The Jews thought the Almighty God was their private possession. They looked down upon the Samaritans as dogs and the Gentiles, still worse. A casual reader of the Bible may also come to the conclusion that the Jews were God’s pets. We Christians too may entertain the wrong notion that God loves only us and sent Jesus Christ to die and rise again for us alone. May Easter open our eyes to see that God did not love just the Jewish tribe or the Christian tribe but the whole world!
God’s vision was the world. He hadno qualms about what He was getting ready to do—sacrifice His Son on the cross. God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the WORLD through Him might be saved (Jn 3:16,17). The Christmas message was, “Good tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people” and “on EARTH peace” (Lk 2:10,14). Isaiah prophesied that “ALL the ends of the EARTH shall see the salvation of our God” (52:10).
To reach out to the entire world God chose the Jewish tribe as His vehicle. He picked them and prepared them so that the Goodnews may flow through them to the whole world. God created not just the Jews but the entire world. How then can He love a part of His creation? “God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them...” (2 Cor 5:19).
That was His plan since the creation of the world. That’s why He made the heavens to shout the glory of God and the skies exhibit His handi-work. Day and night speak of Him. Silently their sound goes through “ALL THE EARTH” and their works to the “end of the WORLD” (Psa 19:1-6). Paul quotes it in Romans 1:20 to say that God did it that the whole world might come to know Him. So, the opportunity to know the true and living God is given to all.
Jesus imbibed His Father’s WORLD vision. He said, “I am the light of theWORLD. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). The heart of Jesus was wildly beating in His breast for the perishing world. He had a clear objective. His commandment to His disciples was, “Go into ALL the WORLD and preach the Goodnews to EVERY creature” (Mk 16:15). Jesus’ decision to stay within a boundary seemed quixotic. But He was preparing missionaries to reach out to the world.
Jesus did not choose a “Christian locality” for safe residence and convenient ministry as you or I might have done. Instead of selecting Judea as His headquarters, “He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphthali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphthali, by the way of sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the GENTILES: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:12 -17). He deliberately chose a Gentile area to establish His headquarters and start His ministry. As He had predicted, after His resurrection He went only to Galilee which was close to His heart (Mk 14:28; 16:7).
The thought of the whole world was gnawing at the depth of His very being. As He released incarcerated souls, He discipled them to reach the world. He was a visionary whose goal was forever beyond the horizon. He sent His disciples two by two and He Himself trekked from village to village, city to city, house to seashore, wilderness to mountains and Galilee to Jordan and Judea. For Him the field was the WORLD (Mt 13:38).
Whenever we eat the communion bread, let us remember that He was the bread of God who came down from heaven to give life to the WORLD; not just to Church members (Jn 6:33). He gave up His life that the WORLD may have life (Jn 6:51). Why was Jesus born into the world? Why did He die and rise again? He came not to judge but to save the WORLD, to give Himself a ransom for “ALL” (Jn 12:47; 1 Tim 2:6).
Even during the Old Testament days the saints of God had the vision of the world. David did not kill Goliathto win the hand of Merab. He was ready to swing into action, “that ALL the EARTH may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Sam 17:46b) . That’s a hard template to live up to but not impossible. Whatever we do, we can do that the world may come to know the living God. Solomon built the Temple, “that ALL people of EARTH may know Your name and fear You” (1 Ki 8:43).
The apostles absorbed the vision of Jesus like sponges so that the passion and mission of the apostolic era was to reach the entire world.
They had no aeroplanes, computers or mobile phones. Yet their enemies testified that they were stirring up riots all over the WORLD (Acts 24:5). John writes more about the world than any other apostle. Like a volcano spewing ashes from its belly, he litters his writings with the word ‘world.’ Truly he had caught the world vision from Jesus. In his inimitable fashion he introduces Jesus as the, “True Light which gives light to EVERY man coming into the world” (1:9). When he saw Jesus his natural exclamation was, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the WORLD” (1:29). The early apostles annexed the world bit by bit to God’s kingdom. They were forever longing for wider horizons.
