Why are the laborers few?

When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
(Matthew 9:37-38)

http://www.persecution.com/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51

Acts 20:24 revisited (not for the last time).

About a year ago, I wrote an entry about Acts 20:24.  It’s been a verse that has anchored me again and again.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

To know Christ and to live Acts 20:24.  The rest are really details — details that must remain minute, lest life for Christ be consumed with unprofitable details.

This verse has become increasingly precious over the years as its truth has anchored me and reminded me of God-given purpose through various trials, heartbreak, disappointments, failures, and seasons of (what seemed to be His) silence.  It serves as a template of sorts in decision-making, whether circumstantial decision-making: This way or that?, or decisions of the heart and attitude: How will I respond?

I’ve found it necessary to lay aside, though sometimes with tears and much difficulty, whatever did not align with this framework of thinking and living.  And I’m still learning to do that with less of a struggle.

But perhaps Acts 20:24 was more of Spirit-aided will and principle than of passive description in the Apostle Paul’s life.  It was his relentless determination because of his relentless love for the Savior and the lost.

In light of the Savior, the gospel, and the saving of the lost, his life was of no account.  Of no value.  His life only had value inasmuch as he was given breath to finish his course and his ministry: to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

It was a ministry given to him by the Lord Jesus.  What a precious gift.

Paul’s life was nothing — worthless — if not given to do what Jesus called him to do.  This bondservant found purpose in the proclamation of his good Master and his good Master’s message.  So, what did it matter if he had to bear labors, imprisonments, countless beatings, whippings, stoning, shipwreck, danger, toil, hardship, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, cold, exposure, or pressure (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)?

This was no long-faced carrying of the cross or morbid obsession with self-abasement and asceticism.  This was a joyful, joyful embrace of something (Someone) greater than himself.

Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we pray
Your kingdom come

Let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
‘Til Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come

Give us Your strength, O God, and courage to speak
Perform Your wondrous deeds
Through those who are weak
Lord, use us as You want, whatever the test
By grace we’ll preach Your gospel
‘Til our dying breath

(Lyrics by Bob Kauflin)

Redeeming the time.

I wonder how differently we would live if we really understood the brevity of life, the uncertainty of tomorrow, the urgency of the gospel message, and the imminence of Christ’s return.

Then perhaps the trivial would truly be trivial, and weighty matters would really carry some weight.  We can’t take time for granted, thinking it’s continuous when it’s actually fixed.  Time is only for a short while; eternity is not.

How will the fearful Christian answer to her Maker when she must give account for the people she feared rather than loved?  How will the pleasure-seeking Christian answer to his Maker when he must give account for the opportunities he wasted for the sake of his own pleasure?  How will the morbidly introspective Christian answer to her Maker when she must give account for the faculties (and time) she squandered on self-focused thinking?  How will the procrastinating Christian answer to his Maker when he must give account for those souls he put off with his “later”s and “next time”s?

There’s a reason Paul exhorts Timothy as a soldier and reminds the Corinthian church that they are ambassadors.  Soldiers and ambassadors are singleminded.  They know they only have so much time.

So many we see today we may never see again.  So many opportunities presented to proclaim Christ today may never come again.  (Opportunities like life and breath.)

Apart from Christ, sin actually brings condemnation.  A Christless eternity in Hell actually is the destination for those who don’t know Christ.  The day of salvation will actually end at any moment.  The day of salvation is only for a measured season, and there is no “Indian summer” to follow.

Oh, that we wouldn’t be guilty of any man’s blood on our hands because we’ve failed to tell the whole counsel of God.  That we wouldn’t sleep while it is our watch.  And if you are a believer, it is your watch … as long as you have breath.  Are you redeeming the time?  (Am I?)

