The Sacrifice of Sending

Sacrifice is a foolish thing. To the uninitiated it appears to be a frivolous expenditure of the best, with nothing to show for it. From humble shopping to high-end business transactions, a deal may be good or bad depending on the return on investment. But even the most clueless investor would laugh at the idea of giving with what seems to be zero return.

Sacrifice is a wasteful thing. To possess something that can bring benefit in another context, and cast it aside seems incredulous. A lovely, plump, healthy, unblemished lamb can feed a family. Yet despite the cries of some to “think of the children and their needs!”, you slaughter the animal and burn it, taking nothing for yourself. What a waste.

Sacrifice is a risky thing. Imagine the poor Israelite farmer. What shall he live on? When he goes up to Jerusalem for the feasts, who will guard his crops? They are exposed, vulnerable. Then there is the Sabbath day, and the Sabbath year. Giving of their time, allowing the land to rest, yet trusting that there will be enough to sustain. It seems a huge gamble.

Sacrifice has never seemed smart.

The world tells us to hold on to the best, make the most out of it, don’t give it up. And that mindset can easily embed itself in an individual or a church. We’re just getting by financially, maybe we should refrain from giving. Our time is taken up with preparing sermons, maybe we should hold off committing to reaching our community. We need all the people we can get, maybe we shouldn’t send missionaries.

These thoughts have arisen from a discussion on the topic of my last post. My dear friend who is a missionary in East Asia, has, over the years, heard similar notions as those I previously mentioned. As we talked, she made a very astute point that I thought should be added to the discussion; sending is beneficial to the church. It is a sacrifice, but sacrifice is good.

If we really want to adopt a Biblical posture to life in general, a constant attitude of sacrifice should be high on our list of priorities. We ought to be so caught up by eternal realities that we invest freely in temporal things. Time does not allow us to lay out a full Biblical theology of sacrifice, from the heights of Mount Moriah, to offering the best lambs in the wilderness, to the antitype of all of those shadows; Christ himself. Then there is his teaching and that of the Apostles: “Present your bodies a living sacrifice”… “Freely you have received, freely give”… “For God loves a cheerful giver”… We give, because he gave. And we seek to walk in line with the commendation given to the Macedonians, who gave out of their “abundance of joy and extreme poverty”.

Christianity is, at the end of the day, all about sacrifice. Yet it is unique in that while sacrifice seems to be a foolish waste, the end result is one of restoration beyond what was given. Our temporal investment is converted into something of far higher quality and value. Resurrection comes only through sacrifice. Think of Jesus’ words on the matter:

“Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. “

– John 12:23-25

Glorification arose from Jesus’ death. A grain falls to the ground and dies, not to produce another grain just like it, but to grow into something different, something greater, something fuller that brings abundant life to others. And then we are called to lose our current life in exchange for eternal life. Sacrifice results in something greater.

When it comes to the church and missions, this mindset must prevail. What seems to be a foolish waste of resources, is actually an investment that brings greater fruit. And it is not all distant. While there are of course the eternal benefits of bringing the gospel to unreached places, the reality is that there are temporal benefits from sacrifice also.

We have for many years run missionary prayer meetings once a month in our church. We have constantly held the need before others, and it has overall resulted in a greater interest in God’s worldwide work. However, in the past year, as the church has prepared to send us, it has fuelled that passion at an accelerated rate. We have seen the church grow in its interest, involvement and prayer for mission.

A couple of years ago, another Irish church sent one of its elders, (in fact the pioneer couple who planted that church), to a new country of service. It was a sad time, a time of testing to see how this young church would stand on its own. And yet the hole that was left was filled by members taking initiative and bearing the lacking responsibilities upon themselves. Their leaving led to more service, not less.

As we have prepared to go, the wider church in Ireland and the UK has had the needs of South Asia put before it. Many churches have been energised in prayer for an area of the world that they neglected before.

The small non-conformist churches in England sent one of their beloved pastors, William Carey, to the far-off heathen shores of India. Sent as an offering into the unknown. Of what benefit could that possibly be? The result: the gospel taking root in Bengal, the first missionary society established in England, churches and leaders catching the vision for reaching the nations, and the beginning of the modern missionary movement.

I could go on. The point is that there is a certain blessing that comes from sending, as we offer up missionaries as an act of sacrifice. Blessing of course for the receiving nation, blessing for the missionary themselves, but also a blessing for those who give.

In Antioch, Barnabas and Paul had come to help teach and build up the church. Perhaps it was as a result of their strong teaching that believers were first called Christians there. They brought something valuable to the church, that was witnessed by the whole community of Antioch. Of all people, surely the church wouldn’t want to lose them! Yet it was these two brothers that the Holy Spirit set apart in Acts 13 to be sent out into unreached areas. God had called their best to go. They were “set apart”, something holy, something consecrated, a sacrifice prepared for God. His call to offer up willingly was heeded by those that followed the Spirit’s leading. How different the church in Antioch would have been if had shut up its prized teachers for itself. How different the history of Europe would have been had the sacrifice not been offered.

In the heavenly economy of things sacrifice brings innumerable blessings. When churches send the offering of missionaries it leads to more abundant life on every level. And from experience, those that don’t give of themselves on a local or worldwide level often wither and die. May the church ever learn to follow the lead of our forebears, who did not withhold from the Lord the offering due to him. And may it ever be strengthened by the life and benefits that come from giving cheerfully from our hearts.