Right before Jesus rose up into heaven, He gave the Great Commission. He told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations.
When we become Christians, we now become part of that Commission, to go and make disciples.
Why is missionary work important? Without missionaries, there is no spread of the gospel. Without the spread of the gospel, thousands of people are dying every day without the chance of knowing who Jesus is. Missionary work is part of being a Christian. We all have our function in the Body of Christ. Each of those functions is for the purpose of spreading the gospel throughout the nations.
I think about the urgency of spreading the gospel very regularly. The fact that thousands of people die every single day without the opportunity to know Jesus.
That crushes my heart. Yet I’ve been given the opportunity to know Jesus in the USA. I now have the opportunity to spread the good news.
Why Is Being A Missionary Important?
Through the eyes of a Christian, the world is in a dark place full of wretched people who are desperately in need of a savior. Because of this view, Christians have a sense of urgency to reach the people who have never heard of Jesus.
In the United States, you can go and find a Bible at any book store. You have access to the Bible because of your access to the internet.
In many countries around the world, there is no place to go buy a Bible. There are people that don’t have the Bible translated into their language.
Because people don’t have access, there isn’t an opportunity to know Jesus, much less to believe in Him.
1. The Necessity For The Gospel
In Luke 9:23 Jesus tells us that the only way to be His disciple is to deny ourselves to take up our cross daily. Notice how Jesus doesn’t say “take up your cross one day”. He says “take up your cross daily”.
We need the gospel every day of our lives.
We need to be reminded of what Jesus did to save us from eternal separation from Him, every single day.
We need to hear the Gospel every day, because we forget it every day.
Martin Luther
If we need the gospel every day, then how much more do the people that have never had the opportunity to hear it need it?
They need it every day as well, they are being starved from their daily bread.
Unreached people need missionaries to go and spread the gospel or make access to the gospel and its beauty.
2. We Are Commanded To Go
When Jesus had died and been resurrected, He spent a period of time with His disciples before going to heaven.
His last words before leaving were these:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
We were commanded to GO and make disciples of ALL nations. Jesus, the son of God himself commanded us to do this.
3. The Harvest Is Plentiful
The amazing thing is that there are so many people who are ready to be spoken to about Jesus. The Holy Spirit knows no borders, He is at work as we speak to prepare hearts to hear the gospel.
There are 17,410 people groups and 7,398 of those are unreached, meaning they don’t have access to the gospel.
41.8% of the world has never had access to the gospel and still doesn’t. That’s a sad reality.
There are so many people desperately in need of the gospel. So many people need someone to just tell them who Jesus is, and why He has saved us from all of our sins.
You can get more statistics of unreached people groups here.
4. The Laborers Are Few
The call to lay down your life for Jesus is not a call many people will take. To lay down your desires and dreams to do what God has for you and your life is not easy.
In Mark 10:17–31 a rich young man didn’t want to lay down what he had to follow Jesus. In Luke 14:28 Jesus tells us to count the cost because this call isn’t for everyone.
– Full time Christian Workers in the World:
thetravelingteam.org
5.5 million workers
– Christian workers in the Reached World:
4.19 million local workers (75.9%)
– Christian workers in the Unevangelized:
1.3 million local workers (23.7%)
– Christian workers in the Unreached:
20,500 local workers (0.37%)
On top of the statistics above, about one cent out of every one-hundred dollars given to missions is towards unreached people groups. The rest goes towards efforts to further evangelize reached people.
There aren’t workers going to the places that need the gospel the most.
It’s important that more people follow their calls to become missionaries, to share the gospel with the nations. That we continue to follow Jesus’s commandment.
5. People Are In Need Physically
Our main focus should be to bring the gospel to the nations. To share the good news that Jesus has saved us from eternal sin should be the most important thing we do.
We do live in a fallen world, because of that we have so many injustices that break our hearts.
