My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "What Is A Missionary?" by Oswald Chambers for Wednesday, 26 October 2016

My Utmost for His Highest in Crewe, England [Great Britain], United Kingdom "What Is A Missionary?" by Oswald Chambers for Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."[John 20:21]
A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19).
When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.[Biblical Psychology, 189 L]
Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 9-11; 1 Timothy 6
Jeremiah 9:1 (2) I wish I were out in the desert,

in some travelers’ lodge —

then I could get away from my people

and distance myself from them!

“Indeed they are all adulterers,

a band of traitors is what they are.

2 (3) They bend their tongues, their ‘bow’ of falsehood,

and hold sway in the land, but not for truth.

For they go from evil to evil,

and me they do not know,”

says Adonai.

3 (4) Everyone, be on guard against your neighbor,

don’t trust even a brother;

for every brother is out to trick you,

and every neighbor goes around gossiping.

4 (5) Everyone deceives his neighbor,

no one speaks the truth;

they have taught their tongues to lie,

they wear themselves out with sinning.

5 (6) “You inhabit a world of deceit;

deceitfully they refuse to know me,”

says Adonai.

6 (7) “Therefore,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,

“I will refine them and test them.

What else can I do with the daughter of my people?

7 (8) Their tongues are sharpened arrows;

with their mouths they speak deceit —

they say nice words to their neighbors,

while inwardly plotting against them.

8 (9) Should I not punish them for these things?” asks Adonai.

“Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?”

9 (10) I weep and wail for the mountains

and lament over the desert pastures,

because they have been burned up;

no one passes through;

they no longer hear the sound of cattle;

the birds and wild animals have fled, are gone.

10 (11) “I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins,

turn it into a lair for jackals,

and make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,

with no one living there.”

11 (12) Who is wise enough to understand this?

To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken,

so that he can proclaim it?

Why has the land perished

and been laid waste like a desert,

so that no one passes through?

12 (13) Adonai answers:

“Because they abandoned my Torah,

which I set before them,

and neither listened to what I said

nor lived accordingly,

13 (14) but have lived by their own hearts’ stubbornness

and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them —

14 (15) therefore,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,

the God of Isra’el:

“I will feed this people bitter wormwood

and give them poisonous water to drink.

15 (16) I will scatter them among nations

that neither they nor their ancestors have known.

I will send the sword after them

until I have wiped them out.”

16 (17) Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:

“Mark this, then summon the mourning women,

so that they will come;

send for those who are best [at mourning],

so that they will come:

17 (18) ‘Have them hurry and wail for us,

so our eyes will be wet from crying,

and our eyelids gush with tears.’

18 (19) For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon:

‘We are utterly ruined,

we are completely ashamed,

because we have left the land,

and our homes have been torn down!’”

19 (20) You women, hear the word of Adonai!

Let your ears receive the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters how to wail,

have each teach her friend how to lament:

20 (21) “Death has come up through our windows,

it has entered our palaces,

it has cut down children in the streets

and young people in the public places.”

21 (22) Say: “Here is what Adonai says:

‘The corpses of people are scattered

like dung in an open field,

like sheaves left behind by the reaper

with no one to gather them.’”

22 (23) Here is what Adonai says:

“The wise man should not boast of his wisdom,

the powerful should not boast of his power,

the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;

23 (24) instead, let the boaster boast about this:

that he understands and knows me —

that I am Adonai, practicing grace,

justice and righteousness in the land;

for in these things I take pleasure,” says Adonai.

24 (25) “The days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision — 25 (26) Egypt, Y’hudah, Edom, the people of ‘Amon and Mo’av, and all those living in the desert who cut the edges [of their beard]:

“For although all the Goyim are uncircumcised,

all the house of Isra’el have uncircumcised hearts.”

10:1 Hear the word Adonai speaks to you,

house of Isra’el!

2 Here is what Adonai says:

“Don’t learn the way of the Goyim,

don’t be frightened by astrological signs,

even if the Goyim are afraid of them;

3 for the customs of the peoples are nothing.

They cut down a tree in the forest;

a craftsman works it with his axe;

4 they deck it with silver and gold.

They fix it with hammer and nails,

so that it won’t move.

5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,

it cannot speak.

It has to be carried,

because it cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of it —

it can do nothing bad;

likewise it is unable

to do anything good!”

6 There is no one like you, Adonai!

You are great, and your name is great and mighty.

7 Who would not fear you, king of the nations?

For it is your due! —

since among all the wise of the nations

and among all their royalty,

there is no one like you.

8 One and all they are boorish and stupid;

the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!

9 Silver is beaten into plates,

then imported from Tarshish.

Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman

and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith.

They are clothed in blue and purple,

all the work of skillful men.

10 But Adonai, God, is the true God,

the living God, the everlasting king.

At his anger, the earth trembles;

the nations cannot endure his fury.

11 “This is what you must say to them:

‘The gods that did not make heaven and earth

will perish from earth and from under heaven.’”

12 God made the earth by his power,

established the world by his wisdom

spread out the sky by his understanding.

13 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar,

he raises clouds from the ends of the earth,

he makes the lightning flash in the rain

and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

14 At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant,

every goldsmith put to shame by his idol!

