Let’s bow our heads in prayer once again. Lord, author of light, wisdom and power, by the power of your spirit and through your holy word, feed our minds, enlighten our intelligence, widen our hearts, transform our attitudes, open our ears and hearts to receive your words with humility sobriety and reverence, help us to understand and apply and obey your word. This we ask in the precious name of our Lord Jesus.

Amen. Well, what a privilege and joy and honour it is to be in your church. Someone said I was here 30 years ago.

Does anyone, can anyone go back 30 years ago? I’m not sure if I was in the church before, but someone said I was here. So yes, I was here and you were here too. Well, praise the Lord.

(1:10 – 3:17)

It is great indeed to, to be with you. Our theme this morning is motivation for mission. Let’s go.

Are you ready? Let’s go. I’m going to just read one verse. If I had to select passage from scripture, I’d begin it in Genesis and I’d end up in Revelation and I’d read the whole Bible because the whole Bible, the entire Bible is about mission.

So I’ve just selected one verse from the gospel of John chapter 20, verse 21. Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He’s speaking to each one of us this morning, speaking to me.

Then said Jesus to his disciples, peace be unto you as my father has sent me even so I send you. That’s Jesus. He’s saying the father has sent me so I am sending you.

Motivation for mission. What picture comes into your mind when we speak about motivation? I hope you’re motivated to get out of your bed in the morning. Sometimes I had problems getting my children out of bed to go to school.

What springs to your mind when you use the word motivation, a driving force, an impulse persuasion? It’s the power behind the boxer’s punches. That’s what motivation is. All these boxers are motivated.

I’m not sure they’ve got the right motivation, but they’re motivated by something. Is it not true that all of us need to be motivated? Is that true? To do everything, to wash your car, to do the dishes, to prepare an examination, to prepare to come to church. The Collins Dictionary puts it very simply.

(3:19 – 4:51)

It’s the power that causes you to do something. The power that causes you to do something. That’s motivation.

It’s the driving force and I’m going to try and answer a question. What is the driving force behind missionary enterprise? What is the power that thrusts us into the great Harvest Field? When I speak of the great Harvest Field, I’m speaking about Pollokshaws. I’m speaking about Glasgow.

I’m speaking about Scotland. I’m not speaking just about people who go abroad. I’m speaking at each person.

It’s got to go somewhere. All of us have been called. So that is the question.

That is the issue. What is the driving force behind the missionary enterprise? What is it that makes us go? When I was a wee boy, I was fascinated by springboards. You’ve got different types of apparatus that makes you go places, that gives you a lift, that gives you a thrill too.

I remember when I was a wee boy, my dream was to have a trampoline. You know, that’s perhaps the best one. You’ve got here a diving board or a springboard that might be in a sports hall or you’ve got a trampoline.

(4:52 – 5:08)

It’s undoubtedly one of the best because it makes you go high. Is that true? In our house in France, we have a back garden and you can eat there in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Often we have our meals outside.

(5:10 – 5:59)

And there are two walls that separate us from our neighbours on the left and the right. Our house touches two other, it’s a semi-detached house and there’s a wall on each side. And we thought, we had privacy until we discovered that on the right and on the left, our neighbours, both of them had trampolines.

And that the children and also our neighbours got on the trampoline and they can also see what’s on our plate when we eat outside. They hear our conversations, they can also see on our plate what we’re having at lunchtime or evening. So I would like to propose to you four biblical springs of motivation that create momentum, driving force and catapult us into missionary enterprise, no matter where you are in the world.

(6:02 – 7:17)

It would be wrong and naive to ignore and dismiss the different monsters that raise their ugly head to oppose missionary enterprise, that hinder and jeopardise missionary enterprise. Opposition on one of them is an un-churchy mission is as much a monstrosity as an un-missionary church. The church must be involved in mission and mission must be involved in the church.

That’s in David Watson’s book on mission. I listened to John Stott on the subject to get some good material and in his introduction he says we must be very, very careful to be aware of the different kinds of opposition. And he mentions syncretism, that’s a mixture of religions.

If you’ve got a religion then you’re okay for eternity, that’s rubbish. Pluralism, that means a refusal to accept Christ as the only way, the only truth, the only life. Pluralism says there are several ways, there are several truths, there are different authors and givers of eternal life, that’s rubbish too.

