1 Chronicles 12:32 - Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command.

The Mission Field in Our Backyard

If you were called to serve as a missionary in a foreign land, you would no doubt seek to learn as much as possible about that land and its inhabitants. You would want to learn how to speak the language of the people, as well as discover their customs and beliefs, in order to get to know them and communicate effectively with them. How else would you be able to meet their eternal and temporal needs?

In our world today, what is true about ministering in a foreign land is equally as true in our own. As many missiologists and evangelists have pointed out, if we desire to effectively reach our diverse culture for Christ, we must know the language, customs, and beliefs of the people we’re around every day. Jesus reminds us that these people are our neighbors whom we’re called to love.

Yet, we know that behind people’s perceived temporal needs there lurk real and eternal needs that only the Lord Jesus Christ can meet. Irrelevance is not a mark of faithfulness or a virtue to celebrate. Seeking to understand where people are “coming from” spiritually, philosophically, psychologically, and emotionally is not necessarily accommodation and compromise. Building relationships, meeting needs, and giving answers that never include the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel is. It was the Apostle Paul who said that he had become all things to all people that he might win some to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22). We can be certain that he was able to do so without sinning or selling out. Should we not seek to follow in his footsteps?

Called to be Like the Men of Issachar

Issachar was one of Jacob’s sons whose descendants grew to become one of Israel’s twelve tribes. By the time of King David, we are told in 1 Chronicles 12:32, that among the great fighting warriors of Israel were the men of Issachar, who were distinguished by knowing or understanding the times in which they lived and were able to advise Israel accordingly.  It was the Lord Jesus who castigated the religious leaders of his day for being able to predict the weather but not being able to interpret the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-3). God continues to call godly men to know the times in which they live in order to provide a faithful witness for Christ and his Kingdom in our own day.

Godly men should help their neighbors view the temporal world in which they live with and through the light of God’s eternal perspective. Whether the focus is theology, worldview, ethics, culture, Western civilization, peace, justice, economics, etc., godly men are called to provide those in their spheres of influence with biblically faithful, culturally aware, and practically useful wisdom and guidance. The goal should be to lovingly equip those entrusted to their care as well as to faithfully confront unrighteousness and evil with God’s truth. Such vigilant ambassadors of God’s Kingdom are called to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in their own personal mission fields to which they have been called to serve.

The King of Our Mission Field

Jesus Christ is the Lord over every mission field and we want to communicate that touchstone truth to every man, woman and child in a way that is true, significant, and attractive. We cannot save people ourselves but that doesn’t mean we should not bear witness to our Lord as lovingly, clearly, and faithfully as possible.

Like the men of Issachar, we need to know the times in which we live and effectively, humbly, and respectfully give an answer to everyone who asks us about the hope that we have in this world and the world to come.

Walking Points

• Have you identified your personal mission field? Who is in it? Describe the kind of people they are.
• What can you do to better learn the “language, customs, and beliefs” of those to whom God is calling you to bear witness?
• Why is it important to know something about the people with whom you share the Gospel? What can happen if you don’t know anything about them?
• How can you faithfully share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a relevant and winsome way without compromising it?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to be a faithful steward and ambassador of your Word – the loving truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. As your ambassador, enable me to speak only your message to others, and not my “new and improved” version of it. As your steward, remind me that you have not only entrusted me with your truth, but you have also entrusted others to my care, that I might humbly share your truth with them. Your truth does not belong to me. It is yours and you have chosen to reveal it to the world. Therefore, help me faithfully communicate it to others in such a way that they will not only know how much you love them, but how much I love them as well. Remind me that it was the faithfulness of those who came before me that brought me this same good news. In Christ I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]
 
Petition – prayers for yourself

·         Help me to mature in my faith and to increasingly please God by my thoughts, words, and deeds.
·         Particular struggles in various relationships
·         My activities for this day
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others

·         My Family
·         My local church
·         My denomination
·         Para-church ministries, particularly Christian education and discipleship
·         Evangelistic ministries
·         Other needs

1 Thessalonians 4:3a – It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…

Not What You Were Thinking… Yet

Today’s devotion will no doubt disappoint you if you came to it with the hope and expectation of learning how to decide what job to take, whom to marry, or where to move. That’s often what we really mean when we say we want to know God’s will for our lives, isn’t it? I am no different.

