Hebrews 2:3—…how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
1 Timothy 2:3-6—This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.
On a recent trip to Pakistan, I was consciously looking into the faces of thousands of people as I was driving through the busy streets of the city. As I looked into their faces, these sobering and provocative questions came to mind:
Do we really believe in the Gospel of Salvation?
Do Christians really believe in salvation for others?
Do Christians really care about the salvation of other people?
Based upon what we do and how we spend our resources, what would you say is the most pressing, important and imperative mission of Christians and the church today?
Is eternity real?
Why would I ask such questions? Was I questioning God’s will for humanity or His mission for the church? Absolutely not!
I asked these questions because I believe our greatest convictions and beliefs will produce our most predominant behavior and our most urgent response. I believe that our convictions will determine our highest priorities. And, our highest priorities will be evident by what we do and how we invest our lives.
Remember, actions speak louder than words.
As these thoughts raced through my mind, I made a statement to one of our young interns traveling with me. I said, “Joshua, every one of these people we see here today will end up in one of two places—Heaven or Hell. There are no other alternatives.” All of the over 7-billion people alive today will be sorted, categorized, tagged, grouped, (however you want to put it) in one of two ways—SAVED or NOT SAVED.
We were looking at poor people, sick people, rich people, old people, young people, hungry people, crippled people, happy people, sad people, homeless people, people with aids, people with malaria, people who were victims of abuse, people without hope… everyone of them sharing a common need—salvation.
As I minister in many extremely poor countries, I hear the voices of the people so desperately crying out for relief from their immediate distress; and rightly so! Whether it be relief from sickness, abuse, hunger or grief…their pain is very real to them.
God never intended for His beloved and most prized creation (human beings) to live this way. My first response is to meet their immediate need! If they are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, provide them with clean drinking water. If they are abused, rescue them. If they are sick, provide a remedy. If they are homeless, build them a home. If they lack a good education, provide them with one!
However, these are only temporary solutions to temporary problems. My question is, “What about their eternity?” According to the book of James, this life (good or bad) is like a vapor—a puff of smoke compared to eternity. Let’s consider what lies beyond their temporary problems in this life and ask what we can do to address their primary, eternal and real need for salvation.
Recently, I was talking with an expert in philanthropy and he told me that Christians are not very interested in starting Bible schools, training pastors, planting churches or evangelistic campaigns (these are all things we do in our ministry… it was not a very encouraging conversation). He told me however, that Christians will overwhelmingly respond to and support humanitarian programs that address the immediate physical needs of people (especially involving children) and especially dramatic situations. Orphanages, feeding programs, medical aid, water wells, disaster relief and educational programs, to name a few, are very popular among extremely generous Christians. I thank God for that!
Julie and I also highly value and are very involved in providing humanitarian aid in all of these ways. We were involved in the 2004 tsunami disaster relief in Thailand. We helped fund earthquake relief in Pakistan in 2008. We’ve built multiple orphanages in Thailand and Myanmar. We are also involved in a large scale orphanage in Thailand which rescues children at risk of extreme abuse. We provide food for many people and have completed multiple water well projects.
However, we also have a very strong conviction that regardless of a person’s physical circumstances or condition, the Gospel of salvation is their greatest need. Our goal is to minister to the whole person—spirit, soul and body, but our primary goal is to assure a person’s eternal salvation through believing in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
This is why Empower International exists!
In order to do this for as many people as possible in as many languages and cultures as possible, we believe that it is of utmost importance to establish a permanent Christian presence wherever we go! With the representation of a pastor, a church and a strong Christian witness, our humanitarian work will only be stronger and more effective. In order to address people’s eternal and physical wellbeing most successfully, our aim must be to mobilize more churches, pastors and Christians in these nations.
As we read the Gospels in the Bible, we can see that Jesus was very compelled to meet the physical needs of the people. However, His greatest aim was to save their souls!
In Matthew 25:35-40 Jesus says in a parable, “I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me. I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”
Jesus also says in Matthew 18:11, “For the Son of man came to save [from the penalty of eternal death] that which was lost.”
Our goal is for every one of our orphans to become powerful witnesses for Jesus. Our goal is that every person we feed will hear and receive the message of God’s love and salvation for themselves. Our goal is for people we help to ultimately discover and be assured of their eternal salvation through Jesus Christ…and then share it with others.
In my lifetime I’ve seen horrific natural disasters, wars, calamity and plagues wipe out millions of precious people. While I draft this blog today in the comfort of my air-conditioned office, the reality is that there are people suffering, and many will die before day’s end. This breaks my heart and motivates me to the core.
Now, here’s a very sobering thought. The moment these people breathed their last breath and their heart beats for the last time, it did not matter to them whether they were sick, poor, uneducated, homeless, without food, without water or without medical care—all that really mattered to them at that moment was whether they were saved or not.
If we feed someone, but don’t share the Gospel of salvation with them, they die with a full stomach, but spend eternity in hell—what eternal good have we done?
If we provide a good home and education for a child, but don’t share the Gospel of salvation with them, they die having lived a good life with a good education, but are lost to eternal destruction—we have defeated our purpose!
Why would we help someone with an immediate physical need while neglecting their most urgent spiritual need of salvation?
God is great in mercy! This is why He sent Jesus to provide eternal salvation for all of mankind through His sacrifice. This is why Jesus willingly gave His life for us. This is why Jesus bore our sins through the sacrifice of Himself. This is why the Innocent willingly died for the guilty! This is why the One who had no debt was willing to pay a debt for one who could not pay his debt. This is why God raised Jesus from the dead!
This is why we must believe in and preach the Gospel of salvation. This is why we must empower emerging Christian leaders to succeed in their mission to reach their people for God! This is why we must invest our efforts and money in church planting, Bible schools, training leaders and evangelistic campaigns!
If we really believe in the Gospel of Salvation, then it will be evident because we will:
- Feed the hungry while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Clothe the poor while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Provide medical care while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Build orphanages while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Dig water wells while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Care for widows while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Rescue the abused while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Provide disaster relief while preaching the Gospel of salvation to them.
- Plant churches!
- Start Bible schools!
- Train Christian leaders!
- Evangelize!
- Support those who preach the Gospel of salvation!
Let’s remember that the Gospel is not only the Gospel of blessing, healing, prosperity and protection… it is also the Gospel of Eternal Salvation!
What we do and how we invest our lives should reveal to God and to the world that we believe in the Gospel of Salvation!
Let’s make this our focus! This is their GREATEST NEED.