(7:19 – 8:05)

And of course John Stott speaks about another kind of opposition, that’s Satan himself. 2 Corinthians 4:4, the God of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe not. And G.B. Phillips translates, he’s made their minds dull, 2 Corinthians 3.14, that prevents them from receiving the glorious light of the gospel to shine in their hearts, the opposition from Satan himself.

So spring number one, I’ll give you four springs. Spring number one, the triune God is a missionary God. The main motive for mission is theological.

(8:07 – 8:54)

Mission finds its roots in God. It’s the DNA of the Trinity. God in history and in the Bible is a missionary God.

It’s God’s business. He’s the boss. He invented it.

And God in the history of the Bible and the history of the world is a missionary God who is constantly on the move, turning to others to speak, to deliver, to save. God is a missionary God, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is a God who sends Abraham, Genesis 12, verse 1 to 3, into another country to leave your town and go into another country.

(8:54 – 9:50)

Then he sends Joseph into Egypt, Genesis 45, 5. And then he sends Moses, Exodus 3. And then he sends the prophets. But the people didn’t listen to the prophets. Their hearts were hardened.

Their hearts were as hard as a diamond. And they shut up their ears and we’re told in Jeremiah, but God continued to send his prophets. God continued to send his prophets.

He sent, of course, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and the rest of the team. You know them all by heart. I learned them all when I was a wee boy.

So you get the right page in your Bible. God continued to send them even when the people had hearts as hard as diamond. God didn’t stop.

(9:50 – 9:59)

And he continues to send people today. God, the triune God, is a missionary. He sends his prophets.

(10:00 – 10:23)

And from the time of our forefathers until today, God again and again is sending his prophets. We’ll move on to the next slide. God sends his son.

This is the climax in history. God sends his son. But when the appointed time had come, had fully come, God sent his son.

(10:23 – 13:11)

That’s Galatians 4. Verse 4, he sent his son to redeem, to become the children of God. So God sends his son. And then Jesus, he sends you.

And in the Gospel of John, 30 times, Jesus makes reference to the father who sent him. And Jesus said, so send I you as the father has sent me. That’s the verse I read in John 20 verse 21.

And the authority behind Jesus’ mission and our mission is God himself. Jesus is not simply making a parallel or similarities between his mission and our mission. No, he’s precise, deliberate emphasis here.

Our standing of mission must be, it springs from Jesus and it finds its origin in God himself. So God sends, Jesus sends, and of course the Holy Spirit sends. He’s active.

He’s at work. But you shall receive a power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be by witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1 verse 8. And the purpose and presence of the Holy Spirit in your life today and in your heart is to communicate power, quality of life, enabling to radiate the love of Christ to shine in the darkness.

The Holy Spirit is there in your heart. He’s want to transform you from inside, from inside and equip you. It’s a Holy Spirit that calls and equips and sends out and thrusts out.

In the book of Acts 13 verse 2, the Holy Spirit speaks to the church and I hope you’re aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your church. Who’s speaking, who’s calling, who’s asking you to move, not particularly to France, to get on the move and take the light somewhere to someone. It’s a Holy Spirit who gives us the energy.

Michael Green in his book on the Holy Spirit, he says that the Holy Spirit takes initiative for mission, who drives and who energises the church and also equips them to get the job done. So John Stott puts it all in a nutshell with a lovely phrase from one of his books. Mission arises from the heart of God himself and is communicated from his heart to ours.

(13:12 – 15:42)

Mission is the global outreach of the global people of God of a global God. That’s lovely, isn’t it? But what does that mean? How do we apply that to our life today? Here I have an envelope that represents your life. If you want to send this letter to Fort William, to Bombay, to Sydney, to Marrakesh, to Bangkok or Ouagadougou or Rutherglen, all you need to do is, look carefully, put a stamp on it.

Otherwise it’s going to end up at the bottom of a drawer. And it’s this stamp that gives it authority and power that changes the purpose and the essence of this envelope. You’ve got the message, haven’t you? It’s God who’s chosen you.

It’s God who’s given you authority and the power to get the job done. So I’m asking you the question, where are you going? You say, well, I’m staying in Glasgow. That’s fine.

If you’ve got conviction for that, that’s fine. Perhaps we should all be praying and asking the Lord, well, am I in the right place today? So God is a missionary God, Jesus is a missionary, and the Holy Spirit, He is also operating and working in our lives.

God might be sending you across the street, that’s fine with me. But one thing is sure, He has called all of us and sending all of us somewhere. Spring number two.

