The Missionary in Your Midst

Notes
Transcript
A missionary was sitting in my living room one day. For the sake of confidentiality, I will call him Elmer. He opened up to me about the struggles of being a missionary. Most of what he said, I already knew because of my background and because of other missionaries I had talked to.
What struck me was that most people don’t know what he was going through.
We all know that missionaries have “normal” lives. By that I mean to say that missionaries experience good and bad, just like we all do. However, popular notions of newsletter writing demand that missionaries highlight the good that is happening, and they kind of gloss over the bad. This is sad, but it happens. No one really wants to know all of the junk anyway. We like to read happy stories. We like to give money to people whom we see as successful. There is a fear among a lot of missionaries: if they open up to what is actually going on, perhaps people will stop supporting them, perhaps people will abandon them, perhaps their ministry will cease.
Today, I am not going to talk about all the good things that missionaries encounter. I’m going to talk about what we aren’t supposed to talk about. Based on the writings of Paul, I’m going to talk about the hardships, oppositions, timidity, emotion, and loneliness that missionaries experience. At the end, I will discuss some ways that we can practically help missionaries with what they are going through in ways that are more than financial.
I am not speaking as a missionary, though my calling does play into my passion. I am speaking as a pastor who wants to share Biblical truth on what it means to encourage those who are called to go.

1A. What Missionaries Face

Today, I am not going to talk about all the good things that missionaries encounter. I’m going to talk about what we aren’t supposed to talk about. Based on the writings of Paul, I’m going to talk about the hardships, oppositions, timidity, emotion, and loneliness that missionaries experience. At the end, I will discuss some ways that we can practically help missionaries with what they are going through in ways that are more than financial.
I am not speaking as a missionary, though my calling does play into my passion. I am speaking as a pastor who wants to share Biblical truth on what it means to encourage those who are called to go.

1B. Missionaries Face Hardships

I appreciate the Apostle Paul. He did not have any qualms about sharing what was actually going on in his missionary work. He was called by God to leave his city and his nation and to travel the known world, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some people refer to him as the first missionary, but that isn’t quite true. Needless to say, he was a missionary and he faced what missionaries face even today.
1 Corinthians 4:8–13 NIV
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
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Missionaries face physical and emotional hardship. They say “no” to a lot comforts that we might feel are necessary for everyday life. They freely give up the chance to defend themselves against personal attacks, in order that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would not be overshadowed. I think of how many times Paul did not even use his Roman citizenship to stay out of jail, because his focus was not on his image to others but on the message he wanted to preach.
I appreciate how Paul says that he has “become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world.” Many missionaries feel that way: they feel used and abused, the butt of everyone’s jokes, the pariah of society.
In the culture in which they live, they could stand up and say: But, I have rights! I deserve to live in such and such a way! I need this and that to live. Insert whatever you think is necessary for your life. But, most missionaries don’t. They don’t even tell us what they are living without. They don’t tell us how they are treated, what they endure.
I appreciate how Paul says that he has “become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world.” Many missionaries
A missionary to Indonesia, Mabel Williamson, wrote a book in the 1970’s, “Have We No Rights?” In this book, she talks about the call to a missionary is a call to give up one’s rights, “The right to what I consider a normal standard of living; the right to the ordinary safeguards of good health; the right to regulate my private affairs as I wish; the right to privacy; the right to my own time; the right to a normal romance, if any; the right to a normal home life; the right to live with the people of my choice; the right to feel superior; and the right to run things.” A missionary has hardships because they give up all their rights for the sake of the Gospel.
Mabel wrote the following poem:
He had no rights:
No right to a soft bed, and a well-laid table;
No right to a home of His own, a place where His own pleasure might be sought;
No right to choose pleasant, congenial companions, those who could understand Him and sympathize with Him;
No right to shrink away from filth and sin, to pull His garments closer around Him and turn aside to walk a cleaner path;
No right to be understood and appreciated; no, not by those upon whom He had poured out a double portion of His love;
No right even never to be forsaken by His Father, the One who meant more than all to Him.
His only right was silently to endure shame, spitting, blows; to take His place as a sinner at the dock; to bear my sins in anguish on the cross.
He had no rights. And I?
A right to the “comforts” of life? No, but a right to the love of God for my pillow.
A right to physical safety? No, but a right to the security of being in His will.
A right to love and sympathy from those around me? No, but a right to the friendship of the One who understands me better than I do myself.
A right to be a leader among men? No, but the right to be led by the One to whom I have given my all, led as is a little child, with its hand in the hand of its father.
A right to a home, and dear ones? No, not necessarily; but a right to dwell in the heart of God.
A right to myself? No, but, oh, I have a right to Christ.
All that He takes I will give;
All that He gives I will take;
He, my only right!
He, the one right before which all other rights fade into nothingness.
I have full right to Him;
Oh, may He have full right to me!
What do you consider a right? How would you feel to give it up completely?
Missionaries face hardship.

