Day 38: Becoming a world-class Christian

..::*+ Small Talk +*::..

Gentleness is strength with control.
Rick Warren – God’s Power To Change Your Life

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 38: Becoming a world-class Christian

We know the Great Commission is our commission. So it’s now up to us – to be a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian.

Worldly Christians search God primarily for personal fulfillment. They are saved-but-self-centered person. You see them in concerts and enrichment seminars, but you will never see them at a mission conference.

World-class Christians know they were saved to serve and made for a mission. They are like the waiting-for-assignment soldier of God. They are excited about the privilege to be used by God.

World-class Christians are the only fully alive people on the planet.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

Which one am I? I would say I’m a private (as in the soldier type ok) of world-class Christian.

God sends us letter to participate in his works. He is building his family for eternity. Someday the Great Commission will be the Great Completion.

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in from of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
Revelation 7:9

One day this will happen. Do you want to be part of these people?

Jesus asked his disciples to tell the Good News to everyone more than 2000 years ago. They had barriers to going to the whole world. The science and technologies are limited. But not today; we can travel from a place to another relatively much faster. The opportunities for normal, everyday Christians to become involved in short-term international missions are now limitless. We have no excuse not to spread the Good News. With the advancing of internet, “e-vangelistic” is possible. Spreading the Good News through internet is also a way to tell the Good News to others. The ways to fulfill the Great Commission are almost limitless. Distance, transportation, cost etc are no longer barriers. It comes to the point that Rick Warren says:

The only barrier is the way we think.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

We need a mental shift.

How to think like a world-class Christian?

1. Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking. Bible says:

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4

This is indeed a big and difficult task because we tend to think more of ourselves than others. But however, we are promised with a hope:

God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think.
1 Corinthians 2:12 Contemporary English Version

The Holy Spirit will help us to think of the spiritual needs of unbelievers whenever you talk to them. Holy Spirit will guide you to speak the right words at the right time and think with right thoughts. All you need is to ask from the Holy Spirit. Ask faithfully. Pray to our Father, that He will help you to understand what is keeping a person from knowing Him. Ask for ways to bring people to know God. Seek for the good.

For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 10:33b

2. Shift from local thinking to global thinking. In Bible it says that:

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
Colossians 1:6

The number of Christians in this world is increasing. We need to think globally. The first way to think globally is to begin to pray for a specific country. World-class Christians pray for the world. Prayer is the most important tool for our missions in the world. People may reject our message, but they are defenseless again our prayers. What should we pray for then?

1. Pray for opportunities to witness,

2. Pray for courage to speak up,

3. Pray for those who will believe,

4. Pray for the rapid spread of the message,

5. Pray for more workers.

6. Pray for missionaries and everyone else involved in the global harvest.

… as you help us by your prayers.
2 Corinthians 1:11

The best way to switch to global thinking is to get up and participate in a short-term mission project to another country. It is a practical, hands-on, real life experience in another culture.

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8

Jesus wants us to reach out to our community (Jerusalem), to their country (Judea), to other cultures (Samaria) and to the ends of the earth. Note that our commission is simultaneous, not sequential. We are all called to all four groups. Are you an Acts 1:8 Christian? Start to join a mission trip. You will gain more than you can think of.

3. Shift from “here and now” thinking to eternal thinking. The Bible keeps on reminding us of the eternal yet currently-unseen rewards.

We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

Don’t let anything to stand in our ways of our mission. Let go of it:

Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back.
Hebrews 12:1 Living Bible

Think of ways to store up our eternal treasures in heaven. Use the money that God gives you to bring people to Christ. It is the best and eternal investment you’ll ever make.

4. Shift from thinking of excuses to thinking of creative ways to fulfill your commission. We know “there’s a will, there’s a way”. There are always ways to do it. Language, age nor nothing-to-offer attitude is the barrier. When Sarah said she was too old for God, and Jeremiah claiming that he is too young, God said:

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I commanded you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:7-8

Don’t think God chooses people for His purposes:

God doesn’t want to use just some of his people; he wants to use all of his people.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

Therefore, ask God to use you as a tool to let everyone to come to know Him. Pray to God that you will not fear or ignore you missions. The doors of method are open to you. If you want to be like Jesus, have a heart for the whole world. We want the eternal life:

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Mark 8:35

The Great Commission is your commission, and doing your part is the secret to living a life of significance.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

Vincent