To Every People from Every People

By Dr. Larry D. Pate

To Every People From Every People trains people to plant reproducing churches in the mainstream of unreached cultures around the world. There are over two billion people living in over seven thousand such cultures who will never have an adequate chance to know Christ as Lord and Savior unless someone plants churches in the mainstream of their culture and language group. This book teaches clearly and biblically about why that is important. More important, it teaches you how to do it. It focuses on practical subjects like how to learn another language without studying it in a school and how to make an effective strategy. It actually walks you through case studies with illustrations so you can get a mental picture of how to plant reproducing churches in the mainstream of any people group.
An earlier version of this book was originally written specifically for Latin America. It was published by Editora Vida (Miami, Florida) in several editions of Spanish and Portuguese. It has long been the best-selling book of its kind for many years. This English edition has been revised and updated for a global English-speaking audience.
Many thousands of people have used this book to plant new churches in other cultures and even in their own cultures. The anthropological, communications, and sociological principles in this book have also helped people understand the Bible better and how to apply its truths anywhere. Most of all, this book is designed to implant vision and passion for cross-cultural ministry in the mind and heart of the reader. It creates a mental image of how to do it. It is a powerful tool intended for the Holy Spirit to use to thrust forth dedicated and effective laborers into the unreached harvest fields of the world!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638149484

Book preview

Chapter One: God Has A Mission

God Has A Mission

Important Points in This Chapter

Cross-cultural ministry has its source in the nature of God.

God chose Israel for partnership in His mission to redeem all of mankind.

Cross-cultural ministry is central to the nature and purpose of the Church’s existence.

Full-hearted obedience by man is the key to his participation with God in His mission. It is also the key to God’s promises and blessing.

God does not look at any culture of people as superior to any other, and He does not want His Church to do so either.

God has a single overriding passion in His present dealings with mankind. The victory of the cross is history. Satan’s doom is sealed. But God still has an active mission! He still seeks to find men and bring them to repentance through Christ’s finished work (Luke 19:10, 2 Pet. 3:9). Throughout history, God has expected those who serve Him to participate in God’s mission to redeem mankind. Noah built the ark, which became God’s instrument of renewal and salvation at the flood. As we shall see, God chose Israel to be His witness to the nations. Today, Christ’s Church is God’s divine agency for participating with God in His mission.

God’s love is not confined to any race, nation, or cultural group of people. He loves all peoples. He loves African pygmies as much as He loves Asian businessmen. He wants to redeem Iranian soldiers as much as he wants Argentine farmers to find Christ. God’s love crosses all cultural, racial, linguistic, and ideological boundaries. He wants everyone to have an adequate chance to follow Christ. That is what this book is all about—learning how to be effective in crossing boundaries of every kind in order to give everyone on earth a truly adequate opportunity to accept Christ and serve Him effectively in the mainstream of his or her own culture.

The true people of God have always wanted to participate in God’s mission. God has always encouraged them to do so. God wants a church made up of people from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9).

The Biblical Basis of Cross-Cultural Ministry

The character and nature of God is the foundation for learning the importance of cross-cultural ministry. The Bible reveals God’s character from Genesis to Revelation. Above all, God is the eternal and sovereign ruler of the universe. There is nothing in time or place which is outside His knowledge and ultimate control (Ps. 10:16, 103:19). Down through the history of mankind, God’s sovereignty, foreknowledge and ultimate control have never been diminished. He is the greatest source of good, and His love is constantly demonstrated and impacting human history.

The Love of God Is the Basis of Redemptive History

The one characteristic of God’s nature upon which mankind is totally dependent is God’s love. His grace toward mankind is based on that love. God views all His creation as important, but He has especially selected mankind to be the recipient of his unmerited favor and grace. From the outset, God was faced with a dilemma concerning mankind.

God delegates authority. This is true of the Kingdom of God in heaven as well as on earth. He organized angels as a hierarchy, giving degrees of responsibility and authority. God gave one specific archangel great beauty, wisdom, and power (Ezek. 28:12–17, Jude 9). His name was Lucifer. God gave him a throne and authority to rule as a prime minister of God. Lucifer had great power, beauty, and splendor, all given to him by God. He also had freedom of choice. The true test of that gift is constant allegiance to the will of God. As some point, Lucifer became so dazzled by his own beauty and greatness that he overstepped his position and tried to become like the Most High (Isa. 14:14). He led a rebellion in heaven in which one-third of the angels joined him in trying to establish a counterfeit heavenly kingdom (Rev. 12:4–7).

