If people are good _______________, (fill in the blank with a religious affiliation) then why not just leave them alone and let them live according to their own consciences or according to the way they think is right? We must understand that Bible says, “There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death.” (Proverbs 16:25) We can be sincere about our beliefs and be sincerely wrong. In a simple answer, because this attitude is not love. If we know the one who alone has the words of everlasting life and we are not willing to introduce Him to others, then we are, at best, not walking in love towards our fellow man. The Word of God tells us that the second of greatest commandments is to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
So a question we may have to wrestle with as we approach global missions work is “If people don’t hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will they be lost when they die? Will they be separated from God’s presence?” It’s important to understand that people will not be separated from God because they didn’t hear. They will be separated because of their sin, and sin separates us from God.
The price we pay for sin is death or separation from God. This is why the Church of Jesus Christ must go into all the world and preach the Good News (Matt 28:18-20). Jesus paid the price with his blood for men to come to God and be forgiven and restored to right relationship with him, but He has yet to fully see the reward of his sufferings.
We are all God’s creation, but in order to become His child we must be born again (John 3:3). John 1:12 says, “To as many of them that received Him (Jesus Christ) to them he gave the power to be called the children of God…” This verse shows us that we only have the power to become children of God by receiving Jesus Christ.
The image of God has been marred in each one of us through sin. Only through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ can we have that image recreated in us. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The Word of God states that we were all enemies of God in our minds. We were all “children of wrath.” This may be hard for us to take in a society where “every man proclaims his own goodness”, but this is the truth.
We must settle the truth in our hearts that the right way is Jesus Christ. How do we know this? Because he said so (John 14:6 ) and was validated by being raised from the dead (I Cor 15:14).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ makes him more unique than any other person in human history. No other human being ever claimed that they would die and be raised from the dead. Jesus not only claimed it, but also proved it by presenting himself to many people, including those Apostles and disciples who were eyewitnesses to his resurrection.
History shows that the early disciples (missionaries) died horrible deaths defending the truth of the claims of Jesus being risen from the dead. The resurrection is the foundation of our faith in Christ. Everything rises and falls on this fact of history. It is what separates the message we carry from all other messages in the world.
No matter what we proclaim or say we believe as messengers, we must always remember that if we don’t have the love of God, as described in I Corinthians 13, we have nothing of value to offer to the world anyway.