The figures he casts are a fraud;

there is no breath in them;

15 they are nothings, ridiculous objects;

when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

16 Ya‘akov’s portion is not like these,

for he is the one who formed all things.

Isra’el is the tribe he claims as his heritage;

Adonai-Tzva’ot is his name.

17 You who are living under the siege,

gather your belongings off the ground,

18 for here is what Adonai says:

“At this time I am slinging away

the inhabitants of the land;

I will distress them,

so that they will feel it.”

19 Woe to me because of my wound!

My injury is incurable!

I used to say, “It’s only an illness,

and I can bear it.”

20 But now my tent is ruined,

all its cords are severed;

my children have left me and are no more;

there is no one to set up my tent again,

no one to raise its curtains.

21 The shepherds have become stupid,

they have not consulted Adonai.

This is why they have not prospered,

and all their flocks are scattered.

22 Listen! A noise! It’s coming closer!

A great uproar from the land to the north,

to make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,

a place for jackals to live.

23 Adonai, I know that the way of humans

is not in their control,

humans are not able

to direct their steps as they walk.

24 Adonai, correct me, but in moderation,

not in your anger, or you’ll reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out your anger on the nations

that do not acknowledge you,

also on the families

that do not call on your name.

For they have consumed Ya‘akov —

consumed him and finished him off,

and laid waste to his home.

11:1 Here is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2 “Listen to the words of this covenant; then speak to the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; 3 tell them that Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘A curse on anyone who does not pay attention to the words of this covenant, 4 which I enjoined on your ancestors at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of that iron-smelter. I said,

“Listen to my voice,

and carry out all my orders;

then you will be my people,

and I will be your God;

5 so that I can fulfill the oath

that I swore to your ancestors,

to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,

as it is today.”’”

Then I responded, “Amen, Adonai.”

6 Adonai said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: ‘Listen to the words of this covenant, and obey them. 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors at the time when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; and until this day I have frequently warned them, “Listen to my voice!” 8 But they have not listened or paid attention; instead, each one has lived according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart. For this reason I have brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I ordered them to obey, but which they did not obey.’”

9 Then Adonai said to me, “The men of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim have formed a conspiracy. 10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.” 11 Therefore Adonai says, “I am going to bring on them a disaster which they will not be able to escape; and even if they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they are making offerings; but they will not save them at all in their time of trouble. 13 For you have as many gods, Y’hudah, as you have towns; and you have erected as many altars for sacrificing to that shameful thing, Ba‘al, as there are streets in Yerushalayim.

14 “So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don’t pray for this people! Don’t cry or pray on their behalf, because I won’t listen to them when they cry to me because of their troubles. 15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house, when she has behaved so shamelessly with so many? Offerings of consecrated meat can no longer help, because it is when you are doing evil that you are happy.”

16 Adonai once called you an olive tree,

beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit.

Now with the roar of a violent storm,

he has set it on fire;

and its branches will be consumed.

17 For Adonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you,

has decreed evil for you.

“It is because of the evil which the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah did to themselves, provoking me with their offerings of incense to Ba‘al.”

18 Adonai made this known to me, and then I knew —

you showed me what they were doing.

19 But I was like a tame lamb

led to be slaughtered;

I did not know that they were plotting

schemes against me —

“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit,

we’ll cut him off from the land of the living,

so that his name will be forgotten.”

20 Adonai-Tzva’ot, righteous judge,

tester of motives and thoughts,

I have committed my cause to you;

so let me see your vengeance on them.

21 Therefore, here is what Adonai says concerning the men from ‘Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, “Stop prophesying in the name of Adonai, or we will kill you ourselves” — 22 this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine. 23 None of them will remain, for I will bring disaster on the men from ‘Anatot when the year comes for them to be punished.”

1 Timothy 6:1 Those who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as worthy of full respect, so that the name of God and the teaching will not be brought into disrepute. 2 And those who have believing masters are not to show them less respect on the ground that they are brothers; on the contrary, they should serve all the more diligently, since those benefiting from their service are believers whom they love.

Teach and exhort people about these things. 3 If anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness, 4 he is swollen with conceit and understands nothing. Instead, he has a morbid desire for controversies and word-battles, out of which come jealousy, dissension, insults, evil suspicions, 5 and constant wrangling among people whose minds no longer function properly and who have been deprived of the truth, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches. 6 Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; 8 so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these. 9 Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.

11 But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses. 13 I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua, who in his witness to Pontius Pilate gave the same good testimony, 14 to obey your commission spotlessly and irreproachably until our Lord Yeshua the Messiah appears. 15 His appearing will be brought about in its own time by the blessed and sole Sovereign, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal, who dwells in unapproachable light that no human being has ever seen or can see — to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.

17 As for those who do have riches in this present world, charge them not to be proud and not to let their hopes rest on the uncertainties of riches but to rest their hopes on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. 18 Charge them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and ready to share. 19 In this way they will treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may lay hold of the real life.

20 Oh, Timothy! Keep safe what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from the ungodly babblings and the argumentative opposition of what is falsely called “knowledge.” 21 For many who promise this “knowledge” have missed the mark, as far as the faith is concerned. Grace be with you.

-------

My Utmost for His Highest © 1927 in the U.K. by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. © 1935 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. All rights reserved. United States publication rights are held by Discovery House, which is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries.
-------