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03-17-08 Missions: Delight or Duty?
A few weeks ago we held our “Global Focus Emphasis Week” here at Grace. We did this to remind us of our “Great Commission Opportunities!” We were challenged once again to remember the words of our Lord, “go into all the world and preach the gospel…” (Mt 28:19-20)
Each guest missionary family came to us with a clear and distinct call to participate in the great commission with some particular ‘people group’ or ‘field of service.’ As we listened service after service it became quite obvious that these families understood the dynamics of missions and had responded to the call that came “ringing over the restless waves” of life to “send the light!” It became crystal clear that they were responding “in delight” to obeying God’s will for their lives. The call to missions was not a sense of duty to them. It appeared to be a sense of delight. The challenge of ‘duty or delight’ has brought me to write today.
What we do in serving our Lord and His church should always come out of a sense of delight. I do not want to de-emphasize duty because there are times that I do what I do out of a sense of duty! That is not always wrong. It is my belief, however, that a commitment to any kind of ministry or mission service should be pursued with a sense of joy and delight. In fact it should be considered a privilege to serve.
I believe delight confers more honor than duty does. Either myself, or someone from the church staff, visits the hospital on a daily basis. Let me illustrate the principle this way. Doing hospital visitation out of mere duty, honors duty. Doing it out of delight honors the patient being visited. The “worth” of the person is more to us than the mere performance of a task. Delight shows up in the ministry when these statements can be made from the heart:
- “It’s my pleasure to be here…”
- “I’m glad I could come and see you today…”
- “It’s a joy to my heart to spend some time with you….and to pray with you..”
When someone delights in you, you obviously feel honored. When someone finds happiness in being around you, you feel treasured and important and even appreciated.
My convictions about world missions have never varied. From my earliest days of ministry training I was challenged with world missions. That zeal and delight in serving our Lord and mankind has never been driven by a sense of duty. My delight is in serving! My delight is in the gospel! It is good news. Therefore we keep pressing the mark for sharing the good news.
The call to be involved in “world missions” is something to delight in; therefore, we are taking the great commission literally and personally.
We are presently involved in four major mission projects. This coming Saturday a Medical Missions Team will be heading to the Dominican Republic for a week of serving. We have an orphanage project in Dourados, Brazil, going on at present. In May, a team will tackle a construction project in Kentucky and in June, a good number of teens will be traveling to Costa Rica for Kosmos 2008!
We are “delighting” in every opportunity we have to serve! If you will begin to emphasize your service from a “delight standpoint” you will not feel so weary and tired as you get bogged down with “doing my duty!”
From the depths of my spirit I am confident that I can say “I delight in every opportunity of missions ministry that our Lord gives!”
Simply stated, “Delight is far better than duty!”
Until next week, Pastor Ed Sears
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