Marketplace Musings - Called to Missions

Now, on to the next part.

I've been trying to figure out the framework which we think about marketplace ministry. To make my stand clearer, I'll use the term "ministry in the marketplace" from here on. And oh, when I talk about "marketplace", I mean the one in the English dictionary, not the Christianized dictionary.

It seems to me that the marketplace movement grew in recent years as a response to an increasingly disaffected group of believers, who were concerned about the overemphasis on full-time work, and that those who were full-time ministers are seen to be more spiritual than those, in Philip Greenslade's words, "believers in Christ who give evidence of the gospel bound in shoe-leather, in the walking, talking, working lives of all 'saints in ordinary'."

Granted, a genuine and sincere concern. But I think we are swinging all the other way to the other extreme, denigrating the sacredness and specialness of being set apart for God's special work. You know, like normal infantry as compared to special ops forces? Both deserve the accolades and glory that their Commander-in-Chief will reward them when their times come.

THE GREAT DICHOTOMY - MARKETPLACE OR MISSIONS?
Anyway, the key point I'm making is that I observe that now there's two increasingly separate tracks, with believers proclaiming on one side, "God has called us to missions!" and believers on the other side declaring, "God has called us into the marketplace!" And both quote the Bible. And no doubt about it, as far as I can see, both sides use the Scriptures with understanding. And... I think that may be the case in my own church too. So I was confused. Which side is correct? LOL. Or ... are we forgetting that both could be the two sides of the same coin? But think I figured it out. It's all about missions. Missions. Missions. The pivot of our daily lives should, and must be, the Great Commission. It's true about Joseph being salt and light... about Paul doing tentmaking and ordinary Christians ministering in the marketplace...

But let's zoom out and see the bigger picture at work. If you study the grand themes of the Bible, you realise that God put Joseph in Egypt to save lives of many peoples. Nations. You see God's heartbeat for the Gentiles in the Old Testament. You see Him at work in the ordinary... like how God used Daniel to minister to a pagan nation.

Tentmaking is just one avenue to do missions. Ministering in the marketplace is just one way to do missions. We must live and breathe missions. To preach the Gospel to wherever Christ has not been preached yet. Be it to the poor or needy, or to the rich and wealthy...

Proverbs 22:2
Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.

Jesus ministered to the educated Nicodemus, and to the nameless Samaritan woman. He ministered to so many different kinds of people.

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
And that's my concern. I sense in the past few years, our church has been dropping in its focus on missions. And so many of us were spiritually sian. So sian to the point that Ps Jeff had to preach on "sianness". And Ps Simon was more to the point (albeit indirectly), that we had lost our first love. Thank God for these two wonderful pastors! MISSIONS!

For a church whose mission statement was to plant churches everywhere as its missions strategy, we were seeing an anemic lack of church planters, of missions-goers, in recent years! But thank God for His prophetic word spoken over us by Ps Rick Seaward earlier this year. That God wants us to go back to being faithful to doing His assigned mission for us - missions! To stick to the task at hand, that the Lord has assigned us. MISSIONS!

We need to be more active in supporting our church planters. We need more men and women willing to take up the challenge. To show that I mean what I say, I'm planning already to go to Cambodia at the start of next year with Yufen and Marcus and some others for a short-term missions, and come hell or high water, nothing will stop me from going where God wants me to go. MISSIONS!

To (mis)quote King Leonidas of 300: THIS... IS... MISSIONS!

Missions in the media field. And using media for missions. I know God has called me to minister as such. I see a grander purpose than just "making an impact" in the media field. Interestingly, I've observed that I generally get two types of responses when I share my testimony about God calling me into the media industry. One is WHOA! AWESOME! and the other end of the spectrum is a blank stare. Assuming I've communicated clearly enough, I realise that their responses correspond to how much they have a heart to see God's kingdom extended, and those who don't. The point I'm making here is not that people should be wowing at my testimony (and besides it was so never about me, but about what GOD has done for me...), but rather, do we desire to see God's will being done?

My friends who have a big heart to do God's will are really encouraged by this testimony. It doesn't matter whether they like media or anything like that... and they have very different passions, but the heart, I repeat, the heart is the same. But those who don't... and want to do their own stuff, and live their own lives... they are unable to see the amazing work of God. Hearts made hard, because they will not feel. Ears made deaf, because they will not hear. Eyes made blind, because they will not see. I write quite bluntly on this point, because I am so concerned about the increasing nua-ness that I see among some of us. That we want to live safe, comfortable lives. To that, I ask, what about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, our bloody sins, our horrible and wretched sins? If He gave His all for us, how can we give Him any less? Unless we do not realise the enormity of our ugliness, our sinfulness. The darker the darkness, the more precious the light.