2B. Missionaries Face Opposition

Much of this opposition from outside the ministry. We refer to this as persecution. It can come in many forms. Earlier this month, Judy created a powerful bulletin board in the foyer. You might have seen it: you might not have. She highlighted the persecuted church with articles and pictures of the atrocities committed around the world. Persecution and opposition happen still.
Paul faced opposition. He wrote to the church in Corinth about how he wanted to visit them, but he wouldn’t be able to come yet. He was going to stay for a while in Ephesus:
1 Corinthians 16:9 NIV
because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
Opposition to the ministry. Paul resolved to stay at Ephesus because of the opposition.
Whenever the Gospel is preached, there will be opposition in some form. People don’t like the Gospel. It is offensive. They are going to kick a fuss and they will try to shut down whoever is talking about it!
Paul says in that some people called him crazy, “out of his mind”. Other called him fool. In Acts, we read how people verbally opposed him. But the opposition wasn’t just verbal:
2 Corinthians 1:8–10 NIV
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
Opposition, physically. I appreciate that Paul didn’t want the Corinthians to be uninformed about what is going on. We should want to know what the missionaries in our lives are facing. If they are truly preaching the Gospel, we know that every missionary we see or read about is facing opposition in some form from outside their ministry.
But, they are also facing opposition from inside: from within their local church or from other local churches. Some missionaries will talk about opposition from outside, persecution, but very few missionaries will talk about opposition from inside.
I’m grateful that Paul talked about it. In Acts we see that people who called themselves followers of Christ would follow him from town to town discrediting the Gospel he was preaching. Finally, Paul had to take them before the counsel in Jerusalem. This is seen in . There they had to sort out this opposition from within the church and give Paul a stamp of approval that he is preaching the Gospel.
Paul writes in about Hymenaeus and Alexander who Paul had to hand over to Satan because they rejected the faith and were opposing Paul’s message.
The second letter to the Corinthians was written because they as a church were turning against Paul, even though he was the founder of that church.
2 Corinthians 6:3–13 NIV
We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
The church was turning against Paul because they didn’t like how he did ministry, and they basically said that he shouldn’t be in ministry, that he wasn’t a true apostle. Paul? If this can happen to Paul, it can happen to anyone.
And it does happen more than we want to admit. Someone once said that the church of Jesus Christ does a great job in shooting our own. Opposition.
If we sat down with each one of the missionaries on our mission board and asked them: “Is there anyone within your church or support system who are opposing what you are doing?” I can guarantee each one has at least one person actively, or passively, opposing how they are ministering for the Gospel.
How would you feel if you faced that every week?
Missionaries face opposition from without and opposition from within.
Missionaries face hardship as they give up their rights.

