"I Sought For a Man"

This is the final soul-stirring chapter in T. A. Hegre's book, The Cross and Sanctification:

"'I sought for a man among them that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none' (Ezekiel 22:30).

"In these pathetic words spoken by God to the prophet Ezekiel, it is evident that there was great need for men who in word and example would step forward and stem the tide of sin--men who would bring the people back to God and thus avert impending judgment. God was saying, 'If just one man really meant business and stood in the gap, the need of the hour would be met.' God was looking for men, but found none . . . n-o-n-e!

"God is looking for men today also. Is He finding them? To any man with strong feeling, missionary statistics bring shame. As we hear the figures repeated again and again, we have to bow our heads in shame. Where are the men? the strong men? the gifted men? the trained men? the wealthy men? Too many of them are living for themselves. Their prayers may be long, their testimonies may be frequent, and they may even preach; but if they do not obey Christ, they have no right to consider themselves Christians. They are going in the wrong direction. Regardless of their testimony, if they are not obeying Jesus Christ, they are lost. A Christian is a pilgrim, a sojourner, and a stranger upon this earth. Any person who lets his roots go down into this earth is giving testimony to the world that he is earth-bound, and that he has no regard for the Word of God which says, 'Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth' (Col. 3:2).

"One day in prayer time in a missionary headquarters, little Sharon thanked God for the 'aunties' going to the foreign field (the children called the women aunties and the men uncles). 'But dear Jesus, won't you please send out some uncles, too, to help them do the job?' We thank God for the faithful women who are bearing burdens men ought to bear, and doing work men ought to do. God is blessing women and using them; souls are being saved, and God's kingdom is advancing. But God is still looking for men to take the torch and go forth with the unsearchable riches of Christ.

"Many young men who at one time had a call to serve God on the mission field have lost themselves in secular work. They are tithing and occasionally praying for missionaries, but too often their giving and praying are but token gifts, designed to keep them from being altogether condemned.

"Moreover, many leaders are afraid to give young men the proper challenge, merely saying to them, 'Well, the Lord will lead. If He wants you on the foreign field, He will show you.' Our advice should rather be, 'God wants you on the foreign field. If He does not, He will make it very clear to you.' Keith Falconer, that great missionary in Arabia, said: 'While vast continents still lie shrouded in midnight darkness, and hundreds of millions still suffer the horrors of heathenism and Islam, the burden of proof rests upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by Him to keep you out of the foreign field.'

"A pastor was once testifying about his call into the ministry. He had been working in a plant where ball bearings were manufactured. When he shared with others the fact that the Lord had called him to the ministry, someone said, 'I think you are making a mistake; God needs Christian men in business too. God needs you here in this plant.' But his answer had been, 'If God had considered ball bearings necessary to life, I believe He would have caused them to grow on bushes. As far as I am concerned, God has called me to preach the gospel, and that is what I am going to do.' That is the spirit we like to see. That is what we like to hear.

"We make no excuses for insisting that every man accept the missionary challenge and live for missions. Men are not obeying the call, and many who start well 'flunk out' after a few months. So many men at Bible schools, seminaries, and missionary training centers do not 'carry through' their initial call as consistently as women. They apply for training, then at the last moment change their minds and go into business or decide that the homeland needs more pastors.

"Sometimes we are told that God does not want every Christian on the mission field because He wants Christians to be in business too. Maybe He does want them in business, but He wants every single Christian in His missionary program. Missions is not to be accepted as a side issue but as a Christian's real purpose for living, the real passion of his heart and soul. How long are we going to let the heathen perish 'without hope' because we ourselves have not been willing to obey Christ's call?

"A look into any Bible school student body will quickly show how often women outnumber men and the strongest men are conspicuous by their absence. Some missionary training programs attract more men than the ordinary Bible schools, but even then the proportion of men is altogether too small. I suppose that it has been this way since Christ gave His great commission. The Apostle Paul stated the very same thing a few years later when he wrote to the Corinthians that it is the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised, and 'the things that are not' whom God uses in His plan to save men from the wrath to come. If the wise, the noble, the strong will not respond, He will accomplish His purpose without them.