I don’t know if a few raindrops were already falling as Noah began to board the animals onto the ark.  I don’t know if Noah made a last “round” to warn his neighbors and all he knew of the imminent judgment to come before entering the ark.  But if those initial raindrops did fall, I can imagine our time now is like the time of those first raindrops.  Raindrops warning of the wrath to come.  And now is the time to make the urgent call to come while the door is still open.

We don’t have a moment to lose.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Me < David Livingstone < Christ.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks in terms of health. I feel like I’ve been hit by three waves of the most odd, unrelated illnesses. I’ve had a day of recovery, literally, in between each wave. I’m just coming out of the third one, & tonight, I’m feeling much better.

I’m not planning on a fourth one, so some of the posts I had in queue should be up this week.

I finished a biography on David Livingstone, 19th century missionary to Africa, yesterday. I was really dizzy while reading it, but I couldn’t put it down.

For about the last 15 years of his life, he suffered with severe, reoccurring river fever, persistent bleeding that eventually nearly drained all his blood, ulcerated feet, and other major health issues that required either bed rest or surgery, but he kept trekking through central Africa, looking for a river that would open up a way for “good” trade (as opposed to slave trading) & the gospel.

It wasn’t that he was ignorant of his health problems. He was a trained doctor. But he counted the cost, in his old age, of taking the years necessary to recover & the years he could spend still preaching the gospel to each new village he found & years he could spend searching for a pathway into central Africa. He chose the latter.

When I read of the things he did, the hope he maintained, & his strong resolve to keep moving forward even in spite of pain & weakness, I felt like such a weakling, sitting in bed and struggling to even walk to the kitchen. Sometimes, like the rest of us, I wonder if I’d be able to do what he did if I were in that situation, but again, the reminder came: we receive grace for the moment, not for what might or might not come.

I guess the question to ask isn’t, “Could I do what David Livingstone did if I were in his shoes?” The question to ask is, “Could the God of David Livingstone do in & through even a life like mine what He did in & through David’s?” The answer is, “Yes.” The God of David Livingstone, the God of Mary, the God of Job, the God of the Apostle Paul . . . God doesn’t change. He still speaks truth through His Word, the Bible. He still gives strength to the weary & grace sufficient to the weak humble.

David wrote, “I shall open a path into the interior — or perish.”

That’s intensity. But what more could you expect from someone who is passionate about his Savior & knows the immensity of an eternity apart from Him? He wasn’t a perfect man, but he was a man being perfected by Christ, his Righteousness.  He was a mere man used by Almighty God.

Mississippi Missions Trip.

Most of an email I sent out a week or so ago . . . :]

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
(2 Corinthians 4:5)

A few weeks ago, from March 23rd – March 29th, I went with my church team to Bay St. Louis & Waveland, Mississippi. We went to help rebuild what Hurricane Katrina (one of the deadliest, most destructive hurricanes in the history of the U.S.) destroyed in 2005.

It’s been almost three years since the hurricane, but they’re still struggling to piece their lives together again.

New Orleans, Louisiana (In Brief)

My dad & I flew out to Gulfport, Mississippi one day early with another family from our church. We drove about an hour southwest & spent a day in New Orleans. As we were crossing the bridge into New Orleans, we couldn’t believe how much of the city was still in ruins.

We were planning to celebrate Resurrection Sunday at a church in New Orleans. We found a church in the New Orleans Yellow Pages, but a 2.5 mile walk later, when we finally arrived there, the church was deserted & damaged.

The church had flood damage, & like many of the buildings in New Orleans, it seems that the building was torched sometime after Hurricane Katrina. (People were unable to collect flood insurance because the insurance companies told them the damage was “hurricane damage”, so many torched the buildings in an [unsuccessful] attempt to then collect from fire insurance.)

We called & even received an inviting answering machine message before we left for the church. I guess they just forgot to say they relocated :]

Lagniappe: Just a “Little” More, the “Extra Mile”

We stayed in bunkhouses at Lagniappe Presbyterian Church, a church that was started up after the hurricane. The church building used to be a lumber yard, but it was rebuilt after the hurricane to function as a “hub” for restoration efforts.

