Why Should Christians Give to Missions?

It's the heartbeat of the church. It's our central mission. The UPCI's official mission statement is the whole gospel to the whole world by the whole church. So Jesus himself gave his own mission in Luke 19:10.

The son of man has come to seek and to save the lost. That was the central mission of Jesus Christ. And if we're partners with him, we're his body. He's the head. We're the body. We we should carry out that same mission. And indeed, in Matthew 28:18-20, it's called the great commission. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his disciples, "Go and make disciples of all nations, to baptize them, to teach them all that I have commanded you." So he gave a direct commission for evangelism and disciplehip to every nation. You find the similar instructions, the same great commission in the gospel of the ending of Mark.

You also see it in ending of Luke and then you also see it in the first chapter of acts. So you have four clear witnesses in the New Testament to this great commission. So that is the mission of the church. Also, you find Jesus saying in Luke chapter 10 verse two, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." That was the only prayer request Jesus gave. Now, if he's asking to pray, the implication is he's also asking us to fulfill it because James chapter the chapter 2 is very clear.

Faith without works is dead. You show me your faith without your works. I'll show you my faith by your works. If somebody is is destitute, if they need food and you say, "God bless you." You know, they need clothing, be warmed, to be filled, and you just walk away. You're not really having faith. True faith would be to give them something to eat, give them something to wear. So, the same logic is here. Jesus said, "Pray that God would send out laborers." So, are we just supposed to, okay, we'll just make that a daily prayer request, but we're not going to do anything about it.

The obvious implication is you're supposed to pray, but then once you prayed, you're supposed to do your part to fulfill it. So, either you should go or you should support others who go. And actually, I think it's both. We should go in our own context. So our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our fellow students, our community, you know, we should go, but then we should also support others who go beyond our community. I think that's clearly what Jesus intended here. And then when it comes to finances, Jesus said in Matthew 6, it's a more general statement, but I think it is of direct application here.

Jesus said in Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Now, let me be very clear. We don't give financially or to get financially. That's not the point. But we give generously because we believe in the mission. Because we believe in the Lord's commission and we believe in the church's mission. But we have the confidence that when we give responsibly and generously, God will help take care of us. We take care of God's business, God will take care of our business.

So, it's not a get-richqu scheme. It's not a a scheme to be irresponsible. Just throw money away and God's going to take care of it. No. Um, and I always get frustrated at these these radio and TV preachers, you know, they they have this incredible deal, you know, give $100, I'll pray over it, and God's going to bless you double and bless you 10fold, and you're going to get check in the mail, you're going to get this, you're going to get that. They do not believe that because if they did, they'd be sending money to me. So, instead of asking me for $100, they would send $100 to me and they would get 200.

So, so they don't believe that. They just want you to believe that. Um, and and I know there are sincere people that are saying if you give generously, God will bless you. And I am saying that. But any kind of a scheme that tries to quantify that if you invest so much cash in somebody's ministry that God is somehow bound to give you the same or double or triple or 100 in cash. uh even if you say God will bless you, his blessings are not always measured in finances. So I'm saying that to say we're not trying to support some kind of uh gimmicky scheme to get people's money.

Uh we're not trying to promote some kind of prosperity gospel that is based on you giving your money to me. But the Bible does say to send out laborers and to go ourselves. And it does say to give generously. And when we do give generously, God will replenish what we have. And so I do believe that's very true. That when we give sacrificially and give generously, not for our own purpose, but for God's purpose. God has a way of paying us back non-monetarily, but also supplying our needs. He didn't promise to make us rich. He didn't pro promise to double our money. But bark uh Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God is righteousness, and all these things, food, clothing, shelter will be added unto you." God will take care of you when you try to take care of the kingdom of God.

It doesn't mean we shouldn't be responsible. It doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be a good steward, invest wisely. It doesn't mean we shouldn't support our local church and our ministry. We we all those things are important, but putting that all together, if we work hard for what we receive, if we invest it wisely, if we're a good steward, not just of giving 10% in tithes, but 100% good stewards of how we spend our money overall. In that context, if we give generously to God's kingdom and to the needs of other people both spiritually and materially, which our missions efforts are do, then we trust that God will supply our needs in return.

And so, yes, mission should be a number one should be our number one priority from starting from where we are in our local community and church to around the world. I think that's one of the great things about being part of an organization like the United Pentecostal Church. I'll never have the opportunity to go many of the places that a lot of these missionaries go. But I give my money to support them and the work that they're doing. And I really feel like I'm entering into their their labors with them. And I believe God will reward us for what we do in that. He does.

The Bible does say that uh if you accept a prophet the name of a prophet, you receive the prophet's reward. And if you give a cup cold water in the Lord's name, you will not lose your reward. Sometimes people ask why you belong to UPCI. What what's the benefit? You know, I don't have to be that. I can preach without a ministerial credential. I can have a church and be independent and then I don't have to care about what everybody anybody else thinks. I can just do my own thing. And I say the number one reason why I am part of the UPCI is not for any benefit but to fulfill the great commission.

I cannot personally fulfill the great commission with eight billion people, 210 nations around the world, but I want to partner with others so that together we can. And so as of our discussion right now, of the 210 nations of the world, we are now have a presence as the UPCI 203. And in the last three years, we estimate that 1 million people have been filled with the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the UPCI. We understand we're not the total body of Christ. We understand God works in great ways far beyond our movement. But I want to be part of something specific to advance the kingdom of God in our day and to proclaim the gospel in our day.

So, you know, I can agree to disagree on a lot of secondary matters because what's most important is the mission and that's why the UPCI is so valuable. It's the greatest missionary organization of the apostolic faith and I want to be part of that.