Again John says in his first epistle 4:14, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the WORLD”. One more quote in 1 John 2:2, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and NOT ONLY FOR OURS but also for the sins of the whole WORLD.” We can easily understand from his argument that even during John’s time the idea prevailed that Jesus was for ‘us’. The disciples of Jesus were very possessive of Him. It was John who said, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us, casting out demons in Your Name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us” (Mk 9:38). John and the gang wanted Jesus and His name all for themselves. Jesus corrected their theology.
Paul’s heart hammered in his chest for the world. If you put Paul under the microscope and see, all his cells will have the imprint of the world on them. While preaching of the resurrection of Jesus in Athens to the Athenians and the foreigners, he said, “He has given assurance of this to ALL by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). There was no stopping the Saul Paul express till his followers became examples not only to ALL in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in EVERY place (1 Thess 1:6-8). That’s what it means to make disciples. He chose the world’s hot spots to sow seeds and plant saplings. He never enjoyed the luxury of lolling around in a carefree state. Passion was his fashion.
So we now come to the nub of the issue.What is our vision? Why do we limit ourselves? Why like moles in winter we burrow ourselves into our homes? Especially when we know that, our faceless adversary the devil’s vision is also the world? For it is said of him as the one “who deceives the whole WORLD” (Rev 12:9). In the apocalypse all the WORLD will marvel at the beast and follow him (13:3) . Surrender to the devil is unthinkable. Let’s shirk off our somnambulistic existence and expand our vision. Jesus said, “You are the light of the WORLD” (Mt 5:14). “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the WORLD” said He (Jn 9:5). So Jesus prepared His disciples to be a light to the world before He left the earth.
Even the Samaritans testified that Jesus was the Saviour of the WORLD! (Jn 4:42). Let our vision then be world vision. Let it start with our prayer life. How often our prayer is limited to our family, friends or at the most our nation! Our stiff, weak and rickety self makes us squelch any thought of the world. Believers must change their thinking little bit by little bit. My mind wonders about what might have been if we all had the world in our minds. Be relentless in your prayer for the terrestrial concerns. Pray for global problems like terrorism which has grown prolifically. Let the newspaper become your fodder for prayer.
We have received power when the Holy Spirit came upon us. Should we not then be witnesses in our hometown, in our district, in our State, in our nation and to the uttermost parts of the EARTH? The best way to do this is to make conscious everyday choices having the world in our heart and mind. Devote yourself to something bigger than making money or planning picnics. We live in the best of times for world evangeli-sation. Make hay while the sun shines. Jesus said, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in ALL the WORLD as a witness to ALL the nations, and then the end will come” (Mt 24:14; Lk 24:47) . But His Second Coming lost its global im-mediacy as time passed.
Jesus was not jetting around the globe with a laptop, staying in plush suites. Yet He was always fast forward. He roamed around His own little world, sowing seeds with seemingly in-exhaustible energy. He discipled His converts. They in turn went into all the world and made disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things commanded by Jesus. So one person reaching out to the world is not an impossibility.
We cannot afford to be just evangelists. As if the role of an evengelist wasn’t daunting enough, Jesus was multitasking as an Evan-gelist, Apostle and Discipler, all rolled into one. We must follow His example and juxtapose soulwinning and mentoring. Devote a good chunk of your time to discipling. A disciple may be a banyan seed to start with. But remember it’s got a huge big tree inside. He may be a friend, a neigh-bour’s child, your servant or anybody for that matter. Take it upon yourself to teach them and build them up. The mania to succed drives us faster than we ought to go. Instead, if we take the time to disciple each of our quarry, we make inroads for the entire world to hear the Goodnews. If your passion for the world has gone into cold storage warm it up. Give the world a chance!
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, 8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
The Jews thought the Almighty God was their private possession. They looked down upon the Samaritans as dogs and the Gentiles, still worse. A casual reader of the Bible may also come to the conclusion that the Jews were God’s pets. We Christians too may entertain the wrong notion that God loves only us and sent Jesus Christ to die and rise again for us alone. May Easter open our eyes to see that God did not love just the Jewish tribe or the Christian tribe but the whole world!
