by Jon Konnerup
Jesus says, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (John 17:18).
As Jesus Christ came into the world to save the world, so we should go into the world to tell them of salvation through Jesus Christ. He is the supreme example of a cross-cultural missionary. Jesus came to earth from God’s throne room in Heaven to be born of a virgin and placed in a manger. We must send missionaries if we are to fulfill the task the Lord gave His church. We are to bring people from every tribe, language, and nation to Jesus. Missionaries must go cross-culturally just as our savior did for us.
Jesus became a man to pay for our sins — the sins of the whole world. He came to show no cultural barrier will keep people from God. He came to seek and save that which was lost. Most of our world is lost and without hope, and we must cross every cultural barrier to reach them before it is too late.
Christmas should be a time to focus on the task of the Great Commission given by Jesus. This task is similar to our Lord’s purpose, and is made possible by his incarnation: crossing cultural barriers and going to hard, resistant people — even when it may be uncomfortable and perhaps dangerous.
So, at Christmastime, let’s lift up our eyes and look at the harvest fields of people around us and around the world and see them as God sees them — in need of the savior of the world who came many years ago in Bethlehem.
Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As he was sent, so are we.