"I must work the works
of Him that sent Me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can
work" (John 9:4).
In March 2015, God summoned over 200
mission leaders from several African nations for the 20th African Missions
Summit(AMS 2015) to consider this verse of the Scripture. First, we saw the
night personified as a man moving. The night is not static. It is moving and
getting closer than when it began to move. This called for us to take a closer
look at the divine agenda and to study God's timetable for the now like the Men of
Issachar. We focused on Jesus and saw how He appropriated His time in the light
of these reality.
To get a clearer picture of what Jesus may
be saying in this verse, we need to imagine a hard working farmer in days
before modern farm machinery. He rose up early each day in order to be in the
field before "first light" to take productive advantage of every
minute of daylight in cultivating his crops in view of harvest. He knew that
night would come, so he worked hard all day and when the night came he
"rested hard"...well deserved rest for his diligence in the daylight.
He knew that if he was going to have a crop to harvest, he must work diligently
every waking minute because the time was short.
Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of
the fierce urgency of now. He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his
days here were numbered. In a short time he would have to return to the Father
(John 12:8, 16:17, 28). Whatever he had to do or whatever was to be done for
him had to be
done while the opportunity presented
itself. It must be done immediately.
That’s why he said, “We must work the
works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can
work” (John 9:4).
He was about to cure a blind man on the
Sabbath day, and he knew it would incur the wrath of the rigid, Sabbath-keeping
Pharisees. But that didn’t matter. He had to break protocol and get the job
done while the opportunity was there, for it might not come again.
In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I
must do the works of him that sent me...”. However, all other translations say,
“We must work the works of him that sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also
be our sense of urgency.His earlier followers
expressed that same urgency when they wrote, ““Behold, today is the day of
salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, today if
you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:7-8).
The call of scripture is ever and always
one of urgency. Every page of the Bible says “today.” Every tick of the clock
says “today.” Every beat of your heart says “today.” Every obituary column in
the newspaper says “today.” All of God’s creation seems to cry out, “Behold,
today is the day of salvation.”
We too need to live and labor and love
with that sense of urgency. Life is short. Death is sure and time is passing. The
lost are perishing. To presume on the future is dangerous (James 4:13-17). We
must act now. We must work the works of him that sent Jesus while it is day -
we must, for the night cometh when no man can work. This word from our Lord
reminds us of the urgency of acting by God’s timing. Time will pass, we will die,
and opportunities will disappear. If we delay, if we postpone, then we may just
never get around to it.
In his famous article, “Come Before
Winter,” Clarence McCartney highlights on things that must be done when the
opportunity arises. He cited 2
Timothy 4:21 from the Message Bible: 'Try hard to get here before
winter...' as his text. According to him, there are doors of opportunity that swing
open for us, and if we do not enter, they close and will stay closed forever.
There are tides in our lives, and if we do not ride them, the window of
opportunity will soon ebb. There are voices speaking that a year from now, a
season from now, will be silent, and they will speak no more. If we are going
to do some things, then we must do them while the opportunity is with us, for
it will soon be gone. We must not wait for a more convenient season. There is,
then, a note of urgency in all aspects of life. We must do what needs to be done while
we can, while there is an opportunity, for the privilege will soon pass away.
Jesus lived his whole life with a sense of
the fierce urgency of now.
He knew that his time on earth was limited, and his days here were numbered. In
a short time he would have to return to the Father (John 12:8, 16:17, 28).
Whatever he was to do or whatever was to be done for him had to be done while
the opportunity presented itself. It must be done immediately. That’s why he
said, “We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).
In the King James Version, Jesus says, “I must do the works of him that sent
me...”. However, all other translations say,“We must work the works of him that
sent me...”. His sense of urgency must also be our sense of urgency. His
earlier followers expressed that same urgency when they wrote, “Behold, today
is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). And, “Wherefore the Holy Ghost
saith, to day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts...” (Hebrews
3:7-8).