The rebellion earned God’s judgment and banishment from heaven for Lucifer, now called Satan (adversary). Though under the condemnation of ultimate defeat, Satan still acts in rebellion against God and His purposes. Originally an angel of light, he presides now over a Kingdom of Darkness. His kingdom is a constant source of evil focused on an effort to lead mankind to join him in rebellion against God.

Sometime after Satan was banished from heaven, God made another creation who was also given freedom of choice: mankind. This freedom to choose is essential for men and women to be created in the image (likeness) of God (Gen. 1:26 [NIV])—to possess traits of personality enabling people to love, be trustworthy, and pursue spiritual holiness. This moral freedom gives mankind the power to please God most by returning His love. Fellowship with God and love toward God requires moral freedom of choice.

The bond of love is much more powerful than the force of might. God established a relationship of communion with Adam and Eve based upon love, not force. He even made them partners in His rule on earth. In order to continue in this relationship with God, they only had to pass the test of complete obedience to the will of God. They were told not to eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:6). Had they not succumbed to the enticement of Satan, they might have eaten off the Tree of Life and been given eternal status as creatures of righteousness. Their disobedience brought the fall of the human race. They failed the test. This disaster identified mankind with Satan’s Kingdom of Darkness. Mankind had failed the test of God’s trust.

This left God with two problems. By creating moral creatures, God risked their disobedience, which was a direct affront to God’s love. First, Lucifer defected, fell into a state of sin and steady moral decline. God’s kingdom was divided and partly usurped. The crucial question at the time of mankind’s sin was what would God do about it? Would He destroy mankind and the earth in one sweep of His judgment? The answer to those questions we now know due to the Word of God and history. The cause of God’s mercy and actions on behalf of mankind lies in the nature of God’s character.

Redemptive History Is Written by God’s Love

God would have been justified in destroying all or part of the rebels in His creation. He foresaw the possibility of sin and devised a plan to rescue mankind. The plan was to accomplish two objectives: (1) reclaim the usurped portion of God’s kingdom and (2) redeem mankind from the penalty of sin. God did not treat His desire to defeat Satan and rescue mankind as two separate problems. Satan had used man in his attempt to overthrow God’s Kingdom. God was determined to redeem mankind and give him power to overcome sin. Man would defeat Satan using God’s power!

In his fallen, sinful condition, man was powerless to receive God’s restoring power. He needed help from beyond himself. God’s sovereign solution to this problem was the incarnation of Christ into the world as a human being—one who was fully God, yet divorced Himself from using His divine power to overcome sin. He defeated sin as a human being, suffering death for that purpose (Phil. 2:1–11). That is what allowed God to substitute His death for our sin (Isa. 53:5–6). Even before mankind had fallen into sin, God had foreseen that possibility. In His great love for mankind, God had already determined to make the supreme sacrifice—He would personally pay the penalty for sin through His Son, Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4, 1 Pet. 1:20).

This act of God’s grace in history illustrates the depth and overcoming power of God’s love (Rom. 8:38). Though God holds the sovereign power of immediate or ultimate judgment, He has withheld that judgment in order that believing mankind can be redeemed. No greater revelation of God’s loving character has ever been seen in human history than when God sent Jesus to redeem those who believe in Him. In this one mighty act of love, God snatched mankind back from Satan’s kingdom and authority.

Christ’s victory was the very apex of redemptive history. But it was really the climax of a strategy which God had started when man fell into sin. When God announced His judgment upon Satan for his role in man’s fall, He said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel (Gen. 3:14–15). This passage is often called the protevangelium. This is the first reference in the Bible to Christ. Christ was man’s seed who would crush Satan’s head by his sacrifice on the cross. Satan would bruise mankind’s heel, constantly enticing him to sin. It is important that Christ is first mentioned in reference to defeating Satan. That is the essence of the evangel—the good news of history.

This prophetic passage outlines God’s twofold program in human history. The crushing of Satan’s head does refer to Christ’s death on the cross by which Satan’s power over mankind was defeated. The crushing of the head portrays total defeat. God’s primary activity in history has been to prepare man and the world for the coming of Christ. God’s ultimate victory over Satan is in covering man with Christ’s righteousness to overcome the sin initiated by Satan.

Mankind was not destined to have instant deliverance from his guilt. His heel would be bruised by Satan, repeatedly attacked to induce rebellion against God. Man failed by disobedience. God intended to build the foundation for redemption by teaching mankind the importance of obedience to His will. The history of God’s dealings with the people of Israel was a continual challenge to obedience. God called Israel to obey his law. The apostle Paul wrote that the law was a schoolmaster to prepare Israel for faith and righteousness through Christ (Gal. 3:24–25 [KJ]). The history of Israel is one of recurring failure in obeying the law of God. Israel was to know firsthand Satan’s bruising. Her repeated disobedience caused Israel to fail in her mission for God and brought God’s judgment repeatedly upon the whole nation.

