has nothing to do with Stanley Derickson or his ministry. It has to do with YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO WORLD MISSIONS AS A WHOLE!

EACH ONE OF US IS RESPONSIBLE! MYSELF INCLUDED!

Biblically and logically missions is an imperative yet we tend to treat it as an option. Just how missions minded is your church?

Would you like to take a quick test?

1. How many missionaries speak in your church? A church in Vancouver, WA. has a missionary speaker once per month. The church is very mission minded. Even the little kids are excited about missions.

2. What percent of your total budget is sent to foreign ministries? I looked through an annual report of a church of 100 members recently and $107,000 went to missions out of a total income of $150,000. Over two thirds of their budget to missions!

3. How many of you pray for one missionary regularly at least once a week? A man was at a missions conference recently and he mentioned that he would not put anyone on his prayer letter list unless they would promise to pray for him daily. One mission we know of requires each appointee to find 100 people that will promise to pray for them every day before they can go to the field.

4. Are missionaries prayed for regularly in your Wednesday night service? I have been in churches where they don't even pray for the missionaries that they support on Wednesday eve.

5. How many people have left your church to prepare for foreign service? I contacted a church in Washington recently that has twelve couples in various stages of preparation for the field. All came from that church originally.

6. How many missionary magazines or books are read annually in the church?

7. What do your Sunday school kids want to be when they grow up? Any missionaries or pastors?

8. How do your people react to filling a missionaries need of a new Bible or new tire etc.? We were in a church while in college and some folks came from Mexico. I noticed that the ladies Bible was very tattered and had no cover. I could have gone to the pastor, but why bother. I went home and picked up one of the several Bibles lying around and gave it to her.

9. Do your families invite missionaries into their homes so that they can be around their families? This is a great way to get to know a missionary! It is good exposure for your family.

10. Are missionary meetings well attended?

The Bible is totally committed to the thought of all people hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ but the question is are Christians totally committed to the thought of all people hearing the Gospel?

We have received the mandate of God in the area of missions today! What are you going to do about it as a church body? What are you going to do about it as a Christian family? Are you willing to give up some recreation funds to give more to missions? Financing missions isn't hard. You give the Gospel out and as souls are saved and discipled the finances increase.

CHURCH FINANCE ISN'T A BUDGET -- IT'S EVANGELISM? Let me repeat that. CHURCH FINANCE ISN'T A BUDGET -- IT'S EVANGELISM? As souls are added to the church the finances will care for themselves.

Are you willing to have one of your children go to the field?

What are YOU going to do about it as an individual? I saw a joke in one of the mission magazines some time back that was to real to be a joke. It showed a young man pushing a young girl forward and the caption read, "Here am I Lord send my sister."

I think that the Church in America had better wake up to the lack of work it is doing in the Lords harvest fields. I think this of both the home and the foreign field. I have been in churches across the western half of the nation and have only run into three or four that are really evangelistic in their ministries. Very few have calling programs, very few have active missions committees, very few have active evangelism committees, very few are really interested in reaching their community.

I recently went to a town of 10,000 that has four or five gospel preaching churches. A man that had surveyed the town for a possible church was told by the pastors of the good churches that there was plenty of room for another church. The churches there are not doing the job that they ought in that town. Five churches reaching 2000 per church would evangelize the town. A church of 200 would only have to witness to 10 people per person. Split the town up - canvas and you could give every family in town opportunity to hear the Gospel in a month or two.

Thousands of cities and towns and villages have never heard the gospel and have no gospel church, yet we are starting churches all over this country for the sake of spreading a group’s name.

We ought never start a church in any town just because there is no I.F.C.A. church, or no Berean church, or no Regular Baptist church, or no Conservative Baptist church, or no Independent Baptist church there. We should be starting churches because there is a need for the gospel.

God's Word teaches missions. Logic DEMANDS MISSIONS. WHAT ARE YOU AND I GOING TO DO ABOUT MISSIONS TODAY?

Is missions optional? NO! Missions is an IMPERATIVE WITH WHICH WE MUST DEAL.

Because we've been treating it as an option I believe God is going to deal with us! Indeed, the financial plight of fundamental churches may be due to our lack of interest in missions.

God felt it was so important that HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON! How important do YOU think it is?

Make missions an imperative! That may mean giving! That may mean praying! That may mean going! All are vital to the effort!

May we consider before God if He would have us do more in one or more of these areas!