"A few years ago, upon the completion of a summer itinerary of special meetings in different parts of the country, we arrived home about the time the new students were arriving. Soon I was asking the staff about the arrival of the new students. The reply was, 'They are here, including three with physical handicaps--one in a wheel chair!' Later, I began to consider these things. Jesus Christ, the Ruler of the universe, has called every believer to leave all and follow Him. How could it be then that the strongest, the best qualified, and the most talented were so often indifferent to His claims, while the handicapped (some in one way and others in another) were presenting themselves? My heart cried out, 'Lord, how long shall the strong, the rich, the gifted turn a deaf ear to Thy call?'

"Of course we do thank God for all handicapped ones who say yes to Jesus. They are doing outstanding work, and are possessed of a devotion to Jesus Christ that is more than enough to make up for any physical lack. We have seen those with great handicaps healed, blessed, baptized and filled with the Spirit, and sent out to do a magnificent job on the foreign field. I think of one, a woman about forty years old, who had been almost afraid of her own shadow and unable to give a testimony in her church. At one time she was so needy physically that she had a difficult time carrying on a comparatively easy job. But she was healed, responded to Christ's call, and went to Africa. There she courageously faced difficult situations, received God's blessing in her own soul, and knew the anointing with power from on high. She is now doing an outstanding work for God on the foreign field, living alone in native villages, sleeping in native houses, and busy telling about Jesus Christ the Saviour. Another woman at the age of sixty went to the foreign field for Christ's sake. After serving with great succession one field for ten years, at the age of seventy she was transferred to a different field. Her health and strength and success is a constant amazement to her mission.

"This is a time of emergency. Yet year after year we see the women, the old, the weak offering themselves for service, while in many cases the strong choose to live for self and the world. (Perhaps the men are offering themselves as prayer partners for women missionaries!) Again let us hear what Jesus says: 'Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14:33).

"Some Christians do admit Christ's claims to total ownership and step forward in response to His call. However, too frequently if one of unusual ability chooses to go with the gospel to the ends of the earth, then friends, relatives, and often even pastors and church workers say, 'It's a pity; he could have gone far in this world, but now he will be wasting his life in some jungle or other out-of-the way corner of the world.'

"Do Christian high school graduates with straight 'A' grades go in flocks to Bible schools? Or do they more often choose to go to college because they are too intelligent to spend their time merely studying God's Word, and theology, and related subjects? The world has its pattern concerning training brilliant minds. But, like thoughtless sheep, are we Christians to follow the world? Surely the devil knows that by scholarships he can subtly entice and sidetrack many first rate minds. Earnest Christians who begin to follow worldly wisdom soon lose their vision of God's great commission. Undoubtedly, for some young people, college training may be indicated by God's Spirit. But we are convinced that for further education a Christian student should choose as the first course of study the Book of books and related subjects, thus giving clear testimony to what he considers most important.

"In the light of the world's great need at the present time, we do not apologize for saying that every Christian who is young and healthy ought to prepare for missionary service with the intention of going to the foreign field. Then, if it is not God's will to go, God will lead him definitely into business or Christian work in this country. Certainly the first intention of every Christian young person should be to go rather than to stay. Though we thank God for all the young people who have stepped out and come to training schools to prepare for special service as God's ambassadors, the number is pitifully small.

"Does all this mean that every Christian must pack up and move to a foreign field? No, it does not mean that, yet it does mean the every Christian must be one hundred per cent for missions. Every Christian is in full-time service. But though God will surely call some in the homeland to work hard and to earn money to support his missionary program, even they are not to become earthly minded. God may make it very plain that we are supposed to be in business or else work in a factory or on a farm. In that case we should live simply and sacrificially, keeping only what is absolutely necessary for daily living, and giving the rest of our earnings to make possible the fulfillment of Christ's command to preach the gospel to the whole creation. Many people already in business could well support a greatly multiplied missionary army if they would only accept their full responsibility. They are called to stay behind and to support, to pray, and to give. This does not mean only ten per cent or fifteen per cent or twenty-five per cent giving; it means one hundred per cent giving--that is, everything above the bare necessities of life. This is their full-time service. A Christian who is not living and working for the spread of the gospel is like a prodigal son, estranged from that which is closest to the heavenly Father's heart.

