Condemning Vs. Commending Missionaries

In the ongoing debate of immigration policy there is an anti-immigrant senator from Australia who commends the assassination of missionary John Allen Chau by the isolated indigenous people living on North Sentinel Island as though it were a good thing.

Australian Senator Pauline Hanson argues that Chau had no business "invading" the remote island, and thus justifies her own disregard towards immigrants, or missionaries even, as if they were all a menace to society.   

The illustration is full of contradictions and irony (like the fact that Hanson is Anglo Saxon which under her philosophy would exclude her from the right to even live in and much less govern Australia - a country technically of the Aborigines - who would be most comparable to the Sentinelese, not her)... But despite the political, racial, and religious issues involved, the point that Hanson tries to make of it being proper to kill other human beings entirely because those human beings are different, is extremely preposterous.

Hanson commends savage and ferocious behavior under the guise of "protection of culture", and by doing so exalts sin as if it were a virtue.

There are all sorts of things I wish I could say about the situation, but what I'm most interested in is this idea of "commendation."   

When you evaluate everything that went down in North Sentinel Island on November 17, 2018 when John Chau was killed, everyone who hears this story is ultimately forced to decide who to commend within the aftermath. Do you commend the Sentinelese like Pauline Hanson for defending their culture? or do you commend John Chau for sacrificing everything he had out of love for God and the Sentinelese?

What's discouragingly noticeable to me in my research of Chau's story, is that before the incident, apparently he was never officially commended by any local church in the States or elsewhere before embarking on this daring mission. Why, I wonder? Was it because Chau had no interest in churches? ...or was it because no church had any interest in him? I don't know the answer to that question, but my guess is that it's the latter as opposed to the former... Sure, churches like to talk about evangelism and missions and their love for the lost, but how many leaders of churches are truly willing to send out their qualified youth so they can share the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to even financially support these young people as they adapt to a different culture, master a foreign language, and lovingly share Christ with anyone they can?

My awesome elders who daringly sent me out in the care of the Holy Spirit to the Colombian mission field in 2009

...I know a few leaders of churches who would, and who even put their money where there mouth is by supporting my own life and ministry specifically (and those of you reading this know exactly who you are - and I can't even tell you how grateful I am to God for each one of you), but sadly I also know of a few other church leaders or even Christians in general who don't care very much about Christ's great commission, maybe because the subject is too complicated, as we can see from the example of John Chau... "Commend a guy like John? No way josé," church elders would think, "we would rather the young men in our congregation save up to buy fancy cars and houses and marry pretty wives so they can live comfortable suburban lifestyles and show up to our Sunday morning services and faithfully deposit their juicy checks in our tithing baskets so we can buy nicer church buildings and occasionally send our youth groups to exciting amusement parks."

...Okay, maybe I went a little too far with that, but I still think it's sad how comparably small the percentage of resources invested in world missions is by the evangelical church at large, compared to other causes... Or then again, who even cares about the money? what if we just talked about empowering our church members, both guys and girls equally, to serve Christ without any reservations, in any capacity we can think of, no matter what the cost?... What are we so scared of? That someone might get killed like John Chau and have the whole situation turn into a worldwide spectacle? ...I can see how that is something worth avoiding, but I just wish there were more people out there willing to count the cost and go for it, and serve Christ unreservedly, because the reward in Him is far greater than any material, emotional, or even physical loss we can imagine.                 

John Allen Chau's recent martyrdom has re-awaken in me that single minded drive to preach Christ crucified, cost it what it may, to anyone I can, even to the ends of the Earth...

After preparing myself in every way I could, back in July of 2009, there were two church elders who took the chance in commending me to the mission field, and since then I've started a few churches and am helping start a few more. The missionary service organization I'm affiliated with has recently asked me to get a new commendation for 2019, and I honestly don't know what's going to happen. Does anyone care?

I know there are plenty of people who criticize John for recklessly "losing his life" for Christ to the Sentinelese, but if he were a part of one of the churches that I've started in Colombia, I think I would have laid my hands on him in commending him to the mission field with seriousness and an understanding of what is at stake.

There are some who look upon this polarizing situation as a terrible mistake; I see it as an example of someone who was living for Jesus more than himself, and who carefully counted the cost of what he was doing, knowing full well that the worst that could happen was something far better than anything imaginable (Philippians 2:11). The best thing that could have happened would have been that the Sentinelese would have started to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior while they, along with John, would have awaited Christ's return...

John beat me to Jesus's presence, and I doubt he really cares about what everyone else is saying about him here on Earth. I'm sure the only words that mattered to him back on November 17th were the ones that Jesus pronounced when he stood up to tell him "Well done my good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23) as he welcomed him into Heaven's glory.

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Articles Referenced:

1st Picture

Article by the Gospel Coalition

Article by the Washington Post

Article by New York Times

Wikipedia

Yahoo news