- Trafficking
- Starvation
- Financial need
- Lack of clean water
- Lack of jobs
- Orphans
- Widows
if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
Isaiah 58:10 (ESV)
There are so many more injustices, but as we need missionaries to carry the gospel, we need people to help the needy as they go.
6. People Are In Need Spiritually
Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4 “But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
We are in desperate need of the Word Of God. We are in more need of the Word Of God than we are of food and water
Up until we are saved we are spiritually starving.
There is a spiritual hunger in the human heart and an eternal hunger in the human soul that can never be satisfied with anything other than Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.
James Merritt
People are in desperate need of the gospel, in need of a savior. Many of them don’t know this because they don’t know what state they’re in spiritually. They don’t know that they’re spiritually dead.
That’s the job of a missionary, to hopefully show a set-apart life in Jesus to someone who is dead in their transgressions.
7. We Will Be Held Accountable
We’ve been given the task to go and make disciples of all nations. We know this is our commandment.
If we choose to disobey this commandment, it’s sin. It’s direct disobedience to what Jesus called us to do.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it,
James 4:17 (ESV)
for him it is sin.
This isn’t meant to give us fear, but to give us something to look forward to. As Christians, we want to become more like Christ, and love Him in every way.
As we see in Scripture, Jesus obviously had a heart for the lost and brokenhearted. When we see that it should make us want to do the same and to have a desire for what He desires.
8. The Example Of The Early Church
A sad reality of today’s churches in the USA is that they’re so stagnant. They don’t go and make disciples. They just stay and nurture disciples.
There is absolutely a purpose for a continuation of discipleship. But imagine if the church actually equipped disciples with the tools to make disciples. Instead of giving them just enough baby food to come back next Sunday for more.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
We see the example of the early church in Acts, how they were so focused on spreading the gospel. Yes, we see many churches forming, and people being appointed to pastor them.
But the main theme of Acts is the acts of the Apostles, bringing the gospel into the whole world.
Whenever looking to the present and how we should act today, we should always go back to scripture. We should begin asking ourselves questions like, what were the people of scripture doing when they became disciples?
9. Where The Lost Are Headed
Whenever I lose sight of why Missions are important, a big slap in the face is when I think about where the lost are headed.
What a compelling motive we have for prayer, for preaching, for soul winning when we learn that every responsible human being who leaves this world without a definite change in heart immediately lifts his eyes in Hell, tormented in flame!
John R. Rice
When I think about a few passages like:
2 Thessalonians 1:9 – “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,”
Matthew 13:50 – “and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.“
My heart is broken for those who go to hell without ever being reached with the Gospel. It makes me want to go, it makes me have a sense of urgency to go and make disciples.
10. We Await Fulfillment Of The Promise
Missions is important because it’s directly correlated to the second coming of Christ.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:14
Generally, most Christians interpret this verse as everyone needing to be reached with the gospel before Jesus comes. There can be differences in exactly what that means.
“The second coming of Christ will be so revolutionary that it will change every aspect of life on this planet. Christ will reign in righteousness. Disease will be arrested. Death will be modified. War will be abolished. Nature will be changed. Man will live as it was originally intended he should live.”
Billy Graham
But what we can all get out of it is that missions is directly participating in Jesus’s return. Only he knows when He will return, but by advancing His kingdom we are proclaiming His gospel to all nations.
Why Is Missionary Work Important?
To sum everything we just talked about, I hope you know that Missionary work is very important for every Christian.
Missionary work is literally the last thing that Jesus called us to do before He ascended back to heaven in Acts 1.
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:6-9 (ESV)
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
There are different roles in the Great Commission, some are sent and others are the senders. But every Christian should be Missions focused, and every Christian should be working in some part of the Body of Christ.
As you grow in your faith, and in your relationship with Jesus, what you are called to do will become more clear.
It’s okay not to know what you’re doing right now. Continue to grow your relationship with Jesus, and He will reveal His purposes for you.
