2nd Greatest Reason the Great Commission is Incomplete

There is an enthusiastic "Amen! in my heart as I read the "Who We Are" statement on this AIM blog. The last sentence says, "We are dedicated to calling, equipping and encouraging intercessors with a heart for the completion of the Great Commission." So I was all the more excited to attend a four-day conference on living the victorious Christian life and discovered that almost half of the speaking would deal with getting God's Great News to those who have never heard the story of Jesus. Two of the four "Missions Messages" were entitled "The 2nd Greatest Reason We Have Not Completed Great Commission" and "The Single Greatest Reason We Have Not completed Great Commission."

Dr. George Murray of Columbia International University was the Missionary Speaker at America's Keswick for their Victory Week # 6 just a couple of weeks ago. I went with a heavy heart needing a fresh in-filling of the Holy Spirit. God met me in a powerful way. I was re-infused with a fresh awareness of the presence and power of Christ in my life and powerfully challenged to remain committed to completing the Great Commission. I will merely be passing on what I learned from George Murray, but I'm sure he would point us to Christ and give Him all the glory for the content of the messages.

The 2nd Greatest Reason the Great Commission is Not Completed
Murray began his Missions talks by giving us a "big picture" of where we are at in terms of completing the Great Commission. Consider the following...

GOOD NEWS:

• In the last 60 years or so the percentage of the world population who are professing faith in Christ has grown from 3%-12% Wow! That is great growth.
  

BAD NEWS:

• 9 out of 10 people still do not know Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior.
• 2 of every 3 people in the world have NEVER heard a clear presentation of the Gospel.
• One third of the world's population has NO ONE living near them to tell them about Jesus.

So why are their still so many who haven't heard? How can it be that after 2000 years there are still so many who have never had an opportunity to receive the gift of God's salvation which is in Jesus Christ alone?

Murray believes that the 2nd greatest reason the GC is not accomplished is described by Jesus in the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Luke 12:13-21 (NASB95)
¹³ Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (NASB)

Think about the phrase, "rich toward God," for few minutes. God says to this man "You fool! Then He goes on to say "So is the man who stores up treasure for himself but is not "RICH TOWARD GOD." (Emphasis mine) I don't know about you but I'm thinking I'd like to have it said of me, "He's rich toward God." Conversely I'm all the more certain that I never want God looking at me and saying "You fool!"

Are you rich toward God? How do you use what God has given you? For self or for Jesus?

Murray told of some businessmen that he met several years ago. They started a business together and set all of their salaries to equal that of a public school teacher. That amount would only increase each year with the annual cost of living index. They committed to giving all the profits from the business above their meager salaries to supporting foreign missions. They gave $50,000 to missions in the first year. When he'd last spoken to them, God grew this business in such a way that more recently they have been able to give one million dollars a month to missions. These men are rich toward God.

I think Murray was trying to say that the 2nd Greatest Reason the GC is not completed is because God's people have done much the same as the man in this parable with all their wealth.

Some things to pray about as you consider this parable...

1. The Bible never says it is wrong to be rich or to have money. No where in our parable does Jesus indicate this man did anything evil to gain his wealth.
2. Jesus nowhere indicated that this man wanted to do sinful things with all his wealth. He merely said to himself, “Soul,... take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” He merely wanted what we all like to enjoy every day; food drink and happiness.

So why does God say to this man, "You fool!"?

1. He forgot God in all his planning. Circle in your Bible all the "I's" and "my's" in verses 17-19. He was too focused on self to put God into the equation.
2. He confused surplus with security. He thought having a lot was going to make him safe and make everything turn out great.
   
3. He lived only for time and not for eternity.
4. He wrongly assumed he had a lot of time to live and enjoy life with all his stuff.

Murray wrapped up this message with some questions to ask ourselves and a couple of scriptures to meditate on.

1. Am I ready right now, today, for eternity?
2. As a believer what am I living for?
3. Am I rich toward God?
   

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)
²⁷ The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’

Psalm 4:8 (NIV)
⁸ I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Dr. Murray shared one other thing from his experience of being General Director of a prominent Missions Agency. He mentioned that of all the well trained, fully qualified men and women accepted by the Mission to be sent over seas, all sensing the call of God to the mission field, ONE OUT OF THREE of them never made it to the field because of one factor; finances. God's people chose not to give. I don't know about you but that troubles me a lot. It troubles me as much as 30 of our very own missionaries being pulled from the field this last year because of a supposed lack of funds. I wonder is God looking at me (or you) and saying, "You fool!"

Murray did mention this is a real good message to preach if you do not wish to be invited back to speak. :)

This message spoke to me profoundly. I pray that my attempt to pass it on it will help us all be "rich toward God." May we all pray as never before for the resources to be given so that the GC will be accomplished in this generation.

I'll share a summary of "The Single Greatest Reason the GC has not Been Completed" in the next week or so.