The most direct sense in which Genesis 3:14–15 was fulfilled was in Christ’s crucifixion. Satan was the driving force behind the extreme suffering of Christ just prior to His death. The heel-crushing by Satan during the crucifixion was only temporary compared to the eternal value of the head-crushing of Satan by Christ’s finished work on the cross. Christ’s death was real but temporary. The ultimate doom of Satan and his kingdom was sealed at the death and resurrection of Christ. Satan’s daily defeat in the lives of believers is empowered and superintended by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12).

It is not just Christ who plays a role in the defeat of Satan. It is all mankind. God’s program since the fall of man has changed in method, but not in purpose. God is always seeking to lift, redeem, and empower mankind to be victor over Satan’s kingdom. God wants Satan defeated daily, as well as in his final judgment. History is the account of a loving God constantly intervening in human affairs to elevate mankind above his fallen nature and enable him to withstand and conquer the influence of Satan. God has never been passive insofar as mankind is concerned. He has never been inclined to simply leave man to follow his own path. He has always stood with a watchful eye ready to seek and save every lost sheep, to chastise and encourage all who follow Him.

The Redemptive Mission Of God’s Chosen People

Many people have wondered why God chose the people of Israel to be His special people in history. Did God love them more? Did He want to bless them and forget about the other people of the world? Why did God choose the Jews? They were a stubborn people, slow to follow God’s laws. Why did God get so involved with one group of people?

God favored the Jewish people partly because of the faith of their founding patriarch, Abraham. God responds to real faith in anyone’s life. God also chose the Israelites to be special participants in His plan to provide redemption for mankind.

The Cross-Cultural Promise in the Abrahamic Covenant

Four thousand years ago, a man named Abram left the land of his fathers in the Euphrates River valley to go to Palestine. He traveled because of simple faith in the promises of God. Before Abram began his journey, God had covenanted to bless Abram by making him a great nation. Furthermore, God said, I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Gen. 12:1–3).

With His promises to Abraham, God started a new chapter in human history. God’s plan to redeem mankind, both individuals and nations, had not changed. But He had started a new method. He would especially identify Himself with a specific nation of people. He would nurture their growth, determine their social and political system, and protect and deliver them from their enemies. He would become known as the God of Israel. All this was part of God’s promise to Abram, later known as Abraham. Israel became a great nation not because Abraham was its father, but because the one true God chose to be personally identified with the Jewish people. It was on the basis of God’s personal identification with Israel that Moses was successful in pleading with God not to destroy the whole nation when they sinned at Mount Sinai (Exod. 32:11–14). God had identified Himself with Israel in order to reveal Himself to the world.

The promise to Abraham, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you, is a direct reference to the coming of Christ, the messiah. Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, is the only one through whom all the peoples on earth can be blessed. So even in choosing the nation of Israel, God was determined to reach, lift, elevate, and redeem all peoples on earth. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

While Jesus was the ultimate direct fulfillment of God’s promise, God intended to use His special relationship with Israel to reveal His nature to the world. God’s dealings with Israel was a learning laboratory whereby mankind could glimpse the glory of God’s love and power. It provided an opportunity also to witness His patience, judgment, and righteousness. It was an opportunity for mankind to receive guidelines and principles for right living. The laws God gave to Israel have become the basis for the laws of many nations on earth today. Their principles have guided men toward a right relationship with God and man for centuries. The political systems based most closely upon those principles have been the most lasting. The societies which kept the moral values depicted in God’s laws have been the most productive, civilized, and enduring.

It was not just Israel which was the object of God’s desire. He chose Israel to prepare the whole world for a right relationship with Himself.

Let’s examine the promise more closely. In Galatians 3:8, Paul wrote, The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you.

God gave to Abraham three specific personal promises (verse 2):

I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you.

I will make your name great.

Then God pauses to give a purpose clause: and (so that) you will be a blessing (parenthesis added here). Nobody is ever allowed to simply consume for himself God’s blessings or promises. Great blessing demands great responsibility. God blessed Abraham in order to bless others!

Then God gives Abraham two power promises (verse 3):

I will bless those who bless you.

Whoever curses you I will curse.

God promises Abraham power to fulfill his mission for God.

Those who aided Abraham would be aiding God’s purposes, and would therefore receive God’s blessing. Those who opposed Abraham would oppose God’s purpose and therefore bear His judgment. Abraham was promised God’s protecting power as he fulfilled God’s mission.

God concludes with another purpose clause: and (so that) all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (parenthesis added here). This is a further statement of the same thing God was saying in the first purpose clause of verse 2. In verse 2, God promised to make Abraham a blessing. In verse 3, God prophesies the scope of that blessing. He would become a blessing to all peoples on earth. What a promise!

