by Floyd
McClung
What is
Apostolic
Passion?
If
you have apostolic passion, you are one of the most dangerous
people
on the planet.
The term
"passion" is
used
to describe everything from romance to hunger pangs. I don't
know
what it means to you, but for me passion means whatever a person
is willing to suffer for. In fact, that's the root meaning of the
word.
It comes from the Latin paserre, to suffer. It is what you hunger
for
so intensely that you will sacrifice anything to have it. The
word "apostle" means a sent one, a messenger.
"Apostolic
Passion,"
therefore,
is a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of
Jesus in the nations. It has to do with being committed to the point
of
death to spreading His glory. It's the quality of those who are
on fire for Jesus, who dream of the whole earth being covered with
the Glory of the Lord.
I know when
apostolic
passion
has died in my heart. It happens when I don't spend my quiet
time
dreaming of the time when Jesus will be worshiped in languages
that
aren't yet heard in heaven. I know it's missing from my life
when
I sing about heaven, but live as if earth is my home. Apostolic
passion
is dead in my heart when I dream more about sports, toys, places to
go and people to see, than I do about the
nations
worshiping Jesus.
I have lost
it, too,
when
I make decisions based on the danger involved, not the glory
God will get. Those who have apostolic passion are planning to go, but
willing to stay. You know you have it when you are deeply disappointed
that God has not called you to leave your home and get out among those
who have never heard His name. If you will not suffer and sacrifice for
something, you are not passionate about it.
If you say you
will do
anything
for Jesus, but you don't suffer for Him then you aren't
really
passionate about Him and His purposes on
earth.
If you don't
have it,
how
do you go about getting this thing called apostolic passion? Is it
like ordering pizza at the door in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed? Is
there an 800 number to call? Or better yet, just send us your
special
gift of $15 or more, and we'll rush you some passion, express
delivery,
overnight mail. If you're like me, you need help figuring out how to
grow this thing called passion. I am motivated by reading how
the apostle Paul got it. He chose it.
Paul says in
Romans
15 that
it is his ambition, his passion if you will,
to make Christ known. It began for him with
a
revelation of Jesus that he nurtured all his
adult life. Paul not only encountered Christ on the road to Damascus,
he kept on meeting Jesus every day. This revelation of Jesus, and
his study of God's purposes, gave birth to Paul's apostolic
passion.
Knowing Jesus and making Him known consumed
the rest of
Paul's life.
He "gloried in Christ Jesus in his service to God" (Rom 15:17). By
comparison,
everything else was dung, garbage, stinking refuse. Paul's
ambition was born from his understanding that God longed for His Son
to
be glorified in the nations. It was focused so that the "Gentiles
might
become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy
Spirit"
(Rom 15:16).
Human
enthusiasm
cannot sustain
apostolic passion. When God invests His own passion in you
the
desire to see His name glorified among all people you must build
and
develop what God has given you. Four things will help:
1.
Apostolic Abandonment
Too many
people want
the
fruit of Paul's ministry without paying the price that Paul paid. He
died. He died to everything. He died daily. He was crucified with
Christ.
This strong-willed, opinionated man knew that he must die to
self.
He knew that in his flesh, he couldn't generate the revelation
of Jesus; he couldn't sustain the heart of Christ. So he died. He
abandoned
his life. He abandoned himself.
We
will
have
chosen apostolic passion only when our hearts are filled
with
God's desire for His Son to be
worshiped
in the nations.
We live in a
world of
competing
passions. If we do not die to self and fill our lives with the
consuming passion of the worship of God in the nations, we will end up
with other passions. It's possible to deceive ourselves into thinking
we have Biblical passions when, in reality, all we have done is to
baptize
the values of our culture and give them Christian names. We will
have chosen apostolic passion only when our
hearts are
filled with
God's
desire for His Son to be worshiped in the nations.
May I
encourage you,
dear
friend, to give up your life? I challenge you to pray this prayer:
"Lord, be ruthless with me in revealing my selfish ambition and my
lack of willingness to die to myself." I guarantee that He will
answer
your prayer and quickly.
2.
Apostolic Focus
The greatest
enemy of
the
ambition to see Jesus worshiped in the nations is lack of
focus.
You can run around expending energy on all sorts of good
ministries,
and not get one step closer to the nations. I don't have anything
against
all the projects and ministries out there. God's
people
do them, and I don't question their obedience to God. But the Church has
an apostolic calling, an apostolic mission.
God has
called us
to the
nations. We must focus, or we won't obey.
Focus on
what? I
believe
God wants a people for Himself. Activity without a desire that
God
have a people for Himself is just activity not missions.
