Growing up in the West there are many phrases you hear, especially from the church. “Bless your heart,” “Oh Lord have mercy” and “Come Quickly Lord Jesus,” just to name a few. All of these are usually said without a second thought but I want to take a moment and unpack the last one. Why is it that Christians in America say this phrase? Especially, when they are usually going through a hardship or they see evil things happening around them that they then call out and ask for Christ to Come Quickly? Why is it that we as Christians are so content on waiting for the second coming when over 3.1BILLION people have NEVER even heard of the name of Jesus?
It has been over 2,000 years since Jesus arose and broke the chains of sin and yet we are still trying to fulfill the Great Commission.
“ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 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 28:16-20 ESV
This week in class we were discussing this and the story of Noah was brought up. Noah was given directions to build the ark with no specific deadline but strict guidelines and the instructions to BUILD. Noah wasn’t waiting around for the flood to come he was actively fulfilling the direction that God gave him and God brought the flood once Noah completed his task. Very similarly, we as Christians should not be waiting around for the Lord to come back. Instead we should actively be fulfilling the direction Jesus gave us to Go and make disciples of all Nations. Because He will not return until we have completed OUR task.
According to Joshua Project there are over 7,000 unreached people groups. What does unreached mean and why haven’t I heard that term before? Sadly, the unreached people groups are rarely talked about in churches. Unreached people groups are groups that lack enough followers of Christ and resources to evangelize their own people. Currently, that statistic is 41.6% of the world’s population or 3.19 Billion people. Let that sink in a minute…
Christians have been waiting for 2,000 years for the 2nd coming, while the Unreached have been waiting 2,000 years to hear of the 1st coming from Christians. Take a minute to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you… not everyone is called to Go overseas but we are all called to GO and make disciples. While the task might seem daunting it can and will be accomplished. It is just a matter of how we are obedient in fulfilling the task.