He First Found His Brother - Part Two

Posted 7/30/14 by Donald Barnhouse
SCRIPTURE
John 1:15-28
 
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

LESSON

It is true that the first generations of believers in many tribes often come straight out of heathenism, generally by the witness of some outsider who has brought the gospel specifically to them. Much of church history is the story of some alien who entered a certain area with little knowledge of the local language and who preached Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit so that people were saved. Paul, the Jew, took the gospel to the people of Asia Minor, to Macedonia and to Greece. Irenaeus, a Greek, was the first to take the good news to Gaul, which is now France. A Latin from Rome was the first missionary to England, while an Englishman, Boniface, first carried the gospel to Germany.
 
In recent times the list of similar instances covers the world. Henry Martyn took the gospel to Hindustan and Persia, Adoniram Judson went to Burma, Hudson Taylor to China, Mary Slessor to Calabar, Livingstone to Central Africa. And the list goes on today, as we see many organizations all over the world dedicated to proclaiming the gospel to "every creature."
 
However, these pioneers win but a small portion. The vast majority of those who come to Christ is not won by foreign missionaries, but by home missionaries. The informant who teaches his language to the missionary usually ends up by coming to know the missionary's Saviour. Then he goes and finds his own brother. This is the pattern in countless situations. The God of Abraham becomes the God of Sarah, Abraham's wife. The God of Naomi becomes the God of Ruth. The God of Isaac becomes the God of Jacob.
 
Household salvation is a precious truth. Charles Spurgeon said, "Though grace does not run in the blood, and regeneration is not of blood nor of birth, yet doth it very frequently"-I was about to say almost always-"happen that God, by means of one of a household draws the rest to Himself. He calls an individual, and then uses him to be a sort of spiritual decoy to bring the rest of the family into the gospel net. Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household"" (Acts 16:31).
STUDY QUESTIONS
  • What does Dr. Barnhouse’s point do to some of our preconceived notions concerning foreign missions? 
  • How should we minister to our family? What priority does the Bible put on family ministry?