God’s vision was the world. He hadno qualms about what He was getting ready to do—sacrifice His Son on the cross. God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the WORLD through Him might be saved (Jn 3:16,17). The Christmas message was, “Good tidings of great joy which will be to ALL people” and “on EARTH peace” (Lk 2:10,14). Isaiah prophesied that “ALL the ends of the EARTH shall see the salvation of our God” (52:10).
To reach out to the entire world God chose the Jewish tribe as His vehicle. He picked them and prepared them so that the Goodnews may flow through them to the whole world. God created not just the Jews but the entire world. How then can He love a part of His creation? “God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them...” (2 Cor 5:19).
That was His plan since the creation of the world. That’s why He made the heavens to shout the glory of God and the skies exhibit His handi-work. Day and night speak of Him. Silently their sound goes through “ALL THE EARTH” and their works to the “end of the WORLD” (Psa 19:1-6). Paul quotes it in Romans 1:20 to say that God did it that the whole world might come to know Him. So, the opportunity to know the true and living God is given to all.
Jesus imbibed His Father’s WORLD vision. He said, “I am the light of theWORLD. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). The heart of Jesus was wildly beating in His breast for the perishing world. He had a clear objective. His commandment to His disciples was, “Go into ALL the WORLD and preach the Goodnews to EVERY creature” (Mk 16:15). Jesus’ decision to stay within a boundary seemed quixotic. But He was preparing missionaries to reach out to the world.
Jesus did not choose a “Christian locality” for safe residence and convenient ministry as you or I might have done. Instead of selecting Judea as His headquarters, “He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphthali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphthali, by the way of sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the GENTILES: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:12 -17). He deliberately chose a Gentile area to establish His headquarters and start His ministry. As He had predicted, after His resurrection He went only to Galilee which was close to His heart (Mk 14:28; 16:7).
The thought of the whole world was gnawing at the depth of His very being. As He released incarcerated souls, He discipled them to reach the world. He was a visionary whose goal was forever beyond the horizon. He sent His disciples two by two and He Himself trekked from village to village, city to city, house to seashore, wilderness to mountains and Galilee to Jordan and Judea. For Him the field was the WORLD (Mt 13:38).
Whenever we eat the communion bread, let us remember that He was the bread of God who came down from heaven to give life to the WORLD; not just to Church members (Jn 6:33). He gave up His life that the WORLD may have life (Jn 6:51). Why was Jesus born into the world? Why did He die and rise again? He came not to judge but to save the WORLD, to give Himself a ransom for “ALL” (Jn 12:47; 1 Tim 2:6).
Even during the Old Testament days the saints of God had the vision of the world. David did not kill Goliathto win the hand of Merab. He was ready to swing into action, “that ALL the EARTH may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Sam 17:46b) . That’s a hard template to live up to but not impossible. Whatever we do, we can do that the world may come to know the living God. Solomon built the Temple, “that ALL people of EARTH may know Your name and fear You” (1 Ki 8:43).
The apostles absorbed the vision of Jesus like sponges so that the passion and mission of the apostolic era was to reach the entire world.
They had no aeroplanes, computers or mobile phones. Yet their enemies testified that they were stirring up riots all over the WORLD (Acts 24:5). John writes more about the world than any other apostle. Like a volcano spewing ashes from its belly, he litters his writings with the word ‘world.’ Truly he had caught the world vision from Jesus. In his inimitable fashion he introduces Jesus as the, “True Light which gives light to EVERY man coming into the world” (1:9). When he saw Jesus his natural exclamation was, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the WORLD” (1:29). The early apostles annexed the world bit by bit to God’s kingdom. They were forever longing for wider horizons.
