The Blog

On the wall in the Masters Commission Office is a map that charts the global status of Christianity today. It has different sized dots for different cities throughout the world, the bigger the dot, the more people live there and they range in color from black (no known christians), through red and yellow, to dark green (greater than 10% Christian). Across the bottom of this lager map are three smaller maps that display different statistics the same way.

Now the middle of those bottom maps charts the historical response to the Gospel Message (Using statistics from the Jesus Film from the past 25 years). On this map the green ones represent a low level of response and the red ones represent a high level of response (so you want to see red on this one). The crazy thing you see when you compare the two maps is this: The colors on the maps aren't very different from each other!

How crazy is it that when non-christians in these countries where the christian population is smaller than the U.S. or Australia, for example, are so responsive to the Gospel, but in places where Christianity is more common the response is so small. I think I know why.

You see, looking at these maps (they hang directly over my desk) I can see that typically the places that have higher levels of response are typically in countries that have historically persecuted Christians or that have historically had governments that tried to eliminate religion. It seems to me that this can't be just a coincidence, so what is it that makes the difference?

The difference is that we take the Gospel message for granted. In our country we have such easy access to the Word of God, whether we want it or not. Sitting in this office right now I can count 22 bibles, I have over 400 sermons recorded on my computer and countless more available for download online, looking through local radio there are currently four stations playing christian programming, then our office has so many books about the bible I can't afford to take the time to count them. What's my point? The opportunities to hear God's word are limitless for us, so we become used to it, and insensitive to it. I'm not just talking about christians or non-christians, but everyone who enjoys (and takes for granted) the privilege of having the Gospel available to us.

These countries where the response is so high are countries where the Gospel is suppressed. In these countries if you want to share the Gospel you have to fight for it (or you had to for a long time past). The persecution faced by Christians in these countries forces christians to either put up or shut up. Either they have to be willing to endure the consequences of claiming Christ or they have to deny Him. Lukewarmness is not an option.

This is a severity of faith that the western church has, for the most part, abandoned. We don't want to offend people so we just be quiet. Those of us that can't contain their passion are often laughed down by their own brothers and sisters who don't want to be associated with those 'crazies'. We need to understand that the call to follow Christ is a call to forsake everything and follow Him. Our situation my not require us to be martyred, or to be imprisoned and have all our earthly possessions taken from us, but it does require us to kill our pride, humble ourselves and surrender our lives to Christ to establish His Kingdom on this earth.

Romans 10:1-2 tells us to "give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." We need to get ahold of this idea once again, the idea of being a living sacrifice. Contrary to what this scripture tells us to do, we have allowed the world to squeeze us into it's mold. We have been deceived into thinking that as long as we live right we won't have to say anything people will just know and be saved, but Romans tells us different, "'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

The saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words." but the fact of the matter is that words still speak, and some actions have no message without words to assist them in delivering it. So I leave you with this; live a life of sacrifice. Sacrifice your selfishness to show love through your actions, and sacrifice your pride to share with your words the love of Jesus. Live life with a severity of faith that doesn't need to be persecuted to be moved into action.