Lagniappe runs non-stop. Full-time volunteers live at the church & go out daily to build & help the people of Bay St. Louis & Waveland. Other volunteers (like our team) stream in & out, usually staying a week or two at a time.

Lagniappe Church.

To the right, our bunkhouses all lined up.

Hurricane Katrina’s Trail

Lagniappe took a survey of the area’s needs, & the overwhelming, number one need people voiced was for mental health. They’re lost & hurting.

After Hurricane Katrina passed through, almost all that was left of Bay St. Louis & Waveland were the buildings’ foundations. For some homes, even the foundations didn’t withstand the hurricane.

The foundation to what was once a home.

All that’s left of this bank is the inner vault where the money was kept.

Most of the work is new construction, not repair, because in most cases, there was nothing left to repair.

Stairs that once led to a home? A church? A school?

This was an oak tree that saved four lives. Four people held on for their lives as the hurricane passed over. One of the women who held onto this tree currently volunteers at Lagniappe Church. She had a broken arm but still held on as rubble, pets, & human body parts washed past her. The tree is now dead, but a local artist carved some of the branches in the shape of an angel. (My intent isn’t to read into what happened, but I just want to point out an interesting correlation: a tree marked with death, saving those who clung/cling to it.)

Our Part in the Restoration

It was humbling, in a sweet way, to find out that our church team would be just one of the many coming to serve the people of Mississippi. We couldn’t be expected to do everything in a week, but we were a small part of the bigger picture of His people there, laboring in love. We worked on finishing two homes. I was on the “floor” team!

In Mississippi, it seems that your hometown is more than just where you live. It’s where you run around with friends during your childhood. It’s probably where your parents spent their childhood, too, and your grandparents. It’s where you work your first job. It’s where you marry. It’s where you have your children. It’s where your children settle & have their children. Now, imagine all of that leveled to the ground in ruins.

Larry (the man in the photo) was the future owner of one of the homes we were working on. He was one of those “hometown” Mississippians who lost everything. Since the hurricane, he’s lived in a trailer given to him by the government.

We met him on our second day on the work site (i.e., his home-to-be). When he saw that about half our team consisted of junior high, high school, and college students who chose to come & serve him during their spring break, he began to tear up. He said he couldn’t understand why they would do that.

He joined us one evening on the beach as we were debriefing. He brought his childhood friend, Frank, with him, too. After debriefing, some of us were able to really talk with Larry.

He said that after the hurricane, the people who continued to come & serve them & love them were the people of Christ’s church. Frank agreed. People came from all over the country, & some even from other countries, but the common denominator between all of them was their love for Christ, & hence, their compassion for the broken. Praise God.

Final pictures

Getting ready to lay down some hardwood flooring!

I got to hold a baby alligator! His mouth is open because he’s trying to bite me! (My dad’s in the background.)

With some of our church girls at Sonic’s, where the servers really bring your food (to your table or to your car) on rollerskates!

More praying, less talking.

It’s harder to pray for people who are near me (physically). It’s the tendency to think, “Oh, they’re right here. Why pray so much? I can just talk to them & tell them.” (As if my words alone were persuasive or able to change hearts.)

But my words alone cannot effect change. My words alone cannot transform or make new a creation.  I cannot talk people out of apathy, deadness, dryness, or doubt.

I can talk my head off, but that won’t change hearts. That alone won’t draw loved ones nearer to the Savior.

Today, the reminder to pray for loved ones here weighs heavy on my heart. I cannot do God’s work apart from God’s power.

He is God. He is the Lord of the harvest.

Lessons in love.

Her Father: Did you see them again today?

Her: Yes, Father, You know I did.

Her Father: And you enjoyed yourself?

Her: Yes. Thank You for these loving relationships.

Her Father: Oh, do you love them?

