Arrows and Targets

Matt. 24:14c  (Holman) And then the end will come.

This phrase foreshadows Jerusalem’s destruction, our present day, and the end of time. Before the Old Testament ritual ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the New Testament word had been spread far enough for all to know it was well grounded and successfully on its way.

Before the Second Coming, not everywhere will receive the Gospel, but it will be offered everywhere. This is a part of the good that will grow better till the end of time itself. However, when opportunity runs its course, opportunity will end. When grace goes as far as it can, it will be near its end.

Between these two bookends of history, we find ourselves caught up in the drama and tidal flow of this missions tsunami that began after Jesus ascended. Second’s theme for this year's (2015) World Missions Conference is "Surrender", based on Galatians 2:20, "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me". I find it providential that at the time our missions conference is about to begin I am, in my regular weekly preaching, at a missions text, Matthew 24:14. Our calling is to be on mission, which requires of us a never-ending commitment to surrender, to live life as God desires rather than as we desire.

Missions lives by surrender. William Booth, Salvation Army founder, said a person’s greatness can be measured by the level of their surrender.

Let me modify this, and say a person’s missions greatness is measured by the level of their ongoing surrender to Jesus. Repeated lifelong surrender means more missions effectiveness; less often surrender means the opposite.

A time never comes when our missions responsibility is about our will and wants. It is always about God and others. This means at any given moment of our lives, however old or young we are, we must be surrendering to whatever God may be leading us to do that day, even if it is something we had no plans to do in the past, and no inclinations to ever do in the future.

We forget this to our peril. We often live the Christian life like the boy who kept shooting his arrows at a target, but missed every time. Finally, due to frustration, he shot at a blank wall and drew a target around the arrow.

This pictures many believers' lives. We find it easy to keep doing what we are currently doing, and to be satisfied with it, especially if we are good at it. But the call to serve God, particularly in being on mission, is a call to surrender our will to His will every day, to continue being open to His possibly new, different plan, even if the task is untested by us, daunting, and we feel we might miss the target frequently. It’s better to miss the right God-made target often than to always hit the wrong self-made target dead center.

The missions/surrender paradigm we need to show was well displayed in the life of Mary Magdalene. She lived a life of repeated surrender to Jesus. This led to her becoming the first missionary to carry news of Jesus’ Resurrection (John 20:17-18). Mary had plenty of opportunities in her life where she could have rested on her laurels. At several points, she could have made her own targets, and not felt any need to worry about new targets God may have had for her life. Her missions/surrender story bears repeating.

Magdala, a small town by the Sea of Galilee, was famous for fishing, boat building, wealth, and depravity. This latter trait had a devastating effect on its most famous citizen. Mary Magdalene sided with the wrong crowd, began a downward slide, and eventually became possessed by seven demons. Her life became a continuous tragedy, but one day a Man looked deep into her soul, and cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2).

This new freedom was a huge win. This dramatic life change by itself would have been enough of a spiritual victory to bask in for a lifetime.

Had Mary stayed at this new, respectable life, and done nothing more, none would have faulted her. She could have left her arrow and target where they were, but surrendered to find another target. She chose to follow Jesus.

She financially supported His ministry. This was another place where she could have drawn a target around her arrow. She could have stopped at supporting Jesus during His popular public ministry days, and called herself successful. But this was not enough for her. She surrendered to the point of staying with Jesus till He died. She bravely endured the agony and danger of staying close to her Friend and Healer when He was crucified as a criminal.

Mary courageously showed continual love to a crucified man. She had to be near Jesus, whatever the cost. All the disciples except John fled in terror. Mary could have run too, but stood by the cross (John 19:25), and followed Joseph and Nicodemus to see where Jesus was buried (MT 27:61).

Mary refused to quit surrendering. She successfully received a new life—she could have drawn a target around an arrow there. She supported Jesus financially—she could have been happy with this as the arrow and target of her life. She bravely stood at His cross, and could have drawn there an arrow and target, but she did not. She instead followed Jesus to His grave.

Mary did not have to do all these things, but had surrendered to Jesus to the point of being willing to continue pursuing God-made targets different from what could have been an impressive list of self-made targets. Have you and I prayed lately about whether or not God may have a new target for us?