Notice the verbs in these two verses. Three times God says I will. Then He says you will. After this follows two more I will. But then you will does not follow. It is now through you, referring to Abraham’s seed. It is a future time God is predicting. All the peoples of the earth would be blessed, but not by Abraham personally. It would be through Christ, his direct descendant.

This I will, you will pattern in God’s communication with Abraham is typical of how God has approached man ever since. It is the opposite of how man tries to approach God. Man says to God, If you will…I will. Man usually tries to coerce God to do man’s will, which is rebellion against God! But God says, I will bless you so that you will be a blessing to others. God acts in human history, declaring and demonstrating His purposes and will. Then He challenges man to align his will with God’s will. God blessed Abraham so he could in turn bless others. God delivered Israel from slavery so they could bless the nations around them. God has blessed the church with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit so the church can bless all peoples on earth. The key variable is man’s will. It is man’s response to God’s I will. God’s decrees and purposes have been made plain. Man must align his will with God’s will. He must align his reason for being with God.

God reveals both His promises and His purposes progressively. In Genesis 12:1–3, He revealed the broad scope of His promises to Abraham. After leaving Haran and arriving in Canaan, Abraham heard God promise, To your offspring, I will give this land (verse 7). Abraham obeyed God’s command to leave Haran. After he did, God further revealed the meaning of His promise to bless Abraham. He promised him a land. Later, as recorded in Genesis 17, God further defined His promise to give Abraham a land. In the process, He gave Abram a new name. Abram (honored father) was changed to Abraham (father of many). God not only changed his name, but also, He promised the childless patriarch an heir! So down through Abraham’s life, we see a gradual revelation of God’s promises.

We also see a gradual revelation of God’s purposes. It was after Abraham received his new name that he was invited to join in a covenant relationship with God, as symbolized by the rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:9–14). As Abraham continued in following His direction, God continued to bless him and reveal to him His divine purposes (Gen. 18:17–19).

Abraham’s grandson Jacob was a deceitful man. He obtained his brother’s inheritance through trickery (Gen. 25:29–34, 27). He destroyed the Shechemites through deception (Gen. 34). But he was still a son of the Abrahamic Covenant! When he was in danger of being revenged by his brother, Esau, he sought the face of God, and humbled himself (Gen. 32:9–12). As he was fleeing from Esau, Jacob wrestled all night with an angel of God. He persevered in his struggle until he obtained a blessing. Before blessing him, the angel declared, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome (Gen. 32:28). Jacob means deceitful one. Israel means he struggles with God.³

As Jacob grew spiritually stronger, God gave him greater revelation of His promises and His purposes. When Jacob sought God at Bethel the second time, God confirmed Jacob’s call to become Israel. God reconfirmed the Abrahamic Covenant with Jacob (Gen 35:9–15). As before, God promised Israel the land of Canaan for him and his descendants (verse 12). But God also was proclaiming His purpose to make the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the lineage through which God would bless all peoples on earth (Gen. 12:3).

By establishing His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, God was informing the world about Himself. He was showing Himself to be loving and merciful, as well as just and righteous. By intervening in human affairs through the lineage of Abraham, God was showing that He was unwilling to idly watch mankind degenerate continually. He would not allow man to destroy himself without hope or knowledge or His Maker. God called Abraham and the nation of Israel in order to rescue all of mankind, not just one nation. As men and nations respond to God’s revelation, God reveals Himself still more.

Israel’s Call To God’s Mission

Mount Sinai was a landmark in the history of God’s revelation to His chosen people. It was at the base of Sinai that Israel camped three months after escaping Egypt. It was at Sinai that Israel rebelled against God in their worship of the golden calf. It was at Sinai that God gave the law to Moses. But it was also at Sinai that God called Israel to be instrumental in His worldwide Mission (Exod. 19:1–2).

As God was preparing to reveal to Moses the special laws which would govern His chosen people, He challenged Israel to a special relationship with Himself. This has come to be called the Mosaic Covenant, and is recorded in Exodus 19:3–6:

Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

God gave Israel three specific promises. They were to become His treasured possession. They were to become a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.

Treasured Possession: The word in the Hebrew translated treasured carries the sense of special items which one would protect and keep with himself, like jewels. God was showing what a high value He placed on His people. The keeping of His covenant would make the Israelites like precious jewels of God, to be displayed to all by the God who possessed them" (see Mal. 3:17, Dan. 12:3).