Again John says in his first epistle 4:14, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the WORLD”. One more quote in 1 John 2:2, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and NOT ONLY FOR OURS but also for the sins of the whole WORLD.” We can easily understand from his argument that even during John’s time the idea prevailed that Jesus was for ‘us’. The disciples of Jesus were very possessive of Him. It was John who said, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us, casting out demons in Your Name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us” (Mk 9:38). John and the gang wanted Jesus and His name all for themselves. Jesus corrected their theology.
Paul’s heart hammered in his chest for the world. If you put Paul under the microscope and see, all his cells will have the imprint of the world on them. While preaching of the resurrection of Jesus in Athens to the Athenians and the foreigners, he said, “He has given assurance of this to ALL by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). There was no stopping the Saul Paul express till his followers became examples not only to ALL in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in EVERY place (1 Thess 1:6-8). That’s what it means to make disciples. He chose the world’s hot spots to sow seeds and plant saplings. He never enjoyed the luxury of lolling around in a carefree state. Passion was his fashion.
So we now come to the nub of the issue.What is our vision? Why do we limit ourselves? Why like moles in winter we burrow ourselves into our homes? Especially when we know that, our faceless adversary the devil’s vision is also the world? For it is said of him as the one “who deceives the whole WORLD” (Rev 12:9). In the apocalypse all the WORLD will marvel at the beast and follow him (13:3) . Surrender to the devil is unthinkable. Let’s shirk off our somnambulistic existence and expand our vision. Jesus said, “You are the light of the WORLD” (Mt 5:14). “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the WORLD” said He (Jn 9:5). So Jesus prepared His disciples to be a light to the world before He left the earth.
Even the Samaritans testified that Jesus was the Saviour of the WORLD! (Jn 4:42). Let our vision then be world vision. Let it start with our prayer life. How often our prayer is limited to our family, friends or at the most our nation! Our stiff, weak and rickety self makes us squelch any thought of the world. Believers must change their thinking little bit by little bit. My mind wonders about what might have been if we all had the world in our minds. Be relentless in your prayer for the terrestrial concerns. Pray for global problems like terrorism which has grown prolifically. Let the newspaper become your fodder for prayer.
We have received power when the Holy Spirit came upon us. Should we not then be witnesses in our hometown, in our district, in our State, in our nation and to the uttermost parts of the EARTH? The best way to do this is to make conscious everyday choices having the world in our heart and mind. Devote yourself to something bigger than making money or planning picnics. We live in the best of times for world evangeli-sation. Make hay while the sun shines. Jesus said, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in ALL the WORLD as a witness to ALL the nations, and then the end will come” (Mt 24:14; Lk 24:47) . But His Second Coming lost its global im-mediacy as time passed.
Jesus was not jetting around the globe with a laptop, staying in plush suites. Yet He was always fast forward. He roamed around His own little world, sowing seeds with seemingly in-exhaustible energy. He discipled His converts. They in turn went into all the world and made disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things commanded by Jesus. So one person reaching out to the world is not an impossibility.
We cannot afford to be just evangelists. As if the role of an evengelist wasn’t daunting enough, Jesus was multitasking as an Evan-gelist, Apostle and Discipler, all rolled into one. We must follow His example and juxtapose soulwinning and mentoring. Devote a good chunk of your time to discipling. A disciple may be a banyan seed to start with. But remember it’s got a huge big tree inside. He may be a friend, a neigh-bour’s child, your servant or anybody for that matter. Take it upon yourself to teach them and build them up. The mania to succed drives us faster than we ought to go. Instead, if we take the time to disciple each of our quarry, we make inroads for the entire world to hear the Goodnews. If your passion for the world has gone into cold storage warm it up. Give the world a chance!
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91-416-2242943, +91-416-2248943
hq@bymonline.org
www.bymonline.org
Click here for more options
To buy books written by Dr. Lilian Stanley, kindly reach to us in the follwing address
Blessing Literature Centre
21/11 West Coovam River Road,
Chintadripet,
Chennai 600 002, India.
+91-44-28450411, Mob:8806270699
blc@bymonline.org