3B. Missionaries Face Timidity

Sometimes we all get into an interesting state of mind: we think that because someone has given their lives to preaching and teaching the Gospel, they must be very good at what they do and they must not have any problems sharing the Gospel. This is false. All missionaries face timidity. They don’t have boldness. They get scared. And many times this fear wins out and they don’t say anything when situations open up to share.
Paul faced this. We read about Paul in Acts and we see him as this theological giant, debating with the great minds of his time, boldly sharing his faith in Jesus Christ. I picture him like a fiery preacher of old, shaking his finger in the face of King Agrippa. My perspective is completely off. From Paul’s own mouth, he wasn’t eloquent and he was timid about speaking.

Timidity

1 Corinthians 1:17 NIV
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Paul did not speak with wisdom or eloquence, but he learned to depend on Christ, speaking the truth to whoever might hear.
1 Corinthians 2:1–5 NIV
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
Paul came to the Corinthians with great fear and trembling. Can you picture Paul as a scared man, worried before stepping to speak in front of the crowds in Corinth. He realized the benefit, because people would rely on God rather than on any good speaking ability Paul had.
Paul was not bold. This is why he asked the church in Ephesus, in , to pray that he might declare the Gospel fearlessly.
No missionary is completely bold, even when they seem to have everything put together. They all struggle with when to speak. They all get scared when they have a chance to speak.
Missionaries struggle with timidity.
Missionaries face opposition from without and opposition from within.
Missionaries face hardship as they give up their rights.

4B. Missionaries Face Gut-wrenching emotion

Being a missionary is an emotional roller coaster. He is continually giving, giving, giving, and never being given. Dying to self continually, so that hopefully those he is ministering to is growing in Christ. Surviving opposition from within and without, praying that he would not carry scars so deep that his ministry would suffer. Escalating joys when someone turns to Christ, and a dive into the deep when someone else chooses to follow the wisdom of the world instead of Christ.
Paul says it this way:
Galatians 4:19 NIV
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
A missionary who cares about his calling is in emotional pain, comparable to the physical pain of childbirth, yearning to see fruit within those he is ministering too. Yearning to see Christ in the people around, like a mother yearns to see her child formed into a healthy baby.
Unfortunately, a missionary sees more bad than good. Most people don’t easily have Christ formed in them.
Paul says:
2 Corinthians 12:14–21 NIV
Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit? Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
2 Cor 12
A missionary has a life of grief over those who sin and don’t repent, who desire to live by the world instead of by Christ, who taste of the truths of Christ but then renounce them. He yearns for them to turn. He pains for them to repent. But, they don’t.
This emotion is gut wrenching. Ups and downs. Ups and downs.
Missionaries face gut-wrenching emotion.
Missionaries struggle with timidity.
Missionaries face opposition from without and opposition from within.
Missionaries face hardship as they give up their rights.

5B. Missionaries Face Loneliness

Finally, missionaries face loneliness. Most missionaries live away from family and friends. They are in a culture different from their own. They don’t have a support system close to them. All the hardship, opposition, fear, and emotion makes them want someone familiar around, someone who they can share everything that they are going through. But, most missionaries don’t have someone in the town they are in. They might not even have another Christian physically near them.
As they build relationships, many times those people leave to start missions at other areas. Or perhaps the missionary, being a church planter, builds relationships, but then moves on himself. Sometimes, people just leave because they get disillusioned, leaving the missionary alone.
Many times a missionary feels alone because there is no one standing next to them when they give a defense of the Gospel. They are alone.
Paul wrote a lot about loneliness in 2 Timothy. This is his most vulnerable letter, probably because he was at the end of his life. He was alone in a Roman prison.
2 Timothy 1:15 NIV
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
2 Timothy 4:9–16 NIV
Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
2 Timothy 4:9–18 NIV
Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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Paul was lonely. People were not coming to his support. People were deserting him and his ministry. Others were called by God to continue their own ministries. He was lonely. Did you hear the plea: “Do your best to come to me quickly!” Did you hear the pathos: “Only Luke is with me!”
Every missionary faces times of loneliness.
Missionaries face gut-wrenching emotion.
Missionaries struggle with timidity.
Missionaries face opposition from without and opposition from within.
Missionaries face hardship as they give up their rights.
And, you will hardly ever hear a missionary talk about these things in a prayer letter or in a missionary presentation.