A Kingdom of Priests: Israel, if she kept God’s covenant, would also become a nation of priests for God. In order to understand the picture God was painting, we must ask ourselves, What were priests for in the Old Testament? Their primary function was to act as mediators between God and man. They represented mankind’s need to God, and they represented God’s promises to mankind. But how is it that God is declaring that He intended to make a covenant-keeping Israel into an entire nation of priests? If all Israel were to fulfill the role of priests, for whom would they become mediators? To whom would they represent God?

The answer lies in the promise God gave to Abraham: And through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed (Gen. 22:18, 18:18) God intended for Israel to become priests for the nations!

A Holy Nation: The word holy means separate, especially righteous. It does not mean separate in the sense of set aside or untouchable. It carries the sense of being set apart for a specific purpose. God’s new covenant was a call to Israel to be set apart, especially selected, for God’s purposes. Israel was to be holy in two respects: (1) She was to be dedicated to worshipping the one true God in singular devotion to Him. Israel was to imitate God’s righteousness by pure observance of His laws and decrees. (2) Israel would also become God’s agent in dealing with the sinful nations.

By establishing a correct vertical relationship with God, Israel would be a shining (jewellike) example to the nations. At that point in history, the nations around about Israel were engaging in many forms of ungodly activities in the name of religion, such as temple prostitution and child sacrifice. Those ungodly forms of heathen worship would stand in stark contrast to an Israel alight with the glory, righteousness, and presence of Jehovah God! God intended for Israel to stand out among the nations like a precious jewel. He intended that the beauty of Israel’s holiness would act like a magnet to draw the rest of the nations unto Himself! The keeping of God’s laws and covenant would make Israelite society appear like a utopia in contrast to the sin, greed, and degradation of other societies.

That is how Israel was to become a nation of priests! God intended to so establish a holy relationship with His people that they would become living priestly examples of the power and grace of God to the nations. Those nations would be summoned to the righteousness of God through the mediation of the priestly Israel.

That this was the intent of God’s words, there can be no doubt. And the Israelites understood what this call meant. Even Peter referred to this same priestly role, though he taught that Israel’s priestly function was transferred to the church since Christ had established a new covenant (1 Pet. 2:9, Eph. 3:10).

God’s law made provision for the role to which He had called Israel. Israel was required to treat the foreigner who traveled among them with kindness and love (Lev. 19:33, 31). Jews were to be hospitable to such strangers, remembering that they were also sojourners redeemed by God from a foreign land (Exod. 20:10). There were only two requirements for an alien to join Israeli society. Their males had to be circumcised, and they had to follow the law.⁴ But joining Israel, or becoming a proselyte, as it came to be known, accorded the new member full partnership in God’s covenant. If a Jew owned a slave, and he became converted, he would be set free. Jews were not allowed to own Jews as slaves. Many other benefits came to aliens who became Jews. There was much in the law of the Israelites which would be attractive to the people of other nations.

God called Israel to display His power, glory, love, and compassion to the nations. Like Abraham, the whole nation was called to a special, holy relationship with God. The effect of the presence of God in Israel was to make Israel holy as a reflection of Gods own holiness. The resulting righteous society, coupled with God’s power working on Israel’s behalf, would act like a powerful magnet to draw the nations unto God. God’s new covenant law encouraged converts to God’s law from among the nations. Israel was called to God’s mission. She had a priestly call to minister to the nations. When the nations would listen to God’s call given through Israel, they would be received into God’s people (Exod. 12:42, Ruth 1:16–18). If they rejected God’s decrees, God would use Israel to destroy them as He did the Canaanites (see Deut. 6–8). Israel was to be God’s primary channel to reach all the peoples of the earth. That was God’s plan right up until the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross!

The Key to Israel’s Success

All of God’s promises to Israel depended upon one important response from His people. He promised to make them His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, if they would obey Him fully and keep His covenant.

Obedience has always been the key factor in seeing God’s promises fulfilled. It was Abraham’s continuing obedience to God’s commands which opened the door for God’s continued blessing and revelation. When God tested Abraham, telling him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice, his obedience greatly pleased God. God spared Isaac, and Abraham’s faithful obedience prompted the Lord to reconfirm His covenant.

I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have…not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. (Gen. 22:16–18)

Faith is agreement with God’s will. Obedience is the willful response of faith. It is the proof of faith (James 2:20). It is the proof of aligning man’s will with the will of God. Obedience is faith in action. Just as it is impossible to please God without faith, so it is impossible to please God without obedience (Heb. 11:6, Deut. 6:24–25). That is why the fulfillment of God’s promises require man’s faith-filled obedient response.