So spring number one, God, the triune God is a missionary God. Spring number two, is it not true that we all need fresh compassion for people, for the lost? I need fresh compassion for people. I’ll give you an illustration just in a few minutes.

Sometimes my heart is hard. Sometimes I’m very selfish. I don’t want to reach out to others.

I prefer doing my own thing. I love music. I’m a fan of music.

I try to play the piano an hour a day just to heal me inwardly. There’s a healing power in music. Is that true, Fiona? And it’s also a gift from God.

(15:43 – 16:25)

But Jesus, when He saw the crowd in Matthew chapter 9, verse 36, He was moved with compassion because the multitude was bewildered, harassed, distressed, helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. The next time you go into Glasgow, next time you go to a big football match or a big concert, close your eyes and say, God, give me a fresh compassion for people. That’s what it’s all about.

We might have the theory, but if we don’t have the practise, then we’re not in the will of God. Pray that God will give you a fresh compassion for people. Compassion is the heart and engine room of intercessory prayer.

(16:26 – 18:34)

Compassion in Hebrew means a motherly affection. It’s almost like a physical link to someone. There are three dimensions or four dimensions in Hebrew of this word compassion.

It’s almost a physical link, a heart link. It’s an internal attitude that produces external implications and demonstrations. It’s not just a thought.

It’s being moved and then doing something about it. Does anyone here wear Nike shoes? Any older people? See, you’ve got some lovely white shoes. Is anyone got a pair of white shoes or Nike shoes? Because it’s not very good theology, but here it assumes it all.

Just do it. That’s it. Compassion is about that.

Just do it. It’s not just seeing, it’s not just crying, but it’s moving and doing something about it. It’s having a compassion for people, being touched.

That’s why you buy a sympathy card, isn’t it? I lost my sister when she was 35 years of age, and we received hundreds of sympathy cards. Wilma was only 35, and that soothed us, that helped us, that encouraged us. Empathy, putting yourself in other shoes.

God had compassion. I’ve seen their misery, I’ve heard their cries. I have come down, as God says in the Old Testament.

And Jesus, he saw the crowd. He was moved. And Jesus, in the gospel, he stops, he stoops, he listens, he touches, he feels, he hears, he prays, he weeps, and he dies.

That’s compassion. Jesus, in his parables, expresses concern for those who are eternally lost. He speaks about the prodigal son.

He speaks about those who are invited for a meal, who decided to stay outside. Referring, of course, to the place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Perhaps we should have a new vision of the lost.

(18:35 – 20:33)

Pray that God will give you compassion for the lost. When I was young, I used to be very enthusiastic when I was travelling for my seminars. I would take a box of tracts, and I was travelling in Paris, and I’d do the entire station.

I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that, but French people, they do the job, and then ask for permission afterwards. However, I gave out tracts to people in the station. I jumped into my train, and I said, I’m going to give out a tract to everyone on the train.

And I was sitting in the train. There were six in a compartment, and two of the people were blind. And I’d done the whole train.

I was absolutely exhausted. I’d done a seminar six hours. I’d evangelised Paris.

I said, okay, you can have a wee rest, son. You’ve done a good job. Don’t worry about the people.

You’ve got a good excuse to be. You don’t give tracts to blind people, do you? So I went for a wee sleep, and I wakened up just before the train arrives, about 15 minutes before it arrives. And the Holy Spirit said, what about the people that are in front of you? What about the blind people? What about the other people? Speak to them.

I said, Lord, I’ve no compassion, but the Holy Spirit moved me, and I gave them a tract. Three months later, I received a telephone call. Thanks for the tract.

Thanks for your telephone number. Both my wife and myself, the two blind people, have come to the Lord. We’re going to be baptised in three weeks.

Would you like to come to our baptism? Isn’t that wonderful? Because we responded to the Holy Spirit who’s working. William Booth, in 1885, the founder of the Salvation Army in London, gave a sermon to a large congregation, International Congress of the Salvationists, and he spoke about compassion. And at the beginning of his sermon, he threw out a question to the audience.

(20:35 – 21:01)

Who can tell me the circumference of the world today? Are there any geography teachers here? Who can give me an idea of the circumference of the entire world, approximately? Have a wild guess. If you’re wrong, it’s no problem. No one? Just as well I came here, eh? Approximately 25,000 miles.