Specifically, I think of the emerging
trends in missions as I write this charge. Many nations that we could easily gain access into are getting closed. Mauritania, a country in the West
African region used to be part of the Economic Community of West Africa States(ECOWAS).
As Christians in ECOWAS countries, we didn't need a visa to enter Mauritania
with the gospel. They have pulled out of ECOWAS to join the Arab League, making it absolutely difficult if not almost impossible to enter Mauritania not to
talk of preaching the gospel.
This North East of Nigeria which is today
ravaged by the Muslim Fundamentalist was once open and friendly but the
church did not take advantage of it to impact the region sufficiently with the
gospel. We had the wrong impression that the door will remain open for ever. To
access very good portion of the territory now is like the head of the camel
going through the eyes of the needle.
Fred Markert once recalled the tragedy of missing the
harvest time as he shared the story of Kublai Khan, the great Mongol leader.
Khan ruled
the largest Empire
the world has ever seen. It extended from the Pacific Ocean on the East to
Poland on the West and from Russia on the North to India on the South. Mongol
warriors were so fierce and determined that they even conquered China in spite
of its Great Wall. In 1266 A.D, Marco Polo, the great explorer and adventurer
went to Kublai Khan in his capital city. This fierce warrior’s heart was
touched by the news of Christ’s death for the sins of the world. He sent Marco
Polo back to Europe with a request to the leaders of Christianity: “Send me 100
men skilled in your religion….. And so I shall be baptized, and then all my
barons and great men and their subjects. And so there will be more Christians
here than they are in your parts”.
God has prepared one of the extraordinary
moments of harvest for the largest empire the world had ever known, and then
had delivered it to the Church! How could the Church help but jump at this
incredible chance? After many years, only two missionaries came forward who
were willing to endure the hardships necessary to bring the good news of Christ
to the Mongolian empire and even they turned back half way into their
appointment with destiny before reaching Mongolia. They left behind the
legacy of the greatest missed opportunity in church history. How did Kublai
Khan respond to this silence from the west? He turned to Tibetan Buddhist,
inviting them to spread their religion throughout his empire.
Dr. David Barrett’s work captioned: Chaos, Cosmos and Gospel revealed that because of the failure
of the church to take advantage of the harvest while it was day time, at
one point more than half of the men in the nation were Buddhist Monks. What a
tragedy!
Many seasoned missionaries whom the church heavily depended on for
the great commission are gone to be with the Lord. Many labourers have fallen
sick and can no longer contribute much to taking the light of the gospel to
the dark places of the earth. Many souls waiting for the manifestations of the
Sons of God have gone to Christless eternity. If help come when it is no longer
needed, it is no longer helpful. We were told that an average of 85,000,000 people, on average, die
every year. If we divide 85,000,000 by 365 days in a year, that means an
average of 232,876 people are dying every day in this world.
This number would have increased with the increasing rate of
terrorism, earthquake, etc. The rich man who died and went to hell
desperately wanted his brothers to repent so they will not come to hell. He
persuaded Father Abraham to deploy Lazarus to go reach out to them but it was
too late. The Night for Lazarus to do mission had come. He cannot go back to
the world any more. Do not forget the words of David to his friend Jonathan,
“There is but a step between me and death.” So it is with all of us — just a
step — a short step. And the uncertainty of life means that there is urgency in
the call of Christ.
Every day, we pray to God for more
labourers to deploy to where they are most need. We meet with thousands who are
persuaded that God is beckoning on them to come over but they have reasons why
they should continue to procrastinate, while the unreached people continue to
cry: 'The harvest is past, the
summer is ended, but we are not saved'. (Jeremiah
8:20). The church in Nigeria/Africa have enough financial resources to make
meaningful impact in global missions but many missionaries have quit the
mission field because of epileptic and sometimes complete lack of financial
support.
Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy to make
effort to come over before winter because he really needed him and some key
material support. If help does not come before the winter, the help will no
longer be helpful. Will you rise up now to do what you can do now before the
night come?