After God made His covenant promises to Israel at Sinai, Moses delivered the words of the law to the people as commanded by God. The response of the people was We will do everything the lord has said, we will obey (Exod. 19:8; 24:7). But within forty-seven days, Israel was caught up in drunken debauchery before the golden calf they were worshipping! This was typical of Israel’s response to God’s commands and promises throughout the Old Testament. God’s chosen people continually disqualified themselves from the promised blessings of God on their nation through their disobedience.

What were the results of their disobedience? Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness instead of going directly to the Promised Land before Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. Israel spent 250 years under the judges, over 400 years under the reign of Israelite kings, and 70 years in Babylonian captivity. As the centuries rolled by, Israel increasingly defiled herself with the idol worship and heathen practices of the nations around her. Instead of being God’s righteous, evangelizing, cross-cultural witnesses to the nations, Israel became disobedient rebels, ensnared by the vices of the nations they were to reach for God. What a sad picture of the fruit of disobedience.

After all those hundreds of years of cyclical rebellion against God’s law, Israel finally truly learned one important truth: there is only one true living God. But Israel never learned to listen to Him and obey Him.

Israel had her great moments under godly leaders, such as King David and King Solomon. David gained glimpses of God’s desire when he wrote:

May your ways be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy. (Ps. 67:2–4)

The prophet Isaiah glimpsed the potential of Israel in the Servant of the Lord passages of Isaiah 42 and 49. Israel herself could have been a light unto the nations had she only learned obedience. As it was, Israel’s failure led God to raise up a new branch from among Israel’s offspring. He would be the true Servant of the Lord, fulfilling His mission to be a new

covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (Isa. 42:6–7)

Israel was called to receive God’s blessing, demonstrate God’s power, and fulfill God’s mission to the nations. Through disobedience, Israel failed in their mission. She frustrated God’s purposes, but did not change them. God still wants the Gentiles (and Jews as well) brought to the light. Salvation through Christ is God’s fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise to bless all peoples of earth. Israel failed in her cross-cultural ministry. But the mantel of cross-cultural ministry has been transferred from the children of Israel to the children of the New Testament—God’s church! It is now the church which is called to participate with God in cross-cultural evangelism. You and I carry the responsibility of the call. Unlike Israel of old, we must not fail!

The Church In Cross-Cultural Ministry

The church has never seen greater opportunities to minister the Gospel than what exists today. The church is larger than it has ever been by far. The number of evangelical Bible-believing Christians was set to surpass one billion people by the middle of 2020. The church is getting large enough to really have a worldwide impact for the cause of Christ in this generation. But there are also far more people in the world who do not know Christ as Savior than ever before—28.3 percent of the world’s people are considered unevangelized.⁵ The Church is growing around the world only about as fast as the population is growing.

There has never been a time when there was a greater need to make Christ known to the nations. Every pastor, evangelist, teacher—indeed, every true believer no matter how young or old—should know how important the church is for fulfilling God’s purposes for mankind. Every believer must become an active participant in the cross-cultural ministry of the church. The challenge of this age demands it. The Word of God demands it!

The Mystery Revealed

The disobedience of the Jewish people down through Old Testament history cut them off from fulfilling their cross-cultural mission to the nations. Eventually, it even distorted their view of themselves. Disobedience is a form of selfishness, and the Jews focused more and more upon themselves as they sought the false gods of the nations around them. They spent centuries attempting to obtain God’s promises for themselves, but they paid little attention to the responsibility God placed upon them to reach the nations.

Neither a nation nor an individual can continue to consume God’s blessings without attending to the responsibilities of those blessings or else it will distort one’s thinking. The Jews eventually began to see themselves as very special to God in their own right. They forgot that God had redeemed them out of Egypt and called them to nationhood for His own purposes. They forgot that their very right to exist depended upon God’s mercy, and upon their fulfillment of God’s call to service.

Eventually they came to believe God loved them simply because they were Jews! In their view, Jewishness was the closest thing to godliness on earth! If anyone wanted to please God, they would have to do so through the Jewish law, according to Jewish forms of worship, and in the Jewish language. They did not recognize the selfishness, greed, and ungodly ways of their own culture. They thought they were the only people who knew how to please God!

This distorted thinking led to great prejudice against non-Jewish peoples. They were racially and culturally prejudiced. They distorted the law God gave to Moses. Jews were not allowed to touch non-Jewish people. They were not even allowed in the same room where Gentiles were eating. The Jews came to feel they were in every way superior to the Gentiles.

It was almost impossible for the Jews to conceive that God could receive Gentiles without making them Jewish first. This strong cultural prejudice did not disappear when the church was born in the book of Acts. It remained all too strong, as we shall see below. Even after the churches had been established all over Asia Minor, Paul found it necessary to explain to the Jewish believers in the church in Ephesus about the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4–6). Paul wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit:

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

This passage must have been quite a shock to those Jewish believers who still clung to the old attitudes of Jewish superiority. Paul attacks that attitude directly by declaring that Jews and Gentiles are equal partners in receiving God’s grace through Christ.

