I Am a Debtor

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Matthew 9:35–38 (NIV)

The Debt We Forget

I know a man buried under an enormous debt, several million colones. More than once he has come close to losing his house. He has a wife and several children, and his salary simply cannot keep up with the monthly payments. Yet every year, around this same season, he starts planning his end-of-year vacation: sometimes at a beach resort, sometimes abroad.

Maybe he believes he has a right to enjoy life. Maybe he feels entitled to indulge his desires, even when it means neglecting his obligations or making them worse. The trouble is that while he fixates on his rights, he forgets one of the most important facts about his life: he is a debtor.

It is easy to spot the irresponsibility in his story. But many of us do the very same thing with God. We claim the right to live as we please, to chase our desires, to spend our lives on ourselves, all while forgetting a spiritual truth: we are debtors. We owe our lives to Jesus. We were bought with His blood so that we would not die in our sins and transgressions.

The apostle Paul writes about this debt in Romans 1 (NIV). For him it was more than personal gratitude; it became a responsibility to make Jesus known to everyone, regardless of nationality, education, or status:

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Romans 1:14–17 (NIV)

It is unjust to live carelessly while ignoring that our lives belong to Him. Today I am reminded of one of my most important duties: I AM A DEBTOR. Long ago, Jesus paid with His death; today, I must answer with my life.

It’s Up to Us

Take a moment and look at the chair you are sitting in. How many empty chairs are around you? Would you like to see those spaces filled with people? God certainly would. He loved the world so much that He gave His Son:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16–17 (NIV)

And as Paul writes:

For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Romans 10:13–15 (NIV)

I want to confront you with a truth: we are responsible for helping people come to know Jesus. Many quote the line “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47, NIV) as if it happened automatically. But that verse comes right after a portrait of a church that was alive, devoted, generous, present, and visible:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42–47 (NIV)

We cannot expect God to add people while we refuse to live with the devotion, fellowship, generosity, and courage of the early church.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

As believers, we have not only received forgiveness; we have been handed an assignment:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (NIV)

This Ministry Is for Everyone

How did people come into our community? How did they end up in your small group? Through a radio program? No. Almost always, it happened through relationships. Someone talked with them face to face. Someone invited them. Someone shared Jesus with them.

So what are we waiting for? Look at the news. Step out of your comfort zone. Lift up your eyes and look around. It is harvest time, and harvest time is no time to be sleeping. A Christian who never speaks about Jesus is sleeping straight through the harvest.

He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

Proverbs 10:5 (NIV)

Jesus said:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13–16 (NIV)

Evangelism in Jesus’ Message

It Was the First Thing He Said to His Disciples

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew 4:18–22 (NIV)

It Was the Last Thing He Said to His Disciples

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19–20 (NIV)

And in Acts (NIV):

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 (NIV)

Pray for Workers, Not for the Harvest

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Matthew 9:36–38 (NIV)

How many times have we prayed for more people to come to church? The harvest is ready. What is missing is not fruit; it is workers willing to gather it. Do not only pray for new people to come. Pray that those of us already here will get up and go bring them in.

Someone once said, “It’s easier to talk to God about souls than to talk to souls about God.” Who stacks a pile of empty baskets in a warehouse and then begs God for crops to appear inside them? We have to understand this: the church is not these four walls. We are the church. We cannot sit and wait for unbelievers to come to us. The church has to go to them.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.

Proverbs 11:30 (NIV)

When was the last time you shared Jesus with someone far from Him?

A Hospital for the Healthy?

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:13–17 (NIV)

Heaven Is Not for the Good, but for the Forgiven

If God does not discriminate among people, why should we?

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Mark 1:40–42 (NIV)

The law forbade lepers from any contact with healthy people. They had to shout “UNCLEAN!” and live outside the city. But when this leper approached Jesus and said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” Jesus did not flinch or step back. To everyone’s astonishment, He reached out His hand and touched the man no one had touched in years.

Jesus did not have to do that. He could have healed the man with a single word. Instead, He touched him first, and then said, “Be clean.”

Did Jesus catch leprosy? No, just the opposite. Jesus was so full of life and health that He “infected” the leper with the good news of the kingdom of God. He was more contagious with the power and love of God than the leper was with his disease. If the Spirit of God lives in you, you can live the same way. You can be a Christian whose influence outweighs the influence of the world.

Look at your hands for a moment. How often do you stretch them out to serve someone far from God?

What Do We Have?

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

Mark 6:34–44 (NIV)

Is Jesus in this place? Are there at least twelve of His disciples here? Do we have a few loaves and fish? Are there five thousand people out there?

Stop thinking the way the disciples did, calculating how many denarii it would take to feed the crowd. What we need, we already have. His name is JESUS, the bread of life for the hungry.

Today is a day to renew our commitment to God. We carry a debt of love and a responsibility in this world. A lamp was never made to prop open a door; it was made to light up the house.

Does your heart beat for the same things that moved the heart of Jesus? Can you say you feel compassion for others because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd? Does something stir in you when you see them lost and without God? What do you reach out toward them: a finger to point, or a hand to rescue?

If we do not yet have the compassion He had, there is still hope for us. The compassion Jesus felt for the lost is formed in us as we spend intimate time with Him. Are we people of constant communion with God, or do we lurch from Sunday to Sunday trying to revive a devotional life we never fed during the week? Is Jesus the Alpha and Omega of our lives, the Beginning and End of our day, the first thought in the morning and the last one at night?

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

Let us embrace our debt of love and live as ambassadors for Christ, reaching a world in need with the transforming message of the Gospel.