You
can have evangelism without missions. Short-term ministries
are
great, as long as they focus on raising up workers to plant
churches.
You might say, "I'm not called to plant churches." Yes, you
are!
It's always the will of God to have a people who worship His Son in
the
nations. You'll never have to worry about making God mad if you
try
to plant a church. It seems crazy to me that people are under the
delusion
they need a special calling to save souls, to disciple them,
and to get them together to love Jesus. Whatever ministry you
are
with, you must understand one thing: church planting is not for us,
it's for God. We do it so God will have a people to worship Him!
3.
Apostolic Praying
A young man
in Bible
school
offered to help David Wilkerson years ago when he was ministering
on the streets of New York City. Wilkerson asked him how much time
he spent in prayer. The young student estimated about 20
minutes
a day. Wilkerson told him, "Go back, young man. Go back for a month
and pray two hours a day, every day for 30 days. When you've done
that,
come back. Come back, and I might consider turning you
loose
on the streets where there is murder, rape, violence and
danger.
If I sent you out now on 20 minutes a day, I'd be sending a soldier into
battle
without any weapons, and you would get killed."
You can get
into
heaven,
my friend, without a lot of prayer. You can have a one-minute quiet
time every day and God will still love you. But you won't hear a
"well
done, good and faithful servant" on one-minute conversations
with God. And you certainly can't make it on that kind of prayer life
in the hard places where Jesus is not known or worshiped. Here's a
challenge
for you: Read everything Paul says about prayer, then ask
yourself,
"Am I willing to pray like that?" Paul said that he prayed
"night and day, with tears, without ceasing, with thankfulness, in
the
Spirit, constantly boldly for godly sorrow against the evil one."
4.
Apostolic Decision Making
If you live
without a
vision
of the glory of God filling the whole earth, you are in danger
of serving your own dreams of greatness, as you wait to do "the next
thing" God tells you. There are too many over-fed,
under-motivated
Christians hiding behind the excuse that God has not spoken to them.
They are waiting to hear voices or see dreams all the while
living
to make money, to provide for their future, to dress well and have
fun.
The Apostle
Paul was
guided
by his passions. Acts 20 and 21 tell of his determination to go
to Jerusalem despite his own personal anticipation of
suffering,
the warnings of true prophets, and the intense disapproval of
his
friends. Why would Paul go against his own intuition let alone the
urgings of prophets and weeping entreaties of close friends? He had a
revelation of greater priority, of greater motivation:
the
glory of God.
Apostolic
decision-making
starts with a passion for God's glory in the nations, then asks:
"Where
shall I serve you?" Most people do the opposite. They ask the
where-and-when
questions without a revelation of His glory in the nations.
Is it any wonder they never hear God say "go!" They have not
cultivated
a passion for the passions of God. All kinds of lesser desires
can be holding them captive. They might never realize it.
Present your
gifts,
vocations
and talents to the Lord. Press into God. Stay there until you
long
to go out in His name. Remain there and nurture the longing to
see
the earth bathed with His praise. Only then will you be able to
trust
your heart if you hear God say, "stay." Only those who long to
broadcast
His glory to the nations have the right to stay.
If you have
apostolic
passion,
you are one of the most dangerous people on the planet.
The
world no longer rules your heart. You are no longer seduced by
getting
and gaining but devoted to spreading and proclaiming the glory of
God in the nations. You live as a pilgrim, unattached to the cares
of this world. You are not afraid of loss. You even dare to believe you
may be given the privilege of dying to spread His fame on the earth. The
Father's passions have become your passions. You find
your
satisfaction and significance in Him. You believe He is with
you
always, to the end of life itself. You are sold out to God, and you
live
for the Lamb. Satan fears you, and the angels applaud you.
Your greatest
dream
is that
His name will be praised in languages never before heard in
heaven.
Your reward is the look of pure delight - you anticipate seeing in
His eyes when you lay at His feet and the just reward of His
suffering:
the worship of the redeemed.
You have
apostolic
passion!
This article
appears
in
the recently completed Third Edtion of the Perspectives on
the
World Christian Movement Reader. The volume is available for $21.00 at
1-800-MISSION or 1-626-798-0819 or E-mail them at
wclpublish@aol.com.
Floyd McClung
is the
founder
and Director of All Nations Institute in Trinidad, Colorado. He served
as International Operations Director of Youth With A Mission. He
began his international ministry in Afghanistan. One of his
books, Living on the Devil's Doorstep tells the story of the
ministry
he pioneered in Amsterdam, Holland.
Apostolic
Passion 
.
.............