Her: Of course I do! You know that I always pray for them & that I can never think of them without a sense of thankfulness & warm affection!

Her Father: Do you love them more than your own self?

Her: I could lay down my life for them.

Her Father: Could you lay down lesser things than your life for them?

Her: What do you mean?

Her Father: Could you lay down your reputation for them? Could you lay down their good opinion of you for them? Could you even put your relationship with them on the line — for them?

Her: What would require that of me?

Her Father: You never speak to them about matters of eternal life & death — their souls, their salvation, their drifting from the gospel. You are selfishly silent in these matters. Have you so quickly forgotten, in the midst of much levity, the reality of a Christless eternity in hell for those who do not know Me? Have you no sense of alarm for their sakes?

Her: But I don’t want to forfeit my relationship with them either!

Her Father: So, you would instead forfeit their souls for the preservation of your relationship with them?

Her: But I can’t help it! They don’t want to speak of it, & my heart is too faint to bring it up . . .

Her Father: Child, I remember what you are made of; I know your heart is faint. But I’m not requiring you to do it without Me.

Her: I know it, but I tremble to think of the pain their rejection will cause me!

Her Father: Could you bear one life of rejection without them in hope of an eternity of joy with them? Take heart, dear child. Remember I am sovereign, & do the part I require of you faithfully. I will be your Help.

Her: I’m afraid. Open my heart & my mouth. I cannot.

Her Father: I will never leave you. My Word will equip you, & My love will compel you. But quickly, child — the sun has already begun to set.

. . .

And when they [the elders of the Ephesian church] came to him [Paul], he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility & with tears & with trials that happened to me . . . how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public & from house to house, testifying both to Jews & to Greeks of repentance toward God & of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ . . .

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course & my ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God . . .

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.“

(Acts 20: 18-21, 24-27, 31)

Blowing on the embers.

This past week, some things I’ve read have fanned a renewed desire for the gospel-less, Bible-less places of the world to be reached.

I pray these excerpts serve to blow on the embers in your heart (random aside: if you keep looking at the word embers long enough, it starts to look a little funny :] ) to again pray that those from “every nation, tribe, people, & language” would come to hear, know, & worship the only true God who saves them from their sins . . . & perhaps even pray that you might be the one to go tell them . . .

An email from a friend in Papua New Guinea regarding difficult decisions in Bible translation (I’ve edited some parts to keep it anonymous):

The [K people] have been having very “heavy” discussions on the current topic: what word or name to use for God [in their vernacular language]? They have come up with the name of a traditional spirit, who created the world, who knows all things, who even does good/kind things to people, but there is also a taboo on speaking the name out loud. It’s part of the secret knowledge that men who have been initiated can know, but others should not, or that an old man on his deathbed might whisper to a younger man. Therefore, out of this group of I think six men, there are varying and conflicting opinions. Some are afraid to speak the name, and think that this is a spirit from their traditional culture and not the true God of the universe, while some think that it would be good to call the one true God by this traditional name, and it’s just that the sense of taboo (in speaking it) needs to change. They hope that using this name will help the people to understand that He is their God and the Creator of everything, not just the white man’s god, bringing in an outside religion.

From Noel Piper’s Faithful Women & their Extraordinary God (from the brief biography about Lilias Trotter, missionary to the Arabs — particularly the Arab women — in Algeria):

Is it impossible that I [Noel Piper], or my daughter, or my granddaugther should do such a thing? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t depend on me. Who is my God? Is He not the same God who called Lilias Trotter, prepared her, moved her, & sustained her in Algeria for forty years? Is He not the same yesterday & today & forever?

But how can I know what lies in the future? How will I know how to get ready? I can’t really know. Lilias must have been mulling such thoughts when she wrote:

How many of us have said & sung with all our hearts “Anywhere with Jesus,” but at the same time we did not realize all that it meant for us. Indeed at home, & surrounded by all that home means, we could not know. When the test comes we must not forget that “anywhere” means for missionaries something different from life in England, & let us take very good care not to make a misery of anything that “anywhere” brings us.

