As I, so you

 

From John Piper's "Good News of Great Joy"...

The Christmas Model for Missions

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world" John 17:18

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you.

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own

received him not. So you. They plotted against him. So you. He

had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges

against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you.

He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped.

So you!

In the mid-16th century Francis Xavier (1506–1552), a Catholic

missionary, wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part

of Indonesia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and

confidence in the mercy of God… To distrust him would

be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which
all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for
without God’s permission neither the devils nor their
human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.The greatest danger a missionary faces is to distrust the mercyof God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.
God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W.
Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously
repaid with a million ages of glory.”
Christ escaped the danger of distrust. Therefore God hashighly exalted him!
Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions.As I, so youAnd that mission means danger. And thatthe greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to

this, and all is lost. Conquer here, and nothing can harm you

for a million ages.
John Piper, "Good News of Great Joy", Tuesday Dec. 18th