(21:05 – 21:32)

And William Booth, he went on, he said, now we must pray that the arms of every Salvationist, the heart of every Salvationist will grow, grow, grow, and embrace the ends of the earth. Isn’t that lovely? Embrace the ends of the earth. Spring number three, a sense of gratitude.

(21:33 – 21:48)

A fresh understanding and appreciation of the consequences of the work of Jesus on the cross. What happened on the cross? It’s God moving towards you. God stooping down towards you.

(21:49 – 23:51)

You must hear God’s feet moving towards you. It’s lovely when you go to church when something comes up and speaks to you, isn’t it? Sometimes I do a wee test. I put myself in the corners to see if people are going to come and speak to me.

I won’t tell you the results. Sometimes it’s not very good. Let me encourage you to go and speak to other people you don’t know.

But God, he came to us and the way was through the cross. God is coming to us this morning to remind us. This is the really fundamental stuff.

A sense of gratitude to understand and to respond to what happened on the cross. God is making steps towards you to remind you. He gave his son to die for you.

That is a spring for mission. Michael Green in his lovely book, Evangelism in the Early Church, in the chapter under Motives for Mission, said the work of Christ on the cross is the supreme impulse for mission on unquestionably the greatest single element in keeping the zeal of the Christian at its fever pitch. That’s lovely, isn’t it? Jesus did not come as a visitor or a tourist.

He came to die to express God’s love for us. It’s not that we love God, but that God who loved us. G.B. Phillips in 1 John 4 10 says, the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us has been seen in sending his son into the world who gave his life through Jesus.

And here we see real love, not the fact that we love God, but that God loves you. God loves you and gave his son for you. The best illustration of this, of course, is Zinzendorf.

I mentioned him yesterday. One of the greatest missionaries that has ever lived. It’s the greatest missionary society that has ever been created.

(23:54 – 24:27)

Zinzendorf, he sent missionaries. He sent out and supported, listen carefully, 2,158 missionaries who have supported financially in prayer by the Mooravs and by the churches of Zinzendorf. Zinzendorf, he said to his missionaries, the pagans know that God exists, but they need to know that Jesus died on the cross for them.

Tell them the message of the Lamb of God who died on the cross. Tell them the simple message of the cross until you’re blue in the face. I like that.

(24:28 – 26:45)

Tell them the message of Christ on the cross until you’re blue in the face. And where did he get this compassion from? He sent missionaries to North America, South America, Greenland, the West Indies, Australia, Europe, and Tibet. When he was only 19 years of age, he went to an art gallery in Dusseldorf, and there he contemplated this picture of Christ on the cross by a famous artist, Italian artist, Domenico Fetti.

Underneath the painting were these words, I gave my life for you, and you, what have you done for me? And he stayed on his knees for almost an hour, and he cried, and then he got on his feet and evangelised the world. A sense of gratitude. Back to John Stott, I love a quotation from John Stott, we must allow the work of the cross to disturb our security, shake our complacency, and overthrow our thought patterns and behaviour.

Lord, give me a fresh understanding of your love, its depth, its width, its height, its length. Help me to respond to this morning, like the New Testament Christians who were mobilised by the love and joy of the Lord. They turned the world upside down.

Turned the world upside down. One of my favourite hymns when I was in Hebron Hall, I’m 75 today, so as from the age of five, that’s about 70 years ago. Imagine I can go back 70 years, but I still know by heart all the verses of the lovely hymn that you know too by heart.

We’re not going to sing it, I would love to sing it, because I know you’re great singers here. It’s when I surveyed the wondrous cross, and the last verse goes, “Were the whole realm of nature mine …”, and they go to the tune ‘Deep Harmony’, you probably know that, it’s lovely. “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my all”.

(26:45 – 27:41)

And it’s Jim Elliot, who was speared to death because he wanted to take the gospel to a tribe. He was speared to death along with other four missionaries. He said in his book, in his diary, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”.

What privilege we have to take the gospel to others. What a privilege and responsibility to express our gratitude. Get involved in praying for mission.

Go and visit a missionary. I went to France for a week, and I stayed for 52 years. So come and visit in France.

I’ll encourage you to give at least one year of your life to Bible, to be trained in theology, and get prepared for mission. Make contact with the missionary. Visit them, pray for them.

Get your hand on good books. Look at my bookstall. If you don’t want to buy a book, buy a book for somebody else.

(27:43 – 27:51)

They might end up in the mission field. Give up your small ambitions. Get out of the comfort zone.