Important: Paul directly links the Abrahamic Covenant, the foundation of Jewish nationality, directly to the Gentiles also. The Gentiles were also heirs together with Israel…in the promise. This is a direct reference to the covenant promises given to Abraham. Paul was declaring that the epicenter of God’s acts had been relocated. It had shifted from Israel to a new people created through Christ from both Jews and Gentiles.

The apostle was describing a great turning point which had taken place in the history of Israel as the people of God. Israel had failed in her call to bless the nations directly, and God had taken control. God reconstituted the people of God in His mission to reach the nations. Jews and Gentiles would unite around the work of Christ on the cross, becoming the Church—the new people of God. And it would be the Church which would also fall heir to God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the peoples on earth.

Paul made the mission of the newly constituted church very plain, when he went on to say

His [God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities of the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Eph. 3:10–11)

The rulers and authorities of the heavenly realms refers to the same spiritual forces referred to in Ephesians 6:12. The picture Paul is painting to his readers is figurative. He refers to the earthly rulers, and the evil spiritual forces which support them in maintaining Satan’s kingdom of darkness on earth. Paul is using picturesque speech to show that the church has been commissioned to tear down the strongholds of Satan’s earthly realm by proclaiming to every ruler and all who live under their domain the manifold wisdom of God.

This refers to the Gospel, pure and simple. It was the good news that all peoples can join together in the church of Christ, which is God’s eternal purpose. The Church has replaced Israel as God’s agency for drawing the nations to Himself.

Centripetal-Centrifugal Mission: There is one very important difference between the methods God gave to Israel and those He gave the Church for fulfilling their mission. Israel, as shown in the Mosaic Covenant, was to serve as a spiritual magnet to draw the people of other nations to God. They were to serve as holy priests unto God, revealing God to the nations, and serving as mediators to bring other peoples to God. They were to reveal God to the nations and serve as mediators to bring other peoples to Him.

The nature of their mission was centripetal (figure 1.A). They were to draw the people of other nations into their nation, and teach them obedience to God’s laws. Their effectiveness in doing this was directly related to their own obedience as the people of God.

The Church is also called to a priestly ministry (2 Cor. 5:16–19, 2 Pet. 2:9–10). But the nature of its ministry is centrifugal (figure 1.b). Unlike Israel, the Church is challenged not to stand still and draw other peoples into its own culture and nationality. It is challenged to go forth unto the peoples of the earth, winning men to Christ where they are. After men are won to Christ, they are to form branches of the church were they are, among their own people. Then those churches themselves are to carry out centrifugal mission, a going-out mission (Matt. 28:19, Acts 1:8).⁶

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told the disciples that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. This is a perfect picture of the centrifugal nature of the mission of the church. The church must never wait for the lost to come to her. She must continually be going out to the lost, in ever widening circles of influence.

The Nature of the Church

Jesus told His disciples, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matt. 16:18). What did Jesus mean by the church? We know He was not talking about a church building. He was referring to the people who would follow Him down through the ages. The New Testament shows that when believers are together as the church, they are more than just a group of believers. Individual members are given spiritual gifts which allows the church to work together for common purposes as the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:3–8, 1 Cor. 12). But what are those purposes? What is the nature of the church?

The Bible often speaks of the Kingdom of God. Generally speaking, we can refer to the Kingdom of God as the totality of God’s reign in the universe. Yet, the Bible uses the term in three different ways: (1) Some Scripture refers to the Kingdom of God in its universal sense—God’s rule over everything. (2) Some Scripture refers to the Kingdom of God as God’s spiritual reign on earth in the lives of believers. (3) Some Scripture refers to the Kingdom of God as a future kingdom where heaven, earth, and mankind will be finally united to experience the fullness of His reign after the return of Christ. The church is directly related to the second definition of the Kingdom of God—God’s activities and rule on earth.

The church is not the Kingdom of God, but it is the closest representation of that kingdom on earth. It represents the invasion of God’s kingdom into the Kingdom of Satan. The church is God’s spearhead into the spiritual darkness of the world. The church is not perfect, and never will be until Christ returns to rule the earth. But the church is the closest equivalent and representation of the Kingdom of God on earth.

That is why Jesus gave much teaching concerning the Kingdom of God. The church is to be God’s reflection of the kingdom. It is to mirror the nature of the Kingdom.

