The Personal Persistent Presence Of Jesus

We live in challenging times. The other day I was listening to a talk show while driving when a caller asked the host, “What should I be more concerned about–Ebola or ISIS?” Fifty years ago before the acceleration of worldwide inter-connectedness, that would have been a mute question. But in the last couple of weeks, with the death of an Ebola patient on American soil, the infection of a few others, and the arrest of a 19 year-old American at O’Hare Airport making his way to Syria to fight for ISIS, that is no longer the case. These larger concerns have become our personal concerns. And they do impact how we at NCBC engage the world in missions.

Did you know that there is a wonderful promise that Jesus gives to those who, in the midst of the challenges of our day, step out in faith to go on mission with him – a promise on which he will never renege – a promise that is as good today as it was when he gave it 2000 years ago – a promise that is for every one of us?

This promise is given as the very last sentence of the book of Matthew. In Matthew 28:20 we read, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” It is as if Jesus is saying, "Just as I have committed to be with you, you commit to me and my mission until the very end." He promises that his presence goes with us in difficulty and danger, through difficulty and danger, and at times will keep us out of difficulty and danger. Now that’s a reassuring promise!

In a very unsettled world, God is looking for willing hearts to go anywhere on mission with him. He is looking for total engagement by each and every one of us in his great Cause. He is looking for those who will take this promise of his “Personal Persistent Presence” at face value, no matter what our role:

                    He is asking for some of us to be senders, and others to be sent-ones
                    Some to give their lives, others to give of their resources
                    Some to do the work, others to support the work
                    Some to be on the front lines, others to be in the background
                    Some to go, and others to stay, so that the some willing to go, can go

No one gets an exclusion! John Piper once said: “When it comes to world missions, there are only three kinds of Christians: zealous goers, zealous senders, and the disobedient.”[1] Obedience to the teachings of Jesus is seldom easy. Obedience to taking Christ’s love to hard places can be even more difficult. On one level, it takes a combination of willingness, determination, faith and risk-taking for one to personally cross over into other cultures and live on foreign soil to bring peoples to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

On another level, it may simply mean the rest of us here at NCBC helping those who commit to such a path, by rendering support services through committing to regular prayer, financial resources, material assistance, technical support, or moral encouragement. Taking Christ’s love to hard places, both here and abroad will take you down one of these two paths.

One of those risk-taking, cross cultural missionary families on the frontlines that NCBC supports is ministering in the midst of a totally unreached Muslim people group on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Because of the sensitive nature of their ministry, they cannot be named here. But their ministry is so valued that next week Pastor Sunday, Mike Jacoby and I will be traveling to Indonesia to visit them, to minister to them, and to see first hand the ministry they have carved out within this people group over the past ten years. Since Sumatra is literally half a world away, our trip will be from November 3 - 12.

Sumatra is often called the most unreached island in the world. It is the home of 49 unreached people groups. These 49 groups include over 25 million people. Millions on Sumatra have not heard the good news of Christ due to the strong Muslim religious traditions and political, geographical and cultural barriers. And most of all, this vast multitude is lost because, almost without exception, they have never heard the gospel. Our missionary family is deeply committed to reaching one of those groups, which again for security reasons, cannot be named here.

Upon our return, in the two morning services on November 16, the three of us will share with the congregation what we have observed first hand in the life and ministry of this couple. We want all of you to know how we as a church are invested in reaching this very distant unreached people group through our Global Outreach efforts.

The Global Outreach (GO) Team of NCBC is committed to mobilizing the resources needed to keep missionaries like this couple in Sumatra to finish their task. We believers have more resources for outreach at our disposal than any previous generation. We have more informed people, more financial resources, more material resources, and more technological resources. However, the one thing lacking, the thing in which believers today seem most deficient, is the will to act. Maybe that lack of will is tied to a lack of trust in Jesus’ promising reassurance of his presence.

In troubling times our will and willingness to be involved needs to be anchored on one sentence: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Because Jesus has given us his promise, "I am with you," we can say in return, "I am willing." The “Personal Persistent Presence” of Jesus should drive each of us forward on mission with him no matter how uncertain the times or unsettling the challenges.

Marvin Newell
Global Outreach (GO) Team

[1] http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/driving-convictions-behind-foreign-missions