Are Missionaries Super Christians?
Are missionaries super Christians? Now, that is an interesting question to think on. Most everyone would likely say “No” (and rightly so), but in their hearts they would view missionaries as pretty much a super Christian, something they themselves would feel they could never attain to in their own lives. After all, where we live, our culture puts a premium on a “good and comfortable” life with all the bells and whistles. And the life of a missionary is viewed as a life of sacrifice, of giving things up that we could have had. Sure, we agree, that the reason they give things up (for the name of Jesus being known among the nations and to further grow His Kingdom) is a good thing! But we aren’t willing to do that with our lives…we will leave that to those super Christian missionaries.
But what does the Bible say about what a Christian is? Let’s take a look at some of the things Jesus tells us in the Gospel accounts. In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus says,
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
In other words, a normal Christian is one who realizes the eternal, infinite value of his or her redemption and inheritance from Christ Jesus our King, that they no longer hold any value on the things of this earth and are willing to part with all of it in order to pursue Christ and his kingdom!
And again in Luke 9:23-24 and 14:26-27, Jesus says,
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it… If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Did you catch what Jesus said in those verses? If you didn’t fulfill those qualifications, you cannot be His disciple! Now let’s circle back to the initial question regarding missionaries being super Christians. I would venture to say, after looking at the words of Jesus that missionaries are not super Christians at all, but rather their brand of Christianity and faith is normal Christianity per Jesus’ definition of it. Now, I do not take that to mean that everyone needs to sell all they have and move somewhere hard for the sake of the Gospel. On the contrary, the biblical norm is that a few from the church were commissioned to go and the vast majority stayed in their local context as faithful witnesses and church members (look at Acts 13:1-4).
But this does take us back to evaluating our hearts towards Jesus and the things of this world. Do we hold on to our things in this world too much or do we approach our lives with radical, normal Christian faith every day, where we deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus with everything we have got where we live in our families, in our jobs, in our schools, in our neighborhoods, in our local church, in our community, and among the nations? May we be found faithful when we stand before King Jesus one day for his honor and his glory on this earth!
