Heart for the Lost


Luke 10:25-37


Introduction:

Why 2000 years after our Lord Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission, has His command has not yet been finished? One of the main reasons is because we, as His Church have not made it a main priority in ministry.

“The church exists because of mission and for mission”   (Emil Brunner)

“God only has one son, and he sent him as a missionary”   (David Livingstone)


I.  A heart for the lost needs sensitivity to the needs of the society around us.

         The Priest and the Levite did not care about the great needs of the person they met
          on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, they even intentionally ignored that man.

        The same thing has happened in the church. This we can see in The Great Imbalance which exists at this time in World A, World B and World C.

        Definition:
        World A = nations and peoples in the least evangelized world
        World B = nations and peoples in the evangelized non-Christian world
World C = nations and peoples in the Christian world
        
        1.        The Condition of the World

                a.        Comparison based on the number of workers
 World  C        -        91%
 World  B        -        8%
 World  A        -        1%

                b.        Comparison based on the allocation of funds
 World C        -        95%
 World B        -        4,9%
 World A        -        0,1%
        


        2.        The Condition of Indonesia        

                Indonesia has 218 large ethnic groups (people groups numbering over 10.000 people per group).  They can be classified as follows:
                
                a.        World C
 Definition: Ethnic groups in which the majority is Christian.
 Totaling 46 people groups with a population of around 13 million people.        

                         b.        World B
 Definition: Ethnic groups in which the Christian minority has sufficient resources to reach their own ethnic group.
 Totaling 45 ethnic groups with a population of  76 million people.

c.   World A
 Definition: Ethnic groups with less than 1% Christian, who need help from the outside for their own group to be reached with the gospel.
 Totaling 127 ethnic groups with a population of 129 million among which there are only about 76.300 people who believe in Christ (0.06%).



II.        A heart for the Lost needs willingness to pay the price.  

        To help the Jewish man abandoned on the road to Jericho, the good Samarian was ready to pay the price.  He paid the price in the form of time, effort, money, and taking a risk.

        What is the price that must be paid to reach those who are lost?

        1.        Prayer
                a.        Forming a movement:
 An adoption movement for UPG’s by Local churches for a UPG.
 An adoption movement for UPG’s by Cell groups.  
 An adoption movement for UPG’s by Sunday schools.

                b.        Sources of support:
 National Research Fellowship Network                                   Profile of  Unreached People Groups in Indonesia

        2.        Funding        
Forming a movement:
a.        Monthly faith promises
b.        Mission offering in Sunday Schools
                
        3.        Effort
                Forming a movement:
                a.        Missions week in the local church.
                b.        National and Regional Missions Consultations.
                c.        Preparing missionaries through seminaries and Bible Schools.  
                d.        Preparing missionaries through in house training.


III.   A Heart for the lost must be willing to work together with others.  

        The Good Samaritan had limits, namely in his time. This is seen in his handing over of the Jewish man to the owner of the Inn for further care.  

        Meaning:
        a.        We can’t work alone, there needs to be cooperation between the churches of Asia to reach the UPG’s of Asia.  
        b.        There is no excuse for us to not to reach the lost around us.  



Final words

Revelation 7:9-10




(Bambang Widjaja)