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By: Doug White
One of my friends once met Dr. W.A. Criswell in an airport. He asked Dr. Chriswell, "How are you sir?" Dr Criswell answered, "Right now I don't know whether I'm coming or going". That answer, given in jest, points out a real dilemma that faces all of us. In truth we are called to come and also commissioned to go. How well we do both will determine our own personal destiny and the future of those we are called to serve. It seems to me that a renewed look at these admonitions might help us simplify out lives and empower our ministry.
I. Scripture reveals that we are called to come.
This call is initiated in the heart of God. Our Father is a seeking God. When Adam and Eve failed it would have been easy for God to write off human history as a bad idea. But His concern for man is clearly outlined on almost every page of scripture. We recognize that God will not be satisfied until paradise lost, becomes paradise found. He is consistently calling us through prophets and signs and wonders, He thunders from a mountain and He rolls back an ocean of water. He relentlessly, persistently calls us.
Finally, He sent His only begotten son to issue a personal call. What a summons it was. He first called 12 men to be with Him. Then the circle widened to include the Jews, then the Gentile world. "All, everyone come, none are excluded, no one is denied, whosoever will may come."
How wonderful is His call:
Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matt. 11:28-30
Luke 14:16-24 This passage tells of the Great Supper. God is seen as the man who invited many to come to the supper. Many made excuses and the servants were told to go out to the streets and bring in all who would come. He wanted his house to be filled.
Our Lords invitation is personal and full of promise. "Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19.
It is a call many have answered. We are invited to intimacy, fellowship and a life long communion with our Lord. We are forever called to be learners and we are invited to sit at His feet, to grow in grace, to be anointed with His power. "In His presence is fullness of joy..." Psalm 16:4
Having said all that, we must remind ourselves that we must not become obsessed with fulfilling our own need. It would be easy to come and stay and this possibility leads us to see a second truth.
II. We are commissioned to go.
It is like a pendulum in a clock. First we come, then we go, then we come, then we go. The healthy Christian life maintains a balance between coming and going. Scripture reminds us that our being gathered together will in time lead us to be scattered. We are to be as wheat in the Saviors bag. We wait for the hand of the Sower to reach in, gather us up and scatter us out on the fertile ground of a world. We are salt - out of the sack and spread over the world to bring flavor and preservation.
In Matt 28 Jesus spoke to His disciples. "All authority has been given me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age."
Mark 3:13-15 tells us, "and He went up to the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself would and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons."
Is it possible that we compound the problem by not coming into close, personal, dynamic, relationship and rest? Is it equally true that some come and stay when He has commissioned us to disciple the nations? In England, William Carey's old stone church building was bulldozed and a Hindu temple built in its place. More alarming than that is the reality that there are more Muslims in England today than there are Baptist and Methodists combined.
We must hear again the works of our Lord in John 4, "Say not there are 4 months and then the harvest. Behold say - lift up your eyes to look on the fields, they are white for harvest." Being with Him creates the passion that fuels our going forth with boldness.
God help us if we fail to Come!
God help us if we fail to Go!
Doug
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