Now, to answer the question about the concern about non-believers in the various sectors of society... It's a genuine and valid concern, and we must speak out. But let it be known that the gospel is the most powerful way to change the hearts of men. Frankly, my viewpoint is that Jesus is coming soon, and we gotta preach the message any way possible. We have no time to lose. His kingdom is not of this world. Let's put everything into perspective. If you study the epistles, you get an idea of how radical Christianity is. And how men and women not only talked about a better world... they literally lived it out. Citizens of heaven living out lives on earth. In the world, but not of this world. We are aliens and strangers, like what the Bible says. Only by preaching the gospel message of Christ, and Him crucified, can we ever hope to see the world changed... because the hearts of men would be changed.

(Oh man. I am so gonna get slammed for saying the above paragraph. Ah well...)

Now, now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that ordinary things like work don't matter. But... we need to have this mind that we proclaim the gospel through what we do. But we also must speak out the message clearly. And ... God has graciously given me quite a few opportunities to do so already in my workplace. My boss and colleagues know that I'm Christian. Even when I was in NS, I had the chance to give a Bible to my officer. And to my surprise, he was quite open. He asked me, "So where do I start reading it?" LOL. I was stunned. But grateful to God haha... so yes, God uses jokers like me to share Christ wherever we are. Gosh. I really hope I can lead someone to Christ personally soon.

So we need the heart of a missionary. We need to proclaim Christ verbally... and to authenticate what we say by our lives and deeds. Personally, I doubt it is sufficient to just be nice people and hope that people will ask us why we're so nice. But I'm not saying that we ought be idiots and start slathering gospel tracts all over the place. Nooo. But... we ought to take up our responsibilities to PRAY for God to open doors to preach wherever we are. And God, who sees the hearts of all men, will direct us where to speak and where to go. It's about the acts of the Holy Spirit, who directs and guide us. This is so totally about God, God and God. Not us, but Christ. We may feel like worms... but guess what! A fisherman loves worms. Hahaha... and we shall attract lots of fishes... fishers of men, yeah? :)

In short... our framework ought not to be marketplace ministry, but rather, missions. Missions in whatever way possible. Not just doing well in the marketplace, but having the mind to go out... do work there... meet people there... share... work's simply an avenue for us to meet more people and show Christ through what we do. I mean, tentmaking as a strategy for church-planting is a great idea! (but only effective in countries that allow it... but well, teachers and doctors are very welcome, last I heard. :)) Oh. I'm not saying though, that we ought to pack our bags and immediately 'cheong' out there. Siao liao. Hello! Even kamikaze pilots received more training than that, you know!

So, the marketplace is a great training grounds for missions. So is our education sector... the law sector... arts, etc... wherever we are, we train up for missions. There are so many different kinds of people out there. Man, we can't just bunker down in the safe four walls of our buildings... We can't just go build our own houses and settle for a safe and comfortable lifestyle. We are called to put our security in God, not trust in securities! (Not that we cannot invest lah... but accept the fact that these things may be totally gone one day... maybe you invested with Bernard Madoff...) And we will be like the kernel of wheat that refused to fall to the ground and die.

So we are called to go out into the mud and trenches of a dying and decaying world. To go out into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Anything less than that is dereliction of our commission as Christians. The coin is missions, and marketplace and church-planting and full-time work and community care and drama and arts and media and education... and God knows what else... all are meant to be aspects of the daily life of a Christian: MISSIONS!

I have another thought too. About pursuing our own passions and interests. There's needs to be met in both in our own homes and out there... but... we can't settle for our own rights. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus and for the gospel will find it. What good is it if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Let's heed the Lord's warning:

Luke 17:27
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

Personally, I think we Christians speak of our careers, BGRs, houses and finances with more passion than missions and ministry and so on. Hey, nothing wrong with having passions! I like Nerf guns. I like reading. I like drawing. I like photography. I like storytelling. I like acting. I even invested $70 in a Nerf gun. But I did it only because two of my boys in my HopeKids CG are passionate about it, and they are rather challenging, so this is one way to bond with them. And did you know that William Carey, missionary to India, was passionate about plants. But he knew where his heart's devotion and treasures lay. Eric Liddell loved to run and run. But he deliberately used this passion to bring glory and honour to God. How about you? Does your passion serve as a means to connect with others who are like-minded? Or does your passion turn into a soul-emptying indulgence?

Dear friends, let us get off our lazy backsides today and start having a heart for the things of God again. To respond to His call, to build this church without walls. Because it is those who are the most heavenly-minded who make the greatest impact on earth. Amen!