But quite often those desires turn to despair when it is discovered that God doesn’t tell us in Paul’s letter to the Romans or the Gospel of Matthew that you should indeed take that job, marry that person, or move to that place. And because it doesn’t give us the specifics we want, we sometimes end up frustrated over the apparent “inaccessibility” of knowing God’s will for our lives.

My usual counsel to such troubled souls is to encourage them by letting them know God’s will can be found on virtually every page of the Bible. God is not trying to hide his will from them or playing some sort of shell game with his children. Today’s text gives us an example of what I’m talking about. Paul teaches us in our verse:

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.

From and For

“Sanctified” is a biblical word which simply means, “to be set apart.” But what does that mean? Set apart from what? Set apart for what? Well first, it means to be set apart from something – specifically, from the world, the flesh, and the devil. It means the fallen, rebellious, autonomous, sinful, patterns of living and idolatry we once practiced are to be repented of, put off, died to, and left behind.

“Sanctified” also means that we are set apart for God. In Christ, God has made us his own. He is now molding us into the image of his dear Son. Thus, he calls us to love, trust, obey, and walk with him daily, that we might become increasingly like him. The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle, quotes Leviticus and reminds us of God’s command to be holy as God is holy. Just a few verses from today’s text, in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Paul declares, “…God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”

When we hear and receive Christ’s redeeming call and are born anew by the power of his Spirit, we immediately (though imperfectly) begin the process of becoming what God says we already are. God, in a manner of speaking, says to us:

You are holy. Now go and be holy. Go and be who you already are.

To die to yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Christ is what it means to live a sanctified life, one that jettisons the old, fallen self, and instead, puts on Christ as of first importance. It’s a life that immediately seeks his righteousness.

This is God’s will for you. The better you know God, and the more you know of God – his person, work, ways, and word – and the more you pursue them daily and whole-heartedly in your life – the more likely you will be able to discern his particular will for your life: that job to take, that person to marry, that place to move.

Seek first God and his righteousness, and the answers to those other questions will be revealed to you in time (Matt. 6:33).  

Walking Points

• What do you think most people mean when they say they want to know God’s will for their lives? Is that what you usually mean?
• How can knowing God’s revealed will for your life, (i.e., that we are called to be sanctified, etc.), help you to better know and understand his particular will for your life?
• In light of this devotional and the verses of Scripture shared, what advice would you give a friend or family member who was searching for God’s will?

 
Prayer

Holy Father, you have called me to be holy as you are holy. But more than that, you have recreated me in your image and given me your Holy Spirit. Your very holiness dwells within me and I am truly a new creature in Christ. For that I give you my eternal thanks and praise. And yet, I do not always see your holiness in myself – the thoughts I think, the words I speak, the life I live. Please forgive me. I know the reason for my sin and shortcomings are not because you have withheld your resources from me, but because I have neglected to make use of them. I cannot be holy apart from your power and guidance, but you will not cause me to live a holy life without my participation. Please help me Father to pursue a holy life that seeks to know you better with each and every passing day. And as I grow closer to you, know you better, and become more like you, I pray I will better discern your particular will for my life. In Christ I pray. Amen.

This Week’s Prayer Guide

[You can use this prayer guide in your own personal prayer time. However, I encourage you to use it with a group of Christian men. Each week you should spend time praising God for who he is, confessing your sin to him (be specific) as well as expressing gratitude to him for his gracious forgiveness. Also, don’t forget to thank God for the many ways he has poured out his goodness in your life. Then, focus on the following areas of supplication, which will change from week to week.]

Petitions – prayers for yourself

·         Spiritual Warfare
·         Growth in Christlikeness
·         Increasing faithfulness in the spiritual disciplines 
·         My health
·         For my ordinary appointments and activities to become divine appointments and activities. 
·         Other needs

Intercession – prayers for others

·         My Family 
·         Mercy for those who are poor and hungry  
·         Justice for those who are oppressed and persecuted  
·         Love for those who oppress and persecute others
·         Peace for those in the midst of war, crime, and violence   
·         Other needs