Philippians

The Coming Revolution in Global Missions: The Worth of Christ

February 19, 2012 By daltonthomas 4 Comments

Since my conversion I’ve been a student of Church history; particularly of reformers and reformations. I’ve always been stirred by those who ushered in new seasons of redemptive history and wrought revolution; especially with regard to frontier missions. While I love domestic ministry (i.e. ministry connected to an established local church) and consider it indispensable to God’s global purposes, frontier missions (i.e. ministry among unreached and unengaged peoples) has always been my passion. Apart from the Word of God, nothing stirs me like the stories of pioneers who laid down everything to preach Christ where He has never been named (Romans 15:20). Among the pioneer revolutionaries that have impacted me most is Hudson Taylor. Of his ministry Taylor said,

“My work is a very peculiar [and unique] one; in many respects it has, and can have no precedent. It may be called an experiment; to a certain extent it is so. And by God’s help it shall be, as it is being, faithfully made.” [1]

Going against the grain of conventional wisdom Taylor embarked on a lifelong journey of changing the face of global missions. Church historian Ruth Tucker described the impact of his consequential “experiment” in these terms:

“No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the Apostle Paul has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematised plan of evangelising a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor.” [2]

What Taylor did was not a passing fad. What he did and how he did it still serve as a standard today. The methods and models pioneered by the likes of men such as William Carey, Adoniram Judson, and Samuel Zwemer have decisively shaped the face and trajectory of frontier ministry. These men wrought reformation. And they instigated revolution.

I believe that we are currently on the cusp of the next revolution in global missions. This revolution however, won’t have much to do with methods or models. While these will have their place and are sure to be in the mix, they will not be the primary prophetic emphasis. The coming revolution will have everything to do with motive–not what we do or how we do it but rather, why we do it. And more importantly, why we go in the first place.

As with all true apostolic revolution in Church history, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Martyrdom, Ministry, Missions, Most Recent, Philippians, Recommended, Salvation Tagged With: David Sitton, Frontier Missions, Hudson Taylor, Jim Elliot, Missions

Why “Working Out Your Salvation” Might Not Mean What You Think It Means

August 25, 2011 By Dalton Leave a Comment

A few years ago a string of words in Philippians 2 (the passage below) had a deep impact on me.

“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13).

I had often heard people quote the phrase “work out your salvation.” But I had never heard the words that follow it ever mentioned. And then one day, it hit me like a freight train. The ground clause that “it is God who works in you to will and to work” changed everything as I realized “working out my salvation” didn’t mean what I thought it meant. What I once read as a warning (like those found in the book of Hebrews about falling away) I now understood as encouragement not only to boast in my weakness, but to revel in the might and kindness of God.

Let me explain.

Theologians often make the distinction between INDICATIVES (what God has DONE) and IMPERATIVES (what we must DO). Paul grounds the imperative (“work out your salvation”) firmly in the indicative of God’s sovereign grace (“for God works in you”). When He works WITHIN, we are able to work it OUT. Or, to say it another way, we can only work OUT what God has worked WITHIN. This apostolic logic of Paul’s must be grasped to properly understand the appeal.

Note the word “for” that joins the two propositions together. God’s willing and working is the ground clause (or ‘reason’) for our subsequent willing and working. Yes, we work. Yes, we will. We sweat. We bleed. We cry. We strive. We labor. But our willing and our working is not first or decisive. God’s is. In other words, as followers of Jesus, divine grace is the decisive “first cause” of all our willing and working. He moves, and then we move. He wills, and then we will. He works, and then we work.

Another important component of this commonly misunderstood command is the definition of the word “work” that Paul uses twice in vs. 12-13. The word “works” in the phrase “…God who works in you…” literally means “to exert overwhelming force” or “to act effectively.” Thus, elsewhere Paul could say:

“I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

We must trace our willing and working back to God’s willing and working. He wills IN US that we might will as we ought. He works IN US that we might work as we ought. This must be the theological foundation upon which we stand as we labor to work out our salvation.

“Turn [grk: "shub"] us unto Thee O Lord and we shall be turned [grk: shub]…” (Lamentation 5:21)

Filed Under: Blog, Free Will, Most Recent, Philippians, Salvation, Sanctification