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 Isaiah
wrote, “It is too light a thing that thou shouldst be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” (Isa. 49:6) The
universality of God’s grace is dictated by the very nature of
matters. God is so great, His love so all encompassing, that “it
is too light a thing” that Jesus should die for the Jew only. He
died also for the Sioux, and you.
And
so the commission was “Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature…” “And ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.” (Mk. 16:15 Acts 2:8) The Apostles,
so commissioned, were challenged to take the gospel to “all
nations” so that “whosoever will” may have eternal life. I
fear we have assigned the success of this effort too much to
miraculous powers manifested by the Apostles, and not enough to
their love for mankind, their sense of dedication and
responsibility, and their willingness to die, if needs be, that
others might live. (Read Rom. 1:14-f; 1 Cor. 9:l6-23) Paul,
Barnabas, Peter, Timothy, etc., could not be “partakers of the
divine nature” and “co-workers” with a world-loving God,
and then “settle down” in Jerusalem and let the world go to
hell.
In
the Colossian letter Paul wrote of the gospel “which is come unto
you, as it is in all the world;” the gospel “which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven.” (1:6,23) I do not
understand this to say that every single individual had heard the
gospel (the Greek is “in all creation”
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A.S.), but rather that they had done what
Christ commanded— gone indiscriminately to the Gentiles as well as
to the Jews. Anything less than this was “too light”—too
incompatible with the divine charge.
I
do not believe that God commands every Christian to “make a
preaching trip” to every nation under heaven. I do not believe
that a local church fails its purpose if it is not financing a “foreign
missionary.” But a so-called “love for souls” that does not
reach beyond social lines, color lines, and national boundaries, is
“too light a thing.” While there are yet millions of our
brothers in Adam who have never even heard of Christ, there is no
room for complacency.
The
usual excuse for lack of interest in world-wide evangelism is
“charity begins at home”-- “there are so many unsaved in this
community.” Take note —the people who offer such excuses are
doing the least to reach those lost souls at home; and the ones who
work hard to save next-door neighbors are also vitally interested in
taking the gospel to all the world.
The
usual substitute for genuine Christian concern is token
support of institutional machinery —the Gospel Blimp —send $5.
and then congratulate yourself on the million-dollar job “we”
are doing.
The
usual end of such an attitude is a dying church —dying
souls with whom God’s will was too light a thing.
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