As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,a’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Question #1:
When we define “unreached” people groups, how much reliance are we placing on ideas born of sociological, anthropological, linguistic, philosophical and psychiatric disciplines in order to hasten the conclusion of the Great Commission and the advent of Christ’s Return?
Question #2:
In trying to bring about the conclusion of the Great Commission and the advent of Christ’s Return, how much focus are we placing on making people groups “reached” and how much focus are we placing on primarily evangelizing all sinners?
Question #3:
In defining “unreached” people groups, are we considering the effects that time has (in terms of the evolution of language, interbreeding, emerging people groups, etc.) on the structure and makeup of the nations?
Question #4:
Assuming, again, that we are defining people groups correctly and appropriately what is our confidence level that we have done our research correctly? Have we thoroughly mapped these unreached groups (especially to the point that we can confidently expect the return of Christ when the number of unreached people groups reaches zero)?
Question #5:
Are we defining “unreached” correctly?
Question #6:
Are we defining “reached” correctly?
Question #7:
What do we do about the people in the reached group who are born into sin and are outside of Christ? Do we focus too much on the unreached groups such that are we forgetting about generations of new sinners?
Question #8:
In striving so hard to bring Jesus back again, are we failing in our duty and privilege to evangelize the lost in order to get to heaven sooner?
Question #9:
In striving to “evangelize the world in our generation” are we failing to teach the next and upcoming generation[s] to evangelize the lost? Is the Missio Dei so dependent upon us? Have we considered that perhaps God might not complete His Mission in our lifetime? Do we forget that just as the past 2000 years worth of generations were called to evangelize the world, that we are called to that as well and that the generation following us will most likely still have work to do? Are we willing to admit that another generation might very well have the privilege of being on earth when Jesus Returns?
Question #10:
Are we not called to evangelize, making disciples of all peoples and that Christ will always be with us, even to the end of the age? Should we not focus on Christ’s Great Commission and leave the saving, completing and returning up to Him?
“People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa….It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.”