To us in Algeria it must mean sometime or other, Arab food. Do we object to it? & mice, do we mind them? & mosquitoes, do we think them dreadful? In some parts it means close contact with dirt & repulsive disease. Yet if Jesus is there, what have we possibly to complain of? It means living among a stiff-necked & untrue people & struggling with a strange & difficult language. & yet let us evermore write over all our miseries, big, & for the most part very little, these transforming words “With Jesus.” & then the very breath of Heaven will breathe upon our whole being & we shall be glad.

Today from Desiring God Blog, Bill Walsh shares a letter written by Michelle, a missionary wife in South Africa. Here are excerpts from her letter, “Why I Would Die for South Africa”:

I could faithfully serve Christ & the gospel in another country. But I wouldn’t expect to reap the same amount of fruit as in a desperate place like Africa: “But God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith & heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.” (James 2:5). People here see their need for the Great Physician. People are suffering. We have the cure that they are asking for. The gospel (a biblical worldview) is the ultimate cure for AIDS & poverty & crime. In more western countries, people are deceptively self-sufficient & hardened to the gospel. Why not stay where the harvest is ripe & the workers are few?

. . . We stay because we are called to South Africa. When you are called, no promise of greater security or comfort can lure you away. You are free to enjoy all the beauties of South Africa without constantly wondering if it is time to abandon ship. How do we know that we are called to South Africa? Because this is the place where we can be most useful in God’s harvest field. This is the place where our talents can best be multiplied for the Master until He returns (Matt. 25). This is the place where we find the greater blessing of giving rather than receiving (Acts 20:35). This is the place where we can raise our children to be true self-denying Christ-followers. Unless He calls us somewhere more difficult, this is where we will stay — to live & even die for South Africa. Where are you called to die?

“Unless He calls us somewhere more difficult, this is where we will stay — to live & even die . . . Where are you called to die?” It sounds like something we’d accuse a “glory-missions”-minded person of saying. But she’s living in the realities of South Africa with her husband & children right now; her question has more thrust because she’s not saying it flippantly or naively.

For some of us (& by no means is it a lesser task or lesser harvest), that may mean staying home & faithfully ministering to our families. For others of us, that may mean eventually leaving our families & faithfully ministering somewhere else.

Let’s pray for the nations. Let’s pray for our missionary friends. Let’s pray & tell God we’re willing to go or stay . . . to be faithful to Him & faithful to proclaim the gospel (in truth, in love) wherever we are.

But let’s not immediately discard the possibility that He may call us to leave & labor in another field less harvested.

Acts 20:24.

But (even though I do not know what will happen to me, even though all I know is that the Spirit says that imprisonment & unnamed afflictions await me in every city)

I (the Apostle Paul, undeservedly loved & saved to the uttermost by the Christ I once hated & persecuted)

do not account (or reckon or calculate)

my life (my very breath, the natural life of my body)

of any value nor as precious to myself (neither costly nor dear, of no sum, rubbish)

if only (this one thing: the driving passion & purpose of my life)

I may finish my course (this race marked out for me, this course run in obedience to Christ)

& the ministry (a task weightier than my very life)

that I received from the Lord (my Authority — my Master, Owner, & King)

Jesus (the crucified & risen Son of God)

to testify (to bear witness with all my heart)

to the gospel (the good news)

of the grace of God (God’s lovingkindness extended to ruined sinners through salvation & adoption)

. . .

This verse has been such a source of comfort, reminding, & rebuking to me over the years.

I listened to a message from the 2003 Shepherd’s Conference by Steve Saint (son of Nate Saint, missionary to the Waodani) again today. I’ve listened to it about 4 or 5 times already, but I still choke up at the same parts. What a testimony of the sufficiency of God’s grace.

