Suffering and risk

I often hear from them when I hear from them. It's often in tears as they struggle with the stresses upon their marriage, fears about their children. Will they become bitter or will they love the Lord Jesus? Will they thank God that their parents were sent to do this or will they be angry about it?

Chad Vegas on what his church's missionaries face.

He rejoices that he was given the privilege of suffering for the advance of the gospel. One of my dearest teachers in church planting ministry says it this way, missionaries speak from their scars. Missionaries speak from their scars. And this is one of the great arguments for long-term ministry. The accumulated scars of the gospel ambassador speak louder than even his words.

Brooks Buser: missionaries speak from their scars.

What of the 95% of us in this room? I used to be a goer. I'm a sender now. I'm a faithful member at my church in Clairemont Emmanuel, San Diego. faithful member at that church, elder. What of those who stay behind? Well, there are scars for those as well, and I so appreciated Tim Challies when he was talking this morning or at the breakout session about parents. There's this passage in Matthew 4.21. It says this, and going on from there, Jesus saw two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

There are scars for those who send, too.

The only thing I would go to is Paul and Barnabas when they first go off. It is absolutely abnormal for missionaries to be out there without body life around them. And we have that thrown at us as instructors all the time. Yeah, you're going into an abnormal situation. Body life all throughout Scripture. But for pioneer missionaries, you're going to have a hiatus from that for a while. Okay, the pressures on the pioneer missionary, his family, his husband and wife, they are very, very unique.

Brad Buser on the unique pressures of pioneer missionaries without body life.

And we find the word in verse 30, "For he nearly died for the work of Christ risking his life." Now we could define the word risk simply as exposing oneself to the possibility of danger. Did Jesus Christ risk? Well, in one sense, Jesus risked in that he entered a world full of danger and resentment and hatred and persecution and pain and loss.

Paul Schlehlein defines risk.

Paul took risks because he knew that the Christian life was not defined by freedom from danger. Acts 20, 24. I do not account my life of any value. Friends, to avoid all risk is to avoid the Christian life.

To avoid all risk is to avoid Christian life.

Verse 30, ego is a wrong motive for risk. Ambition, popularity, adventure, curiosity are wrong motives for risk. No, nothing makes Christ look more beautiful and more glorious when we risk our lives for him. And so we're told in verse 30, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

The only right reason for risk is Christ.

Am I going to think she had more faith? You wouldn't be lying here. Or is there a theology of suffering from Romans 8 that takes into account that the saints groan with the world and await the redemption of our bodies? So give your people a theology of something because missions is going to be ramping up suffering more than staying here usually. So that'd be a second thing. Big God and suffering scriptures, you know, every sermon should be so saturated with scripture that they say, well, that's the way the pastor lives. I guess that's the way we should live, live by the live by the Bible. So that would be three steps. It's just take all those common denominators and preach them and put Bible underneath them.

Piper: give your people a theology of suffering.

The vermin. Were so infesting in their hair, they finally shaved them all bald. Ann was pregnant and she walked two miles a day to plead for his life and that he was not a spy, which is what they were accusing him of, and took care of him as best she could through the prison.

Piper on Judson's imprisonment and torture.