One of the hardest misconceptions to break in missions is that missionaries are somehow superhuman extraordinary people. I think I do my part in breaking that misconception pretty well: all I have to do is show up in a church and they no longer think missionaries are special… OK, maybe special ED.
I enjoy going to the dry cleaners probably more than most: not because I enjoy paying half the price of my suit just to have it cleaned, but because my dry cleaner is a Christian. The first time I went to his store, I invited him to church. His response was AWESOME: “That’s great, I love Jesus too!”
The first visit was about 5 minutes of conversation, the next about 10, and yesterday it turned into about an hour. He knows that I
God won’t let me quit it, because I get so many opportunities to share Jesus with students.”
He started talking about what he does for a living outside of dry cleaning: he is a Judo instructor. When I asked if he liked it, he replied, “No… actually I pretty much hate the sport. It takes up all my time, I have to do it 6 nights a week. But I really feel like God won’t let me quit it, because I get so many opportunities to share Jesus with students.”
That blew me away. This guy is doing something he doesn’t really care about, and that costs his time because he wants to WITNESS? But he didn’t stop there:
“Pray for this guy named Bob… He is an older guy in another Judo dojo that I heard about. He is sick and probably won’t live long.
I am scared to go back, that I’ll get beat up again, that he won’t listen… But I’m going to try anyway.”
WOW. If you’ve ever been in a missions conference, you’ve likely heard all the trite sayings like “Everybody is a mission field”, and “You can be a missionary right here at home”… You’ve probably even sang that goofy song about “Be a missionary every day.. CLAP CLAP CLAP”.
But as true as all that is, it rarely sinks in and actually changes anything. I can say all day long that God has called me to a life of fulfilling the Great Commission overseas and that it is the same life he calls us all to live, but what does that actually look like? Here are some things about the Gospel that jump out at me from my dry-cleaning friend:
1. The Gospel calls us to a life of unconditional obedience
Michael found himself in a place of wanting to do something different than what he knew God had for him. But what makes Michael stand out from the vast majority of nominal Christians is that when his will and God’s clashed, God won. It just wasn’t an option to him to say no: he understood that Jesus is not some whiny 16 year old girl begging for your attention, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
2. The Gospel calls us to a life of no reputation
People make a big deal out of a guy who commits to getting on a plane and leaving for a foreign field: he is a hero, his reputation typically increases instead of decreases by this “sacrifice”. You don’t live out the Gospel by signing up to be treated like a hero: you do it by being a servant in the little things on a daily basis. Michael didn’t think someone was going to write a blog post about him, he didn’t think he’d get praised, if anything he thought he’d get rejected and made fun of for going back to that dojo and preaching the Good News.
3. The Gospel calls us to a life of faith that overcomes fear
There’s just no room in God’s economy for our comfort zone: we’re either uncomfortable and dependent upon Him, or we are disobedient.
Michael was scared to go back: scared of the things we are all scared of. He couldn’t afford it financially. He could be rejected and mocked. He could suffer physically. He could waste his time and see no fruit. He could choke and not have the right words. But he stepped out and did it anyway.
4. The Gospel calls us to a life of joy by giving up what supposedly makes us happy
I noticed during our conversation that Michael was tired. Michael was scared. Michael was broke. But Michael was full of joy at the same time. He had a lanyard around his neck that said “I love Jesus”, and when I asked him about it, he broke out in a big grin. “It just gives me an excuse to talk about Him!”He wasn’t living for the American Dream, wasn’t successful by the world’s standards, but he found the truth of Jesus’ words:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Mat 16:25
And ultimately, that’s what this is all about: being like Jesus. The Gospel both calls and enables us to be like Christ, as we surrender to His working in and through us. That’s what missions is about. That’s how we fulfill the Great Commission wherever God calls or places us. Paul said it like this:
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.“
Can you say that this mind is in you? You don’t have to be a missionary, and that’s not a trite cliche: Michael can be a radical Gospel centered disciple of Christ as a drycleaner, you can be too.
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