Jesus taught us about the nature of the church through kingdom parables. The theme of expansion and growth is common to those parables. Jesus likened the kingdom, and therefore the church, to the following:

a net that is cast into the sea in order to draw in many fish (Matt. 13:47)

the mustard seed which, when planted, grows large enough to support the birds of the air (Matt. 13:31–32)

the leaven which is kneaded into a small piece of dough, but leavens the whole loaf when mixed in the same bowl (Matt. 13:33)

the seed is scattered in order to gather an abundant harvest (Matt. 13:47)

There are a number of principles Jesus was teaching through these parables, but the single theme included in each one was growth, expansion, harvesting. The growth of the church is central to the nature of the church.

Jesus wants a church which is concerned about sending forth laborers—harvesters in a world where the harvest of souls is plentiful (Matt. 9:37–38). Jesus wants a church which is not just interested in the wheat gathered into the barn but also the wheat in whitened harvest fields. He wants a church which is constantly reaching out, expanding in number and quality of commitment. He wants a church which is centrifugal in its mission for God—a church which grows by virtue of what it is. The church is the instrument of God’s activities on earth. It is the closest thing to the Kingdom of God on earth. The church Jesus had in mind when He said, I will build my church, is an ever expanding agent of God’s grace which grows by its very nature.

Stewards of the Good News

The church has inherited Israel’s exclusive right to be the people of God. The Church has joined Israel as inheritor of God’s promises (Eph. 3:6). God has destroyed the barrier, the ‘dividing wall of hostility’ between Jews and Gentiles, and both have been formed into a new body—the church—the Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14). This Church has inherited the promised blessings of God. But, like the Jews of old, it has also been charged with the responsibilities of those blessings.

The Church has been given a stewardship by God. Paul recognized this responsibility when he wrote, Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful (1 Cor. 4:1–2). The phrase mysteries of God is primarily referring to the Gospel, as we discovered from Ephesians 3:1–6.

The use of the term stewards is an important New Testament word. Jesus even told a parable about stewardship (Matt. 25:22–26). A steward was an agent, one to whom valued resources had been entrusted. He was expected to take the resources of his master, use them for the master’s purposes, and return with the fruit of the effort and the original resources to bring glory to his master. The key principle behind good stewardship is faithful, productive service for the glory of the master.

No wonder Jesus used the picture of stewardship to describe the responsibility God has given the church! As Paul indicated, the church has been given knowledge of the precious Gospel—free pardon from sin for everyone who will accept Christ as Lord. God has invested this truth in the church, and ordained that the church would be the only earthly institution entrusted to make it known to the world. The church has been given the greatest, most important stewardship the world has ever known. It has been entrusted with what man needs most—salvation.

As Paul said, it is required that a steward be found faithful. Israel made the mistake of confining the knowledge of God to her own nation. Her disobedient spirit caused her to fail in her stewardship of representing God to the nations. Jesus left no doubt concerning the scope of the church’s stewardship. It is to pick up the mantle of responsibility which Israel forfeited. The church is to go, make disciples among all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them of obey everything I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19–20). The church has been given a responsibility to be God’s stewards, His ambassadors in cross-cultural ministry to all the peoples on earth (Gen. 12:3).

Every portion of God’s church must be good stewards of Christ’s command. No local church can afford to simply consume God’s blessings upon themselves, as did Israel. No national church, or group of churches of the same race, can fully be the church Christ came to build, unless they reach out to make disciples beyond their own city, nation, and people. We have all been given the stewardship of cross-cultural ministry. That is the reason for this book. We must help every believer in every church learn to do his part to work in partnership with God to make disciples among every people on earth!

The Agenda of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts

During His earthly ministry, Jesus spent most of His time teaching the disciples. He not only taught them about God’s kingdom, but also, He taught them how to minister to the masses of people who followed Jesus wherever they could. Jesus was not preparing them for a present ministry so much as for a future ministry, which would begin after He was to be ascended into heaven.

His three plus years of ministry with His disciples was their apprenticeship. He sent them out penniless to the Judean towns and cities, telling them to accept the hospitality offered them. They were to proclaim the Kingdom of God, heal the sick, cleanse those who had leprosy, drive out demons (Matt. 10:5–20). At the end of Jesus’ ministry, He told the disciples:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

Jesus spoke these words just before going to the cross. The disciple’s apprenticeship had ended. It was also during that same time of last-minute instructions that Jesus promised the disciples:

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16:12–14)

Jesus was telling His disciples about the Holy Spirit’s ministry to them after He was gone. He was promising the continuation of His own ministry to them, but in a greater measure. He told them, It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor [Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7). Jesus was telling them they were better off for the Spirit to become their teacher. The Spirit would not be confined to a physical body, like Jesus had been. He will not only be with them, as Jesus had been, He would also be in them! He would be an ever present comforter, a constant guide.