(27:51 – 28:47)

All these books are available for you. Invest time and money in theological training, Bible school, Towsley College, Motherwell, London Bible College, or whatever. This could be an excellent investment and springboard for missionary enterprise.

So my last point, the most important point, always keep the last point, the best point for the end. Get the big picture. Get the big picture.

What is the big picture? The big picture is that every tongue, every people, and every nation will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and they’ll all come together. The redeemed by the blood shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit in the kingdom of God. This verse is in the Old Testament, and three times in the New Testament.

(28:48 – 29:30)

Is that not encouraging? That they’ll come from the east and the west, every tongue, every people, and every nation. And Revelation gives us an insight into the invisible that’s going to happen. Can you imagine? La Grande Finale, say it in French, it’s even better.

The big final, it’s like a final match of football, you know, the final. Everybody’s there. The multitude is there, from Bangkok, from Brussels, from Bearsden, from Newton Mairns, from the Gorbals, from Japan, from Australia, from China, Tibet, from Turkey, Afghanistan, all those who’ve responded to God as the missionary God, coming together and sitting down in the kingdom of God.

(29:30 – 30:09)

Are you not thrilled? Are you not excited? Revelation gives us an insight into that time, a lovely concert with heavenly music. The chorus, it’s Revelation 19, 6. The chorus was large and loud, a great multitude, like a great voice of many waters, and the voice of many thunderings, singing “Hallelujah for the Lord omnipotent reigneth”. Let us rejoice.

What a perspective. Finishing with a wee story. I read this in a book, I think it’s a true story.

(30:10 – 30:28)

Happened in Euston station. It’s a boy, maybe in his teens, he’s lost his train ticket. Often I was in Euston station, I’d go from there and I’d take the train and then take the boat to go to France, or I was in Euston station to come back up to Glasgow.

(30:31 – 31:29)

And the wee boy is in tears, he’s lost, like many people today are lost around us. But that day there was a gentleman who saw the wee boy and took an interest, he took compassion on the wee boy, and he moved towards him to console him, to encourage him, and to take care of him. Just as God has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ, he left the heavens and came down to meet us.

Point number one, authentic love. The triune God, the missionary God, coming down in the person of Jesus Christ. From heaven he came down to meet us personally in our misery.

And the gentleman, he comes to the wee boy, he says, what’s wrong son? I’ve lost my ticket. He’s in panic stations. So the gentleman said, listen carefully, I’m going to do something for you, but you must promise me something.

(31:30 – 31:45)

If ever you see a wee boy in a station who’s lost, or even a wee girl, will you take care of her? Yes, sir. Okay. Authentic love, moving towards others.

(31:47 – 32:05)

Secondly, practical love. The gentleman, he goes to the ticket office, he puts his hand in his pocket, and he buys the ticket for the wee boy, just as Christ has done. He didn’t just come down, but he went to the cross, and he paid the price so that we could go to others.

(32:05 – 33:04)

Jesus has done exactly the same thing for us. From heaven he came and paid the price with his precious blood, 1 Peter 1, 19. He comes back to the boy, straight after, so he says to him, what’s the condition? He says, I’ve got to take care of other children, sir.

She says, yes, you’ve got it, here you are. The wee boy takes the ticket. And the train comes in.

It’s an old train, by the way. If you’re interested in trains, by the way, it’s a very old train, where you can take the window down. The wee boy jumps into the train, pulls down the window.

And this is revolutionary, because as the train moves out of the station, the wee boy puts his head out the window, and he looks for the eyes of the gentleman who gave the ticket. As the train moves out, the wee boy shouts at the pitch of his voice, thank you, sir. I will do for others what you have done for me.

(33:09 – 34:17)

And then the story is, the wee boy spent the rest of his life working in train stations, taking care of lost children. Jesus is saying, I have given my life for you. And you, what have you done for me? My conclusion, four practical applications.

Spring number four, the big picture, every tongue in every nation. They’ll come from the east and the west. Spring number three, a sense of gratitude, the price has been paid.

Practical application. Spring number three, fresh passion for the lost. Spring number one, God, our God, the triune God is a missionary God.

So let me finish with a quote from Jesus himself. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, of the Holy Spirit. And lo I am with you always, even until the ends of the world”.

(34:19 – 34:44)

Let’s get ready, get set, go. Let’s pray. Lord, what we know not, teach us.

(34:46 – 34:55)

What we have not, give us. What we are not, make us. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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