I hear it said so often when talking about going to the mission field, "Thats so great your doing that, I could never sacrifice everything and do that." My question with this is, "is missions really a sacrifice?"
In Mark 10:28-30 we see an interesting thought brought before Christ by Peter. Peter states in verse 28, "we have given up everything to follow you" shortly after Christ had just told a rich young man in verse 21 to "go sell everything you have…and then follow me." It’s a clever question in statement form.
At first glance you may think it is a selfish question or one not worth being asked. But i think if we think about it, we’ve all wondered this same question in some form or another. The question underneath Peter’s statement is simply… "We’ve given up everything to follow you Lord, now what will we get out of it.?" We all want to know that our life is counting for something worth while don’t we? I do and would dare to say that deep down inside, you do to!
When a man reaches old age, he wants to be able to look back on his life and know that it counted for something. I think that this was the same desire that could be found in Peter underneath this question. He simply wanted to know would it be worth it all? Even more interesting than Peter’s question itself is the reply that Jesus gave to him. Note that Jesus never rebukes Peter for his question, he simply answers it by saying in verses 29-30, "...I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or property for my sake and the Gospels sake will receive now in return a hundred times over… and in the world to come, eternal life." Jesus says to Peter that because he lived for "the Christ and the Gospels sake," he would get back 100 times what he left behind in this life, plus eternal life to come. Not only would he end up with way more than he ever left behind, he would have the joy of knowing that his life had counted for an eternal purpose that outlasts life itself.!
Does this sound like a sacrifice? to get back 100 times what you left behind and to know that your life is counting for all eternity.!?!
David Livingstone said, "People talk of the sacrifice i have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings it’s own blest reward in healthful activity, the conscienceness of doing good, peace of mind and a bright hope of a glorious destiny afterwards? Away with the word sacrifice in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice! Say rather that it is a privilege! … I never made a sacrifice."
Not only does Jesus mention living for "Christ and the Gospels sake" in Mark 10, he also mentions in chapter 8, "if any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your own selfish ambitions, take up your cross and follow me, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses himself "for MY sake and for the Gospels sake" will save it. –
So in light of these passages we can conclude that living "for Christ and the Gospel’s sake," is
NO SACRIFICE.
But living "for Christ and the gospels sake," is our ultimate goal in life, not Missions…
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