2A. So, How Can We Help

1B. We Can Pray for them

We have a missions board so that we can pray for our missionaries. I’ve thought about moving it around the building, because sometimes when something is in one spot we forget that it is there. How many times have you stopped at the missions board to see what is happening and how you can pray?
Paul wrote:
Romans 15:30–32 NIV
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed.
We should pray that our missionaries might be safe through hardship and opposition, that they might be emotionally healthy through the turmoil. Paul touches all those points in this verse.
He also said, as we covered earlier:
Ephesians 6:19 NIV
Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,
We should be praying for boldness for our missionaries. They need it just as much as we do.
How are we doing? Are we joining in the struggle by praying for them? Or are we idly sitting in our comfortable American houses, disregarding the struggle.

2B. We Can Visit them

Paul loved it when people visited him!
1 Corinthians 16:17–18 NIV
I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
These men refreshed Paul’s spirit when they visited him. I don’t know how long they stayed. I don’t know what they talked about. But, I know that Paul was refreshed because of their visit.
Paul often had visitors, even when he was in prison at Rome.
2 Timothy 1:16–18 NIV
May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
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Missionaries are greatly encouraged when someone takes the time and spends the finances to visit them and see the ministry first-hand. This is the power of short-term mission trips. They work great when the focus is on encouraging the missionary in whatever way the missionary finds encouraging.
However, most of us do not have the opportunity to visit all the missionaries we know. We don’t have the time, or the money. In Paul’s day, whenever people visited him, they would bring gifts, letters, and greetings from everyone else. A personal postal system if you will. Though we cannot visit our missionaries, we can send them encouragements through our own postal system or through email.
A good rule of thumb that I am trying to start doing: whenever you see a new update, write a note saying that you read the note, that you are praying for them. Include in the note some sort of encouragement.

3B. Encourage them when they visit

nhEncourage them when they visit

Missionaries always make time to visit churches back in their own country. We read in Acts how Paul would travel around to previous churches to visit them. He would travel to churches in Judea to share about his ministry. Later in his ministry, he would send representatives to other churches in order to inform those churches how ministry was going.
Colossians 4:7–9 NIV
Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.
It is Biblical for missionaries to do this. They have specific agendas when they come. They want to talk about their ministry. They want to raise up prayer partners. And, they want money. We should have our own agenda when they come.
Paul is pretty specific on how visiting missionaries should be treated.
1 Corinthians 16:10–11 NIV
When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
1 Cor 16
I am amazed at stories I hear from missionaries who are treated with contempt when they visit a church. Instead of encouragement, they are met with people who don’t agree with what they are doing, who don’t agree with how they are doing, or with something that they said. Paul says, “don’t treat a visiting missionary with contempt.” We should send them on with “peace.” That is a form of encouragement.
2 Corinthians 7:13 NIV
By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.
Colossians 4:10 NIV
My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)
Titus was refreshed by the church he visited. He was encouraged by how he was treated. Aristarchus was to be welcomed. He was to feel like he was part of the community, that the church wanted him there.
Titus was refreshed by the church he visited. He was encouraged by how he was treated.
John, the one who wrote the Gospel and the book of Revelation, wrote a letter with the express purpose of how to treat visiting missionaries. This is the letter of 3 John. A man by the name of Diotrephes didn’t want to welcome missionaries into the church. John point blank denounces the guy and tells the church there to keep welcoming strangers who are Christians into their midst, because it “was for the sake of the Name that they went out.”
When missionaries come, we should go out of our way to welcome them: let them know that they are wanted. We should not treat them with contempt. May we not be part of the opposition that they face! We should seek how to refresh their spirit, finding ways to encourage them. Ask them about the things that no one wants to talk about: the hardships, opposition, emotional turmoil, timidity, and loneliness. Listen to them. Love them. Feed them. So that, when the time comes, we can send them on their way in peace.
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