"Our country has only seven per cent of the world's population, yet ninety-three per cent of our theological students remain in this country. This proportion ought to be reversed, for according to population distribution, it would be more reasonable for the seven per cent to stay at home and the remaining ninety-three per cent to occupy the foreign fields. If such were the case, many heathen would be saved, and the work at home would not suffer but flourish as never before. Much of the latent power of the so-called Christian laymen would be revealed and utilized for the glory of God. The Scriptures declare, 'There is that scattereth and increaseth yet more; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want' (Prov. 11:24). This law of the kingdom and of nature calls upon us to scatter men and women through the world with the gospel.

"How tragic that only about two percent of the world's population is vitally Christian! In 1935 the entire missionary army numbered about 35,000. In a few years it dropped to about 27,000 of which about 5,000 were inactive (either because of sickness, furlough, or other reasons). Today the number has increased again, but it is pitifully small compared to the number of Christians at home and the great need on the foreign field. As a Church we need to be ashamed of this miserable showing in these most revealing statistics.

"Every foreign land we hear from says, 'Send us workers, for we are understaffed.' When I was in Liberia at a beautiful mission station which cost practically nothing to build (made out of mud blocks which were plastered and painted), some Africans came from about forty miles. The mission leader reported their story to us, saying, 'These three Africans walked here as a delegation seeking workers. The chief said that if only some missionaries would come to his village, he would build a house, a church, a clinic, give land, set up a nice compound, and do everything that was needed. He wanted to know if someone could come.' But what could the mission leader and his wife tell them? Neither they nor the two other missionaries on that station could go, for they already had more than they could do. One of them, almost single-handed, was taking care of over three hundred lepers (while in one leprosarium in the U.S.A. there is almost one worker for each leper).

"Not long ago a missionary speaker was telling at great length of a doctor who was a top man at college and possessed many varied and outstanding characteristics. He went as a missionary to India where he was living sacrificially at a salary of only $300 a month. This no doubt was a real sacrifice, for some doctors live only to lay up treasures on earth. Yet another medical missionary, less known, but also talented and gifted, who was present at that very meeting, said later that $53 a month personal allowance was sufficient for him and his family, provided that an additional $25 to $30 came in for general expenses! (This is in Africa where the cost of living is considerably higher than in India!) Not only did he state that he was willing to accept such a meager allowance, even though he was qualified to earn a large salary, but under these conditions he was headed back for his second term and praising God for the privilege. The Bible standard is this: 'Having food and raiment we ought therewith to be content' (1 Tim. 6:8).

"This is the hour of reappraisal. Many may come to the conclusion that though they have considered themselves Christians for years, they are as lost as are the Hottentots (perhaps more so, for the heathen may never have heard the gospel nor had a chance). The Bible calls some people 'twice dead.'

"'Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire . . . These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots' (Jude 11. 12).

"I thank God for everyone who is disturbed and whose false faith is destroyed. If he will repent and come to Jesus, God will give him living faith, and the result will be living obedience. 'Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves' (James 1:22).

"Someone once talked about sacrifice to C. T. Studd, the founder of the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. 'Sacrifice? I don't know anything about sacrifice,' he said, 'It's no sacrifice to be here.' Although he was fifty-two years of age and a sick man, he went out to Africa. He had already served God as a missionary in China and India, but now he left his wife for eighteen years and saw her only once--for two weeks. He lived, served God, and died in the heart of Africa. C. T. Studd poured out his life for God. I talked to the workers right on the field where he had worked, and they said he would sometimes put up his arm and say, 'Look at this arm. Why, it's nothing but a stick. If persecution came here, I'd just crumble. Oh, I wish I were strong so that I could suffer for Christ. I can't suffer much any more.'

"Someone sent C. T. Studd a letter telling him to come home because he had been on the field long enough. 'Give up your leadership and hand over your bat to a younger man. Then come home and we'll see that you are secure and comfortable for the rest of your life.'

"'Comfort,' he snorted; 'I hate that word.' So he sent word back, 'No, with the enemy facing me on the right hand, on the left, and before me, the sword cleaves to my hand. I'm captain of a small band. I can't leave them now.' And he didn't. He died there.

"Today God is looking for soldiers like that--both those who will stay home and work hard and support the program, and also young people who will go to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel, not looking for a soft life but 'snorting' when they hear the word comfort.

"May God help us to read again Christ's commission in the Bible and then be honest before Him and before men. If we are not one hundred per cent for missions in all that we do and earn, then let us fall on our faces before Him in repentance, in confession, and in consecration to Christ and to that which is His heart's desire--the evangelization of the world."