He shared about how he wrote an article for a Christian magazine some time after learning of “most of the details” of his father’s death. In the article, he wrote that God did not merely allow the death of his father & the other missionaries; God orchestrated it. He said he received objections from readers, asking, “How can you attribute to God something horrible like this?” His answer to them was from Acts 2:23: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan & foreknowledge of God . . .” He said, “If God could, as a loving Father . . . if He could do this to His own Son, why couldn’t He do this to my father, if he was willing?”

If he was willing. He was willing. Nate Saint, the Apostle Paul, & many others. They were willing to lay down their lives — not because they were foolishly reckless, but because they counted the cost & prized something more than life: the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul said his life was valuable only inasmuch as it served to fulfill the interests of Christ — not his own interests. “For to me to live is Christ,” he says (Philippians 1:21).

He loved Christ. “Jesus Christ & Him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2) was the crux of his life. Could there be any greater thing? This one message, this one mission, this one task. His own life’s significance drowned out in comparison. Self-preservation was not high on his list of priorities. The message was more important than the messenger (& if his life was as nothing, then so was everything else within that life: comfort, pleasures, riches, reputation . . .).

The gospel wasn’t only his occupation. It was his preoccupation. It consumed his life.

Paul was probably weeping as he spoke these words to the Ephesian elders. “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course & the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). He loved them dearly; it was the last time he’d see them, & more trials awaited him.

But the gospel was the heartbeat, the heartthrob of his life. Jesus had no rival in his affections. Acts 20:24 was the narrative of his life.

Single-minded, whole-hearted.

Oh, to really live like that.

On Bible Translation.

The worldwide status of Bible translation:

6,912	…the number of languages spoken in the world today
2,251	…the number of languages without any of the Bible, but with a possible need of a Bible translation to begin
193,000,000	…the number of people who speak the 2,251 languages where translation projects have not yet begun
1,953	…the number of translation programs currently in progress for languages without adequate Scripture
nearly 80%	…amount of the world’s remaining Bible translation needs that are located in the three areas of greatest need
1,144	…the number of language communities which have access to the New Testament in their heart language
429	…the number of language communities which have access to the entire Bible in the language they understand best
6,500,000,000	…the population of the world

The areas of greatest need

Today, more than 2,200 language groups do not have a single verse of Scripture available in their languages. Nearly 80 percent of them are located in three areas of the world:

Central Africa & Nigeria: 500+

Mainland & Southeast Asia: 500+

Indonesia & the Pacific Islands: 750

What makes these areas especially difficult? A number of factors challenge work, including:

• Political and religious roadblocks
• Security
• Dense populations
• Large quantity of languages per capita
• Difficult access to language locations

(The above is from Wycliffe.Org)

. . .

One of my favorite reads is Neil Anderson’s In Search of the Source, the firsthand account of a Bible translator with his family in Papua New Guinea. Here’s an excerpt:

Still checking for clarity of translation, we [Neil & the Folopa men] read [from the latest draft of Genesis in the Folopa language] . . .

I looked up to see if the text was communicating. The men were silent, sitting cross-legged on the floor in their ruggedness, some shirtless, expressions dark, chests heaving. I saw one brush a tear from his eye.

I read on . . .

At that point we had reached the end of the page. Carol [Neil's wife] was still typing the latest draft & we had caught up to her. For the moment there was no more to read &, as it was time for a break anyway, I went & busied myself with tea & bread for everybody.

But behind me all remained quiet – all but the typewriter. I looked back. There were the men gathered all around Carol, reading the words one at a time, as they came onto the page from the typewriter.

The tea & the bread could wait. They, apparently, had food I knew not of.

As Carol was typing out the translation draft for the next part of Genesis, the men were so hungry to know what God’s Word said next that they read the translation over her shoulder as she typed it out, word by word.

Really, what would life be like without knowing Christ, without knowing His Word (or even, without having any access to His Word)?